Geoenvironmental Engineering ＆ Green Energy Laboratory

Major research fields:

1. Geo-environmental Engineering,
2. Energy and Environment
3. Bio-geotechnical Engineering
4. Bioremediation of disaster affected soil and
5. Organic waste recycling
6. Microbial Fuel Cell

1.Geo-environmental condition study of tidal flat area:

Due to the various human activities, the pollution can damage the natural environment. The tidal flat area is one of the most affected areas due to the various pollutants. If the tidal flat geo-environment becomes polluted then the living condition of the creatures are becoming unfavorable and consequently they become extinct from that particular tidal flat. T he tidal flat area of Ariake sea, Japan and the tidal flat area of Yamaguchi bay, Japan are the two study areas.

To find out the reason of the unfavorable geo-environment and to improve the condition by using the biological method is the ongoing research in the Azizul’s laboratory.

2.Energy and Environment:

According to the United Nations, the 25% people of the world are deprived of electrical energy. Most of the developing countries are producing only half of their demand of electricity. The current challenge of the world energy is to find a sustainable source of energy which is green and safe. To use the Microbial Fuel cell (MFC) is one of the major ways to get green energy through the bacterial activities. Microbial fuel cell is the biochemical process in where the green electricity can be generated by the metabolic actions of the microorganisms. Bacteria releases electrons during the organic matter biodegradations. The external circuit catches the electrons and generate the electricity.

To acquire the bioelectricity from different organic waste and different design to optimization of the electricity generation through MFC is the ongoing research of Azizul’s laboratory.

Plant Microbial Fuel Cells (PMFCs):

To obtain bioelectricity from the living plants through microbial fuel cell is called the plant microbial fuel cell.

To design the PMFC to optimization of bioelectricity generation is the main objective.

3.Biogeotechnical Engineering:

To use the microorganism in the field of geotechnical engineering is another field of study. To improve the soil condition through the actions of bacteria is the main objective of this research. The cyclic triaxial test is conducting to check the effect of the microbial activities on soil, sand etc.

4.Bioremediation of soil damaged by natural or man-made disasters

The soil is one of the main thing which is mostly affected by the natural disasters. The tsunami or high tide of the sea cause a variety of contamination of the soil. Such as salinity and heavy metal contamination are two major source of soil pollution after the tsunami in tohoku area 2011, Japan. The man made disasters can also causes soil contamination such as soil contaminated due to radioactive materials.

To improve the contaminated soil by biological method is one of the major research interests in Azizul’s laboratory.

Photo: Soil investigation in Tohoku, Japan after Tsunami

5.Organic waste recycling:

Resource recovery and recycling of organic waste is another research interest. The major portion of waste in the developing and industrialized countries are organic but they are not recycled properly. .MFC technology is used to generate bioelectricity and consequent use as a compost for soil conditioner from organic waste and to design a hybrid biogas digestion system to generate the bioelectricity and biogas together.

All of the researches are focused on the environment and human relationship and to think globally but act locally. To do research with joyfulness for the global people is the keyword of our research group.