The Department of Cheical Engineering welcomes you to a seminar by Dr. Youri Gendal from Technion - Israel Institute of Tehnology, who will be speaking about a catalytic hydrogenation treatment process that may provide an economical and practical solution to groundwater, and specifically nitrate, pollution.
Abstract
Groundwater contamination with nitrate has become a major problem in Israel and worldwide. According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), about a quarter of the groundwater is in a poor chemical state, with the main cause being nitrate pollution. Electro-dialysis, reverse osmosis, and ion exchange are the main treatment methods currently used for the removal of nitrate contaminants from groundwater. These processes are forming a highly concentrated reject water that requires economic and environmental costs for disposal.
Catalytic hydrogenation of nitrate is a preferred method as no concentrate stream is formed. The current research deals with nitrate catalytic hydrogenation to nitrogen gas in a simple, and inexpensive manner. The process takes place using self-maid catalytic membrane contactor, based on tubular micro-tube made of carbon nano-tubes (CNT).
The proposed process may provide an economical and practical solution to groundwater pollution problem and nitrate pollution in particular. Catalytic reactor made of carbon nanotubes facilitates an in-situ simultaneous reduction of contaminants from water in an economic and environmental manner. The treatment is done without creating a concentrate or sludge in a compact reactor, with minimal energy consumption and minimal hydrogen requirement.
The research focuses on the preparation and characterization of the reactor and the catalyst, as well as the nitrate hydrogenation process while examining various aspects such as pH, hydrogen pressures and the effect of the catalyst’s itself on nitrate reduction rate and process products.
Biographical Sketch
Dr. Youri Gendel completed all his BSc, MSc and PhD studies at Technion. After 3 years of postdoc research at DWI - Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials (Aachen, Germany), Dr. Gendel joined Technion as an Assistant Professor in 2015.
His research interests cover environmental electrochemistry, physico-chemical processes for water and wastewater treatment, and energy conversion and storage. His research has resulted in 24 publications in refereed journals.
Dr. Gendel teaches both undergrad and graduate courses, including Water and Wastewater Technologies, Environmental Electrochemistry, and Solid Wastes Management.