An-Najah's Chemical Engineering Department is celebrating joint first place in the prestigious Zuheir Hijawi contest. The victorious research, on 'The Purification of Sewage Water Resulting from Clothes Cleaning Shops in Nablus was presented by students Lana Massad, Wi'am Haj Ali and Wissam Hamdallah, and supervised by Dr. Hassan Arafat from the Department.
The contest's judging panel considered several submissions from engineering students representing different universities in Palestine, according to the major criterion that research should be applicable to and useful for contemporary Palestinian society.
The An-Najah research discussed ways in which the large quantities of water polluted at the end of the cloth dying process may be purified and recycled. It is estimated that sewage water in Nablus amounts to 50 thousand cubic meters per year, equivalent to 240 families' drinking water annually. Should the An-Najah findings be implemented the economic gains to Palestinians could be considerable.
Dr. Arafat said that the policy of the Department is to make the graduation thesis realistic and applicable, and to create an interaction with the local chemical industries and wider Palestinian society. First place was shared with the Islamic University of Gaza.