Search results for "[ SDE ] Environmental Sciences"
showing 10 items of 6671 documents
Model research on the influence of green roofs on environmental parameters in urban agglomerations
2018
The intensive development of urban agglomerations in Poland and other European countries has rendered the growth of biologically active areas more important with respect the quality of the urban environment. Taking the rapidly rising prices of plots in city centers into consideration, it is worth noting the vast surfaces of building roofs that can be used as biologically active areas. The term green roof is to be understood as an open, overgrown surface on a multilayer roof of a building. Green roofs can only be made on a planar surface with an inclination of 2% to 30%. In accordance with the type of usage, construction factors and maintenance requirements, green roofs are typically defined…
Examination of coagulant additives on qualitative composition of selected thermal waters
2017
On the territory of Poland occur rich deposits of thermal waters. Although the utilisation of these waters is continuously extending, Poland is not exploiting their full geothermal potential due to high investment costs. Thermal waters industry in Poland to date indicates operations within mainly balneology as well as recreation objectives. Higher temperature values of these waters foster a washout in the surrounding rocks resulting in a high concentration of diluted substances which must be often removed. The following study investigates thermal waters from three intakes for which coagulation processes were conducted. Research clearly shows that coagulant additives not impact on the qualit…
MICROBIAL FUEL CELL WITH Ni-Co CATHODE AND KMnO4 CATHOLYTE
2017
The improving standard of living causes the increases in energy consumption and waste or wastewater production. The possibility of combining wastewater treatment and electricity production can be accomplished by means of a microbial fuel cell. The possibility of wastewater treatment using the Ni-Co alloy as cathode catalyst with KMnO4 catholyte for microbial fuel cells was presented in this paper. The measurements covered the comparison of changes in the concentration of COD, NH4+ and NO3- in the reactor without aeration, with aeration and using a microbial fuel cell (with Ni-Co cathode and KMnO4 catholyte). The reduction time for COD using a microbial fuel cell with the Ni-Co catalyst (and…
Direct electricity production from coconut oil - the electrooxidation of coconut oil in an acid electrolyte
2018
Supplying more and more energy is an essential task of today's energy industry. In the last few decades, in addition to traditional methods of energy production, alternative energy sources have been developing at a fast rate. One of the devices that can use these sources is the fuel cell (FC). FCs can be a power source of the future mainly due to their high efficiency, their low impact on the environment and the possibility of powering with different fuels. Most often, FCs are powered by hydrogen. However, issues with its cheap production and storage are the reasons for seeking new fuels for FCs. Yet it must be a fuel that will provide a zero or low emission level. One of these fuels can be…
Possibility of direct electricity production from waste canola oil
2017
Powering high-efficiency devices, such as fuel cells, with waste products will allow for a broader development of renewable energy sources and utilisation of by- products. This publication presents the possibility of electrooxidation of the emulsion of waste rapeseed oil, prepared on the basis of the detergent Syntanol DS-10. The process of electrooxidation was carried out on platinum electrode in alkaline (KOH) and acidic (H 2 SO 4 ) electrolyte, in the temperature range of 293-333 K. In each analysed case the process of electrooxidation took place. The maximum current density obtained was 7 mA cm -2 . Thus, it has been shown that it is possible to generate electricity directly from the em…
An Approach to Delineate Groundwater Bodies at Risk: Seawater Intrusion in Liepāja (Latvia)
2018
Groundwater quality in coastal areas is frequently affected by seawater intrusion as a consequence of intensive water consumption. To achieve “good chemical status” of a groundwater body according to Water Framework Directive the effects of saline or other intrusions should not be observed. Groundwater pumping in former decades has caused a significant seawater intrusion into confined aquifer in Liepāja and has led to deterioration of relatively wide coastal area of the third largest city in Latvia. However, the area affected by seawater intrusion is a small part of groundwater body F1 which overall chemical status is good. Thus, no specific management measures have been applied to explore …
Single chamber microbial fuel cell with Ni-Co cathode
2017
The possibility of wastewater treatment and the parallel energy production using the Ni-Co alloy as cathode catalyst for single chamber microbial fuel cells is presented in this research. The research included a preparation of catalyst and comparison of COD, NH4 + and NO3 - reduction in the reactor without aeration, with aeration and with using a single chamber microbial fuel cell with Ni-Co cathode. The reduction time for COD with the use of microbial fuel cell with the Ni-Co catalyst is similar to the reduction time with aeration. The current density (2.4 A·m-2 ) and amount of energy (0.48 Wh) obtained in MFC is low, but the obtained amount of energy allows elimination of the energy neede…
Leading agritourism facilities along Nearly Zero Energy paths: proposal of an easy-to-use evaluation method
2020
The tourist sector, despite the present severe constraints imposed by the sanitary emergence, can be considered as an important component of almost all countries’ economies. In Italy agriturism, in particular, has been experiences a continuously rising trend in recent years. Clearly, such great interest towards these businesses also calls for a deep attention by an energy point of view, in sight of an energy efficiency improvement, hence a lowering of the pressure that such facilities exert to the natural environment. On the other hand, the European Union has been engaged, for a long time, in awarding the tourist accommodations environmental excellence brands, like the EU Ecolabel. Unfortun…
Climate and extreme rainfall events in the Mono river basin (West Africa): investigating future changes with Regional Climate Models.
2020
This study characterizes the future changes in extreme rainfall and air temperature in the Mono river basin where the main economic activity is weather dependent and local populations are highly vulnerable to natural hazards, including flood inundations. Daily precipitation and temperature from observational datasets and Regional Climate Models (RCMs) output from REMO, RegCM, HadRM3, and RCA were used to analyze climatic variations in space and time, and fit a GEV model to investigate the extreme rainfalls and their return periods. The results indicate that the realism of the simulated climate in this domain is mainly controlled by the choice of the RCMs. These RCMs projected a 1 to 1.5 °
Tsunami Propagation and Flooding in Sicilian Coastal Areas by Means of a Weakly Dispersive Boussinesq Model
2020
This paper addresses the tsunami propagation and subsequent coastal areas flooding by means of a depth-integrated numerical model. Such an approach is fundamental in order to assess the inundation hazard in coastal areas generated by seismogenic tsunami. In this study we adopted, an interdisciplinary approach, in order to consider the tsunami propagation, relates both to geomorphological characteristics of the coast and the bathymetry. In order to validate the numerical model, comparisons with results of other studies were performed. This manuscript presents first applicative results achieved using the weakly dispersive Boussinesq model in the field of tsunami propagation and coastal inunda…