Global Health EngineeringOpen OpportunitiesGlobal Health Engineering is a group composed of environmental and mechanical engineers, economists and social scientists. Our work is transdisciplinary and all research focuses on engineering aspects of environmental and human health in resource-constrained countries. We look for a student research assistant to continue developing (hardware+software) the low-cost sensors for biogas composition and flow measurements, as well as program other tasks, e.g., web scraping for scientific grant management. - Electrical Engineering, Environmental Technologies, Mechanical Engineering
- ETH for Development (ETH4D) (ETHZ), Student Assistant / HiWi
| Anaerobic digestion (AD) is considered one of the oldest and most sustainable biological treatment technologies for stabilizing and reducing organic waste, including food waste, sewage sludge, industrial waste, and farm waste. AD transforms organic matter into biogas (60–70 vol-% of methane), thereby reducing the volume of the waste whilst destroying some of the pathogens present in the waste feedstocks and limiting odor problems associated with waste materials (Appels et al., 2008; Gerardi, 2003). AD is a promising energy, waste management, and sanitation solution in low-resource, low-income settings (Forbis-Stokes et al., 2016; Owamah et al., 2014). However, it does not fully eliminate pathogens for safe environmental discharge. Three ETH master students (Hardeman, 2022; Jäggi, 2023; Luz, 2022) iteratively developed and optimized the biogas reactor and the solution for sludge pasteurization to homogeneously heat the effluent and render the liquid safe for discharge. However, the technology needs further improvements and adaptations to operate reliably in continuous mode in all environmental conditions. - Mechanical Engineering
- ETH for Development (ETH4D) (ETHZ), ETH Zurich (ETHZ), Master Thesis
| Monitoring and treatment of plastic washing wastewater from recycling processes is often overlooked, though the high pH, chemical oxygen demand, suspended solids, and oil and grease concentrations can be problematic (Ozdemir and Yel 2023). Treatment of wastewater from plastic recycling is critical to both public and environmental health, since solid waste, sanitation, and water are inextricably linked (Narayan et al. 2021). This thesis project will contribute to a closed-loop plastic recycling pilot for HDPE bottles in Blantyre, Malawi. - Environmental Engineering, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
- ETH for Development (ETH4D) (ETHZ), ETH Zurich (ETHZ), Master Thesis
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