Search results for "Environmental biotechnology"

Water quality sensor placement: a multi-objective and multi-criteria approach

2021

[EN] To satisfy their main goal, namely providing quality water to consumers, water distribution networks (WDNs) need to be suitably monitored. Only well designed and reliable monitoring data enables WDN managers to make sound decisions on their systems. In this belief, water utilities worldwide have invested in monitoring and data acquisition systems. However, good monitoring needs optimal sensor placement and presents a multi-objective problem where cost and quality are conflicting objectives (among others). In this paper, we address the solution to this multi-objective problem by integrating quality simulations using EPANET-MSX, with two optimization techniques. First, multi-objective op…

Experimental investigation and modeling of diffusion dialysis for HCl recovery from waste pickling solution

2019

Abstract Hydrochloric acid recovery from pickling solutions was studied by employing a batch diffusion dialysis (DD) laboratory test-rig equipped with Fumasep membranes. The effect of main operating parameters such as HCl concentration (0.1–3 M) and the presence of Fe2+ (up to 150 g/l) was investigated to simulate the system operation with real industrial streams. The variation of HCl, Fe2+ and water flux was identified. When only HCl is present, a recovery efficiency of 100% was reached. In the presence of FeCl2, higher acid recovery efficiencies, up to 150%, were observed due to the so-called “salt effect”, which promotes the passage of acid even against its concentration gradient. A 7% l…

Predicting the landslides triggered by the 2009 96E/Ida tropical storms in the Ilopango caldera area (El Salvador, CA): optimizing MARS-based model b…

2019

The main topic of this research was to evaluate the effect in the performance of stochastic landslide susceptibility models, produced by differences between the triggering events of the calibration and validation datasets. In the Caldera Ilopango area (El Salvador), MARS (multivariate adaptive regression splines)-based susceptibility modeling was applied using a set of physical–environmental predictors and two remotely recognized landslide inventories: one dated at 2003 (1503 landslides), which was the result of a normal rainfall season, and one which was produced by the combined effect of the Ida hurricane and the 96E tropical depression in 2009 (2237 landslides). Both the event inventorie…

Evapotranspiration simulations in ISIMIP2a-Evaluation of spatio-temporal characteristics with a comprehensive ensemble of independent datasets

2018

Actual land evapotranspiration (ET) is a key component of the global hydrological cycle and anessential variable determining the evolution of hydrological extreme events under different climate change scenarios. However, recently available ET products show persistent uncertainties thatare impeding a precise attribution of human-induced climate change. Here, we aim at comparing arange of independent global monthly land ET estimates with historical model simulations from theglobal water, agriculture, and biomes sectors participating in the second phase of the Inter-SectoralImpact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP2a). Among the independent estimates, we use theEartH2Observe Tier-1 dataset …

Potential of interactive multiobjective optimization in supporting the design of a groundwater biodenitrification process

2019

The design of water treatment plants requires simultaneous analysis of technical, economic and environmental aspects, identified by multiple conflicting objectives. We demonstrated the advantages of an interactive multiobjective optimization (MOO) method over a posteriori methods in an unexplored field, namely the design of a biological treatment plant for drinking water production, that tackles the process drawbacks, contrarily to what happens in a traditional volumetric-load-driven design procedure. Specifically, we consider a groundwater denitrification biofilter, simulated by the Activated Sludge Model modified with two-stage denitrification kinetics. Three objectives were defined (nitr…

A mathematical approach to predict the solids concentration in anaerobic membrane bioreactos (AnMBR): Evaluation of the volatile solids solubilization

2020

[EN] Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactors (AnMBR) are gaining attention as a suitable approach for sustainable low-strength wastewater treatment, as they bring together the advantages of both anaerobic treatments and membrane bioreactors. However, increasing the sludge retention time (SRT) necessary to favor hydrolysis increases the suspended solids concentration potentially leading to decreased permeate flux. Therefore, the availability of a mathematical approach to predict the solids concentration within an AnMBR can be very useful. In this work, a mathematical model describing the volatile solids concentration within the reactor as a function of the operating parameters and the influent charac…

Stable carbon isotopic composition of peat columns, subsoil and vegetation on natural and forestry-drained boreal peatlands.

2018

We studied natural and forestry-drained peatlands to examine the effect of over 34 years lowered water table on the δ13C values of vegetation, bulk peat and subsoil. In the seven studied sites, δ13C in the basal peat layer was 1.1 and 1.2 ‰ lower than that of the middle-layer and surface layer, respectively. Furthermore, there was a positive correlation between the δ13C values of the basal and surface peat layers, possibly due to carbon (C) recycling within the peat column. In the same mire complex, natural fen peat δ13C values were lower than those of the nearby bog, possibly due to the dominance of vascular plants on fen and the generally larger share of recycled C in the fens than in the…

Solids and Hydraulic Retention Time Effect on N2O Emission from Moving-Bed Membrane Bioreactors

2018

Biological nutrient removal was operated at different solids (SRT) and hydraulic retention times (HRT) in order to assess their influence on nitrous oxide (N2O) emission from a hybrid moving-bed membrane bioreactor. The observed results show that the N2O production decreased when the SRT/HRT was decreased. The maximum N2O gaseous concentration was measured in the aerobic reactor at the end of phase I, and it decreased through phases II and III. From mass balances over the reactors of the system, the aerated (aerobic and membrane) reactors were the largest producers of N2O, showing that the greater part of N2O was produced during the nitrification process.

Closure to “Stage–Discharge Relationship for an Upstream Inclined Grid with Transversal Bars” by C. Di Stefano and V. Ferro

2016

Controlling spatial inhomogeneity in prototypical multiphase microstructures

2017

A wide variety of real random composites can be studied by means of prototypes of multiphase microstructures with a controllable spatial inhomogeneity. To create them, we propose a versatile model of randomly overlapping super-spheres of a given radius and deformed in their shape by the parameter p. With the help of the so-called decomposable entropic measure, a clear dependence of the phase inhomogeneity degree on the values of the parameter p is found. Thus, a leading trend in changes of the phase inhomogeneity can be forecast. It makes searching for possible structure/property relations easier. For the chosen values of p, examples of two and three-phase prototypical microstructures show …