No description available.

<p> Simultaneous measurements of incoming short and longwave radiation were made at a rooftop site in the industrial heart of Hamilton, Ontario, and at a control station several miles to the south of the city at Mt. Hope airport. Direct comparison of these measurements was facilitated by selecting clear sky days from the winter solstice to the end of April.</p> <p> Results indicate that the decrease in solar radiation intensity due to atmospheric pollution is balanced by a comparable increase in the flux of incoming longwave radiation from the sky. Receipts of total incoming radiation are therefore the same at both sites.</p> <p> Vertical air temperature profiles over the industrial site and the control site were measured using a specially designed aircraft-mounted sensor. Profiles were determined on the same days that radiation measurements were made.</p> <p> While the temperature profiles at the control site occasionally exhibited a slight subsidence inversion, the industrial profiles consistently showed a marked inversion whose magnitude diminished with increasing solar altitude and increased again toward sunset. This behaviour is attributed to the enhanced shortwave absorptivity and longwave emissivity properties of the polluted atmosphere.</p> <p> The height of the inversion increased during the morning hours and fell again during the afternoon in response to atmospheric convection caused by surface and atmospheric heating during the day. The top of the inversion, however, always coincided exactly with the top of the visible pollution dome.</p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Organic carbon and nitrogen content in low-strength wastewaters can be removed by conventional aerobic processes such as Modified Ludzak Ettinger (MLE), but these treatment methods are not appropriate for treating strong wastewaters. Treatment of highly polluted effluents from slaughterhouse, food processing, brewery, dairy, landfill leachates, etc., which are rich in organic matter and nutrients requires specific considerations. The main removal pathways in the aerobic processes are bacterial assimilation and complete nitrification-denitrification for nitrogen content removal which is accompanied by organic carbon removal during this process. Various biological aerobic treatment processes and operations have been tried in the past to effectively treat strong streams, but high energy requirement and sludge production are serious drawbacks. Anaerobic digestion (AD) is the best alternative to the aerobic processes for treatment of strong wastewaters but biological nutrient removal is not possible, and needs further treatment. In high-strength wastewater treatment, neither aerobic nor anaerobic treatment methods alone as a single-process can produce treated effluents complying with discharge standards. Therefore, existing conventional technologies for treatment of highly polluted streams are combined systems. These conventional combined systems are a pair of at least two separate processes in series. Most of the combined systems are applying the AD as a head system which is followed by a polishing aerobic process such as conventional activated sludge. Synchronizing two different processes in a series in combined systems is expensive and complicated with intensive operation and maintenance requirements. Hence, in order to prevail these difficulties, it is paramount to develop an efficient and less expensive single-process technology with simple operation and maintenance. In this thesis, a conventional MLE system as a single-process was modified for treating highly polluted wastewaters, with a performance similar to the combined systems. This modified system is referred to throughout the thesis as SAO/PND (Simultaneous Anaerobic Oxidation/Partial Nitrification–Denitrification). After several unsuccessful modifications were tried, the main successful modifications were increasing the hydraulic retention time (HRT) in the pre-anoxic reactor, and decreasing the solids retention time (SRT) to create favorable conditions for anaerobic oxidation and partial nitrification-denitrification. A laboratory-scale of SAO/PND was used to conduct the experiments in this research. SAO/PND looks like the MLE process regarding the reactor configurations and recycle and return lines. Ammonia concentrations above 150 mg/L can be toxic for the MLE system, but SAO/PND improves the situation so that ammonia concentration is not toxic until close to 290 mg/L. Another issue with MLE process is that it requires high amounts of oxygen and alkalinity which results in high amounts of sludge production. But, SAO/PND produces less sludge, and does not need high amounts of oxygen and alkalinity. The results showed more than 95% chemical oxygen demand (COD) and 90% total inorganic nitrogen (TIN) removal from synthetic wastewater, respectively, in our laboratory environment. In addition, volumetric design loading rates determined as 11.80 kg COD/(m3.d) and 0.63 kg TIN/(m3.d) with synthetic solution as a feed. Furthermore, the results showed high performance of the system in treating dairy and brewery industry effluents. In this modified single-process system, organic carbon was removed through anaerobic oxidation, assimilation, P–uptake by polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) and denitrifying PAOs (DPAOs), aerobic heterotrophs, and denitrification by DPAOs and denitrifying ordinary heterotrophic organisms (OHOs). Nitrogen content removal mechanisms were assimilation, partial nitrification–denitrification, anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox), and small portion uncharacterized processes. 95% and 90% less oxygen requirements along with 60% and 44% less sludge production compared to the conventional aerobic processes and conventional combined systems, respectively, resulted in significant potential cost savings by this modified system. Finally, the applied modified single-process system in this thesis is found as a sustainable, robust, cost-effective, and small footprint process with less intensive operation and maintenance requirements which will yield new insights into the design of treating highly polluted streams in the future.

Using Vertical Feature Mask (VFM) data from Cloud - Aerosol Lidar Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO), I have documented 3-dimensional (3D) structures in occurrence probabilities of aerosol over a broad region of Africa, the Atlantic, Europe, and Americas. The 3D structures illustrate the seasonal means and seasonal cycle in the zonal and meridional variability of the vertical profiles of mineral dust, biomass burning smoke, and polluted dust (external mixture of dust and smoke), and their emissions sources and transport pathways. Emission sources vary by geographical location. The persistent Saharan dust source is evident throughout the year and observed and recorded by CALIPSO 70-80% of the time over Africa. Horizontal and vertical occurrence of dust is variable in time with maximum heights and westward transport occurring in boreal summer and minimum heights and transport occurring in boreal winter. The southern African biomass burning source is also evident throughout the year, through westward transport over the Atlantic is only evident in boreal summer and fall; mixing with dust over the continent limits westward transport of pure smoke to the continent in winter and spring. Other smaller smoke and dust sources are discussed. The role of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) in limiting the southward transport of dust and northward transport of smoke over Africa is demonstrated. Surprisingly, the highest probability of polluted dust is found in the ITCZ, even though the probabilities of dust and smoke are low. Wind trajectories reveal smoke of southern African origin is transported northward at the lower levels, but rarely penetrating through ITCZ rainband while Saharan dust is transported southward at higher levels, crossing the ITCZ frequently. This quasi-circulation of aerosol is shown to be the mixing mechanism of dust and smoke into polluted dust in the area of the ITCZ.

Abstract A system with the combination of upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor and constructed wetlands (CWLs) has not yet been applied for cleaning river water polluted by sewage and swine wastewaters. In this study, a pilot system with an UASB reactor (effective working volume 4.0 m3) combined with two CWL reactors (effective working volumes 4.8 and 5.4 m3 for CWL-1 and CWL-2, respectively) was used to test the feasibility for treating wastewater sampled from the Wu-Luo River. The river is located in Ping-Tong County of southern Taiwan and has long been polluted by untreated domestic and partially treated swine wastewaters and is among the most polluted rivers in Taiwan. A control system without the UASB reactor and with the CWL-1 and CWL-2 was also tested in parallel to the test system. In the test system, the UASB reactor was seeded with an anaerobic sludge for sewage treatment and CWL-1 and CWL-2 of both the test and control systems were planted with emergent macrophyte (Typha angustifolia L.) and floating macrophyte (Pistia stratiotes L.), respectively. In general, it requires hydraulic retention times (HRT) of 1-5 days for polluted waters in CWLs to obtain clarified ones. In the present study, HRT of the test water in the system was reduced from around 34 to 11 hours to examine the clarification effect. Results indicated that the influent water has the following average qualities (unit in mg/L): total COD (CODt) 61, BOD 14, suspended solids (SS) 156, total-N 24, ammonia-N 12, nitrate-N 3.9, nitrite-N 0.92, and total-P (TP) 41. Results also indicate with a total HRT of 11.3 hrs, the test system (UASB-CWL1-CML2) could achieve average removals of 62% CODt, 56% BOD, 75% SS, 37% TN, 44% ammonia-N, 54% nitrate-N, 47% nitrite-N, and 61% TP from the influent water. The effluent water has the following average qualities (unit in mg/L):CODt 19, BOD 6.1, SS 15, TN 15, ammonia-N 7.5, nitrate-N 1.8, nitrite-N 0.49, and TP 1.7. The study indicates that the UASB could act as a preliminary device for sedimentation of most of the influent suspended solids and hence preventing the accumulation of sludge in the following CWLs.

Excavation is a common method to clean up areas with increased levels of metal contamination. Identifying the degree of soil contamination is normally done by a laboratory analysis but it could also be done using a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (XRF) in the field. This project has investigated how well XRF results correlate with the results from the laboratory and how the water ratio affects the results in XRF measurement. The purpose has been to gain an increased knowledge of how soil samples should be handled to obtain a reliable XRF result. Data was compared between lab results and XRF results. Soil samples with different water ratios have been examined to see whether moist affect the XRF results. The results indicate that the reliability of XRF results depends on the metal being studied. The water ratio also affects the result to varying degrees depending on the metal. This study has involved arsenic, lead, nickel, copper and zinc. The main focus is on arsenic, and the results show no significant difference between the two aforementioned methods. There is however a significant difference at some water quotas, but the result correlate very well and can be estimated based on the equation calculated in the results. Results show that a portable XRF is a reliable instrument for dry samples of arsenic, but laboratory analysis should be used to confirm the results at low levels of arsenic close to the applicable limit values due to margin of error when measuring with a portable XRF.

Many drinking water treatment facilities face problems with algal organic matter (AOM) due to eutrophication of the environment and frequent occurrence of algal blooms. AOM can cause deterioration of water organoleptic properties, but the main threat is the potential for acting as a precursor of toxic disinfection by-products (DBPs). The presented master thesis deals with the possibility of using electrocoagulation (EC) - an innovative electrochemical method - to remove cellular organic matter (COM) produced by cyanobacteria Microcystis aeruginosa from drinking water. EC is similar to widely used chemical coagulation, the difference is that during EC the coagulant is produced by electrochemical dissolution of an iron or an aluminum electrode. Synthetic water with COM concentration of 5.5 and 8.5 mg/L of TOC was used for the experiments. The target value of conductivity (4.5 mS/cm) was reached by addition of NaCl. pH of the solution was adjusted by HCl and NaOH. During some of the experiments, NaHCO3 was added to increase the ANC4.5. The experiments were conducted in a batch mode with a stainless-steel cathode and an aluminum or an iron anode. The coagulant dosage was regulated by applied electric current passing through the electrodes. Flocs were separated by sedimentation and centrifugation. COM...

<p>X-ray fluorescence (XRF) detection of heavy metals is a cost- and time-effective method for investigation of polluted areas. Compared to laboratory analysis, XRF analysis is limited by high detection limits and uncertainties in some situations. Preparation of samples is known to affect the results of measurements.</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to bring a deeper understanding of how different factors affect the results of XRF-analysis. A large number of measurements have been made with the instruments Niton XLt 700 and Niton Xli 700. Results from measurements of lead, zinc and copper have been analysed.</p><p>This study has shown that a greater moisture content will give a lower measured concentration for the same sample. If the moisture content is known, it is possible to make good approximations of concentrations in dry samples. No obvious differences were found between different metals.</p><p>Proper homogenisation of samples was found to be one of the most critical issues. It should be noted that laboratories do not usually homogenise samples prior to analysis, so samples sent for laboratory verification should therefore be homogenised before sending.</p><p>Sample preparation, including drying, sieving to finer grain-sizes and analysing in a special sample cup was found to increase the measured concentrations and decrease the variation between measurements. The concentrations differed with different sample matrices and with sample preparation. Because of the differences, measurements should always be correlated with laboratory analysis before any conclusions can be made. In situations when metals are well within detection range of the XRF instrument, the only preparation needed is in most cases homogenisation. If metal levels are just at the limit, or just below the detection limit, further preparations of samples should be made. When drying samples makes detection possible, more preparation is usually not worth the effort. If detection limits still are a problem after drying, the samples should be sieved and analysed in sample cups. In situations where concentrations still are below the</p><p>detection limit when analysing in sample cups, or if the measurements are disturbed for other reasons, another method than XRF-analysis must be used. When XRF analysis is possible, the method is preferable compared to only laboratory analysis. This cost- and time effective method makes a larger number of measurements possible, and gives a more complete overview of a polluted area.</p> / <p>Analys med röntgenfluorescensdetektor (XRF) är en snabb och kostnadseffektiv fältmetod för detektion av tungmetaller i mark. Nackdelen är att mätningarna inte är tillförlitliga i alla sammanhang och att detektionsgränsen för många ämnen är förhållandevis hög. Det är sedan tidigare känt att olika former av provbearbetning påverkar mätresultaten.</p><p>I detta examensarbete har undersökts hur olika faktorer påverkar mätresultaten vid analys av jordprover med XRF instrument. Faktorerna som undersökts är inverkan av vattenkvot, kornstorlek, provpåsar och olika provbearbetningsmetoder. Vid provbearbetningsförsöken skickades prover även in till externt laboratorium för jämförande analys. Metaller som undersökts är bly, zink och koppar.</p><p>Vid undersökningen konstaterades att en ökad vattenkvot ger upphov till lägre mätvärden. Vid kännedom om vattenkvot kan halt per torrsubstans med god överensstämmelse uppskattas utifrån mätningar på fuktiga prov. Är precisionskraven stora och vattenkvoten varierande och okänd bör dock proverna torkas innan mätningar görs. Ingen avsevärd skillnad sågs mellan de olika metaller som undersöktes.</p><p>Vid undersökningen om provbearbetningens betydelse visade det sig att homogeniseringen av proverna är mycket viktig, inte minst av prover som skickas till laboratorieanalys.</p><p>Ökad provbearbetning med torkning och siktning till mindre kornstorlek tenderar att ge högre mätvärden med XRF instrument. Storleksmässigt är mätvärden vid obearbetade prov mest överensstämmande med laboratorieanalys. Mest skiljer sig analys på finsiktade prover i provkopp. Korrelationsmässigt finns i en del fall en tendens till bättre överensstämmelse med mer bearbetade prov. Den största vinsten med ökad bearbetning av prover konstaterades i detta arbete vara att mark med lägre metallkoncentrationer då kan analyseras.</p><p>I de fall där halterna av metaller ligger väl inom XRF instrumentets detektionsområde visade det sig att det oftast är tillräckligt att endast homogenisera proverna innan analys görs. I de fall där koncentrationen av metaller är på gränsen till vad XRF instrumentet kan detektera rekommenderas att proverna torkas, eller om nödvändigt torkas, siktas och analyseras i provkopp. Där nivåerna av metaller ligger under detektionsgränsen för XRF instrument trots provbearbetning, eller där andra ämnen till exempel järn stör mätningarna, måste en annan analysmetod väljas.</p>

M.Sc. / In this study, natural and modified clinoptilolite (CLI) reinforced polypropylene (PP) composites possessing improved mechanical and adsorptive properties were prepared through melt-mixing. Determination of morphological, structural and thermal properties was achieved by means of different techniques (FTIR, TGA, DSC, electron microscopy and x-ray spectroscopy). Electron microscopy revealed that increasing filler loading beyond 20% leads to agglomeration of clinoptilolite particles reducing their dispersion within the matrix. Thermal studies showed that the reinforced composites had a lower thermal stability than the neat PP polymer, suggesting that the clinoptilolite interfered with polymer chain arrangement and bonding. It also showed that percentage crystallinity increased with increasing filler loading indicating that the filler particles acted as nucleating agents within the polymeric matrix during composite synthesis. Prior to the ion-exchange studies, water sorption behaviour of fabricated composites was evaluated because ion-exchange/adsorption studies were to be performed in aqueous media. It was therefore observed that the hydrophobic polymer, PP attained the property of water sorption mainly due to the porous structure of the composites created by mixing and extrusion and also by the addition of the hydrophilic filler material.

La pyrolyse de sept molécules modèles de composés toxiques (le diéthyl éther, le bromoéthane, le chloroacétate de méthyle, le nitrométhane, le nitrate d’isopropyle, la diéthylamine, le chlorobenzène) a été étudiée lors de la thèse dans deux types de réacteur à l’échelle du laboratoire : un réacteur parfaitement agité (RPA) en silice et le réacteur tubulaire (RT) en alumine. Ce dernier pilote a été développé durant ce travail pour réaliser des études à des températures supérieures à 1200 K. Les profils axiaux de température dans le réacteur tubulaire ont été mesurés pour en tenir compte lors des simulations. Parallèlement à l’utilisation de la Chromatographie en phase Gazeuse, une nouvelle technique analytique pour notre laboratoire a été utilisée : la spectroscopie Infra-rouge à Transformée de Fourier (IRTF) pour laquelle une méthode d’analyse a été développée. Au cours de ces différentes études, des modèles cinétiques détaillés ont été développés à l’exception de la diethylamine. Globalement, ces modèles cinétiques reproduisent bien dans chaque étude la décomposition du réactif en fonction de la température et la formation des produits majoritaires déterminés expérimentalement. Etant donné le manque de données cinétiques dans la littérature pour la pyrolyse ou l’oxydation de composés bromés, chlorés et azotés, de nombreux paramètres cinétiques ont été estimés dans la plupart des modèles cinétiques développés / The pyrolysis of seven surrogates of toxic compounds (diethyl ether, bromoethane, methyl chloroacetate, nitromethane, isopropyl nitrate, diethylamine and chlorobenzene) was studied during the thesis in two different types of reactors at the laboratory scale: a silica jet-stirred reactor (JSR) and an alumina tubular reactor (TR) to carry out studies at temperatures above 1200 K. Axial temperature profiles were measured and were used to take into account the temperature gradient in the TR. In addition to gas chromatography, a new analytical technique for our laboratory was used: The Fourier Transform InfraRed Spectroscopy (FTIR), for which an analysis method has been developed. As part of the study, detailed kinetics models were developed except for the diethylamine. Overall, these kinetics models well predict the reactivity temperature dependence and the formation of the major products determined experimentally. Since there is a lack of kinetic data in the literature for the pyrolysis and oxidation of brominated, chlorinated and nitrogen compounds, many kinetic parameters were estimated in most of the kinetic models developed