Doctoral Dissertation Defense of Germany doctoral candidate in field of Environmental Chemistry

On March 29, 2018, at VNU University of Science (VNU-HUS) held the Doctoral Dissertation Defense in field of Environmental Chemistry of doctoral candidate Ferdinand Friedrichs (Federal Republic of Germany) on the topic: "Contributions to Online Measurement Systems for the investigation of Wastewater Toxicity on Activated Sludge".

On March 29, 2018, at VNU University of Science (VNU-HUS) held the Doctoral Dissertation Defense in field of Environmental Chemistry of doctoral candidate Ferdinand Friedrichs (Federal Republic of Germany) on the topic: "Contributions to Online Measurement Systems for the investigation of Wastewater Toxicity on Activated Sludge".

Council of Doctoral Dissertation Defense with the participation of Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Noi - Rector of the VNU-HUS - Chairman of the Council; Prof. Dr. Le Quoc Hung - Institute of Chemistry, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology; Prof. Karl-Ulrich Rudolph - CEO, Institute for Environmental Engineering and Management - Witten / Herdecke University (IEEM); Dr. Nguyen Hung Minh - Vietnam Environment Administration; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Duong Hong Anh - VNU-HUS; Dr. Le Trong Lu - Institute of Tropical Technology; Assoc. Tu Binh Minh - VNU-HUS.

Doctoral candidate Ferdinand Friedrichs from LAR Process Analyzer AG was admitted to the doctoral program in Environmental Chemistry from 2013 to 2016. Having accomplished all the academic supervisor of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Do Quang Trung (VNU-HUS) and Dr. Wolfgang Genthe (LAR Process Analyzer AG).

It has stated that the Ferdinand Friedrichs ‘s thesis is highly appreciated by experts as well as members of the Council for the protection of the thesis with practical application in Vietnam and in the world. All of the assessors agreed that the research results of online activated-sludge respiration test are not duplicated compared with other publications in Vietnam. The application of Nitritox system and Biomonitor for wastewater monitoring in seven industrial zones across Vietnam has not been published in Vietnam and other country. “Some parts in the thesis are also new in the world” (Dr. Pham Tien Duc - VNU-HUS). “Similar researches were appread in the world, but the study to increase sensitivity of inhibition test and use of Nitritox for monitoring of wastewater treatment in Vietnamese industrial zones is the new study and application” (Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Hong Con - VNU-HUS and Dr. Trinh Anh Duc - Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute).

Moreover, it has seemed that the new contributions of thesis include:

In theoretical aspects:

- A thorough and systematic study about how to increase the sensitivity of activated-sludge respiration-inhibition test by varying condition such as: nutrient solution, pH, temperature, biomass concentration, incubation time, and oxygen concentration in the fermenter.

- It has been found that the replacing of the synthetic wastewater nutrient solution with sodium acetate leads to increasing the sensitivity of the measurement.

- The results have high scientific meaning in understanding the influence of different parameters on the respiration inhibition rate in the presence of toxins such as metals, toxic organics; suggesting an optimum measurement conditions for sensitization increasing.

In practical aspects:

- First time application of an online system for monitoring the toxicity of wastewater in seven industrial zones in Vietnam and finding out the high occurrence of toxic wastewater in five investigated industrial zones.

- In addition, the thesis also achieved the following results:

+ Practically the developed measurement procedure can be applied to monitor the toxicity of wastewater treatment plants with low cost, high efficiency and short time (Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tu Binh Minh - VNU-HUS).

 + Practically, a tool that was originally develop for temperate climate conditions was successfully tested and improved its sensitivity for different conditions of tropical climate (Dr. Trinh Anh Duc - Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute)

+ In addition the influence of the community structure of the tested organism on the sensitivity and stability of the activated-sludge respiration-inhibition test was also investigated.

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