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Full-Text Articles in Environmental Engineering

Exploration Of The Sludge Biodiesel Pathway, Zachary Christman May 2021

Exploration Of The Sludge Biodiesel Pathway, Zachary Christman

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Wastewater sludge is an overlooked source of fat, oil, and grease (FOG) that could be converted into biodiesel. The United States produces about 8 million tons of sludge per year. The disposal cost for this amount of sludge is about 2 billion US dollars. The widespread availability and low cost of sludge compared to other biodiesel raw materials make it an economical choice for a renewable fuel. Using sludge as a raw material can produce 25 to 30 mg per gram of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME); the main component of biodiesel. Sludge biodiesel has the potential of transforming a …


Annealing Of Encapsulated Heavy Metals From Brine Water Utilizing Microwave Enabled Sol-Gel Process, Adam Michael Flynn May 2021

Annealing Of Encapsulated Heavy Metals From Brine Water Utilizing Microwave Enabled Sol-Gel Process, Adam Michael Flynn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Various waste encapsulation strategies have been investigated to solidify and stabilize heavy metal wastewater for proper long-term storage. This work aims to enhance a method of novel sol-gel encapsulation of heavy metals from mock brine waters using tetramethyl orthosilicate with the addition of an annealing step at various temperatures in order to reduce leaching of metals from the silica monoliths when exposed to water. The metals tested for encapsulation and leaching were mercury (II) chloride, potassium dichromate, sodium selenite, boric acid, cadmium chloride, and copper (II) acetate. The annealing of the silica monoliths led to an increased degree of for …