Olivier Lefebvre

Dr Olivier LEFEBVRE is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. His research work is in electrochemical technologies and advanced oxidation processes for industrial wastewater treatment and reuse. He is also an adjunct Professor at the Research Institute of Mines and Environment of the University of Quebec in Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT). Olivier is an editor for Water Science & Technology and an IWA Fellow, administrator, newsletter editor and webmaster for the specialist group on water reuse, within the International Water Association (IWA). An agronomic engineer by formation, Olivier obtained his Ph.D. from Supagro Montpellier (France) in 2005, on a collaborative work between the French National Research Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) and the Anna University in Chennai, India. The topic was related to biological treatment of tannery wastewater.

Teaching Areas

• Environmental Engineering Principles and Practice
• Environmental Challenges in the Anthropocene
• Sludge & Solid Waste Management
• Physico-chemical treatment of hazardous chemicals
• Engineering Professionalism

Research Interests

• Industrial wastewater treatment
• Environmental electrochemistry
• Advanced oxidations processes
• Technology transfer
• Water reuse
• Engineering education and pedagogy

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Montpellier SupAgro (2003 — 2005)
• Master’s Degree Montpellier SupAgro (2000 — 2002)
• Bachelor’s Degree Aix-Marseille University (1998 — 2000)

Honours & Awards

• 2021: Singapore Science & Engineering Fair Gold Award for “Treatment of Effluent With Azo Dyes and Heavy Metals by Electrochemical Advanced Oxidation Processes (EAOPs) Using Graphene-Coated Electrodes” (Liao and Tan)
• 2020: IWA Fellow
• 2020: Singapore Science & Engineering Fair Gold Award for “Electro-Fenton treatment of the polyfluorinated pollutant genx using graphene coated nickel-foam cathode and boron-doped diamond anode” (Xiao et al)
• 2019: Institution of Engineers of Singapore (IES) Prestigious Engineering Achievement Award for ‘‘EWaT – Electrochemical water treatment targeted at “hard-to-treat” industrial wastewater”
• 2019: Engineering Educator Award & honor roll
• 2019: Innovative Teaching Award (Silver)
• 2018: NUS Teaching Academy Fellow
• 2018: 1st Award in the Chemistry Category and Special Award from Thermo Fisher Scientific at Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) 2018 for “Research on a novel hybrid electrochemical method to treat sludge in an environmentally-friendly manner” (Yap et al)
• 2018: Singapore Science & Engineering Fair Gold Award for “Electrochemical treatment of sludge” (Yap et al)
• 2018: Royal Society of Chemistry Analyst Poster Prize for “Electro-Fenton Treatment of Paracetamol-Based Pharmaceutical Wastewater” (Gore-Datar et al), at the 8th Biennal Symposium on Emerging Trends in Separation Science and Technology (SESTEC 2018), 23-26 May 2018, Goa, India.
• 2018: Excellent Oral Presentation Award at the 27th KKNN Symposium on Environmental Engineering for “A novel transparent photoanode for photoelectro-catalysis combined with electro-Fenton” (Xu et al), 5-6 July 2018, Kyoto, Japan
• 2018: Engineering Educator Award
• 2018: Annual Teaching Excellence Award & honor roll
• 2017: Student Paper Communication Award for “High performance and durable graphene-coated cathode for electro-Fenton” (Wang et al), 5th European Conference on Environmental Applications of Advanced Oxidation Processes. June 29, 2017, Prague, Czech Republic.
• 2017: Engineering Educator Award
• 2017: Annual Teaching Excellence Award
• 2016: Annual Teaching Excellence Award
• 2016: “Most Disruptive Technology” Award for developing the electro-Fenton technology, Singapore International Water Week Hydro Pitch Day, 11 July 2016
• 2016: Best Student Poster Award for “Electro-Fenton Combined with anodic oxidation for industrial water treatment and reuse” (Wang et al), Singapore International Water Week 2016
• 2016: Singapore Science & Engineering Fair Gold Award for “Designing a photo-electro-catalytic reactor with transparent electrodes for advanced wastewater treatment” (Huang et al)

Selected Publications (2016-2021)

• Olvera-Vargas, Dubuc J., Wang Z., Coudert L., Neculita C., Lefebvre O. 2021. Electro-Fenton beyond the Degradation of Organics: Treatment of Thiosalts in Contaminated Mine Water. Environmental Science & Technology. 55, 2564-2574.
• Olvera-Vargas H., Gore-Datar N., Garcia-Rodriguez O., Mutnuri, Lefebvre O. 2021. Electro-Fenton treatment of real pharmaceutical wastewater paired with a BDD anode: reaction mechanisms and respective contribution of homogeneous and heterogenous •OH. Chemical Engineering Journal. 404, 126524.
• Garcia-Rodriguez O., Mousset E., Olvera-Vargas H., Lefebvre O. 2021. Electrochemical treatment of highly concentrated wastewater: a review of experimental and modeling approaches from lab- to full- scale. Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology.
• Deng F., Olvera-Vargas H., Garcia-Rodriguez O., Qiu S., Yang J., Lefebvre 2020. Unconventional electro-Fenton process operating at a wide pH range with Ni foam cathode and tripolyphosphate electrolyte. Journal of Hazardous Materials. 396, 122641.
• Xu J., Olvera-Vargas H., Loh B.J.H., Lefebvre 2020. FTO-TiO2 Photoelectrocatalytic Degradation of Triphenyltin Chloride Coupled to Photoelectro-Fenton: a mechanistic study. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental. 271, 118923
• Garcia-Rodriguez O., Villot A., Olvera Vargas H., Gerente C., Andres Y., Lefebvre 2020. Impact of the saturation level on the electrochemical regeneration of activated carbon in a single sequential reactor. Carbon. 163, 265-275.
• Foudhaili T., Rihem J., Neculita C.M., Rosa E., Triffault-Bouchet G., Veilleux E., Coudert L., Lefebvre 2020. Effect of the electrocoagulation process on the toxicity of gold mine effluents: A comparative assessment of Daphnia magna and Daphnia pulex. Science of the Total Environment. 708, 134-141.
• Olvera-Vargas H., Zheng X., Garcia-Rodriguez O., Lefebvre 2019. Sequential “electrochemical peroxidation – electro-Fenton” process for the treatment of anaerobic sludge from a poultry farm. Water Research. 154, 277-286.
• Olvera-Vargas H., Wee Y.H.V., Garcia-Rodriguez O., Lefebvre 2019. Near-neutral electro-Fenton treatment of pharmaceutical pollutants: the effect of triphosphate ligand and BDD electrode. ChemElectroChem. 6(3), 937-946.
• Mousset E., Wang Z., Olvera-Vargas H., Lefebvre 2018. Advanced electrocatalytic pre-treatment to improve the biodegradability of real wastewater from the electronics industry – a detailed investigation study. Journal of Hazardous Materials. 360, 552-559.
• Deng F., Garcia-Rodriguez O., Olvera-Vargas H., Qiu S., Lefebvre, Yang J. 2018. Iron-foam as a heterogeneous catalyst in the presence of tripolyphosphate electrolyte for improving electro-Fenton oxidation capability. Electrochimica Acta. 272, 176-183.
• Garcia-Rodriguez O., Lee Y.Y., Olvera-Vargas H., Deng F., Wang Z., Lefebvre 2018. Mineralization of electronic wastewater by electro-Fenton with an enhanced graphene-based gas diffusion cathode. Electrochimica Acta. 276, 12-20.
• Deng F., Olvera-Vargas H., Garcia-Rodriguez O., Qiu S., Yang J., Lefebvre 2018. The synergistic effect of Nickel-Iron-Foam and tetrapolyphosphate for enhancing the electro-Fenton process at circum-neutral pH. Chemosphere. 201, 687-696.
• Lefebvre 2018. Beyond NEWater: an insight into Singapore’s water reuse prospects. Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health. 2, 26-31.
• Mousset E., Huang W.V., Foong Y.K.B., Tng J.W., Koh J.S., Wang Z., Lefebvre 2017. A new 3D-printed photoelectrocatalytic reactor combining the benefits of a transparent electrode and the Fenton reaction for advanced wastewater treatment. Journal of Materials Chemistry A. 5(47), 24951-24964.
• Mousset E., Wang Z., Hammaker J., Lefebvre 2017. Electrocatalytic phenol degradation by a novel nanostructured carbon fiber brush cathode coated with graphene ink Electrochimica Acta. 258, 607-617.
• Mousset E., Ko Z.T., Syafiq M., Wang Z., Lefebvre, 2016. Electrocatalytic activity enhancement of a graphene ink-coated carbon cloth cathode for oxidative treatment. Electrochimica Acta. 222, 1628-1641.
• Mousset E., Wang Z., Hammaker J., Lefebvre, 2016. Physico-chemical properties of pristine graphene and its performance as electrode material for electro-Fenton treatment of wastewater. Electrochimica Acta. 214, 217-230.