Engineering Commons^™

Evapotranspiration Mapping Using Sebal Algorithms To Account For Agricultural Water Uses In The Upper Pangani, Tanzania, Anna Msigwa, Ann Van Griensven, Hans C. Komakech, Boud Verbeiren, Tim Hessels, Wim G. M. Bastiaanssen

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

To make informed decisions, river basin managers requires information on demands and actual usage from different sectors in the basin. Such water use information has to be adequate in terms of quantities used per sector, where and when. However, because of high costs of maintaining equipment for monitoring use, it is very difficult to obtain this information in developing arid and semi- arid areas of Sub-Saharan Africa. The use of proxy method such as calculation of evapotranspiration is proposed as a cheaper means for such data acquisition. Water consumption through crop evapotranspiration (ET) is a major component of water withdrawal, …

Up In The Air: Understanding Vulnerability When Toilets Fly, Amy Krakowka Richmond, Suzanne Pierce, Sethi Gautam

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Across sub-Saharan Africa, both natural and social factors contribute to household level vulnerability. This case study focuses specifically on Uganda, which has made progress towards meeting the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals, most notably halving the proportion of the population that is below the poverty line. Despite these impressive achievements, many households remain vulnerable to multiple social and environmental stressors. A better understanding of the drivers of household level vulnerability will assist stakeholders and policy-makers in determining what drives vulnerability at a household level, where vulnerable populations are, and suggest what type of aid to target specific locations to be …

Hindcasting The Dynamics Of An Eastern Mediterranean Marine Ecosystem Under The Impacts Of Multiple And Cumulative Stressors, X. Corrales, M. Coll, E. Ofir, M. Goren, D. Edelist, J. J. Heymans, G. Gal

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

An important challenge for conserving and managing marine ecosystems is to advance our understanding of how multiple human stressors, environmental factors and marine resources interact and influence each other. The ecosystems of the Israeli Mediterranean coast have undergone significant ecological changes in recent decades caused primarily by the introduction of invasive species through the Suez Canal, intense fishing activities and the effects of climate change. An Ecopath model representing the continental shelf of the Israeli Mediterranean coast was calibrated and fitted to the available time series from early 1990’s to 2010 using the Ecosim temporal dynamic modeling approach. The model …

Application Of The Swat Model To Investigate Surface Runoff And Nitrate Flux Towards The Mediterranean Sea: Case Of The Tafna Catchment (North-West Of Africa), Amin Zettam, Amina Taleb, Sabine Sauvage, José Miguel Sanchez-Perez, Laurie Boithias, Nouria Belaidi

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Water in North-West of Africa is an increasingly valuable resource due to high competition between agriculture, industry and drinking water supply, accentuated by frequent drought conditions in a semi-arid climate. For a few decades, the demographic explosion, the development of agriculture and industry, and the building of water infrastructures (dams) have modified the water fluxes and the biogeochemical cycle of nitrogen towards an increased production of nitrates in waters. The objectives of this study are to propose a modelling approach to quantify the contribution of the Tafna coastal watershed (North-West of Africa) to the flux of nitrates into the Mediterranean …

From Research Data To Web-Based Policy Tools: User-Centered Design Techniques In The Development Of The Agmip Impacts Explorer, Joske Houtkamp, Inge La Rivière, Hugo De Groot, Sander Janssen, Arjan De Jong

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

decision making through a web-based tool is a complex challenge. Research projects are generally not designed to meet the information needs of specific stakeholder groups. Furthermore, tools developed in these projects are usually intended to disseminate research data on a wide scale, not to provide answers to specific questions of these stakeholders. User-centered design techniques can guide the development process of such tools, to enhance their usefulness and thus the applicability of the research outcomes for the intended audience. We applied techniques for user requirements analysis of the Impacts Explorer tool in the AgMIP research project, which models the impacts …

The Validation Of Algal Growth Processes In A Water Quality Model Using Remote Sensing Data, A. R. Slaughter, S. K. Mantel

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

The Water Quality Systems Assessment Model (WQSAM) uses the concept of requisite simplicity within the context of modelling water quality of data scarce South African surface waters. Although WQSAM has successfully simulated the frequency distribution of observed historical nutrient data for various catchments in South Africa, the validation of algal and macrophyte growth processes in the model is a challenge because of a lack of observed data. Remote sensing data can provide an estimate of algal growth within reservoirs. Therefore, this study aimed to validate the WQSAM simulations of algal growth using remote sensing estimations of primary production in reservoirs. …

Modelling Social Ecological Dynamics With Transfers Of Vulnerability And Robustness. Examples With Adaptation To Coastal Vulnerability, Olivier Barreteau, J. Marty Anderies, Bruno Bonté, Pauline Brémond, Frédéric Grelot, Chloé Guerbois, Tara Quinn

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Adaption patterns undertaken by policy makers within their own jurisdiction may bump in adaptation patterns undertaken by others at their own level. The consequences of these interactions may lead to mutual reinforcement or to cancelling each policy maker’s adaptation capacity. In this presentation, we consider following Anderies (2014) that autonomous SES have their own adaptive management as an autonomous feedback loop. We take on seriously the concept of pluralism of agency in SES: any goal can be used as the root for a specific feedback loop. We identify the interactions between these loops to characterize transfers of vulnerability or robustness …

On The Use Of Finite-Difference Model To Evaluate The Impact Of Underground Water Overexploitation, Hani A., Bougherira N., Djabri L., Chaffai H., Lallahem S.

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

The potentiometric surface in the Annaba basin, which covers an area of 264 km², has declined significantly since 1995. A transient multilayer model has been developed to synthesise the hydrologic data. The groundwater flow was modelled using the finite difference method with a horizontal dimension of 500 x 500 m for the cells. The model consists of two layers, the first corresponding to the alluvial phreatic aquifer and the second to the deep confined aquifer, and is calibrated against the steady state groundwater heads recorded before 1996. Under steady-state conditions, the correspondence between simulated and observed water levels …

Groundwater Recharge And Associated Uncertainty Estimation Combining Multi-Method And Multi-Scale Approaches, S. Lanini, Y. Caballero

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Groundwater resource assessment is a major concern for water managers who have to balance water demands and resources at a basin or territory scale. One operational way to address this question is to estimate the part of recharge which is linked to precipitation. Many methods to estimate groundwater recharge are described in the literature, varying in terms of time scale and the nature of the data they treat. They do not always provide a suitable estimate of uncertainty. To obtain both a realistic estimation of groundwater recharge and a confidence interval at the hydrogeological basin scale, we propose a multi-method …

An Integrated Modelling Approach To Climate Change And Malaria Vulnerability Assessments, Esther Achieng Onyango, Oz Sahin, Cordia Chu, Brendan Mackey

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Malaria is one of the key research concerns in climate change-health relationships. Numerous risk assessments and modelling studies providing evidence that the transmission range of malaria will expand with rising temperatures resulting in adverse impacts on vulnerable communities. This risk is significant in East Africa whereby current research shows an expansion of malaria into the highland areas due to changes in temperature and rainfall. While there exist multiple lines of evidence for the influence of climate change on malaria and the risk posed to vulnerable communities, there is insufficient understanding of the complexity of factors influencing the spread of the …

Using Sddp To Perform Basin-Wide Water Resources Assessments With Limited Data Availability, Charles Rougé, Amaury Tilmant

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

In many situations, water resources assessments are hindered by the limited availability of data concerning both water supplies and demands. Stochastic dual dynamic programming (SDDP) is one of few solutions available to determine optimal allocation policies in large-scale water resources systems. Yet, limited data on water demands and hydraulic infrastructure leads to the existence of multiple near-optimal solutions (MNOS). This work shows that when MNOS exists, SDDP is very sensitive to even minimal variations of the problem setting, e.g. initial conditions – we call this “algorithmic chaos”. Besides, the approximations of the benefit-to-go function that SDDP constructs at each stage …

Methane Extraction From Lake Kivu: A Case Study For Model-Based Policy, Martin Schmid, Alfred Wüest

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Lake Kivu in East Africa contains enormous amounts of dissolved carbon dioxide and methane. The dissolved methane is increasingly used as a resource to produce electricity, with two power plants currently in operation and several additional facilities in planning. The design of such gas extraction facilities needs to take into account possible negative impacts: if badly designed, the extraction could disturb the lake’s permanent density stratification and thus risk to create a catastrophic gas eruption; and it could increase nutrient fluxes from the deep water to the surface layers, leading to eutrophication and related negative consequences for the ecosystem, fisheries …

Development Of A Decentralized And Off-Grid Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor (Anmbr) For Urban Sanitation In Developing Countries, Robert Alonso Bair

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Urbanization has led to rapid and uncontrolled growth of informal housing settlements in many developing countries. As most slum growth is unplanned, these areas tend to lack basic infrastructure including sanitation. The high user rates, lack of water and electricity infrastructure, space limitations, and scant financial resources make sanitation provision a major challenge in slums. As most decentralized sanitation technologies fail when applied in these environments, better technologies need to be developed that cater to the specific needs of slum dwellers. One promising technology, the membrane bioreactor (MBR) is routinely used in developed countries when a compact and resilient treatment …

A Life Cycle Assessment Of A Uranium Mine In Namibia, Janine Lambert

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Uranium mining and nuclear power is a controversial topic as of late, especially in light of the recent Fukushima event. Although the actual use of nuclear fuel has minimal environmental impact, its issues come at the very beginning and end of the fuel’s life cycle in both the mining and fuel disposal process. This paper focuses on a life cycle analysis (LCA) of uranium mine in the desert nation of Namibia in Southern Africa. The goal of this LCA is to evaluate the environmental effects of uranium mining. The LCA focuses on water and energy embodiment such that they can …

Env-617: Waste-Based Biorefineries In Developing Countries: An Imperative Need Of Time, Iqbal Mohammad Ismail, Abdul-Sattar Nizami

Canadian Society for Civil Engineering

The current world population of 7.2 billion is projected to reach up to 8.2 billion in 2025 with current annual growth rate of 1%. The Asia, Middle East, Africa and Latin America are the places, where most of this growth will occur due to rapidly growing industries and urbanization. As a consequence, the generation rate of municipal solid waste (MSW) will increase from 1.2 to 1.5 kg per capita per day in next 15 years. Globally, around 2.4 billion tons of MSW is generated every year that will reach up to 2.6 billion tons by 2025. Similarly, the energy demand …

Efficiency Of Chlorophyll In Gross Primary Productivity: A Proof Of Concept And Application In Crops, Anatoly A. Gitelson, Yi Peng, Andrés Viña, Timothy J. Arkebauer, James S. Schepers

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

One of the main factors affecting vegetation productivity is absorbed light, which is largely governed by chlorophyll. In this paper, we introduce the concept of chlorophyll efficiency, representing the amount of gross primary production per unit of canopy chlorophyll content (Chl) and incident PAR. We analyzed chlorophyll efficiency in two contrasting crops (soybean and maize). Given that they have different photosynthetic pathways (C3 vs. C4), leaf structures (dicot vs. monocot) and canopy architectures (a heliotrophic leaf angle distribution vs. a spherical leaf angle distribution), they cover a large spectrum of biophysical conditions. Our results show that chlorophyll efficiency in primary …

Potential For Biofuel Production From Algae Based Wastewater Treatment In California: Can Algal Biofuels Be Cost-Competitive With Traditional Petroleum Based Diesel?, Amanda Rupiper

Master's Projects and Capstones

Neither the use of algae to clean wastewater, nor the use of photosynthetic organisms to generate biodiesel, are new concepts on their own. By combining these two processes, algal-based wastewater treatment with algal biofuel production, additional benefits can be derived, among which could be a cost-savings. In California the average estimated base production cost per gallon for algal biodiesel is $5.98/gallon. Compared to the adjusted production cost of petroleum-based diesel of $1.53/gallon, biodiesel is not cost-competitive. Coupling wastewater treatment and algal cultivation reduces the net energy use of the two processes separately and, if accounted for, greatly reduces the production …

A Concrete Water Pasteurization Device For Third World Countries, Andrea R. Murchie

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

In the rural areas of South Africa, as well as many other developing countries, people cook food and sterilize their water by heating over open fires. Many times the fires are inside of homes, which more often than not are very small. Children will often be the ones to tend to the fire, out of necessity while parents and other family members are tending to other work and needs.

The purpose of my Senior Honors Project was to design a concrete vessel that can hold water and heat the water to pasteurization (149°F) when exposed to sunlight for an extended …

Nanofiltration Rejection Of Contaminants Of Emerging Concern From Municipal Water Resource Recovery Facility Secondary Effluents For Potable Reuse Applications, Steven Michael Jones

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As reuse of municipal water resource recovery facility (WRRF) effluent becomes vital to augment diminishing fresh drinking water resources, concern exists that conventional barriers may prove deficient and the upcycling of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) could prove harmful to human health and aquatic species if more effective and robust treatment barriers are not in place.

There are no federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) regulations in place specifically for direct potable reuse (DPR) of WRRF effluent. Out of necessity, some states are developing their own DPR reuse regulations. Currently, reverse osmosis (RO) is the default full advanced treatment (FAT) …

Anaerobic Digestion Process Stability And The Extension Of The Adm1 For Municipal Sludge Co-Digested With Bakery Waste, Morris Elya Demitry

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The anaerobic digestion process is used to treat and convert waste organic matter to biogas (principally methane and carbon dioxide) through biological, chemical and physical reactions. The biogas can be used as a source of energy recovery. In order to increase the biogas production rate, two different kinds of waste (municipal wastewater treatment sludge and bakery waste) were mixed together to enhance the anaerobic process and increase the biogas production in pilot scale reactors. The process succeeded in increasing biogas production and at the same time kept the process of treatment effective when high rates of organics were fed to …

Carboncycle And Other Profitable Strategies For Air Capture Of Co2, Deane Little

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Development of an effective and economically viable strategy for air capture of CO2 would be a game-changing development in the fight against global warming. If widely adopted such a process would allow “chemostatting” the atmosphere at sustainable CO2 levels and might not require widespread social change in how we use fossil fuels. Unfortunately the concept that air capture of CO2 “doesn’t work” has taken hold in academic and policy circles, based on the assumption that such a process is inherently expensive and results in no useful products. In fact, air capture of CO2 can be profitable and offers fundamental advantages …

Fulfilling The Promise Of The Paris Agreement: The Role Of Efficiency And Renewable Energy, Chuck Kutscher

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Renewable energy, energy policy, energy efficiency, buildings

The rapid large-scale deployment of efficiency and renewable energy technologies is crucial to meeting the goals of the COP21 agreement. Key to achieving this is transitioning to zero-carbon cities comprised of highly efficient buildings powered by renewable electricity. This presentation will survey the current efficiency and renewable energy research underway at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory with special attention paid to zero-carbon buildings and the challenges of developing a renewable energy electric grid.

Development Of The First Internationally Accepted Standard For Geologic Storage Of Carbon Dioxide Utilizing Enhanced Oil Recovery (Eor) Under The International Standards Organization (Iso) Technical Committee Tc-265, Steven Carpenter

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

The Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) industry is lacking standardization and therefore the ability to allow CCUS projects to advance as Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) or to be considered for any type of carbon management or accounting scheme is also hindered. An international effort between the United States and Canada, funded by the International Performance Assessment Centre for Geologic Storage of Carbon Dioxide (IPAC-CO2 Research Inc.), and managed by CSA Standards, have developed the first internationally recognized Standard for the geologic storage of carbon dioxide (Z-741). The Z-741 Standard has been adopted by the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) …

Emissions And Deforestation Associated With Household Energy Use: A Case Of The Thulamela Local Municipality, South Africa, Se Uhunamure, Ns Nethengwe, A Musyoki

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Fuel wood is regarded as a major source of energy around the world, particularly in developing nations forming part of the energy mix. Most rural communities around the world, consider forests as the repository of stored energy. The study focused on the role of fuel wood in deforestation and the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the Thulamela local municipality in South Africa. Information regarding the fuel wood consumption was collected during a manual field survey of 200 households in four villages in the municipality using questionnaires and interviews. The carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions were calculated using the …

Conference Program, Engineering Conferences International

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

No abstract provided.

Small Scale Water Filtration Project, Elaine Yang, Lang Ming, Alex Tees, Lauren Galle, Tristan Coffey, Andria Tattersfield, Colin Brock

PSU High School Innovation Challenge

Access to clean drinking water is a large problem that our world is facing today. Consuming contaminated water can lead to the spread of water-borne illnesses. Populations without the security of water struggle to develop, as seen predominately in Africa. As Oregonians prepare for life after a major earthquake which could devastate the infrastructure that delivers clean water to our homes, a water filtration system should be part of a family’s emergency preparedness plan.

There are a large variety of processes for achieving fresh water. Combining all of the necessary components to lead to clean water is a complex process, …

A Review Of Advances In The Identification And Characterization Of Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems Using Geospatial Technologies, Isabel C. Pérez Hoyos, Nir Y. Krakauer, Reza Khanbilvardi, Roy A. Armstrong

Publications and Research

Groundwater Dependent Ecosystem (GDE) protection is increasingly being recognized as essential for the sustainable management and allocation of water resources. GDE services are crucial for human well-being and for a variety of flora and fauna. However, the conservation of GDEs is only possible if knowledge about their location and extent is available. Several studies have focused on the identification of GDEs at specific locations using ground-based measurements. However, recent progress in remote sensing technologies and their integration with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has provided alternative ways to map GDEs at a much larger spatial extent. This paper presents a review …

Sizing An Anaerobic Digester In A Rural Developing World Community: Does Household Fuel Demand Match Greenhouse Gas Production?, Ronald Keelan Greenwade

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Anaerobic digestion is the process by which organic carbon is converted into biogas in the form of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄). Both of these products are greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. Therefore if anaerobic reactors are improperly maintained and biogas is leaked or intentionally released into the atmosphere because biogas production exceeds household demand, these reactors may become generators of greenhouse gas emissions instead of sustainable energy producers. The objective of this research was to develop a framework to assess if the demand for biogas by a rural adopter of an anaerobic …

Modeling Food Security, Energy, And Climate And Cultural Impacts Of A Process: The Case Study Of Shea Butter In Sub-Saharan Africa, Colleen Claire Naughton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Millions of people in the world, particularly women and people in sub-Saharan Africa, suffer from hunger and poverty. Three of the major 2015-2030 United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to eliminate hunger through food security and sustainable agriculture, eradicate poverty, and achieve gender equality through women’s empowerment. Shea trees and their associated fruit and butter can play a major role in each of these three SDGs for women and their families throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Shea trees are located over a wide expanse stretching more than 5,000 kilometers across over eighteen countries in sub-Saharan Africa. These trees produce fruit that …

Methane Emissions As Energy Reservoir: Context, Scope, Causes And Mitigation Strategies, Xiaoli Chai, David J. Tonjes, Devinder Mahajan

Technology & Society Faculty Publications

Methane (CH4) is now considered a bridge fuel between present fossil (carbon) economy and desired renewables and this energy molecule is projected to play an important role in the global energy mix well beyond 2035. The atmospheric warming potential of CH4 is 28-36 times, when averaged over a 100-year period, that of carbon dioxide (CO2) and this necessitates a close scrutiny of global CH4 emissions inventory. As the second most abundant greenhouse gas (GHG), the annual global CH4 emissions were 645 million metric tons (MMT), accounting for 14.3% of the global anthropogenic GHG emissions. Of this, five key anthropogenic sources: …