Thermophilic composting (TC) and vermicomposting (V) are the two most common methods used for biological stabilization of solid organic wastes. Both have their advantages and disadvantages but the proposed method of combining composting and vermicomposting (CV) borrows pertinent attributes from each of the two methods and combines them to enhance overall process and product qualities. Dairy manure and waste paper are two wastes produced in large quantities at the University of Fort Hare. The study was carried out to address the following specific objectives, to determine (i) the effectiveness of combined thermophilic composting and vermicomposting on the biodegradation and sanitization of mixtures of dairy manure and paper waste, (ii) an optimum precomposting period for dairy manure paper waste mixtures that results in vermicomposts of good nutritional quality and whose use will not jeopardize human health, (iii) the effectiveness of phosphate rock (PR) in increasing available P and degradation and nutrient content of dairy manure-paper vermicomposts, (iv) the physicochemical properties of vermicompost substituted pine bark compost and performance of resultant growing medium on plant growth and nutrient uptake. Results of this study revealed that wastes with a C: N ratio of 30 were more suitable for both V and CV as their composts were more stabilized and with higher nutrient contents than composts made from wastes with a C: N ratio of 45. Both V and CV were effective methods for the biodegradation of dairy manure and paper waste mixtures with C: N ratio of 30 but the latter was more effective in the biodegradation of waste mixtures with a C: N ratio of 45. The combinination of composting and vermicomposting eliminated the indicator pathogen E. coli 0157 from the final composts whereas V only managed to reduce the pathogen population. iv A follow up study was done to determine the effects of precomposting on pathogen numbers so as to come up with a suitable precomposting period to use when combine composting dairy manure-waste paper mixtures. Results of this study showed that over 95% of fecal coliforms, E. coli and of E. coli 0157 were eliminated from the wastes within one week of precomposting and total elimination of these and protozoan (oo)cysts achieved after 3 weeks of precomposting. The vermicomposts pathogen content was related to the waste’s precomposting period. Final vermicomposts pathogen content was reduced and varied according to precomposting period. Vermicomposts from wastes precomposted for over two weeks were less stabilized, less humified and had less nutrient contents compared to vermicomposts from wastes that were precomposted for one week or less. The findings suggest that a precomposting period of one week is ideal for the effective vermicomposting of dairy manure-waste paper mixtures. Results of the P enrichment study indicated an increase in the inorganic phosphate and a reduction in the organic phosphate fractions of dairy manure-waste paper vermicompost that were enriched with PR. This implied an increase in mineralization of organic matter and or solubilization of PR with vermicomposting time. Applying PR to dairy manure-waste paper mixtures also enhanced degradation and had increased N and P contents of dairy manure-waste paper vermicomposts. Earthworms accumulated heavy metals in their bodies and reduced heavy metal contents of vermicomposts. A study to determine the physicochemical properties of vermicompost substituted pine bark compost and performance of resultant growing medium on plant growth and nutrient uptake was done. Results obtained revealed that increasing proportions of dairy manure vermicomposts in pine bark compost improved tomato plant height, stem girth, shoot and root dry weights. v Tomatoes grew best in the 40 to 60% CV substituted pine bark and application of Horticote (7:2:1 (22)) fertilizer significantly increased plant growth in all media. Progressive substitution pine bark with dairy manure vermicomposts resulted in a decrease in the percentage total porosity, percentage air space whilst bulk density, water holding capacity, particle density, pH, electrical conductivity and N and P levels increased. Precomposting wastes not only reduced and or eliminated pathogens but also improved the stabilisation and nutrient content of dairy manure waste paper mixtures. The application of PR to dairy manure waste paper mixtures improved the chemical and physical properties of vermicomposts. Earthworms bio-accumulated the heavy metals Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb and Zn whilst the contents of these in the vermicomposts declined. It is, therefore, recommended that dairy manure waste paper mixtures be precomposted for one week for sanitization followed by PR application and vermicomposting for stabilization and improved nutrients contents of resultant vermicomposts. Substitution of pine bark compost with 40 to 60 % PR-enriched vermicompost produced a growing medium with superior physical and chemical properties which supported good seedling growth. However, for optimum seedling growth, supplementation with mineral fertilizer was found to be necessary.

In this thesis the use of waste materials for the microbial production of important metabolites is reported. The first part is focused on the use of waste paper (a lignocellulosic material) as a non-traditional source for the production of bioethanol. The second part is focused on the immobilization of cellulolytic enzymes, which are used for the hydrolysis of lignocellulosic materials. First, the waste paper (cardboard) was pre-treated using a blender and a vibratory mill. The pre-treated cardboard was used for the production of ethanol by the method of simultaneous saccharification and fermentation. This method was optimized with free cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Then strains suitable for the immobilization were selected. Strains of S. cerevisiae and Pichia kudriavzevii were immobilized by encapsulation into the polyvinyl alcohol carrier and tested again for the ethanol production by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation. In the second part of the work a carrier from waste polyethylene terephthalate bottles was prepared and used for the immobilization of the cellulolytic complex. The basic characteristics were determined, such as optimal pH and optimal temperature, storage, operational and thermal stability, enzyme kinetics and the mode of action of the enzyme. Compared to two other commercial carriers this carrier showed to be suitable for the immobilization of the cellulolytic complex.

No description available.

This study investigated the use of activated carbon and ion exchange for the removal of color and dissolved solids from pulp and paper wastewater generated by the Union Camp Corporation mill in Franklin, Virginia. The objective of the treatment was to provide a high quality effluent suitable for direct recycling. This advanced treatment followed pretreatment by lime, alum, or ferric chloride. Required effluent quality was defined as being 5 Pt-Co units color and 75 mg/L chloride. Granular and powdered carbons, manufactured by the Westvaco Corporation, were utilized in the study. The ion exchange resin investigated was Amberlite IRA-68, manufactured by Rohm and Haas. Carbon treatment consisted of batch and column operation; ion exchange column treatment was used. The results of the study indicated that the required effluent quality was achieved by activated carbon and ion exchange treatment of wastewater that had been chemically pretreated. The most successful treatment schemes for the biotreated effluent were pretreatment with 500 mg/L alum or 2500 mg/L lime, followed by carbon column treatment for color polishing and ion exchange for chloride removal. The lime pretreated sample produced an effluent containing less than 5 Pt-Co units color as necessary for reuse, while the alum pretreated sample would require dilution with make-up water or additional treatment (i.e. ion exchange) to obtain recycle quality. The use of ion exchange for chloride removal is not practical due to the preferential exchange for sulfates. Until such time as sulfate can be eliminated from the wastewater source, other methods of dissolved solids removal should be investigated. / M. Eng.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

No description available.

Aqueous-phase reforming (APR) is reported for the first time for the production of H2 from actual biomass. The experiments are carried out in batch using a 100mL Parr microreactor heated to 225C. In this one-pot, two-step process, acid hydrolysis is used to break down the polymeric constituents of biomass to smaller soluble molecules and these species are reformed using a Pt/Al2O3 catalyst. The experiments show that increasing the acid concentration from 1% to 5% causes more than a twelve-fold increase in H2 concentration, with hydrogen a minor product accounting for 18% of the non-condensable gas phase and CO2 as the major product. In the presence of the Pt/Al2O3 reforming catalyst, both the selectivity and yield of hydrogen in the gas phase increase. This is accompanied by a noticeable decrease in carbon monoxide production. Comparison with other feeds such as glucose, wastepaper and ethylene glycol showed that the amount of hydrogen produced from biomass is of a comparable magnitude per gram of feed, although biomass yields more hydrogen per gram of carbohydrate than either glucose or wastepaper. Baseline experiments with only the catalysts in the absence of any biomass show no increase in the reactor system pressure when only water and helium are present, indicating that the observed hydrogen produced is sourced form the biomass.

Main concerns in the building industry includes the development of alternative building materials that reduces the amount of energy spent during manufacturing process and easier to work with. Wood-crete is a composite material developed in this study, made up of wood waste (sawdust), paper, tradical lime and water. Wood-crete is developed to provide an alternative material in construction solving problems associated with the delivery of low-cost housing across all income earners, reducing the amount of energy spent during manufacturing process of construction materials and the ease with which these construction materials are developed and solve issues related to waste management. This thesis presents the processing technologies, factors which affect the performance and properties of wood-crete. Wood-crete properties were found to be closely related to the composition of the constituent elements though compressive strength and modulus of elasticity were low when compared to other building materials like concrete and steel. In a bid to improve the strength of the developed wood-crete, the properties were investigated based on the modification of sawdust by hot water boiling and alkaline treatments which help to modify cellulose fibre surface to reduce the hydrophilic nature of sawdust thereby improving the sawdust-matrix bonding. It was found that the surface modification, processing of cellulosic fibril and the extraction of lignin and hemi-cellulosic compounds with alkali had an effect on the compressive strength of wood-crete, with treating sawdust with 4% NaOH at 140mins of boiling time achieving the highest compressive strength and boiling sawdust from 100mins to 140mins had a gradual increase in compressive strength but reduced at higher boiling time. Furthermore, treating sawdust with NaOH more than 4% weakened the individual wood particles thus leading to poor strength of wood-crete. Additionally, the properties of wood-crete were investigated based on the type of wood sawdust – hardwood (beech and oak) and softwood (pine and cedar). Apart from individual wood density having a significant effect on the density of wood-crete, other factors such as lignin, cellulose, hemicellulose contents including fibre length of individual wood species affect the strength properties of wood-crete. The compressive strength of wood-crete was closely related to the wood species, with highest compressive strength of 3.93MPa recorded for hardwood wood-crete compared to 1.37MPa and 0.26MPa of wood-crete from softwood and mixed wood respectively. Results from thermal conductivity tests on wood-crete also show that wood-crete blocks can be produced with good insulating properties for building construction. Addition of different types of paper fibres to reduce the density of wood-crete and improve the insulating properties of composite developed also had a dominant influence on both strength and thermal conductivity, reflecting its effect on the structure of composite and contribution of self strength of paper fibres. The addition of various percentages of waste paper (de-fibred) had a significant influence on the thermal conductivity of wood-crete with 75% addition of waste paper achieving a thermal conductivity value of 0.046W/mK performed with the TCi thermal conductivity analyser. Thermal conductivity results for wood-crete made from hardwood and softwood sawdust was closely related to the chemical composition of various wood species, with softwood wood-crete having about 20% lower thermal conductivity compared to hardwood wood-crete. The developed wood-crete was able to withstand impact load and considered, like hempcrete, most suitable for wall panelling or other non- and semi-structural applications with good thermal insulating properties. Findings of this study provides an alternative new material for the construction industry and an important background for achieving better strength of wood-crete, choosing what type of sawdust to be used for development of wood-crete and for directing a better use of this potential material with very small embodied energy and carbon negative.

Orientadores: Melissa Gurgel Adeodato Vieira, Sandra Cristina dos Santos Rocha / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Química / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-21T04:23:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 LopezGonzalez_NestorDavid_M.pdf: 6381922 bytes, checksum: e497b1236a95bb6095b1c33957146b02 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Resumo: O papel está presente em muitas das atividades do cotidiano que vão desde usos sanitários, passando pelas embalagens até fins educativos. Este material que teve sua origem há quase 2000 anos, continua sua evolução na procura de alternativas limpas para seu reaproveitamento. Novos processos de reciclagem, secagem e a incorporação de materiais alternativos para melhorar as propriedades do papel fazem desta área de pesquisa a base para a criação de novas tecnologias e produtos com apelo ambiental. Neste contexto, este trabalho teve como objetivo a avaliação da reutilização de papel de escritório na forma de papel cartão com adição de extratos corantes naturais Carmim de cochonilha, Cúrcuma e Urucum, implementando um processo de destintagem dos papéis a serem reciclados e secando o papel em um secador convectivo em escala laboratorial para obter papel cartão artesanal colorido. Para isto, foi determinada uma formulação para cada uma das três polpas a serem tingidas com os corantes naturais e construídas as curvas de secagem para diferentes condições de secagem. Efetuou-se uma análise comparativa da qualidade dos papéis obtidos em diferentes condições de secagem e avaliou-se a degradação da cor dos papéis obtidos sob diferentes condições de iluminação. O estudo da secagem mostrou que as polpas fabricadas com cada um dos três corantes apresentaram processos de secagem equivalentes apesar de ter formulações diferentes. Além disso, uma análise estatística mostrou que a velocidade e a temperatura do ar de secagem influenciam positivamente o processo, afetando a duração deste. Na avaliação da qualidade dos papéis verificou-se que esta pode ser afetada por variações nas condições de secagem. Uma menor qualidade foi obtida em papéis secos sob condições mais drásticas de velocidade e temperatura do ar. Os testes de colorimetria realizados nas amostras evidenciaram que as condições de secagem podem modificar a saturação das cores dos papéis, gerando diferenças colorimétricas nos papéis obtidos e apresentando cinéticas de degradação diferentes para cada papel fabricado. Os extratos corantes de Carmim de cochonilha, Urucum e Cúrcuma apresentaram boa estabilidade no teste de abrigo à luz, mas nos testes realizados com luz ultravioleta e fluorescente a estabilidade das cores foi baixa. O carmim de cochonilha se apresentou como o corante com maior estabilidade e poder tintorial. Os corantes naturais analisados nesta pesquisa mostraram potencial para serem utilizados na fabricação de papéis reciclados artesanais / Abstract: The paper is present in many everyday activities from sanitary uses, through the packaging until educational purposes. This material was originated almost 2000 years ago, and continues its evolution in the search of environmental alternatives to be reused. New processes to recycling, drying and the incorporation of alternative materials carry out an important role for the creation of new products and new technologies with environmental appeal. In this context, this work aimed the evaluation of office paper in the form of cardboard with the addition of natural extracts dyes such as Cochineal Carmine, Turmeric and Annatto, using a de-inking process of paper and drying in a convective-scale laboratory dryer for obtain a colorful handmade paper card. For this, a formulation was determined for each of the three paper pulp to be dyed with natural dyes, the drying curves were analyzed for different drying conditions, moreover a comparative analysis of the quality of the paper obtained under different conditions of drying was accomplished and the degradation of color paper obtained under different lighting conditions was evaluated. The study showed that drying of the paper pulp manufactured for each of the three dyes present equivalent drying processes, despite that these had different formulations; in addition, a statistical analysis showed that the air velocity and temperature of the drying air have a positively influence in the process. In the study of quality of paper, it has been demonstrated that variations in the drying conditions affects the quality of paper, such as reducing these with the increase in velocity and air temperature. The colorimetric test showed that the drying conditions can change the color saturation of the paper, causing colorimetric differences in the papers obtained and having different degradation kinetics for each paper produced. The extracts of cochineal carmine, Annatto and Turmeric dyes showed good stability under the test of light; however, the stability for the test performed with ultraviolet and fluorescent light. The results using cochineal carmine dye presented greater stability and tinctorial power. Natural dyes tested in this study showed potential to be used in the manufacture of handmade recycled paper / Mestrado / Processos em Tecnologia Química / Mestre em Engenharia Química

Bioethanol is likely to be a large contributor to the fuel sector of industry in the near future. Current research trends are geared towards utilizing food crops as substrate for bioethanol fermentation; however, this is the source of much controversy. Utilizing food crops for fuel purposes is anticipated to cause massive food shortages worldwide. Cellulose is the most abundant renewable resource on earth and is subject to a wide array of scientific study in order to utilize the glucose contained within it. Waste paper has a high degree of cellulose associated with it, which makes it an ideal target for cellulose biotechnology with the ultimate end goal of bioethanol production. This study focussed on producing the necessary enzymes to hydrolyse the cellulose found in waste paper and using the sugars produced to produce ethanol. The effects of various printing inks had on the production of sugars and the total envirorunental impact of the effluents produced during the production line were also examined. It was found that the fungus Trichoderma longibrachiatum DSM 769 grown in Mandel's medium with waste newspaper as the sole carbon source at 28 °C for 6 days produced extracellular cellulase enzymes with an activity of 0.203 ± 0.009 FPU.ml⁻¹, significantly higher activity as compared to other paper sources. This extracellular cellulase was used to hydrolyse waste newspaper and office paper, with office paper yielding the highest degree of sugar production with an end concentration of 5.80 ± 0.19 g/1 at 40 °C. Analysis by HPLC showed that although glucose was the major product at 4.35 ± 0.12 g/1, cellobiose was also produced in appreciable amounts (1.97 ± 0.71 g/1). The sugar solution was used as a substrate for Saccharomyces cerevisiae DSM 1333 and ethanol was produced at a level of 1.79 ± 0.26 g/1, the presence of which was confirmed by a 600 MHz NMR spectrum. It was found that cellobiose was not fermented by this strain of S. cerevisiae. Certain components of inks (the PAHs phenanthrene and naphthalene) were found to have a slight inhibitory effect (approximately 15% decrease) on the cellulase enzymes at very high concentrations (approximately 600 μg/1 in aqueous medium), while anthracene had no effect. Whole newsprint ink was shown not to sorb glucose. The environmental analysis of the effluents produced showed that in order for the effluents to be discharged into an aqueous ecosystem they would have to be diluted up to 200 times. They were also shown to have the potential to cause severe machinery damage if reused without proper treatment.