About the Book
While new developments in genomics, nanotechnology, sampling, and modelling permit increasingly revealing investigation into flocculation structure and processes, there is still a fundamental lack of knowledge related to many aspects of this phenomenon. Presented by a prominent team of international experts, this text takes a unique perspective and melds together the natural and engineering fields of science as they relate to this central phenomenon. In doing so, the authors present the full range of sampling, handling, analytical, and interpretive options for operational management of natural or engineered system, providing comprehensive coverage that meets the needs of researchers, practitioners and students.
Table of Contents:
While new developments in microscopy, genomics, nanotechnology, sampling, and modeling permit increasingly revealing investigation into flocculation processes and floc structure, there is still a fundamental lack of knowledge related to many aspects of this phenomenon. Presented by a prominent team of international experts, Flocculation in Natural and Engineered Environmental Systems takes a unique perspective. It melds together the natural sciences and engineering as they relate to this central phenomenon. In doing so, the authors present the full range of sampling, handling, analytical, and interpretive options for operational management of natural and engineered systems.
About the Author :
Ian G. Droppo is a research scientist with the National Water Research Institute of Environment Canada and is the current elected vice president of the International Association for Sediment Water Science. Dr.Droppo holds adjunct professorships at McMaster University, School of Geography and Earth Sciences and at the State University of New York, College at Buffalo, Department ofGeography and Planning. He holds undergraduate and M.Sc. degrees in physical geography from McMaster University, Canada and a Ph.D. in physical geography from the University of Exeter, United Kingdom. He was a recent recipient of Leverhulme International Visiting Fellowship held at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom. Dr. Droppo’s research interests center around sediment dynamics within natural and engineered systems with particular emphasis on flocculation processes. He has applied this knowledge in multiple environments including urban storm water management, remediation of contaminated bed sediments, contaminated bed sediment stability, and in the source, fate and effect of sediments and associated contaminants within numerous aquatic environments. His research is supported by awards from Environment Canada,the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and a range of industrial partners. He has given many invited lectures and seminars at international conferences, workshops and universities and has taught many sediment chemistry monitoring courses in developing countries. Dr. Droppo has carried out collaborative research in Canada, United States of America, United Kingdom, Japan, Mexico, Australia and Thailand leading to over 85 peer-reviewed journal publications, book chapters, and technical reports.
Gary G.Leppard is an environmental biochemist and microbiologist who studies the roles of natural and engineered aquatic aggregates (flocs, biofilms) in the transport and fate of contaminants. In concert with these activities, he develops electronoptical means to analyze the colloidal structure of natural dispersing agents and the flocs of water treatment tanks. He joined the staff of the National Water Research Institute of Environment Canada at Burlington (ON) in 1975, as a research scientist. While also holding a professorship at McMaster University and membership in the Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research (Hamilton, ON), he is a Fellow of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and a Consulting Fellow of the World Innovation Foundation. In sequence, he was an invited scientist at the University of Paris (France), the University of Milan (Italy), Laval University (Quebec City), the National Research Council of Canada (Ottawa), the University of Geneva (Switzerland), the University of Vienna (Austria), and the Rudjer Boskovic Institute (Croatia). Dr. Leppard received degrees in several fields of biology and biological chemistry from the University of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon, SK) and from Yale University (New Haven, CT, United States). A Ph.D. in cell biology, with a specialization in electron-optical methods, was received from Yale in 1968. Research interests then extended into biogeochemistry, wastewater treatment, materials science, and the activities of natural microbial consortia. His interdisciplinary research has led to awards from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Commission of the European Communities, and the RITE innovative technology organization in Japan, as well as a role on the editorial board of the Encyclopedia of Analytical Science. Current scientific interests focus on the control, by nanoscale phenomena, of macroscale effects in aquatic environments. These interests are coupled to the development of technology for commercial use, and include environmental projects for synchrotron laboratories.
Steven N. Liss is a professor of applied microbiology in the Department of Chemistry and Biology at Ryerson University and is the Associate Dean (Research, Development and Science Programs) for the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science. Dr. Liss holds adjunct professorships at the University of Toronto in the Departments of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry and Civil Engineering. Dr. Liss holds an under graduate degree in microbiology and immunology from the University of Western Ontario (1980) and graduate degrees in applied microbiology from the University of Saskatchewan (M.Sc, 1983; Ph.D., 1987). Dr. Liss currently leads research projects on the microbiology of wastewater treatment, waterwells, and environmental biotechnology. His research is supported by awards from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the National Centres of Excellence, Ontario Centres of Excellence, Environment Canada, Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), and a wide range of industry partners. Specific research activities include microbial floc architecture in engineered and natural systems, microbialecology, water quality, filamentous microorganisms and bulking problems, bio fouling and microbial-based tools for studying, and monitoring biological treatment systems including DNA microarrays. His laboratory has developed expertise related to the physicochemical properties of microbial structures, their composition and structure, and the application of advanced optical microscopy in studying microbial structures and physiology. His research in waste water microbiology led to the Ryerson Distinguished Research Award in 1998. Dr. Liss has supervised 32 graduate students at the masters and Ph.D. levels. He is the author and co-author of over 100 peer-reviewed journal publications, book chapters, conference presentations and technical reports.
Timothy G. Milligan is a researcher with the Marine Environmental Sciences Division, Fisheries and Oceans Canada. As head of the Particle Dynamics Laboratory at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography he leads the group’s research into the behavior of fine particulate material in aquatic environments. He received his B.Sc in geology and M.Sc in oceanography from Dalhousie University and has been involved with flocs for over 30 years. While his initial contact was in pulp mill effluent, it was the time spent with the late Dr. Kate Kranck, a pioneer in flocculation studies in the marine environment, that gave him his love of mud. Areas of interest include the mechanisms governing the loss of sediment from river plumes, the effect of flocculation on the transport and fate of contaminants, and environmental impacts of offshore oil and gas and aquaculture. Mr. Milligan has led research projects in a wide range of geographical areas, from the Amazon to the Canadian Arctic. While his work concentrates mainly on the marine environment, the fate of terrestrially derived sediments and associated contaminants has led him into the study of fluvial transport as well. Mr. Milligan has been involved in many international ventures, several of which have received funding from the U.S. Office of Naval Research. His work combines in situ techniques with process-based parameterization of the size distributions of the component grains in suspended and bottom sediment to better understand the fate of mud in both marine and fresh water systems. Over 80 peer-reviewed primary publications, book chapters and technical reports have been produced from this work.
Review :
"Overall, the obvious strength of the book is its diversity, bringing together fields of research together that can undoubtedly benefit from each other but that also have so far remained relatively mutually exclusive. It is therefore essential for researchers who want to broaden their horizon on flocculation mechanisms. The quality of the chapters is high, with good-quality illustrations (including a color section), containing solid scientific research, and introducing some new concepts in the field of flocculation processes. Therefore, the book is also suitable for in-depth exploration of flocculation processes...I definitely recommend this book for those involved in fine-sediment transport and flocculation. There are very few text books in the field of cohesive sediment transport and flocculation, and this book is a valuable contribution."
—Journal of Sedimentary Research, July 2005
"The contributors to the Workshop on Flocculation in Natural and Engineered Systems have provided herein some integral elements to advancing out understanding of flocculation processes; however, the work is only just begun. By integrating resources, expertise, and ideas, researchers will continue to advance our knowledge in this vitally important environmental, economic, and public health issue."
— Gary F. Bennett, Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Toledo, Ohio, in Journal of Hazardous Materials, Vo. 137, 2006
