Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering Commons^™

Developing Transparent Sustainability Data Systems In A Poultry And Pet Food Company: An Internship Case Study, Catherine L. Warren

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

My honors thesis examined my internship experiences and its implications on sustainability data gathering and reporting in poultry and pet food companies. It highlighted my internship projects, the skills I developed, and the connections to sustainability data transparency and reliability in a corporate environment.

In my thesis, I shared details about my internship. I described what projects I worked on, the places I visited, the hands-on experience I gained, and the different teams I worked with throughout the internship duration. I discussed the analytic and professional skills I developed through conducting a waste audit, developing Tableau dashboards, and helping to …

Enhancing Food Security In Stann Creek, Belize Using Meat Rabbits: Engineering Perspective, Lindsey Garretson

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the engineering perspective within the overall project of using meat rabbits to enhance food security and nutrition within Stann Creek, Belize. From the engineering perspective, the overarching goals were like the overarching project goals including the construction and materials required guide within the manual, designing potential upgrades to the design including a solar and battery system and an automatic watering system, and to design the system to be “practically sustainable” where possible. The constraints for this project included cost, the size of land dedicated for the rabbitry, and the operational and environmental …

Biological Hydrogen Process Improvements By High Temperature Simultaneous Saccharification And Fermentation, Frank W. Jeffries V

All Theses

The hyperthermophilic bacterium Thermotoga neapolitana is established as a versatile organism for fermentative hydrogen (H₂) production. Batch experiments were carried out to investigate the cell yield, product yield, and kinetic parameter values for individual media containing five carbohydrates. The highest H₂ yield of 15.56±0.31 mmol-H₂/g-carbohydrate was reported for glucose medium. H₂ yield was measured to be 14.51±0.38, 14.44±1.15, 11.88±0.84, and 11.53±0.73 mmol/g for media containing xylose, cellobiose, arabinose and xylan respectively. Acetic acid yield followed a similar trend, where the obtained values were 0.470±0.01, 0.462±0.04, 0.431±0.01, 0.409±0.03, and 0.406±0.01 g-acid/g-carbohydrate for glucose, cellobiose, xylose, …

Impacts Of Utilizing Reverse Osmosis Concentrate On Mashing, Fermentation, And Water Use In Bourbon Whiskey Production, Ryan C. Sarhan

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

This thesis addresses the feasibility of reusing reverse osmosis concentrate (ROC) in the bourbon whiskey fermentation processes. Initial work compared laboratory-scale mashing and fermentation methods, demonstrating that simultaneous saccharification and fermentation reliably reflects industrial-scale processes, with lower complexity and process time. Building upon this, laboratory and distillery-scale experiments demonstrated that reusing ROC in the mashing and fermentation steps does not negatively impact ethanol yields. ROC produced by systems with a water softener was found to significantly increase mash rheology, suggesting a need for potential process adjustments. Softened ROC also altered the production of flavor-influencing volatile congeners. Under worst case conditions, …

Impact Of Nitrogen Species On Algal Carbon Capture, Lauren J. Todd

All Theses

Increasing global carbon emissions from fossil fuel combustion and the resulting detrimental effects of climate change have created a need for atmospheric carbon drawdown. Biological-based carbon capture not only sequesters carbon dioxide (CO₂) but also provides a sustainable source of biomass for biofuels and biomaterials. Thus, the aim of this research was to examine freshwater green algal growth with total ammoniacal nitrogen (TAN) and nitrate nitrogen (NO₃-N) sources at high pH for improving carbon capture potential. The following objectives were accomplished: nitrogen uptake was identified as simultaneous or sequential, the effect of TAN and NO_{3 …}

Enhancing Water Sustainability In North Africa: Literature Review And Synthesis Of Current Knowledge Gaps In Sudan, Osman M. A. Adam, Aaron R. Mittelstet, Derek M. Heeren, Troy E. Gilmore

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Presentations and White Papers

This study delves into the critical role of groundwater in addressing global water challenges, with a focus on the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System (NSAS) in North Africa. Groundwater constitutes a source of potable water, irrigation, and industrial use, especially in arid regions where surface water is limited. We analyzed the status of water quantity, withdrawals, recharge, and geological characteristics in the NSAS, specifically in Sudan, Egypt, Libya, and Chad. Though the NSAS is largely an untapped resource, we evaluated various scenarios to determine the quantity of cropland that can be sustainably irrigated. The NSAS is located in an arid region, …

Hydrothermal Carbonization Of Biomass Wastes: Sustainability And Geochemistry, Michael A. Kruge, Teresa A. Centeno, Alvaro Amado-Fierro, José Manuel González-Lafuente, Ruben Forjan-Castro, José Luis Gallego

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Introduction. To reduce the stream of solid waste going to landfills, innovative means for beneficial use are essential. The diversity and volume of organic wastes pose singular problems and opportunities for recovery and circularity. Common processes for organics include conversion to biofuels and carbonization to biochar, typically done by torrefaction (dry pyrolysis). Research on biochar explores its potential as pollutant adsorbent, agricultural or polluted soil amendment, biofuel (directly or as feedstock), and for carbon sequestration (Ighalo et al., 2022; Cavali et al., 2023). Recently, other processes at lower temperatures such as hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) offer new possibilities (Seshadri et al., …

Non-Energy Circular Economy Potential Of Rice Husks: A Techno-Eco-Environmental Assessment, Winfred Oppong Yeboah

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The non-energy circular bioeconomy potential of rice husks was examined via sustainability assessments, namely life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle impact cost assessment (LCICA), and techno-economic assessment (TEA). The study was conducted with three objectives. The first objective was to review previous studies on the non-energy utilization potential of rice husks by the method of meta-analysis. This review followed a systematic approach where research papers were collected following a defined set of criteria. The study revealed 16 key utilization pathways, all of which showed promising results. However, a comprehensive sustainability assessment was lacking in all of the pathways. The second …

Support New Business To Solve Old Problems With Kentucky’S Keystone Waste From Bourbon & Brewing, Samuel C. Kessler

Commonwealth Policy Papers

Provided here is a policy solution from the backside of Kentucky bourbon and brewing to upcycle Kentucky’s “keystone” wastes and grow businesses in the process. Potential effects range from removing the bottleneck on bourbon production and producing GHG-friendly biogas to lowering the price of milk.This full whitepaper brief provides an incentive model for keystone wastes which have a provider and a use. It is equally applicable for policymakers or advocates wishing to place a policy incentive behind waste-to-product upcycling, businesses involved with methane sequestration & renewable biogas energy, and shifting regulatory and penalizing models of pollution into incentive model for …

Conceptual Framework To Integrate Economic Drivers Of Decision Making For Technology Adoption In Agriculture, Thiago L. Romanelli, Francisco Muñoz-Arriola, Andre F. Colaço

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

This study evaluates how much technology adoption could cost in a variety of crop-production scenarios. Cost-reduction simulations consider scenarios of higher input use efficiency such as reducing the usage of diesel, labor, irrigation, fertilizer, herbicide, and seed, among others. The scenarios aim to increase yields by integrating the effect of each input-reduction on the total operating costs. Agricultural production estimates for Nebraska in the US indicates that a technology that saves 1% of diesel is cost-effective, costing between USD 0.15/ha and USD 0.32/ha (for corn). Improvements on input use efficiency should be prioritized to incentivize technology development and adoption. This …

Agri-Food Waste Reduction And Utilization: A Sustainability Perspective, Akinbode A. Adedeji

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

As the human population edges closer to nine billion, we must explore how we can sustainably use Earth’s limited resources. Current agricultural production and food processing create significant amounts of wastes that have drastic effects on the environment, on the cost of production, and on human health and well-being. About a third of these wastes are produced domestically, as well as from agricultural production and food processing, and it often constitutes a disposal problem, although it contains many carbon-based materials (proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, micronutrients, bioactive compounds, and dietary fibers) that can be converted into useful value-added products. Converting these wastes …

Ammonia Cycling And Emerging Particulate Matter Pollutants Under Arable Land-Use Management: A Modelling Approach, Vivien Pohl

Doctoral

Air quality monitoring in Ireland is under the jurisdiction of the Environmental Protection Agency in compliance with the Gothenburg Protocol, EU/national legislation, and the National Clean Air Strategy. Particulate Matter (PM) has been acknowledged as a key atmospheric pollutant, with serious public health impacts and no safe threshold of exposure in place to-date. Ammonia (NH3) emissions are linked to the secondary production of PM through atmospheric reactions occurring with acidic atmospheric components such as sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and hydrochloric acid. These reactions result in the formation of ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate and ammonium chloride, among others. More than 95% …

Intelligent Sensors For Sustainable Food And Drink Manufacturing, Nicholas J. Watson, Alexander L. Bowler, Ahmed Rady, Oliver J. Fisher, Alessandro Simeone, Josep Escrig, Elliot Woolley, Akinbode A. Adedeji

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Food and drink is the largest manufacturing sector worldwide and has significant environmental impact in terms of resource use, emissions, and waste. However, food and drink manufacturers are restricted in addressing these issues due to the tight profit margins they operate within. The advances of two industrial digital technologies, sensors and machine learning, present manufacturers with affordable methods to collect and analyse manufacturing data and enable enhanced, evidence-based decision making. These technologies will enable manufacturers to reduce their environmental impact by making processes more flexible and efficient in terms of how they manage their resources. In this article, a methodology …

What Are The Advantages Of Replacing Fossil Fuels With Biofuels?, Amr Shaalan

International Programs

Fossil fuels’ negative impact on the environment is leading many people to worry In addition to that, fossil fuels are running out as every day goes by. Thus, finding a renewable and environmentally friendly source of energy has now become a necessity. Biofuels offer clean energy that comes with numerous economic and environmental benefits. Furthermore, biofuels can absorb more carbon from the air than they would produce when burnt. Giving a chance to clear the air from fossil fuel’s carbon.

Implementation Of Biogas-Based Energy Security Program And Evaluation Of Its Sustainability In Kediri Village, Pringsewu District, Lampung Province, Sri Ismiyati Damayanti, Simparmin Ginting, Otik Nawansih, Siti Hudaidah

ASEAN Journal of Community Engagement

The Biogas-based energy security program in Kediri Village, Pringsewu District, Lampung Province, aims to provide awareness and knowledge to villagers about the potential of cow dung to be made into biogas and promote awareness of good environment quality. An evaluation of the sustainability of the program in the community was conducted. The methods that were used in this program are (1) socialization to provide awareness of good environment quality and energy security, (2) digester construction and stove and biogas lamp installation, which was carried out by the community together with certified trainers, (3) creation of a master design of the …

Design Of A Shallow-Aero Ebb And Flow Hydroponics System And Associated Educational Module For Tri Cycle Farms, Julie Halveland

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Tri Cycle Farms, whose main mission is to reduce food insecurity in their community, is a non- profit urban farm in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The “Tri” in their name refers to the three parts of their foundation: giving a third of their yield to volunteers, giving a third to local food pantries, and selling a third to sustain the farm and demonstrate the economy of local food production. They want to expand on the third part and have a vision of building a hydroponic greenhouse with the intention that it will create more crops to sell and give, as well as …

Design Of A Deep Flow Technique Hydroponic System And An Elementary Education Module For Tri Cycle Farms, Cady Rosenbaum

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Hydroponics is an agricultural technique in which plants are grown without soil and are instead grown in water systems that include nutrients and other growth-supporting media. Hydroponic systems typically reside inside, so that the system can be fully controlled by the grower by manipulating the temperature and amount of light the plants receive. The benefits of growing plants using hydroponics include: the amount of water used is reduced, it is less labor to grow organic produce with an indoor system, less space used, and it allows for growing food anywhere. Tri Cycle Farms is planning for the construction of a …

Internal Design Of A Hydroponics Greenhouse For Tri Cycle Farms, Sarah Gould

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Hydroponics is the agricultural technique of growing plants without soil, using other growing media and added nutrients in a solvent. It is an attractive agricultural method over conventional agriculture because it is more water efficient, is less labor intensive, yields higher quality crops in less time, and is easier to control. According to the Digital Journal, “hydroponics crop value is anticipated to grow to USD 27.29 Billion by 2022 at an estimated CAGR of 6.39% from 2015 to 2020” (Sawant, 2016). Alongside this growing market acceptance for hydroponics, there is also a local demand that requires only a small transportation …

Using Net Groundwater Extractions For Farm Level Groundwater Sustainability Monitoring, Daniel J. Howes, Morgan Whinery, Eric Limas, Dan Vink

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

The Cal Poly Irrigation Training and Research Center (ITRC) has developed a method for computing net groundwater extraction and recharge at the farm level for district management and regulation of sustainable/safe yields. This method is called Net To/From Groundwater (NTFGW). Net groundwater extraction is preferred for assessing sustainable yield in unconfined aquifer systems over direct metering of gross groundwater pumping. A recent pilot project with the Lower Tule River and Pixley Irrigation Districts’ Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) compared actual metered groundwater pumping, surface deliveries, and evapotranspiration to the NTFGW outputs on 19 farms within the GSAs over a 3-year period …

Characterization Of High Oleic Acid Biodiesel: Improving Biofuel Properties, James M. Muskat, Nathan Mosier

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

In 2016, the world produced an amount of biofuel equivalent to 82,306,000 tonnes of oil. A portion of the biofuels produced was categorized as biodiesel. While still growing as a fuel alternative, current biodiesel fuels are at risk for causing increased engine coking, lower engine performance and durability, oil ring sticking, carbon deposits, and gelling of lubricating oil. Due to these primary issues, biodiesel cannot completely replace petroleum diesel as a fuel source. Instead, biodiesel is commonly blended with petroleum diesel at 5% and 20% (B5 and B20) in the U.S. to create a mixture that has acceptable fuel properties. …

A Comparative Analysis Of Feed And Environmental Factors On Broiler Growth In The United States, Alexandra Gulli

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Broiler production in the United States has become an important industry within the last half century. As the demand for poultry continues to increase and the concern of climate change also increases, it will become an important part of the industry to become more sustainable. This study uses a feed optimization model, a broiler growth model, and a life cycle assessment (LCA) to determine how feed ingredients and the barn environment can affect the broiler’s growth and production emissions. A multi-criteria ration optimization model is used to produce feeds based on carbon footprint and cost. A growth model is used …

Kettle Cooling And Sustainability Project, Nico Degiorgio

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

A particular frozen food processing facility uses a once-through cooling process to bring their kettle-cooked product’s temperature down from nearly boiling temperatures to the eighty degree Fahrenheit range. This process is water intensive and facility managers are seeking to reduce their potable water consumption. Sales engineers from Air Treatment Corporation, an HVAC&R manufacturers’ rep, initiated a number of meetings to propose heat rejection solutions and illustrate their associated payback potentials.

This report contains methods of analyzing a food production process, the technical sales process, thermodynamic principles, refrigeration technologies, and the application of technical knowledge to provide a long-term, system solution. …

Municipal Composting And Organic Waste Diversion: The Case Of Fayetteville, Arkansas, Michael E. Hoppe

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

It is estimated that 40% of food is wasted in the United States; representing $165 billion in wasted resources. A vast majority of that wasted food is ultimately placed in landfills where it decomposes and releases harmful greenhouse gases (GHGs). In fact, food waste alone is responsible for 23% of annual methane emissions for the US. This has a huge impact on global climate change due to the potency of methane as a greenhouse gas. Currently only 5% of the food waste produced is recovered across the nation. Source reduction would be the best solution to reducing this food waste, …

A Cradle To Farm Gate Life Cycle Analysis Of Land Use In U.S. Pork Production, William Benjamin Putman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this study was to conduct a detailed Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the U.S. live swine production supply chain to quantify land use requirements and to assess the impact associated with various ration compositions. The functional unit was defined as one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of live swine at the farm gate, ready for transport to the abattoir. This assessment focused on the three highest producing USDA regions, which encompassed the Midwest (Regions 5 and 7) and the Southeast (Region 4), representing 86% of U.S. market hog production.

First, a literature review was conducted to summarize the most …

Winegrape Vineyards And Winery Operations: Energy Efficiency/ Sustainability And Expansion, Stuart Styles, Sierra Layous, Sarah Crable

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

Southern California Edison (SCE) provides utility services to the greater southern California area. Vineyards and wineries exist throughout the region, and historical data suggests that that they largely do not utilize incentive programs offered by the utility.

As the first phase in a larger study, the Irrigation Training & Research Center (ITRC), located at the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, completed a characterization of the vineyard and winery sector as it pertains to energy and water usage in SCE’s service area, including the following major tasks:

1. Identification of vineyard and winery demographics in SCE’s service area.
2. Identification of …

Overcoming India’S Food Security Challenges: The Role Of Intellectual Property Management And Technology Transfer Capacity Building, Stanley Kowalski, Aarushi Gupta, Ifica Mehra

Law Faculty Scholarship

The growth of the Indian economy after Independence has had little impact on the food security of the country. The paper analyses the development of advanced crop varieties through the use of agricultural technologies (hereinafter "agbiotech") within the technology transfer system, a framework which comprises of the interactions of intellectual property rights law and agricultural research and development in India. Through this, the author argues that agricultural innovation in India is failing due to the absence of connections within the technology transfer system and advocates for the creation of a national program aimed at advancing IP and tech-transfer capacity in …

Improvements In The Process Of Biohydrogen Production By Thermotoga Neapolitana, Louis Hill

All Theses

The production of biological hydrogen is an important process for the future of sustainability and alternative energies. Thermotoga neapolitana is a hyperthermophilic bacterium that produces H ₂ , CO₂ and acetate via fermentation. The goal of the research was to investigate the sustainable production of H₂ gas using waste agricultural feedstocks, recycled water and a simplified N₂ sparging method technique. A limited sparging method was developed which includes 1 minute of N₂ gas sparging of the reactor headspace and 90 minutes of idle reaction time for cysteine-HCl to react with dissolved oxygen prior to inoculation. This …

Techno-Economic And Fluid Dynamics Analysis For Growing Microalgae With The Intent Of Producing Biofuel Using A System Model, Leah R. Raffaeli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Techno-economic and systems studies on microalgal growth scenarios to date are abbreviated and missing a number of important variables. By including these variables in a detailed model integrating biology, chemistry, engineering, and financial aspects, a more defined systems analysis is possible. Through optimizing the model productivity based on the resulting net profit, the system analysis results in a more accurate assessment of environmental and economic sustainability of specific algal growth scenarios. Photobioreactor algal growth scenario optimization in the system model has resulted in realistic engineering design requirements based on algal growth requirements and fluid dynamics analysis. Results show feasibility for …

Economic And Environmental Sustainability Of Using Bio-Fuels For Small Nebraska Greenhouses, David M. Mabie

Department of Environmental Engineering: Theses and Other Student Research

The primary goal of this paper was to increase profitability in Nebraska greenhouses by using biomass fuels for heating instead of propane. Several different fuels were tested, including whole shelled corn, dry distiller’s grains pelletized, wood pellets and blends between each biomass. The main fuel focus was on whole shelled corn. Bomb calorimetry tests were performed on biomass fuels and their respective ashes. Several furnace and heat exchanger efficiency tests were performed, with cost effectiveness analysis for each fuel type. Emissions data was also collected for each fuel on carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides, sulfuric oxides, and particulate matter. …

Beneficial Reuse And Sustainability: The Fate Of Organic Compounds In The Land-Applied Waste, M. R. Overcash, Ronald C. Sims, J. L. Sims, K. C. Nieman

Biological Engineering Faculty Publications

Land application systems, also referred to as beneficial reuse systems, are engineered systems that have defined and permitted application areas based on site and waste characteristics to determine the land area size requirement. These terrestrial systems have orders of magnitude greater microbial capability and residence time to achieve decomposition and assimilation compared with aquatic systems. In this paper we focus on current information and information needs related to terrestrial fate pathways in land treatment systems. Attention is given to conventional organic chemicals as well as new estrogenic and pharmaceutical chemicals of commerce. Specific terrestrial fate pathways addressed include: decomposition, bound …