Research Interests

Application of chemical and biochemical engineering principles to the treatment of wastes. Waste as a resource Recycling.  Waste management, renewable energy, pollution prevention and environmental engineering in general.

Particular interest in the fundamental processes occurring in solid-state digestion (SSD), the anaerobic digestion of moist organic solids, as a renewable energy source, as well as a waste treatment process.  My recently published micro-reactor model suggests that the complexity and effectiveness of the natural mechanisms in SSD might have been underestimated.  Much of the effort expended on attempts to accelerate the process has thus been misdirected and in some cases possibly counter-productive.  Most municipal wastes are simply too rich to digest without scientifically controlled seeding.   Current work is directed towards optimization of the seeding technique and evaluation of the model parameters.

Possible applications include:

a) simpler, cheaper digesters for the organic fraction of municipal wastes;
b) viable processes for on-site digestion of agricultural and food industry wastes;
c) a viable route for the production of renewable energy from green ‘energy crops’;
d) advanced landfill technology, capable of stabilization in a few years at minimal extra cost (of particular value to countries unable to afford more sophisticated waste treatment processes);
e) constant-rate landfill gas production, at a predetermined rate;
f) improved models of the stabilization process in existing landfills.

Research Opportunities:

All enquiries are welcome.  Funding under an EU programme may be available shortly.

Teaching Interests:

Main current activity in teaching of process and plant design.  Previous teaching experience has covered, biochemical and environmental engineering, transport phenomena, particle mechanics and process economics.

Publications