R.C. (Roos) Goedhart

R.C. (Roos) Goedhart

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Projects

PhD: Unravelling the microbial arsenic oxidation in rapid sand filters
Under the supervision of Dr. Ir. Doris van Halem and Prof. Dr. Ir. Merle de Kreuk I focus on arsenic removal from groundwater. Studying the chemical and microbial arsenic oxidation processes in groundwater treatment and the influence of e.g. iron and oxygen will increase the understanding of the complex system and can help towards reaching the new Dutch drinking water target of max 1 µg/L of arsenic. This knowledge can also contribute to developing efficient removal mechanisms for areas with elevated arsenic concentrations in e.g. Bangladesh, making it an important research worldwide.
NWO Open Mind: Stepping away from aeration: anoxic iron removal from groundwater
In the Netherlands alone, an estimated 100,000 tons of iron sludge is generated per year during the production of drinking water. Little reuse opportunities for this waste stream exist while it is expected that even more will be produced in the future, especially with the increase of popularity of membrane technologies. Therefore a novel method is developed to remove this iron, stepping away from the widely applied method of aeration. Iron is removed in an anoxic step and a compact and valuable mineral is formed. This has the potential to reduce the sludge volume by two third, while faster and better removal efficiencies are obtained.

This project is a collaboration between Sanitary Engineering (CiTG) and Environmental Bioechnology (TNW) in which I work together with Ir. Nienke Koudijs, Dr. Ir. Doris van Halem and Prof. Dr. Ir. Mark van Loosdrecht. Link to the grant and a video about my research: https://www.nwo.nl/en/news/five-open-mind-grants-exciting-research-impact

Biography

After studying the fundamentals of life during my BSc Molecular Life Sciences at Wageningen University & Research, I felt the urge to apply this knowledge in a more practical field. During my BSc thesis and minor I became interested in water treatment and decided to go the Delft for my MSc Environmental Engineering. I started to work for TU Delft | Water for Impact as a student assistant and currently I am responsible for maintaining and expanding their research community. In June 2021 I started with my PhD research in the Sanitary Engineering section about microbial arsenic removal from groundwater. In November 2022 I got awarded an ‘NWO Open Mind’ grant, which enabled me to develop my own research project about anoxic iron removal from groundwater.

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