Search results for "Waste management"

Organic Compounds Evaluation from Fumes Generated in Laboratory by Bio-recycled Asphalt Mixtures

2021

Using bio-binder and bio-additives as recycling agents for asphalt mixtures with high-content of reclaimed asphalt (RA) is proving to be feasible. It is still not clear whether this combination might provide new hazardous emissions from airborne binder fumes. The health hazard related to airborne bitumen fume generation is primarily relevant for paving crews while there is little opportunity for exposure related to asphalt plant workers. In this study, measurements of gaseous organic compounds from airborne binder fumes of selected bio-asphalt mixtures have been measured during the laboratory mixing process, by using a thermo-mixer equipped with a chimney at University Gustave Eiffel. Param…

Municipal Solid Waste Management in the Accra Metropolitan Area, Ghana

2003

Municipal solid waste management in Accra, Ghana, is at present delivered in an unsustainable manner. Due to uncontrolled urbanisation, large quantities of waste are generated daily in Accra, and this exerts much pressure on an over strained solid waste management system. Coupled with weak institutional capacity, and lack of resources, both human and capital, the city authorities face difficulties in ensuring that all the waste generated in the city is collected for disposal. Home collection of waste is limited to high and, some middle income areas while the poor are left to contend with the problem on their own. This leads to indiscriminate disposal of waste in surface drains, canals and s…

Healthcare Waste Treatment by Microwave: Critical Parameters and Future Perspectives

2019

Evolution of pyrolysis and gasification as waste to energy tools for low carbon economy

2021

Aerobic granular sludge reactor treating anaerobically pretreated brewery wastewater at different loading rates

2018

Small and medium breweries discharging to municipal sewers without treatment generate significant loads with typical concentrations reported by Valta et al. (2014) as 2-6 g COD L-1, 25-80 mg TN L-1, 10-50 mg TP L-1, with pH between 4.5 and 12. Treatment of the high-strength wastewater requires specialized low footprint processes, such as aerobic granular sludge (AGS), capable of high-rate degradation, as well as simultaneous nitrogen and phosphorous removal (Wang et al., 2007). The objective of this study was to evaluate the start-up period of AGS receiving brewery wastewater after initial anaerobic pretreatment.

First nation-wide estimation of tobacco consumption in Spain using wastewater-based epidemiology

2020

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has become a very useful tool to monitor a population's drug consumption or exposure to environmental and food contaminants. In this work, WBE has been applied to estimate tobacco consumption in seven Spanish regions. To this end, 24 h composite wastewater samples were taken daily for one week in 17 wastewater treatment plants, covering altogether a population of ca. 6 million inhabitants. The samples were treated by enzymatic deconjugation and the wastewater content of two human-specific nicotine metabolites (namely, cotinine and trans-3′-hydroxycotinine) was measured to estimate the daily consumption of nicotine. The population-weighted average nicotine…

Groundwater radon measurements in the Mt. Etna area.

2003

Radon levels were measured in 119 groundwater samples collected throughout the active volcanic area of Mt. Etna by means of a portable Lucas-type scintillation chamber. The measured activity values range from 1.8 to 52.7 Bq l(-1). About 40% of the samples exceed the maximum contaminant level of 11 Bq l(-1) proposed by the USEPA in 1991. The highest radon levels are measured in the eastern sector of the volcano, which is the seismically most active zone of the volcano. On the contrary the south-western sector, which is both seismically active and a site of intense magmatic degassing, display lower radon levels. This is probably due to the formation of a free gas phase (oversaturation of CO(2…

Remote sensing of cyanobacterial blooms in a hypertrophic lagoon (Albufera of València, Eastern Iberian Peninsula) using multitemporal Sentinel-2 ima…

2018

Eutrophy in Albufera of Valencia (Eastern Iberian Peninsula) is a quite old problem since after the intense eutrophication processes throughout the 1960s. The system shifted to a turbid stable state consolidated by the virtual disappearance of macrophytes by the early 1970s. The lagoon has been studied extensively since the 1980s, but efforts to revert the system to a clear state have not yielded the expected results because cultural eutrophication due to the growth of population in its area of influence and the effects of climate change, decreasing rainfall and increasing evaporation. This has driven to an increase in water retention times in the lagoon in recent years, resulting in a phyt…

How and why does willow biochar increase a clay soil water retention capacity?

2018

Addition of biochar into a soil changes its water retention properties by modifying soil textural and structural properties. In addition, internal micrometer-scale porosity that is able to directly store readily plant available water affects soil water retention properties. This study shows how precise knowledge of the internal micrometer-scale pore size distribution of biochar can deepen the understanding of the biochar-water interactions in soils. The micrometer-scale porosity of willow biochar was quantitatively and qualitatively characterized using X-ray tomography, 3D image analysis and Helium ion microscopy. The effect of biochar application on clay soil water retention was studied by…

An Evaluation Matrix to Compare Computer Hydrological Models for Flood Predictions

2020

In order to predict and control the impacts of floods in torrents, it is important to verify the simulation accuracy of the most used hydrological models. The performance verification is particularly needed for applications in watersheds with peculiar climatic and geomorphological characteristics, such as the Mediterranean torrents. Moreover, in addition to the accuracy, other factors affect the choice of software by stakeholders (users, modellers, researchers, etc.). This study introduces a &ldquo