Dr. Abdul Chaudhary

Qualifications

• 2002 – 2004 PGCert Brunel University, West London, UK
• 1987 – 1990 PhD City University, London, UK
• 1984 – 1986 MSc University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
• 1981 – 1983 BSc University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

Career

• 2002 - Present Lecturer, Institute for the Environment, Brunel University, West London, UK
• 1998 – 2002 Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Brunel University, West London, UK
• 1996 – 1997 Environmental Consultant, United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), Nuclear Institute for Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering (NIBGE), Pakistan
• 1991 – 1995 Research Fellow, Department of Chemistry, Brunel University
• 1986 – 1987 Research Officer, Ministry of Education, Islamabad, Pakistan

Research Projects

Development of Clean and Clean-up Technologies
I have been intensively involved in environmental science research and consultancy work. The main aim of my research work is to develop and optimise both clean and clean-up technologies for environmental pollution control.

Clean Technologies
The development of clean process technologies involves the optimisation and improved control of chemical reactions in existing processes and development of new processes to achieve environmentally clean reactions. This research work has led to the development of at least three commercially viable clean technology processes by controlling the emissions of toxic pollutants into the environment.  Some of these clean process technologies are now being used on industrial scales in the UK and abroad. Key areas include:

• Development of 'state of the art' clean process technology for selective metal removal and recovery
• Development of membrane systems appropriate for selective metal recovery and recycle
• Development of methods for the recovery of added-value chemicals from waste to eliminate or minimise the hazardous component
• Use of physical and chemical methods to concentrate harmful or valueless components from secondary metal waste arisings
• Development and use of ionic liquids in metal recovery and recycle

Clean-up Technologies
The introduction of new stringent environmental regulations means that industries are now being forced to comply with the strict discharge consent levels for both solid wastes and industrial effluent streams. The research carried out under this heading involves the development and optimisation of novel environmental clean-up technologies to remove toxic organic and inorganic pollutants from solid wastes and effluent streams to meet new consent levels. This research work involves the physical and chemical treatment of industrial effluent streams originating from textile, leather, petrochemical, pharmaceutical and chemical industries for the protection of the environment. This research work has led to the development of two patents for the control of environmental pollution. Key areas include:

• Development of clean-up technologies for metal removal and recovery
• Waste minimisation through recycling of materials from industrial and end-of-life wastes
• Development of clean-up technologies to remove dyes from textile effluent streams
• Photo-assisted electrochemical destruction of organic pollutants
• Separation and characterisation of intermediates formed during destruction of organic pollutants
• Determination of kinetics and mechanisms of degradation processes

Grants Awarded

Higher Education Commission (HEC) and British Council (BC), Pakistan in collaboration with Mr Suhail Soomro, Mehran University, Pakistan
Waste Treatment and Management. £35,000
December 2007 – December 2009

EPSRC RAIS (GR/R54958/01 in collaboration with Professor Grimes (PI) and Professor John Donaldson
Chemical reclamation of material from Aluminium furnace residue. £29,605
April 2001 – March 2003

EPSRC/DTI Link (GR/L96189) in collaboration with Professor Grimes (PI) and Professor John Donaldson
Chemical reclamation of material from Aluminium furnace residue. £129,140
September 1998 – March 2001

Awards

My research work on the development and optimisation of clean and clean-up technologies has led to the sponsoring companies (BEWT (Water Engineers) Limited and JBM International Ltd.) achieving the Queen’s Award for Environmental Achievement.

Postdoctoral Researchers

Dr Mushtaq Ali Jakharani (June 2009 – February 2010)
Funded by the Higher Education Commission, Pakistan
Dr Jakharani is currently working as an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry, Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, Pakistan. Dr Jakharani’s research project is concerned with the development of clean-up technologies to remove metals and organic pollutants from aqueous effluent streams.

Dr. Venkatesa Prabhu (June 2007 – August 2007)
Funded by the World Bank through a scheme called Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQUIP).
Dr Prabhu is currently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology, Deemed University, India. During his stay at Brunel University, Dr Prabhu worked on the development and optimisation of recycling technologies to recover metals from industrial effluent streams by complexing them with organic ligands and isolating them as solid metal complexes. These recycling technologies have the ability to combat some of the environmental pollution problems associated with various chemical industries in India.

Postgraduate Researchers

First Supervisor

Saboor Javaid, Pakistan High Commission
Development and optimisation of treatment technologies for environmental pollution control (awarded PhD in 2007)

Karima Massaud Abouamer, Libyan Government
Application of natural dyes in textile industry and the treatment of dye solutions using electrolytic techniques (awarded PhD in 2008)

Hallo Mustafa Askari, EPSRC
Studies of leaching, recovery and recycling of heavy metals (awarded PhD in 2008)

Neelam Zia, Self funded
Extraction and application of natural dyes in textile industry and their electrolytic decolourization (awarded MPhil in 2009)

Romain Faivre, Institute for the Environment, Brunel University
The use of room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) for materials recovery from solid wastes

Second Supervisor

Publications

• Chaudhary, A,J., Hassan, M-ul-., and Grimes, S.M. (2009). Simultaneous recovery of metals and degradation of organic species: Copper and 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T). J. Hazard. Mater., 165, 825-831.
• Lateef, H., Grimes, S.M., Chaudhary, A.J., and Goswami, N.C. (2009). Opportunity to recycle chromium(VI) by in situ electro-oxidation. J. Chem. Technol. Biotechnol., 84, 584-588.
• Chaudhary, A.J., and Grimes, S.M. (2008). A combined photolytic–electrolytic system for the simultaneous recovery of copper and degradation of phenol or 4-chlorophenol in mixed solutions. Chemosphere, 72, 1636-1642.
• Chen, C.C., Chaudhary, A.J., and Grimes, S.M. (2007). The effect of sodium hydroxide in photolytic and photocatalytic degradation of Acid Blue 29 and Ethyl Violet. Dyes and Pigments, 73, 55-58.
• Chaudhary, A.J., Grimes, S.M., and Ganguli, B. (2005). The regeneration and recycle of chromium etching solutions using concentrator cell membrane technology. Chemosphere, 62, 841-846.
• Farooq, R., Wang, Y., Lin, F., Shaukat, S.F., Donaldson, J. D., and Chaudhary, A.J. (2002). Effect of ultrasound on the removal of copper from the model solutions for copper electrolysis process. Water Research, 3165-3169.

Teaching

I have been programme leader on the Legislation and Management course since 2004. I am also module leader for a 30-credit specialist module, Environmental Monitoring, which is a part of our modular postgraduate programme, Environmental Science: Pollution and Monitoring. In addition, I deliver lectures to cover some selective topics for 4 modules namely: Research and Critical Skills (IE5511), Integrated Pollution (IE5508), Environmental Management (IE5509) and Principles of Sustainable Development (ME5518).

External Duties

I regularly serve as external examiners for MPhil and PhD awards. I also review manuscripts for various scientific journals, for example, Environmental Science and Technology, Separation Science, Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, Separation Science and Technology, Applied Electrochemistry, Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research and Environmental Chemistry Letters.