Newcastle University

Background

Joined Civil Engineering & Geosciences in 1997 as a Lecturer in Environmental Engineering specialising in biological treatment processes in wastewater treatment, focusing on the degradation of recalcitrant contaminants in industrial wastewaters by aerobic and anaerobic treatment systems.

Currently a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Engineering.

Roles & Responsibility

Stage 4 Tutor

Chair of School Safety Committee

Member Civil Engineering Programme Management Group

Member School Safety Committee

Member School Staff Student Committee

Qualifications

BSc Biochemistry (Bristol)

PhD Environmental Microbiology (Kent)

Memberships

No current affiliation

Industrial Experience

Worked for 4 years as Project Development Manager, IBS Viridian Ltd, Whitstable, Kent.

Effluent Treatment - Process design for liquid effluent treatment systems; preparing proposals and tender documents; management of laboratory and technical treatability programmes; responsible for pilot plant demonstration trials.

New Business Development - evaluation of business and product development opportunities; Patent application and registration; resource and project management from initial concept designs through to finished product; coordination of manufacture, fabrication, installation, commissioning, and system performance.  Specifying service and maintenance protocols for new equipment.

Scientific R&D Programmes -  Management of collaborative industrial research and development ventures with academic partners to exploit and commercialise leading-edge technologies for soil bioremediation and liquid effluent treatment. Securing IPR protection.

Worked for 3 years as Project Team Leader, International Institute of Biotechnology, Kent.

Headed a team of five multi-disciplinary scientists and engineers working on a three year programme for Hercules Chemical Corporation developing a novel bioprocessing technology to remove organohalogen pollutants from wet-strength resins used in commercial paper manufacture. Managed all stages of process development from initial identification, selection and evaluation of potential bacterial biocatalysts, to the design and implementation of a patented industrial bioprocess now used in the production of modern environmentally improved wet-strength resins.

Research Interests

Theme  - Anaerobic Digestion and Sustainable Energy

1. Anaerobic digestion of industrial wastewaters (pharmaceutical) with  Eli Lilley
2. Anaerobic digestion of municipal solid waste organic residues (North Tyneside Council)
3. Use of macroalgae (seaweed) as large-scale biomass feedstocks in  sustainable biogas production (ITI Energy)
4. Biogas generation from microalgae – effect of AD reactor design and operation on Biogas yield (EPSRC).
5. Biogas generation from microalgal feedstocks in membrane anaerobic bioreactors.

 Theme - Water treatment in developing countries

1. Development of sustainable production methods for simple ceramic water filters 

2. Development of hand-pumped membrane water filters (with The Safe Water Trust).

3. Development of simple solar stills for fluoride and arsenic removal.

4. Development of solar tracked Fresnel lens for thermal disinfection of raw water

Postgraduate Supervision

Has mentored over 10 successful doctoral  theses and has supervised over 50 M.Sc. Dissertations. Currently  supervises  three  PhD  students,  two  being  overseas  students,  and  one  Postdoctoral Associate through funding from the Jordanian, Malaysian and Kuwait Governments and the UK EPSRC.

Esteem Indicators

Invited Speaker, British Council Short Course, Management of Liquid and Solid Hazardous Waste, Newcastle, 2000
Invited Speaker - IWA Members Meeting, Newcastle, Jan 2003
Invited presentation - World Bank, Development Marketplace, Washington DC, May 2006.
Invited speaker - CIWM Open Meeting, Newcastle March 2007
Featured Contributor - ITV Current Affairs programme "Around the Home", March 2007.

Acted asTrustee for Team Kenya Charity. teamkenya.org.uk/
Mission - to empower communities in Western Kenya to overcome poverty, injustice and inequality, by encouraging sustainable development, the use of appropriate technologies, and the provision of training and advice.

Reviewer, Journal, Water Research
Reviewer, Journal of Environmental Engineering, ASCE
Reviewer, Journal, Environmental Science & Technology
Reviewer, Journal, Bioresource Technology
Reviewer, Journal, Enzyme and Microbial Technology
Reviewer, Journal, Chemosphere
Reviewer, Journal of Biotechnology
Reviewer, Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology
Reviewer, Journal of Environmental Management
Reviewer, Journal of Air, Water and Soil Pollution

External Course Assessor, MSc, University of Sunderland

External Examiner, PhD, Imperial College, London
External Examiner, MRes, University of Central Lancashire
External Examiner, PhD, University of Kent
External Examiner, PhD, University of Oxford

Funding

Anaerobic digestion of seaweed (CI with Caldwell, € 138 k); Anaerobic Digestion of Cellmatt Material (CI

with  Gray,  €  242  k);  Treatment  Options  for  Municipal  Solid Waste  Disposal  (PI  for  North  Tyneside

Council,  €  140  k); General  and  unifying  concepts  in wastewater  treatment  design  (CI with Curtis  and

Sloan, € 822 k).

Undergraduate Teaching

I teach undergraduate modules, some as module leader (ML)

INVESTIGATIVE RESEARCH PROJECT CEG8099 (Stage 4 Projects, ML).

Postgraduate Teaching

I teach postgraduate modules, some as Module Leader (ML), 

CEG8101 Core concepts in Environmental Engineering (ML)

CEG8103 WATER SUPPLY ENGINEERING

CEG 8104 WASTEWATER ENGINEERING CIV8106 (55% ML),

CIV8099 Project and Dissertaion  (Individual MSc Projects),

CEG8503 Hydrosystems Processes & Management

SPG8008 Renewable Energy: Biomass and Waste Technology

• Campbell B, Sallis P. Low-carbon yak cheese: transition to biogas in a Himalayan socio-technical niche. Interface Focus 2013, 3(1), 20120052.
• Furlong C, Sallis PJ, Wilby T. Thermophilic Aerobic Treatment of Mycelia Sludge and Antibiotic Wastewater. Journal of Environmental Engineering 2013, 139(2), 289-294.
• Yuzir A, Chelliapan S, Sallis PJ. Impact of the herbicide (RS)-MCPP on an anaerobic membrane bioreactor performance under different COD/nitrate ratios. Bioresource Technology 2012, 109, 31-37.
• Chelliapan S, Wilby T, Sallis PJ. Effect of hydraulic retention of time on up-flow anaerobic stage reactor performance at constant loading in the presence of antibiotic tylosin. Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering 2011, 28(1), 51-61.
• Chelliapan S, Wilby T, Yuzir A, Sallis PJ. Influence of organic loading on the performance and microbial community structure of an anaerobic stage reactor treating pharmaceutical wastewater. Desalination 2011, 271(1-3), 257-264.
• Yuzir A, Chelliapan S, Sallis PJ. Influence of step increases in hydraulic retention time on (RS)-MCPP degradation using an anaerobic membrane bioreactor. Bioresource Technology 2011, 102(20), 9456-9461.
• Chelliapan S, Wilby T, Sallis PJ, Yuzir A. Tolerance of the antibiotic Tylosin on treatment performance of an Up-flow Anaerobic Stage Reactor (UASR). Water Science and Technology 2011, 63(8), 1599-1606.
• Chelliapan S, Wilby T, Sallis PJ. Treatment of Pharmaceutical Wastewater Containing Tylosin in an Anaerobic - Aerobic Reactor System. Water Practice and Technology 2011, 5(1), 1-16.
• Oktem YA, Ince O, Sallis PJ, Donnelly T, Ince BK. Anaerobic treatment of a chemical synthesis-based pharmaceutical wastewater in a hybrid upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor. Bioresource Technology 2008, 99(5), 1089-1096.
• Pholchan P, Jones M, Donnelly T, Sallis PJ. Fate of estrogens during the biological treatment of synthetic wastewater in a nitrite-accumulating sequencing batch reactor. Environmental Science and Technology 2008, 42(16), 6141-6147.
• Oktem YA, Ince O, Donnelly T, Sallis PJ, Ince BK. Determination of optimum operating conditions of an acidification reactor treating a chemical synthesis-based pharmaceutical wastewater. Process Biochemistry 2006, 41(11), 2258-2263.
• Chelliapan S, Wilby T, Sallis PJ. Performance of an up-flow anaerobic stage reactor (UASR) in the treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater containing macrolide antibiotics. Water Research 2006, 40(3), 507-516.
• Rafida AI, Sallis PJ. Removal of heavy metals from rainwater in vertical flow biofilters conditioned with sulphate reducing bacteria (SRB). In: XII International Rainwater Catchment Systems Conference. 2005, New Dehli, India: Water, Supply Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), Geneva & Akash Ganga Trust, Chennai.
• Sallis PJ, Uyanik S. Granule development in a split-feed anaerobic baffled reactor. Bioresource Technology 2003, 89(3), 255-265.
• Uyanik S, Sallis PJ, Anderson GK. The effect of polymer addition on granulation in an anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR). Part I: Process performance. Water Research 2002, 36(4), 933-943.
• Uyanik S, Sallis PJ, Anderson GK. The effect of polymer addition on granulation in an anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR). Part II: Compartmentalization of bacterial populations. Water Research 2002, 36(4), 944-955.
• Uyanik S, Sallis PJ, Anderson GK. Improved split feed anaerobic baffled reactor (SFABR) for shorter start-up period and higher process performance. In: 2nd World Water Congress of the International Water Association: Waste Treatment and Sludge Management. 2001, Berlin, Germany: Water Science and Technology: IWA Publishing.
• Ince BK, Ince O, Sallis PJ, Anderson GK. Inert COD production in a membrane anaerobic reactor treating brewery wastewater. Water Research 2000, 34(16), 3943-3948.