Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Assessing Annual And Seasonal Spatial Variability Of Ambient Pm10 Using Linear Regression Analysis In A United States-Mexico Urban Sprawl, Mario Ivan Garcia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

As air quality issues grow progressively in the consciousness of the global community, stakeholders are pressing for epidemiologic studies of air pollution. The effects of chronic exposure to ambient air pollution remain a difficult challenge due to its substantial small-scale spatial variation. Recent approaches to assess intra-urban exposure have employed the use of proximity-based assessment, interpolation methods, emission-meteorological models, dispersions models, and land-use regression (LUR) models.

This thesis assesses the spatial variability of ambient particulate matter (PM10) obtained by five self-governing models for the area of El Paso. Using multiple linear regression analysis five regression-based equations were developed to predict …

Controlling Features And Processes For Radionuclide Release From Unsaturated Zone Geological Repositories, Lubna K. Hamdan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In the long run, nuclear waste packages will fail gradually due to localized and general corrosion and radionuclides will be transported to the accessible environment by ground water.

Two main failure scenarios are expected for the waste packages: Flow-through model and bathtub model; in the flow-through model water flows through the waste container, while in the bathtub model water pools inside the waste package. The Department of Energy, in their performance assessment of the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain, excluded the bathtub model from their analysis and assumed the diffusion and advection to be in the same direction in the …

Low Impact Development (Lid) Structures For Groundwater Management And Watershed Protection In The Amrc10 Watershed, El Paso Texas, Ricardo Sabino Marmolejo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The AMRC10 watershed was modeled in HEC-HMS and in Green Values. Theoretical storm water conveyance and capture models were tested in these programs along with several Low environmental Impact Development features to determine their applicability and performance at this site. Lots should all be designed with all roof downspouts draining into raingardens, at least half of all lawns should be natural landscaping using local vegetation, porous pavement should be used for all driveways, sidewalks and non-street pavement and drainage to the stormwater conveyance structures should make use of drainage swales instead of storm water pipes. To manage runoff three detention …

Silica Removal From Brine By Using Ion Exchange, Carlos R. Acevedo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Local governments have been forced to look for additional water sources to satisfy the ever increasing demand for fresh water. Very often, the new water sources such as the underground water in continental territories have high salt content. Currently, reverse osmosis technology (RO) is one of the most common processes for water desalination. However, this process is limited by high silica and salt concentrations in water. At high concentrations silica clogs the membranes used in the RO process, reducing their life and increasing operational costs. In this study, quaternary ammonium resins and sulfonic acid resins were used to remove silica …

Treatment Of Ro Concentrate Using Vsep Technology, Guillermo Guadalupe Delgado

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The city of El Paso has the largest inland brackish desalination plant in the world. The Kay Bailey Hutchison (KBH) Desalting plant produces 15 million of permeate water every day. Due to the excellent quality of the water, the permeate water is blended with brackish water producing a final volume of 27.5 million gallons of water every day. With an average recovery rate of 80%, the KBH plant produces an average of 3 million gallons of concentrated brackish water that is disposed of via injection wells 23 miles from the plant.

Conventional reverse osmosis (RO) systems are not capable of …

Transition Metal Catalysts For Hydrodesulfurization Reactions Applied To Petroleum Industry, Brenda Torres

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Catalysis plays a fundamental role in petroleum refining and basic petrochemical industries creating new routes in the development of industrial processes. Moreover, catalysis has become indispensable to the solution of environmental pollution problems and therefore on public health. World wide concerns for preservation of the environment has motivated the development of "Green" catalyst based technologies, to achieve a better utilization of petroleum resources and demands for cleaner transportation fuels. These environmental concerns have led to increasingly drastic regulations on sulfur, nitrogen and aromatics content in fuels. Sulfur content in the motor and diesel fuels is continuously reduced by regulations to …

Sustainable Development Extension Plan (Sudex): Community Mobilization Through Proactive Participation And Synergistic Alliance To Alliviate Poverty And Achieve Sustainable Self Sufficiency, Stephen Forbes

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Dissertation describes a sustainable development extension plan (Sudex Plan) to help communities in developing countries achieve Goal 1 of the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Goal 1 focuses on reducing poverty and hunger by 50% by the year 2015, but all the MDG are interrelated and one can not be achieved without considering the others, and to attain any is an empty accomplishment without ways to ensure that they can be sustained and continuously improved with the means to pass on the information, knowledge and lessons learned from community to community, generation to generation. The Sudex Plan is …

Analysis Of Number And Mass Concentration Of Coarse And Fine, Nancy Garcia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

There is currently much concern over particles suspended in the ambient air, their effects on people and the environment throughout the world. The suspended particles can cause adverse health effects, reduce visibility and over the course of time wear buildings. Primary air quality concerns are of particles, their effects and their key characteristics. Particle number concentration (NC) of traffic emissions is an important element of the study, specifically heavy duty diesel engine emissions. Particle number concentration is the number of particles of a specific size in a unit of air; in this study they are measured by the number of …

Screening The Phytoremediation Potential Of Native Plants Growing On Mine Tailings In Arizona, Usa, Md Nazmul Haque

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Mining companies have been playing an important role for the utilization of the Earth's natural resources for the prosperity of human society. However, the mining of resources has generated solid wastes called tailings that have become a serious environmental threat worldwide. Technologies such as soil caping have been used to remediate the problem. Nevertheless, the remediation of mine tailings using conventional technologies is costly and environmentally unpleasant. Since the last few decades, a plant based technology known as phytoremediation has appeared as a promising alternative. Several plant species have demonstrated to have phytoremediation capabilities; though, best results have been obtained …