University Calendar
Addressing environmental issues in the solid waste industry
Research will be presented to demonstrate the application of biological, chemical and physical approaches to solve environmental problems in the solid waste industry. Landfill leachate is preferably transported to publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) for disposal, however it quenches UV light strongly. As many POTWs are switching from chlorination to UV light as the disinfection method of choice, landfill leachate can interfere with the UV disinfection at POTWs. Identification and characterization studies were conducted for the UV quenching substances in landfill leachate, and treatment technologies were proposed.
About Dr. Renzun Zhao, Columbia University/DC water and sewer authority
Dr. Renzun Zhao is an associate research scientist in the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia University. He obtained his B.Sc. degree in Water supply and Drainage engineering from Harbin Institute of Technolgy and his Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering from Virginia Tech. He has research and industrial experience in various aspects of sustainable urban infrastructure, such as biogas purification, industrial waste treatment, municipal wastewater treatment and biosolids treatment.