Environmental Engineering Commons^™

The Durability Of Hot Mix Asphalt With Petroleum Contaminated Soils, Bonnie H. Dubose

Theses

Petroleum contaminated soils are considered solid waste They must be taken to solid waste facilities such as landfills or some other method must be found to deal with them. Landfills are becoming limited and is looked upon by the government as the least attractive option. One method that looks promising is to use petroleum contaminated soils in Hot Mix Asphalt Concrete.

In the research program the following are examined: 1) Investigation of material properties of the petroleum contaminated soil and aggregates 2) The proper procedure to produce a design blend of asphalt concrete. 3) Establishing the test procedure protocol to …

Catalytic Ozone/Ultraviolet Light Oxidation Of Organics In Water : Integrated Charcoal/Ozonation/Uv Radiation, Dawei Wang

Theses

A novel heterogeneous catalytic-oxidation technology where activated carbon is used as a catalyst-adsorbent, ozone serves as the oxidant and UV light as activation agent, is developed in a lab scale study. We demonstrate this process for destruction of recalcitrant organics in water i.e: combined oxidation by ozone, UV light plus activated carbon. The investigation includes evalution of various operating conditions: ozone levels, activated carbon levels; time for complete destruction of the individual target pollutants, plus evalution of activity of the continuously recativated carbon surface in-situ. All experiments were performed at room temperature in a semi-batch reactor. Seven representative chemicals was …

Evaluation Of Homogeneity For Hazardous Waste Solidification By Video Imaging Technique, Yi-Min Gao

Theses

The field of chemical solidification has just begun to mature into an accepted environmental technology for hazardous waste disposal. From the engineering point of view, some key issues still dominate the feasibility and effectiveness of hazardous waste solidification process. "Mixing" is essentially regarded as the most critical element but unfortunately, no evidence has been proposed to prove the homogeneity of the large monolith produced by solidification in order that the effectiveness of the solidification process can be evaluated in satisfactorily short time. The Homogeneity Evaluation by Video Imaging System (HEVIS) proposed in this study is to solve this problem with …

The Study Of Activated Sludge Settleability Using The Solids-Flux Analysis, Churng-Cherng Lin

Theses

The activated sludge was cultivated in two pilot-scale activated sludge systems under three ratios of BOD to N, equal to 20:1, 70:1 and 300:1 in the influent wastewater. The aeration tank of the activated sludge system was constructed in two different configurations: one without compartments in the tank, the other consisting of six compartments. The activated sludge withdrawn from the last compartment of each system was tested in a one-liter graduate cylinder to measure its zone settling velocity. The solids-flux method was employed to analyze the sludge settling characteristic as a function of solids concentration. The results show that the …

Kinetic Measuremenmt Of Decomposition Of Aniline, 2,4-Dichlorophenol And 1,2,4-Trichlorophenol Using A Calorimetric Method, Ming-Chin Chang

Theses

Biological treatment techniques for detoxification of toxic organic compounds have been studied and applied for many years. There are many research and commercial applications proving that the biological method is more economic and efficient than the other treatment methods.

The traditional biomass measurements are time-consuming tasks. Researchers have intended to develop a simpler, faster, and also accurate method for determining the bioactivity. This study has tried to use the microcalorimetric method to monitor the energy productions from the degradation of aniline, 2,4-Dichlorophenol and 1,2,4-Trichlorobenzene. Thereafter, by utilizing the data obtained from the present study, it was possible to compute kinetic …

Disinfection Of Wastewater Using Ultraviolet Radiation, David L. Klemm

Theses

The disadvantages associated with the use of chlorine for disinfection, in conjunction with improvements in ultraviolet radiation disinfection technologies have led to the recent increased use of ultraviolet radiation to provide disinfection of effluents from wastewater treatment plants. The theory of ultraviolet radiation and the engineering design of the ultraviolet disinfection system are discussed in depth.

The operational history and records of two wastewater treatment plants that use ultraviolet radiation for disinfection were analyzed in an attempt to develop correlations on the factors that affect ultraviolet radiation disinfection efficiency and to investigate as to whether disinfection with ultraviolet radiation is …

Mathematic Models On Leaching Behavior Of Chemical Solidification And Stabilization Process For Heavy Metal Sludges, Sz-Hung Chen

Theses

Chemical Solidification and Stabilization of toxic metal-containing sludges is one of the most important problems for environmental protection. Although Chemical Solidification and Stabilization of hazardous wastes prior to disposal is increasing in importance, very little work has been done concerning the leaching mechanisms and kinetic models.

In this study, we apply Freundlich & Langmuir isotherms on Chemical Solidification and Stabilization process, and the theoretical results match with experimental data very well. In the same time, we develop a simple methematical kinetic model which relates leaching concentration of heavy metal to curing time. In this study kinetic model, what you need …

Influence Of Heavy Metal Concentration On Rotating Biological Contrator Performance, Huei-Sheng Cheng

Theses

Seven heavy metals ( Fe⁺², Mn⁺², Zn⁺², Ag⁺, Pb⁺², Cu⁺², Cd⁺² ) at various concentrations were investigated in a Rotating Biological Contactor (RBC) system. The experimental data indicated that the degree of heavy metal toxicity in the biological system mainly depended on the ratio of inflow heavy metal concentration to organic loading. The optimal ratio of heavy metal to organic loading was determined on the basis of the maximum removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) under different operating conditions. In addition, the effect of heavy metal on …

Biodegradation Of Tnt (2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene), Jin Lou

Theses

This study summaries the results of various methods treating 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT). Review of available literatures revealed that the most commonly used techniques in full-scale plant for TNT removal are chemical oxidation and carbon adsorption.

From economic point of view, the biological treatment system will be much more cost-effective. Various methods for improving the efficiency of biological system treating TNT wastewater were developed in the laboratory. Current laboratory results show that by isolating appropriate microorganisms under adequate conditions, TNT wastes can be degraded successfully.

At the some time, some pretreatment technologies are recommended in this study for improving the performance of …

Disc Size Scale-Up In Rotating Biological Contactor System, Chi-Sheng Chang

Theses

Disc size scale-up of prototype and small-scale RBC plants are successfully developed by applying the 114 data sets obtained from 12 RBC plants to the evaluation of percent sBOD remaining. These data analyses are performed by the least square method, therefore, the scale-up factors of the prototype and the small-scale are determined at different hydraulic loading. Furthermore, the relationship between scale-up factor and the disc diameter are established under the given flow rate, the number of stages, and the number of discs. A group of Curves are obtained and can be utilized for the full-scale RBC plant preliminary design. The …

Stability Of Hot Mix Asphalt With Petroleum Contaminated Soils, De-Rong Lobo Huang

Theses

One of the most effective ways of reducing petroleum contaminated soil is to use it in the production of hot mix asphalt. Both asphalt cement and petroleum contaminates have similar chemical properties. Therefore, The contaminates will be locked within the asphalt matrix without potential leaching.

The six different petroleum contaminate soil samples from New Jersey were used in this research. Since those samples have different physical properties (such as moisture content, specific gravity, plastic limit, liquid limit, grain size distribution) and chemical properties( such as concentration of the contaminate, and type of contaminates) the maximum amount of petroleum contaminated soil …

Solidification/Stabilization Of Chromium Contaminated Soil Using Cement And Fly Ash, Arunkumar Sripathi

Theses

Chromium, when present in the soil, can cause serious health hazards. Toxicity depends upon the concentration in the soil. Chromium in soil has become a major problem in some sites and a method must be developed so that it can be treated or disposed of in a safe manner.

In this research experiments are conducted to check whether the chromium contaminated soil can be solidified and landfilled in a safe way. To have a control over the amount of chromium present in the soil, pure soil (free from chromium contamination) was used and chromium was added in different proportion.

Another …

Centrifugal Modeling Of Leaking Underground Storage Tanks, Kuo-Neng George Chang

Theses

There are between 2 to 3.5 million Underground Storage Tanks (UST) located through this nation. Most of these tanks store gasoline and fuel oil. Many tanks in fact are or will soon be leaking, thus making them one of the major sources of groundwater contamination in USA. The fate and transport of chemicals from the leaking USTs is estimated from mathematical models. A major difficulty in these modeling efforts has been a crucial lack of information concerning the constitutive relationships governing multiphase contaminant movement.

Centrifugal modeling is an alternative to mathematical modeling, which may give an insight to the problem …

The Dewaterability Of Anaerobically-Digested Sludges, Hui-Ching Lee

Theses

Vacuum filtration is the most common method used for sludge dewatering. Filtering or dewatering was operated to reduce the moisture content of the sludge after anaerobic digestion treatment.

The main purpose of this study is to determine the effect of the operating conditions of anaerobic digestion system on specific resistance in sludge filtration. The anaerobic sludges used for the present study were produced from the conventional single stage system and the multiple-stage system. From the experimental results, presently obtained that it is possible to compare the advantage and disadvantage of the two different digestion systems.

In addition, the effectiveness of …

Temperature Scale-Up On Rotating Biological Contactor Nitrification System, Kuanchun Lee

Theses

The relationship between RBC scale-up factor (SUF) and wastewater temperature is successfully developed by using Dr. Wu's mathematical model as a basis and 114 sets of data from the operation of 8 full-scale and 5 pilot-scale RBC plants served for NH3-N removal. The SUF obtained from this study is put into practice to present the scale-up of hydraulic loading for basic full-scale RBC plant design when the pilot study results are known and the design efficiency is fixed. An additional study is made to investigate two different RBC products manufactured by Autotrol Inc. and Lyco Inc. in terms of the …

Demulsification And Separation Of Oil In A Water/Particulate System, Fong-Jung Tai

Theses

The wastewater generated from installation factories contains high suspended solids ( SS ) and oil. Effective removal of oil and clay particles in washrack wastewater can be achieved by using organic polymer TFL-398 alone or in conjunction with alum. The dissolved/emulsified oil concentration and suspended solids are used to represent the degree of oil demulsification and clay particles destabilization, respectively.

To improve the efficiency of oil demulsification and reduce the chemical consumption, pretreatment of the influent wastewater is essentially necessary. pH adjustment to 11-12 generally reduces chemical requirement. Total oil concentration was reduced significantly at pH = 11.7 without any …

A Study Of Methane Gas Production On Anaerobic Digestion System, Seng-Fung Su

Theses

The anaerobic sludge digestion process is not a recent development. At least 100 years ago in France,Louis H. Mouras designed and constructed fermenters to liquefy the sludge obtained from domestic wastes.

Since the turn of the century, the anaerobic fermentation process has been used extensively in the treatment of waste-water solids.

The necessity of preventing pollution of water resource, as a consequence of the rapid increase in human waste, demands adequate treatment of liquid wastes from domestic and industrial sources. For this purpose, the anaerobic digestion process can play an important role as a method for stabilizing and eliminating wastes …

Application Research On Wastewater Reuse For Petrochemical Refining Industry In Taiwan, Lih-Shyan Lee

Theses

Nowadays water conservation and pollution abatement are needed to provide increasingly higher levels of treatment for industrial wastewaters.

Reducing treatment costs give us the incentive to minimize the volume of Wastewater effluent. Also, the national goal of zero discharge of pollutants to the waterways by 1985 provided further incentive -to minimize the flow of wastewaters.

A successful treatment of the wastewater discharged from the secondary effluent of the petroleum refinery plant to economically acceptable conditions offers a challenge to our technology.

Through this research, it is concluded that the excellent effluent water qualities produced from filtration and granular activated carbon …

Testing And Modelling Of The Cleaner Wick System For In-Situ Treatment Of Contaminated Groundwater Plumes, Sanjiv I. Shah

Theses

The cleaner wick system, a modification of wick drains; a technology in recent use to consolidate low permeability soils, is proposed to treat contaminated groundwater plumes. Laboratory experiments on surrogate contaminants produce satisfactory results. Theoretical models are developed utilizing the cleaner wick system to treat volatile organic contaminants by air stripping and adsorption on granular activated carbon.

Treatment Of Trucking Station Wastewater By Two-Phase Anaerobic Digestion System And Rotating Biological Contactor, Tzu-Wen Uen

Theses

The wastewater produced as a result of trucking station activities has some major characteristics such as high COD (26,880 mg/1-42,925 mg/1) and BOD (12,278 mg/1-7,265 mg/1), high COD to BOD ratio (3.49-3.69), high pH range (3.72-11.7), and high grease content (480 mg/1-1,960 mg/1). Therefore, prior to any treatment, it is important to provide some sort of pre-treatment for pH adjustment and grease/oil removal.

The present laboratory investigation has indicated that successful treatment and purification of the subject wastewater is possible using two-phase anaerobic digestion system followed by rotating biological contactor. More than 90% of both COD and BOD was removed …

Measurement Of Biodegradation Aniline, 2,4-Dichlorophenol, 1,2,4-Trichlorobenzene Using Microcalorimetric Method, Lung-Weng Yao

Theses

Biodegradation of aniline, 2,4-dichloro-phenol, and 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene by using micro-calorimetric method under aerobic condition has been investigated. The rate of heat energy output during the course of log growth phase was kinetically expressed by inhibition equation. The constants of Um(the maximum energy production rate), Ks(saturation rate), Ki(inhibition constant), and n(degree of inhibition) has been of 8.764hr-1, 0.13mg/L, 0.136mg/L, and 4.6 for 2,4-DCP; 3.33hr-1, 0.315mg/L, 0.35mg/L, and 1.4 for 1,24-TCB; 3.639hr-1, 0.4485mg/L, 0.485mg/L, and 5 for aniline.

Surfactant Enhanced Scrubbing In An Ejector Venturi Scrubber Of Sulfur Dioxide From Air Exhaust Streams, Humberto Roman

Theses

The objective of this work was to determine the feasibility of applying the Surfactant Enhanced Scrubbing technique to the removal of sulfur dioxide using an ejector venturi scrubber.

Surfactants were chosen according to information from manufacturers. Those surfactants which offered good behavior in the presence of acidic solutions ( low pH ), and anti-corrosion characteristics were tested.

In the first phase, experiments were performed to determine the behavior of the foams in the ejector venturi scrubber. A foam destruction system was used when foaming conditions required it. In the second phase dynamic runs were performed to determine the removal efficiencies …

Anaerobic Biodegradation Of Trichloroethylene By Activated Carbon Fluidized-Bed, Yeam-How Chin

Theses

Abstract - The biodegradation of Trichloroethylene by using anaerobic activated carbon fluidized bed has been investigated in the present study. High quality effluent was obtainable when the TCE influent concentration was up to 2.4 ppm in the first stage. Glucose was introduced as a cosubstrate to determine the effects of glucose/TCE ratio on the COD, Glucose and TCE removal. The experimental data indicates that the overall TCE removal efficiency was only slightly affected by TCE loading, but the first stage performance was significantly influenced by TCE loadings. It was also found that the microbial activities were affected by TCE loadings …

Variations Of Alkalinity, Ph, Oxidation Reduction Potential, And Conductivity In Single And Multi-Stage Sludge Digestion Systems, Nasser M. Kamazani

Theses

Anaerobic digestion is used at many municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants. Recent increase in the cost of energy and search for an alternative source of energy for the future have prompted renewed interest in anaerobic digestion for energy recovery by production of methane from waste materials, including wastewater sludges and agricultural and municipal solid wastes. Accordingly, a large literature exist on the subject, most of it dealing with more physical aspects of different process design. Little or not enough attention has been paid to its highly complex biochemical characteristics.

The purpose of this study is a preliminary investigation regarding …

Removal Of Contaminants From Clay Soils By Thermal Desorption, Wen-Ming Mao

Theses

The objective of this study was to investigate the removal of contaminants from clay soils by thermal treatment. There were two phases involved in this project. The first was a study of equilibrium adsorption of clay - organics study, and the second was the determination of the thermal desorption characteristics.

Three organics, phenol, chlorophenol, and chlorobenzene and one clay soil, bentonite, were selected for these studies. The first phase, involved the simulation of the isothermal adsorption simulated the process of contaminants being sorbed onto bentonite. Three different isotherm models,viz, Linear isotherm, Freundlich isotherm, and Langmuir isotherm were evaluated with experimental …

Environmental Impact Assessment For Water Resources Projects : Planning Procedure And Analytical Methods, Mahadesh C. Tumkur

Theses

This thesis presents a state of the art review of environmental impact assessment procedures utilised in the water resources projects which have evolved over the past two decades. The methodologies employed and some of their limitations which exist and are inherent in both the planning and assessment phases of analysis are identified. The above was supplemented by an investigation of the various views of professionals currently employing the above methodologies. The review effort summarizes the relevant information obtained from the literature which is rather dynamic because of the ever evolving nature of the field. One conclusion drawn from this study …

Durability Of Slurry Cut-Off Walls Around Hazardous Waste Sites, M. Khalid Umer

Theses

A study was undertaken in order to provide insight into the behavior of backfill materials when in contact with hazardous chemicals. It was found that the liquid limit is not a reliable parameter in assessing clay behavior when exposed to these chemicals. However, the expansion index provided a consistent correlation to permeability when all other conditions were kept constant. In addition, the use of fly ash mixed with clay showed an increase in the values of permeability even though its grain size is finer than that of sand. It is believed that this phenomenon was the result of the absence …

Anaerobic Biodegradation Of Trichloroethylene By Activated Carbon Fluidized-Bed, Jiunn-Horng Chern

Theses

The synthetic wastewater containing trichloroethylene (TCE) was anaerobically degraded with glucose using activated carbon fluidized-bed.

The range of TCE concentration from 26 ppb to 10.8 ppm was examined. The ratio of glucose to TCE in the influent wastewater was ranged from 26 to 805, while the TCE loading ranged from 0.025 to 1.510 mg/hr-L.

The TCE removal efficiency under these treatment conditions was found to be of 99.4%. However, the reduction of chemical oxygen demand (COD) decreased when the TCE loadings was over 0.38 mg/hr-L.

The Quantitative Determination Of Formaldehyde In Ambient Air (Analytical Method), Chitsan Lin

Theses

A procedure for coating in situ silica gel in prepacked cartridges with 2,4-dinitrophenylhvdrazine (DNPH) acidified with hydrochloric acid is described. The method was evaluated under practical field conditions in The Northern New Jersey-Staten Island Urban Air Toxics Project. The formaldehyde hydrazone formed is desorbed by acetonitrile and determined by high-performance liquid chromatography with UV det.ection. In this study, we have examined trap coaz)ng, trap efficiency, parallel ambient air and inaoor air sampLing, to find the best analysis method. Sampling traps aci:iifled .:ith hydrochloric acid perform better than those using percnicric acid or phosphoric acid. Trap sampling efficiency was significantly affected …

An Improved Method Of Gas Chromatographic Determination Of Trace Organic Vapors In Ambient Air Collected In Canisters, Yong-Jin Shen

Theses

An improved method for analysis and quantitation of volatile organic compounds in ambient air has been developed. Samples are collected in evacuated SUMMA polished stainless steel canisters using a sampling flow apparatus with a critical orifice as flowrate controller. Analysis of VOCs in the collected air is carried out by cryogenically concentrating the sample, then thermally transfering it onto the head of a capillary column in a gas chromatograph. The column effluent is measured by a parallel flame ionization detector (FID), and electron capture detector (ECD). The problems associating with quantitative transfer of the sample to the initial cryofocusing loop …