The title of his dissertation is “Enhanced removal of pharmaceutical contaminants from water using electrochemical oxidation coupled with adsorption process”.

Dr. Wondimu stated Water contamination with pharmaceuticals is an emerging environmental challenge. Due to high consumption and uncontrolled release, acetaminophen (ACM), ciprofloxacin (CIP), amoxicillin (AMX), and atenolol (ATN) are frequently found in water resources, requiring technologicalintervention.

His study investigates electrochemical oxidation (EO), adsorption (employing bamboo sawdust-derived adsorbent), and coupled process (EO+adsorption) for removing these pharmaceuticals from water. Dr. Wondimu’s findings indicate that EO and adsorption are efficient in removing single/binary pharmaceuticals (ACM/CIP) from a simple water matrix but exhibit reduced efficiency in complex matrices. Moreover, EO and adsorption show limited efficiency in multiple pharmaceuticals (ACM+CIP+AMX+ATN) removal from water. Dr. Wondimu said these noted limitations are addressed through coupling EO with adsorption. The benefit of coupling EO with adsorption becomes increasingly pronounced when transitioning from singleto multiple pharmaceuticalsremoval and with increasing matrix complexity. The study concludes that the coupled process shows a notable synergy in removing pharmaceuticals, especially in scenarios involving diverse pharmaceuticals and complex water matrices.

Prof. Yonas Chebude,was the chairperson of the defense session of this dissertation.The dissertation was mainly supervised by Prof. Joon Wun Kang from Yonsei University Mirae Campus; Gangwon-do, South Korea where as Dr. Beteley Tekola from Ababa University was Co-supervisor. Prof. Nigus Gabbiye from Bahir Dar University and Dr. Yeojoon Yoon from Yonsei University Mirae Campus, Gangwon-do, South Korea were internal and external examiners respectively.