Wayne Parker, University of Waterloo

Research

phosphorus wastewater greenhouse gases adsorbent dewatering drinking water treatment sludge odour recycling

Latest papers

Microbiology of a membrane aerated biofilm reactor upgrade in a municipal wastewater treatment facility.
Bioresource technology · 2026
Generation, fate and transport of volatile chlorine compounds following hypochlorite discharges to municipal sewers.
Chemosphere · 2025 · senior author
Characterizing biofilm thickness, density, and microbial community composition in a full-scale hybrid membrane aerated biofilm reactor.
Bioresource technology · 2025 · senior author

All 27 publications

Latest funding

Integration of thermal hydrolysis, anaerobic digestion and pyrolysis of municipal biosolids
NSERC · 2025 · Principal investigator
$302,961
Improving wastewater-based surveillance of high-risk substances
NSERC · 2024 · Co-investigator
$150,000
Transient responses in MABR systems
NSERC · 2024 · Principal investigator
$130,767

All 28 grants and awards

27 publications.

01

Microbiology of a membrane aerated biofilm reactor upgrade in a municipal wastewater treatment facility.

McKnight MM, Lakshminarasimman N, Parker W, Neufeld JD

Bioresource technology2026

DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2026.135550 PMID: 42542146

02

Generation, fate and transport of volatile chlorine compounds following hypochlorite discharges to municipal sewers.

Sun X, Parker W

Chemosphere2025Senior author

DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2025.144451 PMID: 40318526

03

Characterizing biofilm thickness, density, and microbial community composition in a full-scale hybrid membrane aerated biofilm reactor.

Lakshminarasimman N, McKnight MM, Neufeld JD, Parker W

Bioresource technology2025Senior author

DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2025.132207 PMID: 39929443

04

Modeling nitrous oxide emission from full-scale hybrid membrane aerated biofilm reactors (MABR).

Lakshminarasimman N, Zamanzadeh M, Schraa O, Parker W

Water research2025Senior author

DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2025.123128 PMID: 39826397

05

Bayesian Optimization-Enhanced Reinforcement learning for Self-adaptive and multi-objective control of wastewater treatment.

Zhu Z, Dong S, Zhang H, Parker W, Yin R, Bai X, Yu Z, Wang J, Gao Y, Ren H

Bioresource technology2025

DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2025.132210 PMID: 39933666

06

Leveraging deep learning for automatic recognition of microplastics (MPs) via focal plane array (FPA) micro-FT-IR imaging.

Zhu Z, Parker W, Wong A

Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987)2023

DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122548 PMID: 37757933

07

Interaction of operating HRT and temperature on fouling of tertiary membranes treating municipal wastewater.

Tao C, Parker W, Bérubé P

The Science of the total environment2023

DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159812 PMID: 36374727

08

A probabilistic approach to the quantification of methane generation in sewer networks.

Beelen B, Parker W

Journal of environmental management2022Senior author

DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.115775 PMID: 35932741

09

Characterization and modelling of soluble microbial products in activated sludge systems treating municipal wastewater with special emphasis on temperature effect.

Tao C, Parker W, Bérubé P

The Science of the total environment2021

DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146471 PMID: 33744570

10

Impact of AnMBR operating conditions on anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge.

Dagnew M, Parker W

Water environment research : a research publication of the Water Environment Federation2021Senior author

DOI: 10.1002/wer.1361 PMID: 32441047

Integration of thermal hydrolysis, anaerobic digestion and pyrolysis of municipal biosolids

Principal investigatorNSERC2025Advantage

Principal investigators: Parker, Wayne

Keywords: Waste, waste management and recycling; Sanitary engineering

$302,961

Improving wastewater-based surveillance of high-risk substances

Co-investigatorNSERC2024Alliance Grants

Principal investigators: Servos, Mark MR

Keywords: analytical chemistry; chiral compounds; drugs of abuse; ecotoxicology; environmental chemistry; environmental modelling; exposure assessment; harm reduction; municipal wastewater; wastewater-based survellance

$150,000

Transient responses in MABR systems

Principal investigatorNSERC2024Alliance Grants

Principal investigators: Parker, Wayne WJ

Keywords: energy; greenhouse gases; microbial ecology; nutrients; wastewater treatment

$130,767

Multifunctional particles from drinking water treatment sludges

Principal investigatorNSERC2023Alliance Grants

Principal investigators: Parker, Wayne WJ

Keywords: adsorbent; dewatering; drinking water treatment sludge; greenhouse gases; odour; phosphorus; recycling; value added products; wastewater

$25,923

Evaluation of factors affecting performance of a hybrid MABR process at full scale

Principal investigatorNSERC2020Alliance Grants

Principal investigators: Parker, Wayne WJ

$138,461

Microplastics fingerprinting at the watershed scale: from sources to receivers

Co-investigatorNSERC2020Alliance Grants

Principal investigators: Van Cappellen, Philippe PSJ

Keywords: Drinking water exposure; Economics of plastic pollution; Enzymatic degradation; Extreme hydrological events; Imaging, spectroscopy and sensing; Microplastics; Real-time detection; Sedimentary plastics archives; Sources and transport pathways; Structural & chemical fingerprinting

$1,000,000

Modelling the iron, phosphorus, sulphur, carbon nexus in wastewater treatment

Principal investigatorNSERC2019Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Principal investigators: Parker, Wayne

Keywords: anaerobic digestion; complexation; inorganics; iron; modelling; phosphorus; Precipitation; sludge; sulphur; wastewater

$215,000

Quantification of PFAS fate in sludge and biosolids handling systems

Principal investigatorNSERC2019Alliance Grants

Principal investigators: Parker, Wayne WJ

$153,864

Development of magnetic nanoparticles for enhanced detection and removal of contaminants in waste and drinking water systems

Co-investigatorNSERC2017Strategic Projects - Group

Principal investigators: Tam, Michael

$456,000

Mitigating tertiary membrane fouling under cold weather conditions

Principal investigatorNSERC2016Collaborative Research and Development Grants

Principal investigators: Parker, Wayne

$79,332

From CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding decisions: CIHR since 2008, NSERC since 1991 and SSHRC since 1998, including their latest published competition results.

Frequent collaborators

Civil & Environmental Engineering
Systems Design Engineering - University of Waterloo
Civil and Environmental Engineering Department

Co-authors at University of Waterloo, colored by department. Thicker lines mean more shared papers; select anyone to open their profile and their own map.

Alexander Wong

Systems Design Engineering - University of Waterloo

1 shared papers, latest 2023

Martha Dagnew

Civil and Environmental Engineering Department

1 shared papers, latest 2021

Write to this professor

A short, specific email works best. This draft uses one of their recent papers; replace the parts in brackets with your own details before sending.

Applying for

Paper to mentionMention their NSERC grant from 2025

Subject: Prospective PhD student: phosphorus Dear Professor Parker, My name is [your name], and I am a [your current degree or role] at [your institution]. I am applying for a PhD position starting in [term and year]. I read your paper "Microbiology of a membrane aerated biofilm reactor upgrade in a municipal wastewater treatment facility." (2026), and it connects closely to my own work on [your research topic]. [One or two sentences on what you did and what you learned.] I also saw your NSERC-funded project "Integration of thermal hydrolysis, anaerobic digestion and pyrolysis of municipal biosolids" (2025), and I would be glad to contribute to work in that direction. Are you accepting new PhD students for [term and year]? I have attached my CV and transcripts, and I would be glad to talk at a time that suits you. Thank you for your time. Kind regards, [your name]