Engineering Commons^™

Biofiltration Application At Ethanol Plants: Analysis Of Aqueous Streams And Treatment Of Vocs, Katie Mowat

Department of Environmental Engineering: Theses and Student Research

The United States used 14.5 billion gallons of the biofuel ethanol in 2019 produced primarily (82%) in dry-mill corn ethanol plants. These plants produce volatile organic compounds (VOCs) — some of which are hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) — during production. Traditional treatment methods for gaseous emissions use a large quantity of water or natural gas. Thus, a bio-trickling filter (BTF) is considered an innovative alternative treatment method. A lab-scale BTF was used in this study to look at the effect of ethanol concentration and temperature on the treatment of a HAPs mixture. Gaseous and aqueous testing were performed on the …

Environmental Impacts Of Overdesign In Small Community Water Resource Recovery Facilities, Andrew Pham

Department of Environmental Engineering: Theses and Student Research

Although water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) reduce environmental impacts related to water quality, their construction and operation result in negative environmental impacts in other categories. Past research into Nebraska WRRFs investigated variables determining energy intensity, opportunities and barriers for energy efficiency improvements, and environmental impacts of the construction and operation phase. This leads to the research question of what design practices can be considered to reduce the environmental impacts.

The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was used to evaluate and compare the inventory and environmental impacts of nine small WRRFs, most of which are serving slow growing or declining populations. …