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Evaluation For Using Expended Bioelectrochemical Systems As Soil Amendments For Improved Corn Plant Growth And A Drought Resistant Soil., Jackson Lee Sauers

Theses and Dissertations

A long-held practice is to mix agricultural soil with a soil amendment to improve growing conditions in crops. A common soil amendment is biosolids produced from both municipal and dairy wastewater due to the macro- and micronutrients within it. Both the agricultural and wastewater industries are participating in the Circular Economy concept (CEC). Two experiments explored using expended bioelectrochemical systems (BES) that treated either synthetic dairy wastewater (DWW) or synthetic municipal wastewater (SWW) as soil amendments to improve corn plant growth when treated with three different nutrient treatments: 100%- 50%- and 0% Hoagland Nutrient Solutions. Biochar and used terracotta clay …

Biochar Amended Biological Systems For Enhanced Landfill Leachate And Lignocellulosic Banana Waste Treatment, Xia Yang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Biochar is an inexpensive and environmentally friendly carbonaceous pyrolysis byproduct with a high surface area, pore volume, and adsorption capacities for inorganic and organic compounds. The goal of this dissertation is to evaluate the feasibility of biochar application in biological treatment systems for enhanced waste management. Three major objectives guided this research to provide a compressive understanding of biochar enhancement effects on biological treatment systems for contaminant removal, energy recovery, and environmental impacts as well as essential factors influencing biochar production and properties.

In Objective 1 a low-cost hybrid Constructed Wetland (CW) system modified with biochar/zeolite was developed for enhanced …

The Novel Application Of Electrical Resistivity Tomography For Spatiotemporal Monitoring Of Urban Stormwater Bioretention Systems, Darren Alvarenga

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Bioretention systems are an increasingly popular low-impact development (LID) stormwater management approach that are used to reduce the water quantity and quality impacts of urban stormwater. The study investigated the feasibility and benefits of using non-invasive time-lapse electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) to understand the infiltration and soil moisture dynamics within bioretention systems. This was achieved through monitoring two field-scale operational bioretention systems in London, Ontario, Canada. High-resolution two-dimensional time-lapse ERT surveys were first completed during synthetic and natural rain events to assess the viability of time-lapse ERT to monitor soil moisture changes during events. Following this, three-dimensional ERT surveys were …

Integration Of Techno-Economic Analysis (Tea) And Life Cycle Assessment (Lca) For Sustainable Process Design, Roksana Mahmud

All Dissertations

For sustainable design, technology developers need to consider not only technical and economic aspects but also potential environmental impacts while developing new technologies. Techno-economic analysis (TEA) evaluates the technical performance and economic feasibility of a technology. Life cycle assessment (LCA) evaluates the potential environmental impacts associated with a product system throughout its life cycle from raw material extraction to disposal. Generally, TEA and LCA are performed separately for technology assessment. Understanding of the trade-off between economic and environmental performances is crucial for sustainable process design, which is not fully available if TEA and LCA is performed separately. In contrast, integration …

Modified Biosand Filtration Using Aluminum Hydroxide Filter Media To Enhance Fluoride Removal, Joshelyn Guimaray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There are over 20 countries whose citizens consume groundwater containing high levels of fluoride, including Nigeria, Mexico, India, China, and Ghana, which all have major health crises when it comes to the safety of their drinking water. Minerals like fluorite contain fluoride which is often found in groundwater aquifers. The minerals release fluoride into the groundwater. Per the World Health Organization (WHO) standard, the maximum contaminant limit for fluoride consumption should be less than 1.5 mg/L. Chronic exposure of elevated levels of fluoride can cause people to suffer debilitating health effects, such as dental and skeletal fluorosis. Dental fluorosis causes …

Environmental Impact And Life Cycle Assessment Of Biomass Supported Power Systems For Rural Communities, Hariteja Nandimandalam

Theses and Dissertations

Dependence on fossil fuels in the electric sector is one of the major contributors towards Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The increase in renewable contribution has been observed in recent years but there is still potential to utilize wood waste in rural communities for electricity generation promoting energy independence and sustainable development. For this study, a life cycle assessment approach was utilized to estimate the emissions of electricity produced from wood residue in a rural community. Therefore, the process from planting to supply for bioenergy facility to generate electricity are included. The results showed a decrease of 92-96 % in global …

Application Of Lanthanides In Wastewater Treatment And Water Reuse, George William Kajjumba

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Much of the world’s population feed on grains (wheat, rice, and corn). Corn is as sensitive as it is productive. This thirsty, fast-growing plant goes into thermal shock in drought. In 2014, California lost over $2.2 billion in crop production due to drought. The Horn of Africa (in 2011) and Sahel (in 2012) faced humanitarian disasters due to food and water scarcity. The higher frequency of climate change and the erratic nature of rain, combined with underlying economic and social vulnerabilities, has meant that food and water scarcity is here to stay. To improve food and water scarcity, water reclamation …

Hydrogen-Rich Syngas Derived From Smouldering Biomass And Hydrocarbon Wastes, Joshua K. Brown

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In the face of climate change, the world is looking to new fuel sources to meet the surging global energy demand. Hydrogen has been proposed as a promising energy vector being both a net-zero carbon emitter and having one of the highest gravimetric energy densities of known fuels. Production of hydrogen, however, is difficult with many of the technologies which exist today failing to be economically feasible or environmentally sustainable. Smouldering has recently been developed as a cost effective and energy efficient technology for destruction of organic wastes. The unique reaction zones created within a smouldering system have the potential …

Activated Carbon As Superadsorbent And Sustainable Material For Diverse Applications, Gaurav Sharma, Shweta Sharma, Amit Kumar, Chin Wei Lai, Mu. Naushad, Shehnaz (Panjab University Shehnaz (Panjab University, Jibran Iqbal, Florian J. Stadler

All Works

Activated carbon is a carbonaceous material with highly porous structure. Different functionalities can be introduced to its surface by various physical and chemical treatments. Various precursors can be used for the synthesis of activated carbon such as fossil fuels, agricultural wastes, and lignocellulosic wastes, etc. Number of papers have been reported in literature devoted to the synthesis, characterization, and various applications of activated carbon. Herein, in this review, special attention has been paid to the basic properties of activated carbon and its surface chemistry originated due to physical and chemical treatment. In addition, a general introduction to adsorption process, various …

Biochar Application In Anaerobic Digestion Of Food Waste For Inhibition Mitigation And Biogas Production Improvement, Mehrsa Hosseini

Major Papers

The production of large quantities of food waste due to population growth is a serious global issue. Improper management of food waste and the deficiency of appropriate administration approaches have adversely affected the environment and society. Traditional methods of disposal (i.e., landfill) and treatment (i.e., incineration and composting) are not considered efficient for food waste management. Therefore, an efficient and cost-effective alternative is anaerobic digestion (AD), a dual-purpose and mature technology for digesting and converting food waste into renewable energy and valuable chemicals. However, Anaerobic digestion (AD) as an environmentally friendly and widely applied technology still faces some challenges, including …

Per- And Polyfluoroalkyl Substances Mitigation From Contaminated Groundwater Using Halophyte And Cow Bone Biochars, Bailey Papes

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) groundwater contamination is a growing concern for the Brackish Groundwater National Desalination Research Facility. Two of the four wells onsite are contaminated with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS). The removal of PFAS by adsorption onto powder activated carbon (PAC) is promising, but the production of PAC is energy intensive and expensive. A potential cost-effective alternative to PAC is biochar. This study quantified the capacities of two halophyte biochars, cow bone biochar and PAC to adsorb PFOA, PFOS, and PFHxS from brackish groundwater. The three biochars were ineffective at …

Tratamiento De Suelos Impactados Por Elementos Traza De Zinc, Cobre Y Níquel Mediante Aplicación De Zeolitas Como Agente Inmovilizador, María Cristina Ariza Jiménez, Lisseth Dayanna Pinzón Rodríguez

Ingeniería Ambiental y Sanitaria

El recurso suelo ha llamado cada vez más la atención en los últimos años, debido a su importancia para la vida en la tierra, actualmente existe una baja proporción de tierra fértil a tierra cultivable en el mundo, razón principal por la cual es necesario plantear alternativas de restauración, con este proyecto se planea contribuir a la búsqueda de nuevas alternativas a la restauración del recurso suelo, es importante ver cómo la creciente generación de residuos afecta el medio ambiente y buscar constantemente los métodos de tratamiento necesarios y medidas para evitar la pérdida de recursos naturales garantizando una alta …

Ecological Restoration Of Lead/Zinc/Copper Mine Tailings: Phytomanagement And Amendment Strategies To Enhance Substrate Functionality And Biomass Production, Mariam K. Al-Lami

Doctoral Dissertations

“The extreme physiochemical characteristics of mine tailings inhibit microbial processes and natural plant growth. Consequently, vast and numerous tailings sites remain barren for decades and highly susceptible to wind and water erosion. Phytostabilization is a cost-effective and ecologically productive remediation approach; however, tailings revegetation is generally challenging and must often be assisted with appropriate soil amendments. Amendments applied individually in greenhouse studies discussed herein revealed notable improvement in bioenergy crops growth only with biosolids treatments. Recalcitrant carbon amendments (biochar and humus) showed notable impact only on tailings physichochemical and hydraulic properties. Nevertheless, biosolids may not support sustained vegetation due to …