Search results for "Water science"
showing 10 items of 1545 documents
A scenario-based assessment of the tsunami hazard in Palermo, northern Sicily, and the southern Tyrrhenian Sea
2020
Successful aerobic bioremediation of groundwater contaminated with higher chlorinated phenols by indigenous degrader bacteria
2018
The xenobiotic priority pollutant pentachlorophenol has been used as a timber preservative in a polychlorophenol bulk synthesis product containing also tetrachlorophenol and trichlorophenol. Highly soluble chlorophenol salts have leaked into groundwater, causing severe contamination of large aquifers. Natural attenuation of higher-chlorinated phenols (HCPs: pentachlorophenol + tetrachlorophenol) at historically polluted sites has been inefficient, but a 4-year full scale in situ biostimulation of a chlorophenol-contaminated aquifer by circulation and re-infiltration of aerated groundwater was remarkably successful: pentachlorophenol decreased from 400 μg L−1 to <1 μg L−1 and tetrachlorophen…
Effects of Apirolio Addition and Alfalfa and Compost Treatments on the Natural Microbial Community of a Historically PCB-Contaminated Soil
2018
Abstract Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are ubiquitous and persistent organic pollutants generated exclusively from human sources and found in the environment as several congeners (e.g. Apirolio, produced in Italy and used for electrical transformers). To evaluate the ability of the natural microbial community of historically PCB-contaminated soil to transform or degrade PCBs after fresh contamination through the addition of Apirolio, a microcosm experiment was conducted in a greenhouse for approximately 8 months. Compost and Medicago sativa (alfalfa) were additionally used in the microcosms to stimulate microbial PCB degradation. Chemical analyses were performed to evaluate PCB concentra…
The essentials of marine biotechnology
2021
Coastal countries have traditionally relied on the existing marine resources (e.g., fishing, food, transport, recreation, and tourism) as well as tried to support new economic endeavors (ocean energy, desalination for water supply, and seabed mining). Modern societies and lifestyle resulted in an increased demand for dietary diversity, better health and well-being, new biomedicines, natural cosmeceuticals, environmental conservation, and sustainable energy sources. These societal needs stimulated the interest of researchers on the diverse and underexplored marine environments as promising and sustainable sources of biomolecules and biomass, and they are addressed by the emerging field of ma…
Enrichment of Bacterioplankton Able to Utilize One-Carbon and Methylated Compounds in the Coastal Pacific Ocean
2018
International audience; Understanding the temporal variations and succession of bacterial communities involved in the turnover of one-carbon and methylated compounds is necessary to better predict bacterial impacts on the marine carbon cycle and air-sea carbon fluxes. The ability of the local bacterioplankton community to exploit one-carbon and methylated compounds as main source of bioavailable carbon during a productive and less productive period was assessed through enrichment experiments. Surface seawater was amended with methanol and trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO), and bacterial abundance, production, oxygen consumption, as well as methanol turnover and growth rates of putative methylot…
Assessment of the Total Factor Productivity Change in the Spanish Ports: Hicks–Moorsteen Productivity Index Approach
2016
AbstractThe assessment of the productivity growth of ports is essential to improve their performance and competitiveness. Although there are several nonparametric methodologies to compute the productivity change, the Hicks–Moorsteen productivity index is the only multiplicatively completed index that can be computed without price data. For the first time, the total factor productivity (TFP) change of a sample of ports is evaluated. The analysis covers the 28 ports comprising the Spanish port system, using data over the period 2005–2012. The drivers of TFP—technical change, technical efficiency, mix efficiency, and residual scale efficiency—are also investigated. The results indicate that fr…
Multi-criteria analysis applied to multi-objective optimal pump scheduling in water systems
2019
Abstract This work presents a multi-criteria-based approach to automatically select specific non-dominated solutions from a Pareto front previously obtained using multi-objective optimization to find optimal solutions for pump control in a water supply system. Optimal operation of pumps in these utilities is paramount to enable water companies to achieve energy efficiency in their systems. The Fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (FTOPSIS) is used to rank the Pareto solutions found by the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) employed to solve the multi-objective problem. Various scenarios are evaluated under leakage uncertainty conditions, res…
Substituted Dibenzothiophenes I: Synthesis, Chromatography, Mass Spectrometry and Structure Elucidation by1H NMR Spectroscopy
1992
Abstract Some polychlorinated and polymethylated dibenzothiophenes have been synthesized to serve as model compounds in environmental analysis. In order to obtain pure isomers, the synthesis mixtures have been fractionated with reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography. In spite of a high sensitivity, mass spectrometry does not provide any reliable way to determine the precise structures of different isomers. Therefore, 1H NMR spectroscopy has been utilized as an aid in their analysis. The structures for two isomeric tetramethyldibenzothiophenes could be suggested on the basis of their 1H NMR spectra. Also some proposals for possible structures of two isomeric trimethyldibenzoth…
Formation of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol and 2,4,6-trichloroanisole during treatment and distribution of drinking water
1995
Biomethylation of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol to the potent off-flavour compound 2,4,6-trichloroanisole has previously been found to cause taste and odour problems in drinking water. In the present study, both compounds were detected in seemingly unpolluted surface waters. However, the highest concentrations of 2,4,6-trichloroanisole in tap water were caused by the formation of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol during chlorine disinfection of drinking water and subsequent methylation of this compound in the distribution system. Analysis of samples from several sites in the investigated distribution systems showed that there was a substantial spatial and temporal variation of the concentration of both 2,4,6-t…
Plant-wide modelling in wastewater treatment: showcasing experiences using the Biological Nutrient Removal Model
2020
Abstract Plant-wide modelling can be considered an appropriate approach to represent the current complexity in water resource recovery facilities, reproducing all known phenomena in the different process units. Nonetheless, novel processes and new treatment schemes are still being developed and need to be fully incorporated in these models. This work presents a short chronological overview of some of the most relevant plant-wide models for wastewater treatment, as well as the authors' experience in plant-wide modelling using the general model BNRM (Biological Nutrient Removal Model), illustrating the key role of general models (also known as supermodels) in the field of wastewater treatment…