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Investigation Into Mechanisms And Mitigation Of Alkali-Silica Reaction In Sustainable Portland Cement Concrete Containing Recycled Glass Materials, Kaveh Afshinnia

All Dissertations

A significant portion of recycled glass from municipal waste streams is not found to be suitable for reuse as cullet in the production of new glass containers, and as a result it is disposed in landfills. One of the appropriate ways to reduce the disposal of waste glass in landfills is by using it in portland cement concrete as an aggregate material and/or supplementary cementitious material to replace portion of portland cement. The high silica content of the soda glass (approximately 70%) can potentially behave as a pozzolanic material when finely ground, which may enhance the mechanical and durability properties …

Evaluating Corrosion Resistance Of Reinforcing Steel In A Novel Green Concrete, Andrea Carolina Ramirez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Reinforced concrete structures are expected to have a long service life with minimal maintenance. Corrosion of reinforcing steel is a major factor in reducing concrete structure lifespan, as corrosion products occupy a larger volume than that of the consumed steel and generate tensile stresses that crack the concrete cover. Procedures to control corrosion in traditional concrete, which is made with Portland-cement (PC), have been well established. However, in recent years novel concrete materials based on alternatives to normally cured PC have been developed in response to global needs to reduce greenhouse gases emissions. In particular, a promising new cement has …

High-Solids Anaerobic Digestion Of The Organic Fraction Of Municipal Solid Waste State Of The Art, Outlook In Florida, And Enhancing Methane Yields From Lignocellulosic Wastes, Gregory Richard Hinds

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a biotechnology that employs natural microbial metabolism under oxygen-free conditions to stabilize organic waste. AD has been shown to be the most environmentally sustainable technology for treating the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW), as it allows for the recovery of energy and nutrients from the waste. AD of OFMSW also saves landfill space and reduces leachate generation and fugitive methane emissions from landfills. High-solids AD (HS-AD) technologies (those designed to process feedstocks with >15% total solids content) have been shown to yield additional benefits when compared with liquid AD (L-AD) for treating OFMSW, including …

Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactors To Treat Municipal Wastewater At Ambient Temperatures, Matthew D. Seib

Dissertations (1934 -)

Anaerobic biotechnology is viewed as a sustainable alternative to aerobic biotechnology for municipal wastewater recovery. However, anaerobic processes have not been successful in cold climates. Past examples have not been able to meet low organic effluent concentrations, or have failed due to biomass washout resulting from low temperature operation and short hydraulic residence time. Recently, the anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) has been shown to achieve low effluent organic concentrations and maintain stable anaerobic biomass. However, shortcomings have included high energy demands for membrane operation and poor understanding of microbial community structures within AnMBRs. This dissertation describes efforts to improve AnMBRs …

The Effect Of Urbanization On The Embodied Energy Of Drinking Water In Tampa, Florida, Mark Vincent Eli Santana

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Increasing urbanization has serious implications for resource and energy use. One of these resources is drinking water. The increased amount of impervious surfaces associated with urban development is responsible for increased runoff during rain events, which may have a negative impact on the quality of nearby bodies of water, including drinking water sources. The growing populations associated with urbanization require a higher water demand. In addition, urban drinking water systems use energy to collect, treat, and distribute a safe reliable effluent to users. Therefore, this study focuses on the degree to which urbanization influences the embodied energy of drinking water …

The Use Of Jatropha Curcas To Achieve A Self Sufficient Water Distribution System: A Case Study In Rural Senegal, Alexandra Archer

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The use of Jatropha curcas as a source of oil for fueling water pumps holds promise for rural communities struggling to achieve water security in arid climates. The potential for use in developing communities as an affordable, sustainable fuel source has been highly recommended for many reasons: it is easily propagated, drought resistant, grows rapidly, and has high-oil-content seeds, as well as medicinal and economic potential. This study uses a rural community in Senegal, West Africa, and calculates at what level of Jatropha curcas production the village is able to be self-sufficient in fueling their water system to meet drinking, …

Economic Viability And Societal Benefits Of Integrated Multimodal Freight Corridors And Sustainable Passenger Transportation, Seth Austin Cobb

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Advanced Sustainable Concrete Materials For Infrastructure Applications, Kaylea Ann Smith

Masters Theses

"This study was performed to examine the effects of cement replaced by high volumes of Class C fly-ash on durability characteristics of concrete up to 120 days. Specifically, this study investigates possibility of amending American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) to allow High Volume Fly-ash (HVFA) concrete to cure until later ages prior to testing instead of 28 days. Five mix designs were compared with varying fly-ash percentages from 0 to 70% (by total cementitious mass). No other additives were present in any of the five mix designs. Water-to-cementitious ratio (w/cm) and total cementitious material remained constant as 0.40 …

Ecological Sanitation In Uganda: Promotion Through Demonstration Facilities And Potential For Ascaris Reduction By Free Ammonia Inactivation Using Stored Urine, John Thomas Trimmer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As Uganda works to transform itself into an industrialized, middle-income country in the coming decades, the country is faced with a number of problematic trends that could hinder this transition. High population growth and urbanization are quickly forcing small towns to deal with issues of limited space and the aesthetic conditions within sanitation systems, while declining soil fertility in surrounding rural areas calls into question the future nutritional security of the growing population. Ecological Sanitation (Eco-San) systems, which are designed to recover nutrients from human excreta, may help to address these trends.

Improved sanitation coverage in Uganda is currently estimated …

A Framework For Determining Building Water Cycle Resilience Using A Dynamic Water Resilience Assessment Model (Wram), Caryssa Joustra

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this project was to quantitatively measure the resilience of the building water cycle. In order to accomplish this goal, a framework was developed that outlines how building water resilience can be evaluated. The framework presented assumed that resilience describes the fulfillment of system functions; in this case, the system functions considered are those actualized by the building water system. A building water resilience assessment model (WRAM) was developed with the ability to simulate different building water cycles and resilience scenarios. Resilience is dependent on the type and magnitude of a disturbance. Therefore, unique disruption scenarios were developed …