During her PhD studies, Allyson Leigh Junker researched strategies to concrete and degrade harmful organic contaminants, including PFAS and various pharmaceuticals. The conventional treatment technologies available are ineffective at destroying these pollutants. Allyson studied how existing treatment approaches could be integrated in a single technology, the so-called photocatalytic membrane reactor, and how to develop this technology from its basic principles to a proof-of-concept.
The new research findings contribute to the understanding of how persistent organic pollutants can be effectively removed and broken down to produce clean water.

The PhD study was completed at Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University.

This summary was prepared by the PhD student.

Time: Tuesday, 3 December 2024 at 13:00
Place: Building 3130, room 303, Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Aarhus University, Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus
Title of PhD thesis: Development of a Photocatalytic Membrane Reactor for the Degradation of Aqueous Persistent Organic Contaminants
Contact information: Allyson Leigh Junker, e-mail: ajunker@bce.au.dk, tel.: +45 27597678

Members of the assessment committee:
Professor Maria A. M. Reis, Department of Environmental Biotechnology, University NOVA of Lisbon, Portugal

Professor David Waite, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales, Australia

Associate Professor Menglin Chen (chair), Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Aarhus University, Denmark

Main supervisor:
Associate Professor Zongsu Wei, Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Aarhus University, Denmark

Co-supervisor:
Professor Zheng Guo, Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Aarhus University, Denmark

Language: The PhD dissertation will be defended in English

The defense is public.
The PhD thesis is available for reading at the Graduate School of Technical Sciences/GSTS,

Jens Baggesens Vej 53, building 5221, 8200 Aarhus N.