A 3rd year Ph.D. candidate currently residing in Aberdeen, fully dedicated to supporting Clean Water
(SDG 6) and Climate Action (SDG 13).
As a person who has participated in 30+ national and international conferences about clean water,
water management, and climate action, I gained excellent technical skills in fields of wastewater
treatment, dark fermentation, anaerobic digestion, and biofuel production. I also grew my network
of like-minded people who are eager to put all their potential to engage youth in community support
and empowerment.
My professional experience to date proves that I have excellent research, laboratory, analysis, and
reporting expertise. In addition, my diverse social, volunteering, and community engagements in
IWA, SFG, and the Energy Transition Society among others have provided me the opportunity to
effectively contribute to facing the global climate crisis leading me to acquire well-rounded skills in
communication, problem-solving, organization, and public speaking.
My goal now is to capitalize on my knowledge and capabilities to improve the sustainable
development of the water sector and provide clean water equally for everyone.
Rita Noelle is a PhD student in Chemical Engineering at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. She is investigating the production of valuable chemicals, energy and organic fertilizer from municipal wastewaters and organic waste. The study will focus on the anaerobic digestion of municipal wastewaters and organic waste, using anaerobic mixed microbial culture. The performance of the process will be assessed by measuring hydrogen, methane, volatile fatty acids, and alcohol’s yield. The material remaining or digestate will be tested on a suite of soil using a range of bio-assays-microbial, process-level and plant-based.
Previously, Rita Noelle has studied Biochemistry (B.A., 2014) and a Professional Applied Microbiology (MSc, 2016), at the Lebanese University in Lebanon. During her final year project, she studied the impact of tertiary wastewater treatment for the removal of pharmaceutical products by the newest technologies, on microbial biodiversity. She was supervised by Dr Claude Daou (Lebanese University, Lebanon) in association with Aix-Marseille University, France and Cadi Ayyad University, Morocco. The project was financed by the Agency of the French University (AUF) – Middle East Office (BMO). Then, she pursued a Research Master’s degree in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (MSc, 2018) at the University of Sheffield, England. Her master’s project focused on the investigation of the Biotechnological and Industrial Purposes of Galdieria sulphuraria, an extremophile green microalga”. She was supervised by Pr. Jim Gilmour. Also, she worked as an intern at the Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute where she conducted soil analysis on different types of soil all over Lebanon and fertilizer analysis. On the community level, she participated in university societies and engaged in several community projects.
I am currently doing my PhD in the Conversion of wastewaters and organic waste into valuable chemicals, energy and organic fertilizers (2019 – present)
I have worked on two short projects, at the University of Aberdeen as a Research Assistant, entitled:
"Biohydrogen production from organic waste", funded by the department for Business Energy Industrial Strategy BEIS (2022 – 2023)
"Biohydrogen production from food waste, municipal wastewaters, and digestate quality" funded by ETP (2022)
Hydrogen production from Biomass and Organic Waste Using Dark Fermentation: An Analysis of Literature Data on the Effect of Operating Parameters on Process Performance (MDPI processes)
