Environmental Engineering Commons^™

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Fall 2016, 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 …

Characterization And Delineation Of Karst Geohazards Along Rm652 Using Electrical Resistivity Tomography, Culberson County, Texas, Adam F. Majzoub

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Delaware Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico is the major western subdivision of the Permian Basin and a northern extension of the Chihuahuan Desert. The major evaporite unit within the Delaware Basin is the Castile Formation, which consists of gypsum/anhydrite and is highly susceptible to dissolution and karsting. Manifestations of karst within the Castile outcrop are abundant and include sinkholes, subsidence features and caves, both epigene and hypogene in origin.

Land reconnaissance surveys conducted during the summer of 2015 documented abundant karst landforms in close proximity to a major thoroughfare, RM 652, in Culberson County, Texas. 2D …

Field Emissions Of (Hydro)Chlorofluorocarbons And Methane From A California Landfill, Alexander H. Sohn

Master's Theses

A comprehensive field investigation was conducted at Potrero Hills Landfill (PHL) located in Suisun City, California to quantify emissions of twelve (hydro)chlorofluorocarbons (i.e. F-gases). The specific target constituents for this study included CFC-11, CFC-12, CFC-113, CFC-114, HCFC-21, HCFC-22, HCFC-141b, HCFC-142b, HCFC-151a, HFC-134a, HFC-152a, and HFC-245fa. The majority of the F-gas emission studies have been conducted outside of the United States and very limited field landfill emission data are available in the United States. Because of historical usage of blowing agents in insulation foams including CFC-11, HCFC-142b, HFC-134a, and HFC-245fa, models reported in literature predicted high F-gas emissions from a landfill …

Pepper Mild Mottle Virus As A Surrogate For Enteric Viruses: Implications For Assessing Water Quality, Erin Michelle Symonds

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Less than 10% of the world’s domestic wastewater is disinfected prior to discharge into surface waters; therefore, human exposure to diverse wastewater-related pathogens results in millions of cases of illness each year. Among the enteric pathogens, viruses represent an important group of emerging pathogens and are frequently the cause of food- and water-borne outbreaks of illness. Although the World Health Organization and many government agencies mandate the use of bacterial indicators to identify poor microbial water quality, it is well known that these indicators poorly correlate with fecal pollution contamination events and risk of disease. The field of public health-related …

Wind Power: Frustrating Yet Inevitable, Garth Woodruff

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Multiscale Wind Modelling For Sustainability And Resilience, Djordje Romanic

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The research presented herein is a mix of meteorological and wind engineering disciplines. In many cases, there is a gap between these two fields and this thesis is an attempt to bridge that gap through multiscale wind modelling approaches. Data and methods used in this study cover a multitude of spatial and temporal scales. Applications are in the fields of sustainability and resilience. This relationship between multiscale wind modelling and sustainability and resilience is investigated examining several case studies of three different developments: urban, rural and coastal.

An urban wind modelling methodology is proposed and applied for a specific development …

Effects Of Surrounding Water Table On A Forested Wetland Habitat In East Coast Of Virginia, Lane Stokes

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Exchanges into and out of a wetland, including surface water flow, groundwater flow, and constituents in the flows, usually determine the wetland physicochemical characteristics and biodiversity. To date, of these three exchanges, groundwater flow is the least studied, particularly in the United States of America. In this thesis, field observations were conducted at a forested non-tidal wetland, located on a flat hilltop. The position of the wetland is such that groundwater outflow is the only significant exchange that could be impacted by the surrounding land use. In addition, a spatially variable steady-state model was set up to extrapolate the observations …

University Of New Mexico Bioalgal Energy, Photosynthesis Rates Of Poplar Plants - Measurements With Tdl Machine (Enriched Co2 - Enriched-Exposed - Tray 10 - Play 3 - 2016/06/15), David Hanson

Energize New Mexico (NSF EPSCoR Track 1 IV)

Collect the photosynthetic rate of poplar plants under different isotopic compositions of CO2 with the TDL machine and with the Licor equipment.

University Of New Mexico Bioalgal Energy, Photosynthesis Rates Of Poplar Plants - Measurements With Tdl Machine (Enriched Co2 - Enriched-Exposed - Tray 1/2 - Play 3 - 2016/06/12), David Hanson

Energize New Mexico (NSF EPSCoR Track 1 IV)

Collect the photosynthetic rate of poplar plants under different isotopic compositions of CO2 with the TDL machine and with the Licor equipment.

University Of New Mexico Bioalgal Energy, Photosynthesis Rates Of Poplar Plants - Measurements With Tdl Machine (Enriched Co2 - Enriched-Exposed - Tray 1/3 - Play 1 - 2016/06/08), David Hanson

Energize New Mexico (NSF EPSCoR Track 1 IV)

Collect the photosynthetic rate of poplar plants under different isotopic compositions of CO2 with the TDL machine and with the Licor equipment.

University Of New Mexico Bioalgal Energy, Photosynthesis Rates Of Poplar Plants - Measurements With Tdl Machine (Enriched Co2 - Enriched-Exposed - Tray 10 - Play 2 - 2016/06/14), David Hanson

Energize New Mexico (NSF EPSCoR Track 1 IV)

Collect the photosynthetic rate of poplar plants under different isotopic compositions of CO2 with the TDL machine and with the Licor equipment.

University Of New Mexico Bioalgal Energy, Photosynthesis Rates Of Poplar Plants - Measurements With Tdl Machine (Enriched Co2 - Enriched-Exposed - Tray 1/3 - Play 2 - 2016/06/08), David Hanson

Energize New Mexico (NSF EPSCoR Track 1 IV)

Collect the photosynthetic rate of poplar plants under different isotopic compositions of CO2 with the TDL machine and with the Licor equipment.

University Of New Mexico Bioalgal Energy, Photosynthesis Rates Of Poplar Plants - Measurements With Tdl Machine (Enriched Co2 - Enriched-Exposed - Tray 10 - Play 1 - 2016/06/10), David Hanson

Energize New Mexico (NSF EPSCoR Track 1 IV)

Collect the photosynthetic rate of poplar plants under different isotopic compositions of CO2 with the TDL machine and with the Licor equipment.

University Of New Mexico Bioalgal Energy, Photosynthesis Rates Of Poplar Plants - Measurements With Tdl Machine (Enriched Co2 - Enriched-Exposed - Tray 1/2 - Play 3 - 2016/06/12), David Hanson

Energize New Mexico (NSF EPSCoR Track 1 IV)

Collect the photosynthetic rate of poplar plants under different isotopic compositions of CO2 with the TDL machine and with the Licor equipment.

University Of New Mexico Bioalgal Energy, Photosynthesis Rates Of Poplar Plants - Measurements With Tdl Machine (Enriched Co2 - Enriched-Exposed - Tray 1 - Play 1 - 2016/06/07), David Hanson

Energize New Mexico (NSF EPSCoR Track 1 IV)

Collect the photosynthetic rate of poplar plants under different isotopic compositions of CO2 with the TDL machine and with the Licor equipment.

University Of New Mexico Bioalgal Energy, Photosynthesis Rates Of Poplar Plants - Measurements With Tdl Machine (Enriched Co2 - Enriched-Exposed - Tray 10/11 - Play 4 - 2016/06/21), David Hanson

Energize New Mexico (NSF EPSCoR Track 1 IV)

Collect the photosynthetic rate of poplar plants under different isotopic compositions of CO2 with the TDL machine and with the Licor equipment.

University Of New Mexico Bioalgal Energy, Photosynthesis Rates Of Poplar Plants - Measurements With Tdl Machine (Enriched Co2 - Enriched-Exposed - Tray 10/11 - Play 4 - 2016/06/21), David Hanson

Energize New Mexico (NSF EPSCoR Track 1 IV)

Collect the photosynthetic rate of poplar plants under different isotopic compositions of CO2 with the TDL machine and with the Licor equipment.

Nanostructured Thin Film Synthesis By Aerosol Chemical Vapor Deposition For Energy Storage Applications, Tandeep Singh Chadha

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Renewable energy sources offer a viable solution to the growing energy demand while mitigating concerns for greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. This has led to a tremendous momentum towards solar and wind-based energy harvesting technologies driving efficiencies higher and costs lower. However, the intermittent nature of these energy sources necessitates energy storage technologies, which remain the Achilles heel in meeting the renewable energy goals. This dissertation focusses on two approaches for addressing the needs of energy storage: first, targeting direct solar to fuel conversion via photoelectrochemical water-splitting and second, improving the performance of current rechargeable batteries by developing new …

Calcium Carbonate Formation In Energy-Related Subsurface Environments And Engineered Systems, Qingyun Li

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Geologic CO2 sequestration (GCS) in subsurface saline aquifers is a promising strategy to mitigate climate change caused by increasing anthropogenic CO2 emissions from energy production. At GCS sites, interactions between fluids and geomedia are important because they can affect CO2 trapping efficiency and the safety of CO2 storage. These interactions include the dissolution and precipitation of minerals. One of the most important minerals is calcium carbonate, because it can permanently trap CO2.

In this work, Portland cement was used as a model geomedium to investigate the chemical reactions, mechanical alterations, transport of reactive fluids, and the interplay of all these …

Exploring Regional And Telecoupled Land Use Change Impacts From Environmental Shocks, Kevin Hill, Liz Wachs, Brady Hardiman, David Yu, Shweta Singh

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Natural disasters or environmental shocks have the potential to disrupt local agricultural systems as well as distant agricultural systems through cascading effects. In this work we selected two distinct environmental shocks and traced their cascading effects on land use change. Quantifying cascading effects is a salient issue because climate change forecasts indicate an increase in frequency and intensity of global environmental shocks. This study incorporated the concept of telecoupled systems involving interrelating ecological, economic and political/social components. A telecoupled framework involving cascading effects was implemented using three approaches. The first approach involved using bilateral agricultural trade matrix data to analyze …

Modelling Of Dreissenid Mussel Impacts On Lake Michigan, Chunqi Shen

Theses and Dissertations

Invasive dreissenid mussel appear to have profoundly altered Great Lakes food webs and nutrient cycles during the past several decades. Recent declines of phytoplankton were supposed to be highly related with the increase of mussel population. These phytoplankton declines were further found to be coincident with declines in the abundance of planktivorous fish. In addition, the resurgence of Cladophora in Great lakes was estimated to be associated with the high density colonization of mussels. More light is available at lake bottom due to the mussels’ graze effect. The mussels further promote Cladophora growth by fertilizing it with nutrient-rich excrement. And …

The Role Of Organic Matter In The Fate And Transport Of Antibiotic Resistance, Metals, And Nutrients In The Karst Of Northwest Arkansas, Victor Lee Roland Ii

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Organic matter (OM) in the environment acts as a nutrient, but may also act as a transport vector for harmful chemical compounds and bacteria. Acetate is a labile form of OM produced during fermentation in anaerobic lagoons used to store animal fecal-waste from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Dry and liquid fertilizers from CAFOs pose a threat to groundwater by introducing excessive amounts of nutrients (e.g. OM, nitrate and ammonia), metals, and antibiotic compounds. In the epikarst of Northern Arkansas in the Buffalo River watershed additional input of labile dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from liquid CAFO waste-fertilizers was hypothesized to …

Miss Lonesome: Old Boats Past Their Prime, Garth Woodruff

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Use Of Sodium Persulfate In Hydraulic Fracturing Fluids: A Degradation Study Based On Furfural, Katherine Elizabeth Manz

Masters Theses

Hydraulic fracturing has allowed natural gas to become a viable energy source via extraction of unconventional shale reserves, but this process requires an enormous amount of water. To ensure a productive fracture, a proprietary blend of chemical additives is added to the water. In this research, a hydraulic fracturing chemical additive – an enzyme breaking agent – is analyzed for organic components using gas chromatography mass spectrometry. The chemical changes that occur over the course of a fracture are also investigated using one model chemical found in the additive, furfural, in order to help assess the environmental risk that hydraulic …

Nitrogen Rate And Landscape Impacts On Life Cycle Energy Use And Emissions From Switchgrass-Derived Ethanol, Eric G. Mbonimpa, Sandeep Kumar, Vance N. Owens, Rajesh Chintala, Heidi L. Sieverding, James J. Stone

Faculty Publications

Switchgrass-derived ethanol has been proposed as an alternative to fossil fuels to improve sustainability of the US energy sector. In this study, life cycle analysis (LCA) was used to estimate the environmental benefits of this fuel. To better define the LCA environmental impacts associated with fertilization rates and farm-landscape topography, results from a controlled experiment were analyzed. Data from switchgrass plots planted in 2008, consistently managed with three nitrogen rates (0, 56, and 112 kg N ha−1), two landscape positions (shoulder and footslope), and harvested annually (starting in 2009, the year after planting) through 2014 were used as input into …

Impact Of Sludge Layer Geometry On The Hydraulic Performance Of A Waste Stabilization Pond, Faissal Romaric Ouedraogo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Improving the hydraulic performance of waste stabilization ponds (WSPs) is an important management strategy to not only ensure protection of public health and the environment, but also to maximize the potential reuse of valuable resources found in the treated effluent. To reuse effluent from WSPs, a better understanding of the factors that impact the hydraulic performance of the system is needed. One major factor determining the hydraulic performance of a WSP is sludge accumulation, which alters the volume of the pond.

In this study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis was applied to investigate the impact of sludge layer geometry on …

Bathymetric Survey For Lakes Azuei And Enriquillo, Hispaniola, Michael Piasecki, Mahrokh Moknatian, Fred Moshary, Joseph Cleto, Yolanda Leon, Jorge Gonzalez, Daniel Comarazamy

Publications and Research

The two largest lakes on the Caribbean Island of Hispaniola, Lake Azuei in Haiti and Lake Enriquillo in the Dominican Republic, have experienced dramatic growth and surface area expansion over the past few years leading to severe flooding and loss of arable land around the lake perimeters. In order to better understand the reasons for this unprecedented rate of expansion and the resulting consequences a multi-disciplinary team comprised of researchers from Haiti, the DR, and the US have embarked on an extensive data collecting and hydrologic and climatological modeling campaign. While the sensor deployment entails stations that measure climatological data …

Modeling, Simulation, And Analysis Of Lithium-Ion Batteries For Grid-Scale Applications, Matthew Thomas Lawder

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Lithium-ion batteries have become universally present in daily life, being used across a wide range of portable consumer electronics. These batteries are advantageous compared to other forms of energy storage due to their high energy density and long cycle life. These characteristics make lithium-ion batteries advantageous for many new and developing applications that require large scale energy storage such as electric vehicles and the utility grid. Typical uses for lithium-ion batteries require consistent cycling patterns that are predictable and easy to approximate across all uses, but new large scale applications will have much more dynamic demands. The cycling patterns for …

Environmental Fullerene Chemistry: Elucidating Critical Reaction Pathways And Resulting Products In The Aqueous Phase, Jiewei Wu

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

As the production of fullerenes and fullerene-based materials approaches industrial scale, there are increasing interests/concerns regarding their (potential) environmental impact(s) upon release. To date, a number of critical, aqueous-based fullerene transformation pathways under environmentally relevant conditions remain poorly understood. Comprehensive, fundamental, and quantitative understanding of the potential (major) reaction pathways and resulting products of fullerene materials, particularly in aquatic systems, is now crucial for their accurate fate, transport, life cycle, risk assessment(s), and thus ultimate material sustainability.

Herein, this dissertation is focused on identifying and elucidating aqueous transformation pathways of fullerene materials, focused on C60 as a model fullerene, under …

Odor Monitoring At The New Orleans East Bank Wastewater Treatment Plant, Felicia R. Figinsky

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Hydrogen Sulfide is a corrosive, odorous, and hazardous gas that can cause issues for wastewater collection systems and treatment plants. When evaluating hydrogen sulfide concentrations it is important to consider the source, odor causing mechanism, and its level of toxicity. In this study, continuous hydrogen sulfide monitoring was performed for 8 locations within the New Orleans East Bank Wastewater Treatment Plant for a span of 5 months. Hot spots within the plant are located and data analysis is performed based on daily and hourly averages of hydrogen sulfide concentrations. The data was configured to show peak hydrogen sulfide concentrations at …