Engineering Commons^™

Adaption Of Catechol And Reversible Addition-Fragmentation Chain-Transfer (Raft) Chemistries For Water-Based Applications, Olabode Oyeneye

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Incorporating the binding chemistry of catechol functionality with RAFT chemistry offers a facile and simplified approach for developing a suite of new 2D and 3D hybrid materials with tailored morphologies. Leveraging both chemistries by synthesizing catechol-end functionalized RAFT agents and catechol-containing monomeric species for RAFT (co)polymerization, this dissertation examined a new series of advanced materials that were designed for water-based applications including model flocculants, thermoresponsive hydrogels, adsorbents and underwater adhesives.

To prepare the RAFT agents, novel trithiocarbonates with several catechol end R groups (as postpolymerization anchors) were synthesized that differ in their carbonyl α-substituents (Dopa-CTAs). These materials were evaluated for …

Fabrication And Modification Of Titania Nanotube Arrays For Harvesting Solar Energy And Drug Delivery Applications, Ahmed El Ruby Abdel Rahman Mohamed

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The fast diminishing of fossil fuels in the near future, as well as the global warming caused by increasing greenhouse gases have motivated the urgent quest to develop advanced materials as cost-effective photoanodes for solar light harvesting and many other photocatalytic applications. Recently, titania nanotube arrays (TNTAs) fabricated by anodization process has attracted great interest due to their excellent properties such as: high surface area, vertically oriented, highly organized, one-dimensional, nanotubular structure, photoactivity, chemical stability and biocompatibility. This unique combination of excellent properties makes TNTAs an excellent photoanode for solar light harvesting. However, the relatively wide band gap energy of …

Modelling Of Future Flood Risk Across Canada Under Climate Change, Ayushi Gaur

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Climate change has induced changes in key climate variables and hydrological cycle in Canada. In this study, future runoff projections made by 21 GCMs following four Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) are used as inputs into a macro-scaled hydrodynamic model: CaMa-Flood to simulate 25 km resolution daily streamflow across Canada for historical (1961-2005) and future (2061-2100) time-periods. Future changes in flood-hazard as a consequence of changes in flooding frequencies of historical 100-year and 250-year return period flood events, and changes in the month of occurrence of extreme flows are analyzed. Changes in flood risk at Canada’s 100 most populous cities and …

Enumeration, Variability, And Transport Of Escherichia Coli In The Foreshore Reservoir And Surface Water At Freshwater Beaches, Laura J. Vogel

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Beaches are of immense recreational, societal and economic value. This value, however, is considerably diminished by poor water quality. Fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) are measured at recreational beaches worldwide to assess the water quality. A beach closure or advisory is issued if FIB concentrations in surface water exceed recreational water quality standards. Due to the lengthy time required to enumerate FIB (24 – 96 hours), statistical and mechanistic models have been developed to predict water quality exceedances a priori and to better understand why and under what conditions water quality exceedances occur. These models as well as beach water quality …

The Development And Numerical Modelling Of A Representative Elemental Volume For Packed Sand, Ashraf Thabet

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The motivation of this thesis is the development of simple microscopic-scale model (representative elemental volume; REV) that can be used to conduct flow and heat transfer simulations from which closure coefficients can be established for the volume-averaged transport equations for porous media (packed bed). The thesis provides a brief introduction to the computational technique adopted for the geometric generation of the REV (YADE), followed by a parametric study undertaken to reveal the minimum number of particles inside the REV that are required to mimic the appropriate physics. Additional analysis was conducted with the goal of determining the influence of deviation …

Time-Lapse Electrical Resistivity Tomography For Mapping In Situ Smouldering Remediation (Star), Lais Muchatte Trento

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Time-lapse Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT), a surface geophysical technique, was applied for the first time to monitor the first full-scale application of Self-sustaining Treatment for Active Remediation (STAR) at a coal tar contaminated site. STAR is a self-sustaining smouldering technology that destroys contaminants in situ by combustion, generating heat, water, and combustion gases. ERT is used as a complementary source of information to support conventional temperature and gas concentration data collected during STAR operations. A shallow (2.4 mbgs) and a deep (7.8 mbgs) treatment cell were monitored, with 2D surface resistivity surveys conducted before, during and after treatment. Two 36 …

Static And Dynamic Properties Of Controlled Low-Strength Materials Incorporating Treated Oil Sands Waste, Ahmed Mneina

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Controlled Low-Strength Materials (CLSM) is a self-compacted self-leveling cementitious material with compressive strength of 8.3 MPa or less. It is used as an alternative of soil backfill materials in geotechnical and infrastructure applications. This study investigates the effects of incorporating treated oil sand wastes (TOSW) as a partial replacement of sand or fly ash on fresh and hardened properties of CLSM. In addition, the environmental impact of the proposed new mixtures was evaluated. The results show that CLSM mixtures incorporating TOSW had satisfied the limits and requirements of ACI committee 229 for CLSM with no environmental hazards. The incorporation of …

Treatment Of Oil Sands Process-Affected Water Using Activated And Surface Modified Petroleum Coke For Organic Compounds Recovery, Hojatallah Seyedy Niasar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Each day large volumes of oil sands process-affected water (OSPW) are being produced during the extraction of bitumen in oil sands industry in northern Alberta. OSPW contains different polyaromatic hydrocarbons which not only are the major source of toxicity in OSPW, but also create operational problems such as corrosion of the equipment during bitumen recovery process. Therefore, these compounds need to be removed prior to the recycle of the OSPW. In this research, petroleum coke (PC) as an abundant, inexpensive adsorbent was selected as an adsorbent for recovery of chemicals from OSPW. The surface area and adsorption capacity of PC …

Performance Characterization Of Coagulation Pretreatment For Two Industrial Effluents, Jing Wan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In this work, performances of coagulation and flocculation were tested for two different industrial effluents. Coagulation-Flocculation and activated carbon adsorption were applied for the remediation of oil sands process-affected water (OSPW), generated from oil sands operations in Alberta, Canada. OSPW is a complex mixture of suspended solids, various suspended and dissolved organic compounds. Alum and natural coagulant Opuntia ficus-indica (OFI) were used as the coagulants, and the process was optimized to improve the removal of turbidity and dissolved organic carbon (DOC). The maximum removal of 98% and 63% in turbidity and DOC from OSPW, respectively occurred at pH=6.32, with an …

Regeneration Potential Of Activated Petroleum Coke For Application In Oil Sands Process-Affected Water, Sreejon Das

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Cost effective regeneration of spent adsorbent is crucial for large scale application of adsorption as a viable separation process. While adsorption studies are abundant in literature, systematic and comprehensive regeneration studies are seldom reported in open literature. A proprietary activated carbon from petroleum coke was used for the removal of model naphthenic acids (NAs) and organic compounds from oil sands process-affected water (OSPW). A systematic and comprehensive study was conducted to regenerate the adsorbents. Methanol with aqueous NaOH (pH adjusted to around 12) was applied to regenerate the spent commercially available granular activated carbon (GAC) and activated petroleum-coke (APC). Optimization …

Morphodynamic Response Of Spencer Creek To Large Precipitation Events And Channel Modifications: A Case Study, Emily Mae Martin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Severe weather events are occurring more frequently with extreme repercussions as our climate changes. Rainfall events of large magnitudes can lead to instability of river banks, riverbed erosion, and alterations in stream planform alignment. It is important to understand the hydraulic and geomorphic response of rivers and streams to storm events to predict long term morphological change, protect hydraulic structures, and manage aquatic ecosystems. The goal of this thesis is to examine the influence of precipitation events of varying magnitude on the morphodynamic processes of an urban creek. Four events are simulated: a constant averaged flow of 1.249 m3/s representative …

Electrokinetic Consolidation Of Oil Sands Tailings: An Experimental And Numerical Study, Yu Guo

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The management of fine oil sands tailings, known as mature fine tailings (MFT), is a major challenge for the oil industry in the Northern Alberta, Canada. Dewatering and consolidation of MFT are slow and time consuming due to high water content and low permeability of MFT. The electrokinetic (EK) dewatering treatment has shown to be effective on oil sands tailings based on the results of previous researches. Therefore, this thesis is focusing on experimental and numerical studies of EK dewatering of oil sands tailings. The thesis includes three parts, i.e., EK dewatering of oil sands tailings and kaolinite slurry, EK …

Investigation Of Bio-Hydrogen Production Optimization From Synthetic And Real Wastes Using Pure And Mixed Cultures, Noha El-Sayed Nasr

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Dark fermentative H₂ production is an important route to renewable energy as it is based on a known technology and can utilize a wide range of available waste streams as substrate. However, more research is required to overcome the technical barriers to practical application. The aim of this study is to investigate different scenarios towards the optimization of fermentative H₂ production from synthetic and real wastes using pure and mixed cultures. Lignocellulosic biomass, i.e. pretreated corn cobs and poplar wood hydrolysate were evaluated for H₂ production using mixed anaerobic cultures and yields of 141 and 169 mL …

Uncertainty Modeling In The Assessment Of Climate Change Impacts On Water Resources Management, Sohom Mandal

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Climate change has significant impacts on water resource systems. The objective of this study is to assess climate change impacts on water resource management. The methodology includes (a) the assessment of uncertainty introduced by choice of precipitation downscaling methods; (b) uncertainty assessment and quantification of the impact of climate change on projected streamflow; and (c) uncertainty in and impact of climate change on the management of reservoirs used for hydropower production. The assessment is conducted for two future time periods (2036 to 2065 and 2066 to 2095). The study area, Campbell River basin, British Columbia, Canada, consists of three reservoirs …

Disinfection By-Products Formation After Coagulation Of Algal Extracellular And Intracellular Organic Matters, Tianyiru Chen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Algal organic matter (AOM) is found in high concentration during algal bloom season in drinking water systems, which is generally categorized into extracellular organic matter (EOM) and intracellular organic matter (IOM). These compounds are not well removed in traditional water treatment methods such as coagulation, and are the precursors of subsequent disinfection by-products (DBPs) during chlorination of water. In this study, EOM and IOM content of four different algae were quantified measuring dissolved organic carbon (DOC), UV absorbance at 254 nm and turbidity. Coagulation using alum (Al₂(SO₄)₃•16H₂O)was used to remove the algal …

Microbial Repopulation Following In Situ Star Remediation, Gavin Overbeeke

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In situ STAR (Self-sustaining Treatment for Active Remediation) is an emerging remediation technology which uses smouldering combustion to destroy nonaqueous phase liquid (NAPL) contamination in the subsurface. Since STAR smouldering travels through contaminated soils slowly (~0.5 to 5 m/day) and subjects them to high temperatures (400–1000°C), it is expected that this technology will thoroughly dry and sterilize the zones which it treats. Further, soils surrounding the treatment zone which are not smouldered will be heated, although not smouldered, by virtue of their proximity to STAR, impacting microbial communities within them. Therefore, the objectives of this work are to quantify the …

Effect Of Land Use And Low Impact Development Measures On Urban Flood Hazard: A Case Study In The Black Creek Watershed, Tommy Kokas

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The number of flooding events in Canadian urban environments continues to increase, causing major environmental, economic and social consequences. This research uses the Black Creek watershed, located in southern Ontario, to investigate the impacts of urbanization on flood hazard and evaluate the effectiveness of various low impact development practices at reducing this hazard. A land use analysis indicates extensive urban growth between the periods 1949 and 2015, with extremely high imperviousness percentages existing today in the majority of the watershed. Historical hydrological simulations in PCSWMM show a significant increase in peak flows since 1949, but have now stabilized due to …

Identification, Quantification And Removal Of Pharmaceuticals And Endocrine Disrupting Compounds From Water Using Customized Pdms Membrane, Ambareen Atisha

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study concentrates on the identification and quantification of three pharmaceutical compounds (ibuprofen, naproxen and diclofenac) and an endocrine disrupting compound (17α-ethinylestradiol) in wastewater effluents collected from Adelaide Wastewater Treatment Plant and Greenway Pollution Control Plant, London, ON, Canada. For sample preparation, both solid-phase extraction and liquid-liquid extraction techniques were followed and GC-FID and LC-MS were used for sample analysis. Although the target pharmaceuticals were present in the wastewater samples at concentrations in a range of 0.29-8.98 µ/L, 17α-ethinylestradiol was not detected.

For eradicating or removing the above-mentioned organic compounds from water, organic solvent nanofiltration (OSNF) membrane was used in …