Biochar for Environmental Remediation

Dr. Willis Gwenzi is a Professor of Biosystems and Environmental Engineering at the University of Zimbabwe. He researches on environmental remediation, environmental hydrology, water/wastewater treatment, emerging contaminants, antibiotic resistance, medical geology, environmental epidemiology, and novel (bio)materials. He has published over 70 peer-reviewed articles. His seminal papers on biochar-based water treatment systems, and high-technology rare earth elements as emerging contaminants have been rated as Highly Cited and Hot papers in 2019 by Web of Science. He has supervised several postgraduate students in bio-environmental system engineering. He is regular manuscript reviewer for top international journals. He has also acted as an external reviewer for grant proposals for UK’s NERC, Canada’s MITACS, Chile’s FONDECYT, and the Austrian Science Foundation. Willis holds the following qualifications: PhD (Biosystems and Environmental Engineering, University of Western Australia), M.Sc. (Water Resources Engineering and Management), B. Sc. Honours (Soil Science), and Postgraduate Certificate (Applied Groundwater Modelling).

SECTION 1: THE BIOCHAR SYSTEM (FEEDSTOCKS, PREPARATION, AND PROPERTIES 1. Introduction 2. Preparation and characteristics of pristine biochars 3. Development of novel engineered/functionalized biochars 4. Biochar catalysis for environmental remediation SECTION 2: BIOCHAR FOR CONTAMINATED LAND REMEDIA-TION 5. Remediation of inorganic contaminants in soils 6. Rehabilitation of mined lands and geologically enriched soils 7. Remediation of conventional and emerging organic contaminants in soils SECTION 3: BIOCHAR FOR WASTEWATER TREATMENT 8. Treatment of Urban stormwater 9. Industrial and municipal wastewaters 10. Biochar as filter media in bioretention and constructed wetland systems SECTION 4: BIOCHARS FOR DRINKING WATER TREATMENT 11. Removal of contaminants in drinking water 12. Design and operation of single and multi-barrier biochar filters 13. Industrial flue gas emissions 14. Clean and efficient biochar cookstoves for mitigation of indoor air pollution 15. Mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions: A state-of-the-art SECTION 6: TECHNO-ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF BIOCHAR SYSTEMS 16. Technical feasibility of biochar systems 17. Regeneration, recycling and disposal of spent biochars 18. Socio-economic evaluation of biochar systems SECTION 7: HEALTH RISK ASSESSMENT OF BIOCHAR SYS-TEMS 19. Life cycle assessment for biochar systems 20. Environmental and human health risks of biochar systems SECTION 8: LOOKING AHEAD: FUTURE PERSPECTIVES 21. Future research directions 22. Conclusions