Amos Branch Email & Phone Number

Walnut Creek, California, Us

I work on a variety of challenging and interesting projects to support water reuse and protect public health, including:* Permitting of membrane bioreactor and ultraviolet advanced oxidation systems,* Developing monitoring and control plans for water reuse treatment schemes,* Chemical and microbial risk assessment,* Running pilot and demonstration treatment plants,* Conducting reviews of scientific literature and water quality regulations to support the development of best practice water reuse policy,* Contributing to research programs on multiple aspects of potable reuse.

Penrith, New South Wales, Au

Providing autopsy and expert opinion services to ensure optimal product quality and operability of membrane systems

Sydney, New South Wales (Nsw), Au

Sydney, New South Wales (Nsw), Au

I have engaged in a diverse variety of contract research projects for water utilities, consultancies, defence contractors and equipment manufacturers including:Investigating the impact of source water and pretreatment unit operations on operability and efficiency of seawater reverse osmosis plants.Application of biological treatment modelling to optimise the design of small membrane bioreactor systems to cope with highly variable loading.Investigating the risk of transformation of chiral chemicals through biological wastewater treatment processes.Developing validation protocols for ultraviolet advanced oxidation disinfection processes.Mitigation of the risk of Legionella colonisation of engineered water treatment systems.Advanced organic matter characterisation of a variety of water sources and the interactions of this organic matter with membrane process performance.Diagnostic tools for the optimisation of membrane and other water treatment processes.

Sydney, New South Wales (Nsw), Au

Reduction of pathogenic microorganisms to to acceptable health risk levels is a principle aim of water recycling plant. Pathogen analysis require skill and time (> 24 hr). Due to the continuous nature of water supply, the 24 hr lag between sample and result is inadequate to prevent distribution of potentially contaminated water. MBRs must be validated to prove that they can and will continually meet pathogen reduction targets. To achieve validation, removal efficiencies must be quantified and correlated with online monitoring parameters.My research project has informed the development of National validation guidelines for MBRs in Australian water recycling schemes (http://www.australianwaterrecycling.com.au/factsheets.html#factsheets). As part of the project I have completed a critical literature review on pathogen removal and operational monitoring techniques for MBRs and enacted an extensive sampling campaign at over 11 full scale installations, exceeding 180 site visits. The data gathered during the sampling campaign was used to quantify the relationships between MBR operating and design parameters and pathogen removal efficiencies. The outputs of this research will enable more efficient performance assessment of MBR systems and ensure that health risk is managed uniformly across Australian water recycling schemes benefiting MBR operators, designers, manufacturers and health regulators.In addition to my primary research project I have:* Tutored undergraduate and postgraduate courses on sustainability assessment and health risk analysis, process design and safety.* Undertaken consulting activities including all experimental work and report writing for, membrane autopsy for fouling and integrity analysis, expert witness of membrane challenge testing and evaluation of new integrity monitoring sensors for membrane systems.* As a volunteer, assisted in organisation of an early career researcher conference for young membrane professionals.

Internal promotion-Same responsibilities as the role below with the addition of:Working with a focus team including; on continual process improvement with the aims of improving efficiency and quality.Responsibility for the correction and minimisation of failed, old and excess stock.Facilitated the development, working with software consultants, to design a lotus notes data base to replace the current excel spreadsheet database for Quality Control Results and Certificate of Analysis creation. This project is not only making the laboratory processes more efficient (work flow time saving and multiple simultaneous user access) but also ensures the data storage integrity due to the 'robustness' of lotus notes when compared with excel.

Development of new products from research and development stage to factory scale production.Performed quality control testing using a mixture of wet chemistry techniques, ASTM Standard methods and FTIR spectroscopy in an accurate and timely manner.Corrected failed batches during production.Provided technical support to sales and marketing staff.Providing certificates of analysis to customers for finished goods.Management of the Quality Results database.

Washington, District Of Columbia, Us

Improved the design of laboratory measurement apparatus in terms of simplicity, reproducibility and capacity for automated result collection; resulting in the generation of a large amount of useful design related data.Created and tested over 60 laboratory scale desalination modulesCollected and categorised the performance data of over 60 laboratory scale desalination modules to choose the most viable module for scale upProduced scaled up modules for an in house pilot plantEvaluated resin properties including hardness, viscosity and set isotherm to ascertain their suitability as desalination module materials

Parramatta, New South Wales, Au

Sydney Water: North Head S.T.PCalibrated odour scrubber process control sensors resulting in faster process response and more efficient utilisation of dosed chemicalsPerformed a literature study into bio-solids odour and possible treatmentDesign, building and implementation of a pilot dosing system to control bio-solids odoursMaintained the laboratory and completed all quality tests

Prepared samples from sunscreens for analysis by GC-MS and XRDPerformed field testing of Colorbond real samples including sample creation, testing and evaluationAssisted with ESR measurements of photo-catalytic materials for comparison with sunscreen componentsCo- wrote a research paper based on the above results; P. J. Barker, A. Branch, "The interaction of modern sunscreen formulations with surface coatings", Progress in Organic Coatings, 2008, 62,

Optimised use of membrane pre-treatment chemicals with aims at increasing total flux and reducing pre-treatment time requirement resulting in higher potential manufacturing throughput.

Doctor Of Philosophy - Phd, Water Recycling, Chemical Engineering

Bachelor Of Engineering, Industrial Chemistry