My research explores the characteristics of the complex microbial community associated with the control of environmental pollutants, with the aim to develop and improve the technology for treating (and resource recovery from) industrial and municipal wastes and wastewaters.
Currently:
Chair of Water & Environmental Engineering
Director, Postgraduate Environmental Education (Environmental Engineering)
Co-Director, Urban Water Technology Centre
Active research projects address the following themes:
• Biofuel production from aquatic macrophytes
• Seaweed anaerobic digestion
• Identification, fate and remediation of persistent organic carbon in municipal wastewater sludges
• Municipal waste management in developing countries
• Anaerobic digestion (biogas production) of biodegradable organic residues and sludges
1. Akunna J.C. (2018). Anaerobic Waste-Wastewater Treatment and Biogas Plants: A Practical Handbook. ISBN 0815346395, 9780815346395. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group.
2. Kuzmanova, E., Zhelev, N. and Akunna, J.C. (2018). Effect of liquid nitrogen pre-treatment on various types of wool fibres for biogas production. Heliyon 4, 5, 11 p., e00619
3. Akunna, J. C., O’Keeffe, K. and Allan, R (2017). Reviewing factors affecting the effectiveness of decentralised domestic wastewater treatment systems for phosphorus and pathogen removal. Desalination and Water Treatment 91, 40-47
4. Al Qarni, H., Collier, P., O’Keeffe, J. and Akunna J. (2016). Investigating the removal of some pharmaceutical compounds in hospital wastewater treatment plants operating in Saudi Arabia. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 23(13), 13003-13014
5. Akunna J.C. (2015). Anaerobic treatment of brewery wastes. In, Brewing Microbiology: Managing Microbes, Ensuring Quality and Valorising Waste. A.E. Hill. (Ed). Woodhead Publishing, Elsevier, Cambridge, United Kingdom. ISBN 978-1-782-42331-7, 407-424.
