Sustainability Commons^™

In Search Of A Future For Mining: Participative Scenarios For Colombia, Santiago Arango-Aramburo, Ricardo Smith, Patricia Jaramillo, Yris Olaya, Adrian Saldarriaga, Oscar J. Restrepo, Yuly Arboleda, Carla Rua, Sebastian Bernal, Pablo E. Londono, Erik R. Larsen

Journal of Sustainable Mining

We describe and discuss the development of scenarios for the Colombian mining industry. The scenarios were developed with a large group of stakeholders from across the Colombian government, society, and commerce, all with interest in and/or affected by the future of the mining sector. The process resulted in the creation of three different scenarios for the Colombian mining sector to 2030. The article describes the participatory process used for involving the stakeholders, including the workshops and the mapping technique that was used. It also outlines the three scenarios and possible policies that should be considered by the Colombian government in …

Ammonia-Ca-K Competitive Ion-Exchange On Zeolites In Mining Wastewater Treatment: Batch Regeneration And Column Performance, Roberto Martín Narbaitz, Zachary G. Chartrand, Majid Sartaj, Jason Downey

Journal of Sustainable Mining

This manuscript addresses the treatment explosives-impacted mining wastewaters (EIMWW) using ion-exchange to remove elevated levels of ammonia. Repeated batch loading-regeneration cycles were conducted for two commercially available zeolite media used in the treatment of ammonia-ladenEIMWW to establish the effects of competing ions and regeneration solution composition. The Northern Ontario EIMWW tested contained 3.87 meq/L total ammonia (TA) as well as 2.85 meq/L Kþ and 3.9 meq/L Ca2þ.The media studied were a natural clinoptilolite and a modified clinoptilolite (SIR-600). Five regenerant solutions with different NaCl and KCl concentrations were evaluated. The presence of potassium in the regenerant was found to hinder …

The Identification Of Heavy Metal Accumulator Ferns In Abandoned Mines In The Philippines With Applications To Mine Rehabilitation And Metal Recovery, Rene Juna R. Claveria, Teresita R. Perez, Ian A. Navarrete, Rubee Ellaine C. Perez, Brian Christian C. Lim

Journal of Sustainable Mining

This paper focuses on the identification of some plant accumulators of heavy metals that can facilitate mine remediation and rehabilitation in the Philippines and metal recovery or phytomining. Most of these hyperaccumulators are ferns that thrive very well in different terrains and of particular interest are Pityrogramma calomelanos, Pteris vittata, and Pteris melanocaulon that are abundant in abandoned CueAu mining areas. The amounts of Cu and As in the soil and in the aboveground (AG) and belowground (BG) components of the accumulator ferns were determined and the Bioaccumulation Factor (BF) and the Translocation Factor (TF) were derived. Efforts to …

A Lab Study Of Mineral Scale Buildup On Line And Traditional Pe Water Pipes For Acid Mine Drainage, Amanda Pezzuto, Emily Sarver

Journal of Sustainable Mining

Plastic, especially polyethylene (PE), pipe material is increasingly used in mining applications due to its inert nature, flexibility, low density, and low cost. Though resistant to chemical corrosion, it is susceptible to abrasion. To combat this problem, an abrasion-resistant liner is in development. However, it is not yet known how the liner will perform with regards to other common problems that affect pipe systems, such as mineral scale buildup. In mining applications, scale buildup occurs due to the very high contents of suspended and dissolved solids in water or slurry. For example, in systems transporting raw or treated acid mine …

Optimising The Management Of Mining Waste By Means Sentinel-2 Imagery: A Case Study In Joda West Iron And Manganese Mine (India), Daniela Guglietta, Girolamo Belardi, Daniele Passeri, Rosamaria Salvatori, Stefano Ubaldini, Barbara Casentini, Francesca Trapasso

Journal of Sustainable Mining

A smart economy minimizes the production of waste from mining activities and reuses waste as a potential resource, with the goal of moving towards a near-zero waste society. This paper presents integrated multidisciplinary methodology in order to optimise the management of mining waste. The test site is the FeeMn mine in Odisha (India). The mining waste present in the mine has been collected and afterwards X-Ray Powder Diffraction, X-Ray Fluorescence and spectral signatures analysis have been performed for mineralogical, chemical and spectral characterization of the materials. Finally, the classification and mapping of the characterized mining waste was carried out by …

Comments On “Life Cycle Assessment Of Cobalt Extraction Process” By Farjana Et Al. (2019), Rickard Arvidsson, Mudit Chordia, Anders Nordelöf

Journal of Sustainable Mining

Several points of critique are raised against the paper by Farjana et al. (J Sust Mining, 18(3): 150-161, 2019). The first regards the novelty of their paper. The second regards the age and quality of the main source data used. The third regards the description of the system boundary of their main data source.

Prospective Study On Safety Climate Of Surface Mining In Pakistan, Izhar Mithal Jiskani, Saleem Raza Chalgri, Safiullah Memon, Niaz Muhammad Shahani, Abdullah Rasheed Qureshi

Journal of Sustainable Mining

The purpose of this study was to assess miners' perceptions about the safety climate of their workplace. To achieve the research aim, the relationship between demographic characteristics and occupational hazards was first determined, and finally, the relationship of safety climate with occupational hazards and health-seeking behavior was discovered. The data was collected through a self-reporting questionnaire. The results revealed that the subjects have to deal with severe occupational hazards, and they possess poor health-seeking behavior. A safety climate assessment showed that only one of the seven dimensions (i.e. safety communication, learning, and trust in co-worker safety competence) was at …

Effect Of An Eccentric Decoupled Charge On Rock Mass Blasting, Jung-Gyu Kim, Mahrous A. M. Ali, Jong-Gwan Kim

Journal of Sustainable Mining

Experimental and numerical analyses were conducted to investigate the effect of an eccentric loaded contour hole on a rock mass. In the concrete blocks used for the analyses, detonating cords were placed at the centre of the blast hole and eccentrically against the wall of the blast hole. PFC^2D and AUTODYN were used for the numerical analyses, and the results of these software showed that an eccentric decoupled charge can result in the directional development of fractures, thereby enabling the control of cracks in the opposite direction. Even though both types of blasting have identical decoupling indexes, the crack …

Improving The State Of Society And Making Men Happy: Rhetorical Citizenship In Historical And Contemporary Vegetarian/Vegan Discourses, Kristin E. Kondrlik

Sustainability Research & Practice Seminar Presentations

No abstract provided.

Taking The Fingerprints Of Sea Level Changes, Jerry Mitrovica

Sustainability Seminar Series

The concept of eustasy, that is, the assumption that ice mass changes are accompanied by a globally uniform change in sea level, has -- until relatively recently -- been pervasive in the analysis of paleo and modern sea level records, and has stymied progress in both fields. I will demonstrate, using examples ranging from the last tens of millions of years to the modern world, that a variety of geophysical processes drive sea level changes with significant geographic variability. Modeling of these processes has improved estimates of global mean sea level change, but it has also motivated recent efforts to …

The Identification Of Heavy Metal Accumulator Ferns In Abandoned Mines In The Philippines With Applications To Mine Rehabilitation And Metal Recovery, Rene Juna R. Claveria, Teresita R. Perez, Ian A. Navarrete, Rubee Ellaine C. Perez, Brian Christian C. Lim

Environmental Science Faculty Publications

This paper focuses on the identification of some plant accumulators of heavy metals that can facilitate mine remediation and rehabilitation in the Philippines and metal recovery or phytomining. Most of these hyperaccumulators are ferns that thrive very well in different terrains and of particular interest are Pityrogramma calomelanos, Pteris vittata, and Pteris melanocaulon that are abundant in abandoned CueAu mining areas. The amounts of Cu and As in the soil and in the aboveground (AG) and belowground (BG) components of the accumulator ferns were determined and the Bioaccumulation Factor (BF) and the Translocation Factor (TF) were derived. Efforts to …

Droughtscape, Fall 2020, National Drought Mitigation Center

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

DroughtScape, Fall 2020

Non-Conventional Vehicles As A Way Towards Carbon Neutrality In Iceland, Julia Sokolowska

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Paris Agreement’s chief objective is to protect the Earth and its inhabitants from a point of no return, when the effects of climate change will be so intense that they will shift the equilibrium of ecosystems. The distinctiveness of this international environmental treaty is that it does not impose climate change mitigation measures, but rather allows nation states to create their own set of measures, the NDCs, to reach the global warming of ‘well below 2oC’ by the end of the century. Thus, Iceland has submitted its own NDC, the Climate Action Plan 2018-2030, which has an ambitious goal of …

A Green New Deal For Schools: Inequality, Funding, And Finance In Pennsylvania, David I. Backer

Sustainability Research & Practice Seminar Presentations

No abstract provided.

Assessment Of Soil Properties Under Different Land Use Types In Olokemeji Forest Reserves In Ogun State Southwestern Nigeria, Oluwatoyin Opeyemi Akintola, Adewunmi Idayat Bodede, Michael Smart, Ayodeji Gideon Adebayo, Olawale Nurean Sulaiman

Journal of Bioresource Management

Knowledge of soil properties is essential for environmental sustainability for any forest reserve or plantation. The physical and chemical properties of soil under three different land uses was investigated to assess the nutrient and fertility status of the soils. Fifteen soil samples, each collected from different locations within the natural forest, plantation and farm land were analyzed for soil texture, bulk density, porosity, pH, organic carbon, organic matter content, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, Na, K, Ca, Mg, Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn. Texturally, the soils were loamy, loamy sand and sandy loamy in the natural forest, plantation and farmland respectively. …

Systems Microbiology: From Genomes To Ecosystems, Jizhong Zhou

Sustainability Seminar Series

Twenty-first century microbiology faces several grand challenges, e.g., linking structure to functions, mechanisms controlling extremely high diversity, information scaling from genomes to ecosystems, modeling simulation and predictions. With the recent advances of omics technologies, microbiologists have begun to tackle some of these challenges. In this talk, I will report the most recently progresses in these areas at the Institute for Environmental Genomics, with respect to genomic technologies, global microbial diversity and biogeography of wastewater treatment plants, climate warming, community assembly and network tool development, and ecosystem modeling.

Un Sdg 4: When Access To Education Is *Not* Enough, Christine M. Chiarelli-Helminiak

Sustainability Research & Practice Seminar Presentations

No abstract provided.

Application Of Net Zero Principles To The Army’S Industrial Base, Christos Christodoulatos

Sustainability Seminar Series

In January 2014, the Secretary of the Army distributed Army Directive 2014-02 "Net Zero Installations Policy". The Net Zero Policy requires installations to: (1) reduce overall energy use, maximize efficiency, implement energy recovery and cogeneration opportunities, and offset the remaining demand with the production of renewable energy from onsite sources and (2) reduce overall water use, regardless of the source; increase use of technology that uses water more efficiently; recycle and reuse water. The Army's industrial base and especially munitions manufacturing facilities generate waste streams with high nutrient and carbon content and therefore present unique opportunities for development and application …

Waste Management In The Global South: An Inquiry On The Patterns Of Plastic And Waste Material Flows In Colombo, Sri Lanka, Katie Ann Conlon

Dissertations and Theses

Global plastic production continues to increase at an exponential pace, and global waste projections show waste generation rising by 70% by 2050. Plastic waste connects to all social processes, especially within the context of urbanization and development; urban planning and land management; GHG emissions; labor; social equity; public health; rural-to-urban migration; increasing population; increasing consumption; climate change; etc. The focus of this dissertation is an analysis of waste management practices in Sri Lanka using a grounded theory based methodology, with a goal to better understand the social and ecological impacts of plastic waste in Sri Lanka. This research fills a …

Heavy Oil Production, Review Paper, Mohamed Abd El-Moniem

Emirates Journal for Engineering Research

Petroleum represents an important source of energy. The different resources for energy are classified into renewable and non-renewable. Petroleum is the main source of the non-renewable energy where it is found in conventional and non-conventional reservoirs. Conventional oil production is started since the last century with a high oil and gas production using primary and secondary recovery. Now, the global demand is high compared to the supply from the existing produced fields. The production is declining from the conventional resources, so the production from the unconventional reservoirs is essential to cover the market demand. The unconventional resources are classified as …

Second-Best Prioritization Of Environmental Cleanups, Jacob Lariviere, Matthew J. Mcmahon, Justin Roush

Sustainability Research & Practice Seminar Presentations

No abstract provided.

Project Icebreaker: Offshore Wind Project In Lake Erie, Xiangwu (David) Zeng

Sustainability Seminar Series

Wind energy is one of the most promising renewable energy resources. The Great Lakes region in the US has huge potential for offshore wind energy development. However, ice loading in winter brings a unique challenge to the foundations for wind turbines. Model tests and numerical simulation have been conducted to investigate different types of foundations and techniques to reduce the ice loading. The ultimate goal is to design a safe and economical foundation for future large-scale wind farms in the Great Lakes.

Listening To Young People: Philadelphia Youth Organizers' Perspectives On 2020 And Sustaining The Movement(S) Beyond, Hannah Ashley, Ananiya Jones, Lilah Saber, Mayana Ashley-Carner

Sustainability Research & Practice Seminar Presentations

No abstract provided.

A Statistical Impulse Response Model Based On Empirical Characterization Of Wireless Underground Channel, Abdul Salam, Mehmet C. Vuran, Suat Irmak

Faculty Publications

Wireless underground sensor networks (WUSNs) are becoming ubiquitous in many areas. The design of robust systems requires extensive understanding of the underground (UG) channel characteristics. In this paper, an UG channel impulse response is modeled and validated via extensive experiments in indoor and field testbed settings. The three distinct types of soils are selected with sand and clay contents ranging from $13\%$ to $86\%$ and $3\%$ to $32\%$, respectively. The impacts of changes in soil texture and soil moisture are investigated with more than $1,200$ measurements in a novel UG testbed that allows flexibility in soil moisture control. Moreover, the …

Spatiotemporal Variations Of City-Level Carbon Emissions In China During 2000–2017 Using Nighttime Light Data, Yu Sun, Sheng Zheng, Yuzhe Wu, Uwe Schlink, Ramesh P. Singh

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

China is one of the largest carbon emitting countries in the world. Numerous strategies have been considered by the Chinese government to mitigate carbon emissions in recent years. Accurate and timely estimation of spatiotemporal variations of city-level carbon emissions is of vital importance for planning of low-carbon strategies. For an assessment of the spatiotemporal variations of city-level carbon emissions in China during the periods 2000–2017, we used nighttime light data as a proxy from two sources: Defense Meteorological Satellite Program’s Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS) data and the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (NPP-VIIRS). The results …

Projecting Ev Distribution And Charging Demand: Dvrpc/Uc Davis's Ev Planning Toolkit, Adam Beam

Sustainability Research & Practice Seminar Presentations

No abstract provided.

Sdstate Sustainability Newsletter Vol. 5 Issue 1, Jennifer Mclaughlin

SD State Sustainability Newsletter

Content

• Sustainability Ambassador Program Announced
• Intersections of Sustainability
• SDSU Earns 2020 EPEAT Purchaser Award
• Virtual Sustainability Tours
• Sustainability Tidbits

Dissemination And Visualization Of Hydro-Climate Data In Sub-Saharan Africa For Analysis Of Climatic Parameters, Divyadharshini Karthikeyan, Aparna S. Varde, Clement Alo

School of Computing Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Precipitation can have adverse effects on the climate ecosystem. Too much can impose concerns such as flooding and landslides, resulting in damaged property, agricultural losses, and loss of life. Too little, and drought becomes an issue, inducing wildfires, poor air quality, agricultural losses, and health degradation. While much work has been performed on historical and projected analysis of heavy precipitation, few interactive visualizations exist for end-users to better understand local impacts. The goal of this project is to create a visualization tool that easily demonstrates how precipitation extremes have changed and might change in the future for Sub-Saharan Africa. This …

Assessment Of Switchgrass-Based Bioenergy Supply Using Gis-Based Fuzzy Logic And Network Optimization In Missouri (U.S.A.), Gia Nguyen, Erik Lyttek, Pankaj Lal, Taylor Wieczerak, Pralhad Burli

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Bioenergy has been globally recognized as one of the sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels. An assured supply of biomass feedstocks is a crucial bottleneck for the bioenergy industry emanating from uncertainties in land-use changes and future prices. Analytical approaches deriving from geographical information systems (GIS)-based analysis, mathematical modeling, optimization analyses, and empirical techniques have been widely used to evaluate the potential for bioenergy feedstock. In this study, we propose a three-phase methodology integrating fuzzy logic, network optimization, and ecosystem services assessment to estimate potential bioenergy supply. The fuzzy logic analysis uses multiple spatial criteria to identify suitable biomass cultivating regions. …

Applying A Systems Approach To The Legacy Of Lead In Soil, Sara Perl Egendorf

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Lead (Pb) in soil is a global environmental issue. The particularly high lead concentrations found in surface soils have been emplaced by humans and bring with them life-altering and life-shortening effects for our species and countless others. While much of the general population is unaware of lead lurking in our soils, scientists from a range of backgrounds have generated a body of research documenting this ubiquitous phenomenon, arising from sources such as lead in gasoline, paint, industry, and incineration. Scientists have also explored ways to remediate soil and continue calling for efforts to limit toxicant exposure. Why, then, does this …