Soroosh Mortazavian, Ph.D.

1- Feasibility study of granular activated carbon to reduce PFOA and PFOS emissions from municipal wastewater treatment plants (funded by Environment and Climate Change Canada)

• Investigate efficiency and economic viability of granular activated carbon and biochar for the removal of short- and long-chain PFAS compounds from municipal wastewater treatment plants’ effluents through rapid small-scale column tests.

• Estimate costs and potential reduction of PFAS loads entering the Great Lakes assuming implementation of GAC filters as a final polishing step in wastewater treatment plants discharging to the Great Lakes.

 

2- Design of efficient carbon-based adsorbents for the removal of organic and inorganic water contaminants (projects funded by U.S. DOE and SRNS)

(i) Activated carbon coated by polysulfide rubber (AC-PSR)

• Synthesized polysulfide rubber polymer (PSR) and coated that onto granular activated carbon (AC) to produce AC-PSR composite adsorbent

• Employed FTIR for polymer characterization, and compared morphological and chemical characteristics of AC-PSR against unmodified AC, using TGA, BET, SEM, TEM, EDS, and XPS

• Compared hexavalent chromium removal efficiencies of AC-PSR and AC, investigated adsorption isotherms, kinetics, and intraparticle diffusion mechanism of Cr(VI) ions

• Investigated regeneration and reusability of AC-PSR for Cr(VI) removal

(ii) Activated carbon impregnated by zero-valent iron nanoparticles (AC/nZVI)

• Immobilized zero-valent iron nanoparticles (nZVI) onto activated carbon to produce AC/nZVI composite adsorbent, using a combined annealing and borohydride reduction technique

• Compared morphological and chemical characteristics of AC/nZVI against AC, using SEM, TEM, EDS, XPS, and TAFEL corrosion test

• Compared Cr(VI) removal efficiencies of AC/nZVI and AC, investigated adsorption isotherms, kinetics, and intraparticle diffusion mechanism of chromium ions

• Investigated AC/nZVI regeneration and reusability for Cr(VI) removal

(iii) Biochar modification by heat treatment and nZVI impregnation

• Modified biochar (BC) by heat treatment to produce hydrophilic biochar (HBC), and impregnated both BC and HBCs by zero-valent iron nanoparticles (producing BC/nZVI and HBC/nZVI composites)

• Compared morphological and chemical characteristics of various synthesized composites using BET, SEM, TEM, EDS, XPS, FTIR, and sessile drop contact angle

• Investigated removal efficiency and kinetics of Cr(VI), trichloroethylene (TCE), and p-nitrosodimethylaniline (pNDA) using HBC/nZVI

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3-Immobilization of zero-valent iron nanoparticles onto mesoporous silica (Funded by U.S. DOE)  

• Immobilized zero-valent iron nanoparticles (nZVI) onto SBA-15 mesoporous silica, producing nZVI/SBA-15 composite, optimized synthesis conditions by characterizing various composites with SEM, EDS, TEM, XPS, and ICP, and by comparing their p-nitrosodimethylaniline (pNDA) removal efficiencies

• Examined the effects of hydroxyl radical scavengers and DO concentration on pNDA bleaching, and proposed a new pathway for pNDA degradation through reduction

 

4- Treatment of oily wastewaters (Funded by TESLA Gigafactory)

• First phase: designed a treatment chain consisting of oil skimmer, coagulation, and ultrafiltration for the treatment of synthetic oily wastewater consisted of 20% industrial oil

• Second phase: hydrophobic/lipophilic biochar column for the separation of industrial oils from water5- Synthesis of a visible-light-driven photocatalyst

• Synthesized a visible-light activated Z-scheme photocatalyst for water treatment under different synthesis conditions

• Characterized the catalysts by SEM, TEM, EDS, and XPS

• Investigated catalyst’s efficiency for the degradation of methylene blue dye under visible light using a solar radiation simulator

• Investigated the effects of hydroxyl radical scavengers, hole scavengers, and superoxide anion scavengers on the photocatalyst’s degradation efficiency