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Cycle 5 (2015 Deadline)
Enhancing water quality monitoring and improving water disinfection processes in Lebanon
PI: Antoine Ghauch (ag23@aub.edu.lb) , American University of Beirut
U.S. Partner: David Sedlak, University of California, Berkeley
Project Dates: December 2016 - November 2021
Project Overview:
 | | Freshly graduated with a BS in Chemistry and a USAID scholarship student Omar Tantawi during testing a Concentrated Solar Power system developed in our laboratory for Persulfate activation toward the degradation of organic contaminants and the disinfection of water. (Photo courtesy of PI Antoine Ghauch) |
Relative to its neighbors, Lebanon has often been considered as a water-rich country. Unfortunately, the combined effects of climate change, population growth, and infrastructure underinvestment are creating considerable water stress in Lebanese cities. Specifically, an extended drought coupled with increased water demands from the arrival of large numbers of Syrian refugees is increasing the potential for water supply problems and degradation of water quality. International support for capacity building came first from USAID, which funded three municipal wastewater treatment plants to serve the population in the Beqaa and rehabilitated the main water establishments in the country by improving existing infrastructures. These efforts improved water quality, but there are still significant unmet needs. Development of existing but underdeveloped and new water resources would require consideration of the potential impacts of water pollution due to chemical contaminants and infectious disease pathogens. Currently, a lack of inexpensive water quality monitoring tools and the absence of advanced treatment technologies for industrial waste, hospital effluents, solid waste leachates, and municipal wastewater limit Lebanon’s ability to respond to challenges posed by water pollution.
This project will improve water technologies and expand local capacity to monitor organic contaminants (OCs) and eradicate pathogenic bacteria in drinking water supplies. Previously, the research team received a PEER Cycle 1 award to investigate the use of activated persulfate (PS) to degrade trace concentrations of OCs in wastewater and water supplies. Dr. Ghauch and his colleagues also developed a room temperature phosphorimeter (RTP) capable of detecting special dyes used for verifying the authenticity of official papers such as banknotes. The first generation RTP was used for this application because it lacked the sensitivity needed to detect low concentrations of chemicals with low phosphorescence yields. In this new PEER Cycle 5 project, the team will now develop an innovative instrument to detect trace amounts of OCs in water by using a solid surface to pre-concentrate the OCs. Research will be conducted to identify materials that can be functionalized to improve the phosphorescence yield of the deposited OCs. After its accuracy and precision are verified, this new instrument will be used to assess the performance of different types of water treatment systems. It will also be used to monitor some OCs in Lebanese waterways that pose potential health risks (for example, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons produced by cars and solid waste incineration). Technologies to be investigated include PS chemical and thermal activation methods and solar-based photolysis, with and without added oxidants. This approach can be used to degrade OCs while simultaneously inactivating bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens responsible for infectious diseases in contaminated drinking water. Experience obtained from studies with the new apparatus and different types of treatment systems will be used to develop a miniaturized prototype of the RTP, with the main goal of creating an inexpensive, robust sensor for monitoring trace OCs and the performance of water treatment systems. These objectives, once accomplished, should have important societal impacts by helping to decrease the toxicity of industrial effluents and sewage that are contaminating drinking water supplies and increasing the likelihood that infectious diseases will be spread. The team's results should also provide analytical and technical support to the nation’s water systems and help to involve stakeholders in efforts to improve water quality and the sustainability of drinking water availability.
Final Summary of Project Activities
Over the last 5 years, the research outcomes of this project exceeded all expectations at many levels. Below are the main achievements showing the PEER program impacts on research development, student and faculty career progress, and benefits to society:
1. Capacity Building
PI Ghauch’s laboratory benefited from exceptional capacity building by purchasing standard analytical heavy instruments necessary to sustain research development within WASH topics such as chromatography, COD and BOD analyzers along with spectrometers. Moreover, a very advanced iCCD detector was acquired for the detection of very low signals emitted by water pollutants upon excitation with UV light. This part was the most innovative one as the team created a new instrument with its autosampler fully developed in house. The apparatus is versatile and the team can build on new ideas to make it more performant by changing in the excitation source, the sample holder, and the acquisition time to tackle species having very low lifetime under UV excitation.
2. Student Training
Many undergraduate and graduate students received training on cutting edge chromatography techniques with high sensitivity detection using diode array detector for absorbance measurements and Photomultiplier for fluorescence measurements. The laboratory became one of the most solicited laboratories by graduate students asking to perform research and prepare their Master’s degrees. Moreover, students who worked on the project received many awards from both AUB and internationally after obtaining PhDs in North America. The rate of acceptance of project students for PhDs abroad was 100% based on their record as attested by the peer-reviewed publications they co-authored with the PI in international high impact journals such as Chemical Engineering Journal (IF 12.312).
3. New Research Topics
The PEER grant allowed the project team through additional investigation to introduce a new research topic to the laboratory in the field of forensic science. The team succeeded in patenting an innovative instrument called SACOS capable of detecting counterfeiting in documentations, especially banknotes, visas, and passports. This had also a very positive impact on the PI who added knowledge to his career of Professor of Chemistry and environmental sciences dealing with entrepreneurship and possibility of commercialization of new products.
4. International Recognition
The latest worldwide classification of researcher across the globe by Stanford University at California placed PI Ghauch at the top 2% of cited researchers in the field of environmental sciences. This classification was entirely based on the publications that emerged from PEER projects since 2012 (PEER 1-84 and PEER 5-18). Many of these papers received the label of highly cited papers as per Clarivate Web of Science putting them at top 1% in their field. Results were published in more than 10 papers in specialized high impact journals. PEER results were disseminated at more than 10 international conferences mainly the National Meetings of the American Chemical Society. Moreover, PEER results were also presented in local and regional conferences and symposia such as the Arab-American Frontiers, a program developed and implemented by the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine for the Arab countries.
5. Impactful Research Topic
The PI addressed a very important issue not yet solved in Lebanon about industrial waste water. The results obtained on actual industrial effluents showed high potential for decontamination at low cost. The advanced oxidation technology developed and based on persulfate chemistry was validated and promoted across end users and funding agencies. This facilitated the obtainment of additional grants such as the Stakeholder Analysis and Stakeholder Engagement Plan funded by USAID through RTAC. This grant was crucial to draw a road map for the PI in order to better implement PEER outcomes. Moreover, the PI received the support of USAID through MEPI TLP Tomorrow’s Leaders College to Work Pipeline program. This grant is under implementation and will produce a demonstration prototype serving as minimum viable product to be considered by stakeholders for potential funding toward scaling up.
6. Stakeholder Attraction
The PEER award was a catalyst for stakeholder attraction because of the excellent outcomes of the hot topics addressed such as the improvement of the quality of drinking water through drinking water supplies preservation and decontamination. Moreover, counterfeiting detection topic attracted a large audience in view of its application at large scale to solve as well the problem of corruption in Lebanon and other countries around the world.
7. Leverage of Research Funds
The PEER award induced additional funding for the laboratory to complement the research development in terms of instrumental analysis and pilot plant construction for industrial waste water decontamination. For example, over the last 5 years, the PEER grant added about $180k to increase the lab capabilities which opened the way toward new field of investigation and additional knowledge that will serve AUB students at the undergraduate and graduate level as well.
8. Personal Career Development
On the personal level, the PI believes that PEER awards 1-84 and 5-18 contributed the most to his career advancement especially in 2019 when he was promoted to the rank of full professor with tenure based on research, teaching, and services. Most of these indicators are closely connected to PEER awards and the high potential that this grant is bringing through collaboration with the USG partner. Moreover, through funding conferences abroad, PEER improved his international connections that enlarged his research network toward future potential common grant applications to international funding agencies.
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