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Liquid anaerobic waste collected from a swine finishing barn was chemically investigated. Various phenols, amines, sulfides and organic acids were identified in the waste and were shown to contribute to its odor. The rapid reduction in odor intensity brought about by short term aeration of the waste was studied with respect to these different compounds. The effectiveness of odor reduction by aeration was found to be contingent on the waste's pH. Reasons for this phenomenon are presented in terms of ionization constants for solutes, previously shown to be present in the waste. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

A series of batch tests were conducted to evaluate the effect of dissolved oxygen concentration on the aerobic stabilization of swine waste. The batch tests were conducted over a 14 day period and the effect of oxygen concentration was measured by changes in Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) of the waste. Three, five litre capacity, digesters were used and were held at the following dissolved oxygen concentrations; high O₂ level (15-20 mg/1), medium O₂ level (5-8 mg/1) and low O₂ level (.5- 2 mg/1). The reduction in COD of the waste at the end of one week of oxidation was 48.7% for the high O₂ level, 35.3% for the medium O₂ level and 15.6% for the low O₂ level. The reduction in COD at the end of 14 days of oxidation was 57.8%, 50.7% and 38.9% respectively for the three levels of oxygen. The addition of one litre of aerated swine waste to four litres of the raw swine waste did not appreciably alter the reduction in COD noted in the above tests. The reduction in COD for this batch test was 60.9 for the high O₂ level, 34.6 for the medium O₂ level, and 31.1 for the low O₂ level. In this test all three levels of dissolved oxygen removed approximately the same percentage of filtered COD during the first two days of oxidation. In the high and medium O₂ level digesters this was accompanied by a reduction in total COD. A similar reduction in total COD did not occur at the low O₂ level. Correlations were made with the COD determination and determinations for Total Organic Carbon. These correlations were very high (regression coefficient = .93) when the sample was prepared using a mechanized tissue grinder. Grinding the sample resulted in a higher value for total organic carbon as well as an increase in precision. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Chemical and Biological Engineering, Department of / Graduate

Up to 2 mg/l of vitamin B₁₂ were produced batch-wise using Propionibacterium freudenreichii on an ammonia based spent sulfite liquor medium in 250 ml Erlenmeyer flasks and a 7-litre benchtop fermentor. The up to 6 gm/l of bacteria utilized the hexoses from the SSL, thus reducing the BOD by 50-80% and producing, as by-products, 3 gm/1 of acetic acid and 7 gm/1 of propionic acid. Pre-treatment of the liquor required stripping of SO₂ to below 200 ppm and adjustment of the pH to between 6.5 and 7.5; precipitation of 1igno-su1fonate was not necessary. It was necessary to add excessive amounts (up to 75 gm/1 dry) of yeast extract or other supplementary nutrient to achieve these vitamin B₁₂ yields. Solutions to this nutrient problem are suggested. The Monod fermentation model whose parameters were estimated using non-linear least squares techniques with dry bacterial cell concentration as the dependent variable, approximate the batch data well. Other less complicated models were not as satisfactory. Estimating the model parameters using linear techniques was most unsatisfactory indeed. Optimum hold-up times for a single stage fermentor for Propionibacteria production, predicted from the Monod model whose parameters were estimated from batch data, were up to 125 hours. These hold-up time extrapolations are subject to large errors. Recommendations for further work on the vitamin B₁₂ process, the extension of the batch modeling work to continuous fermentation and further work on other more suitable microbiological products made from SSL are entertained. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Chemical and Biological Engineering, Department of / Graduate

Many countries in the world today have reached the point of full utilization of their forest resources, to satisfy their need for lumber and pulp and paper products. Others have reached the point where their consumption is far in excess of the capacity their domestic forest stands can sustain and they are net importers of these products. Still fewer have developed the practice of recycling these products to any appreciable extent. Canada and United States are approaching full utilization and have only accomplished a recycling rate of approximately 20% of paper and paperboard products. On the other hand conservationists are calling for more efficient utilization of resources, ecologists are calling for less waste and less pollution, while the burden on city garbage collection facilities, 50% of which is paper products, is increasing exponentially. In this thesis the technical processes required to make first quality newsprint from recycled newspaper are shown to be available. The economics of such a plant is examined in detail leading to the judgment that it is economically sound. The conclusion is reached that a 300 ton/ day newsprint mill can be entirely supported by locally generated waste newspaper in a city of three million population or over. Furthermore, it is concluded that if the collection and transportation of waste newspapers is not impeded by governmental regulations or unanticipated competition in the feeder cities, such a plant is still economically feasible after allowing for water barge transportation of the raw materials as far as 200 miles. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

The application of high velocity liquid jets for corrugated board cutting was investigated as a possible new method of slitting operations. Eleven types of corrugated board ranging from 91 pounds per 1,000 square feet board weight (125 psi - nominal burst test) to 297 pounds per 1,000 square feet (350 psi - burst test) were selected for the study. Plain water or water with polymer additive were used as the cutting fluids. The conditions under which cutting of corrugated boards was carried out were as follows: nozzle diameters 0.0082 and 0.0102 in., pressure levels 20,000, 30,000 and 40,000 psi; feed rates 300, 500 and 700 fpm. The obtained results indicate that slitting speeds with high velocity liquid jets are well above those achievable by the existing conventional methods. It has also been shown that the use of a low concentration of polyethylene oxide (Polyox WSR - 301) resulted in a marked increase in cutting efficiency as compared with plain water. Measurements of liquid retention after cutting.-have shown that wetting of corrugated boards during the cutting operation is insignificant and as such can be neglected. It has been demonstrated that the edgewise compression strength of corrugated board, cut with the liquid jet, is almost twice that cut with the typical conventional slitter. Based on the analysis of scanning electron micrographs it has been observed that the principal failure mechanism during cutting with high velocity liquid jet involves breaking of the interfibre bond with resulting separation of fibres. Corrugated board cutting with high velocity liquid jets has been found to eliminate crushing and tearing of the board as well as dust generation. The concept provides a means to reduce trim waste and particle contamination. Jet cutting is ideally suited for numerically controlled systems and appears to lend itself for adaptation to commercial application. / Forestry, Faculty of / Graduate

The outcomes of the paint stewardship program in British Columbia are examined to assess whether the objectives of the program and the principles of product stewardship are being achieved. The objectives are to: 1) compel the paint industry and consumers to take responsibility for waste paint; 2) minimize the volume of paint landfilled; 3) raise consumer awareness about the impacts on the environment of excessive waste generation, and the need to opt for environmentally friendly practices.' The methods of research used include secondary literature, a survey and interviews. Due to the unavailability of some crucial data, I could not carry out a proper program assessment. The following are some insights into the program: 1) waste paint collected increased from 1,300,000 equivalent litre containers in 1995 to nearly 3,000,000 in 1997. However, without knowing the volume of paint sold annually, these figures reveal little about the effectiveness of the program; 2) Of the residual paint collected in 1997, 51% was recycled into products other than paint, 30 % involved energy recovery, 11% was landfilled, while 8% was reused. I discussed the need to increase the volume of paint reused as doing so prevents the problem of waste paint from arising in the first instance. There are both benefits and flaws associated with the process of recycling. Compared to reuse, recycling does relatively little to solve the problem of waste reduction; 3) In the absence of crucial data, the objective of compelling the paint industry and consumers to take responsibility for waste paint is so far merely theoratical. The paint program is consumer funded and industry operated. In practice, a 50c ecofee/litre paint has not served as an incentive to encourage consumers to bring residuals to a depot. Nor has it resulted in meaningful changes in consumption habits. A 50c ecofee also means that paint sales will not likely be affected. It appears the industry is charging this low fee despite the fact that it does not lead to the achievements of the objectives outlined for the program. While a paint program is now in place for the processing of residual paint, the program cannot be assessed based on its objectives. To enable meaningful program evaluation, the primary recommendation is for the authorities monitoring the program to collect the relevant data over time in order improve program effectiveness. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

In view of very high toxicity potential of some heavy metals to aquatic life, there is a need for critical evaluation of known methods and development of new methods for purifying water and waste-water containing heavy metals. In this study, batch tests were performed to evaluate the relative efficiencies of six British Columbia coals in removing heavy metals (copper, lead, mercury and zinc) from water. On the basis of batch test data obtained, the best two coals, Kaiser Coal-Stock Pile Refuse and Kaiser Coal-Special Plant Feed, were tested on a continuous flow laboratory scale. The emphasis was placed on metal concentrations of 2 mg/1 and less for copper, lead and zinc and 5 vg/1 for mercury. The effects of adsorbate concentration, flow rate through the column (contact time), and pH of the solution on the adsorptive capacity of coal were investigated. A solution containing 0.5 mg/1 of each of copper, lead and zinc was tested to investigate the ability of the coal to remove metals from a mixture of many metals. The adsorptive capacity of the best two coals was also compared with some commercially available adsorbents. On the basis of capacity and rate of adsorption, Kaiser Coal-Stock Pile Refuse was found to be the best of the six coals tested. For the specific testing conditions in this investigation, the better metal-removing efficiency of coal as compared with activated carbon and nitrohumic acid indicate that the coal may be a feasible alternate to purify effluents containing heavy metals / Applied Science, Faculty of / Civil Engineering, Department of / Graduate