Faculty Members
SATOH Hiroyasu
(Professor/Division of Environmental Studies)
Department of Socio-Cultural Environmental Studies/Water environmental management and microbiology related to it
Career Summary
1989: Bachelor of Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Tokyo
1991: Master of Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo
1993: Lecturer, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Tokyo
1996: Doctor of Engineering, The University of Tokyo
1997: Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo
1998: Associate Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo
1999-: Associate Professor, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo
2002-04: Associate Professor, Asian Institute of Technology (Thailand)
2020-: Professor, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo
Educational Activities
Graduate school: Water and Wastewater Treatment for Material Recycling, Seminar on Urban Water Environment Undergraduate: Applied Environmental Microbiology, Water Quality Engineering Japan-Vietnam University: Water and Wastewater Engineering
Research Activities
Current Research Activities (Please check notations at the end of this form.)
Are technologies on sewage manage already well established? Indeed, inside Japan, sewer coverage has reached almost 80%, places not covered by centralized sewer systems are equipped with johkasou systems (sewage treatment facilities for individual buildings), and water pollution problems have significantly been improved.
However, sewage management in developing countries are yet to be solved. Even when they introduce sewer systems, human resources for operation and maintenance are not enough, and energy requirement for its operation can be a burden for them. For example, in Japan, about 0.7% of total electrical power generated is consumed for wastewater treatment. For developing countries, this value will become higher, and it is questionable if they can support it.
My research team is working on novel technologies for sewerage and sewage treatment. At this moment, our effort is dedicated to the development of technology to enhance in-sewer purification, which is supported by natural activities of microorganisms.
We are also studying microorganisms which contribute to sewage purification using molecular tools including DNA sequencing.
Literature
1) Sotelo T.J., Satoh H., Mino T.(2020) Effect of Flow Intermittency on Lipid Degradation Behavior during In-sewer Purification by the Intermittent Contact Oxidation Process Biochemical Engineering Journal, 154, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bej.2019.107430.
2) Satoh, H. (2017) Challenges of restoring and rehabilitating sewer systems damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. Journal of JSCE, 5, 279-297.
3) Shoji T., Matsubara Y., Tamaki S., Matsuzaka K., Satoh H., Mino T. (2015) In-sewer treatment system of enhancing self-purification: performance and oxygen balance in pilot tests. J. Water Environ. Technol., 13, 427-439, 2015.
4) Satoh H., Oshima K., Suda W., Ranasinghe P.D., Li N., Gunawardana E.G.W., Hattori M., Mino T. (2013)
Bacterial population dynamics in a laboratory activated sludge reactor monitored by pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA. Microbes Environ, 28(1), 65-70.
Other Activities
Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE)
Japan Society on Water Environment (JSWE)
The Japanese Society of Microbial Ecology (JSME)
International Water Association (IWA)
Japan Sewage Works Association (JSWA)
Future Plan
We, my research team, are now clarifying the capacity of enhanced sewer self-purification. We want to develop technologies for further enhancement of sewer self-purification while clarifying the mechanisms behind, develop design criteria, and hopefully finally implement it in full scale to make sewage management more sustainable.
Messages to Students
Make haste slowly. To solve environmental problems, we need to know more about our relationship with the environment.