Majid Sartaj

Biography

Dr. Majid Sartaj is a Professor of the Civil Engineering Department, University of Ottawa. He obtained his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from University of Ottawa in 2001. After graduation he worked for 2 years in consulting industry, where he was Project Engineer for the development of the first Engineered Landfill for the Caribbean nation of St. Lucia. He was also a faculty member of Isfahan University of Technology before joining University of Ottawa in 2011.

During the past 20 years, his research was directed towards developing sustainable solid waste management (SWM) technologies, with the main focus on Bioreactor Landfilling and biogas/renewable natural gas (NRG) production. Benefits of operating a landfill as a bioreactor include enhancement of the landfill gas (LFG) generation rates; reduction of environmental impacts, reduction of landfilling operation and post-closure activities and costs; abatement of greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, bioremediation of contaminated soils and application of adsorption and Ion-Exchange processes for reduction and removal of contaminants released by different industries and agricultural activities such ammonia, heavy metals, cyanide and nitrate and modeling their fate and transport in the environment are among his other research topics of interest.

Dr. Sartaj is the author or co-author of over 75 research publications in peer-reviewed journals and conferences, and one book chapter. He has supervised or co-supervised more than 35 graduate students. Dr. Sartaj has been an active participant and organizer of several national and international conferences

Fields of Interest

• Sustainable Solid Waste Management (Bioreactor Landfilling, biogas/renewable natural gas (NRG) production)
• Bioremediation of Contaminated Soils
• Removal of contaminants from industrial and mining wastewater using adsorption and Ion-Exchange processes
• Water quality control and modelling of surface and groundwater resources

Selected Recent Publications

• Adghim M, Abdallah M, Saad S, Shanableh A, Sartaj M (2020), Assessment of the Biochemical Methane Potential of Mono- and Co-Digested Dairy Farm Wastes, Waste Management Research, 38 (1), 88-99. 
• Babakhani A, Sartaj M. (2020). Removal of Cadmium (II) from aqueous solution using tripolyphosphate cross-linked chitosan. J. of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 8 (4), 103842.
• Mirahsani A, Giorgi JB, Sartaj M (2020). Ammonia removal from aqueous solution by sodium functionalized graphene oxide: Isotherm, Kinetics, and Thermodynamics. Desalination and Water Treatment. 178, 143-154.
• Meskar M & M Sartaj, JA Infante Sedano (2019), Assessment and Comparison of PHCs Removal from Three Types of Soils (sand, silt loam and clay) using Supercritical Fluid Extraction, Environmental Technology, 40 (23), 3040–3053.
• Khosravi et al., (2018), A comparison study of DRASTIC methods with various objective methods for groundwater vulnerability assessment, Science of the Total Environment, 642, 1032–1049.
• Akindele, AA & M Sartaj (2018), The toxicity effects of ammonia on anaerobic digestion of organic fraction of municipal solid waste, Waste Management, 71,  757–766.
• Dong S & M Sartaj (2016) Statistical Analysis and Optimization of Ammonia Removal from Landfill Leachate by Sequential Microwave/Aeration Process Using Factorial Design and Response Surface Methodology, Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 4, 100–108.
• Ara E, M Sartaj, K Kennedy (2015), Enhanced Biogas Production by Anaerobic Co-digestion from a Trinary Mix Substrate over a Binary Mix Substrate, Waste Management Research. Vol. 33(6) 578-587.
• Ding Y & M Sartaj (2015) "Statistical analysis and optimization of ammonia removal from aqueous solution by zeolite using factorial design and response surface methodology", Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 3, 807–814.
• Nair A., M Sartaj, K Kennedy, NMG Coelho (2014) "Enhancing biogas production from anaerobic biodegradation of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste through leachate blending", Waste Manag. Research, 32 (10), 939-946.
• Gomez F & M Sartaj (2014) "Optimization of Field Scale Biopiles for Bioremediation of Petroleum Hydrocarbon Contaminated Soil at Low Temperature Conditions by Response Surface Methodology (RSM)", International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation, 89, 103-109.