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Master of Science / Department of Civil Engineering / Natalie Mladenov / In the United States approximately 37% of the 4 trillion kWh of electricity is generated annually by combusting coal (USEPA, 2013). The abundance of coal, ease of storage, and transportation makes it affordable at a global scale (Ghose, 2009). However, the flue gas produced by combusting coal affects human health and the environment (USEPA, 2013). To comply with federal regulations coal-fired power plants have been implementing sulfur dioxide scrubbing systems such as flue gas desulfurization (FGD) systems (Alvarez-Ayuso et al., 2006). Although FGD systems have proven to reduce atmospheric emissions they create wastewater containing harmful pollutants. Constructed wetlands are increasingly being employed for the removal of these toxic trace elements from FGD wastewater. In this study the effectiveness of using a constructed wetland treatment system was explored as a possible remediation technology to treat FGD wastewater from a coal-fired power plant in Kansas. To simulate constructed wetlands, a continuous flow-through column experiment was conducted with undiluted FGD wastewater and surface sediment from a power plant in Kansas. To optimize the performance of a CWTS the following hypotheses were tested: 1) decreasing the flow rate improves the performance of the treatment wetlands due to an increase in reaction time, 2) the introduction of microbial cultures (inoculum) will increase the retention capacity of the columns since constructed wetlands improve water quality through biological process, 3) the introduction of a labile carbon source will improve the retention capacity of the columns since microorganisms require an electron donor to perform life functions such as cell maintenance and synthesis. Although the FGD wastewater collected possessed a negligible concentration of arsenic, the mobilization of arsenic has been observed in reducing sediments of wetland environments. Therefore, constructed wetlands may also represent an environment where the mobilization of arsenic is possible. This led us to test the following hypothesis: 4) Reducing environments will cause arsenic desorption and dissolution causing the mobilization of arsenic. As far as removal of the constituents of concern (arsenic, selenium, nitrate, and sulfate) in the column experiments, only sulfate removal increased as a result of decreasing the flow rate by half (1/2Q). In addition, sulfate-S exhibited greater removal as a result of adding organic carbon to the FGD solution when compared to the control (at 1/2Q). Moderate selenium removal was observed; over 60% of selenium in the influent was found to accumulate in the soil. By contrast, arsenic concentrations increased in the effluent of the 1/2Q columns, most likely by dissolution and release of sorbed arsenic. When compared to the control (at 1/2Q), arsenic dissolution decreased as a result of adding inoculum to the columns. Dissolved arsenic concentrations in the effluent of columns with FGD solution amended with organic carbon reached 168 mg/L. These results suggest that native Kansas soils placed in a constructed wetland configuration and amended with labile carbon do possess an environment where the mobilization of arsenic is possible.

Flue gas carbon dioxide emissions from coal-based power plants are suggested as a factor causing climate change. Membrane is an attractive technology for the capture of carbon dioxide from flue gas. Matrimid® asymmetric hollow fiber membranes with “homogeneous dense” and “fused nodular” selective layers were successfully formed. The PDMS post-treated nodular-skinned fibers showed better cold performance than the dense-skinned fibers with bore side feed. A hypothesis with regards to increased sorption capacity coupled with orientated polymer chain segments for the nodular skin was proposed and supported by indirect evidences. Based on the understanding of CO2 and N2 transport in cold Matrimid® hollow fiber membranes, a second generation of cold membranes with superior performance was developed. The high free volume, rigid 6FDA/BPDA-DAM hollow fiber membranes with both dense and nodular selective layers were successfully formed as well, which showed similar selectivity but much higher permeance than the high performing nodular Matrimid® hollow fiber membranes at cold conditions.

<p>År 2000 startades ett samarbete mellan Wuhan i Kina och Borlänge Energi i Sverige. De två parterna bestämde år 2005 tillsammans med IVL, Svenska Miljöinstitutet, att samarbeta inom följande områden; hållbar energiproduktion, hållbar avfallsproduktion samt grundandet av ett miljöteknikcentrum i Wuhan. Miljöteknikcentrumet är till för att vara en plattform för svensk miljöteknik och expertis. Som ett första steg inför grundandet av ett miljöteknikcentrum gjordes en undersökning för att se inom vilka sektorer svensk miljöteknik kan etableras.</p><p>Undersökningen var inriktat på industriell avloppsvattenrening i Wuhan; bedömning av vilka typer av industrier/företag som har problem med avloppsvattenreningen och i vilken utsträckning det finns svenska tekniklösningar på problemen. Undersökningen genomfördes genom intervjuer med myndigheter och en del utvalda företag. Det var svårt att få fram information om vilka företag som inte följer de kinesiska gränsvärdena, varför en del besök gjordes till företag som lever upp till gränsvärdena. På grund av detta togs även andra problem med miljön som företagen hade upp. Några kommunala reningsverk besöktes och intervjuades också för att få en bättre bild av den kommunala vattenreningssituationen. En generell beskrivning av Wuhans miljösituation utfördes också samt en beskrivning av de viktigaste miljömyndigheterna och institutionerna.</p><p>Wuhans största utmaning är att konstruera reningsverk till alla de 3.5 miljoner som fortfarande släpper sitt avloppsvatten rätt ut till sjöar och floder, snarare än att ytterligare rena det industriella avloppsvattnet. Behandlingsgraden av det industriella avloppsvattnet har nått 97 % medan behandlingsgraden av det kommunala avloppsvattnet endast nått 70 %.</p><p>Besök vid de utvalda företagen och kommunala reningsverk ledde till slutsatsen att svensk teknik och expertis kan införas i följande områden: hantering av slam från reningsverk, byggandet av förbränningsanläggningar för sopor och hur man löser problemet med att rena luften från gaser som SO2 och dioxiner. De flesta företagen kunde följa de kinesiska gränsvärdena för utsläpp av avloppsvatten men mycket kan göras för att förbättra företagens tekniker ytterligare. Detta utförs dock nästan aldrig eftersom det är en ekonomisk fråga. Det är möjligt för Wuhan att sätta lokala, hårdare gränsvärlden för att tvinga företagen att förbättra sina reningstekniker ytterligare.</p> / <p>In 2000 a co-operation between Wuhan in China and Borlänge Energi in Sweden started. The two parts decided in 2005 together with IVL, the Swedish Research Institute, to co-operate in the fields of sustainable energy production, sustainable waste management and the establishment of an Environmental Technology Centre, supplying Swedish environmental expertise to companies in Wuhan. As a first step for the establishment of an Environmental Technology Centre in Wuhan, an investigation was made to find out in which sectors Swedish environmental technology could be established.</p><p>The investigation took aim at observing the industrial wastewater treatment in Wuhan and to see which types of companies that have problems with the wastewater treatment and if there existed Swedish technology that could solve the problems. The investigation was performed through interviews with the authorities and some selected companies. It was difficult to get information about companies that did not comply with the National Chinese wastewater standards. This meant that some of the visits were made to companies that comply with the standards, also taking into consideration other problems with the environment that the companies might have. Visits were also paid to municipal wastewater treatment plants to get an overview over the municipal wastewater treatment situation. An overall survey of the environmental situation in Wuhan was also made and a presentation of the most important environmental departments and institutions is given.</p><p>The greatest challenge for Wuhan is to construct wastewater treatment plants for the around 3.5 million people that still discharge their wastewater directly to rivers and lakes, rather than to improve the industrial wastewater treatment further. The treatment rate of the industrial wastewater has reached 97%, but the municipal wastewater treatment rate has only reached 70%.</p><p>After the visits to the selected companies and municipal wastewater treatment plants the conclusion was made that Swedish technologies and expertise can be applied to the following areas; handling sludge from the wastewater treatment plants, construction of waste incineration plants and handling flue gas and dioxins. Most of the visited companies could follow the wastewater standards. Although much can be done to improve their technologies further, this is not done since it is too expensive. It is possible for Wuhan to apply stricter local wastewater treatment standards. This could be used as a tool to make companies invest more money in improvements of their technologies.</p>

As the foremost production of electricity in the United State comes from coal-fired plants, there is much more to learn on the topic of mercury which is a common component in coal. The speciation of mercury in the flue gas determines the best control technology for a given system. Because of the difficulty in measuring mercury at different stages of the process, it is practical to use mercury reaction kinetics to theoretically determine mercury speciation based upon coal composition, plant equipment and operating conditions. Elemental mercury cannot be captured in wet scrubbers; however, its oxidized forms can. Chlorine is a reasonable oxidizing agent and is naturally found in bituminous coal, but bromine is an even better oxidizing agent because of its larger size, it has stronger London dispersion force interactions with mercury. Bromine additive technologies have recently been implemented in several companies to enhance mercury oxidation. Because capture technologies are highly dependent upon the form of mercury that is present, investigations into their speciation are extremely important. Though there have been numerous efforts to study mercury compounds as relevant to atmospheric studies, there is little data currently available for mercury compounds found in combustion flue gases. It would be particularly beneficial to obtain kinetic rate constants at various high temperature and pressure conditions typical for a combustion system. Prevalent species of mercury containing bromine in coal combustion flue gases were studied using density functional theory (DFT) and a broad range of ab initio methods. Reaction enthalpies, equilibrium bond distances, and vibrational frequencies were all predicted using DFT as well as coupled cluster (CC) methods. All electronic calculations were carried out using the Gaussian03 or MOLPRO software programs. Kinetic predictions of three first-stage and three second-stage oxidation reactions involving the formation of oxidized mercury via bromine containing compounds are presented. Understanding the speciation of mercury in the flue gases of coal combustion is paramount in developing efficient technologies to ensure its capture.

abstract: Microscopic algae have been investigated extensively by researchers for decades for their ability to bioremediate wastewater and flue gas while producing valuable biomass for use as feed, fuel, fertilizer, nutraceutical, and other specialty products. Reports of the exciting commercial potential of this diverse group of organisms started appearing in the literature as early as the 1940’s. However, nearly 80 years later, relatively few successful commercial microalgae installations exist and algae have not yet reached agricultural commodity status. This dissertation examines three major bottlenecks to commercial microalgae production including lack of an efficient and economical cultivation strategy, poor management of volatile waste nutrients, and costly harvesting and post processing strategies. A chapter is devoted to each of these three areas to gain a better understanding of each bottleneck as well as strategies for overcoming them. The first chapter demonstrates the capability of two strains of Scenedesmus acutus to grow in ultra-high-density (>10 g L-1 dry weight biomass) cultures in flat panel photobioreactors for year-round production in the desert Southwest with record volumetric biomass productivity. The advantages and efficiency of high-density cultivation are discussed. The second chapter focuses on uptake and utilization of the volatile components of wastewater: ammonia and carbon dioxide. Scenedesmus acutus was cultured on wastewater from both municipal and agricultural origin and was shown to perform significantly better on flue gas as compared to commercial grade CO2 and just as well on waste nutrients as the commonly used BG-11 laboratory culture media, all while producing up to 50% lipids of the dry weight biomass suitable for use in biodiesel. The third chapter evaluates the feasibility of using gravity sedimentation for the harvesting of the difficult-to-separate Scenedesmus acutus green algae biomass followed by microfluidization to disrupt the cells. Lipid-extracted biomass was then studied as a fertilizer for plants and shown to have similar performance to a commercially available 4-6-6 fertilizer. Based on the work from these three chapters, a summary of modifications are suggested to help current and future microalgae companies be more competitive in the marketplace with traditional agricultural commodities. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Molecular and Cellular Biology 2019

The ever increasing global demand for materials has placed aluminium as the world’s second most used metal, with world annual production currently >24 million tons. Consequently, the global alumina industry is perpetually striving to meet demands in conjunction with research, development and implementation of more efficient and sustainable processes and practises. Of specific concern for many proponents within the industry is that increased alumina production inadvertently results in increased Bayer Process-derived alkaline solid and liquid waste loads. Furthermore, in-house power generation at all Australian alumina refineries contributes to acid gas emissions, particularly SOx and NOx, both of which have environmental and anthropogenic impacts of global concern. The focus of this work is SO2 emission. SOx emission control measures can be achieved before, during or after combustion; the latter is termed flue gas desulphurisation (FGD). Commercially available FGD systems are dominated by once-through wet processes whereby the flue gas passes up through an absorbtion tower. The most favourable medium for industrial use is seawater, followed by limestone, and in some cases, a combination of both. However, the ever-increasing stringency of environmental emission legislation continues to inflict tighter controls on power production and is forcing industry to investigate alternative cost-effective FGD mediums. Therefore much research is currently dedicated to the utilisation of high volume, alkaline waste streams over manufactured sorbents. Modern environmental engineering approaches to waste product minimisation, neutralisation and/or reuse have lead to many new processes which change the view of many materials from waste product to environmental resource. Subsequently, this work examines the application of an isolated Bayer Process waste product, tricalcium aluminate hexahydrate (TCA6), as a FGD medium. Initial research assessed the dissolution behaviour and performance of the proposed medium with sulphuric acid, followed by batch reactor trials with a simulated flue gas. Data derived from this research indicated the suitability of TCA6 as a FGD medium and was subsequently applied to a preliminary model and proposed design parameters required for further pilot scale investigations. This work provides strong support for an economically viable and more sustainable approach to FGD for the alumina industry.

År 2000 startades ett samarbete mellan Wuhan i Kina och Borlänge Energi i Sverige. De två parterna bestämde år 2005 tillsammans med IVL, Svenska Miljöinstitutet, att samarbeta inom följande områden; hållbar energiproduktion, hållbar avfallsproduktion samt grundandet av ett miljöteknikcentrum i Wuhan. Miljöteknikcentrumet är till för att vara en plattform för svensk miljöteknik och expertis. Som ett första steg inför grundandet av ett miljöteknikcentrum gjordes en undersökning för att se inom vilka sektorer svensk miljöteknik kan etableras. Undersökningen var inriktat på industriell avloppsvattenrening i Wuhan; bedömning av vilka typer av industrier/företag som har problem med avloppsvattenreningen och i vilken utsträckning det finns svenska tekniklösningar på problemen. Undersökningen genomfördes genom intervjuer med myndigheter och en del utvalda företag. Det var svårt att få fram information om vilka företag som inte följer de kinesiska gränsvärdena, varför en del besök gjordes till företag som lever upp till gränsvärdena. På grund av detta togs även andra problem med miljön som företagen hade upp. Några kommunala reningsverk besöktes och intervjuades också för att få en bättre bild av den kommunala vattenreningssituationen. En generell beskrivning av Wuhans miljösituation utfördes också samt en beskrivning av de viktigaste miljömyndigheterna och institutionerna. Wuhans största utmaning är att konstruera reningsverk till alla de 3.5 miljoner som fortfarande släpper sitt avloppsvatten rätt ut till sjöar och floder, snarare än att ytterligare rena det industriella avloppsvattnet. Behandlingsgraden av det industriella avloppsvattnet har nått 97 % medan behandlingsgraden av det kommunala avloppsvattnet endast nått 70 %. Besök vid de utvalda företagen och kommunala reningsverk ledde till slutsatsen att svensk teknik och expertis kan införas i följande områden: hantering av slam från reningsverk, byggandet av förbränningsanläggningar för sopor och hur man löser problemet med att rena luften från gaser som SO2 och dioxiner. De flesta företagen kunde följa de kinesiska gränsvärdena för utsläpp av avloppsvatten men mycket kan göras för att förbättra företagens tekniker ytterligare. Detta utförs dock nästan aldrig eftersom det är en ekonomisk fråga. Det är möjligt för Wuhan att sätta lokala, hårdare gränsvärlden för att tvinga företagen att förbättra sina reningstekniker ytterligare. / In 2000 a co-operation between Wuhan in China and Borlänge Energi in Sweden started. The two parts decided in 2005 together with IVL, the Swedish Research Institute, to co-operate in the fields of sustainable energy production, sustainable waste management and the establishment of an Environmental Technology Centre, supplying Swedish environmental expertise to companies in Wuhan. As a first step for the establishment of an Environmental Technology Centre in Wuhan, an investigation was made to find out in which sectors Swedish environmental technology could be established. The investigation took aim at observing the industrial wastewater treatment in Wuhan and to see which types of companies that have problems with the wastewater treatment and if there existed Swedish technology that could solve the problems. The investigation was performed through interviews with the authorities and some selected companies. It was difficult to get information about companies that did not comply with the National Chinese wastewater standards. This meant that some of the visits were made to companies that comply with the standards, also taking into consideration other problems with the environment that the companies might have. Visits were also paid to municipal wastewater treatment plants to get an overview over the municipal wastewater treatment situation. An overall survey of the environmental situation in Wuhan was also made and a presentation of the most important environmental departments and institutions is given. The greatest challenge for Wuhan is to construct wastewater treatment plants for the around 3.5 million people that still discharge their wastewater directly to rivers and lakes, rather than to improve the industrial wastewater treatment further. The treatment rate of the industrial wastewater has reached 97%, but the municipal wastewater treatment rate has only reached 70%. After the visits to the selected companies and municipal wastewater treatment plants the conclusion was made that Swedish technologies and expertise can be applied to the following areas; handling sludge from the wastewater treatment plants, construction of waste incineration plants and handling flue gas and dioxins. Most of the visited companies could follow the wastewater standards. Although much can be done to improve their technologies further, this is not done since it is too expensive. It is possible for Wuhan to apply stricter local wastewater treatment standards. This could be used as a tool to make companies invest more money in improvements of their technologies.

Gaseous exhaust of different industries contains dust particles of different chemical precipitates that are harmful for the environment. Electrostatic Precipitators are very often used in industries to filter their gaseous exhaust and to prevent the atmosphere to being polluted. Electrostatic Precipitators are very efficient in their work. Electrostatic Precipitators use the force of the electric field to separate the dust particles from gaseous exhaust. Electrostatic Precipitators charge the dust particles and remove these particles by attracting these charged dust particles toward the collecting plates. The charging of dust particles requires a charging zone. When gas passes through that charging zone, the dust particles in the gas stream become charged and then these charged particles are attracted toward the collecting plates. The design of an Electrostatic Precipitators requires the knowledge of its working principle and the problems that often arise during its working. This thesis is the study of the working and the problems of the Electrostatic Precipitators. The main reason for problems in working of an Electrostatic Precipitator is the dust resistivity. This dust resistivity affects the collection performance of an Electrostatic Precipitator. This thesis also contains the simulation of an Electrostatic Precipitator. In the simulation part, the Electric Potential and the Electric Field of an ESP is modeled in an ideal condition, when no gas is flowing through the ESP. The industrial software Comsol Multiphysics is used for the simulation. A Comsol Multiphysics guide is given in appendix of this thesis report that provides information about using this software.