Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Plastic Pollution, Fall/Winter 2019, Issue 39

Sustain Magazine

No abstract provided.

Visualizing The Fate And Distribution Of Pahs In Spartina And Avicennia Tissues From Barataria Basin, La, Kristina Jeannette Sebastian

LSU Master's Theses

During crude oil spill events, vegetation in marsh environments sequester polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from the crude oil by partitioning from the air phase through the waxy cuticle on the leaf surface. Recent studies from Macondo oil-impacted marshes have demonstrated that cycling of low molecular weight petrogenic PAHs occurs through the cuticle and other leaf tissue. At present, our understanding of how PAHs travel through the cuticle is coarse and limited by grab samples across the entire leaf, which preventing a full understanding the dynamics of PAH cycling in this environment. Multiphoton (MP) confocal microscopy visualizes the distribution of PAHs …

Water Quality Analysis Of Ecoroof Runoff In Portland, Pranoti P. Deshmukh

Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports

Portland, Oregon is internationally recognized for its implementation of sustainable stormwater management technologies. Ecoroof is one of the sustainable solutions to reduce stormwater runoff which also provides multiple environmental benefits. However, very little is known about the impact of ecoroofs on water quality of roof runoff. Stormwater runoff carries a significant amount of pollutants, which, if it directly enters a stream or river, degrades water quality and severely harms aquatic life.

This study evaluates the trends in the long-term water quality data from ecoroofs and conventional roofs in the Portland area. Mann Kendall trend test was used to detect the …

Role Of Submicrometer Particles In Advanced Technologies Of Carbon Capture, Zhichao Li

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Oxy-combustion and post-combustion carbon capture technologies are two of the most promising strategies for carbon capture and storage (CCS), which is a commonly accepted approach to address the challenge of climate change. Pressurized oxy-combustion has been actively studied due to its great potential to enhance the power plant energy efficiency by recovering latent heat from water vapor condensation without incurring additional gas compression cost. On the other hand, amine-based CO2 scrubbers have been demonstrated to have high removal efficiency of CO2 with the possibility to recycle amine solutions, which makes the technology a promising candidate for post-combustion carbon capture. Nonetheless, …

Role Of Submicrometer Particles In Advanced Technologies Of Carbon Capture, Zhichao Li

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Oxy-combustion and post-combustion carbon capture technologies are two of the most promising strategies for carbon capture and storage (CCS), which is a commonly accepted approach to address the challenge of climate change. Pressurized oxy-combustion has been actively studied due to its great potential to enhance the power plant energy efficiency by recovering latent heat from water vapor condensation without incurring additional gas compression cost. On the other hand, amine-based CO2 scrubbers have been demonstrated to have high removal efficiency of CO2 with the possibility to recycle amine solutions, which makes the technology a promising candidate for post-combustion carbon capture. Nonetheless, …

Effects Of Nutrient Level And Growth Rate On Mutation And Conjugation Processes That Confer Antibiotic Resistance To E. Coli, Mohammadreza Shafieifini

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

Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) may enter surface water with the discharge of treated wastewater. Conjugation is a main mechanism for the horizontal gene transfer of ARGs from wastewater microbiome to the microbiome indigenous to surface water. However, little is known about how environmental factors affect the conjugation process of ARGs.

In this thesis, an extensive research related to spreading antibiotic resistance genes in the environment is reported. The project investigated how environmental parameters may affect the rate of dissemination of ARGs and in what extent the resistance level of the population is changed after mutation and conjugation event. The chemostat …

Development Of A Multimode Instrument For Remote Measurements Of Unsaturated Soil Properties, Sean Elliott Salazar

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The hydromechanical behavior of soil is governed by parameters that include the moisture content, soil matric potential, texture, and the mineralogical composition of the soil. Remote characterization of these and other key properties of the soil offers advantages over conventional in situ or laboratory-based measurements: information may be acquired rapidly over large, or inaccessible areas; samples do not need to be collected; and the measurements are non-destructive. A field-deployable, ground-based remote sensor, designated the Soil Observation Laser Absorption Spectrometer (SOLAS), was developed to infer parameters of bare soils and other natural surfaces over intermediate (100 m) and long (1,000 m) …

Assessing The Impacts Of Super Storm Flooding In The Transportation Infrastructure – Case Study: San Antonio, Texas, Marcio Giacomoni, Francisco Olivera, Cesar Do Lago

Data

Corresponding data set for Tran-SET Project No. 18HSTSA02. Abstract of the final report is stated below for reference:

"Flooding are likely to increase worldwide due to climate change. Large storms, referred here as superstorms, defined as events with return period equal or larger than 100 years, can lead to an increase of property damages and loss of life. The ability to predict and plan for the impacts of superstorms on transportation infrastructure is key to mitigate future damages and losses. This study analyzed 51 combinations of future projections for representative concentration pathways (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios, which were used …

Lifecycle Environmental Impact Of High-Speed Rail System In The I-45 Corridor, Raghava Kommalapati, Venkata Botlaguduru, Doeun Choe

Data

Corresponding data set for Tran-SET Project No. 18PPPVU01. Abstract of the final report is stated below for reference:

"The Houston-Dallas (I-45) corridor is the busiest route among 18 traffic corridors in Texas. The expected population growth and the surge in passenger mobility could result in a significant impact on the regional environment. This study uses a life cycle framework to estimate the net change in environmental impact with the development of a high speed rail system (HSR) along the I-45 corridor. The study follows ISO 14040 principles and standards of life cycle assessment and uses SimaPro 8.5® software and the …

Evaluation And Enhancement Of Carbon Sequestration Potential Of Existing Vegetation Along Roadsides, Vikram Kapoor, Jeffrey Hutchinson, Samer Dessouky

Publications

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the vegetative composition and carbon sequestration potential of vegetation along a major roadway in Texas. Soil and vegetation were evaluated along IH-35 within Bexar County for composition and carbon content. Three 20 m transects were placed at each site and percent vegetative cover was estimated and above ground plant biomass, and soil was collected from three 0.25 m2 subplots along each transect. Plant and soil samples were analyzed for carbon content. Two non-native grasses, bermudagrass and King Ranch bluestem, were the dominant cover at all sites accounting for > 90% coverage at several …

Microstructural Effects On Photocatalytic Performance In Ag3po4/Bi2moo6 Z-Scheme Photocatalyst Systems, Kaleab Mengesha Ayalew

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

As the world population continues to grow and access to modern industry become increasingly common, humanity finds itself amid an environmental and energy crisis. Natural resources, such as clean water are getting scarce. Currently, the development of high efficiency, green energy sources, and eco-friendly methods for water treatment have become a nonelective task. As a result, photocatalysis, as one of the most promising technologies in utilizing solar energy and pollutant removal, has attracted considerable attention.

However, the practical application of photocatalysis is still elusive because of the difficulty of finding an individual material that can satisfy all the requirements for …

Investigation Of Efficiency Loss Of Distributed Solar Power Due To Soiling And Efficiency Recovery By Rainfall, Amanda Mayumi Tanaka

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

As the concern with global warming increases causing the need for CO2 reduction, renewable energy is of great interest as it has lower carbon footprint when compared to conventional sources (natural gas, coal, oil and nuclear). Solar energy has been drawing worldwide attention since it can transform sunlight directly into electricity with the use of photovoltaic (PV) cells. However, this technology has some drawbacks that need to be addressed including dust deposition on solar panels, also known as soiling. Soiling can decrease PV panel’s efficiency thereby resulting in less energy production. The soiling rates are very site specific and depend …

Current And Future Deposition Of Nitrogen And Sulfur In Louisiana, Jessica Nguyen

LSU Master's Theses

Nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) are essential nutrients, however excess quantities can stress ecosystems. Atmospheric nitrogen and sulfur deposition lead to changes in water and soil chemistry, consequently resulting in ensuing detriment to multiple ecosystems such as acidification of water bodies. This affects a multitude of plants and animals such as trees, insects, and fish. Louisiana has copious natural water resources. Therefore, it is essential to safeguard its valuable resources from excess atmospheric N and S deposition. However, knowledge of N and S deposition and its unfavorable effects in the Southeast U.S., particularly Louisiana, is limited.

In this research, a …

Quality Evaluation Of The Dewatering Subsurface Water In Urban Areas For Irrigation Purposes, Kuwait, Fawzia Al-Ruwaih, Mohamed El Anbaawy, Ahmad Abdelhalim, Abdulaziz Al-Shammari

Emirates Journal for Engineering Research

The objective of this study is to assess the quality of the dewatered groundwater and identify its suitability for irrigation purposes in an urban study area by analyzing its chemical composition. The water quality for irrigation has been assessed by the determination of the residual sodium bicarbonate (RSBC), potential salinity (P.S), sodium adsorption ration, (SAR), Mg ratio (MgR), sodium percentage (%Na⁺), Kelly’s ratio (KR), permeability index (P.I), electrical conductivity, EC, total dissolved solids TDS, total hardness (TH), and pH. The WATEQ4F computer program has been used to compute the saturation indices of some minerals with respect to water …

Application Of Cation Exchange And Nanofiltration To Treat Flue Gas Desulfurization Wastewater, Ayush R. Shahi

Civil Engineering ETDs

Flue gas emitted from coal-fired power plants is one of the major sources of sulfur and nitrogen oxides emissions to the atmosphere in the world today. Although coal use has decreased, it is still a major contributor to such emissions. The Clean Air Act in the United States established regulations for coal-fired power plants to limit SO_x and NO_x emissions into the atmosphere. To meet regulatory requirements, power plants have been using scrubbers to limit their air emissions. Flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) is a pollution prevention method that is employed to limit sulfur dioxide emissions directly in the environment …

Development Of Threshold Levels And A Climate-Sensitivity Model Of The Hydrological Regime Of The High-Altitude Catchment Of The Western Himalayas, Pakistan, Muhammad Saifullah, Shiyin Liu, Adnan Ahmad Tahir, Muhammad Zaman, Sajjad Ahmad, Muhammad Adnan, Dianyu Chen, Muhammad Ashraf, Asif Mehmood

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

Water shortages in Pakistan are among the most severe in the world, and its water resources are decreasing significantly due to the prevailing hydro-meteorological conditions. We assessed variations in meteorological and hydrological variables using innovative trend analysis (ITA) and traditional trend analysis methods at a practical significance level, which is also of practical interest. We developed threshold levels of hydrological variables and developed a non-parametric climate-sensitivity model of the high-altitude catchment of the western Himalayas. The runoff of Zone I decreased, while the temperature increased and the precipitation increased significantly. In Zone II, the runoff and temperature increased but the …

Is Transportation Planning Effective? A Critical Review Of Long-Range Regional Transportation Planning In The United States, Razieh Nadafianshahamabadi

Civil Engineering ETDs

The Federal-Aid Highway Act requires urban areas with a population greater than 50,000 to create Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) to ensure that funding for transportation projects and programs are based on a continuing, cooperative, and comprehensive planning process. A major responsibility of each MPO is the creation of a long-range transportation plan (LRTP) that addresses the transportation needs of a metropolitan region over the next twenty years or more. While long-range regional transportation planning goals have grown to include a wide range of concerns and technical methods for evaluating planning scenarios have advanced substantially over the past 50 years, there …

Low Loading Gold Vapor Deposited Electrode For High Sensitivity As (Iii) Detection, Tybur Casuse

Civil Engineering ETDs

The objective of this thesis is to develop a method for detection of arsenite, As (III), using a thin film of gold (Au) vapor deposited onto carbon paper as an electrode. Currently, availability of drinking water arsenic (As) concentration information for rural communities is diminished due to high cost per sample analysis and limited access to analytical laboratories which can accurately determine concentrations near the 10 maximum contaminant level (MCL) set by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The use of a minimal amount of gold aids in decreasing the cost of an electrode. …

Bamboo As A Sustainable Engineering Material: Mechanical Properties, Safety Factors, And Experimental Testing, Lorena Sánchez Vivas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With exponential global population growth occurring and associated environmentally destructive consumption of natural resources, alternative materials that are fast growing and sustainable are being sought out to satisfy human needs. One material that is fast growing and sustainable that can be used to meet most basic needs of humans (i.e. shelter, food, tools) is the plant bamboo, of the grass family Poaceae. Bamboo was used in the past by native peoples who lived in the environment where bamboo natively grows (all continents except Europe and Antarctica) with proven success for uses such as shelter, piping, tools, wells, food, fencing, baskets …

Sodium-Ion Concentration Flow Cell Stacks For Salinity Gradient Energy Recovery: Power Generation Of Series And Parallel Configurations, Elizabeth Whiddon

LSU Master's Theses

Salinity gradient (SG) energy is a renewable and clean energy resource that exists worldwide from the change in Gibbs free energy when two solutions with different salinities are mixed. More recently, concentration flow cells (CFCs) have been introduced as a new technology for SG energy recovery with the highest reported power density output to date, as a result of the utilization of both the electrode potential and Donnan potential. In this study, multiple CFCs were connected to form a consecutive number of stacks, and systematic analysis was conducted to investigate the influence of both parallel and series electrical wire connections …