2<\/sub>O footprint, Dr. Chandran is also working to make WWTPs run more efficiently and to use the wastewater to generate biofuels.\u00a0 \u201cMy group focuses on energy efficient and cost efficient wastewater treatment,\u201d he says.<\/p>\nDr. Chandran\u2019s work revolves around the nitrogen cycle.\u00a0 \u201cThe nitrogen cycle is way out of balance in terms of sustainability, primarily due to the excessive dumping of nitrogenous compounds into the environment and then continuing to produce nitrogenous fertilizers from atmospheric nitrogen rather than recovering the nitrogen in the waste streams,\u201d he explains.\u00a0 He says the goal of his research is to repair that cycle, making sure the right reactions are taking place in man-made environments and recycling the nitrogen whenever possible.<\/p>\n
One of the main goals of wastewater treatment is to remove ammonia from the water.\u00a0 Many WWTPs now employ a process that converts this ammonia to atmospheric nitrogen, but a major byproduct of this process is N2<\/sub>O. Through his research, Dr. Chandran aims to \u201cdevelop biological wastewater treatment processes that lead to improved water quality as well as air quality.\u201d<\/p>\nTo effectively reduce N2<\/sub>O emissions, however, it is necessary to know how much N2<\/sub>O is produced by WWTPs.\u00a0 To do this, Dr. Chandran has developed a protocol for measuring N2<\/sub>O emissions.\u00a0 \u201cWe were one of the first groups in the world to focus on this issue in a systematic fashion, and my group developed the first EPA-endorsed standard protocol to perform such measurements,\u201d he says.\u00a0 \u201cWe have found that the contribution of wastewater treatment plants to the N2<\/sub>O footprint is the equivalent of anywhere from a million to a 100 million cars in the United States alone.\u201d<\/p>\nWith the extent of N2<\/sub>O emissions now clear, Dr. Chandran is focusing on developing a wastewater treatment process that reduces those emissions.\u00a0 In any wastewater treatment process, bacteria are used to convert the nitrogen between different forms.\u00a0 The development of a treatment process that reduces emissions and increases energy efficiency comes down to picking the right bacteria and then being able to implement it on a large scale.\u00a0 One potential example of such a process could be anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox).<\/p>\nThe usefulness of these methods does not stop with nitrogen removal.\u00a0 Dr. Chandran has found that some of the bacteria used in the nitrogen removal processes can also help reduce the carbon footprint of WWTPs.\u00a0 \u201cWe employ the same bacteria that oxidize nitrogen to non-specifically convert methane (a greenhouse gas) into biomethanol (a green fuel), which can also be used to clean up polluted wastewater streams.\u00a0 Thus, using our technologies, it is possible to convert wastewater treatment plants into \u2018biorefineries\u2019 engaged in resource recovery rather than mindless \u2018treatment\u2019,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Dr. Chandran credits his Ph.D. advisor, former UConn Environmental Engineering professor Barth Smets with introducing him to the need for processes that reduce and remove excess nitrogen from the environment.\u00a0 \u201cOne of the first projects that I worked on, starting during the fall of 1997, was on improvements to the design and operation of a biological nitrogen removal plant in Connecticut and this really set the tone for my research and technology development that I do currently.\u201d\u00a0 He says that his time at UConn prepared him well for his work today.\u00a0 \u201cMy years at UConn created the foundation for a lot of work that I do now and the concepts, ideologies and work ethic that I learnt while at UConn permeate my activities even today.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When one thinks of ways to ease climate change and develop sustainable fuels, using waste and sewage is probably not the first idea that comes to mind. For Dr. Kartik Chandran, a UConn alumnus (Ph.D. Environmental Engineering, \u201999) and associate professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science, however, it is something he thinks about every day. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1866],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-203566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-engr"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 11:31:11","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203566\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203566"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=203566"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=203566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/d45h139.public.uconn.edu\/sites\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/chandran2a-300x278.jpg\" "\\"chandran2a\\"")
By John C. Giardina<\/p>\n