Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Mbse For Process Analytical Technology- Bwon Analysis Case Study, Arnaldo Garcia Cervantes

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) emissions from industrial sources, particularly Benzene, present significant environmental and public health challenges. Regulatory frameworks, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Benzene Waste Operations NESHAP (BWON), mandate strict monitoring of control devices, specifically carbon adsorption canisters, to prevent emission breakthrough. However, current industry practices rely heavily on manual Method 21 testing, a labor-intensive process that creates lagging indicators and increases the risk of non-compliance events. This thesis proposes the design and development of an on-line, automated fugitive emissions monitoring system tailored for carbon canisters using Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE). Utilizing the Object-Oriented System Engineering Method …

Per- And Poly-Fluoroalkyl Substances Fate Across California Wastewater Treatment Plants: A Meta-Analysis Of Formation, Distribution, And Persistence, Elizabeth Reineke

Master's Theses

Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are persistent contaminants that move through municipal and industrial wastewater systems with limited attenuation. As a result, they are increasingly detected in drinking water supplies. Despite growing regulatory concern, a systems-level understanding of PFAS behavior across multiple treatment facilities and watershed settings remains incomplete. This study compiled influent, effluent, and biosolids datasets from more than one hundred California wastewater treatment plants to evaluate PFAS occurrence, transformation, and partitioning across diverse treatment configurations. Analytical steps included calculating removal efficiencies, assessing precursor-to-product oxidation, evaluating co-contaminant correlations, and grouping facilities by process design to quantify configuration-specific fate patterns. …

Data-Driven Evaluation Of Sustainable Waste-To-Energy Pathways For Intelligent Urban Systems, Izech Brian O. Edwin, King Harold A. Recto

Electronics, Computer, and Communications Engineering Faculty Publications

The handling of municipal solid waste (MSW) in swiftly urbanizing Philippine cities poses intricate energy and governance challenges. In Baguio City, reliance on landfills has reached critical levels due to diminishing capacity, rising transport costs, and opposition to trash transfers by nearby LGUs. Although shaped by unique topographical and governance constraints, Baguio’s situation reflects issues faced by other rapidly growing Philippine cities; therefore, analyzing it offers insights for national MSW decision-making. This study applies a triple bottom line (TBL) framework to assess three management scenarios: (1) Status Quo, where all MSW is landfilled with no energy recovery; (2) Landfill with …

Engineering Risk And Indigenous Resilience Toward Intelligent Decision Support For Mining In Ancestral Lands, Izech Brian O. Edwin, King Harold A. Recto

Electronics, Computer, and Communications Engineering Faculty Publications

Mining within ancestral territories reveals an ongoing conflict between technical viability and Indigenous consent. This collaborative study, conducted by an engineering scholar and a policy researcher of Indigenous heritage in Benguet among the Ibaloi and Kankanaey peoples, investigates how risk transparency and policy alignment can bridge existing divides, while formulating principles applicable to other Indigenous mining contexts. The study provides an initial evaluation of the feasibility of a proposed large-scale mining operation within a risk-informed, data-driven governance framework. Three elements of engineering risk were assessed utilizing literature-derived and proxy parameters: (1) Land degradation is indicated by a Soil Productivity Index …

Water Bottle Lid Co Detector, Zeke Bukovansky, Jake Siegel, Jack Wisegarver, Cody Rudman

Mechanical Engineering

This project introduces a portable carbon monoxide detector integrated into a water bottle lid to give users a simple way to stay aware of CO exposure in daily life. The design packages an electrochemical sensor, onboard electronics, and clear visual and audible alerts into a compact form that fits standard bottles. By embedding sensing into an object people already carry, the device offers a practical path toward reducing unrecognized CO risks and improving personal safety.

Surface Reaction And Transportation Of Radium-226 In Marine Systems, Jiusi Wang

All Dissertations

Historical uses of radium (Ra)-containing self-luminous paint, such as on gauges and dials in naval ships, have led to the potential for such paint, and thus Ra, to be released into the marine environment. Radium-226 (²²⁶Ra) behavior in marine systems is not fully described in the literature, presenting a knowledge gap in the process of evaluating potential ecological impact of Ra in marine systems. This study explores various mechanisms contributing to Ra environmental transport in marine systems on a laboratory scale, including leaching, sorption, and diffusion. ²²⁶Ra leaching from watch hand dials containing radioactive luminous paint is …

Advancing Life Cycle Assessment Of Mass Timber: Environmental Performance, Circular Design And End-Of-Life Strategies, Muzan Williams Ijeoma

All Dissertations

Mass timber has emerged as a leading candidate for low-carbon construction, offering the dual benefits of reduced embodied emissions and biogenic carbon storage. Yet, fully realizing its sustainability potential requires a comprehensive and context-specific understanding of its environmental performance across the entire life cycle, from raw material production to building operation and beyond end-of-life (EoL). This dissertation advances life cycle assessment (LCA) practices for mass timber by addressing critical challenges across multiple phases of its life cycle. This dissertation is comprised of three published papers, and two submitted manuscripts. First, I conducted a critical review and meta-analysis of mass …

Modeling Flood Risks For Small-Scale Coastal Watershed Across Shared Socioeconomic Pathway Scenarios, Sebastian Loschner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Coastal flooding, driven by the mixture of natural processes and human activities such as precipitation, waves, sea level rise, and urbanization, remains a growing concern. While recent flood-risk studies use IPCC's Shared Socioeconomic Pathways with climate projections to assess future flood exposure, smaller coastal watersheds, < 120,000 acres, remain insufficiently studied. Projected sea level rise is expected to intensify these impacts in smaller systems, potentially causing more severe flooding than reported for larger watersheds. To address this gap, this study used the SRH-2D model integrated with Aquaveo's Surface-water Modeling System to simulate flooding in the lower Fish River basin, Alabama. A coastal watershed sensitive to both riverine and tidal influences. Simulations tested different sea levels based on SSP scenarios corresponding to low, moderate, and high emissions for the years 2050 and 2100. Results indicate that the midcentury scenarios remained even in inundation extent and volume, between 9.9-10.4% compared to the 2020 baseline, the latter scenarios had a wider range in results of between 25.9-50.3% compared to the same baseline. Across scenarios, the most vulnerable and inundated areas of the smaller coastal watershed were the narrow points where upstream flow convene with downstream backwater. These findings highlight the need for futuristic location-specific flood mitigation strategies.

Evaluating Use Of Multiple Hydrologic Storage Indicators To Enhance Streamflow Forecasting, Reza Morovati

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Accurate seasonal streamflow forecasts are essential for managing water resources in the western United States, where much of the water supply depends on snow accumulation and melt. Water managers, farmers, and communities rely on these forecasts to plan for water use, prepare for droughts, and protect the environment. However, traditional forecasting methods often do not fully use all the available information about how water is stored in the landscape, such as in snowpacks, soil moisture, and groundwater. This can limit the accuracy of predictions and make water management more difficult.

This study aimed to improve streamflow forecasts by explicitly including …

Treatment Intensification Of Digester Dewatering Sidestreams Via Pilot- And Demonstration-Scale Revolving Algal Biofilms At Municipal Water Resource Recovery Facilities, Audrey E. Kocher, Hunter W. Schroer, Christopher A. Marks, Craig L. Just

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

As water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) pursue decarbonization, the treatment of concentrated side streams from anaerobic digestion offers a critical opportunity to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. This study evaluated the intensification potential of revolving algal biofilms (RAB) for side stream nutrient removal via partial nitrification at pilot- and demonstration-scales. RAB systems were deployed at municipal WRRFs in Boulder and Iowa City, treating real dewatering side streams across a range of ammonium (NH4⁺–N) surface area loading rates (SALR) reaching up to 196 g N m^–2d^–2. The results demonstrated that RAB systems can …

Locations Of Outfalls In The Indian River Lagoon And Lake Worth Lagoon, Florida, Kelly M. Kibler, Melinda J. Donnelly, Vincent Encomio, Madison Giuntoli, Manisha Thenuwara, Brice Bennett, Laura Andrade Barron, Mariam Sonbol, Wynter Raine Seppala, Namritha Ramakrishnan, Jennifer Jordan Báez, Beth Orlando, Irene Arpayoglou, Melissa Meisenburg

Indian River Lagoon Shorelines

The spatial dataset: UCF_Outfalls_IRL_LWL.shp was created under grants from the Indian River Lagoon National Estuaries Program and Florida Sea Grant. These projects cumulatively led to creation of a living shoreline restoration prioritization model and hydrodynamic habitat suitability models for 1,550 km (963 miles) of estuarine shorelines in Indian River Lagoon (IRL) and Lake Worth Lagoon (LWL).

The dataset presented here includes the location of outfalls identified throughout the study region and general characteristics of the shoreline where they were identified.

Seagrass Persistence In The Indian River Lagoon And Lake Worth Lagoon, Florida, Kelly Kibler, Melinda Donnelly, Vincent Encomio, Madison Giuntoli, Manisha Thenuwara, Brice Bennett, Laura Andrade Barron, Mariam Sonbol, Wynter Raine Seppala, Namritha Ramakrishnan, Jennifer Jordan Báez, Beth Orlando, Irene Arpayoglou, Melissa Meisenburg

Indian River Lagoon Shorelines

The spatial dataset: UCF_seagrasspersistence_IRL_LWL.shp was created with support from the Indian River Lagoon National Estuaries Program and Florida Sea Grant. These projects cumulatively led to creation of a living shoreline restoration prioritization model and hydrodynamic habitat suitability models for 1,550 km (963 miles) of estuarine shorelines in Indian River Lagoon (IRL) and Lake Worth Lagoon (LWL). The dataset presented herein represents persistence of seagrass throughout waters of the IRL and LWL.

Wildfire Impact Analysis On Power System Operation: A Framework Leveraging Physics-Based Wildfire Simulation And Dynamic Line Rating, Saeed Nematshahi, Behrouz Sohrabi, Amin Khodaei, Ali Arabnya, Rui Fan

Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Scholarship

The growing frequency and intensity of wildfires is significantly impacting power grid operations. Specifically, wildfires spreading to power lines can induce thermal stress, leading to a restriction in line capacity. This reduction imposes a challenge for electric utilities as they must supply electric demand while experiencing reduced transmission capacity. This paper introduces a model that simulates wildfire behavior in proximity to a transmission line, evaluates the impact on conductor temperature and capacity constraints, and subsequently analyzes the impact on grid operation from economic and reliability perspectives. The numerical studies conducted on the IEEE 14-bus test system assess both economic and …

New Collaborative Water Accounting Proposals To Protect Lake Powell And Lake Mead During Extreme Low Reservoir Storage And River Flow (Protect And Flexible During Crisis), David Rosenberg, Anabelle Myers, Brittany Fager, Erik Porse

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Low Colorado River flows threaten to draw down Lake Powell and Lake Mead below their minimum power pool elevations. Additionally, the U.S. Federal Government through its Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) has set a new deadline for November 11, 2025 for new proposals to operate Lake Powell and Lake Mead after existing operations expire at the end of 2026. In a prior April 2025 post, we shared 13 reasons why we have hope for consensus on new operations (Rosenberg et al., 2026). One reason was that during crisis, rapid changes in policies and operations are possible. More recently, we asked the …

Enhancing Nitrogen Removal In High Permeability Bioretention Media: The Combined Role Of Biochar, Wood Chips And Hydraulic Design, Joshelyn Guimaray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Urban stormwater runoff can transport high nutrient loads to receiving waters, leading toeutrophication, harmful algal blooms, and the formation of hypoxic zones. Bioretention systems are a form of green infrastructure designed to mitigate these impacts, but their application in dense, ultra-urban environments is often limited by large land area requirements. This has led to the adoption of high permeability media (HPM) to accommodate higher hydraulic loading rates (HLRs) and reduce the system footprint. However, conventional HPM systems often show inconsistent removal of dissolved nitrogen species due to short hydraulic retention times (HRTs), a lack of organic carbon, and insufficient anoxic …

Living Shoreline Prioritization And Hydrodynamic Habitat Suitability Models For Restoration In The Indian River Lagoon And Lake Worth Lagoon, Florida, Kelly M. Kibler, Melinda J. Donnelly, Vincent Encomio, Madison Giuntoli, Manisha Thenuwara, Brice Bennett, Laura Andrade Barron, Mariam Sonbol, Wynter Raine Seppala, Namritha Ramakrishnan, Jennifer Jordan Báez, Beth Orlando, Irene Arpayoglou, Melissa Meisenburg

Indian River Lagoon Shorelines

The spatial dataset: UCF_shorelinemodel_IRL_LWL.shp, was created with support from the Indian River Lagoon National Estuaries Program and Florida Sea Grant. These projects cumulatively led to creation of a living shoreline restoration prioritization model and hydrodynamic habitat suitability models for 1,550 km (963 miles) of estuarine shorelines in Indian River Lagoon and Lake Worth Lagoon.

The dataset presented herein includes:

1. shoreline data from >15,000 transects collected in the field,
2. shoreline wave climate data created through hydrodynamic modeling and frequency analysis of historic data,
3. categorization of potential risk for shoreline boat wake impact,
4. persistence of seagrass within 210 m of the shoreline, …

Analyzing Surface Spectral Signature Shifts In Fire-Affected Areas Of Elko County Nevada, Ibtihaj Ahmad, Haroon Stephen

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

This study investigates post-fire vegetation transitions and spectral responses in the Snowstorm Fire (2017) and South Sugarloaf Fire (2018) in Nevada using Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) surface reflectance imagery and unsupervised ISODATA classification. By comparing pre-fire and post-fire conditions, we have assessed changes in vegetation composition, spectral signatures, and the emergence of novel land cover types. The results revealed widespread conversion of shrubland and conifer-dominated systems to herbaceous cover with significant reductions in near-infrared reflectance and elevated shortwave infrared responses, indicative of vegetation loss and surface alteration. In the South Sugarloaf Fire, three new spectral classes emerged post-fire, …

Day-Night Shifts In Water-Soluble Ions Of Size-Resolved Aerosols Before And After The Covid-19 Lockdown In A Coastal Megacity: Metro Manila, Philippines, Grace Betito, Paola Angela Bañaga, Rachel A. Braun, Maria Obiminda Cambaliza, Melliza Templonuevo Cruz, Alexander B. Macdonald, James Bernard Simpas, Connor Stahl, Armin Sooroshian

SOSE Affiliate: Manila Observatory

The COVID-19 pandemic-driven lockdowns offer a unique opportunity to examine how reductions in anthropogenic emissions impacted atmospheric aerosol composition in urban environments. This study investigates the day-night variability of size-resolved water-soluble ions in ambient particulate matter (PM) collected in Metro Manila before (November 2019–February 2020) and after (November 2020–February 2021) lockdown implementation. Using tandem Micro-Orifice Uniform Deposit Impactors (MOUDIs), aerosol samples were collected during daytime (06:00–18:00) and nighttime (18:00–06:00) periods and analyzed for key ionic species (sulfate, ammonium, nitrate, oxalate, sodium, chloride, calcium, and magnesium) via ion chromatography. Submicrometer water-soluble mass declined post-lockdown, particularly during daytime, reflecting suppressed secondary formation …

The Performance Of Satellite-Based Precipitation Data To Reproduce Observed Precipitation In Tanzania's Little Ruaha Catchment, Florence H. Mahay

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Satellite-based precipitation datasets have emerged as promising tools for addressing rainfall data scarcity in regions with limited ground observations, such as Sub-Saharan Africa. This study evaluates the performance of five satellite-based precipitation products CHIRPS, CPC, GPCC, MERRA-2, and ERA5 in capturing rainfall characteristics over the Little Ruaha Catchment in Tanzania. The assessment was carried out at daily, monthly, and seasonal timescales and focused on key rainfall indices including onset and cessation dates, length of the rainy season, total rainfall, and frequency of rainy days. Validation was conducted using statistical indicators such as the correlation coefficient (r), Nash–Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE), Root …

Evaluating Machine-Learning Models For Drone-Based Image Analysis Of Coastal Ecosystem Dynamics, Katharine Mcdaniel, Pragati Toppo

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

Previous work from our group utilized drone-based images and a novel machine learning classification model to quickly and accurately quantify spatial variability in eelgrass in Morro Bay. In this SURP project we aim to develop and evaluate quantifiable estimates of the model’s prediction uncertainty. Our model produces a binary labeling indicating the presence or absence of eelgrass at each pixel. However, internally the model produces a probabilistic output indicating the likelihood of detection at each pixel that we propose to use to produce uncertainty estimates and a confidence interval for the cumulative extent of eelgrass detected. This would allow for …