Algeria
My portrait subject for Algeria is the inspiring environmental chemist Zeyneb Ghoualem, a PhD student at USTHB in Algiers
Algeria
Geography
The People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is in North Africa and is the largest country in Africa.
Algeria is bordered to the northeast by Tunisia, to the east by Libya, to the southeast by Niger, to the southwest by Mali, Mauritania, and the Western Saharan territory, to the west by Morocco, and to the north by the Mediterranean Sea. The country has a semi-arid geography, with most of the population living in the fertile north and the Sahara dominating the geography of the south.
The capital city is Algiers, and the country’s estimated population is over 44 million.
Source Wikipedia
Environmental issues
Algeria’s main environmental concern is the concerning risk of desertification with desert expansion spreading from the south. This goes hand in hand with the risk of water shortage which may be compounded by problems with pollution
Zeyneb’s story
Zeyneb has a strong interest in areas of chemistry that may have a positive impact on the environment
She has worked in teams looking in to the chemistry of composting and biofertilizers
Zeyneb studied making soap from left over frying oil and turning date stones in to edible animal feed
Her main focus has been as leader investigator on the creation and development of bioplastic from leftover potatoes peels, hard bread and crustacean shells. Plastic remain a huge issue for our environment often being made from fossil fuels and usually being very slow to biodegrade. Zeyneb's project produces a biodegradeable plastic from recycled matter
As well as Zeyneb's love for the scientific work she is also a passionate educator and communicator. She is a current major contributor to the University's Club Ozone which was started back in 1996 by a group of chemistry students to popularize chemistry by organising events, conferences, educational outings and exhibitions in which experiments are presented alongside innovative projects that link chemistry to our daily lives. This has also adapted to emphasise the good that chemistry can do for the environment
Zeyneb is the co-founder of Ozone Podcast where she discusses the positive ways chemistry is playing a part in our daily lives
She is also making YouTube videos under the Ozone Videos banner to popularize chemistry by explaining it in a way that is accessible to the public
If you’d like to see the full process video for Zeyneb’s portrait and hear more of her story please click on the image below to get linked to the YouTube video