Search results for: antecedent soil moisture content

Authors: Mouffok Ahlem, Belhamra Mohamed, Mouffok Sihem

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The use of nitrogen fertilizers inevitable consequence, the increase in the nitrate content of water, which may contribute to the production of nitrite and the formation of carcinogenic nitrosamines. The nitrogen fertilizer may also affect the structure and function of the microbial community. And the fight against eutrophication of aquatic environments represents a cost to the student statements. The agronomic, ecological and economic legumes such as faba beans and alfalfa are not demonstrated, especially in the case of semi-arid and arid areas. Osmotic stress due to drought and / or salinity deficit, nutritional deficiencies is the major factors limiting symbiotic nitrogen fixation and productivity of pulses. To study the symbiotic nitrogen fixation in faba bean (Vicia faba L.) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) in the region of Biskra, we used soil samples collected from 30 locations. This work has identified several issues of ecological and agronomic interest. Evaluation of symbiotic potential of soils in the region of Biskra; by trapping technique, show different levels of susceptibility to rhizobial microflora. The effectiveness of the rhizobial symbiosis in both legumes indicates that air dry biomass and the amount of nitrogen accumulated in the aerial part, depends mainly on the rate of nodulation and regardless of the species and locality. The correlation between symbiotic nitrogen fixation and some physico-chemical properties of soils shows that symbiotic nitrogen fixation in both legumes is strongly related to soil conditions of the soil. Salinity disrupts the physiological process of growth, development and more particularly that of the symbiotic fixation of atmospheric nitrogen. Against by phosphorus promotes rhizobial symbiosis.

Keywords: rhizobia, faba bean, alfalfa, salinity

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Authors: Farnaz Sadeghi, Moslem Tavakol

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In this study, an attempt has been made to prepare a physically cross-linked gel by cooling of tannic acid (TA)-polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solution that subsequently convert to antibacterial chemically cross-linked hydrogel by using electron beam irradiation. PVA is known for its biocompatibility and hydrophilicity, and TA is known for being a natural compound which can serve as a cross-linking agent and a therapeutic agent. Swelling behavior, gel content, pore size, and mechanical properties of hydrogels which prepared at 14, 28, and 56 (kGy) with different ratios of polymers were investigated. PVA-TA hydrogel showed sustained release of tannic acid as approximately 20% and 50% of loaded TA released from the hydrogel after 4 and 72 h release time. We found that gel content decreased and the moisture retention capability increased by an increase in TA composition. In addition, PVA-TA hydrogels showed a good antibacterial activity against S.aureus. MTT analysis indicated that close to 83% of fibroblast cells remained viable after 48 h exposure to hydrogel extract. Moreover, the cooling of 10% PVA solution containing 0.5 and 0.75% w/v tannic acid to room and refrigerator, respectively, led to formation of physical gel that did not present any flow index after inversion of hydrogel cast. According to the results, the hydrogel prepared by electron beam irradiation of blended PVA-TA solution could be further investigated as a promising candidate for wound healing.

Keywords: poly vinyl alcohol, tannic acid, electron beam irradiation, hydrogel wound dressing

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Authors: M. Azadi, M. Kalhor

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Excavation of shallow tunnels such as subways in urban areas plays a significant role as a life line and investigation of the soil behavior against tunnel construction is one of the vital subjects studied in the geotechnical scope. Nowadays, urban tunnels are mostly drilled by T.B.Ms and changing the applied forces to tunnel lining is one of the most risky matters while drilling tunnels by these machines. Variation of soil cementation can change the behavior of these forces in the tunnel lining. Therefore, this article is designed to assess the impact of tunnel excavation in different soils and several amounts of cementation on applied loads to tunnel lining under static and dynamic loads. According to the obtained results, changing the cementation of soil will affect the applied loadings to the tunnel envelope significantly. It can be determined that axial force in tunnel lining decreases considerably when soil cementation increases. Also, bending moment and shear force in tunnel lining decreases as the soil cementation increases and causes bending and shear behavior of the segments to improve. Based on the dynamic analyses, as cohesion factor in soil increases, bending moment, axial and shear forces of segments decrease but lining behavior of the tunnel is the same as static state. The results show that decreasing the overburden applied to lining caused by cementation is different in two static and dynamic states.

Keywords: seismic behavior, twin tunnels, tunnel positions, TBM, optimum distance

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Authors: Adewoyin O. Olusegun, Emmanuel O. Joshua, Marvel L. Akinyemi

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The heterogeneous nature of the subsurface requires the use of factual information to deal with rather than assumptions or generalized equations. Therefore, there is need to determine the actual rate of settlement possible in the soil before structures are built on it. This information will help in determining the type of foundation design and the kind of reinforcement that will be necessary in constructions. This paper presents a simplified and a faster approach for determining foundation settlement in any type of soil using real field data acquired from seismic refraction techniques and cone penetration tests. This approach was also able to determine the depth of settlement of each strata of soil. The results obtained revealed the different settlement time and depth of settlement possible.

Keywords: heterogeneous, settlement, foundation, seismic, technique

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Authors: Mehdi Shekarbeigi

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The consolidation of loose substrates as well as substrate layers through promoting stabilizing materials is one of the most commonly used road construction techniques. Cement, lime, and flax, as well as asphalt emulsion, are common materials used for soil stabilization to enhance the soil’s strength and durability properties. Cement could be simply used to stabilize permeable materials such as sand in a relatively short time threshold. In this research, typical Portland cement is selected for the stabilization of isotropic sand; the effect of static and cyclic loading on the behavior of these soils has been examined with various percentages of Portland cement. Thus, firstly, a soil’s general features are investigated, and then static tests, including direct cutting, density and single axis tests, and California Bearing Ratio, are performed on the samples. After that, the dynamic behavior of cement on silica sand with the same grain size is analyzed. These experiments are conducted on cement samples of 3, 6, and 9 of the same rates and ineffective limiting pressures of 0 to 1200 kPa with 200 kPa steps of the face according to American Society for Testing and Materials D 3999 standards. Also, to test the effect of temperature on molds and frost samples, 0, 5, 10, and 20 are carried out during 0, 5, 10, and 20-second periods. Results of the static tests showed that increasing the cement percentage increases the soil density and shear strength. The single-axis compressive strength increase is higher for samples with higher cement content and lower densities. The results also illustrate the relationship between single-axial compressive strength and cement weight parameters. Results of the dynamic experiments indicate that increasing the number of loading cycles and melting and freezing cycles enhances permeability and decreases the applied pressure. According to the results of this research, it could be stated that samples containing 9% cement have the highest amount of shear modulus and, therefore, decrease the permeability of soil. This amount could be considered as the optimal amount. Also, the enhancement of effective limited pressure from 400 to 800kPa increased the shear modulus of the sample by an average of 20 to 30 percent in small strains.

Keywords: cement, isotropic sands, static load, three-axis cycle, melting and freezing cycles

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Authors: Mohmd Sarireh

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The geotechnical study can be employed successfully to assess and follow the expected development or delay in the project construction. The development project of city center or downtown was taken as a case study for the investigation of the project conditions that might support progress or cause delay. The project was proposed to build 7447 m2 by reinforced concrete mainly to serve and support the services provided to people in Tafila. The project construction had faced challenges and obstacles such as soil collapse because of excavation of the weak soil that found in the project site. In addition, the topography of the project area showed a high slope from South-West to North. The slope through the project footprint reached to 83.3% which is considered very high slope. One year and a half proposed to finish the project construction since the 1st of March 2013 and it was planned to be finished by the 31th of August 2014, but the project needs more than one year and a half as extension according to the consultant engineer. The collecting of data was conducted through the interviews with the engineers and officials, and by analyzing the soil reports and samples taken during design and excavation. The major findings came out to weak and fractured soil and construction waste that were found at project site. Also, soil was considered very fine according to the plasticity index (PI) values, in addition to the high depths required for foundation that contribute to the collapse of soil and the increase of project cost. The current project aims to present how the unseen conditions can delay the project construction and increase the cost of the project that rises to JD8.305 Million.

Keywords: geotechnical, management, progress, risk, soil unseen conditions management

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Authors: Eze Catherine Chinwe, J. D. Njoku

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Background: Palm oil mill effluent is the voluminous liquid waste that comes from the sterilization and clarification sections of the oil palm milling process. The raw effluent contains 90-95% water and includes residual oil, soil particles, and suspended solids. Palm oil mill effluent is a highly polluting material and much research has been dedicated to means of alleviating its threat to the environment. Objectives: 1. To compare Physico-chemical and microbiological analysis of soil samples from POME and non-POME sites. 2. To make recommendations on how best to handle POME in the study area. Methods: Quadrant approach was adopted for sampling POME (A) and Non POME (B) locations. Qualities were determined using standard analytical procedures. Conclusions: Results of the analysis were obtained in the following range; pH (3.940 –7.435), dissolved oxygen (DO) (1.582–6.234mg/l), biological oxygen demand (BOD) (50–5463mg/l etc. For the various locations, the population of total heterotrophic bacteria (THB) ranged from 1.36x106–2.42x106 cfu/ml, the total heterotrophic fungi (THF) ranged from 1.22–3.05 x 104 cfu/ml. The frequency of occurrence revealed the microbial isolates Pseudomonas sp., Bacillus sp., Staphylococcus, as the most frequently occurring isolates. Analysis of variance showed that there were significant differences (P<0.05) in microbial populations among locations. The discharge of industrial effluents into the soil in Nigeria invariably results in the presence of high concentrations of pollutant in the soil environment.

Keywords: effluents, mirobial composition, soil samples, isiala mbano

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Authors: Siddig H. Hamad, Salah M. Al-Eid, Fahad M. Al-Jassas

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Composite samples of minced chicken were vacuum-packaged and pressure treated at 300, 400, 450 and 500 MPa in a Stansted 'FOOD-LAB' model S-FL-850-9-W high hydrostatic pressure research apparatus (Stansted Fluid Power Ltd., Stansted, UK). Treated and untreated samples were then stored at 3°C, and microbial content as well as some chemical and physical properties monitored. The microbial load of the untreated samples reached the spoilage level of 107 cfu/g in about one week, resulting in bad smell and dark brown color. The pressure treatments reduced total bacterial counts by about 1.8 to 3.2 log10 cycles and reduced counts of Enterobacteriaceae and Salmonella to non-detectable levels. The color of meat was slightly affected, but pH, moisture content and the oxidation products of lipids were not substantially changed. The treatment killed mainly gram negative bacteria but also caused sub-lethal injury to part of the population resulting in prolonged lag phase. The population not killed by the 350 to 450 MPa treatments grew relatively slowly during storage, and its loads reached spoilage level in 4 to 6 weeks, while the load of the population treated at 500 MPa did not reach this level till the end of a storage period of 9 weeks.

Keywords: chicken, cold storage, microbial spoilage, high hydrostatic pressure

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Authors: A. Abdulkadir, A. A. Okhimamhe, Y. M. Bello, H. Ibrahim, D. H. Makun, M. T. Usman

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Household waste form a larger proportion of waste generated across the state, accumulation of organic waste is an apparent problem and the existing dump sites could be overstressed. Niger state has abundant arable land and water resources thus should be one of the highest producers of agricultural crops in the country. However, the major challenge to agricultural sector today is the loss of soil nutrient coupled with high cost of fertilizer. These have continued to increase the use of fertilizer and decomposed solid waste for enhancing agricultural yield, which have varying effects on the soil as well a threat to human livelihood. Consequently, vegetable yield samples from poultry droppings decomposed household waste manure, NPK treatments and control from each replication were subjected to proximate analysis to determine the nutritional and anti-nutritional component as well as heavy metal concentration. Data collected was analyzed using SPSS software and Randomized complete Block Design means were compared. The result shows that the treatments do not devoid the concentrations of any nutritional components while the anti-nutritional analysis proved that NPK had higher oxalate content than control and organic treats. The concentration of lead and cadmium are within safe permissible level while the mercury level exceeded the FAO/WHO maximum permissible limit for the entire treatments depicts the need for urgent intervention to minimize mercury levels in soil and manure in order to mitigate its toxic effect. Thus, eco-agriculture should be widely accepted and promoted by the stakeholders for soil amendment, higher yield, strategies for sustainable environmental protection, food security, poverty eradication, attainment of sustainable development and healthy livelihood.

Keywords: anti-nutritional, healthy livelihood, nutritional waste, organic waste

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Authors: S. N. T. I. Sampath, J. M. S. Jayasinghe, A. P. Attanayake, V. Karunaratne

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Diabetes mellitus is one of the major public health posers throughout the world today that incidence and associated with increasing mortality. Insufficient regulation of the blood glucose level might be serious effects for health and its necessity to identify new therapeutics that have ability to reduce hyperglycaemic condition in the human body. Even though synthetic antidiabetic drugs are more effective to control diabetes mellitus, there are considerable side effects have been reported. Thus, there is an increasing demand for searching new natural products having high antidiabetic activity with lesser side effects. The purposes of the present study were to evaluate different physical parameters and in-vitro and in-vivo antidiabetic potential of the selected combined medicinal plant extracts mixture composed of leaves of Murraya koenigii, cloves of Allium sativum, fruits of Garcinia queasita and seeds of Piper nigrum. The selected plants parts were mixed and ground together and extracted sequentially into the hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol. Solvents were evaporated and they were further dried by freeze-drying to obtain a fine powder of each extract. Various physical parameters such as moisture, total ash, acid insoluble ash and water soluble ash were evaluated using standard test procedures. In-vitro antidiabetic activity of combined plant extracts mixture was screened using enzyme assays such as α-amylase inhibition assay and α-glucosidase inhibition assay. The acute anti-hyperglycaemic activity was performed using oral glucose tolerance test for the streptozotocin induced diabetic Wistar rats to find out in-vivo antidiabetic activity of combined plant extracts mixture and it was assessed through total oral glucose tolerance curve (TAUC) values. The percentage of moisture content, total ash content, acid insoluble ash content and water soluble ash content were ranged of 7.6-17.8, 8.1-11.78, 0.019-0.134 and 6.2-9.2 respectively for the plant extracts and those values were less than standard values except the methanol extract. The hexane and ethyl acetate extracts exhibited highest α-amylase (IC50 = 25.7 ±0.6; 27.1 ±1.2 ppm) and α-glucosidase (IC50 = 22.4 ±0.1; 33.7 ±0.2 ppm) inhibitory activities than methanol extract (IC50 = 360.2 ±0.6; 179.6 ±0.9 ppm) when compared with the acarbose positive control (IC50 = 5.7 ±0.4; 17.1 ±0.6 ppm). The TAUC values for hexane, ethyl acetate, and methanol extracts and glibenclamide (positive control) treated rats were 8.01 ±0.66; 8.05 ±1.07; 8.40±0.50; 5.87 ±0.93 mmol/L.h respectively, whereas in diabetic control rats the TAUC value was 13.22 ±1.07 mmol/L.h. Administration of plant extracts treated rats significantly suppressed (p<0.05) the rise in plasma blood glucose levels compared to control rats but less significant than glibenclamide. The obtained results from in-vivo and in-vitro antidiabetic study showed that the hexane and ethyl acetate extracts of selected combined plant mixture might be considered as a potential source to isolate natural antidiabetic agents and physical parameters of hexane and ethyl acetate extracts will helpful to develop antidiabetic drug with further standardize properties.

Keywords: diabetes mellitus, in-vitro antidiabetic assays, medicinal plants, standardization

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Authors: Patel Himeshkumar Ashokbhai, Suchit Sharma, Arvind Kumar Garg

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The results obtained from settling test of coal fines are used as an important tool to select the dewatering equipment such as thickeners, centrifuges and filters. Coal being hydrophobic in nature does not easily settle when mixed with water. Coal slurry that takes longer time to release water is highly undesirable because it poses additional challenge during sedimentation, centrifuge and filtration. If filter cake has higher than permitted moisture content then it not only creates handling problems but inflated freight costs and reduction in input and productivity for coke oven charges. It is to be noted that coal fines drastically increase moisture percentage in filter cake hence are to be minimized. To increase settling rate of coal fines in slurry chemical substances called flocculants or coagulants are added that cause coal particles to flocculate or coalesce into larger particles. These larger particles settle at faster rate and have higher settling velocity. Other important factors affecting settling rate are flocculent dosage, slurry or pulp density and particle size. Hence in this paper we tried to study the settling characteristic of clean coal fines by varying one of the four factors namely 1. Flocculant Dosage (acryl-amide) 2. pH of the water 3. Bulk density 4. Particle size of clean coal fines in settling experiment and drew important conclusions. Result of this paper will be much useful not only for coal beneficiation plant design but also for cost reduction of coke production facilities.

Keywords: bulk density, coal fines, flocculants, flocculation, settling velocity, pH

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Authors: Qiushi Ning

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The nitrogen (N) is an important limiting factor of various ecosystems, and the N deposition rate is increasing unprecedentedly due to anthropogenic activities. The N deposition altered the microbial growth and activity, and microbial mediated N cycling through changing soil pH, the availability of N and carbon (C). The CO2, CH4 and N2O are important greenhouse gas which threaten the sustainability and function of the ecosystem. With the prolonged and increasing N enrichment, the soil acidification and C limitation will be aggravated, and the microbial biomass will be further declined. The soil acidification and lack of C induced by N addition are argued as two important factors regulating the microbial activity and growth, and the studies combined soil acidification with lack of C on microbial community are scarce. In order to restore the ecosystem affected by chronic N loading, we determined the responses of microbial activity and GHG emssions to lime and glucose (control, 1‰ lime, 2‰ lime, glucose, 1‰ lime×glucose and 2‰ lime×glucose) addition which was used to alleviate the soil acidification and supply C resource into soils with N addition rates 0-50 g N m–2yr–1. The results showed no significant responses of soil respiration and microbial biomass (MBC and MBN) to lime addition, however, the glucose substantially improved the soil respiration and microbial biomass (MBC and MBN); the cumulative CO2 emission and microbial biomass of lime×glucose treatments were not significantly higher than those of only glucose treatment. The glucose and lime×glucose treatments reduced the net mineralization and nitrification rate, due to inspired microbial growth via C supply incorporating more inorganic N to the biomass, and mineralization of organic N was relatively reduced. The glucose addition also increased the CH4 and N2O emissions, CH4 emissions was regulated mainly by C resource as a substrate for methanogen. However, the N2O emissions were regulated by both C resources and soil pH, the C was important energy and the increased soil pH could benefit the nitrifiers and denitrifiers which were primary producers of N2O. The soil respiration and N2O emissions increased with increasing N addition rates in all glucose treatments, as the external C resource improved microbial N utilization. Compared with alleviated soil acidification, the improved availability of C substantially increased microbial activity, therefore, the C should be the main limiting factor in long-term N loading soils. The most important, when we use the organic C fertilization to improve the production of the ecosystems, the GHG emissions and consequent warming potentials should be carefully considered.

Keywords: acidification and C limitation, greenhouse gas emission, microbial activity, N deposition

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Authors: Z. O. Apotiola, J. F. Fashakin

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This project studied the production and evaluation of jam produced from pineapple and grape at different level of ratio (90:10, 80:20, 70:30, 60:40, 50:50, and 100%). The proximate and sensory properties were determined using standard methods. The (GDZ) was the highest for protein, moisture, fat and ash, (KFJ) was the highest for carbohydrate. There were significant differences (p<0.05) in samples (PAB, GDZ, BEN) for moisture. Also, there were significant differences (p<0.05) in samples (PAB, BBL, GDZ, KFJ) for protein. There were significant differences (p<0.05) in samples (PAB, BBL, BEN) for carbohydrate. Also, there were significant differences (p<0.05) in samples (PAB, BBL, QCM, GDZ, BEN) for fat and there were significant differences (p<0.05) in samples (PAB, BBL, GDZ) for ash. (KFJ) was the highest for pH, (BBL and QCM) was the highest for Vitamin C; (GDZ) was the highest for titratable acidity. For sensory properties, for aroma, colour, flavour, and overall acceptability were tested using panellists; the result showed that (KFJ) had the highest for all samples. From the results of chemical and sensory characteristics sample BBL was the best combination.

Keywords: chemical, characteristic, combination, titratable, sensory, significant

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Authors: Marie Davin, Marie-Laure Fauconnier, Gilles Colinet

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In Wallonia, there are 6,000 estimated brownfields (rising to over 3.5 million in Europe) that require remediation. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a class of recalcitrant carcinogenic/mutagenic organic compounds of major concern as they accumulate in the environment and represent 17% of all encountered pollutants. As an alternative to environmentally aggressive, expensive and often disruptive soil remediation strategies, a lot of research has been directed to developing techniques targeting organic pollutants. The following experiment, based on the observation that PAHs soil content decreases in the presence of plants, aimed at improving our understanding of the underlying mechanisms involved in phytoremediation. It focusses on plant root exudates and whether they improve PAHs solubilization, which would make them more available for bioremediation by soil microorganisms. The effect of saponin, a natural surfactant found in some plant roots such as members of the Fabaceae family, on PAHs solubilization was also investigated as part of the implementation of the experimental protocol. The experiments were conducted on soil collected from a brownfield in Saint-Ghislain (Belgium) and presenting weathered PAHs contamination. Samples of soil were extracted with different solutions containing either plant root exudates or commercial saponin. Extracted PAHs were determined in the different aqueous solutions using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography and Fluorimetric Detection (HPLC-FLD). Both root exudates of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) or red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) and commercial saponin were tested in different concentrations. Distilled water was used as a control. First of all, results show that PAHs are more extracted using saponin solutions than distilled water and that the amounts generally rise with the saponin concentration. However, the amount of each extracted compound diminishes as its molecular weight rises. Also, it appears that passed a certain surfactant concentration, PAHs are less extracted. This suggests that saponin might be investigated as a washing agent in polluted soil remediation techniques, either for ex-situ or in-situ treatments, as an alternative to synthetic surfactants. On the other hand, preliminary results on experiments using plant root exudates also show differences in PAHs solubilization compared to the control solution. Further results will allow discussion as to whether or not there are differences according to the exudates provenance and concentrations.

Keywords: brownfield, Medicago sativa, phytoremediation, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, root exudates, saponin, solubilization, Trifolium pratense

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Authors: Ramadhani Yasyfi Cysela, Adinda Syifa Azhari, Eleonora Agustine

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The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about a quarter of the diseases facing mankind today occur due to environmental pollution. The soil is a part of environment that have a widespread problem. The contaminated soil should no longer be used to grow food because the chemicals can leech into the food and harm people who eat it. The chemical fertilizer industry gives specific effect due to soil pollution. To determine ammonia and urea emissions from fertilizer industry, we can use physical characteristic of soil, which is magnetic susceptibility. Rock magnetism is used as a proxy indicator to determine changes in physical properties. Magnetic susceptibilities of samples in low and high frequency have been measured by Bartington MS2B magnetic susceptibility measurement device. The sample was taken from different area which located closer by pollution source and far from the pollution source. The susceptibility values of polluted samples in topsoil were quite low, with range from 187.1- 494.8 [x 10-8 m3 kg-1] when free polluted area’s sample has high values (1188.7- 2237.8 [x 10-8 m3 kg-1 ]). From this studies shows that susceptibility values in areas of the fertilizer industry are lower than the free polluted area.

Keywords: environmental, magnetic susceptibility, rock magnetism, soil pollution

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Authors: H. Kadi-Hanifi, F. Amghar

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Steppes of arid Mediterranean zones are deeply threatened by desertification. To stop or alleviate ecological and economic problems associated with this desertification, management actions have been implemented since the last three decades. The struggle against desertification has become a national priority in many countries. In Algeria, several management techniques have been used to cope with desertification. This study aims at investigating the effect of exclosure on floristic diversity and chemical soil proprieties after four years of implementation. 167 phyto-ecological samples have been studied, 122 inside the exclosure and 45 outside. Results showed that plant diversity, composition, vegetation cover, pastoral value and soil fertility were significantly higher in protected areas.

Keywords: Algeria, arid, desertification, pastoral management, soil fertility

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Authors: Azita Behbahaninia

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Soil and surface and ground waters pollution to arsenic (As) due to its high potential for food cycle entrance, has high risk for human safety. Also, this pollution can cause quality and quantity decreasing of agricultural products or some lesions in farm animals that due to low knowledge, its reason is unknown, but can relate to As pollution. This study was conducted to investigate level of soil and water pollution by As in Hashtrood city. Based on the region’s information, the surface and ground waters, soil, river sediments, and rock were sampled and analyzed for physico-chemical and As in lab. There are significant differences for mean contents between As in the samples and crust. The maximum levels of As were observed in fly ash sample. Consequently, As pollution was related to geogenic and volcanic eruptions in this region. These mechanisms are diagnosed as As pollution in the region: As release for the rock units, As sorption by oxide minerals in aerobic and acidic to neutral conditions, desorption from oxide surfaces with pH increasing, increasing of As concentration in solution, and consequently pollution.

Keywords: arsenic, flyash, groundwater, soil

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Authors: Serdar Yaman, Hanzade Haykiri-Acma

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Biomass is a CO₂-neutral fuel that is renewable and sustainable along with having very huge global potential. Efficient use of biomass in power generation and production of biomass-based biofuels can mitigate the greenhouse gasses (GHG) and reduce dependency on fossil fuels. There are also other beneficial effects of biomass energy use such as employment creation and pollutant reduction. However, most of the biomass materials are not capable of competing with fossil fuels in terms of energy content. High moisture content and high volatile matter yields of biomass make it low calorific fuel, and it is very significant concern over fossil fuels. Besides, the density of biomass is generally low, and it brings difficulty in transportation and storage. These negative aspects of biomass can be overcome by thermal pretreatments that upgrade the fuel property of biomass. That is, torrefaction is such a thermal process in which biomass is heated up to 300ºC under non-oxidizing conditions to avoid burning of the material. The treated biomass is called as biochar that has considerably lower contents of moisture, volatile matter, and oxygen compared to the parent biomass. Accordingly, carbon content and the calorific value of biochar increase to the level which is comparable with that of coal. Moreover, hydrophilic nature of untreated biomass that leads decay in the structure is mostly eliminated, and the surface properties of biochar turn into hydrophobic character upon torrefaction. In order to investigate the effectiveness of torrefaction process on biomass properties, several biomass species such as olive milling residue (OMR), Rhododendron (small shrubby tree with bell-shaped flowers), and ash tree (timber tree) were chosen. The fuel properties of these biomasses were analyzed through proximate and ultimate analyses as well as higher heating value (HHV) determination. For this, samples were first chopped and ground to a particle size lower than 250 µm. Then, samples were subjected to torrefaction in a horizontal tube furnace by heating from ambient up to temperatures of 200, 250, and 300ºC at a heating rate of 10ºC/min. The biochars obtained from this process were also tested by the methods applied to the parent biomass species. Improvement in the fuel properties was interpreted. That is, increasing torrefaction temperature led to regular increases in the HHV in OMR, and the highest HHV (6065 kcal/kg) was gained at 300ºC. Whereas, torrefaction at 250ºC was seen optimum for Rhododendron and ash tree since torrefaction at 300ºC had a detrimental effect on HHV. On the other hand, the increase in carbon contents and reduction in oxygen contents were determined. Burning characteristics of the biochars were also studied using thermal analysis technique. For this purpose, TA Instruments SDT Q600 model thermal analyzer was used and the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), derivative thermogravimetry (DTG), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and differential thermal analysis (DTA) curves were compared and interpreted. It was concluded that torrefaction is an efficient method to upgrade the fuel properties of biomass and the biochars from which have superior characteristics compared to the parent biomasses.

Keywords: biochar, biomass, fuel upgrade, torrefaction

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Authors: Kalu Samuel Ukanwa, Kumar Patchigolla, Ruben Sakrabani

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The use of biosolids from thermal conversion of palm waste for soil fertility enhancement was tested in acidic soil of Southern Nigeria for the growing of Habanero chili pepper (Capsicum chinense jacq.). Soil samples from the two sites, showed pH 4.8 and 4.8 for site A and B respectively, below 5.6-6.8 optimum range and other fertility parameters indicating a low threshold for pepper growth. Nursery planting was done at different weeks to determine the optimum planting period. Ash analysis showed that it contains 26% of total K, 20% of total Ca, 0.27% of total P, and pH 11. The two sites were laid for an experiment in randomized complete block design and setup with three replications side by side. Each plot measured 3 x 2 m and a total of 15 plots for each site, four treatments, and one control. Outlined as control, 2, 4, 6 and 8 tonnes/hectare of palm waste ash, the combined average for both sites with correspondent yield after six harvests in one season are; 0, 5.8, 6, 6, 14.5 tonnes/hectare respectively to treatments. Optimum nursery survival rate was high in July; the crop yield was linear to the ash application. Site A had 6% yield higher than site B. Fruit development, weight, and total yield in relation to the control plot showed that palm waste ash is effective for soil amendment, nutrient delivery, and exchange.

Keywords: ash, palm waste, pepper, soil amendment

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Authors: Zakirul Islam, Yugo Kumokawa, Quoc Thinh Tran, Motoki Kubo

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Clubroot is a disease of cruciferous plant caused by soil born pathogen Plasmodiophora brassicae and can significantly limit the production through rapid spreading. The present study was designed to investigate the effect of cultivation practices (chemical and organic soils) on clubroot disease development in Brassica rapa. Disease index and root bacterial composition were investigated for both chemical and organic soils. The bacterial biomass and diversity in organic soil were higher than those in chemical soil. Disease severity was distinct for two different cultivation methods. The number of endophytic bacteria decreased in the infected root for both soils. The increased number of endophytic bacterial number led to reduce the proliferation of pathogen spore inside the root and thus reduced the disease severity in organic plants.

Keywords: clubroot disease, bacterial biomass, root infection, disease index, chemical cultivation, organic cultivation

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Authors: Omid Tavasoli, Mahmoud Ghazavi

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A numerical analysis of drivability of piles in different geometry is presented. In this paper, a three-dimensional finite difference analysis for plastic point extension and soil compaction in the effect of pile driving is analyzed. Four pile configurations such as cylindrical pile, fully tapered pile, T-C pile consists of a top tapered segment and a lower cylindrical segment and C-T pile has a top cylindrical part followed by a tapered part are investigated. All piles which driven up to a total penetration depth of 16 m have the same length with equivalent surface area and approximately with identical material volumes. An idealization for pile-soil system in pile driving is considered for this approach. A linear elastic material is assumed to model the vertical pile behaviors and the soil obeys the elasto-plastic constitutive low and its failure is controlled by the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion. A slip which occurred at the pile-soil contact surfaces along the shaft and the toe in pile driving procedures is simulated with interface elements. All initial and boundary conditions are the same in all analyses. Quiet boundaries are used to prevent wave reflection in the lateral and vertical directions for the soil. The results obtained from numerical analyses were compared with available other numerical data and laboratory tests, indicating a satisfactory agreement. It will be shown that with increasing the angle of taper, the permanent piles toe settlement increase and therefore, the extension of plastic points increase. These are interesting phenomena in pile driving and are on the safe side for driven piles.

Keywords: pile driving, finite difference method, non-uniform piles, pile geometry, pile set, plastic points, soil compaction

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Authors: Yasmeen Bassas, Sandra Kuebler, Allen Riddell

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Native language identification is one of the growing subfields in natural language processing (NLP). The task of native language identification (NLI) is mainly concerned with predicting the native language of an author’s writing in a second language. In this paper, we investigate the performance of two types of features; content-based features vs. content independent features, when they are evaluated on a different corpus (using social media data “Reddit”). In this NLI task, the predefined models are trained on one corpus (TOEFL), and then the trained models are evaluated on different data using an external corpus (Reddit). Three classifiers are used in this task; the baseline, linear SVM, and logistic regression. Results show that content-based features are more accurate and robust than content independent ones when tested within the corpus and across corpus.

Keywords: NLI, NLP, content-based features, content independent features, social media corpus, ML

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Authors: F. D. Konstandakopoulou, G. A. Papagiannopoulos, N. G. Pnevmatikos, G. D. Hatzigeorgiou

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This paper examines the effects of pile-soil-structure interaction on the dynamic response of offshore platforms under the action of near-fault earthquakes. Two offshore platforms models are investigated, one with completely fixed supports and one with piles which are clamped into deformable layered soil. The soil deformability for the second model is simulated using non-linear springs. These platform models are subjected to near-fault seismic ground motions. The role of fault mechanism on platforms’ response is additionally investigated, while the study also examines the effects of different angles of incidence of seismic records on the maximum response of each platform.

Keywords: hazard analysis, offshore platforms, earthquakes, safety

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Authors: Danute Jablonskyte-Rasce, Laura Masilionyte

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The field experiments of different farming systems were conducted at Joniškėlis Experimental Station of the Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry in 2006–2016. The soil of the experimental site was Endocalcari-Endohypogleyic Cambisol (CMg-n-w-can). The research was designed to identify the effects of dry matter and nitrogen accumulated in the above-ground biomass of various catch crops grown after winter wheat on soil mineral nitrogen variation during the autumn and spring period in the presence of intensive leaching complex. Research was done in the soil differing in humus status in the organic and sustainable cropping systems by growing various plant mixtures as catch crops: narrow-leafed lupine (Lupinus angustifolius L.) and oil radish (Raphanus sativus var. Oleifera L.), white mustard (Sinapis alba L.) and buckwheat (Fagopyrum exculentum Moench.) and white mustard as a sole crop. All crop and soil management practices have shown optimal efficiency in late autumn – stubble breaking, catch crops and straw used during the post-harvest period of the main crops, reduced Nmin migration into deeper (40–80 cm) soil layer. The greatest Nmin reduction in the 0–40 cm soil layer during the period from late autumn to early spring was identified in the sustainable cropping system having applied N30 for the promotion of straw mineralization and with no catch crops cultivation. The sustainable cropping system, having applied N30 for straw mineralization and growing white mustard in combination with buckwheat as catch crops, Nmin difference in the spring compared with its status in the autumn in the soil low and moderate in humus was lower by 70.1% and 34.2%, respectively.

Keywords: soil nitrogen, catch crops, ecological and sustainable farming systems, Cambisol

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Authors: Mateusz Szul, Tomasz Iluk, Aleksander Sobolewski

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Small-scale, distributed energy systems enabling cogeneration of heat and power based on gasification of sewage sludge, are considered as the most efficient and environmentally friendly ways of their treatment. However, economic aspects of such an investment are very demanding; therefore, for such a small scale sewage sludge gasification installation to be profitable, it needs to be efficient and simple at the same time. The article presents results of research on air gasification of sewage sludge in fixed bed GazEla reactor. Two of the most important aspects of the research considered the influence of the composition of sewage sludge blends with other feedstocks on properties of generated syngas and ash sintering problems occurring at the fixed bed. Different means of the fuel pretreatment and blending were proposed as a way of dealing with the above mentioned undesired characteristics. Influence of RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel) and biomasses in the fuel blends were evaluated. Ash properties were assessed based on proximate, ultimate, and ash composition analysis of the feedstock. The blends were specified based on complementary characteristics of such criteria as C content, moisture, volatile matter, Si, Al, Mg, and content of basic metals in the ash were analyzed, Obtained results were assessed with use of experimental gasification tests and laboratory ISO-procedure for analysis of ash characteristic melting temperatures. Optimal gasification process conditions were determined by energetic parameters of the generated syngas, its content of tars and lack of ash sinters within the reactor bed. Optimal results were obtained for co-gasification of herbaceous biomasses with sewage sludge where LHV (Lower Heating Value) of the obtained syngas reached a stable value of 4.0 MJ/Nm3 for air/steam gasification.

Keywords: ash fusibility, gasification, piston engine, sewage sludge

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Authors: Hossein Hassani, Ali Rezaei

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In recent years, the study of soil contamination problems surrounding mines and smelting plants has attracted some serious attention of the environmental experts. These elements due to the non- chemical disintegration and nature are counted as environmental stable and durable contaminants. Variability of these contaminants in the soil and the time and financial limitation for the favorable environmental application, in order to reduce the risk of their irreparable negative consequences on environment, caused to apply the favorable grading of these contaminant for the further success of the risk management processes. In this study, we use the contaminants factor risk indices, average concentration, enrichment factor and geoaccumulation indices for evaluating the metal contaminant of including Pb, Ni, Se, Mo and Zn in the soil of Sarcheshmeh copper mine area. For this purpose, 120 surface soil samples up to the depth of 30 cm have been provided from the study area. And the metals have been analyzed using ICP-MS method. Comparison of the heavy and potentially toxic elements concentration in the soil samples with the world average value of the uncontaminated soil and shale average indicates that the value of Zn, Pb, Ni, Se and Mo is higher than the world average value and only the Ni element shows the lower value than the shale average. Expert opinions on the relative importance of each indicators were used to assign a final weighting of the metals and the heavy metals were ranked using the TOPSIS approach. This allows us to carry out efficient environmental proceedings, leading to the reduction of environmental ricks form the contaminants. According to the results, Ni, Pb, Mo, Zn, and Se have the highest rate of risk contamination in the soil samples of the study area.

Keywords: contamination coefficient, geoaccumulation factor, TOPSIS techniques, Sarcheshmeh copper complex

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Authors: F. A. M. Safwan, H. N. N. Dilrukshi, P. U. S. Peiris

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Less availability of high quality green forages leads to low productivity of national dairy herd of Sri Lanka. Growing grass and fodder to suit the production system is an efficient and economical solution for this problem. CO-3 is placed in a higher category, especially on tillering capacity, green forage yield, regeneration capacity, leaf to stem ratio, high crude protein content, resistance to pests and diseases and free from adverse factors along with other fodder varieties grown within the country. An experiment was designed to determine the effect of organic sheep manure, inorganic fertilizers and liquid sheep manure on growth, yield and nutritive value of CO-3. The study was consisted with three treatments; sheep manure (T1), recommended inorganic fertilizers (T2) and liquid sheep manure (T3) which was prepared using bucket fermentation method and each treatment was consisted with three replicates and those were assigned randomly. First harvest was obtained after 40 days of plant establishment and number of leaves (NL), leaf area (LA), tillering capacity (TC), fresh weight (FW) and dry weight (DW) were recorded and second harvest was obtained after 30 days of first harvest and same set of data were recorded. SPSS 16 software was used for data analysis. For proximate analysis AOAC, 2000 standard methods were used. Results revealed that the plants treated with T1 recorded highest NL, LA, TC, FW and DW and were statistically significant at first and second harvest of CO-3 (p˂ 0.05) and it was found that T1 was statistically significant from T2 and T3. Although T3 was recorded higher than the T2 in almost all growth parameters; it was not statistically significant (p ˃0.05). In addition, the crude protein content was recorded highest in T1 with the value of 18.33±1.61 and was lowest in T2 with the value of 10.82±1.14 and was statistically significant (p˂ 0.05). Apart from this, other proximate composition crude fiber, crude fat, ash, moisture content and dry matter were not statistically significant between treatments (p ˃0.05). In accordance with the results, it was found that the organic fertilizer is the best fertilizer for CO-3 in terms of growth parameters and crude protein content.

Keywords: fertilizer, growth parameters, Hybrid Napier CO-3, proximate composition

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Authors: Kristine Nore, Alexander Severnisen, Petter Arnestad, Dimitris Kraniotis, Roy Rossebø

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Natural materials like wood, absorb and release moisture. Thus wood can buffer indoor climate. When used wisely, this buffer potential can be used to counteract the outer climate influence on the building. The mass of moisture used in the buffer is defined as the potential hygrothermal mass, which can be an energy storage in a building. This works like a natural heat pump, where the moisture is active in damping the diurnal changes. In Norway, the ability of wood as a material used for climate buffering is tested in several buildings with the extensive use of wood, including supermarkets. This paper defines the potential of hygrothermal mass in a supermarket building. This includes the chosen ventilation strategy, and how the climate impact of the building is reduced. The building is located above the arctic circle, 50m from the coastline, in Valnesfjord. It was built in 2015, has a shopping area, including toilet and entrance, of 975 m². The climate of the area is polar according to the Köppen classification, but the supermarket still needs cooling on hot summer days. In order to contribute to the total energy balance, wood needs dynamic influence to activate its hygrothermal mass. Drying and moistening of the wood are energy intensive, and this energy potential can be exploited. Examples are to use solar heat for drying instead of heating the indoor air, and raw air with high enthalpy that allow dry wooden surfaces to absorb moisture and release latent heat. Weather forecasts are used to define the need for future cooling or heating. Thus, the potential energy buffering of the wood can be optimized with intelligent ventilation control. The ventilation control in Valnesfjord includes the weather forecast and historical data. That is a five-day forecast and a two-day history. This is to prevent adjustments to smaller weather changes. The ventilation control has three zones. During summer, the moisture is retained to dampen for solar radiation through drying. In the winter time, moist air let into the shopping area to contribute to the heating. When letting the temperature down during the night, the moisture absorbed in the wood slow down the cooling. The ventilation system is shut down during closing hours of the supermarket in this period. During the autumn and spring, a regime of either storing the moisture or drying out to according to the weather prognoses is defined. To ensure indoor climate quality, measurements of CO₂ and VOC overrule the low energy control if needed. Verified simulations of the Valnesfjord building will build a basic model for investigating wood as a climate regulating material also in other climates. Future knowledge on hygrothermal mass potential in materials is promising. When including the time-dependent buffer capacity of materials, building operators can achieve optimal efficiency of their ventilation systems. The use of wood as a climate regulating material, through its potential hygrothermal mass and connected to weather prognoses, may provide up to 25% energy savings related to heating, cooling, and ventilation of a building.

Keywords: climate buffer, energy, hygrothermal mass, ventilation, wood, weather forecast

Procedia PDF Downloads 196

Authors: Rachel Hetherington, Chad Deering, Ann Maclean, Snehamoy Chatterjee

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The U.S. Geological Survey conducted a soil survey and subsequent mineralogical and geochemical analyses of over 4800 samples taken across the contiguous United States between the years 2007 and 2013. At each location, samples were taken from the top 5 cm, the A-horizon, and the C-horizon. Many studies have looked at the correlation between the mineralogical and geochemical content of soils and influencing factors such as parent lithology, climate, soil type, and age, but it seems little has been done in relation to quantifying and assessing the correlation between elements in the soil on a national scale. GIS was used for the mapping and multivariate interpolation of over 40 major and trace elements for surficial soils (0-5 cm depth). Qualitative analysis of the spatial distribution across the U.S. shows distinct patterns amongst elements both within the same periodic groups and within different periodic groups, and therefore with different behavioural characteristics. Results show the emergence of 4 main patterns of high concentration areas: vertically along the west coast, a C-shape formed through the states around Utah and northern Arizona, a V-shape through the Midwest and connecting to the Appalachians, and along the Appalachians. The Band Collection Statistics tool in GIS was used to quantitatively analyse the geochemical raster datasets and calculate a correlation matrix. Patterns emerged, which were not identified in qualitative analysis, many of which are also amongst elements with very different characteristics. Preliminary results show 41 element pairings with a strong positive correlation ( ≥ 0.75). Both qualitative and quantitative analyses on this scale could increase knowledge on the relationships between element distribution and behaviour in surficial soils of the U.S.

Keywords: correlation matrix, geochemical analyses, spatial distribution of elements, surficial soils

Procedia PDF Downloads 115

Authors: Aamina B. Hudaa, Rehana Akhtera, Massarat Hassana, Mir Monisab

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Mutton nuggets produced with the addition of apple pomace at the levels of 0% (Control), 5% (Treatment 1), 10% (Treatment 2), and 15% (Treatment 3) were evaluated for emulsion stability, cooking yield, pH, proximate composition, texture analysis and sensory properties. Apple pomace addition resulted in significantly higher (p ≤ 0.05) emulsion stability and cooking yield of treatments in comparison to control and pH values were significantly higher (p ≤ 0.05) for the control as compared to treatments. Among the treatments, the product with 15% apple pomace had significantly (p ≤ 0.05) highest moisture content, and protein, ash and fat contents were significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher in control than treatment groups. Crude fiber content of control was found significantly (p ≤ 0.05) lower in comparison to nuggets formulated with 5%, 10% and 15% apple pomace and was found to increase significantly (p ≤ 0.05) with the increasing levels of apple pomace. Hardness of the products significantly (p ≤ 0.05) decreased with addition of apple pomace, whereas springiness, cohesiveness, chewiness and gumminess showed a non-significant (p ≥ 0.05) decrease with the levels of apple pomace. Sensory evaluation showed significant (p ≤ 0.05) reduction in texture, flavour and overall acceptability scores of treatment products; however the scores were in the range of acceptability and T-1 showed better acceptability among apple pomace incorporated treatments.

Keywords: Mutton nuggets, apple pomace, textural properties, sensory evaluation

Procedia PDF Downloads 306