William Tarpeh is turning wastewater into critical resources
Ammonia from wastewater pollutes our environment, yet the same molecule is also a valuable nutrient in agriculture. Professor Tarpeh’s lab is working to recover ammonia and other key resources from liquid wastes.
The Tarpeh Lab applies advanced membrane materials and electrochemical processes to separate pure molecules from mixtures. These special membranes can select for charge and volatility to sift out ammonia from wastewater. Professor Tarpeh is also researching how to efficiently recover other elements, including lithium from spent batteries. Watch this video of Professor Tarpeh’s talk at the 2024 Stanford Reunion Homecoming to learn more about how we can recover sustainable resources from waste.
William Tarpeh, ’12, is an assistant professor of chemical engineering and, by courtesy, of civil and environmental engineering. He is a fellow, by courtesy, at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and a member of Stanford Bio-X. Professor Tarpeh has received many awards, including the 2024 National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the 2022 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, and 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science recognition.
