Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Application Of Secondary Analyses On Industrial Data Sets, Luis G. Perez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Secondary analysis on quantitative data sets is the in-depth analysis of relationships, trends, patterns or behaviors that are not obvious from a superficial examination of data but that can be very germane in the application of that data. The present work presents a framework for investigators to use in applying secondary analysis on big data that correlates to the research topic. The framework can facilitate the illumination of possible data behaviors or patterns that could be useful in arriving at an answer to a question. Behavior of monitored equipment (analyzers, meters, etc.) can easily be depicted and can be used …

Removal Of Iron, Zinc, And Copper From Waters Impacted By Acid Mine Drainage Using Natural Zeolite, Mackayla Janae Thyfault

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In this research, the adsorption behavior of zeolites with respect to iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), and copper (Cu) has been studied in order to assess its application to heavy metal removal in polluted settings caused by acid mine drainage (AMD). The St. Cloud zeolitic deposit used in this project was characterized using a sieve analysis; the effective diameter and coefficient of uniformity were calculated. Batch studies were performed, and the samples were analyzed using ICP-OES. Batch studies used metal concentrations ranging from 50 mg/L to 650 mg/L. Freundlich, Linear, Langmuir, and BET adsorption isotherms were applied and evaluated to the …

Effects Of Citric Acid Coated And Uncoated Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles In Tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum) Plants, Ana Cecilia Barrios

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This research was performed to examine the physiological and biochemical effects of bare (nCeO2) and citric acid coated (nCeO2+CA) cerium oxide nanoparticles in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). Plants were germinated and grown to full maturity in soil amended with 0-500 mg/kg and periodically analyzed using ICP-OES/MS and other spectroscopic and biochemical techniques. Although Ce in tissues increased as the external nCeO2 increased, there were no visible signs of toxicity. In mature plants, nCeO2 induced developmental changes and altered nutritional quality (essential elements) in fruits. On the other hand, nCeO2+CA affected fruit carbohydrate composition (sugars and starch). This study gives insights on …

Minimizing Environmental Impacts For Hub And Spoke Distribution Network Problems Through The Use Of Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithms, Ileana Delgado

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

While transportation is crucial to our economy and our personal lives, as a sector it is also a significant source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The AASHTO report states, "America's transportation system has served us well, but now faces the challenges of congestion, energy supply, environmental impacts, climate change, and threatens the economic, social, and environmental future of the nation". With respect to the environment, transportation is the most visible aspect of supply chains. Transportation emissions can be reduced by implementing approaches that contribute to GHG emissions reduction, for example, the use of low-carbon fuels, new and improved vehicle technologies, …

New Frontiers In Chemical Energy And Environmental Engineering, Srinath Suranani, Sandeep Kumar, Sundergopal Sridhar

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

(First paragraph) Energy is one of the major building blocks of modern society. Industries are attributed to be the main source of environmental pollution. The problems associated with the energy and environment have now become the subject of international debate. Engineers play vital role in devising environmental pollution mitigating techniques and developing sustainable energy technologies.

Bio-Physical Closure Criteria Without Reference Sites: Realistic Targets In Modified Rivers, Melanie L. Blanchette, Mark Lund, Robyn Stoney, Digby Short, Colm Harkin

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The use of reference sites for establishing closure criteria in areas disturbed by mining activities is common practice. ‘Reference’ sites are those considered to be largely unimpacted by anthropogenic activity (retaining desirable natural characteristics), and occurring near disturbed sites. Sites are considered rehabilitated when their biophysical condition approximates that of the reference site. However, this approach often creates impossible or unrealistic targets for miners seeking to close rehabilitated lands. For example, reference sites are often limited in availability (or non-existent) due to impacts by other land uses. Further, any available reference sites might not be realistic matches for the rehabilitated …

Assessing The Impacts Of Climate Change On The Surface Temperature Of Inland Lakes In Michigan, Kaitlin Reinl

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The aim of this study was to validate and apply a lake model for predicting the susceptibility of small inland lakes in Michigan to changes in thermal regime and increased cyanobacteria growth as a result of future climate conditions. The Freshwater Lake Model was selected, tested for sensitivity to various inputs, and validated through comparison to observed conditions. The sensitivity analysis showed that the lake model was most sensitive to solar radiation, air temperature, and air humidity. Comparison of predicted climate data with observed conditions revealed highly variable climate model error. The lake model validation was conducted using 10 lakes …

Field Study Of Electrochemical Disinfection Of Municipal Wastewater, Luis De Grau Vidal

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Research on electrochemical disinfection of municipal wastewater has been conducted at the University of New Orleans using a continuous flow electrochemical reactor connected to a direct current (DC) power supply changing its polarity and varying the electrode distance. Bacterial inactivation and chlorine production were the main parameters that were recorded.

After months of research, it was determined that the electrochemical disinfection reactor is efficient and has a great potential for the future. There is no need to use chlorine and it has low operation costs.

The following design recommendations for an electrochemical disinfection unit were given:

• A detention time of …

Multi-Criteria Evaluation Of Cmip5 Gcms For Climate Change Impact Analysis, Ali Ahmadalipour, Arun Rana, Hamid Moradkhani, Ashish Sharma

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Climate change is expected to have severe impacts on global hydrological cycle along with food-water-energy nexus. Currently, there are many climate models used in predicting important climatic variables. Though there have been advances in the field, there are still many problems to be resolved related to reliability, uncertainty, and computing needs, among many others. In the present work, we have analyzed performance of 20 different global climate models (GCMs) from Climate Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) dataset over the Columbia River Basin (CRB) in the Pacific Northwest USA. We demonstrate a statistical multicriteria approach, using univariate and multivariate techniques, …

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Fall 2015, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Part of every UNLV engineering student’s academic experience, the senior design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs, and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. A capstone to the student’s educational career, the senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge. The senior design competition helps focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects on …

Effects Of A Beaver Pond In Southwestern Montana On Metals Concentration And Loads, William J. Drury, Martin Lorenzo

Environmental Engineering

A 400-m² beaver pond on Cabbage Gulch (Deer Lodge County, MT) was investigated for its retention of total recoverable (TR) and dissolved arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), and total suspended solids (TSS) during three storm water runoff events in the summer of 2013. Water samples were collected and flow rates were measured at monitoring stations above and below the pond. Decreases in TR metals concentrations were -17 percent for As (that is, As concentrations increased), 10 percent for Cu, 7 percent for Pb, and 27 percent for Zn. Total recoverable metals retained in the …

Assessing The Water Quality Benefits Of Green Infrastructure Stormwater Control Measures., Sam Abdollahian

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Permeable pavements systems and tree boxes are a common type of Green Infrastructure (GI) Stormwater Control Measures (SCMs) that are often used for mitigating the stormwater runoff. In this study two permeable pavement systems and a tree box installed along parking lanes of an urban street in Louisville, KY, were investigated to evaluate their performance on improving stormwater runoff quality. The water quality monitoring was accomplished by analysis of samples collected from stormwater runoff and the captured stormwater volume at the bottom of the permeable pavements’ sub-base reservoir and by a drain gauge (lysimeter) installed in the tree box. Pollutants …

Two-Phase Anaerobic Digestion To Reduce The Nox Emission Potential Of Biogas, Nathaniel Manuel Olivas

Master's Theses

Anaerobic digestion can be used to decrease the mass of organic wastes to be disposed of while producing useful biogas (CH₄ and CO₂) for heat or power production, but in air basins with strict emissions limits, biogas combustion is difficult to implement due to the high costs of controlling NOx emissions. NOx production can be minimized by blending H₂ gas with CH₄ at a volume ratio of 15:85 H₂:CH₄, which allows burning at ultra-lean air-to-fuel ratios. For biogas systems, a potential low-cost NOx control strategy is to produce H₂-CH …

Sustainability Assessment For Energy Systems And Chemical Process Industries, Michael J. Matzen

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Sustainability has become an important factor in the chemical process and energy industries with a strong drive for process improvements towards more environmentally conscious solutions. However, there are many ways of defining sustainability and even more ways of trying to determine how sustainable a process is. This work looks into applying a conjunction of tools including; process simulation, multi-criteria decision matrices and life-cycle assessment to more quantitatively determine sustainability metrics. We have applied these tools for the production of electricity, methanol and dimethyl ether. A novel method of electricity production, in chemical looping combustion (CLC), was used that inherently involves …

Production And Harvest Of Microalgae In Wastewater Raceways With Resource Recycling, Alexander Colin Roberts

Master's Theses

Microalgae can be grown on municipal wastewater media to both treat the wastewater and produce feedstock for algae biofuel production. However the reliability of treatment must be demonstrated, as well as high areal algae productivity on recycled wastewater media and efficient sedimentation harvesting. This processes was studied at pilot scale in the present research.

A pilot facility was operated with nine CO₂-supplemented raceway ponds, each with a 33-m² surface area and a 0.3-m depth, continuously from March 6, 2013 through September 24, 2014. The ponds were operated as three sets of triplicates with two sets continuously fed …

Electrochemical Enhancement Of Butanol Production And Xylose Consumption In Pure And Mixed Culture Fermentations, Jovan Popovic

All Dissertations

The volatility of foreign and domestic petroleum markets has prompted initiatives for the development of alternative liquid energy carriers which have the capacity to accommodate our current transportation infrastructure. Butanol, which has an energy density similar to that of gasoline and can be produced through the fermentation of carbohydrates by solventogenic Clostridia, has been investigated as a supplement or direct replacement to gasoline. However, most butanol fermentations rely on glucose as a feedstock which is in direct competition with our food supply, and this requires the exploration of alternative fermentable substrates. This study investigates the use of electrochemical fermentation modifications …

Resource Recovery Through Halophyte Production In Marine Aquaponics: An Evaluation Of The Nutrient Cycling And The Environmental Sustainability Of Aquaponics, Suzanne Boxman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Aquaculture, the farming of aquatic animals and plants, is an important component of global food production, which supplies a nutritious protein source for millions of people. Interest in improving the sustainability of aquaculture has led to the development of aquaponics in which fish production is combined with plant production to create zero-discharge systems. A need for more fundamental science and engineering research on marine aquaculture and growing interest in production of halophytes motivated this novel research on marine aquaponics. One objective was to evaluate the growth and nutrient removal capacity of halophytes in marine aquaponics. Bench-scale studies were conducted to …

Ammonium Removal From High Strength Wastewater Using A Hybrid Ion Exchange Biological Process, Veronica Ester Aponte-Morales

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Anaerobic digestion (AD) has been shown to be an effective technique for energy recovery and stabilization of livestock wastes, municipal sludges and industrial wastewaters. However, further treatment is required to remove nitrogen from AD effluents to avoid detriments to surface and ground waters. The high free ammonia (FA) concentrations present in AD effluents can inhibit nitrification processes in conventional biological nitrogen removal (BNR) systems. The overall goal of this research was to develop a process for removal of nitrogen from AD swine waste (ADSW) effluent. The proposed solution was to incorporate particulate chabazite, which has a high cation exchange capacity, …

Pathogen Removal In Natural Wastewater Treatment And Resource Recovery Systems: Solutions For Small Cities In An Urbanizing World, Matthew Eric Verbyla

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sanitation, renewable energy, and food security are among the most pressing global development needs of the century, especially for small cities with rapid population growth. Currently, 53% of the world’s population either lacks access to improved sanitation or discharges fecal waste to the environment without treatment. Furthermore, 80% of food consumed in developing regions is produced by 500 million small farms, and while many of them are still rain-fed, irrigated agriculture is increasing. The post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals, recently adopted by the United Nations, include targets to address the water-energy-food nexus. Wastewater reuse in agriculture can be an important solution …

Evaluating Corrosion Resistance Of Reinforcing Steel In A Novel Green Concrete, Andrea Carolina Ramirez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Reinforced concrete structures are expected to have a long service life with minimal maintenance. Corrosion of reinforcing steel is a major factor in reducing concrete structure lifespan, as corrosion products occupy a larger volume than that of the consumed steel and generate tensile stresses that crack the concrete cover. Procedures to control corrosion in traditional concrete, which is made with Portland-cement (PC), have been well established. However, in recent years novel concrete materials based on alternatives to normally cured PC have been developed in response to global needs to reduce greenhouse gases emissions. In particular, a promising new cement has …