Search results for "Water science"
showing 10 items of 1545 documents
Taxonomic and environmental implication of pedotechnique in large scale farming
2016
Abstract Human activities that involve deep modifications of the soils and a substantial deterioration of their features are numerous and very diverse. Such activities are considered as pedotechniques and, in large-scale farming, are used only under the boost of significant economic returns. In these last decades, the pedotechniques used to tailor soils suitable for table vine cultivation in the Acate valley (Sicily, Italy), not only led to objective difficulties in the classification of these deeply transformed soils but also, to several environmental hazards. In this work after considering the pedotechniques used in tailoring suitable soil for table vine cultivation, we propose to introdu…
Assessment of vine development according to available water resources by using remote sensing in La Mancha, Spain
1999
Abstract The relevance of growing vines under semiarid conditions is universally accepted because of its impacts on social, economic and environmental aspects. Improving the knowledge of the soil–plant–atmosphere system related to the expression of vine growth allows the study of vine cover in wide areas. Several aspects of vine growing under semiarid conditions, related to weather, soil, and plant cover are analysed in this paper. Once the ground truth is achieved, multitemporal studies by remote sensing are especially useful for vine growth monitoring. The purpose of this work is focussed on determining changes of vine cover development according to available water resources in relation t…
Three dimensional numerical simulation of wind driven flows in closed channels and basins
2008
In the paper, a fully 3D finite-volume numerical model is developed and employed for the prediction of wind-induced flows in a regular channel and in a square basin with a complex bathymetry. Numerical results are compared with laboratory experiments.Numerical tests are then performed to investigate whether simplifying assumptions about the pressure distribution and the turbulente stresses representation can be employed in the simulation of wind-driven flows. The hydrostatic pressure assumption, resulting in the use of “quasi-3D” models, proved to be reasonably acceptable in order to obtain the vertical profile of the streamwise velocity component away from the boundaries. The quasi-3D mode…
Turmoil at Turrialba Volcano (Costa Rica): Degassing and eruptive processes inferred from high-frequency gas monitoring
2016
OVSICORI Eruptive activity at Turrialba Volcano (Costa Rica) has escalated significantly since 2014, causing airport and school closures in the capital city of San José. Whether or not new magma is involved in the current unrest seems probable but remains a matter of debate as ash deposits are dominated by hydrothermal material. Here we use high‐frequency gas monitoring to track the behavior of the volcano between 2014 and 2015 and to decipher magmatic versus hydrothermal contributions to the eruptions. Pulses of deeply derived CO2‐rich gas (CO2/Stotal > 4.5) precede explosive activity, providing a clear precursor to eruptive periods that occurs up to 2 weeks before eruptions, which are acc…
Metallic nanoparticle enrichment at low temperature, shallow CO2 seeps in Southern Italy
2012
We report on metal enrichment along a natural pH gradient owing to increased CO2 degassing at cold, shallow seeps of Vulcano Island in the Mediterranean Sea, off Sicily. We assessed composition of unfiltered and filtered seawater (<100 nm) along acidic zones ranging between ambient and pH 5, and showed that most seep derived elements are present as nanoclusters which then aggregate into larger colloids while mixing with ambient seawater along a pH gradient. Size and elemental composition of such naturally occurring nanoparticles assessed by modern characterisation methods were in good agreement with the results from conventional analytical methods. We provide analytical evidence for the pre…
Characterisation and Anaerobic Batch Degradation of Materials Accumulating in Anaerobic Digesters Treating Poultry Slaughterhouse Waste
2001
We characterised materials accumulating in two failed mesophilic semi-continuous anaerobic digesters treating poultry slaughterhouse waste and, for reference, materials in the two well-performing digesters, to find the anaerobic degradability of these materials and the factors affecting their degradation. We also studied materials accumulating and stratifying in various layers in one of the two well-performing digesters. The material from the most severely failed digesters produced methane sluggishly and did not improve appreciably even with 33 percent dilution suggesting that the recovery of failed process is slow. The methane production was apparently affected by the accumulated long-chai…
Field-portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry as rapid measurement tool for landfill mining operations: comparison of field data vs. laboratory anal…
2015
Landfill mining applied in reclamation at the territories of old dump sites and landfills is a known approach tended to global economic and environmental benefits as recovery of metals and energy i...
Simulation of a regeneration plant for spent pickling solutions via spray roasting
2015
Nowadays, pyrohydrolysis techniques are widely applied for regeneration of spent pickling liquors providing an excellent environmental and economical strategy to the problem of waste disposal/recovery, also thanks to the high acid recovery efficiencies (>99%) achieved. In fact, in these processes, iron chlorides are converted into iron oxides and hydrogen chloride at high temperature in spray roasting or fluidized bed reactors. Though the state-of-the-art technologies have been successfully applied only to large-scale plants, the development of small-scale units, able to perform a delocalized regeneration of spent solutions where these latter are actually produced, would be strongly needed …
Sulphate-Reducing Laboratory-Scale High-Rate Anaerobic Reactors for Treatment of Metal- and Sulphate-Containing Mine Wastewater
2002
Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors were used in this study to evaluate the feasibility of the sulphate-reducing, anaerobic high-rate process to treat metal- and sulphate-containing mining wastewater (MWW). Four simultaneous reactors, inoculated with different inocula (mesophilic granular sludge from two UASB reactors, one treating sugar refinery wastewater and the other board mill wastewater) and operated with different loadings, were for 95 days fed with synthetic feed consisting of glucose and sulphate. In all reactors, 23-72% of sulphate and 12-93% of COD were removed. Subsequently, two reactors were fed with diluted MWW (zinc as the main metal) for 77 days with hydraulic re…
Water Resource Recovery Facilities (WRRFs): The Case Study of Palermo University (Italy)
2021
The wastewater sector paradigm is shifting from wastewater treatment to resource recovery. In addition, concerns regarding sustainability during the operation have increased. In this sense, there is a need to break barriers (i.e., social, economic, technological, legal, etc.) for moving forward towards water resource recovery facilities and demonstration case studies can be very effective and insightful. This paper presents a new water resource recovery case study which is part of the Horizon 2020 EU Project “Achieving wider uptake of water-smart solutions—Wider Uptake”. The final aim is to demonstrate the importance of a resource recovery system based on the circular economy concept. The r…