The Membrane Biotechnology Laboratory at the Institute of Environmental Sciences & Engineering (IESE), NUST is a leading facility for advanced water treatment, membrane applications, and resource recovery research. The lab supports experimental and pilot-scale work on membrane bioreactors (MBRs), anaerobic systems, forward osmosis (FO), nanofiltration (NF), reverse osmosis (RO), and hybrid biological–electrochemical treatment processes. It serves as the core NUST site for activities under the RESURGENCE project, especially in industrial wastewater treatment, digital monitoring, and solute recovery research.

PI Profiles

Prof. Dr. Sher Jamal Khan Professor, Institute of Environmental Sciences & Engineering (IESE), NUST Ph.D. Environmental Engineering & Management, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, Thailand

Projects:

• Pilot Membrane Bioreactor Project (NUST R&D Fund): Full-scale wastewater reclamation for campus reuse

• NUST Grant for Young Researcher, “Design and Optimization of Innovative DEWATS for Fecal Sludge Treatment and Reuse in Urban Sanitation” 0.8 Million PKR, PI (2025-26)

• Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC)’s Final Year Design Project Financing, “Assessing the Removal Efficiency of Microplastics from Water using Electrocoagulation”, 0.1 Million PKR, Co-PI. (2023-24)

• National Cleaner Production Centre (NCPC), Attock Oil Refinery, “Monitoring of Groundwater Pollution Status in On-site Sanitation Facilities Served Areas of Islamabad”, 0.12 Million PKR, PI. (2021-22)

Expertise/Capabilities of lab:

• Membrane-based wastewater treatment and fouling control
• Anaerobic digestion, sludge thickening, and biogas recovery
• Industrial effluent treatment (textile, chemical, pulp & paper)
• Resource recovery (nutrients, dyes, metals, biopolymers)
• Machine learning models for membrane system optimization
• DEWATS design, on-site sanitation monitoring, and groundwater assessmen

Lab Equipment /Resources:

• Bench-scale Forward Osmosis (FO) (flat sheet) membrane testing units
• Bench-scale Membrane Distillation (MD) testing units
• Anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR)
• Water quality instruments (UV–Vis, COD/BOD, TOC, multiparameter probes)
• Sludge analysis tools, EPS extraction units, and biogas digesters
• Pilot-scale wastewater treatment units on the NUST campus
• Data acquisition systems and computational tools for ML-based process analysis
• Dedicated laboratory technician and access to IESE’s chemistry, microbiology, and environmental monitoring laboratories
• Field access to wastewater and fecal sludge treatment sites in Islamabad
• Active collaborations with WaterAid, Oxfam, industrial partners, and international research groups

Human Resources

Typical Enrollment of lab researchers: 10-15 researchers

Contact Us:

Prof. Dr. Sher Jamal Khan
Phone: +925190854353
Email: [email protected]

Dr. Nida Maqbool
Phone: +925190854361
Email: [email protected]