The United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA) is pleased to invite the general public to a special seminar on the topic “Addressing Wastewater Challenges with an African Bio-resource”.
Date: Thursday, 20th August, 2015.
Time: 10am
Venue: UNU-INRA conference room, located on the 2nd floor, International House, University of Ghana campus.
Speaker: Dr. Effiom E. Oku, Senior Research Fellow for Land and Water Resources, UNU-INRA.
The aim of the seminar is to share information on a research that assessed the potential of an African grass species, Chrysopogon nigritana, in treating effluents from industrial and “sickwater” from domestic sources. As part of the project, a phyto-engineering treatment plant was set up, using the African species of the vetiver grass with effluents from fertiliser blending companies, quarry sites, cassava processing factories, abattoirs, leachates from on-engineering dump sites, crude oil polluted water and urban wastewater from drainage sites. The comparative results of pre and post-treatments of the effluents and laboratory analyses showed that, the African species of the vetiver grass is capable of reducing toxic heavy metals, including phosphates, arsenic, cadmium and magnesium in effluents from industrial and “sickwater” from domestic sources, to the World Health Organisation / Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (WHO/FAO) or the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA) internationally accepted limits of heavy metals in wastewater.
The seminar presentation will share further information on the research output, and also discuss how best the vetiver technology can be adopted in treating wastewater, at both micro and macro levels.
UNU-INRA periodically organises seminars to share information with stakeholders on the Institute’s research findings. This is to help promote the sustainable management of Africa’s natural resources.
About the Speaker
Dr Effiom Oku is an Environmental Soil Scientist with specialisation in Soil Physics. He is currently a Senior Research Fellow at UNU-INRA focusing on Land and Water resources. Earning his Doctoral degree in Soil Physics from the University of Ibadan, in Nigeria, he went on to undertake advanced theoretical training in Soil Physics at the renowned Abdus Salam International Center (ASIC) for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy and became a scholar of ASIC. Returning to Nigeria, he accepted a lecturer/research position at the Cross River University of Technology, Nigeria, with the responsibility of directing and coordinating courses in Environmental Studies, Erosion Studies and Environmental control projects. He is also a senior researcher and lecturer at the Department of Soil Science of the University of Abuja, Nigeria and a member of renowned international soil science institutions such as International Union of Soil Sciences; Africa Soil Science Society; Soil Science Society of America; and Soil Conservation of India. To read more…
Praise Nutakor
Communications and PR Associate, UNU-INRA
Email: nutakor@unu.edu