PROFESSOR ROBERT ARMON
Personal Background
Date and place of birth: March 2, 1952; Bucharest, Romania Date of immigration: 1965
Marital status: Untied, father of four Army service: 1971 – 1974
Academic Degrees
1975 – 1978 BSc in Biology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
1978 – 1981 MSc in Environmental Virology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Human Environmental Sciences, School of Applied Sciences and Technology
1981 – 1985 D.Sc., Faculty of Food Engineering and Biotechnology, Technion – ITT
Academic Appointments
1978 – 1981 Research Assistant, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
1981 – 1982 Instructor, Oranim College, Tivon, Israel
1982 – 1985 Research Assistant, Technion – ITT
1985 – 1986 Post Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Rhode Island, RI, USA
1986 – 1988 Post Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Quèbec, Montreal, Canada
1988 – 1991 Post Doctoral Research Fellow, Technion – ITT
1993 – 1995 Senior associate teacher, Technion – ITT
1995 – 2003 Senior Lecturer, Technion – ITT
List of Recent Publications
1. Armon, R.; Weltch-Cohen, G.; Bettane, P. Disinfection of Bacillus spp. spores in drinking water by TiO2 photocatalysis as a model for Bacillus anthracis. Water Science & Technology: Water Supply (2004), 4(2), 7-14.
2. Zolkov, C., Avnir, D. and Armon, R. Tissue-derived cell growth on hybrid sol-gel films. J. Materials Chemistry, 14, 2200-2205 (2004). (Hot article by Royal Chemistry Society).
3. Yasman, Y., Bulatov, V., Gridin, V.V., Agur, S. Galil, N. Armon, R. and Schechter, I. A new sono-electrochemical method for enhanced detoxification of hydrophilic chloroorganic pollutants in water. Ultrasonics Sonochemistry, Volume 11, Issue 6, September 2004, Pages 365-372, (2004).
4. Starosvetsky, J., Armon, R., Ratzker, M., Levitsky, S. and Tuval, E. Investigation of severe corrosion of aluminium parts in stored diesel engine cooling system. Material Performance, August, (2005), 44(8), 56-59.
5. Saadi, I., Borisover, M., Armon, R. and Laor, Y. (2005) Monitoring of effluent DOM biodegradation using fluorescence, UV and DOC measurements. Chemosphere, Volume 63, Issue 3, April (2006), Pages 530-539.
6. Starosvetsky, J., Starosvetsky, E. and Armon, R. Electrophoretic applications of sol-gel matrix in solid and liquid states. (Accepted in Ceramics International, 2007).
7. J. Starosvetsky, D. Starosvetsky, R. Armon Identification of microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) in industrial equipment failures. Engineering Failure Analysis, 14, 1500-1511, 2007.
8. N. Baram, D. Starosvetsky, J. Starosvetsky, M. Epshtein, R. Armon and Y. Ein-Eli. (2007) Enhanced Photo-efficency of Immobilized TiO2 Catalyst via Intense Anodic
Bias. Electrochemistry Communications 9(7), 1684-1688
9. Marcu-Gino, E., Starosvertsky, J. & Armon, R. Bacteriophages Ecology In A Small Settlement Sewer System In Northern Part Of Israel As Related To Their indicative role in sewage pollution of drinking water. (In press in Environmental Microbiology, 2007).
10. Khashiboun, K., Zilberman, A., Shaviv, A., Starosvetsky, J.& Armon, R. (2007) The fate of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts in reclaimed water irrigation-history and non-history soils irrigated with various effluent qualities.(Journal of Water, Air and Soil Pollution, 185:33-41).
11. Zuckerman, U., Hart, I. & Armon, R. Field evaluation of Colilert 3000 for ground, raw and treated surface water and comparison with standard membrane filtration method. (Accepted for publication in Journal of Water, Air and Soil Pollution, 2007).
Abstracts
Electrophoretic applications of sol–gel matrices
J. Starosvetsky a, E. Starosvetsky b, R. Armon a,*
a Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Division of Environmental, Water and Agricultural Technion, Haifa 32000, Israel
b
Faculty of Medicine, Rappoport Institute, Division of Pharmacology Technion, Haifa 32000, Israel Received 2 January 2007; received in revised form 15 February 2007; accepted 2 April 2007
Electrochemical behaviour of stainless steels in media containing iron-oxidizing bacteria (IOB) by corrosion process modeling
J. Starosvetsky a,*, D. Starosvetsky b, B. Pokroy b, T. Hilel b, R. Armon a
a
Division of Environmental, Water and Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel
b
Laboratory of Electrochemistry and Corrosion, Faculty of Materials Engineering, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel
Received 26 June 2007; accepted 27 July 2007, Available online 23 August 2007
Enhanced photo-efficiency of immobilized TiO2 catalyst via intense anodic bias
Nir Baram a, David Starosvetsky a, Jeana Starosvetsky b, Marina Epshtein b, Robert Armon b, Yair Ein-Eli a,*
a Department of Materials Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, 32000 Haifa, Israel b Environmental and Civil Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, 32000 Haifa, Israel
Received 1 February 2007; received in revised form 26 February 2007; accepted 14 March 2007, Available online 23 March 2007
Global environmental pollution is recognized as a serious problem that motivates the development of new technologies and mitigation of emissions from current ones. The civilian, commercial, and defense sectors of most advanced industrialized nations are facing problems related to remediation of hazardous wastes, contaminated soils and groundwater. In this communication, we describe results of a study indicating that the photo-efficiency of electrochemically grown porous TiO2-catalyst can be dramatically enhanced by an electrochemical approach that enables the development of a highly efficient water purification system. The dramatic efficiency enhancement of this process arises from deep understanding of the nature of TiO2-catalyst; intense and extreme electrochemical polarization would totally eliminates electron/hole pair recombination process, which is primary factor affecting photo-catalysis efficiency. Elimination of more than 99.9999% of E.coli bacteria (5–6 orders of magnitudes of inactivation) within 6 h was achieved by the use of this approach. It was found that immobilized grown porous TiO2-catalyst can repeatedly be used, achieving extremely high efficiency, without any need for regeneration or highly advanced filtration techniques for the removal of the TiO2 such as in the powder technology. 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Photocatalysis; Anodization; Anodic bias; E. coli
Identification of microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) in industrial equipment failures
J. Starosvetsky a,*, D. Starosvetsky b, R. Armon a
a
Division of Environmental, Water and Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Technion, Haifa 32000, Israel
b
Division of Corrosion and Electrochemical Processes, Faculty of Materials Engineering, Technion, Haifa 32000, Israel
Received 17 August 2006; accepted 6 January 2007, Available online 2 March 2007
The present study demonstrates different approaches towards MIC identification in three real cases of technological equipment failures. In the first case the failure of carbon steel heat exchanger as a result of tubes, lids, tube sheets, and connection pipes clogging was investigated. Chemical analysis of cooling water and precipitates, as well laboratory screening of deposits for bacteria, revealed that activity of iron-oxidizing bacteria present in cooling water led to heat exchanger blockage. The second case is related to MIC detection on floating roofs made of magnesium–aluminum alloy following a 3-weeks hydro-test. Corrosion tests carried out on the original and sterilized water used in hydro-test confirmed MIC process. In the third case the potential of MIC occurrence in engine cooling system made of cast aluminum alloy and filled with 20% ethylene glycol coolant solution was evaluated. The simulation tests allowed determining the real causes of the severe corrosion attack of examined system, including MIC high probability. 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Bacteriophage ecology in a small community sewer system related to their indicative role in sewage pollution of drinking water
Efrat Gino, Jeana Starosvetsky and Robert Armon*
Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Division of Environmental, Water and Agricultural Engineering, Technion, Haifa 32000, Israel
In view of various studies looking for the merit of coliphages as indicators of water pollution with viruses originating from faecal material, a small agricultural community (population of approximately 1500 inhabitants of all ages, 2–3 km from Haifa) was selected in order to understand these bacteriophage ecology (F-RNA and somatic coliphages) in its sewer and oxidation pond system. Along the sewer lines, it was possible to isolate constantly both bacteriophage types (F-RNA and somatic coliphages) at 102-104 plaque-forming units (pfu) ml-1. The average numbers of somatic and F-RNA phages isolated from oxidation pond were 103-104 pfu ml-1; however, somatic coliphages were undetectable for several months (April–August). Significant high correlation (0.944 < R2 < 0.99) was found between increased anionic detergent concentrations and F-RNA coliphage numbers. Infants less than 1 year old excreted both phage types and few only F-RNA coliphages (at high numbers > 105 pfu g-1) for up to 1 year. The excretion of F-RNA coliphages was highly linked to Escherichia coli F+ harborage in the intestinal track as found in their faecal content. Finally, three bacterial hosts E. coli F+, F– and CN13 tested for survivability in sewage filtrate revealed that E. coli F+ had the highest survivability under these conditions. Presence of somatic and F male-specific phages in sewer lines of a small community are influenced by several factors such as: anionic detergents, nutrients, temperature, source (mainly infants), shedding and survival capability of the host strain. Better understanding of coliphages ecology in sewer systems can enhance our evaluation of these proposed indicator/index microorganisms used in tracking environmental pollution of water, soil and crop contamination with faecal material containing enteric viruses.
Field evaluation of Colilert 3000 for ground, raw and treated surface water and comparison with standard membrane filtration method
U. Zuckerman & I. Hart & R. Armon
Received: 27 November 2006 / Accepted: 22 April 2007, # Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2007
to 24 h with the standard membrane filtration. Keywords Colilert 3000. Raw water. Treated surface water Coliforms. E. coli. On-line monitoring.
The fate of cryptosporidium parvum oocysts in reclaimed water irrigation-history and non-history soils irrigated with various effluent qualities
K. Khashiboun & A. Zilberman & A. Shaviv & J. Starosvetsky & R. Armon
Received: 27 November 2006 / Accepted: 22 April 2007 / Published online: 5 September 2007, # Springer Science Business Media B.V. 2007
The study of stainless steels electrochemical behavior in media containing iron-oxidizing bacteria (IOB) by corrosion process modeling
J. Starosvetsky1*, D. Starosvetsky 2, B. Pokroy2, T. Hilel2, R. Armon1
1
Division of Environmental, Water and Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering 2
Laboratory of electrochemistry and corrosion, Faculty of Materials Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel
Monitoring of effluent DOM biodegradation using fluorescence, UV and DOC measurements
Ibrahim Saadi a,b, Mikhail Borisover c, Robert Armon b, Yael Laor a,*
a
Agricultural Research Organization, Institute of Soil, Water and Environmental Sciences, Newe Ya’ar Research Center, P.O. Box 1021, Ramat Yishay 30095, Israel
b
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Haifa 32000, Israel c
Agricultural Research Organization, Institute of Soil, Water and Environmental Sciences, Volcani Center, Bet Dagan 50250, Israel
Received 22 April 2005; received in revised form 20 July 2005; accepted 31 July 2005
