About

Damilola Daramola is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Northeastern University College of Engineering. His research focuses on electrochemical engineering for wastewater treatment, polymer upcycling, and sustainable resource recovery. He leads the REPRODUCE Laboratory, which aims to reverse human impacts on Earth’s natural cycles related to water, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus, promoting sustainable approaches to food, energy, and water systems through holistic extraction and production methods. Daramola's work includes developing innovative electrochemical technologies for nutrient recovery from wastewater, carbon dioxide mineralization of natural brines and wastes to enable carbon-negative products, and advancing methods for extracting critical rare earth elements from coal tailings. His contributions are recognized through various awards and honors, including the Excellence in Mentoring Award and being named a Fellow for the Scialog initiative on Sustainable Minerals, Metals, and Materials. He is actively involved in research that integrates traditional chemical engineering principles with sustainable practices to address environmental challenges.

Research topics

• Chemistry
• Engineering
• Environmental science
• Waste management
• Agronomy
• Environmental engineering
• Mechanical engineering
• Metallurgy
• Biology
• Materials science
• Natural resource economics
• Ecology
• Environmental chemistry

Selected publications

• Energy Demand of Nitrogen and Phosphorus Based Fertilizers and Approaches to Circularity

  ACS Energy Letters · 2023 · 75 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Environmental science
  • Natural resource economics
  • Waste management

  The climate-related concerns associated with the manufacturing of synthetic fertilizers are largely traced back to energy and carbon emissions during the chemical manufacturing of ammonia. However, synthetic fertilizers are made up of several macronutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium), each with different energy intensities and environmental impacts. With the movement toward resource circularity, there is a need to create a more holistic view regarding the process energy associated with synthetic inorganic fertilizers, including nitrogen and phosphorus. Here, we first describe the growing production and consumption of inorganic (synthetic) and organic (animal waste) nutrients in agriculture as well as the process energy associated with the production of granular phosphorus and nitrogen-based fertilizers. Next, we present projected global demand of nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients based on various sustainability and societal equity scenarios to make an argument for nutrient recovery as a viable approach to meet this demand. Finally, we discuss the characteristics and challenges of emerging technologies for nutrient recovery along with baseline performance and costs of current operational recovery facilities.

  DOI

• Advances in bioleaching of waste lithium batteries under metal ion stress

  Bioresources and Bioprocessing · 2023 · 59 citations

  • Metallurgy
  • Waste management
  • Materials science

  In modern societies, the accumulation of vast amounts of waste Li-ion batteries (WLIBs) is a grave concern. Bioleaching has great potential for the economic recovery of valuable metals from various electronic wastes. It has been successfully applied in mining on commercial scales. Bioleaching of WLIBs can not only recover valuable metals but also prevent environmental pollution. Many acidophilic microorganisms (APM) have been used in bioleaching of natural ores and urban mines. However, the activities of the growth and metabolism of APM are seriously inhibited by the high concentrations of heavy metal ions released by the bio-solubilization process, which slows down bioleaching over time. Only when the response mechanism of APM to harsh conditions is well understood, effective strategies to address this critical operational hurdle can be obtained. In this review, a multi-scale approach is used to summarize studies on the characteristics of bioleaching processes under metal ion stress. The response mechanisms of bacteria, including the mRNA expression levels of intracellular genes related to heavy metal ion resistance, are also reviewed. Alleviation of metal ion stress via addition of chemicals, such as spermine and glutathione is discussed. Monitoring using electrochemical characteristics of APM biofilms under metal ion stress is explored. In conclusion, effective engineering strategies can be proposed based on a deep understanding of the response mechanisms of APM to metal ion stress, which have been used to improve bioleaching efficiency effectively in lab tests. It is very important to engineer new bioleaching strains with high resistance to metal ions using gene editing and synthetic biotechnology in the near future.

  DOI

• Bench-Scale Demonstration and Thermodynamic Simulations of Electrochemical Nutrient Reduction in Wastewater via Recovery as Struvite

  Journal of The Electrochemical Society · 2020 · 17 citations

  • Environmental science
  • Chemistry
  • Environmental chemistry

  Land application of manure can be a sustainable supply chain practice that improves soil quality by recycling important nutrients contained in animal waste. Yet, runoff of phosphorus and nitrogen nutrients contained in the animal waste has contributed to significant watershed eutrophication. Recovery of the dissolved nutrient species as a condensed solid fertilizer product would increase sustainability of the agricultural supply chain, while reducing watershed pollution. This study was conducted to evaluate the recovery of phosphorus (primarily) as struvite using an electrochemical process while varying temperature, applied cathodic potential, turbulence and Ca 2+ concentration. High phosphorus recovery with high current efficiency and low specific energy consumption was possible at 20 °C, −1.1 V vs Ag/AgCl at the cathode, and a Reynolds number of 9150 in the absence of Ca 2+ when the Mg:N:P ratio was 1.37:1:1. Further, a thermodynamic model of the waste solution indicated an increase in Ca 2+ concentration, which impedes struvite recovery, can be negated by increasing dissolved Mg 2+ concentration and operating at a pH below NH 3 volatilization.

  DOI

Frequent coauthors

• Gerardine G. Botte

  Texas Tech University

  28 shared

• Jason Trembly

  20 shared

• Babatunde Ojoawo

  Ohio University

  7 shared

• O.S.I. Fayomi

  University of Johannesburg

  7 shared

• Madhivanan Muthuvel

  Ohio University

  5 shared

• Kody D Wolfe

  5 shared

• Samgopiraj Velraj

  Ohio University

  5 shared

• Sana Heydarian

  Universidad del Noreste

  5 shared

Labs

• The REPRODUCE LaboratoryPI

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

  Ohio University

  2011

• Bachelor of Science, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

  Ohio University

  2004

Awards & honors

• Excellence in Mentoring Award (2026)
• Scialog Fellow: Sustainable Minerals, Metals and Materials (…
• Ohio University White Research Award, Chemical and Biomolecu…
• ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award (2022)
• Ramboll Flourish Scholarship from the National Society of Bl…

Similar researchers at Northeastern University

• Albert-László Barabásih-234
• Lisa Feldman Barretth-169
• Herbert Levineh-119
• Eduardo Sontagh-108
• Mansoor Amijih-97