Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Identification Of The Biogenic Compounds Responsible For Size-Dependent Nanoparticle Growth, Paul M. Winkler, John Ortega, Thomas Karl, Luca Cappellin, Hans R. Friedli, Kelley Barsanti, Peter H. Mcmurry, James N. Smith

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The probability that freshly nucleated nanoparticles can survive to become cloud condensation nuclei is highly sensitive to particle growth rates. Much of the growth of newly formed ambient nanoparticles can be attributed to oxidized organic vapors originating from biogenic precursor gases. In this study we investigated the chemical composition of size-selected biogenic nanoparticles in the size range from 10 to 40 nm. Particles were formed in a flow tube reactor by ozonolysis ofα-pinene and analyzed with a Thermal Desorption Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometer. While we found similar composition in 10 and 20 nm particles, the relative amounts of …

Climate Change Impact Assessment For Surface Transportation In The Pacific Northwest And Alaska, John Macarthur, Philip Mote, Miguel A. Figliozzi, Jason Ideker, Ming Lee

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The states in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska region share interconnected transportation networks for people, goods, and services that support the regional economy, mobility, and human safety. Regional weather has and will continue to affect the physical condition and serviceability of these networks, yet the nature of climate changes and their potential impacts on the regional transportation system and its use are very poorly understood. The world’s leading climate scientists, such as the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change, have reached consensus that global climate changes are being observed and will continue into the future, particularly increasing temperatures. Given this fact, …

Las Vegas Strip Odor Remediation, Francell R. Rodriguez, Daniel Hoskins, Guadalupe Gutierrez

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

The project described in our report looks at four alternatives to eliminate odor from the intersection of Las Vegas Blvd and Flamingo Rd: biofiltration, Granulated Activated Carbon (GAC) filtration, nitrate addition and the alternative of doing nothing. The odor is caused mainly by hydrogen sulfide, which escapes from the sewer system in this area. Each alternative was evaluated based on effectiveness, land usage, energy consumption, water and material usage, and cost. Cost was further broken down into initial costs and annual costs, and then a cash flow analysis was performed to evaluate the cost over a 30 year timeframe.

Nitrate …

Ecological Payback Time Of An Energy-Efficient Modular Building, Jeremy Faludi, Michael Lepech

Dartmouth Scholarship

Ecological payback time was calculated for demolishing an existing commercial building with average energy performance and replacing it with an energy-efficient, prefabricated building. A life-cycle assessment was performed for a 5,000 ft2 commercial building designed by Project Frog and prefabricated in San Francisco, California, and compared to the impacts of annual energy consumption and continued status quo operation of a comparable average commercial building. Scenarios were run both with and without rooftop solar panels intended to make the prefabricated building net zero energy. The analysis considers the materials and mof the existing building, compared to continued annual energy use of …

Integrated Assessment Of Anthropogenic, Climate, And Policy Induced Changes Of Phosphorus Export In The United States Laurentian Great Lakes Watersheds, Meredith Ballard Labeau

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Anthropogenic activities have increased phosphorus (P) loading in tributaries to the Laurentian Great Lakes resulting in eutrophication in small bays to most notably, Lake Erie. Changes to surface water quality from P loading have resulted in billions of dollars in damage and threaten the health of the world’s largest freshwater resource. To understand the factors affecting P delivery with projected increasing urban lands and biofuels expansion, two spatially explicit models were coupled. The coupled models predict that the majority of the basin will experience a significant increase in urban area P sources while the agriculture intensity and forest sources of …

An Empirical Study Of Particulate Matter Exposure For Transit Users At Bus Stop Shelters, Adam Moore

Dissertations and Theses

Congested traffic corridors in dense urban areas are key contributors to the degradation of urban air quality. While waiting at bus stops, transit patrons may be exposed to greater amounts of vehicle-based pollution, including particulate matter, due to their proximity to the roadway. Current guidelines for the location and design of bus stops do not take into account air quality or exposure considerations. This thesis provides a unique contribution to roadside air quality studies and presents an innovative method for the consideration of bus shelter placement. Exposure to roadside pollutants is estimated for transit riders waiting at three-sided bus stop …

An Assessment Of Phosphorus Recovery From Dairy Wastewater, Éanna Kelleher

Theses

Phosphorus is an important nutrient for plant and animal life. It is one of the three essential nutrients required for plant growth; Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium. It plays a vital role in the quality and structure of plants. In animals it is essential for the transfer of energy around the body and for the development of the skeleton. Phosphorus is mined from deposits of phosphate rock and is mainly used to produce fertiliser which is applied to agricultural land to improve plant growth. However, phosphorus is a finite resource and, similar to oil, is expected to peak during this century. …

Numerical Modelling Of The River Bandon, Stephen Finn

Theses

Numerical modelling involves the use of data from the physical environment and mathematical equations to achieve predictive solutions to many engineering problems including for river engineering. The field data is surveyed, sampled, recorded and tested before it is entered into the numerical modelling program for analysis. The numerical modelling program contains various mathematical equations that solve the data that has been entered. Numerical modelling is an important tool for predicting the consequences of future events. It can be used for predicting the damage of a 1 in 100 year flood event in a river system. Numerical modelling is used by …

The Reduction Of Storm Surge By Vegetation Canopies: Three-Dimensional Simulations, Y. Peter Sheng, Andrew Lapetina, Gangfeng Ma

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Significant buffering of storm surges by vegetation canopies has been suggested by limited observations and simple numerical studies, particularly following recent Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. Here we simulate storm surge and inundation over idealized topographies using a three-dimensional vegetation-resolving storm surge model coupled to a shallow water wave model and show that a sufficiently wide and tall vegetation canopy reduces inundation on land by 5 to 40 percent, depending upon various storm and canopy parameters. Effectiveness of the vegetation in dissipating storm surge and inundation depends on the intensity and forward speed of the hurricane, as well as the …

Field And Laboratory Comparison Of The Hydraulic Performance Of Two Ceramic Pot Water Filters, Duncan Peabody

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Currently 884 million people worldwide are living without access to an improved source of drinking water (WHO/UNICEF, 2011). Piped-water on premises is the ultimate goal of World Health Organization (WHO) due to the ability to treat all of the water and distribute it safely in pressurized pipes. However, Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage (HWTS) is an option for improving the quality of drinking water where that infrastructure is not yet developed, especially where there is a risk of recontamination between point of collection and point of use (Clasen, 2006).

This study analyzed one such HWTS, the ceramic pot water …

Analysis And Remediation Of Chlorinated Hydrocarbons In Environmental Media, Jonathan Ticknor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The two objectives of this work were to develop a simplified method for the analysis of chlorinated organics in water samples and to improve an existing soil remediation technology. The contaminants considered for these studies were chlorinated hydrocarbons because of their relative frequency of appearance at contaminated sites. The first half of this study involved the analysis of chlorinated ethenes by gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID). I tested the hypothesis that the FID response factor is the same for all chlorinated ethene compounds. The rationale for this investigation is that if the hypothesis is correct, a single calibration …

Optimization Of An Advanced Water Treatment Plant: Bromate Control And Biofiltration Improvement, Dustin William Bales

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The David L. Tippin Water Treatment Facility (DLTWTF) serving the city of Tampa, Florida is an advanced drinking water treatment facility consisting of coagulation/flocculation, ozonation, granular activated carbon biofiltration, and disinfection by chloramine. New regulations and the recent economic crisis pushed the facility to investigate methods to decrease costs and meet regulatory requirements easier.

The two major issues identified as priorities for investigation were the optimization of the biofiltration system and the use of a novel process to reduce the formation of bromate during ozonation.

Optimization of the biofiltration system is needed to remove more of the assorted particles that …

Aggregation Of Sediment And Bacteria With Mucilage From The Opuntia Ficus-Indica Cactus, Audrey Lynn Buttice

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Flocculants are commonly used in industrial settings where solid-liquid separations are desired including industrial and municipal wastewater management and potable water production facilities. Conventional flocculants include inorganic metal salts and synthetic organic polymers. The cost, availability, and harmful effects of the non-biodegradable nature of these flocculants have led to the widespread study of natural flocculants. Current natural flocculants being studied include polysaccharides cultivated from microbial extracellular matrix products and plant based materials. In this study, the mucilage of Opuntia ficus-indica cactus was evaluated as a natural flocculant for sediments and bacteria. The O. ficus-indica cactus is also known as the …

Precipitation Of Phosphate Minerals From Effluent Of Anaerobically Digested Swine Manure, Alex Y. Lin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Swine production represents approximately 40% of the world's meat production, and its wastes contain high concentrations of organic carbon, nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P). Anaerobic digestion is an increasingly popular technology for treating animal wastes while simultaneously generating energy. Its propagation and ability to solubilize organic N and P make adding a struvite recovery process attractive. Recovering struvite (MgNH4PO4) from anaerobically digested swine waste can address global P shortages, meet P discharge guidelines, and produce slow-release fertilizer, which can be sold for revenue.

Anaerobic digesters were operated with at organic loading rates of 3.4-3.9 g volatile solids per liter per …

Water's Dependence On Energy: Analysis Of Embodied Energy In Water And Wastewater Systems, Weiwei Mo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Water and wastewater treatment is a critical service provided for protecting human health and the environment. Over the past decade, increasing attention has been placed on energy consumption in water and wastewater systems for the following reasons: (1) Water and energy are two interrelated resources. The nexus between water and energy can intensify the crises of fresh water and fossil fuel shortages; (2) The demand of water/wastewater treatment services is expected to continue to increase with increasing population, economic development and land use change in the foreseeable future; and (3) There is a great potential to mitigate energy use in …

Assessing The Reuse Potential Of Wastewater For Irrigation: The Removal Of Helminth Eggs From A Uasb Reactor And Stabilization Ponds In Bolivia, Matthew Eric Verbyla

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Extreme hunger, malnutrition, and the lack of access to sanitation are among the most pressing development challenges, but the world is not on track to meet the targets that have been established by the Millennium Development Goals. The integration of wastewater treatment and food production systems allows for the recovery of resources from wastewater, and can provide an important solution to meet the sanitation needs of growing urban populations and provide periurban farmers with a consistent supply of water and nutrients. Stabilization ponds have been long considered to be an appropriate technology for wastewater reuse systems in developing countries, but …

Bias Correction And Downscaling Of Climate Model Outputs Required For Impact Assessments Of Climate Change In The U.S. Northeast, Kazi F. Ahmed

Master's Theses

Global Climate Models (GCMs) are the typical sources of future climate data required for impact assessments of climate change. However, GCM outputs are related to model-related uncertainties and involve a great deal of biases. Bias correction of model outputs is, therefore, necessary before their use in impact studies. The coarse resolution of GCM simulations is another hindrance to their direct use in fine-scale impact analysis of climate change. Although downscaling of GCM outputs can be performed by dynamical downscaling using Regional Climate Models (RCMs), it requires large computational capacity. When daily climate data from multiple GCMs are required to be …

Adapting To Climate Change While Planning For Disaster: Footholds, Rope Lines, And The Iowa Floods, Robert R.M. Verchick, Abby Hall

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

2011 Fall Engr333 Project Final Report, Fall 2011 Engr333

ENGR 333

Analysis of the Bunker Interpretive Center (BIC) began during the spring of 2011 with the Engineering 382 Instrumentation Lab. To determine the energy use at the BIC, sensing equipment was placed on 44 different energy consuming devices, ranging from pumps to lights to heating and ventilation (HVAC) equipment. These data were collected over the spring and summer and then analyzed by the Engineering 333 Thermal Systems Design class during the fall of 2011. The class was tasked with determining whether or not the BIC was eligible for Energy Star certification. While the building was built to be LEED Gold certified, …

2011 Fall Engr333 Student Seminar Presentation, 2011 Fall Engr333

ENGR 333

File for student presentation, given by students in the Fall 2010 class of ENGR333.