Marjolein Peters

My name is Marjolein Peters. I did my bachelor and master study Life Science & Technology at the TU Delft (September 2006 – July 2011). During these studies my affinity for water was growing.

For my bachelor thesis I investigated the separation between water and 1-butanol by adding different sugars and salts (Oudshoorn et al. 2011).

For my master thesis I went to the wastewater side were I investigated the microorganism ‘anammox’ by cultivating it in a membrane bio-reactor. In this way the anammox bacteria will grow as free cells which can be used to determine the specific characteristics like the substrate(s) affinity.

Furthermore during my master study I did my internship at Dunea, the drinking water provider in the Netherlands around The Hague. Dunea uses the dunes for natural disinfection of the water and I investigated which microorganisms are present in the drinking water production process. Besides that also the microbial population in two columns (representing the dunes) was investigated. One column represented the original drinking water process as it is now and the other represented a future process based on advanced oxidation. Since the future process might change the water matrix, it was important to know how the microbial population in the dunes is nowadays and how it might be in the future (dune-column comparison).

Next the water affinity stayed during a project were I was part of a group investigating the use of seawater to flush the toilet on Ameland (island in the North of the Netherlands) and on Sint-Maarten (Dutch island in the Caribbean Sea). This was done for the water research company in the Netherlands, KWR represented by Tessa van den Brand.

Finally I investigated also the addition of antibiotics in drinking water. However this research was not done scientifically but based on ethical arguments. Also an alternative for the use of antibiotics, like the use of silver, was described in this way.

Considering my affinity for water and microorganisms the choice to start a PhD at Civil Engineering was quickly made. The coming four years I will be working with Maarten Keuten on the DIPool project to develop a chlorine free swimming pool.

Article

Arjan Oudshoorn, Marjolein C. F. M. Peters, Luuk A. M. van der Wielen, Adrie J. J. Straathof (2011); Exploring the potential of recovering 1-butanol from aqueous solutions by liquid demixing upon addition of carbohydrates or salts; DOI: 10.1002/jctb.2577; Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology; Volume 86, Issue 5, pages 714–718, May 2011