Research Experience

Having worked in tertiary education since 1992, his specialist research areas are in membrane and chemical process technologies as applied to municipal and industrial water and wastewater treatment.

Simon’s research projects have generally involved practical pilot-scale investigation of real-world challenges addressed through applied research. Studies have been largely based on full-scale modules (membranes, UV lamps, diffusers, etc), crucial to providing performance data representative of full-scale plants. Applications have included municipal and industrial effluent, potable water, boiler feed water, swimming pools and, most recently, produced water and other wastewaters generated from oil and gas industry operations.

Although active in many areas, it is his work in membranes and MBR (membrane bioreactor) technology which has achieved the greatest impact, accounting for around 60% of his research publications. Simon co-authored the original MBR reference book (‘Membrane bioreactors for Wastewater Treatment’, published in 2000) and is also sole author of both editions of ‘The MBR Book’ (2006, 2010) and ‘Industrial MBRs’ (2014).

Away from membranes, Simon has conducted research into a range of chemical treatment technologies including chlorination, coagulation, magnetic conditioning, gas precipitation, chemical reduction and carbonation. He has procured over £10m of research in total in the UK and the Gulf, predominantly directly from industry but also resulting from competitive bidding to national and international organisations such as EPSRC, EU-FP and QNRF.