UCO (Ultra Clean Oil) module, an innovative adaption of existing used rolling oil treatment in the Aluminum industry, is being studied for its potential market in China. In this article, conventional used rolling oil treatment process in China has been evaluated and compared with the UCO module in technical and economic aspects. This article also discusses the effect of these two processes on the environment. The UCO module presented in this article, has the potential to significantly reduce the impurities in the used rolling oil and also save the cost for the raw materials, manpower, maintenance and operation for more than 1,600,000 Kr a year. With the new ― state of art‖ equipment, the UCO module has less negative effect on the environment. The UCO module appears to be more efficient but profitability was found to be lower than the conventional process in China.

Anammox is one of the main processes discovered quite recently for removal of ammonium from wastewater. Anammox process is cost effective, in that low energy and carbon source is needed. Partial nitritation is a perquisite for anammox in wastewater treatment for removal nitrogen and therefore partial nitritation/Anammox technology is studied substantially and applied in full-scale. However, the technology at present can only be used to treat high rich ammonium streams. Application of Anammox for treatment of low ammonium wastewater is not possible because of low yield of Anammox bacteria. The study aimed at devising strategies for using the Anammox technology to treat wastewater streams with low concentration of ammonium nitrogen. The objective was to get systems that could concentrate ammonium from low ammonium waste streams, so as to be able to treat it with partial nitritation/Anammox process. Two methods were used to concentrate ammonium: ion exchange and reverse osmosis. Ion exchange method was used to concentrate UASB effluents of about 24 - 40 mg NH4-N/l to 188 - 367 mg  NH4-N/l respectively which is about 9 times the initial concentrations. At VRF 5, 163 mg  NH4-N/l concentrate was attained from 41.8 mg  NH4-N/l RO feed. Results also showed that concentrates from both methods are able to be treated with partial nitritation/Anammox technology. However it took more than 32 hours to complete treatment of ion exchange concentrates while it took less than 24 hours to finish the partial nitritation/Anammox process of RO concentrates. The longer time taken can be attributed to high salinity of the concentrates which is as a result of NaCl which was used for regeneration in ion exchange process. Both ion exchange and reverse osmosis are viable methods for concentrating ammonium from UASB effluents. Dissolved oxygen was very important factor that influenced the biological process.

BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) is one of the important parameters in wastewater treatment technology,  it normally takes five days to get the result. Using MFC (Microbial Fuel Cell) to build up a small on-line system to measure BOD will reduce to operating time to 20 minutes. In this report, the MFC BOD on-line measurement was processed in order to test if this rapid way would work in practical usage. The experiment used secondary sedimentation sludge as the bacteria source on the MFC anode pattern with GGA (Glucose and Glutamic Acid solution) as an electron producer, and the 30 minutes voltage value changing curves was gotten by measuring the voltage. At the end the curve was analyzed and compared with the real BOD value in order to get the conclusion. The BOD on-line measurement is quite promising and efficient when multi-samples are needed to be tested.

Water-related problems in major populated areas of Botswana continue to grow unabated. At the heart of these problems are escalating demands, dwindling water supplies, deteriorating infrastructures and water losses. Several reports indicate that water managers in this area have been engrossed more on increasing supplies and less on demand management and conservation. The latest construction of the Dikgatlhong Dam is an example of the measures taken to supplement the existing water sources. However, much of the supplied water continues to be lost from the distribution systems of some of the villages. The highest losses have been reported in the Ramotswa village. This study surveyed the causes of the water losses and factors affecting their developments and frequencies. The study’s view was that reducing those losses would improve the system efficiency and save more water for supplies. The data for the study was acquired from reports of earlier studies, field visits and oral interviews administered on the water managers and consumers. Leakages from the Boatle-Ramotswa supply pipeline, service pipes, reservoirs and valves, unmetered fire-fighting consumptions and water theft were identified to be the main sources of the losses. The utility’s loss control activities were inefficient due to the lack of measures for identifying and reducing each individual loss. The study proposed that all the different uses and losses into which the system input volume goes should be identified and measured and measures for controlling each of them be designed and instituted.

Private wastewater treatment facilities release tons of phosphorus to the aquatic environment due to the insufficient removal efficiency in conventional soil infiltration systems. Reactive filter materials have demonstrated promising P removal rates. Laboratory-scale column experiments were carried out using Absol® and Polonite® in dual infiltration media and results were compared with Polonite® functioning as the only layer of reactive filter material. Two sets of experiments were arranged with layer lengths of 5 cm and 15 cm which were operated for 50 and 119 days respectively. Columns with an additional layer of Absol® demonstrated very good average removal rates of 85.99 % and 99.13 % in both experiments while the effluent in the former exceeded the maximum allowed P concentration shortly after half of the total time of the experiment. On the other hand, O-P concentration in collected samples from dual filter media with 15 cm layers of Absol® and Polonite® (column B1) was as low as 0.04 mg/l after 119 days of operation exhibiting high potentials for Absol® in local wastewater treatment. Levels of pH in treated samples showed a decreasing trend in all columns which was similarly simultaneous with high removal rates observed in B1.

The main aim of this Master Thesis is the design of several hydraulic structures to decrease as much as possible the huge flooding caused by the Escartana gully which drains its water towards the city of Albacete (Spain) and its surrounding areas, affecting to their inhabitants; and causing huge material damages in residential and industrial areas, and loss of crops in nearby farmland. Some alternatives such as embankment dams with or without drainage systems inside the dam body and a roller-compacted concrete (RCC) dam have been proposed to be built, being necessary to carry out a multicriteria analysis in order to decide which alternative has the best fit according to the analyzed features of the region. The alternative chosen to be developed was the RCC dam for the advantages of this typology, currently in development and implantation in some countries like Spain. For this reason, a RCC dam is planned to be built some kilometers upstream of these areas, with the objective of controlling the future floods coming from this watershed by decreasing its peak flow. In order to increase the beneficial effects of the construction of the dam, a channel downstream is also designed to drain the discharged overflows by the drainage systems of the dam towards a natural endorheic area, the Salobral Lagoon (currently dried-up), located 13 kilometers downstream of the dam’s location. This lagoon is connected hydraulically to the drainage network of Albacete by means of the Salobral channel and due to its huge storage capacity, it allows to reduce substantially the peak flows over the Salobral channel avoiding the dangerous flooding and potential damages caused by them. As a result of the projected hydraulic structures, Albacete and its surrounding areas would increase substantially their protection against the floods coming from the Escartana watershed.

In 1910, Paris experienced its biggest flood in the 20th century. In 2010, for the anniversary of this event – supposed to happen every 100 years ! – the flood prediction model that is now used on the Seine basin was tested on its simulation,… and failed to reproduce the observed flood volume. This paper will try to explain, and correct, such disappointing results. Many hypotheses have been tested and based on their results, it has been decided to develop a frost module in order to assess the influence of this phenomenon – that is not taken into account by the lumped hydrological model that is used – on the flood formation. A soil temperature model using air temperature as input data was also designed because soil temperature data were not available in 1910. The addition of the frost module did not, however, bring many improvements to the 1910 flood simulation because frost is a too rare phenomenon on the Seine basin for the module to be correctly calibrated. However, new perspectives are presented to continue the research on this phenomenon.

A new modeling method for estimation of the longevity of infiltration system was suggested in this study. The model was one-dimensional, based on results from long-term infiltration sites in Sweden, taking some physical and chemical parameters as controlling factors. It defines the longevity of infiltration systems as the time during which the P solution in effulent is under national criteria (1 mg/L in this study), and it aims at providing the longevity for any given point of the infiltration system. The soil in the model was assumed to be totally homogenous and isotropic and water flow was assumed to be unsaturated flow and constant continuous inflow. The flow rate was calculated from the Swedish criteria for infiltration systems. The dominant process in the model would be the solute transport process; however, retardation controlled by sorption would play a more important role than advection and dispersion in determining the longevity in the model. By using the definition of longevity in this study, the longevity of the three soil columns at 1 m depth (Knivingaryd, Ringamåla and Luvehult) were 1703 days, 1674 days and 2575 days. The exhaustion time of the three soil columns under inflow of 5 mg/L were 2531 days, 2709 days and 3673 days. The calculated sorbed phosphorus quantity for soil from sites Kn, Lu and Ri when they reach estimated longevity were 0.177, 0.288 and 0.168 mg/g, while the maximum sorption of Kn, Lu and Ri were 0.182, 0.293 and 0.176 mg/g separately. From the result of sensitivity study of the model, the sorption capacity and flow velocity were most important to the longevity of the infiltration system. Lower flow velocity and higher P sorption capacity extend the longevity of an infiltration bed. Due to the sorption isotherm selected in this study and the assumption of instant equilibrium, the sorption rate of the soil column was quite linear, although the estimated longevity was much shorter than the real exhaustion time of the soil column. In fact the soil has almost reached its sorption maximum when the system reaches its longevity.

In this study, a magnetic nanomaterial was used for the binding of anionic arsenic species from contaminated groundwater. Iron oxide (Fe3O4) magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) and the surface modified Fe3O4 NPs with 3-aminopropyl-triethoxysilane (3-APTES), Trisodium citrare (TSC) and Chitosan were synthesized with the co-precipitation method. Structural characterizations showed that the four kinds of NPs had different sizes an average particle range size of 15-20 nm was observed with Transmission Electron Microscopy. X-ray diffraction was used to identify the crystalline structure of synthesized Fe3O4 and surface modified NPs. Molecular structure and functional groups present in synthesized magnetic NPs Fe3O4 were identify with infrared analysis. The synthesized Fe3O4 NPs and surface coated NPs were used for determine the binding capacity of Arsenic ions from the synthetic groundwater. The binding of As(III) increased as the dissolved As(III) concentration increased in the solution. From the experiments it was found chitosan-coated NPs are best than other coated and uncoated NPs for arsenite removal from the solution. It was found that if only As(III) ions were present in the water without other anions and cations the binding capacity of the magnetic NPs is very high. The binding capacity of As ions was decreased with presence of other anions and cations in the groundwater because they interfere with arsenic binding sites which presence on the magnetic NPs.

The aim of this master’s thesis was to investigate if defattening of Parkinsonia aculeata (in swahili “mkeketa”) and Vigna unguiculata (in swahili “choroko”) would enhance the capacity of the seed’s properties in removing suspended particles from surface water. The seeds are used in local traditional treatment of drinking water in Tanzania. The aim was also to investigate the possibility to reduce high concentrations of fluoride with the seeds. The seeds contain proteins that act as coagulants. Coagulated particulate matter can be flocculated and separated from the water. A purification of the coagulants by defattening was expected to enhance the coagulating capacity. Experiments were conducted in jar-tests with dosages of coagulant solutions of undefattening and defattened seed solutions and alum (aluminium sulphate). The experiments showed that both Parkinsonia aculeata and Vigna unguiculata seeds can compete with alum in drinking water treatment of surface water, reaching the same or better final results in turbidity removal. Both seeds also produce less sludge volumes than alum and functions in turbidity removal together with alum. The seeds may be used as coagulant aids to reduce the usage of chemicals and sludge production. They were not able to clarify turbid waste water and did not reduce high concentrations of fluoride in groundwater. Further, the turbidity-removal capacity of the coagulants had reduced capacities in water with low pH-values.