Dr Helene Kassouf completed her PhD in Environmental Engineering in December 2021.
The overall objective of Helene’s dissertation research is to find sustainable and efficient processes to treat municipal wastewater while maximizing the recovery of resources (clean water, energy, and nutrients). Specific objectives of Helene’s research include (1) Evaluating the performance of currently employed wastewater treatment processes by quantifying the fluxes of nitrogen and phosphorus through mainstream treatment and sludge-handling operations at a local water reclamation facility, (2) Building and assessing a microbial fuel cell, an innovative technology that can generate electricity while simultaneously removing carbon and nitrogen from wastewater streams, and (3) Evaluating phosphorus removal from wastewater using a newly proposed method of “sidestream enhanced biological phosphorus removal” (S2EBPR).