Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering Commons^™

The Optimization Of Ɣ-Al2o3 Production From Aluminium Foil Waste By Precipitation, Nessren Farrag, Yousef Amin

Chemical Engineering

The objective of this work encompasses the application of aluminium foil waste for preparing alumina (Al2O3), by precipitation. The response surface approach is developed for the produced ɣ-Al2O3 phase. Experiments were performed according to a 32 factorial design to evaluate the effects of hydrochloric acid (HCl) concentration, sodium hydroxide (NaOH) that was used as precipitation agent, as well as the calcination temperatures on the purity and yield. The effect of the two independent variables on the response variables was studied by response surface plots and contour plots generated by the Design-Expert software. The desirability function was used to optimize the …

Post-Processed Data And Graphical Tools For A Conus-Wide Eddy Flux Evapotranspiration Dataset, J. M. Volk, J. L. Huntington, F. Melton, B. Minor, T. Wang, S. Anapalli, R. G. Anderson, S. Evett, A. French, R. Jasoni, N. Bambach, W. P. Kustas, J. Alfieri, J. Prueger, L. Hipps, L. Mckee, S. J. Castro, M. M. Alsina, A. J. Mcelrone, M. Reba, B. Runkle, M. Saber, C. Sanchez, E. Tajfar, R. Allen, M. Anderson

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Large sample datasets of in situ evapotranspiration (ET) measurements with well documented data provenance and quality assurance are critical for water management and many fields of earth science research. We present a post-processed ET oriented dataset at daily and monthly timesteps, from 161 stations, including 148 eddy covariance flux towers, that were chosen based on their data quality from nearly 350 stations across the contiguous United States. In addition to ET, the data includes energy and heat fluxes, meteorological measurements, and reference ET downloaded from grid- MET for each flux station. Data processing techniques were conducted in a reproducible manner …

Soybean Crop Coefficients Under Different Seeding Rates And Full And Limited Irrigation And Rainfed Management, Suat Irmak, Rupinder Sandhu

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

The effects of soybean seeding rates on evapotranspiration (ET_c) and grassand alfalfa-reference crop coefficients (K_co and K_cr) were investigated under five seeding rates (185,250, 247,000, 308,750, 370,500 and 432,250 seeds ha^-1) (62, 82, 103, 124 and 144% of the recommended seeding rate of 300,000 seeds ha^-1 in the experimental region) and different irrigation strategies (i.e. full irrigation treatment [FIT], limited irrigation of 75% FIT and 50% FIT and rainfed treatment). K_co and K_cr values were developed for each soybean growth stage. The seasonal ET_c ranged from 460 mm for …

Toward Automated Irrigation Management With Integrated Crop Water Stress Index And Spatial Soil Water Balance, Sandeep Bhatti, Derek M. Heeren, Susan A. O’Shaughnessy, Christopher M. U. Neale, Jacob Larue, Steve Melvin, Eric Wilkening, Geng Bai

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Decision support systems intended for precision irrigation aim at reducing irrigation applications while optimizing crop yield to achieve maximum crop water productivity (CWP). These systems incorporate on-site sensor data, remote sensing inputs, and advanced algorithms with spatial and temporal characteristics to compute precise crop water needs. The availability of variable rate irrigation (VRI) systems enables irrigation applications at a sub-field scale. The combination of an appropriate VRI system along with a precise decision support system would be ideal for improved CWP. The objective of this study was to compare and evaluate two decision support systems in terms of seasonal applied …

Toward Automated Irrigation Management With Integrated Crop Water Stress Index And Spatial Soil Water Balance, Sandeep Bhatti, Derek M. Heeren, Susan A. O’Shaughnessy, Christopher M. U. Neale, Jacob Larue, Steve Melvin, Eric Wilkening, Geng Bai

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Decision support systems intended for precision irrigation aim at reducing irrigation applications while optimizing crop yield to achieve maximum crop water productivity (CWP). These systems incorporate on-site sensor data, remote sensing inputs, and advanced algorithms with spatial and temporal characteristics to compute precise crop water needs. The availability of variable rate irrigation (VRI) systems enables irrigation applications at a sub-field scale. The combination of an appropriate VRI system along with a precise decision support system would be ideal for improved CWP. The objective of this study was to compare and evaluate two decision support systems in terms of seasonal applied …

Streambank Erosion Phenomena And Understanding: Current Research And Future Directions, Celso Castro-Bolinaga, Aaron R. Mittelstet, Kyle Mankin

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Streams are in dynamic equilibrium with their environments, and as that environment is altered by human development and changing climate, streambank erosion is a common, but little understood, result. This article highlights the contributions of the special collection “Streambank Erosion, Sediment Dynamics, and Restoration (SER),” which assembled six studies that represent key advances in streambank erosion research, highlight current research in the field, and identify directions for future research. The studies in this special collection were grouped into three central themes: (1) streambank erosion monitoring, (2) streambank erodibility characterization, and (3) streambank erosion loading. In this article, key findings within …

High-Throughput Phenotyping Of Plant Leaf Morphological, Physiological, And Biochemical Traits On Multiple Scales Using Optical Sensing, Huichun Zhang, Lu Wang, Xiuliang Jin, Liming Bian, Yufeng Ge

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Acquisition of plant phenotypic information facilitates plant breeding, sheds light on gene action, and can be applied to optimize the quality of agricultural and forestry products. Because leaves often show the fastest responses to external environmental stimuli, leaf phenotypic traits are indicators of plant growth, health, and stress levels. Combination of new imaging sensors, image processing, and data analytics permits measurement over the full life span of plants at high temporal resolution and at several organizational levels from organs to individual plants to field populations of plants. We review the optical sensors and associated data analytics used for measuring morphological, …

Design Of University Small-Scale Dairy Processing Facility, Philip J. Hildebrand, Joshua Arejola, Alicia Andersen, Terry Howell Jr, Tami M. Brown-Brandl

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

This project was assigned to research the feasibility and value of implementing a dairy processing facility on the campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The facility would process milk produced from cows under the same roof and will serve as an educational experience for Nebraska dairy farmers, UNL students, and K-12 students in the Lincoln-Lancaster County area. If the project is successful and replicated across the state, this facility could have a significant impact on the reduction of milk transportation costs in the Nebraska dairy industry.

The project began with researching milk processing methods and steps from production to consumption. …

Hydrological And Water Quality Assessment Of Forested Coastal Watersheds, Shreeya Bhattarai

Theses and Dissertations

Coastal regions are at risk of environmental threats. Flooding in coastal rivers is the result of intense precipitation which is triggered by climate change. Coastal watersheds are prone to losing significant amounts of sediment and nutrients because of the shorter transport pathway that drains directly into the coastal water. In this study, the hydrology, flood frequency, and water quality assessment of two coastal watersheds, Wolf River watershed (WRW) and Jourdan River watershed (JRW), were conducted using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). Since WRW and JRW are the main tributaries to fetch freshwater to Saint Louis Bay (SLB) of …

Evaluation Of Conservation Practices Effect On Water Quality Using The Swat Model, Vivek Venishetty

Theses and Dissertations

The deterioration of water quality due to human-driven alternations has an adverse effect on the environment. More than 50% of surveyed surface water bodies in the United States (US) are classified as impaired waters as per the Clean Water Act. The pollutants affecting the water quality in the US are classified as point and non-point sources. Pollutant mitigation strategies such as the selective implementation of best management practices (BMPs) based on the severity of the pollution could improve water quality by reducing the amounts of pollutants. Quantifying the efficiency of a specific management practice can be difficult for large watersheds. …

Robotic Cotton Harvesting With A Multi-Finger End-Effector: Research, Design, Development, Testing, And Evaluation, Hussein Gharakhani

Theses and Dissertations

Cotton is harvested with large and heavy machines that are very efficient but have some disadvantages. They can harvest the crop only once at the end of the growing season. Since cotton bolls do not mature uniformly, the early opened bolls expose their fiber to weather for extended periods, reducing lint quality. In addition, the machines can also compact the soil, reducing water and fertilizer usage efficiencies and crop yields in the following years. Robotic cotton harvesting offers a promising solution to these issues. Smaller robotic harvesters could go to the field multiple times during the season to pick cotton …

Managing Iron Deficiency Chlorosis (Idc) In Soybean Through A Cropping System Approach, Katelin Savannah Waldrep

Theses and Dissertations

Iron deficiency chlorosis (IDC) is a frequent problem throughout many areas of the United States where soils are high in calcium carbonate (CaCO₃), including the Blackland Prairie regions of Mississippi. The main objectives of this study were to 1) determine the effects of seven different cropping systems on IDC visual symptomology and grain yield in rainfed soybeans grown in calcareous soils, and 2) evaluate the effects of soil water tension (SWT) on IDC. Rotating soybeans with corn produced significantly higher yields for both tolerant and susceptible soybean varieties. IDC symptomology was worse, and yields were lower in cropping …

Soil Respiration Measurements Reveal High Retention Of Organic Carbon From Corn Residue Derived High-Lignin Fermentation Byproduct Enabling Sustainable Lignocellulosic Biofuel Production, Michelle Sun Wang

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

While 2G biofuel production can utilize non-edible, lignocellulosic feedstocks such as agricultural residues to produce liquid fuel, harvesting crop residues is unsustainable without careful management of the soil underneath. By harvesting a fraction of the crop residues left in the field after harvest, soil health can diminish and critically, the soil organic carbon (SOC) stored in agricultural fields can decrease. Currently, in the most popular 2G process models published, the issue of soil degradation remains unresolved with residue harvest strategies receiving considerable attention in the literature and other SOC management strategies receiving far less. Specifically, the strategy of returning the …

Producer Long-Term Marketing Opportunities With Ethanol Plants, Austin Harthoorn, Logan Lloyd, Cory Walters, Kate Brooks

Cornhusker Economics

Commodity marketing operates in a complex decision environment with constant information flow, which can conceal long-run financially profitable marketing opportunities for producers. In the corn marketing space, the competitive role of ethanol plants throughout the state may provide producers with long-run financial gains by strategically approaching marketing decisions. In this article, we characterize whether producers can gain financially from strategically marketing corn to ethanol plants. For example, do ethanol plants provide a better long-run return from pre-harvest hedging, spring sale, or harvest sale?

We investigate three important contracting times--forward contract for harvest delivery (called pre-harvest hereafter), harvest delivery, and spring …

A Deep-Learning Framework For Spray Pattern Segmentation And Estimation In Agricultural Spraying Systems, Praneel Acharya, Travis Burgers, Kim-Doang Nguyen

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

This work focuses on leveraging deep learning for agricultural applications, especially for spray pattern segmentation and spray cone angle estimation. These two characteristics are important to understanding the sprayer system such as nozzles used in agriculture. The core of this work includes three deep-learning convolution-based models. These models are trained and their performances are compared. After the best model is selected based on its performance, it is used for spray region segmentation and spray cone angle estimation. The output from the selected model provides a binary image representing the spray region. This binary image is further processed using image processing …

Analyzing Energy Use From Arkansas Public School Buildings, Oscar Morton

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Energy is a key global resource in society and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to the consumption of energy have detrimental effects on the planet. With energy consumption increasing, exponential population growth, and diminishing natural resources necessary for energy production, the relevance of energy efficiency is dramatically increasing. In this project, I analyzed energy usage data from a set of public school buildings from one school district in northwest Arkansas from 2018, before targeted energy efficiency practices were implemented, through 2022 to see if energy usage changed over this short period. The objectives of analyzing energy data were to determine …

Irrigation-As-A-Service For Smallholder Farmers, Ishani Lal

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Irrigation is a crucial management practice that can help increase food security among smallholders globally while mitigating climate change impacts. High-efficiency irrigation technologies such as drip kits and sprinkler systems are relatively expensive and smallholder farmers cannot afford them to buffer crop yields against low precipitation. In many developing countries, farmers participate in robust informal markets for renting and sharing of irrigation equipment. Such services may be operated by farmers or via a third party such as irrigation start-ups, water user associations, non-governmental organizations, or even government agencies. These services are referred to collectively as Irrigation-as-a-Service (IaaS).

The objective of …

Engineering Of Microparticle Encapsulated Antioxidant To Mitigate Oxidative Stress In Vitro And In Vivo, Kayla Ney

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Chronic low back pain (cLBP) is one of the leading causes of years lived with disability in the United States. Current treatments for cLBP have variable results across the patient population, and many patients struggle to find consistent relief. Most current treatments focus on the symptom of pain, not the root cause. In painful degenerated discs, oxidative stress and inflammation function in a vicious cycle and perpetuate degeneration, damage, and pain. Therefore, oxidative stress and inflammation are important targets in addressing the source of pain. This work characterizes an antioxidant, BuOE, encapsulated in a chondroitin sulfate microparticle as a novel …

Characterization Of Lignin And Cellulose Biopolymers Structure – Function Relationships, Zachariah Pittman

All Dissertations

Biomass is vital to ongoing efforts to secure a sustainable future. While many of our efforts focus on finding alternative forms of energy, biomass among them, only biomass has the potential to serve as a sustainable materials feedstock. However, biomass is heterogenous, complicating the upgrading processes needed to manufacture commodity and performance products. For example, plant biomass consists largely of cellulose, a crystalline polysaccharide, and lignin, a highly stable polyaromatic. The specific properties of cellulose and lignin depend greatly on the plant, harvesting conditions, and isolation procedures. Thus, accurate and reliable determination of the fundamental properties of biomass is crucial …

The Influence Of Pesticides On Us Corn Production Environmental Impact: A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment Of Dominant Production Practices, Kyle Marinoni Lawrence

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In recent years there has been increasing interest in reducing agricultural environmental footprints in the United States, particularly for commodity crops like corn grain. Pest management is one aspect of agricultural production that is often identified as having potential for improvement with regard to environmental impact, but there is not a robust body of literature to identify the wide-scale influence of pesticides on yield and environmental impact. In this study, we hypothesized that the use of different classifications of pesticides has a significant impact on the overall environmental impact. To test this, agricultural models were created to represent the dominant …