Dr. Navid Saeidi

Postdoc and project manager
Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research – UFZ
Department Technical Biogeochemistry/Department Microbial Biotechnology

Permoserstr. 15
04315 Leipzig, Germany

Phone: 0341 6025 2319 (zoom)
Fax: 0341 235 451760
 

Curriculum vitae

Research areas

1- Water treatment:

- Development of novel water treatment technologies for removing PFAS, PMTs, micro- and nanoplastics, and other emerging contaminants from water:

  > Adsorption, electrosorption, electrooxidation, catalytic degradation

- Adsorption modeling, prediction and data analysis

- Analytical studies and fate of PFAS and PMTs in environment.

2- Advanced materials and adsorbents:

- Development, functionalization, and modification of adsorbents for water treatment.

- Development of advanced porous electrodes for electrosorption and electrooxidation.

- Development of electrocatalysts for electrosynthesis processes.

3- Electrochemical synthesis:

- Production of organic compounds from reagents derived from waste and lignin-based streams.

- Development and modification of electrocatalysts.

- Design and advancement of high-performance electrodes.

4- Process engineering:

- Chemical and electrochemical process modeling via Superpro Designer and Aspen Plus.

- Electrochemical reactor design.

- Water treatment process design.

- Electrochemical process up-scaling

Projects

Projects in Department TECH

- FABEKO (postdoc and (electrochemical)process engineer)

The goal of this project is to develop a novel combined technological approach by which the soils contaminated with perfluorinated and polyfluorinated aliphatic substances (PFAS) can be effectively cleaned and PFAS entry into the groundwater is avoided. My role is to upscale the electrosorption process for real application.

Funded by BMBF.

- 2D4PFAS (postdoc and project manager)

2D4PFAS is a joint international project funded by the M-Era.Net program. 2D4PFAS aims to revolutionize the removal of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from water, addressing global concerns through an Electro-Catch&Treat process with advanced 2D functional materials.

Funded by M-Era.Net. 

Projects in Department MIBITECH

- Electrorem4Plastics (Co-PI)

This project introduces a two-step electrochemical process for efficient removal of microplastics (MIPs) and nanoplastics (NAPs) from water. The first step involves accumulating nano- and microplastics (MNPs) on porous electrodes through electrosorption, followed by releasing them as a concentrated solution. In the second step, the concentrated MNPs are mineralized in an optimized electrochemical reactor, ensuring complete degradation and minimizing toxic by-products.

Funded by internal UFZ funding program: Transfun

- SmartManure (Co-PI)

This project couples circular economy principles with environmental hazard management for liquid-manure based sustainable agriculture.

- LigNylon (Postdoc and (electro)chemical engineer)

This Project involes with electrochemical hydrogenation of lignin-derived mixtures of aromatic compounds for microbial synthesis of Nylon monomers. I work in this project and (electro)chemical engineer for up-scaling this project.
Partners: Leipzig University and DOMO Caproleuna GmbH

Funded by Transfun and Leipzig University.

Publications

Index:

• 2025 (1)
• 2024 (1)
• 2023 (2)
• 2022 (1)
• 2021 (5)
• 2020 (2)

You could use our publication index for further requests.

Publications before joining UFZ

• Saeidi, N., Lotfollahi, M. N. “Effects of powder activated Carbon particle size on activated carbon monolith's properties.” Materials and Manufacturing Processes, Vol (31), 1634-1638 (2016).
• Saeidi, N., Parvini, M. ‘‘Accuracy of Dubinin-Astakhov and Dubinin-Radushkevich adsorption isotherm models in evaluating micropore volume of bentonite.’’ Periodica Polytechnica Chemical Engineering, Vol (60), 123-129 (2016).
• Saeidi, N., Lotfollahi, M. N. “Effect of powder activated carbon particle size on adsorption capacity and mechanical properties of the semi activated carbon fiber.” Fibers and Polymers, Vol. 16 (3), 543-549 (2015).
• Saeidi, N., Lotfollahi, M. N. “A procedure to form powder activated carbon into activated carbon monolith.” International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, Vol 81, 1281-1288 (2015).
  
• Saeidi, N., Parvini, M., Niavarani, Z. ‘’High surface area and mesoporous graphene/activated carbon composite for adsorption of Pb (II) from wastewater.’’ Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, Vol (3), 2697-2706 (2015).
  
• Saeidi, N., Lotfollahi, M. N. “A procedure for preparation of semi-activated carbon fiber without any treatment under high temperature.’’ International Journal of Engineering, Vol. 27 (10), 1515-1524 (2014).
• Saeidi, N., Parvini, M., Sarsabili, M. R. “Studying performance of Dubinin-Astakhov and Dubinin-Raduchkevic equations to evaluate nanopore volume and pore size of MCM-41 particles.” International Journal of Engineering, Vol. 27 (10), 1525-1534 (2014).

Thesis

Ph.D thesis (Leipyig University, 2021): Improving adsorption of perfluoroalkyl acids by tailoring surface chemistry of activated carbon and electric potentials

Selected oral presentations in national and international conferences

- 2D Materials in Action Symposium 2024, Dresden: Exploring the potential of 2D materials to enhance PFAS electrosorption from water.

- German Chemical Society, Water 2023, Augsburg: Electrosorption to improve the adsorption of short-chain perfluoroalkyl acids on activated carbon and on-site regeneration of the adsorbent.

- DECHEMA Symposium 2022, Frankfurt: Elimination of PFAS from washing water after on-site soil washing using electro-adsorption/desorption.

- International Conference on PFAS and Emerging Contaminants, May 2021, Leipzig: Electrosorption for the removal of perfluoroalkyl acids.

- 14th International Workshop on Impedance Spectroscopy, September 2021, Chemnitz: Reversible electro-adsorption/desorption of ionizable organic compounds from water: perfluoroalkyl acids as target compounds.

- 15th International Conference on the Sustainable Use and Management of Soil, Sediment, and Water Resources (AquaConSoil), 2019, Antwerp: Modifying the adsorption of perfluorinated alkyl compounds through surface chemistry and electrical potentials.

- 2nd Global Conference on Catalyst Chemical Engineering and Technology, September 2018, Rome: Adsorption of perfluorinated surfactants on activated carbon: Role of surface chemistry.

Patents

- Inventors: Saeidi, N., Lotfollahi, M. N., patent tile: Production of shaped activated carbon from powdered activated carbon. Patent Number: 71925, Iran.
- Inventors: Saeidi, N., Lotfollahi, M. N., patent tile: Improvement of the mechanical strength and adsorption capacity of shaped activated carbon by modifying the microparticle size. Patent Number: 82747, Iran.
- Inventors: Saeidi, N., Lotfollahi, M. N., patent tile: Production of semi-activated carbon fibers through a coating process. Patent Number: 81266, Iran.