Search results for "TRACT"

Ashes from Sewage Sludge and Bottom Sediments as a Source of Bioavailable Phosphorus

2018

Phosphorus is an element necessary for the growth of plants. As phosphate rock gets depleted, it becomes an increasingly scarce resource. Therefore, it seems necessary to implement simple methods of cheap and effective phosphorus recovery from waste. The ashes of municipal sewage sludge and bottom sediments constitute particularly valuable sources of phosphorus. However, these materials usually carry significant amounts of pollutants, including heavy metals. Optimization of ash phosphorus sequential extraction methods from a thermal conversion of sewage sludge and bottom sediments allows to select an effective and simple technology of phosphorus recovery, while maintaining low heavy metal p…

Experimental Investigation into the Effect of Pyrolysis on Chemical Forms of Heavy Metals in Sewage Sludge Biochar (SSB), with Brief Ecological Risk …

2021

Experimental investigations were carried out to study the effect of pyrolysis temperature on the characteristics, structure and total heavy metal contents of sewage sludge biochar (SSB). The changes in chemical forms of the heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb and Cd) caused by pyrolysis were analyzed, and the potential ecological risk of heavy metals in biochar (SSB) was evaluated. The conversion of sewage sludge into biochar by pyrolysis reduced the H/C and O/C ratios considerably, resulting in stronger carbonization and a higher degree of aromatic condensation in biochar. Measurement results showed that the pH and specific surface area of biochar increased as the pyrolysis temperature increa…

Fast pyrolysis of hot-water-extracted and delignified silver birch (Betula pendula) sawdust by Py-GC/MS

2017

The thermochemical behavior of birch (Betula pendula) sawdust both untreated and after various chemical treatments (hot-water extraction, delignification, and hot-water extraction followed by delignification) was investigated by pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS). In each case, major GC-amenable condensable products were classified into several compound groups, and the formation of these monomer-related fragments from feedstock samples with varying mass portions of the structural constituents (cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin) were determined at 500 °C and 700 °C at hold times of 5 s and 20 s. The formation of pyrolysis products was shown to be characteristically…

Flow measurement using circular portable flume

2018

Abstract The circular portable flume is a simple device to measure discharge in circular drainage networks. Since the unit can be easily installed and removed, it is helpful in water distribution measurement and management. First in this paper the available studies are reviewed for highlighting the effect of both the contraction ratio and the flume slope on the stage-discharge relationship. Then the Buckingham's Theorem of the dimensional analysis and the self-similarity theory are used to deduce the stage-discharge curve of the circular flume. The new theoretical stage-discharge equation is calibrated by the literature available experimental data and those obtained in this experimental inv…

Closure to “Extraction of the Flow Rate Equation under Free and Submerged Flow Conditions in Pivot Weirs with Different Side Contractions” by N. Shei…

2018

Analysis of uncontrolled phosphorus precipitation in anaerobic digesters under thermophilic and mesophilic conditions.

2019

This study compares the operation of mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge and their effects in uncontrolled phosphorus precipitation. The research has been carried out using a pilot plant consisting of two digesters of 1.6 m3 working volume, treating the mixed sludge of Alzira WWTP (Valencia, Spain). The digesters were operated in parallel, at different conditions: mesophilic (38 ± 2.0°C) and thermophilic (55 ± 2.5°C) temperatures and organic loading rates (OLR) ranging from 1.1 to 1.7 kg volatile solids (VS) m−3 d−1 and different hydraulic retention times (HRT) 20, 15 and 12 days. Uncontrolled precipitation was evaluated through P, Mg and Ca mass balances in bot…

Extreme minimal learning machine: Ridge regression with distance-based basis

2019

The extreme learning machine (ELM) and the minimal learning machine (MLM) are nonlinear and scalable machine learning techniques with a randomly generated basis. Both techniques start with a step in which a matrix of weights for the linear combination of the basis is recovered. In the MLM, the feature mapping in this step corresponds to distance calculations between the training data and a set of reference points, whereas in the ELM, a transformation using a radial or sigmoidal activation function is commonly used. Computation of the model output, for prediction or classification purposes, is straightforward with the ELM after the first step. In the original MLM, one needs to solve an addit…

BIAM: a new bio-inspired analysis methodology for digital ecosystems based on a scale-free architecture

2017

Today we live in a world of digital objects and digital technology; industry and humanities as well as technologies are truly in the midst of a digital environment driven by ICT and cyber informatics. A digital ecosystem can be defined as a digital environment populated by interacting and competing digital species. Digital species have autonomous, proactive and adaptive behaviors, regulated by peer-to-peer interactions without central control point. An interconnecting architecture with few highly connected nodes (hubs) and many low connected nodes has a scale- free architecture. A new bio-inspired analysis methodology (BIAM) environment, an investigation strategy for information flow, fault…

Fractional-Order System Identification of Viscoelastic Behavior: A Frequency Domain Based Experimental Study

2020

In this work, the fractional-order modeling of viscoelastic behavior is investigated based on measurement data in the frequency domain. For the results of two different test setups we apply existing parameter estimation algorithms designed for fractional-order transfer functions. These algorithms require a priori knowledge of the system structure including the commensurate order of differentiation. An iterative procedure is used to evaluate the influence of the unknown structure. The measured polymer samples show a viscoelastic stress response. We can show that integer-order models are not capable of capturing this behavior. For a set of predefined structures, the best obtained fractional-o…

A methodology for evaluating the flexibility potential of domestic air-conditioning systems

2020

The paper presents a methodology for quantifying the electrical flexibility potential of air-conditioning systems (ACS) installed in residential buildings according to the building envelope characteristics and the ACS performance. In order to provide a thorough analysis of the issue, the ACS baseline consumption referred to the indoor temperature of 24°C has been computed for three typical residential buildings built in the South of Italy over different periods. The baseline consumption was used as a reference to estimate the effect of the set point temperature change on the ACS power profile. The results showed that increasing the set-point temperature of ACS by 2°C and 4°C leads to a redu…