Sustainable Technologies for Water and Wastewater Treatment

Dr. Noel Jacob Kaleekkal is currently an Assistant Professor at the National Institute of Technology Calicut, India and also leads the Membrane Separation Group. He holds a Chemical Engineering undergraduate degree from the National Institute of Technology Karnataka, India. He obtained his postgraduate degree (Chemical Engineering) and Ph.D. (Technology) from Anna University, India. His research interests lie in the development of novel membranes for different applications His initial focus was on the development and evaluation of membranes for hemodialysis application. He has also worked on the pressure-driven membrane process for water treatment including removal of heavy metals, humic substances, separation of oil-water emulsion, etc. He has also co-authored peer-reviewed articles on proton exchange membranes for direct-methanol fuel cells. His most recent researches focus on low-pressure, novel membrane technologies that aim to address the concerns of diminishing water and energy resources. He has received funded projects for developing novel forward osmosis membranes as well as superhydrophobic membranes for Membrane Distillation for the recovery and reuse of wastewater and/or seawater.

Dr. Prasanna Kumar S Mural has a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology Karnataka, India. He has completed his master's degree in Plastic Technology from CIPET, Bhubaneshwar, M.B.A in Total Quality Management from Sikkim Manipal and Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. Currently he is serving as an assistant professor and leads the Materials Chemistry and Polymer Technology Research Group in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the National Institute of Technology Calicut, Kerala, India. His main focus of research was on the development and evaluation of antibacterial membranes for water purification applications. Dr. Prasanna Kumar has developed a unique one-step method of membrane preparation via polymer blends. He also authored a peer-reviewed article on antibacterial water purification membranes. Presently, his research involves the application of polymer nanocomposite for water and energy application to address the water and energy crisis.

Prof. S. Vigneswaran is currently a Distinguished Professor of Environmental Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering and IT at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Australia. He obtained his Doctor of Engineering and Dr.Sc from University of Montpellier and University of Toulouse respectively. During the last twenty-five years, he has made significant contributions to the understanding of membrane systems in water reuse and desalination. He has several national and international projects in this area. He is a Fellow of the International Water Association. He has published more than 300 journal papers (with a google scholar index of 60). He has authored and edited 3 books on filtration, water treatment and membrane processes. The latest book he authored and edited was "Membrane Technology and Environmental Applications" Zhang, T.C., Surampalli, R.Y., Vigneswaran, S., Tyagi, R.D., Ong, S.L., Kao, C.M. (2012). This book was sponsored by Membrane Technology Task Committee of the Environmental Council Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers, ASCE Press, 2012, New York. In addition to that he was invited by UNESCO to write 2 volumes on "Water Recycle, Reuse and Reclamation" and "Waste-water Treatment Technologies".

Dr. Upal Ghosh is a professor in the Department of Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. He has an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering and MS and Ph.D. degrees in Environmental Engineering. His group performs research in environmental engineering and science with a focus on the fate, effects, and remediation of toxic pollutants in the environment. They use multidisciplinary tools to investigate exposure and bioavailability of organic and metal pollutants to organisms and apply the new understanding to develop novel approaches for risk assessment and remediation. His research has contributed to the development and transition of novel sediment remediation technologies based on altering sediment geochemistry and enhancing biological degradation. Dr. Ghosh has also led the development of monitoring tools for pollutant bioavailability, especially work on passive sampling techniques for measuring freely dissolved concentrations in sediment porewater. His work has been published in the leading journals in the field and the technology development has led to several US patents. His research contributions have been recognized through multiple awards including the University System of Maryland Regents Award for Excellence in Scholarship, Research, and Creative Activity in 2016. He is an Associate Editor of the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. Dr. Ghosh also is the co-founder of two start-up companies that are transitioning emerging sediment remediation technologies to the field.