Engineering Commons^™

Characterization Of Proteins In Effluents From Three Wastewater Treatment Plants That Discharge To The Connecticut River, Pamela J. Westgate

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

This research characterizes the proteins in domestic wastewater treatment plant effluents in order to understand the organic fraction of effluent nitrogen. Domestic wastewater treatment plants have been identified as a major source of excess nitrogen that leads to eutrophication in marine environments in general, and the Long Island Sound, in particular. Initiatives to reduce the nitrogen load into Long Island Sound are underway. In Connecticut, regulators have instituted a cap and trade program for nitrogen releases from wastewater treatment plants, and in western Massachusetts new NPDES permits are requiring facilities that release into receiving waters that flow into the sound …

Minimizing Energy Use In Large Groundwater Supply Systems, Mikaela Martin

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

Two optimization formulations have been developed. The first formulation minimizes the energy required to pump water from an aquifer. This formulation is non- linear, requiring the use of quadratic terms in the objective function. The second formulation minimizes the maximum lift in an aquifer and is called the MINIMAX formulation. This formulation is linear and may be an acceptable substitution for the minimize energy formulation under conditions where there are small differences in initial lifts at the wells and where the demand is sufficient to require pumping at all wells such that the lifts at all wells are equal.

The …

Modeling The Wachusett Reservoir, Central Massachusetts, Tributaries For Improved Watershed Management, Erich Fiedler

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

The Wachusett Reservoir watershed is an integral component of the Metropolitan Boston water supply. The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is responsible for water resource management and water quality protection and has implemented extensive environmental monitoring and modeling programs. These efforts have been used to identify and direct management priorities. Also, a long term collaborative effort with the University of Massachusetts, Amherst has focused on improving data collection and watershed modeling. From the environmental monitoring program, annual nutrient fluxes for total phosphorus (TP), nitrate (NO3-N), and total organic carbon (TOC) have been estimated. These annual nutrient fluxes have …

Chloride Characterization From Pavement Runoff Using Automated Samplers And Specific Conductivity Sensors At Three Eastern Massachusetts Locations, Paul G. Chang

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

The objective of this research is to relate the chloride concentration of highway runoff through specific conductivity measurements and to characterize the role that the pavement surface texture has in the dissolution kinetics of the chloride residing in this layer. The quantity of deicing agents applied throughout the winter season is correlated to the concentration of chloride in highway runoff and linked to the length of time since application. A unit hydrograph was developed from precipitation measurements and the resulting hydraulic parameters were calibrated for use in a specific conductivity flux model. From this model a pollutograph was developed characterizing …

Microwave Reactor Engineering Of Zeolites Synthesis, Murad Gharibeh

Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014

Microwave chemistry has expanded over the last two decades due to the enhanced reaction rates achieved for many processes, including organic synthesis, inorganic synthesis and polymerization. Significant time and energy saving can be realized using microwave chemistry, which is important both commercially and for the environment.

One of the most exciting and commercially/technologically significant areas where microwave energy has been demonstrated to influence the kinetics and selectivity is in the synthesis of nanoporous materials, such as zeolites. New nanoporous materials can be created, and the times for their syntheses can be significantly reduced, involving using less energy. By reducing the …