Search results for "0208 environmental biotechnology"
showing 10 items of 551 documents
Assessing the efficiency of Chilean water and sewerage companies accounting for uncertainty
2016
Abstract Efficiency assessment of water and sewerage companies (WaSCs) has attracted considerable attention both for water company managers and water regulators. Within the methodological approaches that can be applied to estimate efficiency scores, data envelopment analysis (DEA) is the most widely applied technique. In spite of the positive features of DEA, it presents a major drawback which is its deterministic nature. In other words, conventional DEA models do not account for uncertainty in the data. To overcome this limitation, we assess, for the first time, the efficiency of a sample of Chilean WaSCs by using a DEA model with statistical tolerance in the data. Hence, 81 efficiency sco…
Modelling of Water Supply Costs
2017
Water supply tariffs setting is a labour intensive regulatory procedure; currently number of informative and procedural shortages and problems exist. The aim of the current research is improvement of methodology for determination of the substantiated costs for provision of water services. A working hypothesis was advanced to modernize the methodology: the specific costs (/m3) required for the provision of water services in a specific region is a variable multi-parameter function of key performance indicators. There is preferred a benchmark modelling procedure, which is based on the factual cases (declared indicators of water utilities) and synthesis of the general regularity. The model is d…
Real Time Assessment of Potable Water Quality in Distribution Network based on Low Cost Multi-Sensor Array
2018
New concepts and techniques are replacing traditional methods of water quality parameters measurement systems. This paper proposed a new way of potable water quality assessment in distribution network using Multi Sensor Array (MSA). Extensive research suggests that following parameters i.e. pH, Dissolved Oxygen (D.O.), Conductivity, Oxygen Reduction Potential (ORP), Temperature and Salinity are most suitable to detect overall quality of potable water. Commonly MSA is not an integrated sensor array on some substrate, but rather comprises a set of individual sensors measuring simultaneously different water parameters all together. Based on research, a MSA has been developed followed by signal…
Improving drinking water treatment without tariff impact: the Spanish case study
2017
Abstract Water is essential for our lives and activities. Everyone can drink good quality water, the question is whether they have access to it in the first place. Water quality and its treatment depend on the water source. This treatment has costs that users have to pay in the water tariff. It is very important to establish a water tariff that permits the best water treatment and has a low impact on the users. Cost functions are a useful tool to predict costs before an implementation or improvement. This article, using three easy steps (analysis, obtaining costs and modification of the water tariff) proposes improving water purification treatment using cost functions in order to find the b…
Effect of the junction angle on turbulent flow at a hydraulic confluence
2018
Despite the existing knowledge concerning the hydrodynamic processes at river junctions, there is still a lack of information regarding the particular case of low width and discharge ratios, which are the typical conditions of mountain river confluences. Aiming at filling this gap, laboratory and numerical experiments were conducted, comparing the results with literature findings. Ten different confluences from 45 ∘ to 90 ∘ were simulated to study the effects of the junction angle on the flow structure, using a numerical code that solves the 3D Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations with the k- ϵ turbulence closure model. The results showed that the higher the junction angle, the …
RAVITA Technology : new innovation for combined phosphorus and nitrogen recovery
2018
Abstract Present phosphorus (P) recovery technologies mainly contain P recovery from sludge liquor or ash. These types of technologies are suitable for large wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) with enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR), digestion and/or incineration. In Finland and other Nordic countries, strict P discharge limits require chemical precipitation, thus EBPR alone is not sufficient. Ammonium recovery from wastewater, on the other hand, is not so often discussed. However, recovery from WWTP reject waters would decrease the energy demand of ammonium synthesis by Haber-Bosh technology and the energy demand of the WWTP's biological process. Helsinki Region Environmental S…
The role of hydrology on enhanced weathering for carbon sequestration II. From hydroclimatic scenarios to carbon-sequestration efficiencies
2021
Abstract Enhanced weathering (EW) scenarios are analyzed using the model presented in Cipolla et al. (2020). We explore the role of different hydroclimatic forcing on carbon-sequestration efficiencies. We also investigate whether increasing soil carbon content improves weathering conditions. We link olivine weathering rates to pH variations and quantify the suitability of hydroclimatic regimes to EW, based on rainfall intensity and frequency. The results show that the amount of CO 2 reacting with olivine and ending up in solution in the form of HCO 3 − and CO 3 2 − increases with mean annual precipitation (MAP) up to 2000 mm, but then tapers off for higher MAPs. On the contrary, the sequest…
Changes in Climate and Land Use Over the Amazon Region: Current and Future Variability and Trends
2018
This paper shows recent progress in our understanding of climate variability and trends in the Amazon region, and how these interact with land use change. The review includes an overview of up-to-date information on climate and hydrological variability, and on warming trends in Amazonia, which reached 0.6-0.7 °C over the last 40 years, with 2016 as the warmest year since at least 1950 (0.9 °C +0.3°C). We focus on local and remote drivers of climate variability and change. We review the impacts of these drivers on the length of dry season, the role of the forest in climate and carbon cycles, the resilience of the forest, the risk of fires and biomass burning, and the potential “die back” of …
Treatment of Combined Dairy and Domestic Wastewater with Constructed Wetland System in Sicily (Italy). Pollutant Removal Efficiency and Effect of Veg…
2021
Dairy wastewater (DWW) contains large amounts of mineral and organic compounds, which can accumulate in soil and water causing serious environmental pollution. A constructed wetland (CW) is a sustainable technology for the treatment of DWW in small-medium sized farms. This paper reports a two-year study on the performance of a pilot-scale horizontal subsurface flow system for DWW treatment in Sicily (Italy). The CW system covered a total surface area of 100 m2 and treated approximately 6 m3 per day of wastewater produced by a small dairy farm, subsequent to biological treatment. Removal efficiency (RE) of the system was calculated. The biomass production of two emergent macrophytes was dete…
The Origin of Non-thermal Fluctuations in Multiphase Flow in Porous Media
2021
Core flooding experiments to determine multiphase flow in properties of rock such as relative permeability can show significant fluctuations in terms of pressure, saturation, and electrical conductivity. That is typically not considered in the Darcy scale interpretation but treated as noise. However, in recent years, flow regimes that exhibit spatio-temporal variations in pore scale occupancy related to fluid phase pressure changes have been identified. They are associated with topological changes in the fluid configurations caused by pore-scale instabilities such as snap-off. The common understanding of Darcy-scale flow regimes is that pore-scale phenomena and their signature should have a…