Increasing demand for fresh water in arid and semi-arid areas, similar to the Middle East, pushed for the use of seawater desalination techniques to augment freshwater. Seawater Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) is one of the techniques that have been commonly used due to its cost effectiveness. Recently, the use of Ultrafiltration (UF) was recommended as an effective pretreatment for SWRO membranes, as opposed to conventional methods (i.e. sand filtration). During UF operation, intermittent cleaning is required to remove particles and contaminants from the membrane's surface and pores. The different cleaning steps consume chemicals and portion of the product water, resulting in a decrease in the overall effectiveness of the process and hence an increase in the production cost. This research focused on increasing the plant's efficiency through optimizing the cleaning protocol without jeopardizing the effectiveness of the cleaning process. For that purpose, the design of experiment (DOE) focused on testing different combinations of these cleaning steps while all other parameters (such as filtration flux or backwash flux) remained constant. The only chemical used was NaOCI during the end of each experiment to restore the trans-membrane pressure (TMP) to its original state. Two trains of Dow™ Ultrafiltration SFP-2880 were run in parallel for this study. The first train (named UF1) was kept at the manufacturer's recommended cleaning steps and frequencies, while the second train (named UF2) was varied according to the DOE. The normalized final TMP was compared to the normalized initial TMP to measure the fouling rate of the membrane at the end of each experiment. The research was supported by laboratory analysis to investigate the cause of the error in the data by analyzing water samples collected at different locations. Visual inspection on the results from the control unit showed that the data cannot be reproduced with the current feed water quality. Statistical analysis using SAS JMP® was performed on the data obtained from UF2 determined that the error in the data was too significant, accounting for 42%. Laboratory inspection on water samples concluded that the water quality feeding to the UF membranes was worse than that of the raw water. This led to a conclusion that severe contamination occurred within the main feed tank where the water was retained before arriving to the UF modules. The type of contamination present in the feed tank is yet to be investigated. Though, frequent cleaning or flushing of the feed tank is recommended on regular basis.

There have been successful techniques developed to measure resin distribution of phenol-formaldehyde adhesive on several types of wood surfaces. However, a technique that quantitatively measures UF resin on wood surfaces has been a problem because UF resin is colorless on wood fiber. The first objective of this study was to develop a technique to quantitatively measure surface area coverage and statistical distribution of urea-formaldehyde (UF) resin on medium density fiberboard (MDF) fiber. Two techniques were evaluated to quantitatively measure UF resin. One technique treated the resinated fiber with a reactive stain, such that the resin and wood could be distinguished and separated using digital image analysis. An epi-fluorescence microscope, color video camera, A/D image capture board, and image analysis software were used to measure the percent of resin coverage on the wood surface. The measured resin coverage of the treated fibers did not correlate with the target resin loading level. The other technique added ultraviolet dye to the resin and measured the distribution of resin with an image analysis system. The results of a mill trial confirmed the accuracy of the technique. This system has potential to be incorporated into a mill setting, which will provide MDF mills with a method of determining how resin is being distributed on their fiber. The second objective of this study was to identify factors that would influence the technique's acceptance among MDF mills. A questionnaire was developed, pretested, and sent to every MDF mill in the United States. The method of adding UV dye into the resin was favorable to most mills and could be tested either on-site or by a third-party company. This allows MDF mills to determine potential problems with their blending process. This method saves time and money since it is a proactive measure rather than a reactive measure. It should also lead to a more uniform and consistent product, which is the goal of every MDF mill. / Master of Science

Currently influence of water quality of water resource is greatly affected typhoon and rainstorm caused by climate change. Additional factors are including over cut trees, soil-rock flood and bad conservation of water-soil in hillside. Thus many researchers used ¡§membrane technology ¡§to remove pollutants such as suspended solids, alga, heavy metals and organic toxics. This work is studying performance of advanced water treatment processes using UF and LPRO membranes in a plant (noted as plant A). During the period of research; we analyzed items such as turbidity, TOC and hardness and operation parameters to investigate the efficiency of UF and LPRO. Results showed the traditional treatment processes has not effective removal on TOC, Fe ions ,Mn ions and hardness in raw water in plant A. But the removal efficiency was over 80% by using the later treatment of UF/RO. When plant A operated at good control and well detergent-wash, the life of UF/RO system is longer.

This thesis first and foremost investigates how entrepreneurial teachers today work with teachingcreativity to young entrepreneurs, at upper secondary level in Sweden. To then come toconclusions on how to improve and developed teaching of creativity in young entrepreneurs. Forthat purpose, this thesis, has the following research questions.Research question 1; How UF (entrepreneurial teachers) use creative tools today?Research question 2; How the learning of creative tools can develop in the future?The method of investigation used in this thesis is a “semi-structured interview” where sixdifferent respondents where interview two at time, separately, the process took a month to becompleted. These six respondents are teachers working in three different high schools in theMälar region of Sweden. The duration of each interview was between 20-30 minutes, theseinterviews were then analyzed, transcribed, and categorized.The answers were then analyzed by the authors and categorized with connection to the theoriesthat have formed the basis of this work. The empirical evidence could then be fed into a tablethat showed the similarities and differences in the working methods between the variousinterviewed respondents. This is to make it easier for the reader.The results of this work show that UF teachers today use creativity as a tool during the businessidea phase of UF entrepreneurship. After this phase, entrepreneurial teachers no longer see anypurpose in teaching creativity to entrepreneurial students. The authors of this thesis concludedthat creativity does not lose its value or utility after the idea generation phase ofentrepreneurship. The current way of teaching creativity creates an environment where creativityis "strangled" and there is no free space left for innovative thinking. The authors associate thislack of innovation to a lack of communication between the UF teachers and therefore the authorscall on the UF teachers to collaborate 3 times per business year.The examiner for this work is Bengt Köping Olsson, researcher in creativity, innovation anddesign at Mälardalen University.

A utilização de processos de separação por membranas pode ser uma ferramenta eficiente para tratamento de água para abastecimento a partir de mananciais degradados. Entretanto, um dos problemas na utilização desta tecnologia é a geração do concentrado. Entre as formas de descarte deste rejeito, as mais empregadas são lançamentos sem tratamento em águas superficiais e em redes coletoras de esgoto, podendo em ambos os casos acarretar problemas. Considerando-se a tendência mundial na ampliação do uso da tecnologia de separação por membranas no tratamento de água para abastecimento, o presente trabalho, fez uma investigação para clarificação deste concentrado, antes do seu descarte, o qual apresentou valores médios de 177 uC de cor, 12 mg/L de COT e 0,218 cm-1 de UV, tratando água da Represa de Guarapiranga, São Paulo. O concentrado foi submetido a um tratamento físico-químico para sua clarificação, obtendo remoções médias de 90% de cor, 70% de UV254 e 60% de COT, alcançando valores próximos aos da água bruta do manancial utilizado, indicando a possibilidade de aumentar a produção do sistema de membranas, passando de 90% para, aproximadamente, 99%, otimizando o uso do manancial de abastecimento. / Membrane separation processes has become an important technology for treatment of drinking water from the degraded water supply. However, one problem of this technology is the generation of concentrated. In general, these wastes are discharge untreated in surface water and sewage collection networks, in both cases can be a risk to environmental and public health. Considering the global increasing to treat drinking water by membrane separation technology, this work was carried out aimed to clarify the concentrated before disposal. The concentrate, which was derived from the treatment of water Guarapiranga reservoir (São Paulo), presented average values of color, UV and TOC the 177 uC, 12 mg C/L e 0,218 cm-1 respectively. The concentrate was clarify by a physical-chemical treatment, obtaining a satisfactory removals of color, UV254 and TOC with average removals the 90%, 70% and 60% respectively. These values are close to the source of raw water used, which indicate the possibility to increasing the production of the membranes system, from 90% to approximately 99%, optimizing the use of water source.

A utilização de processos de separação por membranas pode ser uma ferramenta eficiente para tratamento de água para abastecimento a partir de mananciais degradados. Entretanto, um dos problemas na utilização desta tecnologia é a geração do concentrado. Entre as formas de descarte deste rejeito, as mais empregadas são lançamentos sem tratamento em águas superficiais e em redes coletoras de esgoto, podendo em ambos os casos acarretar problemas. Considerando-se a tendência mundial na ampliação do uso da tecnologia de separação por membranas no tratamento de água para abastecimento, o presente trabalho, fez uma investigação para clarificação deste concentrado, antes do seu descarte, o qual apresentou valores médios de 177 uC de cor, 12 mg/L de COT e 0,218 cm-1 de UV, tratando água da Represa de Guarapiranga, São Paulo. O concentrado foi submetido a um tratamento físico-químico para sua clarificação, obtendo remoções médias de 90% de cor, 70% de UV254 e 60% de COT, alcançando valores próximos aos da água bruta do manancial utilizado, indicando a possibilidade de aumentar a produção do sistema de membranas, passando de 90% para, aproximadamente, 99%, otimizando o uso do manancial de abastecimento. / Membrane separation processes has become an important technology for treatment of drinking water from the degraded water supply. However, one problem of this technology is the generation of concentrated. In general, these wastes are discharge untreated in surface water and sewage collection networks, in both cases can be a risk to environmental and public health. Considering the global increasing to treat drinking water by membrane separation technology, this work was carried out aimed to clarify the concentrated before disposal. The concentrate, which was derived from the treatment of water Guarapiranga reservoir (São Paulo), presented average values of color, UV and TOC the 177 uC, 12 mg C/L e 0,218 cm-1 respectively. The concentrate was clarify by a physical-chemical treatment, obtaining a satisfactory removals of color, UV254 and TOC with average removals the 90%, 70% and 60% respectively. These values are close to the source of raw water used, which indicate the possibility to increasing the production of the membranes system, from 90% to approximately 99%, optimizing the use of water source.

La 5ème génération de réseaux mobiles (5G), actuellement en cours de standardisation, prévoit de nouveaux scénarios de communication dans l’évolution vers un monde entièrement connecté et communicant. Dans ce contexte, un nombre très important de techniques avancées sont en cours d’exploration pour répondre aux nombreux défis imposés en termes de débit, de latence, de consommation énergétique, et de capacité à faire communiquer entre eux, efficacement, des milliards d'objets très différents. Parmi les techniques les plus prometteuses de la couche physique, de nouvelles formes d'ondes multiporteuses filtrées sont proposées. Bien qu’elles offrent un meilleur confinement spectral et une meilleure localisation en temps et en fréquence par rapport à l’OFDM de la 4G, elles présentent des limitations soit en termes de complexité soit en termes de performance et d’intégration. De plus, ces formes d’ondes sont évaluées d’un point de vue théorique et les résultats ne sont pas toujours validés sur des plateformes matérielles de preuve de concept reproduisant les conditions réelles des scénarios de la 5G.Dans ce contexte, les travaux de cette thèse proposent plusieurs contributions originales aussi bien au niveau algorithmes de traitement qu’au niveau architectures matérielles. Dans le domaine algorithmique,les travaux réalisés ont mené aux contributions suivantes : (1) Un nouveau filtre prototype court est proposé pour la forme d’onde FBMC/OQAM. Des analyses analytiques, complétées par simulation,montrent que le filtre proposé permet d’améliorer la résistance aux erreurs de synchronisation temporel et de réduire la complexité du récepteur FBMC de type « frequency-spread » comparé aux autres filtres de la littérature, (2) Un nouveau type de récepteur FBMC adapté pour les filtres courts est proposé. Ce récepteur a la particularité d’améliorer sensiblement la résistance aux canaux doublement dispersifs pour des filtres courts, et de supporter les communications asynchrones, (3) Un émetteur UF-OFDM original de complexité significativement réduite par rapport à la littérature est proposé. Contrairement aux techniques existantes, l’émetteur proposé n’introduit aucune approximation dans le signal généré, et préserve ainsi le confinement spectral de la forme d’onde. Dans le domaine de la conception matérielle, les travaux réalisés durant cette thèse ont mené aux contributions suivantes : (4) Une architecture matérielle optimisée des émetteurs FBMC et UF-OFDM de complexité comparable à OFDM, (5) Une architecture matérielle optimisée de l’étage de filtrage du récepteur FBMC « frequency-spread », avec une complexité comparable à celle d’un récepteur « polyphase-network », et (6) Une des premières plateformes matérielles de preuve de concept de la 5G, pouvant évaluer les performances des formes d’ondes pour les différents services de la 5G. / The 5th generation of mobile communications is fore seen to cope with a high degree of heterogeneity in terms of services: enhanced mobile broadband, massive machine, vehicular and mission critical communications, broadcast services. Consequently, diverse and often contradicting key performance indicators need to be supported, such as high capacity/user-rates, low latency, high mobility, massive number of devices, low cost and low power consumption. 4G is not designed to efficiently meet such a high degree of heterogeneity: the OFDM waveform exhibits several limitations in terms of spectrum usage and robustness to frequency and timing synchronization errors. In order to overcome these limitations and to cope with the new 5G requirements,several research initiatives have been conducted to design new waveforms. Proposed candidates, such as FBMC/OQAM or UF-OFDM,are mainly based on multicarrier modulation with specific filtering scheme used on the top of the OFDM basis. However, most of the proposed new waveforms are often studied and analyzed at the algorithmic level considering mainly the quality of the communication link. Therefore, the investigation of low-complexity implementations and the availability of real hardware prototypes are of high interest for performance validation and proof-of-concept of the diverse proposed communication techniques. In the above context, this thesis work proposes several original contributions in the algorithm and the hardware design domains. In the algorithm domain, this work leads to the following contributions: (1) Anovel short prototype filter for FBMC allowing for near perfectreconstruction and having the same size as one OFDM symbol is proposed. Using the Frequency Spread implementation for the FBMC receiver, analytical studies and simulation results show that the proposed filter exhibits better robustness to several types of channel impairments when compared to state-of-the-art short prototype filters and OFDM modulation. (2) A novel FBMC receiver technique suitable for short filters is proposed. This receiver enables to greatly improve the robustness against double dispersive channels for short filters, and enables the support of asynchronous communications, (3) A novel low complexityUF-OFDM transmitter without any signal quality loss isproposed. For small subband sizes, the complexity becomescomparable to OFDM regardless of the number of allocated subbands.In the hardware design domain, this thesis work leads to the following contributions: (4) An efficient pipelined hardware architecture of the FBMC/OQAM transmitter capable of supporting several filter lengths and targeting low complexity is proposed and compared to typical FBMC/OQAM and OFDM implementations, (5) An optimized frequency spread based hardware architecture of the filtering stage is proposed for the designed short prototype filter, showing lower complexity than the classical Poly Phase-Network-based implementation, (6) One of the first flexible and efficient hardware platforms for 5G waveform design, allowing the support of several communication scenarios as foreseen in 5G.

According to the Department of Water Affairs (DWAF, 2004 p.15), South Africa’s water resources are scarce and extremely limited and much of this precious resource is utilised and consumed in our industries. Treatment and re-use of effluent generated is, in some cases, preferred over use of alternate water resources (Du Plessis, 2008 p.3). The volume of effluent generated in treatment processes like ultra-filtration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO) units is determined by the feed water quality, with high water loss through effluent generation at poor feed water quality. Current UF and RO applications require an increased UF production capacity due to the use of UF filtrate for periodic backwashing of the UF membrane units. This results in loss of water and decreases overall recovery. The need therefore exists to increase the overall recovery of product water from the raw water stream by reducing the amount of effluent generated. This would be possible to achieve by using RO brine to backwash the UF unit. The study was conducted to provide a modelling tool, assisting management to optimise the use of RO brine as backwash water on the UF system at the Medupi power station. The secondary objective of this study was the development of a modelling tool that can be used for other projects, new or existing, as a measure and indication of the usability of RO brine as backwash water on UF systems. By successfully applying this newly developed model, the viability of utilising the RO brine as backwash water for the UF was investigated. This modification would lead to utilizing smaller UF units than previously envisioned, which in turn leads to reducing capital cost with 11.07% and operating expenditure with 9.98% at the Medupi power station. This also has a positive environmental impact by reducing the amount of raw water used monthly by 10.34% (108 000 m3/month). / MIng (Development and Management Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

This study aimed to obtain 15% total solids and reduced mineral content in milk UF permeate by nanofiltration, hydrolysing the lactose content of nano-concentrate enzymically, partially substituting sucrose in ice cream formulations with hydrolysed lactose nano-concentrate (HLNC), and investigating the effects of HLNC on the physio-chemical and sensory characteristics of ice cream. The desired 15% total solids in the nano-concentrate was achieved after three fold concentration of milk UF permeate. The colour of milk permeate changed, pH and mineral content decreased, and crude protein content, lactose content and titratable acidity increased. The lactose content was hydrolysed by enzyme lactase. HLNC was used to replace 25% and 50% of sucrose in ice cream formulations. Springiness, cohesiveness, chewiness, adhesiveness, hardness, iciness, Ph and colour were not significantly affected. Viscosity, freezing point, glass transition temperature, melting temperature, gumminess and sweetness were significantly decreased, whereas freezing time, saltiness and cooked flavour were significantly increased. The overall acceptability of ice cream significantly decreased at 50% but was insignificantly affected at the 25% level. These results indicate that about one quarter of sucrose could be replaced by HLNC. / Master of Science (Hons) (Food Technology)

Back grinding (BG) wastewater consists mainly of high-purity water and high concentrations of inorganic particles. If the BG wastewater could be treated and recycled efficiently, it should be sort of economic benefit. In this study, appropriate pre-treatment technologies are evaluated to obtain the feasible recycle system. From the chemical coagulation experiment, the addition of PAC or FeCl3, both of them can obviously reduce the turbidity and suspended solid concentrations (SS). In addition, polymer can advance the sedimentation process. Considering the cost of practical operation, the turbidity of BG waste water could be removed up to 97% by using polyaluminum chloride as the coagulant (2.2 mg/L) and polymer as the coagulant aid (0.5 mg/L) in the pH=7 condition . In sand filtration experiment, the turbidity and SS can¡¦t be effectively removed if the coagulation isn¡¦t used on BG wastewater. It demonstrates that BG wastewater contains high concentration of nano-scale particles. The rate of removable turbidity can reach 99% under applying coagulation, sedimentation, and sand filtration. In ultra-filtration experiment, both of spiral-wound (SW) and hollow-fiber (HF) can remove more than 99.9% of turbidity. For the flux of behavior, the performance of pre-treatment water is better than non-treatment water. Thus, it reveals that appropriate pre-treatment can lower the load of membrane filtration system. For the obtained recycle water, the grade of standard can achieve the grade of the cooling tower required. However, due to its high particle-containing characteristics, the commonly used reverse-osmoses (RO) membrane filtration technology can not be directly applied for purification process because the fouling/clogging problem would cause the frequent membrane replacement. In this lab-scale feasibility study, pre-treatment technologies (e.g., sand filtration, chemical coagulation, ultra-filtration) were applied to reduce the turbidity and particle concentrations of the BG wastewater (collected from a semiconductor manufacturing plant) before RO filtration unit. The BG wastewater contained turbidity and suspended solid concentrations of 3,200 NTU and 96 mg/L, respectively. The measured pH and conductivity of the BG wastewater were in the ranges of 6.8 to 7.2 and 14 to 18 £gS/cm, respectively. Moreover, the particle sizes of the solids varied from 300 to 700 nm. Thus, applying conventional sand filtration along could not effectively remove the nano-scale particles. Results from the chemical coagulation experiment reveal that the turbidity and particles of the BG wastewater could be significantly removed (up to 95% of turbidity and particle removal) by the coagulation/sedimentation process using polyaluminum chloride as the coagulant (2.2 mg/L) and polymer as the coagulant aid (0.5 mg/L). Results also indicate that up to 99% of turbidity and particle removal could be obtained with the application of ultra-filtration unit after the coagulation/sedimentation process. Results from this study indicate that applying appropriate pre-treatment technologies (coagulation and ultra-filtration) would lower the fouling rate and extend the life of RO membrane used for BG wastewater purification.