Dr Ben Van Den Akker

Adjunct Research Fellow UniSA STEM

email Ben.VanDenAkker@unisa.edu.au

About me

Ben van den Akker is a research wastewater microbiologist. His principal research interests are in environmental and public health microbiology relating to wastewater treatment and reuse. Ben's current research activities include: • Anammox for the remediation of dewatered sludge effluent; • Granular sludge technology to improve the efficiency of sequencing batch reactors; • Monitoring and mitigation of fugitive N2O emissions from activated sludge; • Control of filamentous bulking in activated sludge; and •Microbial Risk Assessment.

UniSA STEM

Harnessing connections across science, technology, engineering and mathematics, UniSA STEM creates innovative solutions and groundbreaking developments across teaching, learning and research.

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Research

Research focus

Biochemistry and Cell Biology
Biological Sciences
Chemical Sciences
Civil Engineering
Condensed Matter Physics

Research

Outputs

Research outputs for the last seven years are shown below.

Open access indicates that an output is open access.

Chapters

Year	Output
2014	Witherspoon, JR, Short, MD, Simmonds, K, Van Den Akker, B, Madon, E & Stuetz, RM 2014, 'Air emissions', in D Jenkins & J Wanner (eds), Activated sludge - 100 years and counting, IWA Publishing, UK, ch. 9, pp. 155-169.

Journal Articles

Year	Output
2022	Li, K, Duan, H, Liu, L, Qiu, R, Van den Akker, B, Ni, BJ, Chen, T, Yin, H, Yuan, Z & Ye, L 2022, 'An integrated first principal and deep learning approach for modeling nitrous oxide emissions from wastewater treatment plants', Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 56, no. 4, pp. 2816 - 2826. 4 4 6
2022	Short, M, van den Akker, B, Monis, P & Donner, E 2022, 'Managing emerging pathogen risks in recycled water', Microbiology Australia, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 177-182. Open access
2021	Thwaites, BJ, Stuetz, R, Short, M, Reeve, P, Alvarez-Gaitan, J-P, Dinesh, N, Philips, R & Van den Akker, B 2021, 'Analysis of nitrous oxide emissions from aerobic granular sludge treating high saline municipal wastewater', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 756, article no. 143653, pp. 1-11. Open access 8 6
2020	Duan, H, van den Akker, B, Thwaites, BJ, Peng, L, Herman, C, Pan, Y, Ni, BJ, Watt, S, Yuan, Z & Ye, L 2020, 'Mitigating nitrous oxide emissions at a full-scale wastewater treatment plant', Water Research, vol. 185, pp. 1-11. 31 24 4
2019	Krysiak-Baltyn, K, Cavalida, R, Thwaites, B, Reeve, PJ, Scales, PJ, Van den Akker, B, Ong, L, Martin, GJ, Stickland, AD & Gras, SL 2019, 'Comparison of physical characteristics and dewatering behaviour between granular and floccular sludges generated from the same sewage source', Journal of Water Process Engineering, vol. 29, article no. 100785, pp. 1-12. 13 11
2019	Yadav, MK, Gerber, C, Saint, CP, Van den Akker, B & Short, MD 2019, 'Understanding the removal and fate of selected drugs of abuse in sludge and biosolids from Australian wastewater treatment operations', Engineering, vol. 5, no. 5, pp. 872-879. Open access 10 8 1
2019	Yadav, MK, Short, MD, Gerber, C, Awad, J, van den Akker, B & Saint, CP 2019, 'Removal of emerging drugs of addiction by wastewater treatment and water recycling processes and impacts on effluent-associated environmental risk', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 680, pp. 1-32. 24 23
2019	Yadav, MK, Short, MD, Gerber, C, van Den Akker, B, Aryal, R & Saint, CP 2019, 'Occurrence, removal and environmental risk of markers of five drugs of abuse in urban wastewater systems in South Australia', Environmental Science and Pollution Research, vol. 26, pp. 33816-33826. 11 11 18
2018	Thwaites, BJ, Short, MD, Stuetz, RM, Reeve, PJ, Gaitan, JPA, Dinesh, N & Van Den Akker, B 2018, 'Comparing the performance of aerobic granular sludge versus conventional activated sludge for microbial log removal and effluent quality: implications for water reuse', Water Research, vol. 145, pp. 442-452. Open access 26 24 4
2018	Thwaites, BJ, Van Den Akker, B, Reeve, PJ, Short, MD, Dinesh, N, Alvarez-Gaitan, JP & Stuetz, R 2018, 'Ecology and performance of aerobic granular sludge treating high-saline municipal wastewater', Water Science and Technology, vol. 77, no. 4, pp. 1107-1114. Open access 8 8 2
2017	King, B, Fanok, S, Phillips, R, Lau, M, van den Akker, B & Monis, P 2017, 'Cryptosporidium attenuation across the wastewater treatment train: recycled water fit for purpose', Applied and Environmental Microbiology, vol. 83, no. 5, article no. e03068-16, pp. 1-18. Open access 24 19
2017	Thwaites, BJ, Reeve, P, Dinesh, N, Short, MD & Van Den Akker, B 2017, 'Comparison of an anaerobic feed and split anaerobic-aerobic feed on granular sludge development, performance and ecology', Chemosphere, vol. 172, pp. 408-417. Open access 22 20
2017	Yadav, MK, Short, MD, Aryal, R, Gerber, C, van den Akker, B & Saint, CP 2017, 'Occurrence of illicit drugs in water and wastewater and their removal during wastewater treatment', Water Research, vol. 124, pp. 713-727. Open access 67 61 2
2016	Pan, Y, Van Den Akker, B, Ye, L, Ni, B-J, Watts, S, Reid, K & Yuan, Z 2016, 'Unravelling the spatial variation of nitrous oxide emissions from a step-feed plug-flow full scale wastewater treatment plant', Scientific Reports, vol. 6, article no. 20792, pp. 1-10. Open access 28 22 3
2016	Pan, Y, Ye, L, van den Akker, B, Ganigue, PR, Musenze, RS & Yuan, Z 2016, 'Sludge-drying lagoons: a potential significant methane source in wastewater treatment plants', Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 50, no. 3, pp. 1368-1375. 6 3
2016	Reeve, PJ, Mouilleron, I, Chuang, H-P, Thwaites, B, Hyde, K, Dinesh, N, Krampe, J, Lin, T-F & Van Den Akker, 2016, 'Effect of feed starvation on side-stream anammox activity and key microbial populations', Journal of Environmental Management, vol. 171, pp. 121-127. 24 19 3
2015	Short, MD, Van Den Akker, B & Regel, R 2015, 'Benchmarking the energy-health nexus for more efficient water recycling operations', Water: Journal of the Australian Water Association, vol.42, no. 3, pp. 68-74. Open access
2015	Van Den Akker, B, Reid, K, Middlemiss, K & Krampe, J 2015, 'Evaluation of granular sludge for secondary treatment of saline municipal sewage', Journal of Environmental Management, vol. 157, pp. 139-145. 26 24
2014	Nothrop, S, Richardson, D, Van Leeuwen, J, Machin, M, Theunissen, K, Watkins, T & Van Den Akker, B 2014, 'Zoogloeal viscous bulking in a Pinus radiata TMP/ONP: OMG recycled fibre newsprint activated sludge plant', Appita Journal, vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 302-308. 1
2010	Van Den Akker, B, Beard, H, Kaeding, U, Giglio, S & Short, MD 2010, 'Exploring the relationship between viscous bulking and ammonia-oxidiser abundance in activated sludge: A comparison of conventional and IFAS systems', Water Research, vol. 44 no. 9, pp. 2919-2929. 47 40
2010	Van Den Akker, B, Holmes, M, Short, M, Cromar, N & Fallowfield, H 2010, 'Application of high rate nitrifying trickling filters to remove low concentrations of ammonia from reclaimed municipal wastewater', Water Science and Technology, vol. 61 no. 10, pp. 2425-2432. 8 8
2010	Yamamoto, T, Short, M, Van Den Akker, B, Cromar, NJ & Fallowfield, H 2010, 'Nitrification potential in waste stabilisation ponds: Comparison of a secondary and tertiary pond system', Water Science and Technology, vol. 61, no. 3, pp. 781-788. 3 2

Reports

Year	Output
2014	Short, MD, Saint, CP, Regel, R & Van Den Akker, B 2014, An integrated approach for performance benchmarking of water recycling operations, Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence, Australia. Open access

External engagement & recognition

Collaborations

External engagement & recognition

Collaborations

Organisation	Country
Adelaide Services Alliance (Allwater) - SUEZ Water	AUSTRALIA
Allwater	AUSTRALIA
Ch2M Hill	UNITED STATES
Flinders University	AUSTRALIA
National Cheng Kung University	TAIWAN
Norske Skog Paper Mill	AUSTRALIA
Norske Skog Technical Support and Development	AUSTRALIA
SA Water Corporation	AUSTRALIA
United Water Pty Ltd	AUSTRALIA
University of Melbourne	AUSTRALIA
University of New South Wales	AUSTRALIA
University of Queensland	AUSTRALIA
University of South Australia	AUSTRALIA
University of Technology Sydney	AUSTRALIA
University of Vienna	AUSTRIA
Vienna University of Technology	AUSTRIA
Wuhan University of Technology	CHINA

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Dr Ben Van Den Akker

About me

About me

UniSA STEM

About me

Professional Associations

Experience

Qualifications

Research

Research focus

Projects

Outputs

Chapters

Journal Articles

Reports

External engagement & recognition

Collaborations

Collaborations

Teaching & student supervision

Highlights

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