Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Analysis And Optimization Of A Colorimetric Nanosensor For Rapid Detection Of Escherichia Coli In Water, Sarah M. Stabler

Master's Theses

Safe drinking water is essential for life, yet at least two billion people around the world consume water contaminated with pathogens among other pollutants. Standard methods like polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and membrane filtration have been developed to detect enteric pathogens in water. However, these methods are limited in their accessibility due to long wait times to obtain results, and the requirements of skilled expertise, electricity, and laboratory equipment. This research has focused on addressing some of these limitations by analyzing the mechanisms of work and optimizing an indirect colorimetric nanosensor developed in previous research. The colorimetric nanosensor investigated herein …

Utilization Of Agro-Based Adsorbents In Binary Wastewater Treatment, Abhiram Siva Prasad Pamula, Yung-Tse Hung, Howard H. Paul

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The application of agro-based adsorbents is growing in the tertiary stage of the wastewater treatment process during the presence of hazardous pollutants. Dye and coffee industries are among the major wastewater pollutant sources negatively affect aquatic ecosystems and human health. The current study attempts to treat a binary mixture of crystal violet (CV) and coffee wastewater using agro-based adsorbents such as peanut hull and onion peel. The performance and efficacy of low-cost adsorbents were evaluated using parameters, including transmittance and non-purgeable organic carbon (NPOC). Batch adsorption studies were conducted to optimize both the adsorbent size and dosage that affect the …

Dental Cement Thickening Agents For Mudslide Prevention, Kristina Emiliya Babayev, Emily Elizabeth Johnson, Diana Evet Reihaneh

Materials Engineering

The purpose of this project is to develop a non-toxic mud thickening agent for the application of decreasing mudslide intensity where performance is measured by flow rate, viscosity, and toxicity tests. We hypothesized that dental cements could be a potential candidate due to their adhesive, hydrophilic, and biocompatible properties. Zinc phosphate, glass ionomer, and polycarboxylate cement were among the dental cements tested. These tests were performed at low and high concentrations of 25 grams and 125 grams, respectively, mixed into soil to produce 3500 gram samples. The dental cements produced noticeable thickening effects in the mud, as the average viscosity …

Modeling Vadose Zone Hydrology [Lecture Notes], Derek M. Heeren, Dean E. Eisenhauer

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Modeling Vadose Zone Hydrology is a graduate-level course offered biennially in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering. Topics included hydraulic properties of porous media, application of Darcy's Law in variably saturated media, hydrologic and transport processes in the vadose zone, and solution of steady and unsteady flow problems using numerical techniques. A graphical approach for characterizing vertical one-dimensional problems with energy head profiles was emphasized. Common one-dimensional flow and transport problems were solved analytically. The course was taught using a combination of lecture notes and PowerPoint presentations. The lecture notes from 2021, captured using the Microsoft Whiteboard app with a …

Modeling The Groundwater Basin In The Northern Cities Management Area, Allyson Swain

Master's Theses

A model was developed to simulate the groundwater of 8,300 acres of the Northern Cities Management Area (NCMA), which encompasses the northern portion of the Arroyo Grande Watershed and a small subset of the Santa Maria Valley Groundwater Basin. This watershed and groundwater basin is located on the coast and contains Oceano and the Cities of Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach, Pismo Beach. Groundwater in the NCMA is used heavily for agricultural irrigation in the southern portion and municipal applications in the northern portion. Up to 18 of these municipal wells and over 50 irrigation wells are drawing groundwater at any …

Uavs For Vegetation Monitoring: Overview And Recent Scientific Contributions, Ana I. De Castro, Yeyin Shi, Joe Mari Maja, Jose M. Peña

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

This paper reviewed a set of twenty-one original and innovative papers included in a special issue on UAVs for vegetation monitoring, which proposed new methods and techniques applied to diverse agricultural and forestry scenarios. Three general categories were considered: (1) sensors and vegetation indices used, (2) technological goals pursued, and (3) agroforestry applications. Some investigations focused on issues related to UAV flight operations, spatial resolution requirements, and computation and data analytics, while others studied the ability of UAVs for characterizing relevant vegetation features (mainly canopy cover and crop height) or for detecting different plant/crop stressors, such as nutrient content/deficiencies, water …

Assessment Of Endogenous Biomass Decay As A Source Of Precursors For Microbially-Mediated Toluene And P-Cresol Production, Samuel J. Reynolds

LSU Master's Theses

The research reported in this thesis was conducted to investigate whether protein hydrolysis associated with endogenous decay of biomass produced following the addition of a readily fermentable substrate is a potential source of precursors that can ultimately be transformed to toluene and p-cresol in environments undergoing enhanced bioremediation.

A packed column intended to represent a laboratory-scale section of an aquifer was seeded with groundwater and then supplied with molasses-amended groundwater for a two-day interval. The injected molasses concentration and surface loading rate were selected to be representative of conditions in the vicinity of injection wells at a Superfund Site …

Microplastics In Water Treatment Plants, Isabella Seeton

Symposium of Student Scholars

The growing of the consumer culture has contributed to the massive rising of microplastic in environmental samples. Several studies have shown that the rise in microfibers and microplastics has to do with common household items such as facewash, toothpaste, clothing, and cleaning supplies. In this research, we began by collecting samples from a North Georgia drinking water plant. Fluorescent orange polyethylene microspheres, 600-710-micron, were added to assess the extraction methodology. These microspheres were extracted using the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) procedure. Filtered samples were analyze on filter paper underneath a 3.5X-180X Zoom Stereo Microscope. The filter paper was …

Early Detection Of Encroaching Woody Juniperus Virginiana And Its Classification In Multi-Species Forest Using Uas Imagery And Semantic Segmentation Algorithms, Lin Wang, Yuzhen Zhou, Qiao Hu, Zhenghong Tang, Yufeng Ge, Adam Smith, Tala Awada, Yeyin Shi

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Woody plant encroachment into grasslands ecosystems causes significantly ecological destruction and economic losses. Effective and efficient management largely benefits from accurate and timely detection of encroaching species at an early development stage. Recent advances in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) enabled easier access to ultra-high spatial resolution images at a centimeter level, together with the latest machine learning based image segmentation algorithms, making it possible to detect small-sized individuals of target species at early development stage and identify them when mixed with other species. However, few studies have investigated the optimal practical spatial resolution of early encroaching species detection. Hence, we …

Characterization Of An Urban Watershed: The Case For Rowlett Creek Watershed Impaired By Bacteria And Nutrient Concerns, Heather Firn

Civil and Environmental Engineering Theses and Dissertations

Firn, Heather B.S., Southern Connecticut State University, 2009 M.S., Southern Connecticut State University, 2013

Characterization of an Urban Watershed: The Case

for Rowlett Creek Watershed Impaired by Bacteria

and Nutrient Concerns

Advisor: Professor Wenjie Sun

Master of Science conferred May, 15, 2021

Thesis completed April, 27, 2021

Water quality and its relationship with urbanization is one of many nationwide environmental concerns. Rowlett Creek is located in an urban watershed in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Since 2014, it has been listed by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality as impaired for bacteria and as a screening limit concern for nitrate. Water …

Interaction Of Aqueous U(Vi) With Goethite, Montmorillonite, And Uo2(S), Anshuman Satpathy

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Uranium contamination in subsurface environments is a matter of great concern throughout the world. Fate and transport of uranium in the subsurface can be controlled by U(VI) adsorption and reduction onto common iron (oxy)hydroxides and clay minerals. Aqueous U(VI) can also exchange uranium atoms with solids comprised of uranium which can potentially lead to changes in the morphology of the uranium-containing solids and affect their stability. First, the performance of multiple surface complexation models (SCMs) on adsorption of U(VI) onto goethite was analyzed for a broad range of input conditions. Individual models could fit the data for which they were …

Desalination For Sustainable Water Production With An Emphasis On Low Pressure Distillation, Jessica Vivian Savage

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Freshwater resources depletion is a growing concern. This freshwater scarcity motivates research into seawater desalination as a means for alleviating the stresses on water demands. The primary methods of desalination include filtration and distillation. This paper explores the potential energy savings of vacuum distillation for seawater desalination to reduce the amount of energy needed to achieve phase change.

Depending on the vacuum boiler design, the vaporization mechanism may be boiling, evaporation, or cavitation. There is very little literature on cavitation that involves mass transfer, so cavitation is not developed here. This thesis focuses on standard models for boiling and evaporation …

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Npl Site Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Error Prevention In Sensors And Sensor Systems, Pedro J. Chacon Dominguez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Achievements in all fields of engineering and fabrication methods have led towards optimization and integration of multiple sensing devices into a concise system. These advances have caused significant innovation in various commercial, industrial, and research efforts. Integrations of subsystems have important applications for sensor systems in particular. The need for reporting and real time awareness of a device’s condition and surroundings have led to sensor systems being implemented in a wide variety of fields. From environmental sensors for agriculture, to object characterization and biomedical sensing, the application for sensor systems has impacted all modern facets of innovation. With these innovations, …

Systematic Design, Optimization, And Sustainability Assessment For Generation Of Efficient Wastewater Treatment Networks, Kirti Maheshkumar Yenkie, Emmanuel A Aboagye, Sean M. Burnham, James Dailey, Rohan Zia, Carley Tran, Maya Desai

Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering Departmental Research

Due to population growth and economic development, there has been an increase in global wastewater (WW) generation footprint. There are different technologies associated with the wastewater treatment (WWT) process. The challenge is to select technologies that minimize the cost of treatment, as well as meet purity requirements. Further, there is a need to integrate sustainability analysis to facilitate a holistic decision. With the application of systems engineering, sustainable and cost-effective solutions can be achieved. In this work, we apply systems engineering to generate a sustainable and cost-effective solution. A superstructure was generated by categorizing technologies into four treatment stages. After …

Exploration Of The Sludge Biodiesel Pathway, Zachary Christman

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Wastewater sludge is an overlooked source of fat, oil, and grease (FOG) that could be converted into biodiesel. The United States produces about 8 million tons of sludge per year. The disposal cost for this amount of sludge is about 2 billion US dollars. The widespread availability and low cost of sludge compared to other biodiesel raw materials make it an economical choice for a renewable fuel. Using sludge as a raw material can produce 25 to 30 mg per gram of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME); the main component of biodiesel. Sludge biodiesel has the potential of transforming a …

The Correlation Between Poverty, Water Quality, Community Health, And Education In Guatemala And Tanzania, Jessica R. Besnier

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

This paper explores the relationship between poverty, water quality, community health, and education in Tanzania and Guatemala. These metrics will allow for a thorough analysis of the relationships between the countries and will determine their impact on the other aspects in these two countries. While Guatemala and Tanzania are very different countries, they share many things in common such as inequalities among different groups, having many different groups of indigenous people, having most people living in rural areas, and are located on a coast. Also, they share similarities regarding poverty, water quality, community health, and education. By looking into these …

Real-Time Pm10 Emission Rates From Paved Roads By Measurement Of Concentrations In The Vehicle's Wake Using On-Board Sensors Part 2. Comparison Of Scamper, Traker™, Flux Measurements, And Ap-42 Silt Sampling Under Controlled Conditions, Dennis R. Fitz, Kurt Bullimer, Vic Etyemezian, Hampden D. Kuhns, John A. Gillies, George Nikolich, David E. James, Rodney Langston, Russell S. Merle Jr.

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

Representative soil was evenly applied to an 800-m section of road surface. The test area was of sufficient length to allow for measurement at constant speeds of up to 72 km hr−1. SCAMPER and TRAKER™ mobile measurement vehicles made repeated test runs while an instrumented tower measured upwind-downwind horizontal PM10 flux. AP-42 methods were used to collect silt samples and calculate PM10 emission factors. Both silt loadings and vehicle speeds were varied during the experiment. Street sweeping the as-found roadway showed an initial rise in PM10 emission rates. Both TRAKER and SCAMPER measured rapid decay of PM10 emission rates after …

Valorization Of Secondary Agriculture Residues, Narendra Kumar

Master's Theses

Secondary agriculture residues have the potential to be major contributors as resources for energy and sustainably sourced materials production. Separating secondary agricultural residues, which have already been transported to processing centers, into individual biomass components could convert these wastes into bioproducts. Many types of pretreatments to achieve this separation involve chemicals that are hazardous for the environment. Several deep eutectic solvents (DES) that are biocompatible have been investigated for their ability to deconstruct rice hulls and sugarcane bagasse. Mass yield, enzymatic hydrolysis of the pretreated biomass, fiber analysis, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy have confirmed that the DES formic acid:choline …

Assessment And Improvement Of Performance Of Septic Systems In Cold Climates (Year 1), Stu Geza, Todd Menkhaus, Lianping Li, Galen Hoogestraat

SDWRI Publications and Reports

Onsite septic systems are used for wastewater treatment for households not connected to sewers. There is a concern about surface and groundwater pollution when effectiveness becomes limited due to soil texture, soil temperature, neighborhood density, and distance to water resources. The goal of this study was to assess treatment performance of local soils and selected treatment media. Lab-scale column experiments were conducted using wastewater from Wastewater Reclamation Facility in Rapid City. The experiments were conducted inside and outside the lab to evaluate the effect of temperature. The columns outside the lab were subject to seasonal variation in temperature. Moisture content, …