Engineering Commons^™

Predicting The Reactivities And Reaction Mechanisms Of Photochemically Produced Reactive Intermediates, Benjamin Barrios Cerda

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Photochemically produced reactive intermediates (PPRIs) such as the hydroxyl radical, carbonate radical (CO₃^•-) singlet oxygen (¹O₂) and triplet state of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (³CDOM^*) are formed in sunlit natural waters upon photoexcitation of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM). PPRIs react with the organic compounds involved in key environmental processes, resulting in transformation products of smaller molecular weight than their parent compounds. Photochemical transformation of these key water constituents due to their reactions with PPRIs may pose potential effects on human and aquatic ecosystems. Consequently, there is a need …

Joint Probability Analysis Of Extreme Precipitation And Water Level For Chicago, Illinois, Anna Li Holey

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

A compound flooding event occurs when there is a combination of two or more extreme factors that happen simultaneously or in quick succession and can lead to flooding. In the Great Lakes region, it is common for a compound flooding event to occur with a high lake water level and heavy rainfall. With the potential of increasing water levels and an increase in precipitation under climate change, the Great Lakes coastal regions could be at risk for more frequent and severe flooding. The City of Chicago which is located on Lake Michigan has a high population and dense infrastructure and …

Treating Contaminated Water: Predicting Reactivities Of Aqueous Organic Contaminants With Hydrated Electrons, And Development Of A Biogarden To Manage Greywater Discharge In Monteverde, Costa Rica, Rose C. Daily

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Advanced reduction processes (ARPs) that generate highly reactive solvated electrons (e^-_aq) are a promising method for the destruction of conventional and emerging aqueous organic contaminants. While there is a large database of contaminant reactivity with e^-_aq in the literature, there is little information on the detailed elementary mechanisms for reduction of multifunctional group compounds and the impact of those functional groups on reactivity. As it is difficult to determine specific mechanisms through experiments and time consuming to measure reactivity, the development of computational approaches to elucidate mechanisms and predict reactivity is becoming increasingly important. In …

Bioaccumulation Of Polychlorinated Biphenyl Compounds And Mercury In A Mining Impacted Aquatic Ecosystem, Michelle Bollini

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The Keweenaw area continues to be influenced by the century of copper mining that ended nearly 50 years ago. This project is focused on Torch Lake, an aquatic ecosystem that has been heavily impacted by mining waste disposal. The watershed has been impaired by mine discharge and tailings, smelter and smokestack plumes, and poor waste disposal practices. The lake is listed as a Great Lakes Area of Concern with beneficial use impairments of restrictions on fish consumption and a degraded benthic community. Polychlorinated biphenyl compounds (PCBs) and methylmercury (MeHg) are persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic substances (PBTs). These contaminants pose threats …

Eutrophication On Twin Lakes: Applying A Phosphorus Budget And Shoreline Surveys To Assess Current & Historical Lake Health, Tyler K. Lemahieu

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The Twin Lakes system, a series of lakes including Lake Gerald and Lake Roland, was historically categorized as oligotrophic but is now mesotrophic having experienced cultural eutrophication. A mass balance phosphorus budget model was constructed for the Twin Lakes system in Houghton, Co. Michigan for the 2022 stratified season. Additional spatial insights were gleaned through a survey of shoreline water quality, which corroborated the model results. The lakes currently experience substantial depletion of hypolimnetic dissolved oxygen during late summer stratification. A budget reveals approximately 22% (6.6 kg) of the current 29.5 kg total phosphorus inputs to Twin Lakes (during the …

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 …

Evaluation Of Production-Well Performance In Response To Formation Clogging And Rehabilitation For The Keweenaw Bay Tribal Fish Hatchery, Brock O. Howell

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Temporally, the KBIC (Keweenaw Bay Indian Community) Hatchery wells have manifested general trends of declining specific capacity and higher energy consumption due to mineral precipitation in and around the production wells. Monitoring data, laboratory water analyses, and downhole video logging have confirmed that naturally occurring minerals are precipitating and clogging the screens and, likely, the surrounding formations. The reduction in fluid pressures in and around the well-screens from active pumping wells is typical but, ultimately alters the geochemical and physical conditions such that dissolved minerals precipitate on and around the well-screens, therefore, effectively clogging the well. The clogging from mineral …

The Photo-Transformation Of Free Methionine In The Presence Of Surrogate And Standard Isolate Dissolved Organic Matter Under Sunlit Irradiation, Benjamin J. Mohrhardt

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Sulfur (S)-containing amino acids are key sources of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur involved in protein synthesis, protein function, and providing energy for microbial growth. Dissolved free and combined methionine is one of two S-containing amino acids incorporated into proteins and has been attributed to their stability and function. The oxidation of methionine has received considerable attention given its ubiquitous presence in most biological systems and has been associated with losses in protein function and pathological disorders. In natural waters, methionine is rapidly and selectively taken up by microorganisms to achieve cellular requirements of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. The abiotic transformation …

Rebuilding Fish-Human Relationships By Quantifying Combined Toxicity And Evaluating Policy Related To Legacy Contamination, Emily Shaw

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The central theme of this dissertation is relationships – building relationships as research partnerships, disrupting relationships through chemical contamination, and upholding existing relationships (i.e., responsibilities) to address industrial legacies. In partnership with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Lake Superior Band of Chippewa Indians (KBIC), this dissertation focuses on rebuilding fish-human relationships within the context of chemical contamination. By quantifying combined toxicity and evaluating the efficacy of cleaning up contamination, conclusions from this work help empower people to maintain practices and knowledges related to fish.

In chapter 1, I positioned myself, a white, American settler scholar, within the context of Indigenous …

Simulating Groundwater Pollutant Transport For Remediation Design, Antrim County, Michigan, Abilynn Raetz

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Located in Antrim County, Michigan between the coasts of Torch Lake and Lake Michigan is a hydrocarbon plume that has impacted surrounding residential wells. The plume is comprised of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX) and primarily resides in the shallowest groundwater aquifer. The plume is suspected of having originated from an underground storage container that was removed in 1979. A conceptual model was developed for the site, comprising of a simplified hydrogeological model. Groundwater modeling was performed using Aquaveo's groundwater modeling software (GMS). PEST parameter calibration was performed on the hydraulic conductivity and recharge values using data from surrounding …

Understanding The Weather- And Soil-Related Variability In Agricultural Water Footprints: Case Study Of Maize And Soybeans Grown In The St. Joseph Watershed, Karleigh M. Krieg

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Introduced in 2002, the water footprint is a valuable tool for understanding the consumption of freshwater resources. The traditional approach to quantifying the water footprint is to sum the green, blue, and gray water footprint components. The green water footprint is the volume of water that comes from precipitation, is stored in the soil, and used by vegetation. The blue water footprint is the volume of surface or ground water that is withdrawn and applied to cultivated lands via irrigation. These components are based on the evapotranspiration of green and blue water resources, respectively. The gray water footprint is the …

Mapping Michigan's Historic Coastlines, Ryan A. Williams

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This five-year project, sponsored by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, is working to map how Michigan’s Great Lakes shorelines have changed over the past 80+ years. Products of this project include publicly available digital, georeferenced, historic aerial photography datasets, as well as map layers depicting the locations of historic shorelines and bluff lines from 1938, 1980, 2009, 2016, 2018, and 2020. Additional products include bluff retreat risk areas, shoreline rate of change map layers, and tools to assist in the development of future Coastal Vulnerability Index projects for the Great Lakes. All products are available as …

Predicting The Impacts Of Climate Change On The Great Lakes Water Levels Using A Fully Coupled 3d Regional Modeling System, Miraj Kayastha

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The Great Lakes of North America are the largest surface freshwater system in the world and many ecosystems, industries, and coastal processes are sensitive to the changes in their water levels. The recent changes in the Great Lakes climate and water levels have particularly highlighted the importance of water level prediction. The water levels of the Great Lakes are primarily governed by the net basin supplies (NBS) of each lake which are the sum of over-lake precipitation and basin runoff minus lake evaporation. Recent studies have utilized Regional Climate Models (RCMs) with a fully coupled one-dimensional (1D) lake model to …

Case Study Of Gravity-Fed Mountain Spring Tap System In Ha Leronti, Lesotho, Africa, Sarah Peterson

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Water security has been declining rapidly in Lesotho, Africa in recent years. Lack of water has led to food insecurity, livestock deaths, and the spread of disease. Rural Basotho depend on rainfall to sustain their livelihoods; however, precipitation variability has recently increased due to climate change. For those who reside in the highlands of Lesotho, mountain springs can be a clean source of water. The tap system in the village of Ha Leronti relies on gravity to distribute water from two mountain springs to the ten village taps and nearby school campus. However, it is incapable of transporting the basic …

Modeling The Effects Of Wastewater Infrastructure Options On Water Quality In Greater Cleveland, Ohio, Mike Foster

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The city of Cleveland, OH, and the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District are in the process of an ambitious engineering project designed to reduce the amount of untreated wastewater that is discharged into Lake Erie and its tributaries. The project involves the construction of seven tunnels that will intercept combined sewer overflows for transport to wastewater treatment plants, along with upgrades to the treatment capacity of these plants. This report will examine the water quality impacts of this project, as well as the impact of six additional proposed management options, on the streams of Greater Cleveland and the Lake Erie …

Towards Efficient Water Treatment: Mechanism Of Colloidal Fouling Of Ultrafiltration Membranes, Ikenna Henry Ozofor

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This research study first reviewed challenges of conventional and membrane separation systems for water treatment. Though membrane separation systems appeared superior to the conventional counterparts for water and wastewater treatment, wider applications of membrane systems have been limited by some factors, most notably is membrane fouling. Experimental studies were therefore conducted to achieve the goal of this research, which is to investigate how feed properties affect fouling of ultrafiltration (UF) membranes by colloids.

Feed salinity, pH, and nanoparticle concentration were the variables studied to unravel how different UF membranes are fouled by model silica colloids (with average diameter of 25nm). …

Initial Transformation Of Photo-Viable Free Amino Acids In The Presence Of Surrogate And Standard Dissolved Organic Matter Under Sunlit Irradiation, Ryan J. Kibler

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

With more than half of the nation’s drinking water affected by wastewater discharge from upstream and more indirect and direct reuse of treated wastewater, human health and ecotoxicological impacts resulting from effluent organic material (EfOM) will increase. Dissolved free amino acids (DFAAs), nitrogen components of EfOM, are essential nitrogen sources for microorganisms and play important roles in global N-cycling in natural aquatic environments. Several DFAAs including histidine, methionine, and tyrosine in sunlit surface waters are susceptible to direct and indirect photochemical transformation with reactive oxygen species. In this study, we investigated the reaction kinetics and initial reaction mechanisms involved in …

Systems Analysis For Sustainability Assessment Of Biogas And Bio-Ch4 Production From Food Waste And Dairy Manure Mixtures In The Us, Sharath Kumar Ankathi

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The purpose of the dissertation is to relate systems analysis for bioenergy to identify optimum configurations for improved scenarios and to make better decisions in a systems perspective.

Chapter 1 is a review of the literature to identify the state of the knowledge in terms of systems analysis for anaerobic digestion (AD) bioenergy systems. The key outcomes from this review showed that anaerobic digestion of mixtures of food waste and animal manure has great potential to achieve economic and environmental benefits compared to other treatments of organic waste materials, such as landfilling or conventional manure management.

Chapter 2 focuses on …

Life Cycle Information Models With Parameter Uncertainty Analysis To Facilitate The Use Of Life-Cycle Assessment Outcomes In Pavement Design Decision-Making, Chaitanya Ganesh Bhat

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The objective of this dissertation is to develop Life Cycle Information Models (LCIMs) to promote consistent and credible communication of potential environmental impacts quantified through Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. The introduction of Life Cycle Information Models (LCIMs) will shift the focus of pavement LCA stakeholders to collect reliable foreground data and adapt to consistent background data present within LCIMs. LCA methodology requires significant Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data to model real world systems and quantify potential environmental impacts. The lack of guidance in ISO standards on consistently compiling LCI data and defining protocols for modeling lowers the reliability of LCA …

Metalimnetic Oxygen Minimum In Green Lake, Wisconsin, Mahta Naziri Saeed

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Green Lake, located in Green Lake County, Wisconsin, has been experiencing summer Metalimnetic Oxygen Minima (MOM). The severity of the MOM has increased in recent years and the lake was listed as impaired in 2014. To investigate the MOM, the lake was monitored during 2017 and 2018 at two sites using moored temperature and oxygen sensors recording at 1-hour intervals. Using these data, a hydrodynamic model (Simstrat) was configured for the lake. A new model was then developed to simulate the oxygen changes in the lake. Productivity, respiration, sediment oxygen demand (SOD) and fluxes were included, and hydrodynamics were driven …

Mechanisms Of Pathogen Inactivation In Wastewater And Pharmaceutical Applications, Christa L. Meingast

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Infectious diseases are a significant threat to public health. Though society enacts practices to prevent the spread of these dangerous diseases, challenges remain. Therefore, continual advancements in treatment and prevention are required. Wastewater treatment and viral clearance in pharmaceutical applications are two key health measures that prevent the spread of infections.

A low-cost, low-technology biosolids treatment process was developed to improve wastewater treatment by collecting key information on storage temperature, ammonia, volatile solids, moisture content, pH, and pathogen inactivation in biosolids over long-term storage at two wastewater treatment plants located in northern climates of the United States. Inactivation of pathogens …

Design Of A Viability Test For Freshwater Prawn Aquaculture Of Two Different Macrobrachium Species In Aneityum, Vanuatu, Cameron Koizumi

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

There is a unique opportunity for freshwater prawn aquaculture on the island of Aneityum in the Republic of Vanuatu. Aneityum has an abundance of fresh water, the streams and rivers on Aneityum are the natural habitat for a freshwater prawn species, Macrobrachium lar, and the people on Aneityum regularly work on projects using communal labor for the benefit of the community. Aneityum also hosts 40 – 120 cruise ships a year, bringing hundreds of thousands of tourists to Aneityum and the nearby islet Mystery Island which creates a readily available market in which to sell freshwater prawns.

The objective …

A Preliminary Sustainability Analysis Of Producing Class A Biosolids With Conventional And Low-Cost, Low-Tech Processes, Janna Brown

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Producing Class A biosolids is a beneficial way to reuse wastewater sludge. Low-cost, low-tech (LCLT) processes are attractive to small water resource recovery facilities (WRRF) because of their low capital costs and simple designs. This study examined the sustainability of conventional and LCLT processes at small WRRFs. The environmental impacts were determined by conducting life cycle assessments. Cost analyses determined the economic impacts. The social impacts were analyzed by investigating case studies and surveys of social response to biosolids. The environmental, economic, and social impacts were normalized, and each technology received an overall score. The technologies studied were direct heat …

Assessing Benthic Recovery In The Torch Lake Aoc, Anya Clare Leach

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Torch Lake, located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, was a site of copper ore processing from the 1860s through the 1960s. During this time, various mining by-products were deposited into the lake and along its shoreline, including mine tailings and associated heavy metals contaminants (e.g., copper). It was anticipated that natural sediment deposition would cover and attenuate toxic sediments over time, but a comprehensive assessment of the benthos has not been performed since a baseline survey conducted in 1999 and 2000. This study was conducted in 2018 to evaluate the current benthic community status as well as sediment composition and metal …

Pathogen And Indicator Organism Inactivation And Quantification For Low-Cost Low-Tech Biosolids Treatment, Karina Eyre

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Biosolids are a by-product of municipal wastewater treatment which, when treated to reduce pathogens, can be land applied as a fertilizer. Class A biosolids must contain low pathogen levels and are unrestricted in their use. This thesis describes methods to identify pathogen and indicator organism (PIO) inactivation mechanisms and PIO inactivation rates for use in low-cost low-tech Class A processes. Procedures to control the levels of spiked bacteria and viruses, total solids, volatile fatty acids, pH, and temperature in biosolids are described for their use in laboratory experiments. Methods for coliphage in biosolids as a surrogate for total enteric viruses …

The Role Of Ephemeral Stratification, Anoxia, And Entrainment In Mediating Spatiotemporal Trophic State Dynamics In A Lake Michigan Drowned River Mouth System (Mona Lake, Mi), Hayden Henderson

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Mona Lake, MI (a drowned river mouth system) has become eutrophic as result of cultural eutrophication. The integrated monitoring effort and subsequent modeling (LAKE2K) reported on here has shifted the management focus to internal phosphorus loads (60 percent of annual load, 90 percent of load during the stratified and anoxic period) as a necessary precursor to trophic state change. Sediment phosphorus release can yield extreme elevations (> 1 mgSRP/L) of bottom water soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), with blooms of potentially toxic cyanobacteria (largely Microcystis) occurring annually. Such blooms are ascribable to stochastic mixing and phosphorus entrainment to the surface waters, …

Improved Methods For The Quantification Of Viable Ascaris Suum And Application To Biosolids, Tanner Keyzers

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The current method for detection of Ascaris ova in biosolids and wastewater has several drawbacks including being labor and time intensive as well as being difficult to quantify viable ova that have larvated during treatment. The goal of this thesis was to improve several methods for the detection and quantification of Ascaris ova during long term-storage of biosolids including improvement of quantifying viable ova using a heat and bleach treatment to promote movement of larvae inside of ova, and comparison of the traditional microscopic method with qPCR and PMA-qPCR to prevent the false-positive results. Improved methods to promote movement of …

Flood Inundation Mapping For Huron Creek, Houghton County, Michigan, Sarah Washko

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The 2018 Father’s Day Flood rattled the Houghton County, MI community. Thousands of dollars in damage to public and private property were incurred due to slope failure, scour and stagnant water. Though the flood was billed as a once-in-a-lifetime event, hazard mitigation planning has become essential, as extreme weather events are expected to become more frequent with a changing climate. While Federal Emergency Management Agency funding will provide detailed flood hazard maps in the future, mapping is expected to be several years out. To aid the City of Houghton community with immediate flood hazard mitigation planning, a hydraulic-based flood depth …

Technology For Integrated Groyne-Vetiver Erosion Reduction (Tiger): Case Study In A West African River, Chase M. West

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

River erosion is a problem all over the world. The effects of river erosion are especially hard for farmers in developing countries, where the river is an important part of their farming practices and daily lives. A case study was done in the small village of Fode Binea in Senegal, West Africa to reduce this stream erosion. A new hybrid approach, Technology for Integrated Groyne-Vetiver Erosion Reduction (TIGER) method, was developed. The method includes combining groynes at the toe of the riverbank to reduce toe erosion in the channel and planting a buffer strip with vetiver grass to reduce erosion …

Urban Evapotranspiration In Water Scarce Regions Estimates For The Middle Rio Grande Basin, United States And Mexico, Jessica Alger

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Urban evapotranspiration (ET) in semi-arid and arid regions is an important component of the urban water cycle, especially in regions that have limited freshwater supplies. Understanding urban evapotranspiration in these regions is necessary for assessing and managing water resources and ensuring that conservation strategies are effective and sustainable. The objective of this study is to estimate urban ET in the Middle Rio Grande Basin to provide an understanding of evaporative water losses in semi-arid to arid urban environments for future water management decisions. The focus of this study is on the cities of El Paso, TX, US; Las Cruces, NM, …