Events Calendar

Astani CEE Department Seminar

Speaker: Tom Hennebel , University of California, Berkeley

Talk Title: Biogenic nanoparticles: the Holy Grail in wastewater treatment?

Abstract: During the last decades there has been a considerable expansion in the use of precious metals in medicine, electronics, and catalysis. Among the precious metals, platinum group metals (PGMs) have demonstrated their ability to serve as highly efficient catalysts and are currently being widely applied in the fields aforementioned. Their limited supply, however, has caused extreme price volatility ($ 26,000 per kg Pd in January 2014). Therefore, recovery of PGMs from waste streams is highly desired and presents an interesting opportunity to convert waste into valuable products. One of the options to reclaim precious metals from wastewaters, e.g. originating from the mining or refining industries, is the application of bio-metallurgical processes. New biological inspired methods were recently developed to recover precious metals from waste streams while concomitantly producing biogenic nanoparticles. The first part of the presentation aims to give an overview of the bacterial mechanisms responsible for these bioreductive depositions. Furthermore, the applicability and efficiency of these biogenically created nanoparticles will be compared as alternatives to currently applied (physico-)chemical techniques.

The subsequent part of the presentation will focus on the application side of these nanoparticles. The effective performance of biogenic nanoparticles as catalysts in dehalogenation reactions, as well as in hydrogenation and reduction reactions, will be discussed. Dehalogenation of environmental water contaminants represents a promising market for application of biogenic Pd nanoparticles (bio-Pd), therefore, several treatment technologies based on bio-Pd are considered for various environmental disciples. Finally, the perspectives for implementation of the bio-Pd technology and innovative applications, such as C-C coupling reactions and direct hydrogen peroxide production, are set forward.


Biography: Dr. Tom Hennebel is a current postdoctoral researcher working for David Sedlak at the University of California, Berkeley. He obtained his Bachelor's degree in bio-engineering at the University of Antwerp, Belgium followed by his Master's degree and Doctorate in bio-engineering at Ghent University, Belgium under the supervision of Willy Verstraete. Subsequently, he began his postdoctoral research on bio-electrochemical systems with Korneel Rabaey before joining David Sedlak's research group at Berkeley.

His research interests include 1) removal and recovery of metals from waste streams using bio-metallurgy 2) wastewater treatment using biogenic nanoparticles as catalysts and 3) microbial electrochemical technology for metal recovery and contaminant removal.


Host: Astani CEE Department

Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Cassie Cremeans