Energy requirement of ultraviolet and AOPs for the post-treatment of treated combined industrial effluent

Post-treatment was carried out to eliminate the colour and COD of treated combined industrial effluent. Ozonation at a dose of 300 mg/h for 10 min resulted in 100% colour and 96% COD removal at pH 8 and temperature 25 °C. The application of UV/H₂O₂ resulted in 91% colour and 82% COD removal. 79% colour and 60% COD removal was obtained with the Fenton process after 60-min treatment in the presence of 170 mg/l H₂O₂, while the photo-Fenton process showed an almost complete elimination of both parameters. Electrical energy consumption showed that the photo-Fenton resulted in the highest removal efficiency with 95% removal in terms of colour and COD abatement rates. The electrical energy requirements of the tested processes followed the increasing order UV/Fe/H₂O₂ < O₃ < UV/H₂O₂ < UV.     

Effect of Addition of Ni metal catalyst onto the Co and Fe supported catalysts for the formation of carbon nanotubes

Production of novel porous material is a major target in current material science research due to its wide applications. As carbon nanotube (CNTs) is a one dimensional hollow structure it is also one of the promising materials in applications ranging from electronics to hydrogen storage medium. Catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CCVD) is a method whereby CNTs can be produced in large amount. Thus, in this work, we have synthesized CNTs via pyrolysis of acetylene using various supported transition-metal catalysts in a fixed-bed reactor. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) were used to investigate the CNTs structure. The structures of nanotubes formed by acetylene pyrolysis were dependent on the catalysts used. It was found that alumina supported Ni/Fe catalyst inhibited the formation of CNTs growth while alumina supported Ni/Co catalyst gave high density of CNTs. However, nanotubes grown over alumina supported Ni/Fe catalyst were less dense due to the deactivation of the catalyst at the early stage of the pyrolysis process.     

好氧颗粒污泥的形成机理

本文综述了几种比较流行的好氧颗粒污泥的形成机理,并进行了分析讨论。同时,总结了各种条件下形成好氧颗粒污泥的理化特性、培养条件及其形态。     

Modeling and solving the bi-objective capacitated location-routing problem with probabilistic travel times

The location-routing problem (LRP) is a relatively new research area within location analysis that concerns simultaneously both the problems of location of facilities and routing of vehicles among the established facilities and the demand points. In this work, we address the capacitated LRP with probabilistic travel times, which may arise in many practical contexts in logistics and supply chain management, and present some bi-objective mathematical programming formulations to model the problem using different stochastic programming approaches. The first objective is to minimize the overall system-wide costs, while the second objective concerns minimization of the maximum delivery time to the customers. In all the cases, the deterministic equivalents of the stochastic models have been extracted. To solve the resulted models, a variable neighborhood descent-based heuristic is proposed and finally computational study is performed and numerical results are reported.     

Measurements of Stress Intensity Factors of an Interface Crack Under Mixed Mode Loading

The optical method of caustics has been utilised to measure both the stress intensity factor for a crack lying along the interface of an aluminium/epoxy bimaterial specimen, and the mode mixity arising from the difference in the elastic properties across the interface. Measurements were carried out by using a novel modification to the method whereby caustics are produced and measured from both sides of the specimen, so compensating automatically for the distortion induced in the specimen due to misaligned loading fixtures. A flat reflective surface across the interface was obtained by adhering a reflective coating to the specimen. Verification that this coating does not affect measurement accuracy was obtained by comparing stress intensity factors measured from coated and uncoated monolithic aluminium specimens where good agreement was found to exist between both measurements.     

A review of the stabilization of tropical lowland peats

The Deep Mixing Method, which involves the formation of in situ stabilized peat columns, is suitable for deep peat stabilization, whereas the mass stabilization technique is used to stabilize the soil of shallow peat deposits instead of the costly and problematic removal and replacement method. The concept of soil-cement stabilization involves the addition of water to cement, resulting in a chemical process known as cement hydration. Stabilization of peat by cement, which requires a significant strength increase in the cement-stabilized peat or organic soil, is attributed largely to physicochemical reactions that include cement hydration, hardening of the resulting cement paste and interactions between soil substances and primary and secondary cementation hydration products. The factors that affect these physicochemical reactions and the interactions of peat soil-cementation products that influence peat stabilization are the amount of solid particles, the water: soil ratio, the quantity of binder, the presence of humic and/or fulvic acids, the soil pH and the amount of organic matter in the peat. With the Air Curing Technique, stabilized peat samples for unconfined compressive strength (UCS) tests were kept at a normal air temperature of 30 ± 2 °C and strengthened by gradual moisture content reduction instead of the usual water-curing technique or water submersion methods that have been common practice in past experiments involving the stabilization of peat with cement. The principle of using the Air Curing Technique to strengthen stabilized peat is that peat soil at its natural moisture content contains sufficient water (water content from 198 to 417 %) that, when mixed with cement, a curing process takes place that causes the stabilized peat soil to gradually lose its moisture content and to become drier and harder throughout the curing period. This process does not require the addition of water.     

Building information modeling for sustainable design and LEED rating analysis

Today, there is a high level of demand for sustainable buildings. The most important decisions regarding a building's sustainable features are made during the design and preconstruction stages. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED^®) is the most widely adopted sustainable building rating system in the United States. For projects pursuing LEED^® certification, designers have to conduct in-depth sustainability analyses based on a building's form, materials, context, and mechanical-electrical-plumbing (MEP) systems. Since Building Information Modeling (BIM) allows for multi-disciplinary information to be superimposed within one model, it creates an opportunity to conduct these analyses accurately and efficiently as compared to the traditional methods. In this exploratory research, a case study was conducted on Salisbury University's Perdue School of Business building to demonstrate the use of BIM for sustainable design and the LEED^® certification process. First, a conceptual framework was developed to establish the relationship between BIM-based sustainability analyses and the LEED^® certification process. Next, the framework was validated via this case study. The results of this study indicate that documentation supporting LEED^® credits may be directly or indirectly prepared using the results of BIM-based sustainability analyses software. This process could streamline the LEED^® certification process and save substantial time and resources which would otherwise be required using traditional methods.     

Efficiency analysis of a solar photovoltaic array coupled with an electrolyser power unit: a case study

Hydrogen as an energy carrier is one of the most potential candidates for clean energy and can be produced by water electrolysis. The use of 10?kW photovoltaic arrays for supplying a 5?kW electrolyser which consists of 10 series-connected electrolyser stacks and a 28% alkaline (KOH) solution electrolyte has been investigated at the Taleghan renewable energies site in Iran. The hydrogen produced by the electrolyser provides energy for the 1?kW polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell, which meets the load when the solar energy is insufficient. Variations of the solar radiation intensity, the hydrogen production rate, the solar hydrogen efficiency and the overall efficiency of the solar hydrogen energy unit were monitored in detail. The overall energy efficiency was found to range from 0.93% to 5.01%. The obtained results demonstrate the great potential of such a power system for producing and storing energy in a solar-belt country like Iran.     

Prediction of sand mass and organic matter distribution via in situ measured wet sediment bulk density profile

The objective of the study is to develop a spatial prediction model of sand mass and organic matter distribution in an urban stormwater holding pond using in situ measured wet sediment bulk density profile data to spatially distinguish the most likely contaminated sediment deposit areas. The wet bulk density profiles of deposited sediment at 25 locations in the Berembang (Malaysia) stormwater holding pond were measured using a single-probe nuclear density gauge. The sand and organic matter compositions of the surface sediment sample, 5 cm thickness from the bed surface, were determined. Discriminant analysis (DA) was conducted to generate two Fisher’s linear discriminant functions for the prediction of sand mass and organic matter composition areas, respectively. The linear discriminant functions generated better area classifications of surface organic matter composition compared to the sand mass distribution using wet sediment bulk density data measured at more than 15 cm depth levels.     

Surface runoff estimation over heterogeneous foothills of Aravalli mountain using medium resolution remote sensing rainfall data with soil conservation system‐curve number method: A case of semi‐arid ungauged Manesar Nala watershed

Manesar Nala watershed, having an aerial extent of 71.53 km², was subjected to modelling of its hydrological behaviour for assessing its water resource potential. Modern tools and techniques of Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) were used for assessment of runoff generating potential using the Hydrologic Soil Cover Complex (HSCC) Method [U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)‐Soil Conservation System‐Curve Number (SCS‐CN) approach]. RS and GIS were used in generation and integration of thematic maps [such as Land use/Land cover (using LISS‐III data) and Hydrologic Soil Group (HSG), (using soil map of study area) to derive the Curve Number (CN) for simulating Runoff (R_o)]. The daily rainfall (P) data for the study period 2002–2015 were acquired from NOAA Climate Prediction Center (NCPC). Corresponding R_o from the watershed for intense storm events for 14 years were calculated through RS and GIS. GIS and SCS‐CN model was employed for modelling the runoff production to study its hydrological behaviour. The study showed that the Manesar Nala watershed was having a composite Curve Number – II (CN_II) value of 82.5 for normal conditions. For dry and wet conditions these values were estimated at 66.44 (CN_I) and 91.56 (CN_III), respectively. This investigation showed that Manesar Nala watershed exhibited an annual average (of 14 years, 2002–2015) R_o volume of 4 542 514.37 m³ based on the average annual rainfall (P) of 0.72 m (720 mm). The average annual surface runoff (R_o) was predicted to be approximately 0.21 m with annual runoff coefficient (C_R) of 0.29. During the study, we also found a strong correlation ‘r’ between satellite driven P and R_o from NRCS‐CN method of the order of 0.94. The methodology so developed has the potential to be used in other similar ungauged watersheds in the same agro‐climatic conditions for the purpose of planning of watershed conservation measures and other developmental activities.