Search results for " disposal"
showing 10 items of 1293 documents
Biological Stability of Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Wastes During Composting Processes
2018
The article shows results of monitoring of a Sicilian composting plant (southern Italy). In particular, the biological stability of the organic fraction of municipal solid wastes has been monitored. Two experimental periods have been carried out: (1) plant start-up and (2) first operation period. The biological stability has been evaluated throughout the dynamic respiration index (DRI). This index was determined at different stages of process, for each phase. To our knowledge, no work has been previously published on the monitoring of composting plants in southern Italy. This work has the originality of using the DRI measured data for improving operation of a full-scale composting plant, ra…
Ecological risk assessment of pesticides in the Mijares River (eastern Spain) impacted by citrus production using wide-scope screening and target qua…
2021
The widespread use of pesticides, especially in agricultural areas, makes necessary to control their presence in surrounding surface waters. The current study was designed to investigate the occurrence and ecological risks of pesticides and their transformation products in a Mediterranean river basin impacted by citrus agricultural production. Nineteen sites were monitored in three campaigns distributed over three different seasons. After a qualitative screening, 24 compounds was selected for subsequent quantitative analysis. As expected, the lower section of the river was most contaminated, with total concentration >5 µg/L in two sites near to the discharge area of wastewater treatment pla…
The impact of noise on the population of an urban centre in Valencia (Spain)
1997
Acoustic contamination in residential areas is a generalized problem. This paper reports the results of a survey trying to evaluate this contamination in the historical center of Valencia and about its effects upon that district's residents. A total of 700 residents in 11 different neighbourhoods of the city of Valencia were interviewed; at the same time environmental noise was determined at 225 different points within the area of study. In the historical center of Valencia, there exists an important problem of environmental noise and the daily levels clearly exceed the recommended limits.
Population Dynamic of Algae and Bacteria in an Oxidation Channel
2003
A study on algae and bacteria population changes, as a function of time, was carried out in a pilot scale oxidation channel bioreactor using a carrousel system. Total Coliforms, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Streptococcus faecalis, the most common bacteria found in sewage, Scenedesmus obliquus and Chlorella vulgaris were the microalgae considered in this work. Physicochemical parameters such as COD, BOD, Chlorophyll a, nitrogen, and phosphorous compounds were studied and determined during the experiments. It was demonstrated that the level of wastewater contamination could be predicted based on the bacterial and algae composition. The relationships between the algae and bacteria population, a…
Biological nutrient removal in membrane bioreactors: denitrification and phosphorus removal kinetics.
2007
The impact of including membranes for solid liquid separation on the kinetics of nitrogen and phosphorus removal was investigated. To achieve this, a membrane bioreactor (MBR) biological nutrient removal (BNR) activated sludge system was operated. From batch tests on mixed liquor drawn from the MBR BNR system, denitrification and phosphorus removal rates were delineated. Additionally the influence of the high total suspended solids concentrations present in the MBR BNR system and of the limitation of substrate concentrations on the kinetics was investigated. Moreover the ability of activated sludge in this kind of system to denitrify under anoxic conditions with simultaneous phosphate uptak…
Eco-efficiency assessment of municipal solid waste services: Influence of exogenous variables.
2020
Abstract Improving the eco-efficiency of municipalities in the provision of municipal solid waste (MSW) services is fundamental in the context of a circular economy. This study evaluates the eco-efficiency of a sample of Spanish municipalities, integrating the total cost as input, recyclable waste as desirable output, and unsorted waste as undesirable output. Following a pioneering approach, the weighted Russell directional distance model (a non-radial data envelopment analysis model) was employed, which allowed us to obtain a global inefficiency score and individual inefficiency scores for each variable integrated in the model. In the second stage of analysis, the potential factors affecti…
Removal of bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate from reject water in a nitrogen-removing sequencing batch reactor.
2003
Reject water from sewage sludge processing may contain high concentrations of nutrients and organic pollutants and cause internal pollution load at a sewage treatment plant (STP) if circulated to the headworks of an STP. In the present study removal of nitrogen and bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) from reject water was studied in two sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) with different aerobic/anoxic periods during a 6-h total cycle period. Ammonia-nitrogen (NH(4)-N) was almost totally removed in both reactors, apparently by nitrification throughout the run, while denitrification declined with decreasing SCOD in the influent resulting in an increase in the effluent nitrate-nitrogen (NO(3)-N) …
Occurrence and removal of organic pollutants in sewages and landfill leachates
2002
Sewages of different composition and the effluents of four sewage treatment plants (STPs), plus sewage sludges were analysed for semivolatile organic priority pollutants. Furthermore, 11 landfill leachates were analysed to evaluate their contribution to sewage pollutants when co-treated. Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) was the pollutant occurring at highest concentrations (up to 122 microg/l) and it was present in all sewages and leachates; concentrations of other phthalates were usually below 17 microg/l. Some polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) (<1 microg/l) and 2,6-dinitrotoluene (< or =5.9 microg/l) were also present in many of the sewages and leachates. Phthalates were present in…
Removal of bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate at a sewage treatment plant
2003
Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) concentrations were measured at different stages in a full-scale sewage treatment plant (STP) and mass balances were calculated. The DEHP load to treatment process coming from the sewer system and the internal load comprising returned supernatants and filtrate from sludge treatment and excess secondary sludge were at the same level. The DEHP removal efficiency from the water phase at the STP was on average 94% of sewage DEHP, the main removal process being sorption to primary and secondary sludges. On average 29% of DEHP was calculated to be removed in the biological nitrifying-denitrifying activated sludge process, which was much less than expected from l…
Impact of humic acids on EYL liposome membranes: ESR method
2015
Abstract In this paper, the effects of model (commercial) and natural (extracted from peat) humic substances on the membrane of liposomes formed with egg yolk lecithin (EYL) are presented. In our research, mass concentrations of fulvic and humic acids were used, which in relation to lecithin varied from 0% to 13%. To study membrane fluidity, electron spin resonance (EPR) was used with two spin probes, penetrating various regions of the lipid bilayer. The effects of model and natural humic substances (humic acids – HAs and fulvic acids – FAs) on the lipid membrane in different regions were researched: the lipid-water interphase, and in the middle of the lipid bilayer. It was shown that FA an…