The Master Dissertation is an integrated part of the IMETE Master Programme and is credited at 30 ECTS. All students are doing thesis work during their last semester in one of the 3 IMETE Consortium partners or IMETE associated partners.

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Master Dissertation topics researched in 2019-2021 are:

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• Bioconversion of biogas into PHAs

• Multifunctional nanocomposites for environmental applications

• Quantifying nanoplastics in environmental samples using gold-gelatine nanoparticles in combination with Single Particle ICP-MS

• Enhancing the rate of anaerobic digestion of micro-algae grown on wastewater: effect of in-situ generated natural enzymes

• Algal-bacterial bioreactors for gas treatment

• Removal of chloride/sulphate from brine/wastewater using physicochemical treatment technologies

• Fate of biomass inorganic elements during hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) – towards process optimization for added-value recovery of both biochar and liquid products

• Evaluation of the microwave (MW) drying performance of septage sludge with and without UF membrane filtration as a pre-treatment

• Assessing the potential of purple non-sulfur bacteria for the simultaneous treatment of brewery wastewater and recovery of nutrients using a raceway reactor

• Removal of antibiotics from digestate liquor

• The effect of temperature on the removal of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes in anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge

• Investigation of new types of bio-oxidation filters for the removal of residual landfill gas

• Influence of thermal hydrolysis on dewaterability of digested sludge

• Investigation of cis-1,2-dichloroethylene (cDCE) cometabolism in selected bacteria through genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic data analysis.

• Optimization of purple non-sulphur bacteria grown from brewery wastewater for organic substrate application to maximize plant nutrient uptake via mineralization to organic substrate

• Influence of temperature on quantitativeladderane composition of “Candidatus Brocadia”

• Effect of pH on product selectivity in xylose conversion with open-mixed culture anaerobic fermentation

• Understanding the conversion of organic waste  into   chemicals   by  open   mixed- culture anaerobic fermentations

• Developing  the  roadmap  for  phosphorus recovery    from    wastewater    treatment plants through mass balancing and plant-wide simulation

• Enhanced removal of hydrophobic volatile organic compounds in biofilters

• Selective recovery of valuable metals in ion exchange and sorption technologies

• Removal of fluoride from drinking water using biochar

• Recycling Zinc/Copper-biofortified crop as an alternative to animal feed additives

• Improving short term predictions of drinking water demand in Flanders for more stable and energy efficient water production

• Total Value Wall: grey water treatment and recycling by means of a green wall

• Electrochemical Oxidation of Ammonia to Nitrogen for Wastewater Treatment

• Valorisation of residual biomass from pulp industry by a novel thermochemical conversion method.

• Optimization of biogas production in a thermophilic dry anaerobic digestion plant treating household food waste from 72 localities in the south of Belgium

• Use of biochar for controlling the uptake of cadmium and other toxic elements in crops

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Master Dissertation topics researched in 2018-2020 are:

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• Air quality in underground parking garages

• Techno-economic assessment on small-scale co-digestion of animal manure and organic waste in veterinary sector

• Effect of temperature on removal of chlroroethenes from groundwater by peroxydisulfate activated with citric acid chelated ferrous iron

• Comparative assessment of recent short-range air dispersion modelling

• Effect of biochar on heavy metal immobilisation in contaminated soil

• Kinetic analysis and modeling of a pilot-scale iron electrocoagulation process: a case study from Evides

• Unsteady friction computation in hydraulic commercial software

• Analysis of the performance of a commercial software forpipe burst detection

• Perspectives on the cultivation of industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) on heavy metal contaminated soil for phytoremediation and fibre production

• Flavonoids as inducers of transcription of bphA genes in soil bacterium Rhodococcus sp. WAY2

• Removal and recovery of selenium from wastewater: current status and future prospects

• Removal of pharmaceuticals from recycled grey water using nano-TiO2 photocatalysis

• Thermal plasma decomposition of special types of waste streams

• Biological conversion of energetic gases to biomethane

• Competition between anaerobic ammonia oxidizing bacteria and heterotrophic denitrifiers under thermophilic conditions for nitrogen removal from wastewater

• Fundamentals and application of sulfate radical based advanced oxidation processes for removal of organic micropollutants in water: focus on the ozone-PMS process

• Towards resource recovery by modelling an organic waste digestion reject water treatment process

• A novel way of water reuse in a decentralized waste water treatment system, applicable in the city of the future

• Potential of the biochar derived from agricultural waste residues for peat replacement in horticultural growing mediums

• Assessment of sustainable technologies for pig manure valorisation – a meta-analysis

• Interactions of biochar with metal mobility in soils and uptake by plants

• Chromium removal for the reuse of salts in the chemical industry

• Simulating and evaluating the effects of fecal sludge on the formation and performance  of Aerobic Granular Sludge lab scale reactor

• Evaluation of anaerobic digester side stream treatment alternatives using a biological process model

• Developing a biological model to predict filamentous bulking in the Fuhais wastewater treatment plant

• Modeling the anaerobic digestion of microalgae biomass grown on wastewater: impact of reactor configuration on methane production

• screening of biochar produced at different temperature to remove metals in water

• Development and modelling of immobilized algal-bacterial consortia for nitrogen removal from wastewater. 

• Valorizing driftwood from waste to an anode in sodium ion batteries

• Bacterial laccase for the degradation of recalcitrant COD in pulp and paper industrial effluent

• Coupling anaerobic digestion with hydrothermal carbonization towards waste valorisation and bioenergy production: Potential anaerobic digestion enhancement by using hydrochars as additives 

 

Examples of Master Dissertation topics researched in 2011-2015 are:

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• Anamox bacteria in wastewater treatment systems

• Methane oxidizing and sulphate reducing bacterial consortia in deep sea sediments

• Oil spill electroremediation 

• Advanced oxidation processes for the removal of pharmaceutical residues in water

• Life Cycle Assessment: Coupling Environmental Damage and Human Health Benefits Caused by Pharmaceutical Production Processes

• Biohydrogen production from microalgae: pretreatment evaluation

• Nutrient recovery from agricultural waste streams 

• Phytoremediation of landfill leachate using tropical native plants

• Removal of volatile organic compounds with fungi and its characterisation

• Statistical evaluation of data from FISH analysis

• Sustainable treatment of municipal wastewater through autotrophic nitrogen removal in granular sludge reactors

• Usage of immobilized microorganisms for oil spills removal

• Use of biochar for environmental remediation of contaminated soils

• Optimal strategy to enhance biohydrogen production

• Biodegradation of crude oil and chemical dispersants in Arctic seawater

• Can we remove nanoparticles from drinking water using conventional treatment techniques?

• Development of carbon nanotube based drinking water desinfection method

• Treatment of gold mine wastewater tailings

• Bacteria associated with biodegradation of persistent organic pollutants in soils and sediments

• Soil quality changes of terra preta amended agricultural soils

• Algae production for cosmetics: environmental life cycle assessment and economic life cycle costing 

• Characterization of bacteria associated with plant species naturally growing in the long-term contaminated soils

• Steering production and recovery of chemicals from spent broths

• Comparison of biogas production rate at mesophilic and thermophilic sludge digestion

• Kinetics of metal precipitation

• Pharmaceuticals: environmental sustainability of chemical and pharmaceutical processes, a cradle-to-gate analysis 

• Energy recovery from sewage in Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor (AnMBR)

• Biogas up-grading by photosynthetic microorganisms 

• Modelling of denitrifying gaslift bioreactors

• Bacteria and their functional genes involved in the bio/rhizodegradation of aromatic pollutants 

• Hydrogen production from microalgae fermentation

• Fate of micropollutants in wetlands used for wastewater treatment 

• Chemicals from biomass: understanding complex substrates for high-value fermentation 

• Recovery of metals from acidic, metal contaminated waste streams

• Microbial community fingerprinting of anaerobic granular sludge