Antoine Ghauch

Antoine Ghauch is a Lebanese and French analytical and environmental chemist. He is a professor in the Department of Chemistry at the American University of Beirut (AUB), where his research focuses on advanced oxidation processes for water treatment, instrumental analysis, and forensic science.

Education

Ghauch earned a Bachelor of Science in general chemistry from the Lebanese University in 1996. He then studied in France, completing a Master of Science (Diplôme d'études approfondies) in chemistry at the University of Rennes 1 in 1997 and a PhD in chemistry, with high distinction, at the University of Savoie Mont-Blanc in 2000, where his doctoral research was conducted in the laboratory of chemistry and environmental engineering. From 2000 to 2001 he was a post-doctoral fellow in the Environmental and Atmospheric Research Chemistry Group (GRECA) at Joseph Fourier University in Grenoble. In 2013 he obtained a Habilitation à diriger des recherches (HDR) from Grenoble Alpes University.

Career

Ghauch held lecturing and research posts in France and Lebanon, including at the Grenoble University Institute of Technology and the Lebanese Atomic Energy Commission, before joining the American University of Beirut as an assistant professor in 2006. He became an associate professor in 2012 and a tenured full professor in 2019. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley in 2009, where his research has included collaboration with the environmental engineer David Sedlak.

Since 2023 Ghauch has served as a national expert and consultant to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) on resource-efficient and cleaner production (RECP) in Lebanese industry, and as project coordinator at AUB for the European Union–funded 2Circular project, for which AUB acted as technical execution partner.

Research

Ghauch's research concerns the removal of organic micro-contaminants — including pharmaceuticals and antibiotics — from water using iron-based systems and advanced oxidation processes such as persulfate activation, along with the development of analytical instrumentation and sensors for water monitoring and anti-counterfeiting applications. Since 2012 his water-treatment research has been supported by two Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) grants, a program funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and administered by the National Academies. His 2012–2015 PEER project examined persulfate-based advanced oxidation of water micro-contaminants, and a 2016–2021 project addressed water-quality monitoring and disinfection in Lebanon. As of 2025 his publications had been cited more than 5,000 times, with an h-index of 34 according to Google Scholar. AUB's Department of Chemistry has listed him among its most highly cited researchers. He has been included in the Stanford University ranking of the top 2% of most-cited scientists worldwide in the field of environmental sciences.

Ghauch developed and patented the Smart Anti-Counterfeiting Optical System (SACOS), a spectroscopy-based device for detecting fraud and authenticating documents and currency such as banknotes, passports, and visas. The technology received the 2018 TechConnect Defense Innovation Award, and Ghauch is an inventor on the resulting patents granted in the United States, Europe, and China.

Recognition

Ghauch is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) and a Chartered Chemist (CChem). His anti-counterfeiting work received the 2018 TechConnect Defense Innovation Award. He has served on the editorial board of the Chemical Engineering Journal since 2017.

Selected publications

• El Asmar, R.; Baalbaki, A.; Abou Khalil, Z.; Naim, S.; Bejjani, A.; Ghauch, A. (2021). "Iron-based Metal Organic Framework MIL-88-A for the degradation of naproxen in water through persulfate activation". Chemical Engineering Journal. 405: 126701.
• Al Hakim, S.; Jaber, S.; Zeineddine, N.; Baalbaki, A.; Ghauch, A. (2020). "Degradation of theophylline in a UV254/PS system: matrix effect and application to a factory effluent". Chemical Engineering Journal. 380: 122478.
• Ghauch, A.; Baalbaki, A.; Amasha, M.; El Asmar, R.; Tantawi, O. (2017). "Contribution of persulfate in UV-254 nm activated systems for complete degradation of chloramphenicol antibiotic in water". Chemical Engineering Journal. 317: 1012–1025.