Waste/wastewater treatment and resource recovery

Human activity leads to the generation of waste which if not managed correctly can contaminate environments. The treatment of generated waste (as well as contaminated soil, sediment and water environments) can involve biological, chemical and/or physical techniques usually at the science/engineering interface. Our applied research focuses on developing tools to support treatability testing of remediation technologies with an emphasis on bioremediation, as well as, applying physical science and civil engineering based technological developments (with both internal and external collaborators) for real-time, rapid and/or non-intrusive brownfield site investigation techniques. Research in this area is being extended to include the evaluation and optimisation of organic waste treatment output materials for reuse in agricultural and landscape/regeneration sectors.

Selected publications:

Pietravalle, S. & Aspray, T.J. (2013) Biotic and abiotic CO2 efflux from hydrocarbon contaminated soils amended with organic carbon sources used to determine catabolic diversity. Environmental Pollution 176, 42-47.

Barron, A.L., Kar, A.K., Aspray, T.J., Waddie, A.J., Taghizadeh, M.R. & Bookey, H.T. (2013) Two dimensional interferometric optical trapping of multiple particles and Escherichia coli bacterial cells using a lensed multicore fibre. Optics Express 21, 13199-13207.

Uhmann, A. & Aspray, T.J. (2012) Potential benefit of surfactants in a hydrocarbon contaminated soil washing process: fluorescence spectroscopy based assessment. Journal of Hazardous Materials 219-220, 141-147.

Piau, C. & Aspray, T.J. (2011) Effectiveness and longevity of a green/food waste derived compost packed column to reduce Cr(VI) contamination in groundwater. Journal of Hazardous Materials 186(2-3), 1249-1253.

Rodríguez-Cruz, M.S., Bælum, J., Shaw, L.J., Sørensen, S.R., Shi, S., Aspray, T.J., Jacobsen, C.S. & Bending, G.D. (2010) Biodegradation of the herbicide mecoprop-p with soil depth and its relationship with tfdA gene expression. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 42(1), 32-39

Aspray, T.J., Gluszek, A. & Carvalho, D.C.J. (2008) Effect of nitrogen amendment on respiration and respiratory quotient (RQ) in three hydrocarbon contaminated soils of different type. Chemosphere72, 947-951.