Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Life Cycle Assessment Using Argonne Greet Model Of Algae Based Biofuels Produced Using Flash Hydrolysis Process, Andrew P. Bessette

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Traditional processing methods of algae to biofuels require dewatering after harvesting of the algae before the lipids can be extracted. This is typically the most energy intensive and therefore the most expensive step. Old Dominion University has successfully utilized a flash hydrolysis process where proteins are solubilized into the liquid phase of product and the remainder lipid-rich, low nitrogen product is separated into a solid phase. The solid phase (lipid-rich) is then an ideal candidate for biofuel feedstock and the liquid phase, or hydrolysate, can be used for coproducts such as a source of nutrients for new batches of algal …

Impact Of Limited Organic Carbon Addition On Nitrogen Removal In A Mainstream Anammox Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor, Johnnie Wayne Godwin

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Excessive nitrogen compounds are a growing problem in the world and are leading to further environmental degradation. For future nitrogen pennit limits, conventional water treatment processes tend to not meet the requirements to drive these concentrations to low levels, and if they do, it can be rather costly. However, in mid 1990s a new bacterium was discovered that has allowed for nitrogen removal to occur at a considerably reduced cost. The use of anaerobic ammonia oxidizing bacteria (anammox or AMX) is well established in sidestream deammonification (partial nitritation and anammox). However, as of late there has been discussion of applying …

Municipal Wastewater Anaerobic Treatment With Enhanced Clarification, Kevin Berg

Master's Theses (2009 -)

As energy costs rise, water reclamation facilities (WRFs) desire lower cost, easily operated systems to remove BOD5 and suspended solids. WRFs typically utilize an aerobic process called activated sludge to remove biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). BOD, specifically 5 day BOD (BOD5), is used as an indicator of the organic strength of a solution. Anaerobic treatment provides an alternative to activated sludge by removing BOD5, generating biogas containing methane for energy and producing less biomass that requires disposal. Anaerobic treatment functions as an exceptional alternative to activated sludge when packaged as a system with a small footprint that operates at ambient …

Hydrothermal Catalytic Liquefaction And Deoxygenation Of Biomass For Renewable Fuel Production, Sergiy Popov

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

In recent years, sub- and supercritical water technologies received an increasing attention because of the numerous advantages they offer for biomass converting into biofuels. Water at elevated temperatures and pressures provides an ideal medium for chemical transformations. It serves as a reactant, reaction medium, and catalyst that helps biomass compounds undergo hydrolysis, depolymerization, dehydration, decarboxylation, and condensation/repolymerization reactions. Biomass is the fourth largest source of energy in the world after coal, oil, and natural gas that has the potential to provide the large scale substitution of hydrocarbon-based liquid transportation fuels and minimize the environmental issues. Biomass typically contains 40-60% oxygen. …

Channel Shallowing As Mitigation Of Coastal Flooding, Philip M. Orton, Stefan A. Talke, David A. Jay, Larry Yin, Alan F. Blumberg, Nickitas Georgas, Haihong Zhao, Hugh J. Roberts, Kytt Macmanus

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Here, we demonstrate that reductions in the depth of inlets or estuary channels can be used to reduce or prevent coastal flooding. A validated hydrodynamic model of Jamaica Bay, New York City (NYC), is used to test nature-based adaptation measures in ameliorating flooding for NYC’s two largest historical coastal flood events. In addition to control runs with modern bathymetry, three altered landscape scenarios are tested: (1) increasing the area of wetlands to their 1879 footprint and bathymetry, but leaving deep shipping channels unaltered; (2) shallowing all areas deeper than 2 m in the bay to be 2 m below Mean …

Implementation Of Sustainability Improvements At The Facility Level: Business Motivations And Impact Of P2 Intern Recommendations, Vincent D. Kuppig

Department of Environmental Engineering: Theses and Other Student Research

Many sustainability and pollution prevention (P2) technical assistance programs exist across the Unities States. There is a need to quantify the actual impact using various metrics and, in addition, to identify the driving forces behind a company’s decision-making process. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Partners in Pollution Prevention and the Kansas State University Pollution Prevention Institute intern programs partnered to complete 30 reassessments in 2014 to obtain specific information related to each P2 recommendation. After being reassessed, the clients were surveyed concerning their motivations for implementing and not implementing each recommendation; 23 clients responded to the survey.

The clients surveyed were …

Using A High Altitude Balloon Platform To Observe And Measure Seasonal Ozone Flux Over Agricultural Landscapes, Cody Sabo

2017 Academic High Altitude Conference

The concentration of greenhouse gasses (GHGs) in the atmosphere has continued to rise since the industrial era. This issue has had a multitude of negative impacts on all living things. Among the major GHGs are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Ozone is of particular importance because it not only has the ability to trap heat in the atmosphere, but it also directly impacts organisms by causing harm to both plants and humans. The damage that ozone causes to plants is most closely linked to ozone uptake rather than ozone concentration. So, measuring ozone uptake is becoming critical for …

A System Dynamics Approach To The Efficacy Of Oxime Therapy In Sub Lethal Exposure To Sarin Gas, Daniel J. Droste

Theses and Dissertations

The 2010 National Security Strategy states, The effective dissemination of a lethal agent would endanger the lives of thousands of people and have unprecedented economic, societal, and political consequences. We must continue to work at home with first responders and health officials to reduce the risk associated with high-consequence threats . Nerve agents, such as Sarin gas, are considered high consequence threats. The threat of use of agents such as Sarin is as much a threat today as any other time in our history. However, the suggested treatment protocol is not as precise as it could be. Debate exists over …

Direct Atmospheric Evidence For The Irreversible Formation Of Aqueous Secondary Organic Aerosol, Marwa M. El-Sayed, Yingqing Wang, Christopher J. Hennigan

Publications

The reversible nature of aqueous secondary organic aerosol (aqSOA) formation was characterized for the first time through direct atmospheric measurements. Water-soluble organic carbon in the gas and particle phases (WSOCg and WSOCp) was measured simultaneously to quantify aqSOA formation in Baltimore, Maryland. During the nighttime, aqSOA formation was evident as WSOCg increasingly partitioned to the particle phase with increasing relative humidity (RH). To characterize the reversible/irreversible nature of this aqSOA, the WSOCp measurement was alternated through an unperturbed ambient channel and through a “dried” channel maintained at ~40% RH (with 7 s residence time) to mimic the natural drying particles …

Sustainable Treatment Of Landfill Leachate, Mohamad Anuar Kamaruddin, Mohd. Suffian Yusoff, Hamidi Abdul Aziz, Yung-Tse Hung

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Landfill leachate is a complex liquid that contains excessive concentrations of biodegradable and non-biodegradable products including organic matter, phenols, ammonia nitrogen, phosphate, heavy metals, and sulfide. If not properly treated and safely disposed, landfill leachate could be an impending source to surface and ground water contamination as it may percolate throughout soils and subsoils, causing adverse impacts to receiving waters. Lately, various types of treatment methods have been proposed to alleviate the risks of untreated leachate. However, some of the available techniques remain complicated, expensive and generally require definite adaptation during process. In this article, a review of literature reported …

Clarification Of Recreational Pool Water Using Biological Additives Produced By Biowish(Tm), Reese Nathaniel Wilson

Master's Theses

Effects of commercially available bacterial products were investigated on two common recreational pool contaminants: sunscreen and cyanuric acid (CYA). Microbial products developed by BiOWiSH Technologies, Inc. were tested for enhancing mechanical filtration and water clarification in bench-scale bioreactors, with conditions mimicking those of recreational pool water. Bacterial consortia included proprietary mixes of Bacillus, Lactobacillus and Pseudomonas, and other genera of bacteria. BiOWiSH products are either fermented on a solid substrate consisting of rice bran and soy meal, or they are mixed with a soluble diluent. Twenty-nine BiOWiSH products were tested throughout forty experiments.

Experiments were carried out to determine both …

Locating Optimal Water Quality Monitoring Locations Using Demand Coverage Index Method, Jeffrey Scott Brake

Master's Theses

Water quality regulations are always expanding especially in the field of water quality monitoring; however, threats to our water distribution systems still remain. Components of water distribution systems are susceptible to intentional and accidental contamination; therefore, they represent highly vulnerable aspects of our vital infrastructure.

An analysis was performed on a city in California with a population of 30,000 to 40,000 residents. The analysis is performed to determine the optimal locations of monitoring stations throughout the water distribution system. The method presented by Liu and colleagues (Liu et al, 2012) selects the optimal monitoring locations for the virtual California city …

On The Assessment Of Reliability In Probabilistic Hydrometeorological Event Forecasting, Caleb Matthew Dechant, Hamid Moradkhani

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Probabilistic forecasts are commonly used to communicate uncertainty in the occurrence of hydrometeorological events. Although probabilistic forecasting is common, conventional methods for assessing the reliability of these forecasts are approximate. Among the most common methods for assessing reliability, the decomposed Brier Score and Reliability Diagram treat an observed string of events as samples from multiple Binomial distributions, but this is an approximation of the forecast reliability, leading to unnecessary loss of information. This article suggests testing the hypothesis of reliability via the Poisson-Binomial distribution, which is a generalized solution to the Binomial distribution, providing a more accurate model of the …

Nutrient Transformations In Algae Raceway Ponds Fed Municipal Wastewater, Carter Michael Reiff

Master's Theses

While treating domestic wastewater, algae can be grown and harvested for biofuel production. Water is a vital resource and it is imperative to conserve and reuse as much as possible. Several pilot and lab scale experiments were conducted to further research into a full scale wastewater treatment and biofuel production facility. This thesis will include these topics: nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations of clarified wastewater pond feed, nitrogen and phosphorus transformations by algae, and the potential of algae cell disruption technologies to increase nutrient solubilization.

The pilot scale experiments were conducted using nine 33 m², 0.3 m deep multi-culture …

Using Swat To Simulate Crop Yields And Salinity Levels In The North Fork River Basin, Usa, Aaron R. Mittelstet, Daniel E. Storm, Art L. Stoecker

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Crop yields and salinity levels in the North Fork of the Red River (North Fork River) basin, located in southwestern Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle, were analyzed based on the diverse climate in the region. Saline irrigation water is a major problem in the basin. The Elm Fork Creek flows through salt deposits, making the creek and its receiving stream, the North Fork River, too saline to use for irrigation. This greatly reduces the number of hectares that can be utilized for agricultural crops within the basin. A baseline SWAT model was setup, calibrated and validated to simulate streamflow and …

Criticality And Risk Assessment For Pipe Rehabilitation In The City Of Santa Barbara Sewer System, Rossi Carmelo Rossi Ii

Master's Theses

Aging sewer infrastructure is posing greater and greater risk to the health and well-being of City residents. Issues can range from pipe blockages in sewer laterals to Sanitary Sewer Overflows. This thesis develops a risk analysis method that can be used by municipalities to maintain and rehabilitate sewer assets. Risk combines the effect of Likelihood of Failure (LOF) and Consequence of Failure (COF) to perform a complete two-dimensional analysis that allows for relative comparison between different pipes in the system. The LOF rating has been equated to pipe integrity while the COF rating was related to the environmental, economic, and …

Treatment Of Petroleum Hydrocarbons In Oil-Based Drill Cutting Mud Using Biowish Bioaugmentation Products, Diego Jose Cardenas Zepeda

Master's Theses

The efficacy of BiOWiSHTM-Thai Aqua, a commercially discontinued microbial product, in remediating oil based drill-cutting mud (DCM) was researched in this study. Experimentation was performed directly on DCM and on sand contaminated with oil extracted from DCM. A gas chromatograph-mass spectrometrer and a respirometer were used for analysis of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) and CO2 production respectively. Five experiments were analyzed by TPH extraction and analysis; four experiments were analyzed by respirometric analysis. The specific microcosm conditions tested in the experiments were control, nutrient-only control, and bioaugmentation product.

This study concluded that there might be potential for bioaugmentation of TPH …

Water And Energy Use And Wastewater Production In A Beef Packing Plant, Rami Ziara

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Accurate information about water and energy use and wastewater production in beef packing plants is scarce. The objective of this study was to collect baseline water and energy use data within a beef packing plant with a special focus on antimicrobial interventions and to collect preliminary wastewater production data in addition. Permanent and portable water flow meters were installed on the plant’s plumbing system to collect water flow data from March 2014 to March 2015. A local utility company was hired to meter electricity at antimicrobial interventions using portable data loggers. Metered water flows and temperatures were combined with fundamental …

Constructed Treatment Wetland In Rose-Hulman Greenhouse, Ila Creekbaum

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Research Publications

As more impervious materials and buildings takeover natural environments, creeks and rivers become more polluted. When it rains the water collects pollutants because the water flows over parking lots, buildings, and agricultural land. The water can collect oil, nitrogen, phosphorus, and small particles. These pollutants decrease the water quality in surrounding water bodies. Natural wetlands are excellent at removing pollutants from the water that flows through the filter media and are relatively inexpensive. Our objective this summer was to replicate the biological processes by constructing a treatment wetland in the greenhouse on the Rose-Hulman campus. Then we would test the …

Climate Change Assessment In Columbia River Basin (Crb) Using Copula Based On Coupling Of Temperature And Precipitation, Yueyue Qin

Dissertations and Theses

The multi downscaled-scenario products allow us to better assess the uncertainty of the variations of precipitation and temperature in the current and future periods. Joint Probability distribution functions (PDFs), of both the climatic variables, might help better understand the interdependence of the two, and thus in-turn help in accessing the future with confidence. In the present study, we have used multi-modelled statistically downscaled ensemble of precipitation and temperature variables. The dataset used is multi-model ensemble of 10 Global Climate Models (GCMs) downscaled product from CMIP5 daily dataset, using the Bias Correction and Spatial Downscaling (BCSD) technique, generated at Portland State …