Search results for "Environmental engineering"
showing 10 items of 2674 documents
Chlorinated phenolic compounds in coniferous needles. Effects of metal and paper industry and incineration
1997
Abstract Pine needles were analyzed for their contents of chlorinated phenolic compounds. Altogether about 30 samples from surroundings of a metal scrap plant, a pulp and paper mill, a hazardous waste incinerator and reference samples outside of the immediate influence of these were analyzed by GC/ECD and GC/MS. Most phenolic compounds in the needles were found to be bound to the plant material and were not extractable as such by organic solvents. The concentrations of some bound chlorinated phenolic compounds were on level of 1–300 ng/g in dried needle. For many compounds the concentrations were remarkably higher in the three years old needles compared to the concentrations in the one and …
A Prototype of Wireless Sensor for Data Acquisition in Energy Management Systems
2018
A prototype of a wireless sensor for monitoring electrical loads in a smart building is designed and implemented. The sensor can acquire the main electrical parameters of the connected load and, optionally, other physical quantities (e.g., room temperature). Unlike other wireless sensors in literature, the proposed sensor is cheap and small, exploits the Wi-Fi network that is commonly available inside buildings, and uses a lightweight message-based communication paradigm. Besides the sensor node, two management nodes are also implemented to manage sensor reconfiguration and the persistence of data. The measured data are stored in an SQLite database and can be used for various purposes, e.g.…
Integration of biorefinery clusters towards zero emissions
2008
Depletion of world recourses, increasing pollution, and climate change make us shift from linear economy to system economy an economy of technologies integrated to reach a non-polluting zero emissions production system. Transition to renewable resources requires replacement the present crude oil refinery by biomass refinery. Along with conventional biomass refinery technologies bioengineering and nano-technologies become significant players of systems in the design of clusters of integrated biorefinery technologies. The authors consider a number of case-studies of biomass conversion into value-added chemicals and sources of energy, the steam explosion autohydrolysis (SEA) in particular. Mod…
PCDDs, PCDFs, PCDTs, PCBs and some other organochlorine compounds in pine needles exposed to pulp and paper mill emissions and effects of waste combu…
1997
Concentrations of semivolatile chlorinated organic compounds α-HCH, lindane, HCB, DDT, DDE, DDD, chlordanes and PCBs, and low-volatility compounds PCDDs, PCDFs and PCDTs in pine needles in a recipient area of the emissions from a pulp and paper mill where also waste combustion was done were measured. Mostly, the concentrations were found to be near the background levels. Elevated concentrations of HCB, some PCB congeners and some HxCDF isomers in samples from two sampling points were observed. Some other possible point sources of these compounds are situated in the vicinity of the pulp and paper mill.. Also the community of Pietarsaari is one possible source of the slightly elevated concent…
Current state of water management in Japan
2014
Financial sustainability of water utilities is essential to guarantee the provision of high quality services. The aims of this paper are to review the current state of water management in Japan and to identify the main difficulties which confront Japanese water utilities. As the facilities built when the country expanded water utilities rapidly are drawing near the renewal period concurrently, water operators must quickly accelerate facility renewal work. The statistical data from the Japan Water Works Association illustrate that one of the most significant challenges facing Japanese water utilities is to finance investments to renew facilities and to prepare them for earthquakes. Difficult…
The Influence of Stimulation Techniques on the Microbiological Changes and n-Alkane Transitions in the Soil Contaminated of Petroleum-Derived Substan…
2019
Removal of petroleum products from contaminated soil is a long-term process requiring attention and constant monitoring. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of Fyre-Zyme enzyme preparation and/or calcium carbonate on microbiological changes and conversion of n-aliphatic hydrocarbons in soil contaminated of petroleum-derived substances. The material for testing was soil contaminated with petroleum substances. The total concentration of n-alkanes with a C8–C40 chain length was 420.1 mg·kg−1 DM. The pot tests were carried out by introducing stimulators. As a decomposition promoter for n-alkanes in contaminated soil, a 6% water solution of Fyre-Zyme and/or 1% sterile CaCO3 was use…
Swimming pool water--fractionation and genotoxicological characterization of organic constituents.
2005
Swimming pool water treatment in general includes flocculation, sand filtration, and subsequent disinfection with chlorine. The continuous chlorination and input of organic material by bathers in combination with recirculation of the pool water leads to an accumulation of disinfection by-products (DBPs) in the water. Several DBPs have been identified as human carcinogens and are thought to cause allergic asthma. Therefore, the elimination of DBPs is one major aim of pool water treatment. Using membrane filtration as an alternative treatment technology, DBPs can be removed more efficiently than with conventional treatment. In this study membrane filtration and genotoxicity testing were appli…
Modelling of E. colidistribution in coastal areas subjected to combined sewer overflows
2013
Rivers, lakes and the sea were the natural receivers of raw urban waste and storm waters for a long time but the low sustainability of such practice, the increase of population and a renewed environmental sensibility increased researcher interest in the analysis and mitigation of the impact of urban waters on receiving water bodies (RWB). In Europe, the integrated modelling of drainage systems and RWB has been promoted as a promising approach for implementing the Water Framework Directive. A particular interest is given to the fate of pathogens and especially of Escherichia coli, in all the cases in which an interaction between population and the RWB is foreseen. The present paper aims to p…
Emerging technologies for enhanced removal of residual antibiotics from source-separated urine and wastewaters: A review.
2022
Antibiotic residues are of significant concern in the ecosystem because of their capacity to mediate antibiotic resistance development among environmental microbes. This paper reviews recent technologies for the abatement of antibiotics from human urine and wastewaters. Antibiotics are widely distributed in the aquatic environment as a result of the discharge of municipal sewage. Their existence is a cause for worry due to the potential ecological impact (for instance, antibiotic resistance) on bacteria in the background. Numerous contaminants that enter wastewater treatment facilities and the aquatic environment, as a result, go undetected. Sludge can act as a medium for some chemicals to …
Seasonal response of vegetation on pollutants removal in constructed wetland system treating dairy wastewater
2022
Constructed wetland systems provide the ideal solution for small and medium dairy farms as they can be built close to the farm and are easy to manage and use. However, their perfomance is significantly affected by vegetation activity during the year. The aims of the present study were to assess the treatment of dairy wastewater (DWW) by a horizontal subsurface flow system (HSSFs) and the effect of plants in the removal efficiency (RE) of BOD5, COD, total N (TN) and total P (TP), in Sicily (Italy). The HSSFs treated 6/7 m3 per day of wastewater produced by a small dairy farm subsequent to biological treatment. The system included two units which were separately planted with Arundo donax L. a…