Spyros G. Pavlostathis, PhD, BCEEM, F.IWA, F.WEF                         

 Professor, Environmental Engineering Program
 School of Civil and Environmental Engineering

 Georgia Institute of Technology 

 3204 Environmental Science & Technology Building
 311 Ferst Drive; Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0512 USA 
 Phone: (404) 894-9367 Fax: (404) 894-8266
 E-mail: spyros.pavlostathis@ce.gatech.edu
 Personal Website: http://www.ce.gatech.edu/~spavlost/

 CEE Website: http://www.ce.gatech.edu/people/faculty/961/overview

 CURRICULUM VITAE       SHORT BIO

  
 

EDUCATION

  • Ph.D., Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, 1985 

  • M.S., Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, 1982 
  • Diploma, Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural University of Athens, Greece, 1974 

PROFESSIONAL APPOINTMENTS 

  • Professor: School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA - August 1999 to present

  • Program Coordinator: Environmental Engineering Program, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA - August 2005 to August 2009
  • Associate Professor: School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA - September 1994 to July 1999
  • Assistant Professor: School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA - August 1991 to August 1994
  • Assistant Professor: Civil & Environmental Engineering Department, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY - June 1988 to July 1991
  • Project Engineer: Golder Associates, Atlanta, GA - 1987 to 1988
  • Research Associate: Wadsworth Center, Laboratory of Environmental Microbiology, NY State Department of Health, Albany, NY - 1985 to 1987
  • Visiting Assistant Professor: Civil & Environmental Engineering Department, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY - 1984 to 1985
  • Teaching/Research Assistant: Civil & Environmental Engineering Department, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY - 1979 to 1984
  • Instructor: Agricultural Engineering Department, Agricultural University of Athens, Greece - 1976 to 1979
  • Non-Commissioned Officer: Greek Air Force, 1974-1976

TEACHING INTERESTS

Environmental Engineering Principles, Environmental Engineering Systems, Hazardous Substance Engineering, Microbial Principles in Environmental Engineering, Biological Processes, Biotransformation of Xenobiotic Compounds, Environmental Science & Engineering Laboratory, Modeling and Simulation of Biological Treatment Processes

RESEARCH INTERESTS & EXPERTISE

My research interests include applied environmental biotechnology and bioprocess engineering for the bioremediation of contaminated natural systems, the treatment of municipal and industrial wastewater, as well as the treatment and utilization of food and agricultural waste and by-products. My research has focused on the fate and biotransformation of recalcitrant organic compounds such as dyes, pesticides, antioxidants, disinfectants, antibiotics, naphthenic acids, and phytosterols, the biotransformation of emerging environmental contaminants, disinfectant-induced antibiotic resistance, the production of bioenergy and biofuels from waste streams, the development of halophilic and thermophilic microbial processes, as well as the kinetics, modeling and simulation of biotransformation and treatment processes. Research has been applied to site remediation, as well as municipal, photoprocessing, pulp-and-paper, textile, food processing, and petrochemical industries for the development of innovative, cost-effective sustainable environmental technologies.

(Research Overview Slide) 

RESEARCH GROUP 

Current

  • Dr. Xiaoying Lu; Postdoctoral Research Associate

  • Teresa Misiti; PhD Candidate

  • Peizhe Sun; PhD Candidate

  • Christy Dykstra; PhD Candidate

Recent Visiting Fellows

  • Dr. Kexun Li, Visiting Scholar, Nankai University, China (2007 – 2008)

  • Dr. Madan Tandukar, Visiting Scholar, Tohoku University, Japan (2008 – 2009)

  • Dr. Takashi Onodera, Visiting Scholar, Tohoku University, Japan (2009 – 2010)

  • Dr. Guangcan Zhu, Visiting Scholar, Southeast University, China (2009 – 2010)

  • Dr. Ulas Tezel, Postdoc (2009 – 2010)

  • Dr. Madan Tandukar, Research Associate (2009 – 2012)

  • Mr. Zhanguang Liu, Visiting PhD Student, Tongji University (2011 – 2012)

  • Ozlem Tunc Dede, Visiting Scholar, State Hydraulic Works, Ankara, Turkey (2011 – 2012) 

  • Dr. Eleni Vaiopoulou, Visiting Scholar, Public Works Division, Prefecture of Kavala, Greece (2012)

Recent Graduates (2009 to present)

  • Ulas Tezel (PhD 2009)

  • Nadia H. Szeinbaum (MS 2009)

  • Samuel Huber (MS 2009)

  • Teresa Misiti (MS 2009)

  • Malek G. K. Hajaya (PhD 2011)

  • Hamilton Giles (MS 2012)

RECENT PUBLICATIONS (2008 to present)

Kabouris, J. C., U. Tezel, S. G. Pavlostathis, M. Engelmann, A. C. Todd, and R. A. Gillette. 2008. The Anaerobic Biodegradability of Municipal Sludge and Fat, Oil, and Grease under Mesophilic Conditions. Water Environment Research 80:212-221.

Marchant, R., A. Franzetti, S. G. Pavlostathis, D. Okutman Tas, I. Erdbrugger, A. Űnyayar, M. A. Mazmanci, and I. M. Banat. 2008. Thermophilic Bacteria in Cool Temperate Soils: Are they Metabolically Active or Continually Added by Global Atmospheric Transport? Applied Microbiology & Biotechnology 78:841-852.

Tezel, U., J. A. Pierson, and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2008. Effect of Didecyl Dimethyl Ammonium Chloride on Nitrate Reduction in a Mixed Methanogenic Culture. Water Science & Technology 57:541-546.

Tugtas, A. E., and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2008. Inhibitory Effects of Nitrate Reduction on Methanogenesis in the Presence of Different Electron Donors. Water Science & Technology 57:693-698.

Okutman Tas, D., and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2008. Effect of Nitrate Reduction on the Microbial Reductive Transformation of Pentachloronitrobenzene. Environmental Science & Technology 42:3234-3240.

Epolito, W. J., H. Yang, L. A. Bottomley, and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2008. Kinetics of Zero-Valent Iron Reductive Transformation of the Anthraquinone Dye Reactive Blue 4. Journal of Hazardous Materials 160:594-600.

Tandukar, M., S. G. Pavlostathis, and F. J. Cervantes. 2009. Autotrophic Denitrification for the Removal of Nitrogenous and Sulphurous Contaminants from Wastewaters. In Environmental Technologies to Treat Nitrogen Pollution: Principles and Engineering, F. J. Cervantes (Ed.). Ch. 12, IWA Publishing, London, UK.

Tezel, U., and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2009. Transformation of Benzalkonium Chloride under Nitrate Reducing Conditions. Environmental Science & Technology 43:1342-1348.

Padhye, L., U. Tezel, W. A. Mitch, S. G. Pavlostathis, and C.-H. Huang. 2009. Occurrence and Fate of Nitrosamines and Their Precursors in Municipal Sludge and Anaerobic Digestion Systems. Environmental Science & Technology 43:3087-3093.

Kabouris, J. C., U. Tezel, S. G. Pavlostathis, M. Engelmann, J. A. Dulaney, A. C. Todd, and R. A. Gillette. 2009. Mesophilic and Thermophilic Anaerobic Digestion of Municipal Sludge and Fat, Oil, and Grease. Water Environment Research 81:476-485.

Kabouris, J. C., U. Tezel, S. G. Pavlostathis, M. Engelmann, J. Dulaney, R. A. Gillette, and A. C. Todd. 2009. Methane Recovery from the Anaerobic Codigestion of Municipal Sludge and FOG. Bioresource Technology 100:3701-3705.

Matthews, R. D., L. A. Bottomley, and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2009. Palladium-Catalyzed Hydrogen Reduction and Decolorization of Reactive Phthalocyanine Dyes. Desalination 248:816-825.

Tandukar, M., S. J. Huber, T. Onodera, and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2009. Biological Chromium(VI) Reduction in the Cathode of a Microbial Fuel Cell. Environmental Science & Technology 43:8159-8165.

Tugtas, A. E., U. Tezel, and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2010. A Comprehensive Model of Simultaneous Denitrification and Methanogenic Fermentation Processes. Biotechnology & Bioengineering 105:98-108.

Ismail, Z. Z., and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2010. Influence of Sulfate Reduction on the Microbial Dechlorination of Pentachloroaniline in a Mixed Anaerobic Culture. Biodegradation 21:43-57.

Okutman Tas, D., M. T. Prytula, J. A. Mulholland, and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2010. Theoretical Investigation of the Sequential Reductive Dechlorination Pathways of Chlorobenzenes and Chloroanilines. Biotechnology & Bioengineering 105:574-587.

Ismail, Z. Z., U. Tezel, and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2010. Sorption of Quaternary Ammonium Compounds to Municipal Sludge. Water Research 44:2303-2313.

Okutman Tas, D., and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2010. Microbial Transformation of Pentachloronitrobenzene under Nitrate Reducing Conditions. Biodegradation 21:691-702.

Zhang, C., U. Tezel, K. Li, D. Liu, R. Ren, J. Du, and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2011. Evaluation and Modeling of Benzalkonium Chloride Inhibition and Biodegradation in Activated Sludge. Water Research 45:1238-1246.

Hajaya, M. G., U. Tezel, and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2011. Effect of Temperature and Benzalkonium Chloride on Nitrate Reduction. Bioresource Technology 102:5039–5047.

Misiti, T. M., M. G. Hajaya, and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2011. Nitrate Reduction in a Simulated Free-water Surface Wetland System. Water Research 45:5587-5598.

Tezel, U., L. P. Padhye, C.-H. Huang, and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2011. Biotransformation of Nitrosamines and Precursor Secondary Amines under Methanogenic Conditions. Environmental Science & Technology 45:8290-8297.

Shimada, T., E. Morgenroth, M. Tandukar, S. G. Pavlostathis, A. Smith, L. Raskin, and R. E. Kilian. 2011. Syntrophic Acetate Oxidation in Two-phase (Acid-Methane) Anaerobic Digesters. Water Science & Technology 64:1812-1820.

Lee, Y. H., L. A. Bottomley, and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2011. Anthraquinone Compounds as Redox Mediators for Enhanced Continuous-flow Anaerobic Biotransformation of Reactive Dyes under Hypersaline Conditions. Desalination & Water Treatment 33:68-76.

Watson, M. K., U. Tezel, and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2012. Biotransformation of Alkanoylcholines under Methanogenic Conditions. Water Research 46:2947-2956.

Hajaya, M. G., and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2012. Fate and Effect of Benzalkonium Chlorides in a Continuous-flow Biological Nitrogen Removal System Treating Poultry Processing Wastewater. Bioresource Technology 118:73-81.

Tezel, U., M. Tandukar, R. J. Martinez, P. A. Sobecky, and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2012. Aerobic Biotransformation of n-Tetradecylbenzyldimethylammonium Chloride by an Enriched Pseudomonas spp. Community. Environmental Science & Technology 46:8714−8722.

Misiti, T., U. Tezel, and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2012. Fate and Effect of Naphthenic Acids on Oil Refinery Activated Sludge Wastewater Treatment Systems. Water Research (DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2012.10.036).

Misiti, T., M. Tandukar, U. Tezel, and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2012. Inhibition and Biotransformation Potential of Naphthenic Acids under Different Electron Accepting Conditions. Water Research (DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2012.10.019).

Okutman Tas, D., and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2012. Occurrence, Toxicity and Biotransformation of Pentachloronitrobenzene and Chloroanilines. Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology (accepted).

Last updated: November 2012