缅北禁地

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Staff Profile

Dr Elizabeth Heidrich

CEng. MIWater, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Engineering, Director of Research for the School of Engineering

  • Email: elizabeth.heidrich@ncl.ac.uk
  • Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 8997
  • Address: School of Engineering
    Room 1.14, Cassie Building
    缅北禁地
    缅北禁地 upon Tyne
    NE1 7RU
Background

My research is focused in the field of microbial electrochemistry, developing biological systems which are able to convert organic molecules directly to electrical current, and vice versa. Most of my research is in developing these systems for wastewater treatment, ultimately aiming to turn this sector into a resource recovery process rather than a large net energy consumer.

I have trialled and led global efforts to develop these technologies at pilot scale and under real life conditions. This practical success is aided by understanding the fundamental biological processes occurring in these systems, as well as the properties of wastewater itself, and how these relate to real world application. My research interests are in understanding the fundamental aspects microbial systems, and how these may be controlled by energy. I believe in understanding the microbial world at this level we may be able to begin to control and engineer it. This research has lead to the award of a £1.2M EPSRC grant, METzero: Bringing the water sector towards Net-Zero using Microbial Electrochemical Technologies METs. For more details please follow me on linked in: .

This research has enabled me to co-found and spin out a company from the university to develop these systems commercially. We have so far received £350K Innovate UK funding, and an £1.8M Ofwat Innovation Fund in partnership with Northumbrian Water Ltd, Thames Water, Yorkshire Water and Isle Utilities. See our company LinkedIn or website .


Qualifications

  • PhD 缅北禁地 2012
  • MSc Environmental Engineering, 缅北禁地 2008
  • BSc Geography, Bristol, 1999 

SCOPUS:

Google Scholar:

ORCID Identifier: 0000-0001-7964-4156

 

 

Research

Research Interests

Microbial Electrochemical Technologies

Thermodynamics and energy

Wastewater engineering

Microbial ecology 


Funding

  • Ofwat Innovation Fund, , 2025, £1.8M, PI.
  • National Biofilm Innovation Centre (NBIC) Watts-Up - Ammonia Recovery through Pilot Scale Microbial

Electrolysis Cells (MECs), £85k, PI.

  • Innovate UK ICURe Exploit Funding, 2023, £350,000. Co-I 2.
  • EPSRC Responsive Mode 2023: METzero: Bringing the water sector towards Net-Zero using Microbial Electrochemical Technologies (METs), £1.2M. PI 3.
  • BBSRC EBNET Proof of Concept Grant 2022 - Pure biomethane £100,000 PI
  • EPSRC/NBIC Impact Acceleration Account Strategic Impact Project 2022, £24,096.00. PI
  • EPSRC WIRE Eng. Doc Northumbrian water Ltd 2020-2024 Implementation of microbial electrolysis cells for treating sludge return liquor, value £180,314 (£90,000 from industry). PI
  • EPSRC RENU CDT PhD, Bacteria Recognition-Extraction from Wastewater (BREW) for next generation Microbial Fuel Cell Technology, £68,000. Co-I
  • EPSRC New Investigator Award, 2018: BIOHEAT: Husbanding biological heat to transform wastewater treatment £300,470. PI 8. 缅北禁地 Research Fellowship, 2018, Fundamental and predictive understanding of Bioelectrochemical Systems, £250,000. PI


Teaching

I teach across BEng, MEng and MSc cohorts. I lead module CEG2101 - Water treatment for the 21st Century, teaching 2nd year civil engineering students the unit processes of water and wastewater treatment, and reflecting on how these will need to develop in our changing world. I also teach in several modules on the Environmental Engineering MSc, and lead many BEng, MEng and MSc dissertation projects each year.


Publications

  • Articles

    • Leicester DD, Settle S, McCann CM, Heidrich ES. . Applied and Environmental Microbiology 2023, 89(3), e0218122.
    • Grozinger L, Heidrich E, Goni-Moreno A. . Microbial Biotechnology 2023, 16(3), 546-559.
    • Aiken D, Curtis T, Heidrich ES. . Frontiers in Chemical Engineering 2022, 3, 796805.
    • Day JR, Heidrich ES, Wood TS. . Chemosphere 2022, 291(Part 1), 132686.
    • Zhao F, Heidrich ES, Curtis TP, Dolfing J. . Water Research 2020, 176, 115737.
    • Zhao F, Heidrich ES, Curtis TP, Dolfing J. . Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 2020, 104, 5133-5143.
    • Leicester DD, Amezaga JM, Moore A, Heidrich ES. . Molecules 2020, 25(12), 2945.
    • Leicester D, Amezaga J, Heidrich E. . Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 2020, 133, 110279.
    • Cai W, Lesnik KL, Wade MJ, Heidrich ES, Wang Y, Liu H. . Biosensors and Bioelectronics 2019, 133, 64-71.
    • Dai Z, Heidrich ES, Dolfing J, Jarvis AP. . Environmental Science and Technology Letters 2019, 6(7), 396-400.
    • Aiken DC, Curtis TP, Heidrich ES. . International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 2019, 44(5), 2426-2434.
    • Heidrich ES, Dolfing J, Wade MJ, Sloan WT, Quince C, Curtis TP. . Bioelectrochemistry 2018, 119, 43-50.
    • Cotterill SE, Dolfing J, Jones C, Curtis TP, Heidrich ES. . Fuel Cells 2017, 17(5), 584-592.
    • Heidrich AS, Curtis TP, Woodcock S, Dolfing J. . Bioresource Technology 2016, 218, 27-30.
    • Heidrich ES, Edwards SR, Dolfing J, Cotterill SE, Curtis TP. . Bioresource Technology 2014, 173, 87-95.
    • Heidrich ES, Dolfing J, Scott K, Edwards SR, Jones C, Curtis TP. . Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 2013, 97(15), 6979-6989.
    • Heidrich ES, Curtis TP, Dolfing J. . Environmental Science & Technology 2011, 45(2), 827-832.
    • Heidrich E, Dolfing J, Curtis T. . Chemistry & Industry 2011, (11), 24-26.

  • Book Chapters

    • Sebastia P, Beaza JA, Colprim J, Cotterill SE, Guisasola A, Zhen H, Heidrich SE, Pous N. . In: Lema, JM; and Martinez, SS, ed. Innovative Wastewater Treatment & Resource Recovery Technologies: Impacts on Energy, Economy and Environment. IWA Publishing, 2017.
    • Cotterill S, Heidrich ES, Curtis TP. . In: Scott, K; Yu, E, ed. Microbial Electrochemical and Fuel Cells: Fundamentals and Applications. Woodhead Publishing, 2016, pp.287-319.

  • Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

    • Wade M, Heidrich ES. . In: Molecular Microbial Ecology Meeting. 2011, Portsmouth, UK.
    • Heidrich ES, Dolfing J, Curtis TP. . In: WE-Heraeus-Seminar on Biothermodynamics of Metabolic and Ecological Networks. 2011, Bad-Honnef, Germany.
    • Heidrich ES, Curtis TP. . In: 239th American Chemical Society National Meeting. 2010, San Fransisco, California, USA.

  • Editorial

    • Escapa A, Moran A, Tartakovsky B, Heidrich ES. . Frontiers in Energy Research 2019, 7, 104.

  • Review

    • Bird H, Heidrich ES, Leicester DD, Theodosiou P. . Journal of Cleaner Production 2022, 346, 131227.