POPULAR SCIENCE UNESCO-IHE carries out many research projects and produces many written research outputs, such as conference proceedings, peer-reviewed papers, PhD theses, book chapters, and complete textbooks. The editors of UPDATE would like to share some of its recent research output with a broader audience. For this edition, we have selected work by Victor Yangali et al., for which we have received a large number of citations in a relatively short period. Victor, one of UNESCOIHE’s former PhD students, successfully defended his PhD thesis in early 2010 and currently holds a postdoctoral position at King Abdullah University for Science and Technology in Thuwal, Kingdom of Saudi-Arabia. Authors: Victor Yangali-Quintanilla, Anwar Sadmani, Megan McConville, Maria Kennedy and Gary Amy Published in: Water Research, 44 (2010), pp. 373-384. Predicting rejection of emerging contaminants by nanofi ltration membranes Nanofiltration and reverse osmosis are technologies used to filter water to remove micropollutants (pharmaceuticals, endocrine disruptors, pesticides, and other organic compounds). Understanding the physico-chemical properties of compounds and membrane characteristics can help explain the transport, adsorption, and removal of micropollutants by diverse mechanisms, such as size exclusion, hydrophobic adsorption and partitioning, and electrostatic repulsion. Some researchers have proposed a mechanistic understanding of the interaction between membranes and organic compounds; others have tried to apply fitting parameter models for the purpose of modelling rejection. However, only a few models have been developed for the purpose of predicting the rejection of compounds.To expand the ‘toolbox’ in this specific area, Yangali and co-workers developed a general Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship (QSAR) model for predicting rejection of emerging contaminants by polyamide nanofiltration membranes. QSAR is a set of statistical methods used to quantify, in this case, rejection by a membrane of emerging contaminants – such as pharmaceuticals and endocrine disruptors – due to the physico-chemical properties of these emerging contaminants, the characteristics of membranes, and membrane operating conditions. The model was constructed with internal 20 experimental data used for training. The result was a relatively simple algorithm, an equation, which was applied to estimate rejection rates for an external dataset comprising different compounds and membranes. The team found that a unified general QSAR equation was able to predict rejection of emerging contaminants during nanofiltration. The most important physico-chemical properties influencing rejection were the partitioning coefficient (logD), equivalent molecular width, molecular depth, and molecular length. The most important membrane characteristic was the molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) size. It must be noted that rejection of contaminants may be more difficult to estimate for nanofiltration membranes with a broad MWCO range (pore size and distribution), especially when fouling occurs. Therefore, it might be easier to use the salt rejection parameter instead; a QSAR algorithm for predicting rejection was also developed for such a case. For example, excessive changes in pH affect the ionic speciation of charged compounds, and changes of membrane properties such as charge and pore size due to swelling will also influence the model. Nonetheless, the approach is valid and can be generalized under certain conditions in upscaled nanofiltration applications. It may also be of value for the construction of a model with combined datasets organized in training and testing groups, and provides a basis for further research using multivariate analysis techniques for understanding membrane rejection of organic compounds. victor.yangali@kaust.edu.sa
PUBLICATIONS PhD Dissertations SWITCH PUBLICATIONS The UNESCO-IHE led SWITCH project has set out to achieve more sustainable urban water management in the ‘City of the Future’. With support from the EC through its 6th Framework Programme, a consortium of 33 partners from 15 countries have worked together for five years (2006-2011) to create innovative scientific, technological and socio-economic solutions that can be replicated around the world. The project has produced a wide range of products, including these 6 resources that are free and downloadable from the http://www.switchtraining.eu/ website. SWITCH TRAINING KIT INTEGRATED URBAN WATER MANAGEMENT IN THE CITY OF THE FUTURE ISBN: 978-3-943107-01-2 http://www.switchtraining.eu/ Sustainable Water Management in the City of the Future Findings from the SWITCH Project 2006-2011 ADAPTING URBAN WATER SYSTEMS TO CLIMATE CHANGE A HANDBOOK FOR DECISION MAKERS AT THE LOCAL LEVEL The results of the SWITCH project are presented in a book on “Sustainable Water Management in the City of the Future”, which doubles as the fi nal report on the project. It contains information on how Learning Alliances were set up in the demonstration cities and how they engaged stakeholders in a strategic planning process for the urban water system. Innovative strategic options for urban water management that were developed in the project are presented. The book ends with a self-assessment of the impact made by the project and a list of MSc studies, PhD research and peer reviewed publications. Reference: C.A. Howe, A.M. Duffy, I.K. Smout, J. Butterworth, N. P. van der Steen and K. Vairavamoorthy (2011) SWITCH. Sustainable Water Management in the City of the Future. Findings from the SWITCH project 2006-2011. UNESCOIHE Institute for Water Education. ISBN 978-90-73445-00-0 ISBN: 978-3-943107-10-4 www.adaptationhandbook.org WATER DEMAND MANAGEMENT IN THE CITY OF THE FUTURE SELECTED TOOLS AND INSTRUMENTS FOR PRACTITIONERS ISBN: 978-1-84380-136-8 www.switchurbanwater.eu climate of coastal cooperation ISBN 978-90-75502-09-1 Download the full publication and backgrounds on the www.coastalcooperation.net By 2050 over 75% of the world population will live in large cities in the low lying delta areas of the world. Many publications on climate change, sea level rise and flood risk indicate towards future disasters that seem almost unavoidable. The publication Climate of Coastal Cooperation (CCC), edited by Robbert Misdorp provides information on global experience available to deal with these issues. THE SWITCH TRANSITION MANUAL ISBN: 978-1-899796-23-6 http://www.uwtc.tay.ac.uk WATER SENSITIVE URBAN DESIGN PRINCIPLES AND INSPIRATION FOR SUSTAINABLE STORMWATER MANAGEMENT IN THE CITY OF THE FUTURE ISBN: 978-3-86859-106-4 www.switchurbanwater.eu The publication provides an overview of integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) solutions on the basis of contributions by experts from Europe and South East Asia. The book shows many case studies and approaches leading towards sustainable solutions for large scale, complex and vulnerable urban environments in many different places around the world. The book is also an invitation to countries and governments to use and apply Dutch expertise to protect the economic infrastructure of the new urbanized delta regions of the world. Use of complex scientific theory is avoided, which makes the book very suitable as a source of inspiration for planners and policy makers. www.coastalcooperation.net PhD PUBLICATIONS PARTICULATE AND ORGANIC MATTER FOULING OF SEAWATER REVERSE OSMOSIS SYSTEMS CHARACTERIZATION, MODELLING AND APPLICATIONS THE ECONOMICS OF SUSTAINABLE URBAN WATER MANAGEMENT THE CASE OF BEIJING PREDICTING STORM SURGES CHAOS, COMPUTATIONAL INTELLIGENCE, DATA ASSIMILATION, ENSEMBLES SUSTAINABLE IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT IN THE WHITE VOLTA SUB-BASIN MODELLING MORPHOLOGICAL RESPONSE OF LARGE TIDAL INLET SYSTEMS TO SEA LEVEL RISE s.g. salinas rodríguez xiao liang michael siek eric antwi ofosu pushpa kumara dissanayake Full text versions of most of the UNESCO-IHE PhD dissertations are available through NARCIS. NARCIS provides access to full-text publications and research output from all Dutch universities, KNAW, NWO and a number of scientifi c institutes. www.narcis.info/repositories/repository/unesco | Alternatively you can also purchase the dissertations from www.crcpress.com 21
victor.yangali@kaust.edu.sa, http://www.switchtraining.eu/, http://www.switchtraining.eu/, http://www.adaptationhandbook.org, http://www.switchurbanwater.eu, http://www.coastalcooperation.net, http://www.uwtc.tay.ac.uk, http://www.switchurbanwater.eu, http://www.coastalcooperation.net, http://www.crcpress.com,
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