Environmental Engineering Commons^™

A Comparative Study Characterizing Traffic Related Air Pollutant Concentrations At Near-Road Communities In El Paso, Texas, Adan Rangel

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Numerous scientific studies have demonstrated the influence of traffic related air pollution at near-road communities and the associated health risks for these populations. This study uses on-site air quality monitors to characterize air pollutants at near-road schools in El Paso, TX to understand children's exposure to traffic-related air pollutants. Ambient air monitoring stations were installed at Coldwell Elementary, Bliss Elementary, and a residential house located in close proximity to major inter-state roadways. In this study, air quality data for PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and O3 was collected over a period of nine weeks in Fall 2018. The spatial and temporal variability …

Evaluation Of Commercial Pervaporation Membranes For Desalination Of Saline And Brackish Waters, Andres F. Sanchez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Pervaporation is a solution separation method that occurs by vapor transport through a selective membrane. As the need to provide drinking water to the growing population increases, pervaporation has potential merit as an alternative desalination technology, especially for water with very high salinity.

To our knowledge, there are no commercially available pervaporation membranes made specifically for desalination applications. Thus, the membranes PERVAP 4100 and PERVAP 4101 manufactured by DeltaMemAG were tested to evaluate their performance in desalination. Because the driving force in pervaporation is the difference in vapor pressure between the feed side and the permeate side of the membrane, …

Evaluation Of Brackish Water Desalination By Membrane Capacitive Deionization Systems: Performance Tradeoffs In Salt Removal, Hydraulic Recovery, Charge Efficiency, And Specific Energy Consumption, Oluwaseye Michael Owoseni

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

As potable water demand continues to exceed availability in several regions of the world, alternative water sources such as desalination and direct potable reuse have become of high importance in water sustainability discussions. The conventional desalination technologies include reverse osmosis (RO) and thermal distillation. Major barriers to the applicability of these technologies for desalination include inorganic scaling (RO) and high energy requirements respectively. This research provides an evaluation for the feasibility of Membrane Capacitive Deionization (MCDI), which is a technology gaining interest due to its theoretically low energy requirements for brackish water (less than 3 g/L) desalination. The motivation for …

Exploring The Effects Of Zinc Nanoparticle Concentration, Antioxidant, And Media On Cilantro (Coriandrum Sativum), And Radish (Raphanus Sativus) Plants Growth, Venkata Laxma Reddy Pullagurala

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) have proven to be one of the emerging chemicals of concern in the contemporary times. Soil acts as one of the major sinks of these ENMs. Reports have shown that ENMs have varied effects on soil biota. Particularly, their effects on plants are inconsistent. Amongst these ENMs, ZnO nanoparticles (nZnO) are the fourth largest raw materials in the nanotechnology industry. Globally, it is estimated that around 34,000 tons of n ZnO are utilized per year. The nZnO exposure on terrestrial plants yielded both beneficial as well as detrimental effects. Recently, there is an emerging evidence about the …

Evaluation Of Orthophosphate Based Corrosion Inhibitors In Treated Water For El Paso Region, Francisco Solis Jr

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Corrosion is an electrochemical phenomenon that involves the deterioration of a metal by the reaction of itself with its surrounding environment. One of the greatest issues for water utilities around the country is to keep the water quality safe. Corrosion can affect the quality of the water that we use on a daily basis by adding a bad taste, increasing the concentration of heavy metals, and allowing outside contaminants to enter the distribution system. The use of phosphate based corrosion inhibitors was tested in two different metals: iron and copper. The phosphate in the inhibitors react with the calcium in …

Multi-State Multi-Objective Reliability Analysis Of Renewable Energy Systems, Luis Ramirez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This work presents a new multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA), capable of obtaining a system's reliability while considering other objectives that concurrently need to be optimized. The algorithm is applied in two different case studies. One of the problems considers a multi-state, multi-objective renewable energy system which tries to find a configuration between solar panels and wind turbines that maximizes the system's reliability of achieving specific energy demand, while also minimizes the purchasing cost of the system. The second case study analyzes a flexible manufacturing system that contains different machines that can perform different functions. The primary objective is to obtain …

Evaluation Of Powdered Activated Carbon For Control Of Taste And Odors Caused By Geosmin, Anthony Joe Rodriguez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The primary sources of taste and odor problems associated with surface water supplies spawn from algae and bacterial blooms that secrete odorous chemicals such as Geosmin and MIB. These musty, odorous, organic compounds are usually detectable by the human nose at concentrations of 5 to 10 ppt and can create considerable concern by consumers that can lead to complaints and misconceptions of odors as a water quality problem. Typically, since chemical or ozone treatment can be costly, activated carbon (powdered or granular) is generally employed in the process of removing organic compounds, such as Geosmin and MIB. The research presented …