Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Preservation Of Methanogenic Cultures To Enhance Anaerobic Digestion, Ujwal H. Bhattad

Dissertations (1934 -)

The use of anaerobic biotechnology is increasing as a sustainable process to treat various organic wastes. Methanogens convert organic COD into CH4 and play the key role to drive thermodynamically unfavorable biochemical fermentation reactions and keep the digestion process steady and efficient. Progressive understanding of anaerobic microbiology with digester functionality may help to develop efficient, customized methanogenic cultures to enhance anaerobic bioprocesses. Preservation of methanogenic cultures via drying would be a cost-effective option for research and practical applications. However, preservation of methanogenic cultures is challenging due to methanogen sensitivity to O2 toxicity and drying, and very limited work is reported …

Relating Methanogen Community Structure And Function In Anaerobic Digesters, Benjamin T.W. Bocher

Dissertations (1934 -)

A deeper understanding of how microbial community structure relates to process function would help improve anaerobic digester design. This dissertation describes both qualitative and quantitative relationships between anaerobic digester function and microbial community structure. Community structure was characterized using banding pattern intensities from denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) for the mcrA gene of methanogenic Archaea. The first project compared a single-stage continuously mixed stirred tank reactor (CSTR) and staging with an acidogenic CSTR followed by a methanogenic CSTR. After seeding with the same biomass, these unique process configurations exhibited different function and qualitatively different methanogen communities. Compared to a single-stage …

Using Life Cycle Assessment Methods To Guide Architectural Decision-Making For Sustainable Prefabricated Modular Buildings, Jeremy Faludi, Michael Lepech, George Loisos

Dartmouth Scholarship

Within this work, life cycle assessment modeling is used to determine top design priorities and quantitatively inform sustainable design decision-making for a prefabricated modular building. A case-study life-cycle assessment was performed for a 5,000 ft² prefabricated commercial building constructed in San Francisco, California, and scenario analysis was run examining the life cycle environmental impacts of various energy and material design substitutions, and a structural design change. Results show that even for a highly energy-efficient modular building, the top design priority is still minimizing operational energy impacts, since this strongly dominates the building life cycle's environmental impacts. However, as an …

Estimating Annual Precipitation For The Colorado River Basin Using Oceanic-Atmospheric Oscillations, Ajay Kalra, Sajjad Ahmad

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

Estimating long-lead time precipitation under the stress of increased climatic variability is a challenging task in the field of hydrology. A modified Support Vector Machine (SVM) based framework is proposed to estimate annual precipitation using oceanic-atmospheric oscillations. Oceanic-atmospheric oscillations, consisting of Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), and El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) for a period of 1900–2008, are used to generate annual precipitation estimates with a 1 year lead time. The SVM model is applied to 17 climate divisions encompassing the Colorado River Basin in the western United States. The overall results revealed that …

Flexible Urban Drainage Systems In New Land-Use Areas, Jochen Eckart

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Urban drainage systems are influenced by several future drivers that affect the performance as well as the costs of the systems. The uncertainties associated with future drivers and their impact creates difficulties in designing urban drainage systems sustainably. A review of the different future drivers for urban drainage systems illustrates that no sufficient future predictions for the long operational life spans of the systems are possible. This dissertation contends that to deal with future uncertainties, flexibility in urban drainage systems is necessary.

At present, profound insights about defining, measuring, and generating flexible urban drainage systems do not exist. This research …

Rainfall Organization And Geomorphologic Controls On The Flood Response Of Mild-Slope Basins In The South Atlantic Region Of Us, Yiwen Mei

Master's Theses

This study uses data from the Tar-River Basin in North Carolina to explore how space-time rainfall variability influences the hydrologic response from observational and modeling perspectives. For understanding the basin scale effect, the Tar-River Basin is divided into four cascade sub-basins ranging from 1106 km² up to 5654 km². The study evaluates the catchments’ response to rainfall for a large number of storm events by computing the event runoff coefficient based on streamflow observations and through simulations from a semi-distributed hydrological model. Comparison of observed to simulated hydrographs from the hydrological model shows that distributed rainfall forcing …

Concentration Effects And Ion Properties Controlling The Fractionation Of Halides During Aerosol Formation, Marcelo I. Guzman, Richa R. Athalye, Jose M. Rodriguez

Chemistry Faculty Publications

During the aerosolization process at the sea surface, halides are incorporated into aerosol droplets, where they may play an important role in tropospheric ozone chemistry. Although this process may significantly contribute to the formation of reactive gas phase molecular halogens, little is known about the environmental factors that control how halides selectively accumulate at the air-water interface. In this study, the production of sea spray aerosol is simulated using electrospray ionization (ESI) of 100 nM equimolar solutions of NaCl, NaBr, NaI, NaNO(2), NaNO(3), NaClO(4), and NaIO(4). The microdroplets generated are analyzed by mass spectrometry to study the comparative enrichment of …

Implementation, Design, And Cost Analysis Of A Concrete Washout System, Omar Adina

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

With the increase of environmental pollution in today’s world, many strategies and regulations are being enforced. These enforcements come from the state and federal governments, but public awareness is often overlooked. Stormwater regulations here in California have dramatically changed over the last decade, as the topic is investigated more often.

This senior project encompassed the design prototype and cost analysis of a permanent concrete washout station for the BioResource and Agricultural Engineering Department at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. The design parameters given were to construct a steel bin for the excess concrete to be dumped into during …

Using Ground Penetrating Radar Signal Reflection To Model A Highly Transmissive Bedrock Aquifer, Daniel J. Brockmeyer Mr.

Master's Theses

The use of numerical modeling software to characterize groundwater contaminant fate and transport requires an understanding of the distribution of hydraulic properties of the aquifer. As the complexity of this distribution increases, a more sophisticated understanding is required. Modeling contaminant transport in bedrock aquifers requires that the spatial distributions of highly conductive geologic features are characterized along with the hydraulic transmissivities of those features (Shapiro, 2003). The goal of this research is to refine the numerical model of a highly transmissive crystalline aquifer by characterizing the spatial variability of the hydraulic transmissivity using the attenuation of the ground penetrating radar …

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Spring 2018, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Part of every UNLV engineering student’s academic experience, the senior design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs, and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. A capstone to the student’s educational career, the senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge. The senior design competition helps focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects on …

Surface Mass Transfer In Large Eddy Simulation (Les) Of Langmuir Turbulence, Cigdem Akan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the past century the study of gas exchange rates between the atmosphere and the ocean has received increased attention because of concern about the fate of greenhouse gases such as CO₂ released into the atmosphere. Of interest is the oceanic uptake of CO₂ in shallow water coastal regions as biological productivity in these regions is on average about three times larger than in the open ocean. It is well-known that in the absence of breaking surface waves, the water side turbulence controls gas transfer of sparingly soluble gases such as CO₂ from the air to the …

Evaluation Of An Enrichment Culture That Reductively Dechlorinates Γ-Hexachlorocyclohexane, Christina Anderson

All Theses

In a previous study using microcosms from a site contaminated with γ- hexachlorocyclohexane (γ-HCH), rapid anaerobic biodegradation of γ-HCH to benzene and chlorobenzene was observed. Enrichment cultures were developed and subsequently transferred to an anaerobic sulfate-free HEPES buffered medium without loss of γ-HCH dechlorination, thus suggesting γ-HCH undergoes anaerobic biodegradation via chlororespiration. The overall objective of this thesis was to further characterize the enrichment culture.
To do so, one specific objective was to determine the effect of vancomycin on γ-HCH in an enrichment culture grown in a sulfate-free HEPES buffered medium using hydrogen as the electron donor. This objective would …

Synergy Of Alum And Chlorine Dioxide For Curbing Disinfection Byproduct Formation Potential At Central Arkansas Water, Corey W. Granderson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Central Arkansas Water (CAW), the water utility for Little Rock, AR, draws their source water from Lake Maumelle and Lake Winona. To curb disinfection byproduct (DBP) formation, CAW has begun retrofitting their two plants to use chlorine dioxide as an alternative primary disinfectant followed by free chlorine secondary disinfection in the distribution system. In this study, fluorescence parallel factor (PARAFAC) analysis was combined with free chlorine simulated distribution system (SDS) tests and DBP formation potential (DBPFP) tests to study the benefit of chlorine dioxide primary disinfection (CDPD) with alum coagulation. Of the DBPs screened, trichloromethane (TCM) was formed in highest …

Application Of Microbial Fuel Cells In A Forested Wetland, Jianing Dai

All Theses

ABSTRACT
Electricity can be generated from forest residues, especially the organic matter from litter fall, in freshwater forested wetland environments with a microbial fuel cell (MFC) system. Electricity generation efficiency was examined for cypress, tupelo, and pine litter extracts, using dual-chamber reactors. The maximum power density generated with cypress extracts was on the level of 320 mW/m2, higher than tupelo (230 mW/m2), and pine (210 mW/m2). The efficacy of cypress extracts was also higher than tupelo and
pine, demonstrating that organic matter from cypress litter is a preferred substrate for electricity generation with MFCs. Meanwhile, low aromaticity of the substrate …

An Environmental Consequence For Dublin Bay Of A Shift From Hydro-Carbon To Other Energy Production Methods, Zeinab Bedri, John O'Sullivan, Michael Bruen

Conference papers

The Liffey Estuary and Dublin Bay, Ireland are of a great recreational and conservational value. Until recently, the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) plant at Poolbeg, Dublin, abstracted dilution water from the estuary for cooling purposes and subsequently discharged this water back to the estuary at temperatures that were sometimes 7-9oC above ambient values. Prior to its discharge to the estuary, the ESB cooling water was mixed with the sewage effluent from Ringsend Treatment Works, creating a warmer and less-saline pollutant plume that remained buoyant on the water surface, adversely effecting water quality. The ESB plant has since closed as part …

Sediment Removal From The San Gabriel Mountains, Mary C. Ferguson

Pitzer Senior Theses

The issue of sediment removal from the San Gabriel Mountains has been a complex issue that has created problems with beach replenishment, habitat destruction and the need to spend millions of dollars at regular intervals to avoid safety hazards. Most recently 11 acres of riparian habitat, including 179 oaks and 70 sycamores, were removed for sediment placement. Other sites including Hahamongna Watershed Park and La Tuna Canyon also face a similar fate. This thesis questions: How did we get to this point of destroying habitat to dump sediment which is viewed as waste product? What are the barriers for creating …

Mathematical Modeling Of Fluid Spills In Hydraulically Fractured Well Sites, Oluwafemi Michael Taiwo

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Improved drilling technology and favorable energy prices have contributed to the rapid pace at which the exploitation of unconventional natural gas is taking place across the United States. As a natural gas well is being drilled, reserve pits are constructed to hold the drilling fluids and other materials returned from the drilling process. These reserve pits can fail, and when they do, plant and animal life of the surrounding area may be adversely affected. This project develops a screening tool for a suitable location for a reserve pit. This work will be a critical piece of the Infrastructure Placement Analysis …

Sudden Increase And Regrowth Of Fecal Coliforms And Escherichia Coli In Wastewater Biosolids After High Solids Centrifugation, Gordon G. Araujo

Master’s Theses

Treatment plants that operate either thermophilic or mesophilic anaerobic digesters with centrifugal dewatering processes have consistently observed densities of fecal coliform and Escherichia coli, both indicator bacteria, that decrease during digestion but then increase after dewatering and storage. The increases have been characterized as two separate phenomena to explain this observation: 1) “Sudden Increase,” or SI, which is defined as the increase that occurs immediately after dewatering and 2) “regrowth,” which is defined as an increase during storage of cake samples over a period of hours or days. The SI observation appears to be more prevalent with biosolids that are …

Nutrient Losses In Runoff From Feedlot Surfaces As Affected By Unconsolidated Surface Materials, John E. Gilley, Jason R. Vogel, Roger A. Eigenberg, David B. Marx, Brian L. Woodbury

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Beef cattle feedlots contain unconsolidated surface materials (loose manure pack) that accumulate during a feeding cycle. The effects of varying amounts of unconsolidated surface materials on runoff nutrient losses are not well understood. The objectives of this study were to (1) compare runoff nutrient losses from feedlot surfaces containing varying amounts of unconsolidated surface materials, (2) determine if differences in runoff nutrient losses exist among rainfall simulation runs, (3) relate runoff nutrient losses to selected feedlot soil characteristics, and (4) identify the effects of varying runoff rate on nutrient loss rates from feedlot surfaces. This study was conducted on 0.75 …

Development Of A Rapid, Solvent Extraction Based Radioanalytical Technique For Monitoring Low-Level Actinide Concentrations In Water Supplies, Joseph Jablonski

All Theses

A rapid radiochemical method for the concentration and subsequent analysis of radionuclides from large volume aqueous samples has been developed by using solvent extraction (SX) followed by quantification via liquid scintillation counting (LSC). This was accomplished using simple radiochemical techniques that resulted in the ability to enact a 200x concentration factor and rapidly detect whether radionuclides are present in dilute aqueous samples. The proposed method has average Minimum Detectable Concentrations (MDC) for 238Pu and 233U of 3.5x10-2 Bq/L and 0.16 Bq/L, which equates to 2.3x10-16 and 2.0x10-12 mol/L, respectively. The MDC value for plutonium is an order of magnitude lower …

Assessing Ongoing Sources And Fate Of Dissolved Polychlorinated Biphenyls (Pcbs) In A Stream, Viet Dang

All Dissertations

Polychlorinated biphenyls (pcbs) contamination remains a concern due to their persistence and the risk to human health associated with them. Once released into the environment, these substances are mainly associated with sediment particles and sediment organic carbon matter. They bioaccumulate in organisms via contaminated food and only a small faction is desorbed from sediment into the water column. Given the discontinuity of active discharge, pcbs are currently entering the water via groundwater inputs, soil erosion, and/or ongoing leakage from the point source. It is the dissolved form that 1) can be either absorbed by biofilm attached to stream leaves, which …

Investigation Of A Commercial Product (Biowish™) For Nitrogen Management, Eva Lee

Master's Theses

Abstract

Investigation of a Commercial Product (BiOWiSH­­^TM) for Nitrogen Management

Eva Lee

BiOWiSH–Aqua, which has the capability of treating nitrogen from wastewater through bioaugmentation, is a commercial product consisting of a blend of microorganisms developed by BiOWiSH Technologies. A study of the treatment of nitrogen compounds (i.e. , , and ) using Biowish–Aqua was conducted using small scale experiments (flask experiments) and large scale experiments (column reactor experiments). In this work, column reactors were created to test Biowish–Aqua’s nitrogen treating capabilities by providing enough depth to simulate the dissolved oxygen gradient that can be observed in a pond. …

Best Management Practices Effectiveness To Reduce Sediment Transport To Morro Bay, Michael J. Randall

Master's Theses

The Morro Bay Watershed, which is located inSan Luis Obispo County,California, covers more than 48,000 acres of land and discharges intoMorroBaythrough the Morro Bay National Estuary (MBNE). The Chorro Creek Subwatershed consists of approximately 30,000 acres of the overall watershed. The MBNE provides an ecosystem that supports a variety of wildlife from the common sea gull to the endangered sea otter. The estuary is also home to over 200 species of birds. The operational waterfront of theMorroBayHarborwas and continues to be a strong supporter to the local economy of the City of Morro Bay. Numerous studies were conducted since the …

Estimation Of Performance Indices For The Planning Of Sustainable Transportation Systems, Pankaj Maheshwari, Alexander Paz, Pushkin Kachroo

College of Engineering: Graduate Celebration Programs

In simple words, the objective of this research is the estimation of performance indices for the planning of sustainable transportation systems Sustainability is achieved when the Transportation system, Activity system and Environmental system have all reached minimum and stable levels of quality so that they can continue operating in perpetuity at less than these levels

Modeling Passive Solar Distillation In Las Vegas, Nv, Noe I. Santos

College of Engineering: Graduate Celebration Programs

Project Background

• Many rural areas on the planet do not have easy access to clean water!

• Water distillation basins are capable of distilling water by using incident solar radiation to evaporate polluted water.

• Current thermodynamic models used to predict behavior require instantaneous data; requires the use of expensive equipment.

• Distillation basins are dependent on multiple meteorological variables: insolation, temperature, wind speed, cloud cover.

• Non‐linear behavior is difficult to predict for long term operations.

Nano-Silica For Enhanced Greener Concrete, Mohamed S. Zeidan

College of Engineering: Graduate Celebration Programs

Colloidal nano-silica was added to normal and fly ash concretes with different rates to examine the its effect on different concrete performance aspects. The main objectives of the study is to determine the effect of adding nano-silica on:

• The rate hydration and the reactivity of cement and pozzolans.

• The mechanical properties and strength gain rate (especially for fly ash concrete).

• Durability.

• Microstructure and Porosity.

Impact Of Sludge Treatment Processes On Estrogen Concentration In Wastewater Sludge, Erica Marti

College of Engineering: Graduate Celebration Programs

Endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), such as estrogen, are known to be present in the aquatic environment at concentrations that affect fish and other wildlife. For example, juvenile male fish exposed to estrogen will synthesize vitellogenin, which is a female-specific protein. Estrogen exposure is also linked to sex reversal, intersexuality, and inhibition of gonadal growth (Jobling et al., 1996).

Wastewater treatment plants are major contributors of EDCs into the environment. EDCs end up in wastewater as a result of natural excretion from the body or being washed off the skin. WWTPs are not designed to remove these substances. As a result, EDCs …

Effects Of Manure Handling And Application Method On Odor And Gas Emission Potential Of Swine Manure, Rick R. Stowell

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Manure composition and emissions potential of swine manure were investigated in opposing contexts of desired and undesired methane generation. In the main study, the full-scale treatment effects of anaerobic digestion on the air emissions potential of swine manure were investigated. Manure slurry and digester effluent samples were collected from a pork production facility in eastern Nebraska that utilizes a complete-mix anaerobic digester to treat the manure and produce biogas for use in generating electricity. Samples were collected from three sites in the manure stream (below-barn pit, digester outlet, and holding pond) from 9/22/08 through 12/2/09 in order to observe changes …

Feasibility Of Desalination Of Winter Agricultural Return Flows In El Paso: Impact On Downstream Salinity, Aaron M. Cano ^, W. Shane Walker *

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Spring 2012

No abstract provided.

Science And Society: The Role Of Long-Term Studies In Environmental Stewardship, Charles T. Driscoll, Kathleen F. Lambert, F. Stuart Chapin, David J. Nowake, Thomas A. Spies, Frederick J. Swanson, David B. Kittredge, Clarisse M. Hart

Civil and Environmental Engineering - All Scholarship

Long-term research should play a crucial role in addressing grand challenges in environmental stewardship. We examine the efforts of five Long Term Ecological Research Network sites to enhance policy, management, and conservation decisions for forest ecosystems. In these case studies, we explore the approaches used to inform policy on atmospheric deposition, public land management, land conservation, and urban forestry, including decisionmaker engagement and integration of local knowledge, application of models to analyze the potential consequences of policy and management decisions, and adaptive management to generate new knowledge and incorporate it into decisionmaking. Efforts to enhance the role of long-term research …