Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of New South Wales, 2004. / Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Johns Hopkins University, 1927. / Biography. "References: p. 19.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1955. / Typescript. Abstracted in Dissertation abstracts, v. 16 (1956) no. 2, p. 413. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-69).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 165-188).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Catholic University of America, 1929. / Biography.

Southern pines are typically limited by nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) availability in the soil environment. While the absolute quantities of P in forests soils may be large, the concentration of inorganic P in the soil solution is typically very small (< 0.01 mg L²-1). A onetime application of just 56 kg P ha²-1 can substantially increase growth of pine stands over a 20 year rotation (Pritchett and Comerford, 1982; Allen et al., 1990). Phosphorus fertilization of Pinus radiata in New Zealand has also shown long-term effects on labile P pools in the soil which improved stand growth during the subsequent rotations (Ballard, 1978; Gentle et al., 1986). Identifying and quantifying the biologically available P pools in the soil environment will help foresters in making site-specific P fertilizer prescriptions. I examined soil phosphorus pools using the Hedley sequential fractionation procedure and Mehlich-3 soil tests in a long-term loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) fertilization trial from four sites in the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains. After 22 years, fertilization effects were limited to the surface depths. Mehlich-3 extractable P was largest in the soil surface (0-10 cm) of the fertilized treatments plots. Hedley labile and moderately labile P pools were also largest in the soil surface and decreased with depth. Results from the Hedley fractionation procedure suggested that the Virginia site has a large pool of organic P in the soil surface. Organic P pools can represent 20-90% of the total P present in most mineral soils increasing with the age of the soil (Condron et al., 2005). This increase in organic P pool suggests that biological cycling becomes more important as the stand develops (Wells and Jorgensen 1975). I used solution 31P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to characterize organic P extracted with NaOH-EDTA in the surface of a Paleaquults from coastal Virginia. Total NaOH-EDTA extractable P was significantly larger in the fertilized treatment. Concentrations ranged from 0.1 mg P L²-1 in the control plots to 5.1 mg P L²-1 in fertilized plots. The surface soils in both treatments were dominated by inorganic orthophosphate. Monoester P compounds were the only organic P compounds detected and were present in very low quantities. The significant increase of NaOH/EDTA extractable P in the soil surface of the VA site suggested there has been a beneficial long-term effect of fertilization similar to the observations from the Mehlich-3 soil test. Results from oxalate loading experiments on ligand exchangeable versus dissolvable P pools in the bulk soil suggested that the long-term effect of P fertilization increased oxalate dissolvable P pools. Plants and microbes have evolved a variety of mechanisms to increase P uptake in low P soil environments. These mechanisms include changes in root morphology and architecture, preferential root growth into high P microsites, the secretion of low-molecular-mass organic acids (LMMOA), and uptake via symbiotic relationships (Fox and Comerford, 1992b; Raghothama, 1999; Hinsinger, 2001; Raghothama, 2005). Results from soil samples taken from the ectomycorrhizal rhizosphere found that loblolly pine mycorrhizal roots modified the soil environment, possibly making recalcitrant P more available. In addition, the long-term effect of fertilization was a 396% increase in biologically available P. Fertilization increased loblolly pine volume growth by 57 m¹3 ha and increased the P content in the litter layer by 118%. After the stand was harvested and replanted, mineralization of the litter layer may also increase soil P pools. Results from this long-term fertilization experiment in the Coastal Plain province of Virginia have demonstrated that there has been a significant increase in soil (33.6 kg P ha²-1) and biologically available P pools (3.0 kg P ha²-1). / Ph. D.

published_or_final_version / Biochemistry / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Biochemistry / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

No description available.

Deposition of amorphous silica (SiO2) and calcium oxalate (CaOx) on the calandria tubes of juice evaporators cause serious processing problems in Australian cane sugar mills. The removal of these deposits by mechanical and chemical means is a timeconsuming and costly experience. The cost of downtime and chemical cleaning can be several million dollars per year for the Australian sugar industry. The interactions between CaOx and SiO2 have not been investigated previously because conventional studies only address fouling by individual components. The present work evaluates their interactions using two experimental approaches: batch tests for assessing kinetic and thermodynamic behaviour, and fouling-loop experiments for examining composite fouling behaviour under different operating conditions. The above two approaches were employed both in the absence and in the presence of sugar to elucidate the effect of sugar on composite fouling mechanisms and to determine the controlling species responsible for composite fouling. The composite fouling experiments were performed in a novel closed-loop circulation system simulating the effect of feed composition of successive stages of evaporation cycle in a single run. In addition, the fouling-loop system was operated in a constant composition mode to study the effects of thermal hydraulic conditions on composite fouling. The combined information obtained from both the batch and fouling-loop tests in this study offer a unique insight into the mechanisms of composite fouling of CaOx and SiO2. Some of the highlights of the obtained results are as follows: ??? Identification of a complex interactive process in calcium oxalate monohydrate ??? silica (COM-SiO2) systems by investigation of the kinetics and thermodynamics of COM-SiO2 coprecipitation in water and sugar solutions, and an understanding of the mechanisms of these interactions; ??? Development of a novel fouling-loop system, which is simple, efficient and cost effective for the study of the effect of juice composition on scale formation in various stages of juice evaporation; ??? Elucidation of composite fouling mechanisms, e.g., a feed composition dependent fouling mechanism is proposed; ??? Isolation and verification of the existence of certain species in composite deposits, which is known to be thermodynamically unstable. In other words, it is established that calcium oxalate trihydrate is stable under certain conditions; ??? Evaluation of the role of thermal hydraulic operating parameters in determining the characteristics of subcooled flow boiling heat transfer and in determining the strength of the composite deposit; ??? Development and validation of an empirical model to predict the subcooled flow boiling heat transfer coefficients in water and sugar solutions; ??? Development of an analytical model incorporating the effects of operating parameters for COM and SiO2 composite fouling in sugar solutions. This model predicted the experimental data better than available models. Results of this work are significant, not only because they have made a valuable contribution to advance the fundamental understanding of heat exchanger fouling, but also because they may play a key role in the development of scale control and removal strategies to minimize the composite fouling in Australian sugar mill evaporators. For example it was found that, in order to effectively minimize the rate of composite fouling and reduce the scale tenacity, it would be necessary to control thermal hydraulic operating conditions, especially the fluid velocity, and to adjust the initial CaOx/SiO2 supersaturation ratio to the optimum value. To achieve the optimal CaOx/SiO2 ratio, certain device can be developed to sequentially measure oxalic acid and SiO2 concentrations in juice so that the correct proportions of chemicals can be added. Model simulations of the composite fouling rate may also effectively and economically provide comparative and relevant information essential for process optimisation and evaporator design