Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Measurement Of Sub-2 Nm Stable Clusters During Silane Pyrolysis In A Furnace Aerosol Reactor, Miguel Vazquez-Pufleau, Yang Wang, Pratim Biswas, Elijah Thimsen

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The initial stages of particle formation are important in several industrial and environmental systems; however, the phenomenon is not completely understood due to the inability to measure cluster size distributions. A high resolution differential mobility analyzer with an electrometer was used to map out the early stages of Si particle formation from pyrolysis of SiH4 in a furnace aerosol reactor. We detected for the first time subnanometer stable clusters from silane pyrolysis, and the diameter was measured to be about 0.7 nm. This diameter is within the range of probable sizes that the reported families of critical silane clusters could …

Scenario-Based Strategic Planning For Future Civil Vertical Take-Off And Landing (Vtol) Transport, Woojin Choi, Steven Hampton

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

Rapid evolvement of the vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) technology in conjunction with recent robust R&D has demonstrated the technical feasibility of the civil VTOL system as a short-haul mass transit mode. Its combined benefits of a helicopter and a turboprop into one aircraft is expected to become an effective remedy for congested air traffic and difficulties with airport expansions in the metropolitan areas along with the potential benefit to improve accessibility to population centers and remote areas where conventional aircraft cannot access.

In this study, based on a the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal (PESTEL) factors and …

Upstream Water Flow At Kotri Barrage, Sindh Pakistan, Rakhshinda Bano, Mehdi Khiadani, Steven Burian

Research Datasets

The dataset contains the water flow data at Kotri barrage, Sindh Pakistan

Hydrogen Wettability Of Sandstone Reservoirs, Stefan Iglauer, Muhammad Ali, Alireza Keshavarz

Research Datasets

Data set include the data for contact angle data as a function of pressure, temperature and stearic acid concentration in H₂. One exemplary figure is also provided for contact angle measurement in H₂ atmosphere.

Comparison And Verification Of Turbulence Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes Closures To Model Spatially Varied Flows, Kudzai Chipongo, Mehdi Khiadani, Kaveh Sookhak Lari

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The robustness and accuracy of Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) models was investigated for complex turbulent flow in an open channel receiving lateral inflow, also known as spatially varied flow with increasing discharge (SVF). The three RANS turbulence models tested include realizable k–ε, shear stress transport k–ω and Reynolds stress model based on their prominence to model jets in crossflows. Results were compared to experimental laser Doppler velocimetry measurements from a previous study. RANS results in the uniform flow region and farther from the jet centreline were more accurate than within the lateral inflow region. On the …

Prediction Of The Compressive Strength And Dynamic Modulus Of Fiber Reinforced Concrete By Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity Measurement At Early Ages, Daniel A. Castillo Pereira

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This research investigates the relationship between early age ultrasonic pulse velocity and the compressive strength and dynamic modulus of steel, polypropylene, nylon, and glass fiber reinforced concrete. Previous studies prove that adding fibers to concrete alters the propagation of ultrasonic pulse velocity waves. Therefore, each type of fiber-reinforced concrete will have a unique relationship between ultrasonic pulse velocity and its compressive strength and dynamic modulus depending on fiber type, fiber volume fraction, water to cement ratio, and test age. To test this hypothesis, an experimental program comprising of one hundred eighty-nine 100 mm x 200 mm fiber reinforced concrete cylinders …

Public Perception Of Different Planting Techniques Using Augmented Reality, Sultana Quader Tania

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The objective of this study was to measure public perception of the different planting techniques (block and matrix), which are used at visitor information centers (VICs) and other rights of way (ROW) areas. The main factors that affect public perception of planting techniques were identified through an extensive literature review and qualitative survey from four welcome centers in the state of Georgia. The ranking of those indicators, based on public preferences, was discovered through a quantitative survey. During the first phase of the quantitative survey, images of block and matrix were used. An iOS-based user-friendly and cost-effective augmented reality (AR) …

Pfas Removals And Increases In The Effluent Of Thirteen New Hampshire Wastewater Treatment Facilities Due To The Effects Of Biological Treatment Processes, Zachary P. Harvell

Honors Theses and Capstones

PROPOSAL/ABSTRACT:

Perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are an emerging contaminant of concern in environmental engineering. This group of chemicals has been used by manufacturers since the 1940s due to their desirable waterproofing qualities. They also have a high chemical stability at high temperatures, which makes treatment difficult. A large variety of manufactured items contain PFAS, such as fabrics and apparel, non-stick items, and food wrappers. Recently, these compounds have come under question due to studies supporting harmful health effects, such as low birthweight, cancer, thyroid hormone disruption, and a weakened immune system. Due to their chemical structure, PFAS compounds are difficult …

A Review On Investigating The Experimental Process For Partial Replacement Of Cement With Sugarcane Bagasse In The Construction Industry, Amany G. Micheal Prof., Rania Rushdy Moussa Ass. Prof., Nadin Magdy Dawoud Eng.

Architectural Engineering

In the last few decades there has been speedily increasing in the agriculture and industrial wastes. This causes many environmental issues and raises the potential to contaminate the natural resources of living such as water, air and soil. Recently, the amount of organic waste produced daily has been rising, while it is poorly managed. It is either burned or disposed improperly, which effect negatively the environment and public health. On the other hand, during the cement production process many wastes, and pollutants are generated which have major negative impacts on the environment. Cement is considered as a substantial constituent of …

Progressive Collapse Assessment Of Post-Tensioned Reinforced Concrete Flat Slab Structures Using Aem, Amgad Mahrous, Mariam Ehab, Hamed Hadhoud

Civil Engineering

Progressive collapse is defined as the failure of a primary vertical element of a structure, which may result in the failure of adjoining elements, consequently, leads to a partial or total collapse of the structure. Unified Facilities Criteria (UFC) and General Services Administration (GSA) guidelines used to assess the behavior of structures subjected to progressive collapse as a result of the loss of primary vertical support. For the current case study, numerical analysis is carried out for a typical ten-story reinforced concrete post-tensioned flat slab structure subjected to primary vertical element loss (corner column, edge column, internal column, edge shear …

Site-Specific Irrigation Management In A Sub-Humid Climate Using A Spatial Evapotranspiration Model With Satellite And Airborne Imagery, Sandeep Bhatti, Derek M. Heeren, J. Burdette Barker, Christopher M. U. Neale, Wayne Woldt, Mitchell S. Maguire, Daran Rudnick

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Variable Rate Irrigation (VRI) considers spatial variability in soil and plant characteristics to optimize irrigation management in agricultural fields. The advent of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) creates an opportunity to utilize high-resolution (spatial and temporal) imagery into irrigation management due to decreasing costs, ease of operation, and reduction of regulatory constraints. This research aimed to evaluate the use of UAS data for VRI, and to quantify the potential of VRI in terms of relative crop and water response. Irrigation treatments were: (1) VRI using Landsat imagery (VRI-L), (2) VRI using UAS imagery (VRI-U), (3) uniform (U), and (4) rainfed (R). …

An Automated Seepage Meter For Streams And Lakes, D. Kip Solomon, Eric Humphrey, Troy E. Gilmore, David P. Genereux, Vitaly Zlotnik

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

We describe a new automatic seepage meter for use in soft bottom streams and lakes. The meter utilizes a thin‐walled tube that is inserted into the streambed or lakebed. A hole in the side of the tube is fitted with an electric valve. Prior to the test, the valve is open and the water level inside the tube is the same as the water level outside the tube. The test starts with closure of the valve, and the water level inside the tube changes as it moves toward the equilibrium hydraulic head that exists at the bottom of the tube. …

Automatic Wheat Lodging Detection And Mapping In Aerial Imagery To Support High-Throughput Phenotyping And In-Season Crop Management, Biquan Zhao, Jiating Li, P. Stephen Baenziger, Vikas Belamkar, Yufeng Ge, Jian Zhang, Yeyin Shi

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Latest advances in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology and convolutional neural networks (CNNs) allow us to detect crop lodging in a more precise and accurate way. However, the performance and generalization of a model capable of detecting lodging when the plants may show different spectral and morphological signatures have not been investigated much. This study investigated and compared the performance of models trained using aerial imagery collected at two growth stages of winter wheat with different canopy phenotypes. Specifically, three CNN-based models were trained with aerial imagery collected at early grain filling stage only, at physiological maturity only, and at …

Emulsion Characterization Study For Improved Bilgewater Treatment And Management, Daniela Diaz Hernandez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The need for proper management of bilgewater to meet discharge regulations (e.g., 15 ppm oil) has revealed the necessity to expand the current understanding of bilgewater emulsions. This study proposed to evaluate emulsion stability under various environmental conditions and to identify governing parameters for emulsion formation. The stabilizing properties of eight-commercial cleaners and two-neat surfactants were evaluated. In situ characterization techniques were used for monitoring emulsion stability. Additionally, a needle-type pH microsensor and fluorescence spectroscopy were used for analyzing mass transfer at the oil-water interface. Water quality of extracted bilgewater showed to highly vary between vessels (e.g., conductivity: 1.74 -- …

An Investigation Of Life Cycle Sustainability Implications Of Emerging Heavy-Duty Truck Technologies In The Age Of Autonomy, Burak Sen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Heavy-duty trucks (HDTs) play a central role in U.S. freight transportation, carrying most of the goods across the country. The projected increase in freight activity (e.g. truck-miles-traveled) raises concerns regarding the potential sustainability impacts of the U.S. freight industry, marking HDTs as an ideal domain for improving the sustainability performance of U.S. freight transportation. However, the transition to sustainable trucking is a challenging task, for which multiple sustainability objectives must be considered and addressed under a variety of emerging HDT technologies while composing a sustainable HDT fleet. To gain insights into the sustainability implications of emerging HDT technologies as well …

การปรับปรุงสะพานทางหลวงจากผลกระทบแผ่นดินไหวด้วยระบบแยกฐานและการเสริมค่าความหน่วงโดยใช้เหล็กเดือย, ยงศักดิ์ จิวะตระกูลธรรม

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

การออกแบบโครงสร้างสะพานภายใต้แรงแผ่นดินไหวด้วยระบบแยกฐาน สามารถลดผลกระทบที่เกิดจากแรงกระทำได้เป็นอย่างดี แต่ในขณะเดียวกันกลับทำให้โครงสร้างสะพานส่วนบนเกิดการเคลื่อนตัวที่มากขึ้นเป็นผลให้เกิดการชนกันระหว่างชิ้นส่วน และเกิดการวิบัติจากระยะรองรับช่วงสะพานที่ไม่เพียงพอ งานวิจัยนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์ในการศึกษาผลตอบสนองของชิ้นส่วนโครงสร้างสะพานที่ถูกออกแบบด้วยระบบแยกฐานและใช้เหล็กเดือยช่วยในการสลายพลังงานและลดการเคลื่อนที่ของคาน ซึ่งจะทำการวิเคราะห์โครงสร้างด้วยวิธีการไฟไนต์อิลิเมนต์ โดยใช้โปรแกรม SAP2000 การศึกษาเลือกพิจารณาสะพานแบบคานคอนกรีตอัดแรงรูปตัวไอ มีความยาวช่วงเสา 20 เมตร ทั้งหมด 5 ช่วง มีการติดตั้งแผ่นยางรองคานสะพานเป็นอุปกรณ์แยกฐาน นอกจากนี้จะทำการคัดเลือกคลื่นแผ่นดินไหวให้สอดคล้องกับการสั่นไหวของพื้นดินที่เกิดขึ้นใน จังหวัดเชียงใหม่ ประเทศไทย หลังจากทำการสร้างแบบจำลองจะทำการวิเคราะห์โครงสร้างด้วยวิธีการวิเคราะห์การตอบสนองไม่เชิงเส้นแบบประวัติเวลา โดยจะทำการเปรียบเทียบผลการตอบสนองของโครงสร้างสะพานทั้งก่อนและหลังการปรับปรุงโดยใช้เหล็กเดือย ซึ่งจะพิจารณาในกรณีที่เพิ่มความหนาของแผ่นยางรองคานสะพานจากเดิมขนาด 20 เป็น 100 มิลลิเมตร และทำการติดตั้งเหล็กเดือยขนาดเส้นผ่านศูนย์กลาง 25 มิลลิเมตร เป็นอุปกรณ์ยึดรั้ง ผลการศึกษาพบว่าการเลือกปรับปรุงโดยการเลือกใช้เหล็กเดือยจำนวน 2 ชิ้น ติดตั้งในระนาบที่ยึดรั้งบริเวณจุดรองรับของโครงสร้างสะพานส่วนบนกับโครงสร้างสะพานส่วนล่าง ให้ผลการตอบสนองที่เหมาะสมมากกว่ากรณีก่อนการปรับปรุง โดยระยะการเคลื่อนตัวสูงสุดของคานรองรับแผ่นพื้นลดลงจาก 64 เป็น 51 มิลลิเมตร คิดเป็นร้อยละ 20 และยังช่วยลดผลการตอบสนองของโครงสร้างสะพานส่วนล่าง โดยเสาตอม่อเกิดการครากเพียงเล็กน้อย นอกจากนี้แรงเฉือนสูงสุดที่ฐานลดลงร้อยละ 22 เมื่อเทียบกับกรณีก่อนการปรับปรุงโครงสร้างสะพาน

การพัฒนาผนังสลายพลังงานแบบวิสโคอิลาสติก, ฐิติพงศ์ เจริญสุข

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

งานวิจัยนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์ในการศึกษาพัฒนาผนังสลายพลังงานแบบวิสโคอิลาสติก (Viscoelastic wall dampers) ด้วยวัสดุ Asphalt (ยางมะตอย) และ Polyisobutene (PIB) แม้ว่าในปัจจุบันมีผู้ผลิตอุปกรณ์สลายพลังงานสำหรับอาคารเพื่อต้านทานแผ่นดินไหวและแรงลมจำหน่าย แต่มีราคาแพงเพราะต้องนำเข้าจากต่างประเทศ ทั้งมีค่าใช้จ่ายในการติดตั้งและบำรุงรักษาที่สูง นอกจากนั้นยังพบว่า ส่วนใหญ่มีรูปแบบที่กระทบต่อความสวยงามด้านสถาปัตยกรรม ในงานวิจัยนี้จึงพิจารณาถึงความเป็นไปได้ในการพัฒนาผนังสลายพลังงานแบบวิสโคอิลาสติกด้วยวัสดุที่มีราคาไม่แพง มีรูปแบบคล้ายผนังอาคารทั่วไปเพื่อไม่กระทบต่อความสวยงามของอาคาร โดยทำการพัฒนาแบบจำลองทางคณิตศาสตร์ของผนังสลายพลังงานจากการทดสอบชิ้นงานตัวอย่างขนาดย่อส่วนในห้องปฏิบัติการ ภายใต้แรงกระทำแบบวัฏจักร (Cyclic testing) ตามมาตรฐาน ASCE 7-16 ผลการทดลองแสดงให้เห็นว่าวัสดุ PIB มีคุณสมบัติในการสลายพลังงานที่ดี และมีเสถียรภาพภายใต้การเปลี่ยนแปลงอุณหภูมิ จึงนำแบบจำลองทางคณิตศาสตร์ของผนังสลายพลังงานชนิด PIB มาประมาณคุณสมบัติของผนังสลายพลังงานขนาดเท่าของจริง เพื่อเปรียบเทียบประสิทธิภาพในการสลายพลังงานกับผลิตภัณฑ์ผนังสลายพลังงานแบบหนืด (Viscous Wall Damper) ของต่างประเทศ ผลการศึกษาพบว่าผนังสลายพลังงานแบบวิสโคอิลาสติคที่พัฒนามีประสิทธิภาพในการสลายพลังงานดีกว่าผนังสลายพลังงานแบบหนืดอย่างมีนัยสำคัญ ทำให้สามารถลดขนาดและจำนวนผนังสลายพลังงานที่ต้องติดตั้งในอาคารได้ จึงเป็นอีกหนึ่งทางเลือกในการออกแบบต้านทานแผ่นดินไหวและแรงลมที่อาจประหยัดและมีประสิทธิภาพกว่าวิธีการปกติที่นิยมเพิ่มขนาดส่วนโครงสร้างให้มีกำลังหรือสติฟเนสมากขึ้น

Soil-Water-Energy Nexus Of Green Roofs, Katherine Ann Bartels

Masters Theses

"As the urban landscape continues to sprawl into previously undeveloped land to accommodate population growth, the need to design cities that effectively manage urban stormwater is imperative for a sustainable future. Green roofs use rain-harvesting techniques to reduce urban stormwater discharge while simultaneously providing traditional roof services as well as several ecosystem services. However, green roof media design varies greatly among commercial applications, and little guidance is available to engineers when selecting the media for prospective green roofs. Efforts to maximize stormwater retention and enhance urban heat island mitigation capabilities of green roofs while concurrently reducing nutrient loading were examined …

Optical Fiber Based Integrity Test Of Civil Engineering Materials: Numerical Analysis, Ruoyu Zhong

Masters Theses

“Major advancement in Civil Engineering cannot be accomplished without the help of sensors. Among different types of sensors, fiber-optic sensor is known for its light weight, high accuracy, resolution, immunity to electromagnetic interference, and resistance to harsh environment. This research mainly focuses on fiber-optic sensor application on concrete structures as temperature sensor. Thermal Integrity Profiling (TIP) is a non-destructive integrity testing method which makes use of the hydration heat from the concrete curing process to detect defects within a drilled shaft. Any defect of concrete could result in a temperature anomaly in a drilled shaft. The accuracy of the current …

Feasibility Study On Novel Fire-Resistant Coating Materials, Anyou Zhu

Masters Theses

“Over the past decades, wildfires in the United States have caused severe damage and property losses. The California Camp Fire in November 2018 caused 85 civilian fatalities and destroyed 18,793 structures. There is a need to enhance the fire resistance of structures and buildings. The primary purpose of this study was to develop innovative surface-bonded fire-resistant material that can be used as a wall coating with three primary features: (a) workability for application, (b) enough adhesion to the surface of the structure, (c) fire-resistant. This research developed mix designs of innovative fire-resistant coating materials including high-performance cement mortar (HPCM), geopolymer …

Structural And Environmental Impact Of New-Generation Wide-Base Tires In New Brunswick, Canada, Izak M. Said, Jaime Hernandez, Seunggu Kang, Imad L. Al-Qadi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

The loading and environmental impacts of new-generation wide-base tires (NG-WBT) and dual tire assemblies (DTA) on typical asphalt concrete (AC) pavement sections of New Brunswick, Canada were evaluated using finite element method (FEM) analysis and life-cycle assessment. The impact of steering wheel was not considered in this study. The analysis considered realistic material models and loading conditions (i.e. AC viscoelastic characteristics and measured three-dimensional nonuniform tire–pavement contact loads). Predicted critical pavement responses were used in transfer functions to determine potential pavement damage. The NG-WBT loading resulted in greater critical pavement responses compared to that of DTA, especially near the surface …

Transit Agencies Performance Assessment And Implications, Parisa Hajibabaee

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Although most transit systems operate in small urban and rural areas in the United States, these systems have rarely received the same attention as their urban counterparts, both in terms of ensuring the efficiency and effectiveness of their operations and understanding the factors that affect their performance. This thesis's main goals are to assess the performance of rural and small urban public transit agencies and help them evaluate adopting a ridehailing program, thereby improving their performance. We applied operations research and decision-making tools to two public transit projects in small urban and rural areas. The first project focuses on three …

Effects Of Supplementary Cementitious Materials On Early-Age Tensile Creep And Shrinkage Of Concrete, Lucas James Bucklen

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Determination of early-age tensile creep properties is critical for the performance of mass concrete structures at an early age. Due to the stress relaxation that tensile creep induces in concrete structures, accurate quantification of creep deformation is needed to determine the stress profile of the structure. Conventional methods of measuring tensile creep include the direct tension test where the concrete is subject to constant tensile stress. This method requires large quantities of concrete with embedded strain gauges which can only be used once. In this paper, the tensile creep parameters of concrete are found by using the restrained concrete ring …

Evaluating The Polishing Of Skid Aggregates In Asphalt Using The British Pendulum Tester, Allison Nicole Givens

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

To ensure the pavements in West Virginia have adequate skid resistance the Division of Highways evaluates and approves skid resistant aggregate sources for all wearing courses on roads with an ADT of 3,000 or greater. Unfortunately, the supply of skid aggregates in West Virginia is depleting quickly. To find a potential alternative to using skid resistant aggregates, laboratory polishing of asphalt samples was performed using a Circular Track Polishing Machine, and friction was tested using a British Pendulum Tester. The experiment was designed to investigate how a specific aggregate type provides skid resistance to a hot asphalt mixture.

The objective …

Metalimnetic Oxygen Minimum In Green Lake, Wisconsin, Mahta Naziri Saeed

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Green Lake, located in Green Lake County, Wisconsin, has been experiencing summer Metalimnetic Oxygen Minima (MOM). The severity of the MOM has increased in recent years and the lake was listed as impaired in 2014. To investigate the MOM, the lake was monitored during 2017 and 2018 at two sites using moored temperature and oxygen sensors recording at 1-hour intervals. Using these data, a hydrodynamic model (Simstrat) was configured for the lake. A new model was then developed to simulate the oxygen changes in the lake. Productivity, respiration, sediment oxygen demand (SOD) and fluxes were included, and hydrodynamics were driven …

Towards Efficient Water Treatment: Mechanism Of Colloidal Fouling Of Ultrafiltration Membranes, Ikenna Henry Ozofor

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This research study first reviewed challenges of conventional and membrane separation systems for water treatment. Though membrane separation systems appeared superior to the conventional counterparts for water and wastewater treatment, wider applications of membrane systems have been limited by some factors, most notably is membrane fouling. Experimental studies were therefore conducted to achieve the goal of this research, which is to investigate how feed properties affect fouling of ultrafiltration (UF) membranes by colloids.

Feed salinity, pH, and nanoparticle concentration were the variables studied to unravel how different UF membranes are fouled by model silica colloids (with average diameter of 25nm). …

Lagrangian Relaxation Method For Integrated Vehicles And Drones Routing Model, Perawit Charoenwut

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Nowadays, e-commerce increases parcel transportation demand year by year. Many companies are seeking the way to improve performance of delivery service and cost-efficiency. One among many solutions is using a drone attached with a truck for the last mile delivery. A drone can be launched from either depot or truck and returned to the depot or wait for the truck to take them back from the docking station around the delivery area. The vehicle routing problem with drones considers truck- and drone-route simultaneously. It is an enormous problem that cannot be solved by a normal linear programming method. This research …

Ground And Aerial Robots For Agricultural Production: Opportunities And Challenges, Santosh Pitla, Sreekala Bajwa, Santosh Bhusal, Tom Brumm, Tami M. Brown-Brandl, Dennis R. Buckmaster, Isabella Condotta, John Fulton, Todd J. Janzen, Manoj Karkee, Mario Lopez, Robert Moorhead, Michael Sama, Leon Schumacher, Scott Shearer, Alex Thomasson

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Crop and animal production techniques have changed significantly over the last century. In the early 1900s, animal power was replaced by tractor power that resulted in tremendous improvements in field productivity, which subsequently laid foundation for mechanized agriculture. While precision agriculture has enabled site-specific management of crop inputs for improved yields and quality, precision livestock farming has boosted efficiencies in animal and dairy industries. By 2020, highly automated systems are employed in crop and animal agriculture to increase input efficiency and agricultural output with reduced adverse impact on the environment. Ground and aerial robots combined with artificial intelligence (AI) techniques …

Tracing Sources Of Natural Organic Matter, Trihalomethanes And Metals In Groundwater From A Karst Region, Connie O'Driscoll, Eoin Mcgillicuddy, Peter Croot, Pamela Bartley, John Mcmyler, Jerome Sheahan, Liam Morrison

Articles

Groundwater offers an important source for drinking water around the world; however, groundwater quality is under increasing pressure and is particularly vulnerable in karst areas. Total organic carbon (TOC) is significantly related to groundwater quality and when not removed by water treatment processes can give rise to the formation of disinfection by-products trihalomethanes (THMs) above the level of compliance. This study investigated the source of organic matter giving rise to the THM exceedances in a groundwater supply in a karst area. Results highlighted that source water for this groundwater supply was prone to surface water infiltration linked to rainfall events; …

Using Ftir-Atr To Predict Saccharification From Enzymatic Hydrolysis Of Physically Pretreated Lignocellulosic Biomass, Rajasri Alaparthi

Master’s Theses

Producing biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass (i.e., non-edible plants) can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The main challenge in converting lignocellulose to fuel, however, lies in the bioconversion process of biomass to sugars. To overcome the recalcitrance of the plant cell walls, pretreatment (e.g., ball milling) can be coupled with enzymatic hydrolysis to produce sugar monomers (e.g., glucose and xylose). The research question in this thesis study was “Can Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy Attenuated Total Reflectance (FTIR-ATR) applied to untreated and physically pretreated lignocellulosic biomasses coupled with chemometric analysis predict sugar yields from enzymatic hydrolysis?” PLS models were constructed by correlating the …