Environmental Engineering Commons^™

The Effects Of Tank Operation And Design Characteristics On Water Quality In Distribution System Storage Tanks, Christopher T. Olson, Delvin Deboer

Water and Environmental Engineering Research Reports

From the Executive Summary

Background:
Regional water systems utilize storage facilities to meet demand variations and pressure requirements of their systems. These storage facilities drain and fill in response to system water demands and water level control settings. Storage tanks are typically placed in strategic locations to maintain a consistent pressure in the distribution system. Storage facilities should be designed and operated such that the water is mixed to prevent stagnant water (old water that remains in the tank for an extended period). Stagnant water can lead to water quality issues, such as low disinfectant residuals, potential for microbial contamination, …

Effect Of Additive On The Performance Characteristics Of Centrifugal And Progressive Cavity Slurry Pumps With High Concentration Fly Ash Slurries, Sunil Chandel, S.N. Singh, V. Seshadri

Coal Combustion and Gasification Products Journal Archive

Slurry pumps that are used in the hydraulic transportation of fly ash slurries through pipes in thermal power plants can be broadly classified into two main categories namely positive displacement and centrifugal pumps. The two types of pumps differ considerably in construction as well as in operating principle compared to the conventional pumps. The present study reports the effect of additive on the performance characteristics of centrifugal and progressive cavity screw pumps with fly ash slurries at high concentrations (above Cw < 50% by weight). Mixture of sodium carbonate and Henko detergent (5:1) at a concentration of 0.2% by weight has been used as an additive. For each type of pump, the effect of additive on the performance characteristics has been experimentally evaluated at rated speed with fly ash slurries in the concentration range of 50 to 70% by weight. The pump total head, overall efficiency and pump input power as a function of flow rate have been measured. The results obtained from the centrifugal slurry pump performance show that at rated speed, the performance of the pump improves with the addition of drag reducing additive. In the case of progressive cavity screw pump, pump performance characteristics and behavior were completely different as compared to the centrifugal slurry pump. At rated speed, the performance of screw pump deteriorates with the addition of drag reducing soap solution.

Accidental Releases Of Hazardous Materials And Relevance To Terrorist Threats At Industrial Facilities, Laura J. Steinberg, Nicholas Santella

Civil and Environmental Engineering - All Scholarship

Hazardous material releases, some with serious consequences, are a common occurrence in the U.S. Of late, the hazards posed by releases caused by terrorist attacks or natural disasters have been of particular concern. Although terrorism directed at hazardous material handling industries within the U.S. has not yet resulted in a significant incident, there is much recent experience with serious accidental releases resulting from natural disasters. Case studies are developed from a number of recent natural disasters and severe weather events that resulted in large releases of hazardous materials. These case studies are used to illustrate parallels between the risks posed …

Spatial And Temporal Patterns Of Mercury Accumulation In Lacustrine Sediments Across The Laurentian Great Lakes Region, Paul E. Drevnick, Daniel R. Engstrom, Charles T. Driscoll, Edward B. Swain, Steven J. Balogh

Civil and Environmental Engineering - All Scholarship

Data from 104 sediment cores from the Great Lakes and “inland lakes” in the region were compiled to assess historical and recent changes in mercury (Hg) deposition. The lower Great Lakes showed sharp increases in Hg loading c. 1850-1950 from point-source water dischargers, with marked decreases during the past half century associated with effluent controls and decreases in the industrial use of Hg. In contrast, Lake Superior and inland lakes exhibited a pattern of Hg loading consistent with an atmospheric source - gradual increases followed by recent (post-1980) decreases. Variation in sedimentary Hg flux among inland lakes was primarily attributed …

2011 Nebraska Water Monitoring Programs Report, Marty Link

Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality: Reports

The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) is charged with monitoring, assessing, and to the extent possible, managing the state’s water resources. The purpose of this work is to protect and maintain good quality water and encourage or execute activities to improve poor water quality. Monitoring is done on the over 18,000 miles of flowing rivers and streams, our greater than 280,000 acres of surface water in lakes and reservoirs, and the vast storage of groundwater in Nebraska’s aquifers.

Effects Of Nitrogen Deposition And Empirical Nitrogen Critical Loads For Ecoregions Of The United States, Linda H. Pardo, Mike E. Fenn, Christine L. Goodale, Linda. H. Geiser, Charles T. Driscoll, Edith B. Allen, Jill S. Baron, Roland Bobbink, Williams D. Bowman, Christopher M. Clark, Bridget Emmett, Frank S. Gilliam, Tara L. Greaver, Sharon J. Hall, Erik A. Lilleskov, Lingli Liu, Jason A. Lynch, Knute J. Nadelhoffer, Steven S. Perakis, Molly J. Robin-Abbott, John L. Stoddard, Kathleen C. Weathers, Robin L. Dennis

Civil and Environmental Engineering - All Scholarship

Human activity in the last century has led to a significant increase in nitrogen (N) emissions and atmospheric deposition. This N deposition has reached a level that has caused or is likely to cause alterations to the structure and function of many ecosystems across the United States. One approach for quantifying the deposition of pollution that would be harmful to ecosystems is the determination of critical loads. A critical load is defined as the input of a pollutant below which no detrimental ecological effects occur over the long-term according to present knowledge.

The objectives of this project were to synthesize …

Glypican-3 Targeting Of Liver Cancer Cells Using Multifunctional Nanoparticles, James O. Park, Zachary Stephen, Conory Sun, Omid Veiseh, Forrest M. Kievit, Chen Fang, Matthew Leung, Hyejung Mok, Miqin Zhang

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Imaging is essential in accurately detecting, staging, and treating primary liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma [HCC]), one of the most prevalent and lethal malignancies. We developed a novel multifunctional nanoparticle (NP) specifically targeting glypican-3 (GPC3), a proteoglycan implicated in promotion of cell growth that is overexpressed in most HCCs. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was performed to confirm the differential GPC3 expression in two human HCC cells, Hep G2 (high) and HLF (negligible). These cells were treated with biotin-conjugated GPC3 monoclonal antibody (aGPC3) and subsequently targeted using superparamagnetic iron oxide NPs conjugated to streptavidin and Alexa Fluor 647. Flow cytometry demonstrated …

Magnetite Nanoparticles For Medical Mr Imaging, Zachary R. Stephen, Forrest M. Kievit, Miqin Zhang

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become one of the most widely used and powerful tools for non-invasive clinical diagnosis due to its high soft tissue contrast, spatial resolution, and penetration depth1. In addition, images are acquired without the use of ionizing radiation or radiotracers that would cause unwanted harmful side-effects. A considerable amount of research in medical MR imaging is focused on the development of contrast agents that can provide better delineation between healthy and diseased tissue. Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are a major class of nanoscale material currently under extensive development for improved diagnosis of a wide range of diseases, …

Development Of An Angular Scanning System For Sensing Vertical Profiles Of Soil Electrical Conductivity, Viacheslav Adamchuk, Ahmad S. Mat Su, Roger A. Eigenberg, Richard B. Ferguson

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Apparent soil electrical conductivity (EC_a) is typically mapped to define soil spatial variability within an agricultural field. Knowledge of the vertical variability of EC_a is desired to define the site‐specific behavior of the soil profile. A pneumatic angular scanning system (PASS) was developed to sense horizontal and vertical changes of EC_a on‐the‐go with an electromagnetic induction (EMI) instrument using an angular scanning method. This sensor system consists of a sled with a rotating mechanism, an EMI sensor, an inclinometer, and a pneumatic actuator. The system was evaluated at the University of Nebraska‐Lincoln Agricultural Research and Development …

Identification Of Holocarboxylase Synthetase Chromatin Binding Sites In Human Mammary Cell Lines Using The Damid Technology, Dipika Singh, Angela K. Pannier, Janos Zempleni

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Holocarboxylase synthetase (HCS) is a chromatin protein that is essential for mediating the covalent binding of biotin to histones. Biotinylation of histones plays crucial roles in the repression of genes and repeats in the human genome. We tested the feasibility of DNA adenine methyltransferase identification (DamID) technology to map HCS binding sites in human mammary cell lines. Full-length HCS was fused to Dam for subsequent transfection into breast cancer (MCF-7) and normal breast (MCF-10A) cells. HCS docking sites in chromatin were identified by using the unique adenine methylation sites established by Dam in the fusion construct; docking sites were unambiguously …

Cellular Arrays For Large-Scale Analysis Of Transcription Factor Activity, Abigail D. Bellis, Beatriz Peňalver-Bernabé, Michael S. Weiss, Michael E. Yarrington, Maria V. Barbolina, Angela K. Pannier, Jacqueline S. Jeruss, Linda J. Broadbelt, Lonnie D. Shea

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Identifying molecular mechanisms or therapeutic targets is typically based on large-scale cellular analysis that measures the abundance of mRNA or protein; however, abundance does not necessarily correlate with activity. We report a method for direct large-scale quantification of active pathways that employs a cellular array with parallel gene delivery of constructs that report pathway activity. The reporter constructs encode luciferase, whose expression is influenced by binding of transcription factors (TFs), which are the downstream targets of signaling pathways. Luciferase levels are quantified by bioluminescence imaging (BLI), which allows for rapid, noninvasive measurements. Activity profiles by BLI of 32 TFs were …

Microarray Analysis Of Gene Expression Profiles In Cells Transfected With Nonviral Vectors, Sarah A. Plautz, Gina Boanca, Jean-Jack M. Riethoven, Angela K. Pannier

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Inefficient gene delivery is a critical factor limiting the use of nonviral methods in therapeutic applications including gene therapy and tissue engineering. There have been few efforts to understand or engineer the molecular signaling pathways that dictate the efficacy of gene transfer. Microarray analysis was used to determine endogenous gene expression profiles modulated during nonviral gene transfer. Nonviral DNA lipoplexes were delivered to HEK 293T cells. Flow cytometry was used to isolate a population of transfected cells. Expression patterns were compared between transfected and nontransfected samples, which revealed three genes that were significantly upregulated in transfected cells, including RAP1A, …

Flocculation Of Wall-Deficient Cells Of Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii Mutant Cw15 By Calcium And Methanol, Matt Scholz, Takanori Hoshino, Mark R. Riley, Joel Cuello

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Flocculation is a common and inexpensive method for harvesting algae from solution. After nitrogen starvation, it was shown that 83 + 3% of the wall-deficient cells of the cw 15 mutant of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii flocculated from 12 mL samples within 15 min after the addition of 15 mM calcium chloride at pH 8.4. Only 24 2% of the wildtype strain flocculated under these conditions, thus demonstrating how a simple mutation might facilitate process design. The data suggested that algae grown in waters with similar calcium concentrations (e.g. certain wastewaters) might be harvested through simple pH adjustment. It was also discovered …

Performance Of Extended Shuttleworth‐Wallace Model For Estimating And Partitioning Of Evapotranspiration In A Partial Residue‐Covered Subsurface Drip‐Irrigated Soybean Field, Lameck O. Odhiambo, Suat Irmak

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Estimation of actual evapotranspiration (ET), especially its partitioning into plant transpiration (T) and soil evaporation (E), in agricultural fields is important for effective soil water management and conservation and for understanding the interactions between ET, T, and E with the management practices. Direct field measurements of ET, T, and E rates are difficult and costly; hence, mathematical models are used for estimating them. The objective of this study was to evaluate the practical applicability of the Shuttleworth‐Wallace (S‐W) model to estimate and partition ET in a subsurface drip‐irrigated soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) field with partial residue cover. While its …

Rule-Based Decision Support System For Sensor Deployment In Drinking Water Networks, Natthaphon Prapinpongsanone

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Drinking water distribution systems are inherently vulnerable to malicious contaminant events with environmental health concerns such as total trihalomethanes (TTHMs), lead, and chlorine residual. In response to the needs for long-term monitoring, one of the most significant challenges currently facing the water industry is to investigate the sensor placement strategies with modern concepts of and approaches to risk management. This study develops a Rule-based Decision Support System (RBDSS) to generate sensor deployment strategies with no computational burden as we oftentimes encountered via large-scale optimization analyses. Three rules were derived to address the efficacy and efficiency characteristics and they include: 1) …

Use Of Vegetative Mulch As Daily And Intermediate Landfill Cover, Assal Edwar Haddad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Management of yard waste is a significant challenge in the US, where in 2008 13.2% of the 250 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) was reported to be yard waste. This study describes research conducted in the laboratory and field to examine the application of vegetative mulch as daily and intermediate landfill cover. Mulch was found to exhibit stronger physical properties than soil, leading to a more stable landfill slope. Compaction of mulch was found to be significantly greater than soil, potentially resulting in airspace recovery. Degradation of mulch produced a soil-like material; degradation resulted in lower physical strength …

Environmental Study Of Solid Waste Collection, Mousa Awad Maimoun

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The growing municipal solid waste generation rates have necessitated more efficient, optimized waste collection facilities. The majority of the US collection fleet is composed of diesel-fueled vehicles which contribute significant atmospheric emissions including greenhouse gases. In order to reduce emissions to the atmosphere, more collection agencies are investigating alternative fuel technologies such as natural gas, biofuels (bio-gas and bio-diesel), and hybrid electric technology. This research is an in-depth environmental analysis of potential alternative fuel technologies for waste collection vehicles. This study will evaluate the use of alternative fuels by waste collection vehicles. Lifecycle emissions, cost, fuel and energy consumption were …

Mass Conservation Analysis For The Lower St. Johns River Using Continuous And Discontinuous Galerkin Finite Element Methods, Lillie E. Thomas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides a mass conservation analysis of the Lower St. Johns River for the purpose of providing basis for future salinity transport modeling. The analysis provides an assessment of the continuous (CG) and discontinuous (DG) Galerkin finite element methods with respect to their mass conservation properties. The following thesis also presents a rigorous literature review pertaining to salinity transport in the Lower St. Johns River, from which this effort generates the data used to initialize and validate numerical simulations. Two research questions are posed and studied in this thesis: can a DG-based modeling approach produce mass conservative numerical solutions; …

Zinc Speciation In Power Plant Burning Mixtures Of Coal And Tires, Luis F.O. Silva, Marcos L.S. Oliveira, Carmen Serra, James C. Hower

Coal Combustion and Gasification Products Journal Archive

Fly ash from the cyclone-boiler co-combustion of high-S, high volatile bituminous coal and tire-derived fuel (tdf) was studied using a variety of chemical, optical, and microbeam techniques. Fly ash, dominated by Al-Si glass with lesser amounts of coalderived carbons, Fe-spinels, and tire-derived carbons, has Zn concentrations ranging from 2200 ppm (1st ESP row) to 6900 ppm Zn (3rd ESP row). Zinc occurs in Zn-rich nanoparticles in the Al-Si glass phases and as ZnO in amorphous and crystalline nanominerals, Fe- and Zn-sulfides, Pb-Al-Fe sulfates, and Zn sulfates. Iron-rich, Al- and Ti-bearing spinels contain accessory Zn2+,Cr3+,Mn2+, and Pb2+. Fe-sulfates and phosphates nanoparticles …

Co-Disposal Of Dry Fgd By-Product With Coal Gasification Ash And Inorganic Brines, Jabulani S. Mahlaba, P.C. Pretorius, Subal Maharajh, M.P. Augustyn

Coal Combustion and Gasification Products Journal Archive

There is a growing pressure from the environmental authorities and public bodies to reduce anthropogenic pollution. Stringent environmental legislation is being implemented for industries around the world, even more so for coal consuming industries. Control of gaseous emissions is one of the areas that are receiving considerable attention towards sustainable development. Coal combustion in coal-fired power utilities emits SO~x~ to the atmosphere. Dry flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) is a well known technology often used to mitigate sulphur emissions in coal-fired power utilities. It traditionally uses lime to neutralise SO~x~, and forms a mixture of anhydrite (CaSO~4~), and calcium sulphite (CaSO~3~). …