Shahad Zuhair Al-Najjar

Scopus Publications

Non-Thermal Technologies in Food Processing: Implications for Food Quality and Rheology
Zainab T. Al-Sharify, Shahad Z. Al-Najjar, Christian Kosisochukwu Anumudu, Abarasi Hart, Taghi Miri, Helen Onyeaka
Applied Sciences Switzerland, 2025
The food industry mostly utilises thermal processing technologies to enhance the food safety and shelf life by inactivating enzymes, pathogens, and spores. However, there is a shift towards consumer preference for minimally processed foods due to health concerns and the limitations of the conventional thermal processing methods. Thus, the food industry has recently increased the utilisation of non-thermal technologies for food processing and preservation in the production of foods while maintaining the nutritional and sensory qualities of the food. Non-thermal approaches including a Pulsed Electric Field (PEF), High-Pressure Processing (HPP), Ionising Radiation (IOR), Ultraviolet (UV) light, Pulsed Light (PL), and Cold plasma (CP) are increasingly being employed for food preservation, especially for heat-sensitive foods, as they enable microbial inactivation with minimal or no thermal application and less degradation of bioactive constituents of foods. As opposed to conventional thermal technologies that may compromise the food quality, non-thermal preservation processes retain the texture, taste, and rheological properties, therefore presenting an invaluable option in the food chain system. Moreover, non-thermal food processing approaches are becoming well-established within the food sector as they can be utilised for a wide range of food items. This paper provides a critical review of the industrial applications, mechanisms of action, and efficiency of major non-thermal food processing technologies. In addition, it also addresses their impact on the food quality, microstructure, and rheology, while exploring their limitations. Although these technologies are of great value in preserving the shelf life and food integrity, high upfront investment costs continue to discourage large-scale adoption. However, with the growing demand for fresh and minimally processed foods, the operational costs for these technologies are expected to become more accessible, promoting their widespread adoption in the industry.
The Impact of Fluid Flow on Microbial Growth and Distribution in Food Processing Systems
Zainab Talib Al-Sharify, Shahad Zuhair Al-Najjar, Zainab A. Naser, Zinah Amer Idrees Alsherfy, Helen Onyeaka
Foods, 2025
This article examines the impact of fluid flow dynamics on microbial growth, distribution, and control within food processing systems. Fluid flows, specifically laminar and turbulent flows, significantly influence microbial behaviors, such as biofilm development and microbial adhesion. Laminar flow is highly conducive to biofilm formation and microbial attachment because the flow is smooth and steady. This smooth flow makes it much more difficult to sterilize the surface. Turbulent flow, however, due to its chaotic motion and the shear forces that are present, inhibits microbial growth because it disrupts attachment; however, it also has the potential to contaminate surfaces by dispersing microorganisms. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is highlighted as an essential component for food processors to predict fluid movement and enhance numerous fluid-dependent operations, including mixing, cooling, spray drying, and heat transfer. This analysis underscores the significance of fluid dynamics in controlling microbial hazards in food settings, and it discusses some interventions, such as antimicrobial surface treatments and properly designed equipment. Each process step from mixing to cooling, which influences heat transfer and microbial control by ensuring uniform heat distribution and optimizing heat removal, presents unique fluid flow requirements affecting microbial distribution, biofilm formation, and contamination control. Food processors can improve microbial management and enhance product safety by adjusting flow rates, types, and equipment configurations. This article helps provide an understanding of fluid–microbe interactions and offers actionable insights to advance food processing practices, ensuring higher standards of food safety and quality control.
Assembly of 2D/2D Bi2WO6/Boron-doped g-C3N4 Z-type heterojunction photocatalysts for efficient antibiotic adsorption and degradation
Mohammed S. Hameed, Saad H. Ammar, Ahmed Al-Mamoori, Shahad Z. Al-Najjar, Zaid H. Jabbar
Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing, 2024
Advancing wastewater treatment with Azolla filiculoides waste: a comprehensive review of adsorption applications
Soumya Ghosh, Asmaa Benettayeb, Maryam Meskini, Basant Lal, Zainab T. Al-Sharify, Oluwaseun Jacob Ajala, Christian Osagie, Alhadji Malloum, Shahad Z. Al-Najjar, Helen Onyeaka, Charné Bornman, Shabnam Ahmadi, Chinenye Adaobi Igwegbe, Ahmad Hosseini-Bandegharaei
Environmental Technology Reviews, 2024
Rapid urbanisation and industrialisation have led to severe environmental pollution from the accumulation of wastewater and poorly treated or untreated industrial wastes. Traditional waste treatment methods are often expensive and ineffective in fully removing contaminants. As a result, there is a growing interest in exploring natural and cost-effective treatment systems. One such potential solution is the use of the aquatic fern, Azolla filiculoides Lam which has shown promise as a readily available, free-floating biomass that can effectively adsorb and remove metal ions and other pollutants from water. This review paper delves into the untapped potential of A. filiculoides bio-adsorbent, as a highly effective and eco-friendly solution for removing organic and inorganic pollutants from wastewater. The review also identified future research opportunities and recognised existing limitations in our understanding of A. filiculoides for wastewater treatment. Various aspects of its efficiency, including equilibrium isotherm, kinetics, thermodynamics, desorption, and adsorbent reclamation, have been studied. The research highlights A. filiculoides's impressive maximum specific surface area of 484 m²/g, enabling it to adsorb a wide range of contaminants effectively. Among the studied adsorption models, Langmuir and pseudo-second-order models best described the adsorption phenomena on this bio-adsorbent. Thermodynamic evaluations further confirm that its waste can be utilised to construct feasible and spontaneous adsorption systems for efficient pollutant removal. It shows great promise as a bio-adsorbent to mitigate the adverse environmental impacts of wastewater pollution promoting sustainable water management practices. Further research and application of A. filiculoides in wastewater treatment could lead to substantial environmental benefits.
Advances in mass transfer and fluid flows in non-thermal food processing industry – a review
Shahad Z. Al-Najjar, Zainab T. Al-Sharify, Helen Onyeaka, Taghi Miri, KeChrist Obileke, Christian K. Anumudu
Food Production Processing and Nutrition, 2023
All around the world, food processing techniques make use of various kinds of treatments to improve the shelf-life of foods. The commonly used thermal treatments are likely to result in deteriorating the sensory as well as nutritional qualities of foods. However, consumers are now demanding for safer and cleaner food without needing to compromise on the quality. Owing to the evolving nature of consumer demands, food technologists and others in the agro-food chain have devised processes to meet these changing demands by considering new non-thermal food processing techniques, which achieve microbiological inactivation in food materials without the application of heat directly. This review provides an appraisal on certain non-thermal food processing technologies with a focus on their operational mechanisms and success in the preservation of numerous kinds of food and offers an outline on the developments in non-thermal food processing techniques used in the food industry to enhance mass transfers. Increase in mass transfer is of industrial interest owing to a reduction in operation time. Use of a faster mass transfer velocity in the process produces multiple benefits, such as an increase in productivity, the preservation of physiological and nutritional value of food components, and a reduction in economic costs. The review demonstrates that techniques such as Pulsed Electric Field, Ultrasonication and Supercritical technology are viable treatments for enhancing mass transfer in the food processing industries. Graphical Abstract
Facile construction of g-C3N4/MnWO4/NiS heterostructures for photocatalytic degradation of organic contaminates under visible light irradiation
Entisar M. Khudhair, Saad H. Ammar, Shahad Z. Al-Najjar, Sama M. Al-Jubouri, Ahmed S. Mahdi, Zaid H. Jabbar
Materials Letters, 2023
Fluid flow characteristics of nanofluids and its applications in different engineering fields
Zainab T. Al-Sharify, Harith Al-Moameri, Shahad Z. Al-Najjar, Salih Rushdi, Noor A. M. Aalhashem
Aip Conference Proceedings, 2023
Simulation Study of the Liquid–Solid Multistage Adsorption Process
Harith H. Al-Moameri, Ahmed A. Ayash, Shahad Zuhair Atta Al-Najjar, Arnold A. Lubguban, Roberto M. Malaluan
Sustainability Switzerland, 2023
In the present study, a computational model to simulate the separation of the multi-stage device is developed and used to verify an arbitrary-shaped adsorption isotherm and a limited mass transfer rate. The model’s governing equations are solved numerically by the MATLAB computing platform. For a specific separation, a suitable design must take into account the concentration record of the effluent solutions in the separation device. Further, since the experimental investigation has many limitations, an accurate mathematical description of a system could be viewed as an alternative approach to understanding it comprehensively. The usefulness of the simulation code depends heavily on how well it matches the experimental results and predicts them with minor adjustments and improvements. Here, the model is validated and used to investigate how changing the system’s parameters can affect its performance. The study found that increasing the size of the system (unit number and pore volume of the adsorbent) resulted in more solutions. Adsorption effectiveness was also investigated and it was found to be relatively unaffected by dividing the total amount of solution adsorption over many units, as long as slurrying was maintained at an adequate level. The model not only provides the prediction of the discharge concentration record but also the evaluation of the separation effectiveness attained by the multistage device.
Effect of Electrode Surface Enhancement on the Performance of Microbial Fuel Cell Under Flow Conditions
Widyan Kudier, Shahad Atta, Hasan Majdi, Basim Hasan, ICMAT C
Egyptian Journal of Chemistry, 2022
The current research investigated and analyzed the influence of electrode surface enhancement on microbial fuel cell (MFC) efficiency under different flow circumstances. In this study, two double chamber cathode and anode, identically designed and built as a completely mixed system, were run for 60 minutes using yeast, salt, water, and sugar as anode substrate. The produced electrical current in MFC was determined for smooth and enhanced surface (punched plate) of a copper electrode in double chambers MFC for a range of stirring speeds 0, 250 rpm, and 500 rpm. The effect of air pumping and dispersion in each MFC chamber on the produced current was investigated under different stirring rates. A considerable electrical current was created due to the micro-organism bioactivity on the electrode surface, which caused a difference in the electrochemical potential between the two chambers. A remarkable increase in the produced current was noticed when the flow velocity was increased in the cathode chamber. However, the flow in the micro-organism chamber reduced the amount of the produced current. Enhancing the electrode surface by increasing the contact area with the biomass causes an increased mass transfer or charge transfer between the solution and the electrode surface. As a result of surface enhancement, an increase in the current output levels depends on the flow velocity. The conjoint effect of flow velocity and aeration, especially for the enhanced electrode surface, causes an appreciable increase of the produced current in MFC, reaching up to 3 times the smooth surface. The presence of air bubbles in the cathode chamber caused a noticeable increase in the produced current density. The presence of substrate glucose showed different influences on the produced current depending on the electrode surface.
Photocatalytic Degradation of Textile Dye from Wastewater by using ZnS/TiO2 Nanocomposites Material
Nadia Almhana, Zainab Naser, Shahad Al- Najjar, Zainab Al-Sharify, Thiab Nail
Egyptian Journal of Chemistry, 2022
Global efforts are being made to find a solution to the problem of industrial waste accumulation. When dyes are introduced into natural water reservoirs, they have a detrimental influence on the ecology. Dye removal from wastewater streams is crucial. Semiconductors are typically used to convert organic contaminants in wastewater into nontoxic inorganic compounds. This contamination attempt is currently a severe concern of public health. Decolorizing and photoctlytic degradation of textile dye in the industry effluent also helps the environment from this wastes, since textile industries are characterized chemically and water-demanding, leading in greater pollution levels and water consumption. In this work the azo Acid blue AB- 113 dye was removed using irradiation as an illumination source, and UV was utilized to show the photocatalysis process. Photocatalyst activity was evaluated to remove AB-113 dye in an aqueous solution. Three experimental factors, including pH photodegradation, dye concentration, and catalyst dose, were examined for their effects on AB - 113 removals. 97% of the dye was removed by employing a catalyst dose of 0.5 gm, an initial dye concentration of 25 mg/L, and a pH of 6.2 The photodegradation of AB – 113 adsorptions on nanocomposite ZnS over the TiO2 surface may be explained kinetically using pseudo-second-order and modified Freundlich models.
Recent advances in radio frequency, pulsed light, and cold plasma technologies for food safety
KeChrist Obileke, Helen Onyeaka, Taghi Miri, Ozioma Forstinus Nwabor, Abarasi Hart, Zainab T. Al‐Sharify, Shahad Al‐Najjar, Christian Anumudu
Journal of Food Process Engineering, 2022
Propolis efficacy on SARS-COV viruses: a review on antimicrobial activities and molecular simulations
Soumya Ghosh, Zainab T. Al-Sharify, Mathabatha Frank Maleka, Helen Onyeaka, Maleke Maleke, Alhaji Maolloum, Liliana Godoy, Maryam Meskini, Mina Rezghi Rami, Shabnam Ahmadi, Shahad Z. Al-Najjar, Noor T. Al-Sharify, Sura M. Ahmed, Mohammad Hadi Dehghani
Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2022
A review on the advancements in the development of vaccines to combat coronavirus disease 2019
Helen Onyeaka, Zainab T. Al-Sharify, Maryam Yousif Ghadhban, Shahad Z. Al-Najjar
Clinical and Experimental Vaccine Research, 2021
Modified orange peel as sorbent in removing of heavy metals from aqueous solution
Journal of Green Engineering, 2020
Assessment of cobalt ions removal in synthetic wastewater using broad bean peels
Journal of Green Engineering, 2020
Possibility of utilizing the lemon peels in removing of red reactive (RR) dye from simulated aqueous solution
Journal of Green Engineering, 2020
A review on nanotechnology and its applications on fluid flow in agriculture and water recourses
Huda T. Hamad, Zainab T. Al-Sharify, Shahad Z. Al-Najjar, Zainab A. Gadooa
Iop Conference Series Materials Science and Engineering, 2020
Studying the concentrations of nitrite and nitrate of Tigris river water in Baghdad and their suitability to the conditions permitted internationally
Dina Raheem Rzaij, Hyman Jafar Al-Jaaf, Shahad Z. Al-Najjar, Zainab T. Al-Sharify, Harith H. Al-Moameri, Nawal A. Mohammed
Iop Conference Series Materials Science and Engineering, 2020

Shahad Zuhair Al-Najjar

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Scopus Publications