An-Najah Staff

In spite all of the teaching, coordination, and department, college and university committee loads; I still control the ability to manage and to keep my research active and to cover diversified fields of my expertise by developing the needed subjects and applications in various engineering & scientific problems as considered necessary for the community at large, industry and Human welfare. Above all it adds to my teaching skills and knowledge in particular.

I have carried out several funded projects: all were designed for the sake of utilizing redundant materials and helping in creating a green environment. Some of these projects are:

Step Chlorination for Improving Drinking Water Disinfection Systems: Case Studies from Nablus-Palestine. October 2010-June 2012

 Funded by UNESCO-IHE

The main aim of this project is to measure free residual chlorine concentration in part of Nablus municipality drinking water network in order to compare real values with data simulated using EPANET. This is essential step to predict positions where step chlorination is needed in the water network

Chlorine dosed into a pipe decays in water (bulk decay) due to reaction with organism, and is consumed around the pipe wall (wall decay) due to the bio film attached to the pipe wall and is transported to the other end in the pipe. These two chlorine decay coefficients were studied in this project and are reported in the final report. Results out of this work are under preparation for submission to a refereed journal very soon.

Improvements of the Recycled Plastic Properties by the use of Olive Solid Waste (Funded by PARC 2007-2008)

This project commences in Aug 2007.

The daily consumption of plastic is tremendously increased. There are no environmental regulations in the Palestinian territories for disposing the used plastic. Most, if not all, used plastic are disposed with the municipal solid waste and burned. There is no doubt that mankind has to care for the future of this, his foster earth, but this must be done scientifically and realistically, and not emotionally.

In this proposal attempts are put forward to reduce the environmental impact of used plastic and at the same time investigate the possibility of improving the recycled plastic's properties by the addition of olive solid waste particles using an in house made extruder machine. Doing this will guarantee that olive solid waste can be used to encourage the reuse of used plastic waste and hence contributes towards the creation of green environment. On the near future benefit, any success out of this proposal will pay off An-Najah University in terms of outstanding research work in this forgotten field in the Palestinian research society. Results out of this project is published  in Polymer Plastic Technology and Engineering.

S.Sawalha and A.M. EL-Hamouz," Improvements of the Tensile Properties of Recycled High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) by the Use of Carbonized Olive Solid Waste." Polymer Plastic Technology and Engineering, 49(4), 387-393 (2010).

·         Usage of Stone Cutting Waste in Producing Chemical Construction Products (funded by PARC- 2005-2006)

The project highlighted different methods used in treating the stone cutting plants waste (slurry) in Palestine. It was found that with careful management and cooperation between the owners of the stone cutting facilities, the solid waste can be separated from the used water and has the potential for reuse in the same process. With little expenditure by the facilities’ owners, a huge amount of water saving can be made. These findings can save an amount of 700,000m³ of fresh water every year.

The study does not stop at this end, but a utilization of the separated solid waste was investigated in converting the calcium carbonate into calcium oxide in a lab scale. The physical and chemical properties of the calcium carbonate and calcium oxide were measured. In addition, a measurement of the particle size distribution of the calcium carbonate and the produced calcium oxide confirms the chemical conversion. The produced calcium oxide has a potential use in several industries which can enrich the Palestinian economy. Finally, this project finished with a demonstration of the feasibility of using calcium oxide in producing other chemical construction materials such as cement.

- Drinking water improvement in Nablus City, (2004-2005) (Funded by UNISCO)

This study investigated the disinfection problems that exist in the water network of Nablus.  Due to the expansiveness of the network, the remoteness of the water sources, and the weariness in the network pipes and joints, chlorine concentrations were found to be way below the minimum allowable limits. A composite database for the last 9 years (1996-2005) was created to facilitate the spatial and temporal assessment. Assessment of the current chlorination practice for a selected area within the Nablus drinking water network was carried out through a development of water network quality model using the GIS and EPANET softwares.  The model simulates the water flow in pipes, pressure at the supply nodes (pipe junctions), and chlorine concentration distribution in pipes and nodes. Results of the analysis of the composite database showed that residual chlorine concentrations in many areas were low. This has led to the bacterial growth in these areas as indicated by total and fecal coliform readings. Model outcome showed that chlorine concentration varies from location to location in the network, which is in agreement with field observations. This model could then be used by the city to determine the optimal chlorine dose in various parts of the network. Results of this project were published in " Third International Conference on Water Resources in Mediterranean Basin", Tripoli- Lebanon 1-3 November

·        Medical Waste Incineration–Nablus Incinerator as a case study

Medical Waste generated in West Bank hospitals and medical centers is collected in plastic bags and then dumped together with other domestic waste without any separation. This malpractice usually leads to air pollution and the danger of spreading viruses and bacteria widely. It is only in the last three years that medical waste is separated from municipal waste in Nablus city and composed in a medical waste incinerator

In this work, the type and size of the medical waste generated from four hospitals and two medical centers in Nablus City was recorded (on a daily basis) for one month. It was found that PVC plastic waste represents the highest amount of waste. A computer reaction program was written to simulate the combustion process taking place during medical waste incineration and to calculate the emission factor and the amount of pollutant emission gases from the medical waste incinerator. It has been found that the highest amount of pollutant emission gases was from burning plastic and glass medical waste. In addition, chlorinated hydrocarbons emissions, such as dioxins and furans, from the incineration process were also calculated using an existing model from the literature. It has been found that the dioxins/furans emissions increase with increasing the HCl concentration and decreasing the combustion temperature. This confirms the need to control these pollutants from the medical waste incinerator.

Results and recommendations were sent to the Health authority for action. Part of the recommendations was implemented.  This work was published in "The Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering, vol 27 number 1B, 29-40, (2002)."

·         Solid Olive Waste in Environmental clean up: Oil recovery and carbon production for water purification.

A potentially economic three-fold strategy, to use solid olive waste in water purification, was carried out. Firstly, the oil remaining in the solid waste (higher than 5% of waste) was recovered by the soxhlet extraction technique, which can be useful for the soap industry. Secondly, the remaining solid waste was processed to yield relatively high–surface area active carbon (AC). Thirdly, the resulting carbon was employed to reversibly adsorb chromate ions from water, aiming to establish a water purification process with reusable AC. The technique used here enabled oil recovery together with the production of a clean solid, suitable for making AC. This process also has the advantage of low production cost.  Results are published in the Journal of Environmental management:

·         Solid Olive Waste in Environmental Cleanup: Oil Recovery and Carbon Production for Water Purification", Journal of Environmental Management, 84, 83-92 (2007)

·         The utilization of the solid waste did not end at this point and more work was carried out in using the prepared AC as a supporter for TIO2/TPPHS surface.  The result is a new class of AC/TIO2/TPPHS.  Results of this work were published in the Solid State Science Journal. "Enhanced Tio2 Surfaces For UV Degradation of Phenol and Benzoic Acid in Water: the Role of the Dye", Journal of  Solid State 9, 9-15 (2007).

·         Currently, further investigation into using the olive solid waste as filler in recycled plastic. Preliminary results showed the suitability of this and more results are underway and will be open in the literature.

The publishing of more than 23 technical papers, transactions, international refereed journals and the presentation of over than 12 papers in international / regional / national and local conferences after my promotion to Associate Professor is a real reflection of my active role in this category. The diversity of my research endeavors is indicated by publications in some well known transactions and journals:

The Solid State Science, The Waste Management Journal, Arabian Journal of Science and Technology, Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, Journal of Environmental Management, Transaction of IChemE, Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, Journal of Dispersion Science and Technology, Journal of Scientific Research Foundation This accumulation of research work has been cited in various international journals & conferences papers and theses.

I was on the editorial board of the Process Safety and Environmental Protection Journal from Feb 2002- December 2007.

Reviewing activities keeps one updated in subject matters of modern technology in many technical advanced work publications. Invitation to be a reviewer as well as Chairman of the Technical Committee of the  Second Engineering conference, Held in Nablus.2001 indicate my activity and role as a reviewer of many technical and research papers for various international journals like PSEP, Journal of Waste management, Journal of Environmental Engineering and Science, Water: Values and Rights/International Conference, Journal of Chemical and Engineering Data Transaction of the Institute of Chemical Engineers, Part A: Chemical Engineering Research and Design, and Journal of Chemical Engineering Data, Second Engineering Palestinian Conference, 2001.

The technical interaction in sharing technical knowledge (through seminars, etc…) with the engineering / scientific community at An-Najah, other Palestinian / foreign universities and even with many individuals and/or groups who requested copies, assistance, and more technical replies about some of my work, is indicative of my active role in teaching using my research by-products.

At An-Najah University, I have initiated many original and innovative ideas for different research projects, which have been tested experimentally & accepted for publications in high impact journals. My work has expanded beyond the major of Reaction and Separation in Chemical Engineering, and has contributed to interdisciplinary fields such as chemistry and environmental engineering. The collaboration with a number of scientists from diverse departments (e.g. Chemistry, Civil engineering) has also been accomplished successfully.

The submission of about twelve Research proposals within and out of An-Najah and two technical discussion ideas for Palestinian local industries/organizations indicates successful research planning. In addition about six of the submitted research proposals were funded and I have managed, co-managed or been a member. Some others are still under review although others were not considered for funding.

Final reports on two research projects were completed and accepted in the different areas of basic & applied research which served many local industries.

I am also pursuing research endeavors and collaboration with some international entities and experts from research institutes such as Professor R. Mann and Professor P. Sharratt from the  School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Sciences, Manchester UK. In the last three years I conducted research related to structural fluids. The project was part of several projects sponsored by Unilever Research and managed by Prof. A. Kowasky.  Four papers out of this work were published in impacted factor international Journals.   

• Steven Hall, Michael Cooker, Amer EL-Hamouz and Adam J. Kowalski ”Droplet Break-Up by in-line Silverson Mixer”, Chemical Engineering Science 66 (2011) 2068–2079
• EL-Hamouz," Drop size distribution in a Standard Twin –Impeller Batch Mixer at High Dispersed Phase Volume Fraction " Journal of Chemical Engineering and Technology,  32 ( 8) 1203-1210, (2009)
• M. EL-Hamouz, M. Cooke, A. Kowalski and P. Sharratt, "Dispersion of Silicone oil in Water Surfactant solution: Effect of Impeller Speed, Oil Viscosity and Addition Point on Drop Size Distribution", Chemical Engineering and Processing: Process intensification 48, 633-642 (2008).
• A.M. El-Hamouz, “Effect of Surfactant concentration and operating temperature on the drop size distribution of Silicon oil water dispersion” Journal of Dispersion Science and Technology, Journal of Dispersion Science and Technology 28(5) 797-804, (2007).