Search results for: water supply.
2171 Potential Role of Halophytic Macrophytes in Saline Effluent Treatment
Authors: R. Hegedűs, É. Kerepeczki, D. Gál, F. Pekár, M. Oncsik Bíróné, Gy. Lakatos
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The growth of the aquaculture industry has been associated with negative environmental impacts through the discharge of raw effluents into the adjacent receiving water bodies. Macrophytes from natural saline lakes, which have adaptability to the high salinity, can be suitable for saline effluent treatment. Eight emergent species from natural saline area were planted in an experimental gravel bed hydroponic mesocosm (GBH) which was treated with effluent water from an intensive fish farm using geothermal water. In order to examine the applicability of the halophytes in treatment processes, we tested the relative efficacy of total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), potassium (K), sodium (Na), magnesium (Mg) and calcium (Ca) removal for the saline wastewater treatment. Four of the eight species, which were Phragmites australis, Typha angustifolia, Glyceria maxima, Scirpus lacustris spp. tabernaemontani could survive and contribute the experimental treatment.Keywords: Gravel bed hydroponic system, halophytes, intensive fish farm, salt removal
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21392170 Synthesis and Analysis of Swelling and Controlled Release Behaviour of Anionic sIPN Acrylamide based Hydrogels
Authors: Atefeh Hekmat, Abolfazl Barati, Ebrahim Vasheghani Frahani, Ali Afraz
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In modern agriculture, polymeric hydrogels are known as a component able to hold an amount of water due to their 3-dimensional network structure and their tendency to absorb water in humid environments. In addition, these hydrogels are able to controllably release the fertilisers and pesticides loaded in them. Therefore, they deliver these materials to the plants' roots and help them with growing. These hydrogels also reduce the pollution of underground water sources by preventing the active components from leaching. In this study, sIPN acrylamide based hydrogels are synthesised by using acrylamide free radical, potassium acrylate, and linear polyvinyl alcohol. Ammonium nitrate is loaded in the hydrogel as the fertiliser. The effect of various amounts of monomers and linear polymer, measured in molar ratio, on the swelling rate, equilibrium swelling, and release of ammonium nitrate is studied.Keywords: Hydrogel, controlled release, ammonium nitrate fertiliser, sIPN.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21472169 Carbon-Based Electrochemical Detection of Pharmaceuticals from Water
Authors: M. Ardelean, F. Manea, A. Pop, J. Schoonman
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The presence of pharmaceuticals in the environment and especially in water has gained increasing attention. They are included in emerging class of pollutants, and for most of them, legal limits have not been set-up due to their impact on human health and ecosystem was not determined and/or there is not the advanced analytical method for their quantification. In this context, the development of various advanced analytical methods for the quantification of pharmaceuticals in water is required. The electrochemical methods are known to exhibit the great potential for high-performance analytical methods but their performance is in direct relation to the electrode material and the operating techniques. In this study, two types of carbon-based electrodes materials, i.e., boron-doped diamond (BDD) and carbon nanofiber (CNF)-epoxy composite electrodes have been investigated through voltammetric techniques for the detection of naproxen in water. The comparative electrochemical behavior of naproxen (NPX) on both BDD and CNF electrodes was studied by cyclic voltammetry, and the well-defined peak corresponding to NPX oxidation was found for each electrode. NPX oxidation occurred on BDD electrode at the potential value of about +1.4 V/SCE (saturated calomel electrode) and at about +1.2 V/SCE for CNF electrode. The sensitivities for NPX detection were similar for both carbon-based electrode and thus, CNF electrode exhibited superiority in relation to the detection potential. Differential-pulsed voltammetry (DPV) and square-wave voltammetry (SWV) techniques were exploited to improve the electroanalytical performance for the NPX detection, and the best results related to the sensitivity of 9.959 µA·µM-1 were achieved using DPV. In addition, the simultaneous detection of NPX and fluoxetine -a very common antidepressive drug, also present in water, was studied using CNF electrode and very good results were obtained. The detection potential values that allowed a good separation of the detection signals together with the good sensitivities were appropriate for the simultaneous detection of both tested pharmaceuticals. These results reclaim CNF electrode as a valuable tool for the individual/simultaneous detection of pharmaceuticals in water.
Keywords: Boron-doped diamond electrode, carbon nanofiber-epoxy composite electrode, emerging pollutants, pharmaceuticals.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12512168 The Empirical Survey on the Effect of Using Media in Explosive Forming of Tubular Shells
Authors: V. Hadavi, J. Zamani, R. Hosseini
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The special and unique advantages of explosive forming, has developed its use in different industries. Considering the important influence of improving the current explosive forming techniques on increasing the efficiency and control over the explosive forming procedure, the effects of air and water as the energy-conveying medium, and also their differences will be illustrated in this paper. Hence, a large number of explosive forming tests have been conducted on two sizes of thin walled cylindrical shells by using air and water as the working medium. Comparative diagrams of the maximum radial deflection of work-pieces of the same size, as a function of the scaled distance, show that for the points with the same values of scaled distance, the maximum radial deformation caused by the under water explosive loading is 4 to 5 times more than the deflection of the shells under explosive forming, while using air. Results of this experimental research have also been compared with other studies which show that using water as the energy conveying media increases the efficiency up to 4.8 times. The effect of the media on failure modes of the shells, and the necking mechanism of the walls of the specimens, while being explosively loaded, are also discussed in this issue. Measuring the tested specimens shows that, the increase in the internal volume has been accompanied by necking of the walls, which finally results in the radial rupture of the structure.Keywords: Explosive Forming, Energy Conveying Medium, Tubular Shell
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13332167 Influence of Silica Fume on High Strength Lightweight Concrete
Authors: H. Katkhuda, B. Hanayneh, N. Shatarat
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The main objective of this paper is to determine the isolated effect of silica fume on tensile, compressive and flexure strengths on high strength lightweight concrete. Many experiments were carried out by replacing cement with different percentages of silica fume at different constant water-binder ratio keeping other mix design variables constant. The silica fume was replaced by 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% for a water-binder ratios ranging from 0.26 to 0.42. For all mixes, split tensile, compressive and flexure strengths were determined at 28 days. The results showed that the tensile, compressive and flexure strengths increased with silica fume incorporation but the optimum replacement percentage is not constant because it depends on the water–cementitious material (w/cm) ratio of the mix. Based on the results, a relationship between split tensile, compressive and flexure strengths of silica fume concrete was developed using statistical methods.Keywords: Silica fume, Lightweight, High strength concrete, and Strength.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 37332166 A Bibliometric Assessment on Sustainability and Clustering
Authors: Fernanda M. Assef, Maria Teresinha A. Steiner, David Gabriel F. de Barros
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Review researches are useful in terms of analysis of research problems. Between the types of review documents, we commonly find bibliometric studies. This type of application often helps the global visualization of a research problem and helps academics worldwide to understand the context of a research area better. In this document, a bibliometric view surrounding clustering techniques and sustainability problems is presented. The authors aimed at which issues mostly use clustering techniques and even which sustainability issue would be more impactful on today’s moment of research. During the bibliometric analysis, we found 10 different groups of research in clustering applications for sustainability issues: Energy; Environmental; Non-urban Planning; Sustainable Development; Sustainable Supply Chain; Transport; Urban Planning; Water; Waste Disposal; and, Others. Moreover, by analyzing the citations of each group, it was discovered that the Environmental group could be classified as the most impactful research cluster in the area mentioned. After the content analysis of each paper classified in the environmental group, it was found that the k-means technique is preferred for solving sustainability problems with clustering methods since it appeared the most amongst the documents. The authors finally conclude that a bibliometric assessment could help indicate a gap of researches on waste disposal – which was the group with the least amount of publications – and the most impactful research on environmental problems.
Keywords: Bibliometric assessment, clustering, sustainability, territorial partitioning.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3592165 Optimization of Energy Harvesting Systems for RFID Applications
Authors: P. Chambe, B. Canova, A. Balabanian, M. Pele, N. Coeur
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To avoid battery assisted tags with limited lifetime batteries, it is proposed here to replace them by energy harvesting systems, able to feed from local environment. This would allow total independence to RFID systems, very interesting for applications where tag removal from its location is not possible. Example is here described for luggage safety in airports, and is easily extendable to similar situation in terms of operation constraints. The idea is to fix RFID tag with energy harvesting system not only to identify luggage but also to supply an embedded microcontroller with a sensor delivering luggage weight making it impossible to add or to remove anything from the luggage during transit phases. The aim is to optimize the harvested energy for such RFID applications, and to study in which limits these applications are theoretically possible. Proposed energy harvester is based on two energy sources: piezoelectricity and electromagnetic waves, so that when the luggage is moving on ground transportation to airline counters, the piezo module supplies the tag and its microcontroller, while the RF module operates during luggage transit thanks to readers located along the way. Tag location on the luggage is analyzed to get best vibrations, as well as harvester better choice for optimizing the energy supply depending on applications and the amount of energy harvested during a period of time. Effects of system parameters (RFID UHF frequencies, limit distance between the tag and the antenna necessary to harvest energy, produced voltage and voltage threshold) are discussed and working conditions for such system are delimited.
Keywords: EM waves, Energy Harvesting, Piezoelectric, RFID Tag.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 31642164 A Numerical Simulation of Solar Distillation for Installation in Chabahar-Iran
Authors: Masoud Afrand, Amin Behzadmehr, Arash Karimipour
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The world demand for potable water is increasing every day with growing population. Desalination using solar energy is suitable for potable water production from brackish and seawater. In this paper, we present a theoretical study of solar distillation in a single basin under the open environmental conditions of Chabahar-Iran. The still has a base area of 2000mm×500mm with a glass cover inclined at 25° in order to obtain extra solar energy. We model the still and conduct its energy balance equations under minor assumptions. We computed the temperatures of glass cover, seawater interface, moist air and bottom using numerical method. The investigation addressed the following: The still productivity, distilled water salinity and still performance in terms of the still efficiency. Calculated still productivity in July was higher than December. So in this paper, we show that still productivity is directly functioning of solar radiation.Keywords: Inclined Solar still, Solar energy, Solar desalination, Numerical Simulation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 28672163 Analysis of Complexes Pairing Performat Radical and Water
Authors: Sanaz Gharehzadeh Shirazi, Subira Gharehzadeh Shirazi, Fariba Jafari
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The present article comprises a theoretical study of structures Performat radical (HCO3) with H2O molecule. We make use of ab initio quantum chemical methods. Unrestricted Hartee-Fock (UHF) with the basis set6-311+g(2df,2p) and density functional theory (B3LYP) with the basis set 6-311+g(2df,2p) and also we done atoms in molecules (AIM) theory for them. We have found four stable geometries the PerformatRadical(HCO3) with H2O.Keywords: Hydrogen binding, Performat Radical, Water, Gaussian, Atoms in molecules (AIM) theory
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14322162 Morphological Characteristics and Development of the Estuary Area of Lam River, Vietnam
Authors: Hai Nguyen Tien
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On the basis of the structure of alluvial sediments explained by echo sounding data and remote sensing images, the following results can be given: The estuary of Lam river from Ben Thuy Bridge (original word: Bến Thủy) to Cua Hoi (original word: Cửa Hội) is divided into three channels (location is calculated according to the river bank on the Nghe An Province, original word: Nghệ An): i) channel I (from Ben Thuy Bridge to Hung Hoa, original word: Hưng Hòa) is the branching river; ii) channel II (from Hung Hoa to Nghi Thai, original word: Nghi Thái)is a channel develops in a meandering direction with a concave side toward Ha Tinh Province (Hà Tĩnh); iii) channel III (from Nghi Thai to Cua Hoi)is a channel develops in a meandering direction with a concave side toward Nghe An province.This estuary area is formed in the period from after the sea level dropped below 0m (current water level) to the present: i) Channel II developed moving towards Ha Tinh Province; ii) Channel III developed moving towards Nghe An Province; iii) In channel I, a second river branch is formed because the flow of river cuts through the Hong Lam- Hong Nhat mudflat (original word: Hồng Lam -Hồng Nhất),at the same time creating an island.Morphological characteristics of the estuary area of Lam River are the main result of erosion and deposition activities corresponding to two water levels: the water level is about 2 m lower than the current water level and the current water level.Characteristics of the sediment layers on the riverbed in the estuary can be used to determine the sea levels in Late Holocene to the present.
Keywords: Lam River, development, Cua Hoi, river morphology
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4062161 Modeling Ecological Responses of Some Forage Legumes in Iran
Authors: M. Keshavarzi
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Grasslands of Iran are encountered with a vast desertification and destruction. Some legumes are plants of forage importance with high palatability. Studied legumes in this project are Onobrychis, Medicago sativa (alfalfa) and Trifolium repens. Seeds were cultivated in research field of Kaboutarabad (33 km East of Isfahan, Iran) with an average 80 mm. annual rainfall. Plants were cultivated in a split plot design with 3 replicate and two water treatments (weekly irrigation, and under stress with same amount per 15 days interval). Water entrance to each plots were measured by Partial flow. This project lasted 20 weeks. Destructive samplings (1m2 each time) were done weekly. At each sampling plants were gathered and weighed separately for each vegetative parts. An Area Meter (Vista) was used to measure root surface and leaf area. Total shoot and root fresh and dry weight, leaf area index and soil coverage were evaluated too. Dry weight was achieved in 750c oven after 24 hours. Statgraphic and Harvard Graphic software were used to formulate and demonstrate the parameters curves due to time. Our results show that Trifolium repens has affected 60 % and Medicago sativa 18% by water stress. Onobrychis total fresh weight was reduced 45%. Dry weight or Biomass in alfalfa is not so affected by water shortage. This means that in alfalfa fields we can decrease the irrigation amount and have some how same amount of Biomass. Onobrychis show a drastic decrease in Biomass. The increases in total dry matter due to time in studied plants are formulated. For Trifolium repens if removal or cattle entrance to meadows do not occurred at perfect time, it will decrease the palatability and water content of the shoots. Water stress in a short period could develop the root system in Trifolium repens, but if it last more than this other ecological and soil factors will affect the growth of this plant. Low level of soil water is not so important for studied legume forges. But water shortage affect palatability and water content of aerial parts. Leaf area due to time in studied legumes is formulated. In fact leaf area is decreased by shortage in available water. Higher leaf area means higher forage and biomass production. Medicago and Onobrychis reach to the maximum leaf area sooner than Trifolium and are able to produce an optimum soil cover and inhibit the transpiration of soil water of meadows. Correlation of root surface to Total biomass in studied plants is formulated. Medicago under water stress show a 40% decrease in crown cover while at optimum condition this amount reach to 100%. In order to produce forage in areas without soil erosion Medicago is the best choice even with a shortage in water resources. It is tried to represent the growth simulation of three famous Forage Legumes. By growth simulation farmers and range managers could better decide to choose best plant adapted to water availability without designing different time and labor consuming field experiments.Keywords: Ecological parameters, Medicago, Onobrychis, Trifolium.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16892160 Environmental Modeling of Storm Water Channels
Authors: L. Grinis
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Turbulent flow in complex geometries receives considerable attention due to its importance in many engineering applications. It has been the subject of interest for many researchers. Some of these interests include the design of storm water channels. The design of these channels requires testing through physical models. The main practical limitation of physical models is the so called “scale effect”, that is, the fact that in many cases only primary physical mechanisms can be correctly represented, while secondary mechanisms are often distorted. These observations form the basis of our study, which centered on problems associated with the design of storm water channels near the Dead Sea, in Israel. To help reach a final design decision we used different physical models. Our research showed good coincidence with the results of laboratory tests and theoretical calculations, and allowed us to study different effects of fluid flow in an open channel. We determined that problems of this nature cannot be solved only by means of theoretical calculation and computer simulation. This study demonstrates the use of physical models to help resolve very complicated problems of fluid flow through baffles and similar structures. The study applies these models and observations to different construction and multiphase water flows, among them, those that include sand and stone particles, a significant attempt to bring to the testing laboratory a closer association with reality.
Keywords: Baffles, open channel, physical modeling.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19012159 Prediction of Kinematic Viscosity of Binary Mixture of Poly (Ethylene Glycol) in Water using Artificial Neural Networks
Authors: M. Mohagheghian, A. M. Ghaedi, A. Vafaei
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An artificial neural network (ANN) model is presented for the prediction of kinematic viscosity of binary mixtures of poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) in water as a function of temperature, number-average molecular weight and mass fraction. Kinematic viscosities data of aqueous solutions for PEG (0.55419×10-6 – 9.875×10-6 m2/s) were obtained from the literature for a wide range of temperatures (277.15 - 338.15 K), number-average molecular weight (200 -10000), and mass fraction (0.0 – 1.0). A three layer feed-forward artificial neural network was employed. This model predicts the kinematic viscosity with a mean square error (MSE) of 0.281 and the coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.983. The results show that the kinematic viscosity of binary mixture of PEG in water could be successfully predicted using an artificial neural network model.Keywords: Artificial neural network, kinematic viscosity, poly ethylene glycol (PEG)
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25172158 Biodegradation of Lignocellulosic Residues of Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) and Response Surface Methodological Approach to Optimize Bioethanol Production Using Fermenting Yeast Pachysolen tannophilus NRRL Y-2460
Authors: A. Manivannan, R. T. Narendhirakannan
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The objective of this research was to investigate biodegradation of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) to produce bioethanol using dilute-acid pretreatment (1% sulfuric acid) results in high hemicellulose decomposition and using yeast (Pachysolen tannophilus) as bioethanol producing strain. A maximum ethanol yield of 1.14g/L with coefficient, 0.24g g-1; productivity, 0.015g l-1h-1 was comparable to predicted value 32.05g/L obtained by Central Composite Design (CCD). Maximum ethanol yield coefficient was comparable to those obtained through enzymatic saccharification and fermentation of acid hydrolysate using fully equipped fermentor. Although maximum ethanol concentration was low in lab scale, the improvement of lignocellulosic ethanol yield is necessary for large scale production.
Keywords: Acid hydrolysis, Biodegradation, Hemicellulose, Pachysolen tannophilus, Water hyacinth.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18742157 Dissolved Oxygen Prediction Using Support Vector Machine
Authors: Sorayya Malek, Mogeeb Mosleh, Sharifah M. Syed
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In this study, Support Vector Machine (SVM) technique was applied to predict the dichotomized value of Dissolved oxygen (DO) from two freshwater lakes namely Chini and Bera Lake (Malaysia). Data sample contained 11 parameters for water quality features from year 2005 until 2009. All data parameters were used to predicate the dissolved oxygen concentration which was dichotomized into 3 different levels (High, Medium, and Low). The input parameters were ranked, and forward selection method was applied to determine the optimum parameters that yield the lowest errors, and highest accuracy. Initial results showed that pH, Water Temperature, and Conductivity are the most important parameters that significantly affect the predication of DO. Then, SVM model was applied using the Anova kernel with those parameters yielded 74% accuracy rate. We concluded that using SVM models to predicate the DO is feasible, and using dichotomized value of DO yields higher prediction accuracy than using precise DO value.
Keywords: Dissolved oxygen, Water quality, predication DO, Support Vector Machine.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22032156 Numerical Simulation of Tidal Currents in Persian Gulf
Authors: Ameleh Aghajanloo, Moharam Dolatshahi Pirouz, Masoud Montazeri Namin
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In this paper, a two-dimensional (2D) numerical model for the tidal currents simulation in Persian Gulf is presented. The model is based on the depth averaged equations of shallow water which consider hydrostatic pressure distribution. The continuity equation and two momentum equations including the effects of bed friction, the Coriolis effects and wind stress have been solved. To integrate the 2D equations, the Alternative Direction Implicit (ADI) technique has been used. The base of equations discritization was finite volume method applied on rectangular mesh. To evaluate the model validation, a dam break case study including analytical solution is selected and the comparison is done. After that, the capability of the model in simulation of tidal current in a real field is represented by modeling the current behavior in Persian Gulf. The tidal fluctuations in Hormuz Strait have caused the tidal currents in the area of study. Therefore, the water surface oscillations data at Hengam Island on Hormoz Strait are used as the model input data. The check point of the model is measured water surface elevations at Assaluye port. The comparison between the results and the acceptable agreement of them showed the model ability for modeling marine hydrodynamic.Keywords: Persian Gulf, Tidal Currents, Shallow Water Equations, Finite Volumes
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20442155 Design and Implementation of a 10-bit SAR ADC
Authors: Hasmayadi Abdul Majid, Rohana Musa
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This paper presents the development of a 38.5 kS/s 10-bit low power SAR ADC which is realized in MIMOS’s 0.35 µm CMOS process. The design uses a resistive DAC, a dynamic comparator with pre-amplifier and SAR digital logic to create 10 effective bits while consuming less than 7.8 mW with a 3.3 V power supply.
Keywords: Successive Approximation Register Analog-to- Digital Converter, SAR ADC, Resistive DAC.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 54212154 Determining the Best Fitting Distributions for Minimum Flows of Streams in Gediz Basin
Authors: Naci Büyükkaracığan
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Today, the need for water sources is swiftly increasing due to population growth. At the same time, it is known that some regions will face with shortage of water and drought because of the global warming and climate change. In this context, evaluation and analysis of hydrological data such as the observed trends, drought and flood prediction of short term flow has great deal of importance. The most accurate selection probability distribution is important to describe the low flow statistics for the studies related to drought analysis. As in many basins In Turkey, Gediz River basin will be affected enough by the drought and will decrease the amount of used water. The aim of this study is to derive appropriate probability distributions for frequency analysis of annual minimum flows at 6 gauging stations of the Gediz Basin. After applying 10 different probability distributions, six different parameter estimation methods and 3 fitness test, the Pearson 3 distribution and general extreme values distributions were found to give optimal results.
Keywords: Gediz Basin, goodness-of-fit tests, Minimum flows, probability distribution.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24962153 An Investigation of Current Potato Nitrogen Fertility Programs' Contribution to Ground Water Contamination
Authors: Brian H. Marsh
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Nitrogen fertility is an important component for optimum potato yield and quality. Best management practices are necessary in regards to N applications to achieve these goals without applying excess N with may contribute to ground water contamination. Eight potato fields in the Southern San Joaquin Valley were sampled for nitrogen inputs and uptake, tuber and vine dry matter and residual soil nitrate-N. The fields had substantial soil nitrate-N prior to the potato crop. Nitrogen fertilizer was applied prior to planting and in irrigation water as needed based on in-season petiole sampling in accordance with published recommendations. Average total nitrogen uptake was 237 kg ha-1 on 63.5 Mg ha-1 tuber yield and nitrogen use efficiency was very good at 81 percent. Sixty-nine percent of the plant nitrogen was removed in tubers. Soil nitrate-N increased 14 percent from pre-plant to post-harvest averaged across all fields and was generally situated in the upper soil profile. Irrigation timing and amount applied did not move water into the lower profile except for a single location where nitrate also moved into the lower soil profile. Pre-plant soil analysis is important information to be used. Rotation crops having deeper rooting growth would be able to utilize nitrogen that remained in the soil profile.Keywords: Potato, nitrogen fertilization, leaching potential, irrigation management
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16932152 Scenarios for a Sustainable Energy Supply Results of a Case Study for Austria
Authors: Petra Wächter
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A comprehensive discussion of feasible strategies for sustainable energy supply is urgently needed to achieve a turnaround of the current energy situation. The necessary fundamentals required for the development of a long term energy vision are lacking to a great extent due to the absence of reasonable long term scenarios that fulfill the requirements of climate protection and sustainable energy use. The contribution of the study is based on a search for sustainable energy paths in the long run for Austria. The analysis makes use of secondary data predominantly. The measures developed to avoid CO2 emissions and other ecological risk factors vary to a great extent among all economic sectors. This is shown by the calculation of CO2 cost of abatement curves. In this study it is demonstrated that the most effective technical measures with the lowest CO2 abatement costs yield solutions to the current energy problems. Various scenarios are presented concerning the question how the technological and environmental options for a sustainable energy system for Austria could look like in the long run. It is shown how sustainable energy can be supplied even with today-s technological knowledge and options available. The scenarios developed include an evaluation of the economic costs and ecological impacts. The results are not only applicable to Austria but demonstrate feasible and cost efficient ways towards a sustainable future.
Keywords: Cost of CO2 Abatement, Energy Economics, Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy Technologies, Sustainable Energy and Development.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16462151 The Study of the Interaction between Catanionic Surface Micelle SDS-CTAB and Insulin at Air/Water Interface
Authors: B. Tah, P. Pal, M. Mahato, R. Sarkar, G. B. Talapatra
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Herein, we report the different types of surface morphology due to the interaction between the pure protein Insulin (INS) and catanionic surfactant mixture of Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SDS) and Cetyl Trimethyl Ammonium Bromide (CTAB) at air/water interface obtained by the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique. We characterized the aggregations by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) in LB films. We found that the INS adsorption increased in presence of catanionic surfactant at air/water interface. The presence of small amount of surfactant induces two-stage growth kinetics due to the pure protein absorption and protein-catanionic surface micelle interaction. The protein remains in native state in presence of small amount of surfactant mixture. Smaller amount of surfactant mixture with INS is producing surface micelle type structure. This may be considered for drug delivery system. On the other hand, INS becomes unfolded and fibrillated in presence of higher amount of surfactant mixture. In both the cases, the protein was successfully immobilized on a glass substrate by the LB technique. These results may find applications in the fundamental science of the physical chemistry of surfactant systems, as well as in the preparation of drug-delivery system.
Keywords: Air/water interface, Catanionic micelle, Insulin, Langmuir-Blodgett film
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24722150 Parametric Study of Vertical Diffusion Still for Water Desalination
Authors: A. Seleem, M. Mortada, M. El Morsi, M. Younan
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Diffusion stills have been effective in water desalination. The present work represents a model of the distillation process by using vertical single-effect diffusion stills. A semianalytical model has been developed to model the process. A software computer code using Engineering Equation Solver EES software has been developed to solve the equations of the developed model. An experimental setup has been constructed, and used for the validation of the model. The model is also validated against former literature results. The results obtained from the present experimental test rig, and the data from the literature, have been compared with the results of the code to find its best range of validity. In addition, a parametric analysis of the system has been developed using the model to determine the effect of operating conditions on the system's performance. The dominant parameters that affect the productivity of the still are the hot plate temperature that ranges from (55- 90°C) and feed flow rate in range of (0.00694-0.0211 kg/m2-s).
Keywords: Analytical Model, Solar Distillation, Sustainable Water Systems, Vertical Diffusion Still.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23872149 Split-Pipe Design of Water Distribution Network Using Simulated Annealing
Authors: J. Tospornsampan, I. Kita, M. Ishii, Y. Kitamura
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In this paper a procedure for the split-pipe design of looped water distribution network based on the use of simulated annealing is proposed. Simulated annealing is a heuristic-based search algorithm, motivated by an analogy of physical annealing in solids. It is capable for solving the combinatorial optimization problem. In contrast to the split-pipe design that is derived from a continuous diameter design that has been implemented in conventional optimization techniques, the split-pipe design proposed in this paper is derived from a discrete diameter design where a set of pipe diameters is chosen directly from a specified set of commercial pipes. The optimality and feasibility of the solutions are found to be guaranteed by using the proposed method. The performance of the proposed procedure is demonstrated through solving the three well-known problems of water distribution network taken from the literature. Simulated annealing provides very promising solutions and the lowest-cost solutions are found for all of these test problems. The results obtained from these applications show that simulated annealing is able to handle a combinatorial optimization problem of the least cost design of water distribution network. The technique can be considered as an alternative tool for similar areas of research. Further applications and improvements of the technique are expected as well.Keywords: Combinatorial problem, Heuristics, Least-cost design, Looped network, Pipe network, Optimization
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 26632148 Ultrasound Assisted Method to Increase the Aluminum Dissolve Rate from Acidified Water
Authors: Wen Po Cheng, Chi Hua Fu, Ping Hung Chen, Ruey Fang Yu
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Aluminum salt that is generally presents as a solid phase in the water purification sludge (WPS) can be dissolved, recovering a liquid phase, by adding strong acid to the sludge solution. According to the reaction kinetics, when reactant is in the form of small particles with a large specific surface area, or when the reaction temperature is high, the quantity of dissolved aluminum salt or reaction rate, respectively are high. Therefore, in this investigation, water purification sludge (WPS) solution was treated with ultrasonic waves to break down the sludge, and different acids (1 N HCl and 1 N H2SO4) were used to acidify it. Acid dosages that yielded the solution pH of less than two were used. The results thus obtained indicate that the quantity of dissolved aluminum in H2SO4-acidified solution exceeded that in HCl-acidified solution. Additionally, ultrasonic treatment increased the rate of dissolution of aluminum and the amount dissolved. The quantity of aluminum dissolved at 60℃ was 1.5 to 2.0 times higher than that at 25℃.Keywords: Coagulant, Aluminum, Ultrasonic, Acidification, Temperature, Sludge.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22612147 CFD Modeling of PROX Microreactor for Fuel Processing
Authors: M. Vahabi, M. H. Akbari
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In order to investigate a PROX microreactor performance, two-dimensional modeling of the reacting flow between two parallel plates is performed through a finite volume method using an improved SIMPLE algorithm. A three-step surface kinetics including hydrogen oxidation, carbon monoxide oxidation and water-gas shift reaction is applied for a Pt-Fe/γ-Al2O3 catalyst and operating temperatures of about 100ºC. Flow pattern, pressure field, temperature distribution, and mole fractions of species are found in the whole domain for all cases. Also, the required reactive length for removing carbon monoxide from about 2% to less than 10 ppm is found. Furthermore, effects of hydraulic diameter, wall temperature, and inlet mole fraction of air and water are investigated by considering carbon monoxide selectivity and conversion. It is found that air and water addition may improve the performance of the microreactor in carbon monoxide removal in such operating conditions; this is in agreement with the pervious published results.Keywords: CFD, Fuel Processing, PROX, Reacting Flow, SIMPLE algorithm.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14302146 Fuzzy Control of Thermally Isolated Greenhouse Building by Utilizing Underground Heat Exchanger and Outside Weather Conditions
Authors: Raghad Alhusari, Farag Omar, Moustafa Fadel
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A traditional greenhouse is a metal frame agricultural building used for cultivation plants in a controlled environment isolated from external climatic changes. Using greenhouses in agriculture is an efficient way to reduce the water consumption, where agriculture field is considered the biggest water consumer world widely. Controlling greenhouse environment yields better productivity of plants but demands an increase of electric power. Although various control approaches have been used towards greenhouse automation, most of them are applied to traditional greenhouses with ventilation fans and/or evaporation cooling system. Such approaches are still demanding high energy and water consumption. The aim of this research is to develop a fuzzy control system that minimizes water and energy consumption by utilizing outside weather conditions and underground heat exchanger to maintain the optimum climate of the greenhouse. The proposed control system is implemented on an experimental model of thermally isolated greenhouse structure with dimensions of 6x5x2.8 meters. It uses fans for extracting heat from the ground heat exchanger system, motors for automatic open/close of the greenhouse windows and LED as lighting system. The controller is integrated also with environmental condition sensors. It was found that using the air-to-air horizontal ground heat exchanger with 90 mm diameter and 2 mm thickness placed 2.5 m below the ground surface results in decreasing the greenhouse temperature of 3.28 ˚C which saves around 3 kW of consumed energy. It also eliminated the water consumption needed in evaporation cooling systems which are traditionally used for cooling the greenhouse environment.Keywords: Automation, earth-to-air heat exchangers, fuzzy control, greenhouse, sustainable buildings.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 6842145 Simulations of Laminar Liquid Flows through Superhydrophobic Micro-Pipes
Authors: Mohamed E. Eleshaky
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This paper investigates the dynamic behavior of laminar water flows inside superhydrophobic micro-pipes patterned with square micro-posts features under different operating conditions. It also investigates the effects of air fraction and Reynolds number on the frictional performance of these pipes. Rather than modeling the air-water interfaces of superhydrophobic as a flat inflexible surface, a transient, incompressible, three-dimensional, volume-of-fluid (VOF) methodology has been employed to continuously track the air–water interface shape inside micro-pipes. Also, the entrance effects on the flow field have been taken into consideration. The results revealed the strong dependency of the frictional performance on the air fractions and Reynolds number. The frictional resistance reduction becomes increasingly more significant at large air fractions and low Reynolds numbers. Increasing Reynolds number has an adverse effect on the frictional resistance reduction.
Keywords: Drag reduction, laminar flow in micropipes, numerical simulation, superhyrophobic surfaces, microposts.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19392144 Removal of Pharmaceutical Compounds by a Sequential Treatment of Ozonation Followed by Fenton Process: Influence of the Water Matrix
Authors: Almudena Aguinaco, Olga Gimeno, Fernando J. Beltrán, Juan José P. Sagasti
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A sequential treatment of ozonation followed by a Fenton or photo-Fenton process, using black light lamps (365 nm) in this latter case, has been applied to remove a mixture of pharmaceutical compounds and the generated by-products both in ultrapure and secondary treated wastewater. The scientifictechnological innovation of this study stems from the in situ generation of hydrogen peroxide from the direct ozonation of pharmaceuticals, and can later be used in the application of Fenton and photo-Fenton processes. The compounds selected as models were sulfamethoxazol and acetaminophen. It should be remarked that the use of a second process is necessary as a result of the low mineralization yield reached by the exclusive application of ozone. Therefore, the influence of the water matrix has been studied in terms of hydrogen peroxide concentration, individual compound concentration and total organic carbon removed. Moreover, the concentration of different iron species in solution has been measured.Keywords: Fenton, photo-Fenton, ozone, pharmaceutical compounds, hydrogen peroxide, water treatment
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18342143 Health Risk Assessment of PET Bottles in GCC
Authors: M. M. Mortula
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Bottle water is getting very popular all through the world; especially in the gulf countries as the main source of drinking water. However, concerns over leaching of toxic chemicals are increasing. In this study, a health risk assessment was conducted in accordance with the guidelines indicated by United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). It is conducted based on leaching of Diethyl Phthalate (DEP) from Polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The toxicity and exposure assessment of diethyl phthalate was conducted to characterize its risk on human health. Risk management is also discussed.Keywords: Toxicity, diethyl phthalate, PET, risk Assessment.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 41362142 Pollutant Loads of Urban Runoff from a Mixed Residential-Commercial Catchment
Authors: Carrie Ho, Tan Yee Yong
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Urban runoff quality for a mixed residential-commercial land use catchment in Miri, Sarawak was investigated for three storm events in 2011. Samples from the three storm events were tested for five water quality parameters, namely, TSS, COD, BOD5, TP, and Pb. Concentration of the pollutants were found to vary significantly between storms, but were generally influenced by the length of antecedent dry period and the strength of rainfall intensities. Runoff from the study site showed a significant level of pollution for all the parameters investigated. Based on the National Water Quality Standards for Malaysia (NWQS), stormwater quality from the study site was polluted and exceeded class III water for TSS and BOD5, with maximum EMCs of 177 and 24 mg/L, respectively. Design pollutant load based on a design storm of 3-month average recurrence interval (ARI) for TSS, COD, BOD5, TP, and Pb were estimated to be 40, 9.4, 5.4, 1.7, and 0.06 kg/ha, respectively. The design pollutant load for the pollutants can be used to estimate loadings from similar catchments within Miri City.
Keywords: Mixedland-use, urban runoff, pollutant load.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2138