Birzeit Ranks first in the Zuhair Hijjawi Award in Basic Sciences-2013

The chemistry student Rana Yagmour won the Zuhair Hijjawi Award in Basic Sciences-2013, which is dedicated to Palestinian university students. The title of the winning project: “Photo-Fenton Decolorization of Aqueous Bromophenol Blue (BPB) Catalyzed by ‘Greener’ Iron Nanoparticles.”
Supervised by Prof. Talal Shahwan, the research project was conducted by the senior Chemistry student Rana Yaghmour. The related experiments involved green synthesis of iron nanoparticles and the application of the material as a Fenton catalyst for the removal of bromophenol blue dye from water, aided by UV irradiation. The obtained results demonstrated high efficiency of the system in the removal of the polluting dye under a variety of experimental conditions.
Prof. Shahwan said: "The winning of Rana Yagmour is a culmination of the department’s efforts, and we are very proud of our students, who won for four consecutive years.”
Prof. Shahwan added: “In principle, the same method is applicable for a wide variety of organic pollutants in water, and forms an efficient and economically feasible treatment method. The research conducted in this project is part of the research activities performed at the Chemistry department which aims at synthesizing effective iron nano materials that can be used in the removal of various water pollutants.”
Rana Yaghmour is the fourth winner from Chemistry department of this prize in a row. The same prize was given before in 2010, 2011, and 2012 to Chemistry students working under the supervision of Prof. Shahwan on the removal of aqueous pollutants by various iron nanomaterials.