Sahar Dalahmeh

I am a researcher in the Department of Earth Sciences at Uppsala University. As a water and environmental engineer, I am involved in a variety of studies of wastewater treatment, biochar filters for onsite wastewater systems, pharmaceutical pollution in the environment, microplastics analyses and blue-green infrastructures for removal of microplastics. As a teacher, I teach municipal wastewater treatment and a variety of subjects related to water treatment to undergraduate and graduate students.

I am Originally from Jordan, I have lived in Sweden since 2007. Previously, I lived and worked in Jordan and Japan. I have a PhD in Environmental Technology from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and I work as a researcher at the Department of Earth Sciences at Uppsala University.

My main areas of interest are in wastewater treatment and environmental pollution in Sweden and abroad. I do laboratory, pilot and field experiments to investigate these areas and I use quantitative and qualitative methods in my research.

My doctoral study focused on bark and charcoal filters for greywater treatment to produce irrigation water. As a researcher I am heavily involved in development of filter materials using biochar to improve the removal of different types of pollutants from wastewater. I look at biochar capacity in cleaning wastewater using infiltration beds and multi-module compacts filters for onsite systems. In parallel to biochar research, I explore how upstream pollution of wastewater affects the quality of soil and water in the downstream with special focus on micropollutants. In this regard, I try to explore the contribution of wastewater from households, hospitals, hospice, elderly houses and other care-centers to the overall loads of pharmaceuticals in municipal wastewater. In addition, I investigate if, how and why pharmaceuticals might migrate from sludge to soil and groundwater when sewage sludge is used as fertilizer. My research in microplastics focuses on developing a standard method for separation of microplastics from sludge and investigating the retention of microplastics from stormwater using road side green beds of bark or biochar.

I have two laboratories specialized in determination of wastewater quality, screening of pharmaceuticals and identification and quantification microplastic.

Teaching

I enjoy teaching very much. My best time of my year is when I meet my students and interact with them through teaching or supervision. I care about my students and I feel that they appreciate the effort I put (and the cake I bake) to get them to understand water and wastewater treatment subjects.

At the department of Earth Sciences, I teach or have taught the following:

• Municipal and industrial wastewater treatment (second cycle)
• Drinking water treatment (second cycle)
• Hydrochemistry (second cycle)
• Självständigt arbete i miljö och vattenteknik (Second cycle)
• Resources in Wastewater - Technologies and Potential (Third cycle; Water Research School, VA-Kluster Mälardalen

At SLU, I teach in these courses

• Safe nutrients recycling (second cycle)
• Small scales wastewater treatment systems, nutrients recycling and sludge management (second cycle)

Contact information

My office is in the Department of Earth Sciences (Geocentrum; Villavägen 16, SE 752 36 Uppsala). My room number is GK313, and the telephone number is 018-471-2265 (or +46-18-471-2265 for international calls). You can find me in my office on Mondays 12-13, but the best way to contact me is by e-mail (Sahar.Dalahmeh@geo.uu.se)

Selected publications

You can find the full list of my peer reviewed articles at https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0946-3226. Some selected articles are below.

Dalahmeh, S., Thorsen, G. & Jönsson, H. 2022. Open-air storage with and without composting as post-treatment methods to degrade pharmaceutical residues in anaerobically digested sewage sludge. Accepted for publication in Science of the Total Environment.

Quyen, V.T., Jitae, K., Dalahmeh, S.S., Pham, T.H., Thanh, D.M., Le, C.L., Thang, P.Q., Viet, N.M., Van Thuan, D., Nguyen, T.L. 2021. Enhanced recovery of phosphate as a value-added product from wastewater by using lanthanum modified carbon-fiber. Chemosphere, 281.

Dalahmeh, S.S., Stenström, Y., Jebrane, M., Hylander, L.D., Daniel, G., Heinma, I. 2020. Efficiency of Iron- and Calcium-Impregnated Biochar in Adsorbing Phosphate From Wastewater in Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 8.

Dalahmeh, S.S., Assayed, A., Stenström, Y. 2019. Combined Vertical-Horizontal Flow Biochar Filter for Onsite Wastewater Treatment—Removal of Organic Matter, Nitrogen and Pathogens. Applied Sciences, 9(24).

Dalahmeh, S., Alziq, N., Ahrens, L. 2019. Potential of biochar filters for on-site wastewater treatment: Effects of active and inactive biofilms on adsorption of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in laboratory column experiments. Environmental Pollution.

Shigei, M., Assayed, A., Hazaymeh, A., Dalahmeh, S.S. 2021. Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Pollutant Levels in Wastewater and the Waters of the Zarqa River, Jordan. Applied Sciences, 11(18), 8638.

Cossio, C., McConville, J., Rauch, S., Wilen, B.M., Dalahmeh, S., Mercado, A., Romero, A.M. 2017. Wastewater management in small towns - understanding the failure of small treatment plants in Bolivia. Environmental Technology 1-11.

Karlsson, S.C., Langergraber, G., Pell, M., Dalahmeh, S., Vinneras, B., Jonsson, H. 2015. Simulation and verification of hydraulic properties and organic matter degradation in sand filters for greywater treatment. Water Science and Technology 71(3), 426-33.

Dalahmeh, S.S., Jönsson, H., Hylander, L.D., Nan, H., Pell, M. 2014a. Dynamics and functions of bacterial communities in bark, charcoal and sand filters treating greywater. Water Research, 54, 21-32.

Dalahmeh, S.S., Pell, M., Hylander, L.D., Lalander, C., Vinnerås, B., Jönsson, H. 2014. Effects of changing hydraulic and organic loading rates on pollutant reduction in bark, charcoal and sand filters treating greywater. Journal of Environmental Management, 132(0), 338-345.