Research

Research Philosophy

Over the past decade, there were numerous new discoveries of human and environmental health risk factors associated with human activities and/or disturbances to the environmental ecosystem. An example is the disposal of contaminants of emerging concerns (CECs) such as pharmaceuticals, personal care products, pesticides, and other endocrine disrupting compounds into receiving environments. For the future, Dr. Gamal El-Din envisions advanced water and wastewater treatment technologies will successfully minimize, and hopefully eliminate, these human and environmental health risks. He strongly believes that the water and wastewater advanced treatment systems will rely heavily on the use of advanced oxidation technologies, membrane technologies, as well as on hybrid systems. The main goal of his research is to protect and sustain the ecosystem and public health. Dr. Gamal El-Din strongly believes that the current environmental and sustainability issues cannot be dealt with a single group of people having the same expertise. Instead, these issues should be handled with multidisciplinary collaborative research work that involves individuals with different backgrounds and expertise. Dr. Gamal El-Din’s multidisciplinary approach to research include the collaborations of experts in the areas of microbiology, biochemistry, analytical chemistry, public health sciences, chemical engineering, material engineering, and mechanical engineering in their relationships to environmental science and engineering. 

Research highlights:

• February 2022: Dr. Gamal El-Din’s research on electro-oxidation and solar-based photocatalysis was highlighted in an article titled “Sun, water, and chemistry”, posted on the Future Energy Systems Newsletter. The article focused on the work of Dr. Soliu Ganiyu and Ph.D. students Lingjun Meng and Monsuru Suara (https://www.futureenergysystems.ca/news/post/sun-water-and-chemistry).

• December 2021: Dr. Gamal El-Din was interviewed by Global News Radio, Edmonton on the potential release of oil sands tailings water on the environment (630 CHED Afternoons with J’lyn Nye” on December 9, 2021).

• December 2021: Dr. Gamal El-Din was interviewed by Radio Cité on the treatment of oil sands tailings water and their possible release, December 7, 2021.

• December 2021: Dr. Gamal El-Din was interviewed by Energi Media on the treatment of oil sands tailings water and their possible release to the environment, December 7, 2021.

• December 2021: Dr. Gamal El-Din was interviewed by CBC New on the treatment of oil sands tailings water (“Banned for Decades, Releasing Oilsands Tailings Water is Now on the Horizon” by Kyle Bakx, December 06, 2021, https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bakx-oilsands-tailings-release-mining-effluent-regulations-1.6271537).

• August 2021: Collaborative work with Tsinghua University on “Bifunctional Fe for Induced Graphitization and Catalytic Ozonation Based on a Fe/N-Doped Carbon–Al2O3 Framework: Theoretical Calculations Guided Catalyst Design and Optimization” published in Environmental Science & Technology was featured as the front cover of August 17, 2021 issue (volume 55, issue 16; https://pubs.acs.org/toc/esthag/55/16).

• October 2020: Dr. Gamal El-Din was interviewed by the CIM Magazine to discuss his research project on biofiltration for oil sands process water (“Actively Looking for a Passive Approach” by Lynn Greiner, October 01, 2020, https://magazine.cim.org/en/environment/actively-looking-for-a-passive-approach-en/?utm_source=LI&utm_medium=LI&utm_campaign=LI).

• January 2020: Dr. Gamal El-Din was interviewed by the Canadian Energy Center in Toronto to discuss his article published in the University of Alberta Folio Website on the biofiltration of oil sands process water (https://www.canadianenergycentre.ca/new-research-adding-tools-for-cleanup-of-oil-sands-waste-water/).

• December 2019: Dr. Gamal El-Din was interviewed by Ms. Danielle Smith for her Radio Talk Show (Edmonton) on his article published in Folio (biofiltration of oil sands process water as an alternative to decontaminate process water).

• November 2019: Interview in CBC Edmonton Radio to discuss treatment of oil sands process water using biofiltration and oxidation.

• October 2019: Featured in the University of Alberta Folio Website to highlight Dr. Gamal El-Din’s research in the area of oil sands process water treatment using biofiltration.

• April 2018: Paper on “A New Compartmental Model for Describing the Mixing Behaviour in a Multi-Transversal Jet Reactor” by B. Nandi, P. Chelme-Ayala, M. Loewen and M. Gamal El-Din was awarded 2018’s CSCE Thomas C. Keefer Medal, Canadian Society of Civil Engineering.

• September 2017: Featured in Edmonton Journal to highlight Dr. Gamal El-Din’s research in the area of oil sands tailings water treatment.

• June 2017: The paper “Impact of environmental conditions on bacterial photoreactivation in wastewater effluents” was selected by the handling Editor as one of the top 10% of papers published in Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts. This selection was based on the exceptionally positive referee reports that the manuscript received during peer review, along with the Editor’s assessment of the significance and impact of the paper.

• March 2017: First Place Best Poster Competition at Annual Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE) Graduate Student Poster Competition, Edmonton, Alberta, March 16, 2017 (“Carbon Xerogel Material for the Adsorption of Naphthenic Acids” by Y. Rashed, S. Messele, H. Zeng., and M. Gamal El-Din).

• December 2016: Paper on "Transcriptional Responses of Male Fathead Minnows Exposed to Oil Sands Process-Affected Water", Comp. Phyiol. Biochem. C, Pharm. Toxicol., 157(2), 227-235 (2013) by Wiseman, S., Y. He, M. Gamal El-Din, J.W. Martin, P.D. Jones, M. Hecker, and J.P. Giesy was acknowledged by the Editors of Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part C as one of the most highly cited papers during 2014, 2015 and up until June 2016. 

• September 2014: Second Place Best Poster Competition at the Helmholtz Alberta Initiative (HAI) 4th Science Forum, Edmonton, Alberta, September 29, 2014 (“Evaluation of Adsorption and Biodegradation Mechanisms of NAs in a Simultaneous Adsorption and Biodegradation Treatment of OSPW” by Islam, M.S., Y. Zhang, K.N. McPhedran, Y. Liu, and M. Gamal El-Din). 

• April 2013: Featured on Spotlight section of Applied and Environmental Microbiology to highlight paper on “Kinetics of Ozone Inactivation of Infectious Prion Protein”. 

• April 2013: First Place Best Poster Competition, at the 2013 Air and Waste Management Association, Canadian Prairie & Northern Section (CPANS) Conference, Edmonton, Alberta, April 15-16, 2013 (“The Application of Exfoliated Graphite for the Remediation of OSPW” by Moustafa, A., S. Kang and M. Gamal El-Din). 

• June 2012: Second Place for Outstanding Paper, Graduate Student Paper Competition at the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE) 2012 Annual Conference, 12th International Environmental Specialty Conference, Edmonton, Alberta, June 6-9, 2012 (“Coagulation/Flocculation/Sedimentation Treatment of the Oil Sands Process Affected Water” by Pourrezaei, P., Y. Wang, L.A. Pérez-Estrada, J.W. Martin, and M. Gamal El-Din).

• March 2012: Award for Student Poster Competition at the Canadian Oil Sands Network for Research and Development (CONRAD) 2012 Water Conference and Workshops, Edmonton, Alberta, March 21-22, 2012 (“Coagulation/Flocculation/Sedimentation Treatment of Oil Sands Process Affected Water” by Pourrezaei, P., L.A. Pérez-Estrada, J. Anderson, S. Wiseman, K. Liber, J.P. Giesy, J.W. Martin, and M. Gamal El-Din). 

• August 2005: Best Student Research Paper Presentation at the International Ozone Association (IOA) 17th World Congress, Strasbourg, France, August 22-25, 2005 ("The Use of PIV/PLIF to Study the Liquid-Phase Backmixing in an Impinging-Jet Ozone Bubble Column" by Baawain, M., M. Gamal El-Din, and D.W. Smith).

Previous research projects: 

• Ozonation of pulp mill effluents;

• Swine liquid manure treatment;

• Modeling of ozone reactors for water and wastewater treatment;

• Characterization of gas-liquid flows using the phase Doppler anemometry, the particle image velocimetry, and photographic techniques;

• Advanced oxidation treatment of landfill leachates;

• Kinetic study of the fast reactions during the ozonation of resin and fatty acids;

• Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of chlorine contact chambers;

• Artificial neural network modeling of activated sludge systems;

• Artificial neural network modeling of atmospheric ground-level ozone and particulate matter (PM2.5) in urban and rural atmospheric environments;

• Effects of natural processes and anthropogenic activities on ambient air quality;

• Physical and chemical treatment of liquid swine manure;

• Land application of liquid swine manure for biological treatment;

• Application of artificial neural networks and time series techniques for modeling the effects of forest fires and harvesting on rivers and streams’ water quality; 

• Development of alternative techniques for modeling and predicting odour generated in animal feeding facilities.

• Fast kinetics and treatability studies on the application of ozonation and advanced oxidation processes for the degradation of estrogenic endocrine disrupting compounds;

• Fast kinetics and treatability studies on the application of ozonation and advanced oxidation processes for the destruction of cyanobacteria toxins and endocrine disrupters;

• Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of water treatment systems;

• Ambient and indoor air quality monitoring in Fort McKay and Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. 

• Application of laser measurement techniques and advanced modeling techniques such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and artificial neural networks (ANN) modeling techniques for the optimization of water and wastewater treatment processes; 

• Fast kinetics/treatment mechanisms and treatability studies on the application of ozonation and advanced oxidation processes for the degradation of micropollutants such as cyanobacteria toxins and endocrine disrupting compounds, among others.