Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Recent Advancements In Electrochemical Conversion Of Carbon Dioxide, Nandan Nag, Amit Kumar, Sumit Sharma, Sandeep Kumar, Amit K. Thakur

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide into eco-friendly and clean products is a promising approach to eradicate pollution. Although carbon dioxide emission is inhibited by the advent of renewable sources of energy, it is present in the atmosphere and needs to be cleaned. The reduction of carbon dioxide from atmospheric gases can be accomplished by its adsorption and subsequent transportation to electrolytic chambers, where it is reduced to hydrocarbons, organic acids or carbonates. This review focuses on developing a three compartment electrochemical cell to reduce carbon dioxide used as a catholyte. Various factors affecting the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide and …

Advancements In Pressurized Oxy-Combustion Process: Pollutant Control And Process Development, Piyush Kumar Verma

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

The emission of carbon dioxide from the power industry is one of the major causes of climate change. However, it is well established that the development of human societies across the globe depends on reliable and dispatchable power, which are generally the source of these emissions. There has been a recent growth in the integration of intermittent sources such as wind and solar which are carbon free. But these intermittent sources have significant temporal changes in power production and thus lack reliability and dispatchablity. This is a complicated problem to solve. However, flexible power plants with carbon capture and storage, …

Droplet And Particle Dynamics In Aerosol Reactors And Environmental System, Sukrant Dhawan

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Aerosol science and engineering is an enabler for continual advances in nanomaterial synthesis. The spray-based techniques have been used extensively for the large-scale production of nanoparticles. Synthesis of particles with a desired the size and morphology is of key importance for exploiting their properties for their use in several emerging technologies. In contrast to useful nanomaterials, the aerosols from industrial flue gas, dust, indoor cooking, pathogens, and wildfire etc. are harmful to human health. It is important to understand how these harmful aerosols travel through the environment and potentially impact the health. It is also very critical to improve the …

Systematic Design, Optimization, And Sustainability Assessment For Generation Of Efficient Wastewater Treatment Networks, Kirti Maheshkumar Yenkie, Emmanuel A Aboagye, Sean M. Burnham, James Dailey, Rohan Zia, Carley Tran, Maya Desai

Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering Departmental Research

Due to population growth and economic development, there has been an increase in global wastewater (WW) generation footprint. There are different technologies associated with the wastewater treatment (WWT) process. The challenge is to select technologies that minimize the cost of treatment, as well as meet purity requirements. Further, there is a need to integrate sustainability analysis to facilitate a holistic decision. With the application of systems engineering, sustainable and cost-effective solutions can be achieved. In this work, we apply systems engineering to generate a sustainable and cost-effective solution. A superstructure was generated by categorizing technologies into four treatment stages. After …

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 …

Valorization Of Secondary Agriculture Residues, Narendra Kumar

Master's Theses

Secondary agriculture residues have the potential to be major contributors as resources for energy and sustainably sourced materials production. Separating secondary agricultural residues, which have already been transported to processing centers, into individual biomass components could convert these wastes into bioproducts. Many types of pretreatments to achieve this separation involve chemicals that are hazardous for the environment. Several deep eutectic solvents (DES) that are biocompatible have been investigated for their ability to deconstruct rice hulls and sugarcane bagasse. Mass yield, enzymatic hydrolysis of the pretreated biomass, fiber analysis, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy have confirmed that the DES formic acid:choline …

Valorization Of Secondary Agriculture Residues, Narendra Kumar

Doctoral Dissertations

Secondary agriculture residues have the potential to be major contributors as resources for energy and sustainably sourced materials production. Separating secondary agricultural residues, which have already been transported to processing centers, into individual biomass components could convert these wastes into bioproducts. Many types of pretreatments to achieve this separation involve chemicals that are hazardous for the environment. Several deep eutectic solvents (DES) that are biocompatible have been investigated for their ability to deconstruct rice hulls and sugarcane bagasse. Mass yield, enzymatic hydrolysis of the pretreated biomass, fiber analysis, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy have confirmed that the DES formic acid:choline …

Surface Modified Polypropylene Membranes For Treating Hydraulic Fracturing Produced Waters By Membrane Distillation, Tharaka Hawpe Gamage

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Membrane distillation is an emerging technology for treating hydraulic fracturing flowback and produced waters. Suppression of membrane fouling by inorganic and polar and non-polar organic compounds is a challenge. Here polyhydroxyethyl methacrylate, polyacrylic acid, polvinylallyl imidazolium bromide and polyvinylhexyl imidazolium bromide chains have been grafted from the membrane surface. Fouling is initially due to adsorption of organic compounds followed by scale formation. When challenged with produced water, membranes modified with polvinylallyl imidazolium bromide chains provided the greatest resistance to fouling. For EC pretreated produced water and synthetic produced water that contained mainly inorganic species, the flux decline was much less.

Household Income And Air Pollution At Public Schools In The United States, Katyland Facas, Kristina Wagstrom

Honors Scholar Theses

Poor air quality at schools may negatively impact students’ academic performance.1 2 3 In this study we look at the relationship between ambient, outdoor air quality and student socioeconomic status at United States public schools. We used free and reduced lunch eligibility, as part of the USDA’s National School Lunch Program, as an indicator of household income. We focus on nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3), and particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns (PM2.5). We used ambient pollutant concentration estimates at census block group resolution (Kim et al.) as the outdoor air pollution concentration at each school.4 We found a positive …

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 …

Development Of Novel Polymeric Materials For Their Application In Monitoring And Remediation Of Environmental Pollutants, Rishabh Shah

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Remediation of environmental pollutants from water is one of the major challenges in the 21st century. Utilizing novel polymeric materials to accomplish this challenge has garnered a lot of interest in recent times. Flexibility in synthesizing as well as functionalizing makes them attractive for their application in pollutant remediation. This work is based on development and characterization of novel crosslinked polymeric as well as linear polymeric materials from biphenyl-based monomers, biphenyl based crosslinker and a temperature responsive monomer (Nisopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm)) for their application in remediation of toxic pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and iron oxide nanoparticle …

Chlorination As Drinking Water Disinfection Technique And Disinfection By Products: A Scientometric Analysis, Sapna Ramchandra Shinde, Sayali D. Apte Dr, Kanchan C. Khare Dr, Philipp Otter Mr

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2015, defined to achieve a better and more sustainable future, contains goal number 6 related to safe and affordable drinking water facility for all till 2030. The rural and remote areas in the developing countries predominantly face the scarcity of pathogen free drinking water leading to water borne diseases and deaths due to consumption of contaminated water indicating a need of advancement in the drinking water disinfection techniques. The paper discusses scientometric analysis of publication trends in chlorination as a popular disinfection techniques and research related to the Disinfection By Products (DBPs) that are produced …

Isotherm And Kinetics Study For The Adsorption Of Nitrate From An Aqueous Solution Using A Modified Rice Straw, Dalia A. Ali Eng, Mohamed A. Sadek Prof., Nagwa Mahmoud Al-Mansi Prof, Ahmad Wafiq Aboelnasr Dr.

Chemical Engineering

In this research, modified rice straw (MRS) is proposed. The proposed production process of the modified rice straw (MRS) adsorbent is carried out by precipitation of iron nano particles on the surface of acid activated rice straw. The nitrate adsorption is carried out through batch experiments. The optimum nitrate removal 94.8 % was achieved at pH = 7, adsorbent dose 3 = g/L, 150 rpm, initial nitrate concentration = 23 mg/L and contact time 180 = min. The new adsorbent synthesis, kinetics and isotherm models were studied. The nitrate adsorption was well described by pseudo second order kinetic model (R2 …

Optimization Of Nitrate Removal From Aqueous Solution By Acid-Activated Rice Straw Supported Nano Zero-Valent Iron Using Response Surface Methodology, Dalia A. Ali Eng, Nagwa Mahmoud Al-Mansi Prof, Mohamed Amin Sadek Prof., Ahmad Wafiq Abolnasr Dr.

Chemical Engineering

Rice straw is one of the most common agricultural wastes due to its large production amounts. Energy valorization of rice straw is a technology used for nitrate removal as the produced ashes used to generate the adsorbent by means of an alkali dissolution followed by acid precipitation. The novelty of the proposed process is that the production of the nano zero-valent iron supported acid-activated rice straw (AARS-nZVI) adsorbent is carried out without the energy valorization process but, through an acid activation for rice straw followed by precipitation of nZVI particles on its surface. The new adsorbent synthesis, characterization and application …

Advanced Materials For Air Pollutants Removal In A Combustion System, Sungyoon Jung

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Air pollutants directly or indirectly impact human health and the environment. Large quantities of CO2, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and particulate matter are emitted from combustion systems, and cause climate change, smog formation, and pose serious health risks. The increasing demand for the remediation of air pollutants at the source has drawn much attention to the use of advanced materials due to their high reactivities and special properties. In order to achieve the successful application of advanced materials for the remediation of problematic emissions, three aspects, (1) synthesis method, (2) characterization of materials’ structural properties, and (3) evaluation of materials’ …

Particle Studies In The Lab And Pilot-Scale Coal Combustion Systems, Dishant Khatri

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

In the past century, coal contributed more to the global electricity supply than any other source. Currently, it alone accounts for over 35% of the global electricity supply. Though coal is globally well-distributed and can provide cheap, stable, and reliable energy on demand, it emits a large amount of carbon dioxide—a greenhouse gas responsible for global warming. Additionally, it is a major source of particulate matter (PM) pollution. Thus, in recent years, to reduce the impact of coal on climate, several policies have been introduced to phase out coal. However, replacing coal with intermittent renewables has led to a reduction …

Analysis And Optimization Of Colorimetric Nanosensors For Rapid Detection Of Microbes In Water, Ruby A. Lang

Master's Theses

Access to safe water is a basic human right recognized by the United Nations General Assembly in 2010 (WHO, 2020). However, a least 2.2 billion people globally still are without safely managed water services meaning they use a drinking water source that can be contaminated with faeces (WHO, 2020). With such a pressing global health issue, it is clear that improvement to water systems is important and required in the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, to improve water systems and prove they are safe water sources, water quality testing must occur. A solution to this issue is the …

Chemistry Of Nanoscale Solids And Organic Matter In Sustainable Water Management Systems, Xuanhao Wu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

To alleviate global water scarcity and improve public health, engineered water treatment and management systems have been developed for purifying contaminated water and desalinating brackish or ocean water. These engineered systems provide substantial amounts of potable water and lessen environmental concerns about the release of contaminated water. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), water desalination plants (WDPs), and managed aquifer recharge systems (MARs) are three representative sustainable water management (SWM) systems. But the operation of all three poses two fundamental questions: (1) What is the fate of nanoscale solids (e.g., engineered nanomaterials, naturally occurring nanoparticles) in SWM systems and how will their …

Pollution Prevention Via Recovery Of Cerium (Iv) Oxide In Optics Company, Eugene Park, William Gallagher, Sydor Optics, Flint Creek Resources

Articles

Pollution prevention methods were applied at an optics manufacturer in an effort to improve recovery of a valuable polishing component, cerium oxide (ceria), 77% of which was lost to dragout and sewer discharge. Centrifugation and microfiltratiion were evaluated to develop a process that would increase recovery of used ceria, which would then be sent back to the ceria supplier for reclamation and reuse. Full-scale implementation included a high-speed centrifuge that operates continuously with a microfiltration system through recirculation in a single process tank. Sydor Optics has improved ceria recovery from 23% to 48%, saving thousands of dollars annually.

Investigation Of Tracer-Surfactant-Foam Processes In Shallow Subsurface Environmental Remediation: History-Matching And Performance Prediction, Hazem Fleifel

LSU Master's Theses

In-situ subsurface remediation has been widely used as an efficient means of cleaning up non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL) from contaminated soils and aquifer. The use of tracer, surfactant, and foam are often considered to keep track of the propagation of injected fluids in the medium, dissolve and mobilize contaminants trapped by capillary forces, and overcome the level of heterogeneity and improve displacement and sweep efficiencies.

This study shows an actual remediation process to reduce NAPL within a military base in South Korea, by injecting tracer and surfactant solutions together for a duration of 10 days. The site consists of 5 …

Three-Phase Hydrodynamic Simulation And Experimental Validation Of An Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Reactor, Camila D' Bastiani, Jéferson Luis Alba, Gabriel Tomazzoni Mazzarotto, Severino Rodrigues De Farias Neto, Anthony Reynolds, David Kennedy, Lademir Luiz Beal

Articles

This research focuses on performing multiphase solid/liquid/gas CFD simulations of a UASB reactor in order to obtain a validated model that provides a clearer understanding of the hydrodynamic behaviour of the three phases in UASB reactors. Eulerian–Eulerian, laminar, three-dimensional, multiphase simulations are carried out using Fluent 16.2. The liquid phase velocity and flow profile are validated through PIV experiments. A liquid mean velocity difference of 8.45% is found between the experimental and numerical results, thus validating the CFD model. Shadowgraphy is applied successfully to validate the biogas phase velocity and bubble size. Based on the hydrodynamic analysis results, the reactor …

Aqueous And Oil Products From Hydrothermal Liquefaction Of Manure Digestate, Kenzie Burns

Honors Theses

Hydrothermal liquefaction is a promising thermochemical waste-to-energy (WtE) technology for conversion of wet biomasses, such as manure and digested manure, into value-added products, namely energy-rich biofuel and a nutrient-rich aqueous product. WtE technologies can address environmental issues relating to overproduction of organic wastes and increasing dependence on fossil fuels, which leads to climate change. HTL has not been implemented on a commercial scale, in part due to the uncertainty regarding specific reaction pathways for different feedstocks and ideal conditions for production of the most valuable products.

This research investigates the compositions of the aqueous and oil products from HTL of …

Development Of Amine-Functionalized Mesoporous Alumina For Radioiodine Removal From Water, Mansour Mohammed Alsalbokh

Masters Theses

“Radioactive materials have spread due to careless disposal and nuclear disasters. Some radionuclides can exist in an aqueous media, like radioactive iodine. As a result, in this work amine-functionalized mesoporous alumina was developed to adsorb radioactive iodine from the liquid phase. Bismuth was incorporated, using a wet impregnation method, to test it as a possible silver replacement. Amine grafting was used to functionalize the surface of the mesoporous alumina. All materials prepared in this work were characterized by N₂ physisorption, FTIR and TGA to determine the textural properties, surface functionality, and amine loading. The synthesized materials were tested for …

Systems Analysis For Sustainability Assessment Of Biogas And Bio-Ch4 Production From Food Waste And Dairy Manure Mixtures In The Us, Sharath Kumar Ankathi

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The purpose of the dissertation is to relate systems analysis for bioenergy to identify optimum configurations for improved scenarios and to make better decisions in a systems perspective.

Chapter 1 is a review of the literature to identify the state of the knowledge in terms of systems analysis for anaerobic digestion (AD) bioenergy systems. The key outcomes from this review showed that anaerobic digestion of mixtures of food waste and animal manure has great potential to achieve economic and environmental benefits compared to other treatments of organic waste materials, such as landfilling or conventional manure management.

Chapter 2 focuses on …

Mechanisms Of Pathogen Inactivation In Wastewater And Pharmaceutical Applications, Christa L. Meingast

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Infectious diseases are a significant threat to public health. Though society enacts practices to prevent the spread of these dangerous diseases, challenges remain. Therefore, continual advancements in treatment and prevention are required. Wastewater treatment and viral clearance in pharmaceutical applications are two key health measures that prevent the spread of infections.

A low-cost, low-technology biosolids treatment process was developed to improve wastewater treatment by collecting key information on storage temperature, ammonia, volatile solids, moisture content, pH, and pathogen inactivation in biosolids over long-term storage at two wastewater treatment plants located in northern climates of the United States. Inactivation of pathogens …

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). …

Investigation Of Urea Decomposition And Deposit Formation In Diesel Exhaust After-Treatment System, Anand Alembath

Doctoral Dissertations

“Urea-selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system has proved to be an effective solution to reduce NO_x emissions in commercial vehicle (CV) diesel engines. A significant challenge in urea injection is to comprehend its decomposition chemistry that leads to formation of undesired deposits in the exhaust system unit. Due to complex interaction of multi-phase fluid flow and transport processes, significant uncertainty is associated with the identification of interacting factors that control the deposit initiation and its growth. To meet the future ultra-low NO_x emissions and to deliver ammonia without deposit formation, there is an imminent need to develop the urea-SCR …

Wastewater Treatment Fatty Acids For Biodiesel Production, Zachary Christman

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

Wastewater scum is the thick oily substance that floats on top of the primary and secondary tanks within a wastewater treatment plant. Scum has a 30% to 60% lipid content making it an excellent resource for the biodiesel industry. Also the use of scum would reduce the cost of current management practices such as landfill disposal or incineration. In this article there is an overview of lipid byproducts currently being produced at wastewater treatment plants today. This is followed by a presentation showing a full length process for turning wastewater scum into biodiesel raw material.

Electrification Of Domestic Hot Water To Aid The Integration Of Renewable Energy In The California Grid, Alejandro Cervantes

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Water heating in residential buildings, also known as domestic hot water (DHW), is the third largest use of energy after appliances and space conditioning. About 90% of the residential buildings in the state use natural gas fueled water heaters, 6% use electricity, and a small percent use liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or solar water heaters. The current energy use associated with residential water heating is small relative to the total amount of energy consumption in the residential building sector, but it is still a contributor of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Improving hot water systems can be beneficial for bill customer …

Contemporary Problems In Aerosol Aggregation And Gelation, Pai Liu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Aggregation of nanoparticles in aerosols is a fundamental phenomenon with important implications to diverse fields ranging from material synthesis to pollutant control. The past few decades have witnessed extensive research on investigating the structure and growth mechanism of aerosol aggregates with sizes spanning across several orders of magnitude. This dissertation focuses on some contemporary problems that remain unaddressed in this topical area. Aerosol aggregates in sub-micron regimes, which are formed via the irreversible collision and aggregation of solid nanoparticle monomers, are fractal-like in their morphology. A mathematical description of this seemingly random structure dates to the seminal works by Forest …