Comparative evaluation of full‐scale UASB reactors treating alcohol distillery wastewaters in terms of performance and methanogenic activity

In this study, two full‐scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors, namely TUASB and CUASB, at the wastewater treatment plants of the Tekirdaǧ Alcohol (Raki) and Canakkale Alcohol (Cognac) distilleries were investigated in terms of performance, acetoclastic methanogenic capacity and microbial composition. The results were compared with a previously studied other UASB reactor (IUASB) at the wastewater treatment plant of the Istanbul Alcohol (Raki) Distillery from which the two reactors (TUASB and CUASB) were seeded. The IUASB reactor performed well achieving COD removal efficiencies of no lower than 85% at organic logding rates (OLRs) in the range of 6–11 kg COD m⁻³ day⁻¹ between 1996 and 2001. During the last one year of operation, between 2000 and 2001, performance of the CUASB reactor in terms of COD removal efficiency was 70–80% at OLRs in a range of 1–4.5 kg COD m⁻³ day⁻¹ whereas it was 60–80% at OLRs in a range of 2.5–8.5 kg COD m⁻³ day⁻¹ in the TUASB reactor. At the end of year 2000, specific methanogenic activity (SMA) tests were carried out to determine potential loading capacity and optimum operating conditions of the IUASB, CUASB and TUASB reactors. The potential methane production (PMP) rates of the CUASB, IUASB and TUASB reactors were measured as 230 cm³ CH₄ gVSS⁻¹ day⁻¹, 350 cm³ CH₄ gVSS⁻¹ day⁻¹ and 376 cm³ CH₄ gVSS⁻¹ day⁻¹ respectively. When the PMP rates were compared with actual methane production (AMP) rates obtained from the three UASB reactors, AMP/PMP ratios were evaluated to be 0.18, 0.12 and 0.13 for CUASB, TUASB and IUASB reactors respectively. This showed that the CUASB, TUASB and IUASB reactors were using only 18%, 12% and 13% of their potential acetoclastic methanogenic capacity respectively. These results can be interpreted that the three UASB reactors were underloaded compared with their potential acetoclastic methanogenic capacities. It was, therefore, recommended that the three UASB reactors should be loaded at higher organic loading rates or sludge withdrawn in order to maintain an AMP/PMP ratio of 0.6–0.7, which can ensure desired reactor performance with safer operation. Results of epifluoresence microscopic examinations showed that the percentage of total autofluorescent methanogens was approximately 30% of the total population in sludges from the TUASB and IUASB reactors whereas it was 20% in sludge from the CUASB reactor. The two UASB reactors treating raki distillery wastewaters contained sludges having a higher percentage of autofluorescent methanogenic population and higher acetoclastic methanogenic activity. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

Assessment of odorous VOCs released from a main MSW landfill site in Istanbul-Turkey via a modelling approach

An air pollution modeling study was conducted to investigate the odorous effects of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions from a sanitary landfill area on ambient air quality. The atmospheric dispersion of hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) and 22 VOCs was modeled. Industrial Source Complex v3 Short Term (ISCST3) model was used to estimate hourly concentrations of odorous VOCs over the nearest residential area. Odor thresholds of VOCs of interest were also found in the literature. Results showed that short-term averages of three odorous VOCs, namely ethyl mercaptan, methyl mercaptan and hydrogen sulfide, exceeded their odor thresholds, which are reported to be 0.022, 0.138 and 11.1 μg/m³, respectively, at several points within the domain. Their highest concentrations within Gokturk County were estimated to be 0.09387 μg/m³ for ethyl mercaptan, 0.07934 μg/m³ for methyl mercaptan and 6.315 μg/m³ for hydrogen sulfide. Short-term model results revealed the occasional odor problems being reported for Gokturk County. Hourly concentrations were used to obtain frequencies of odor episodes in Gokturk County via a probability analysis. The results showed that ethyl mercaptan concentrations did not exceed its odor threshold during more than 8.84% of the time. Similarly, the maximum odor episode frequencies for methyl mercaptan and hydrogen sulfide were 0.98% and 0.34% of the time, respectively.     

Threshold Temperature Dependence of a Quantum-Dot Laser Diode With and Without p-Doping

A study of the threshold characteristics of quantum-dot (QD) laser diodes shows how inhomogeneous broadening and p-doping influence the QD laser's temperature dependence of threshold T ₀. The analysis includes the additional parameters of homogeneous broadening, quantum state populations, and threshold gain. The results show that while the source of negative T ₀ can occur due to different effects, the transparency current plays a critical role in both undoped and p-doped QD lasers. Experimental trends of negative T ₀ and their dependence on p-doping are replicated in the calculated results. Inhomogeneous broadening is found to play a lesser role to the transparency current in setting T ₀. Homogeneous broadening is most important for uniform QDs with thermally isolated ground-state transitions.     

Adsorption and surface tension analysis of concentrated alkali halide brine solutions

In this study, the equilibrium and dynamic surface tensions of sodium chloride and potassium chloride solutions have been measured as a function of concentration up to saturation (5.2 M for NaCl and 4.1 M for KCl) using sessile bubble tensiometry. The experimental results show that the surface tension of these and other salts significantly increases with increasing concentration due to negative adsorption of ions at the air/brine interface, regardless of their structure maker and breaker nature. Furthermore, the effect of these salts on the surface tension of aqueous solutions of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and methyl isobutyl carbinol (MIBC) was also studied. These results show that the salts increased the surface activity of SDS and MIBC. In the case of SDS, KCl increased the surface activity of SDS more significantly than NaCl did. In the case of MIBC, the effect of NaCl on MIBC surface activity was more significant than that of KCl.     

Preparation of PbS thin films: A new electrochemical route for underpotential deposition

Nanostructured thin films of lead sulfide have been synthesized by a new electrochemical approach based on the underpotential deposition (UPD) of Pb and S from the saturated solution of PbS containing excess of PbS particles as a source of Pb²⁺ and S²⁻ at various temperatures.We have demonstrated that this new electrochemical route is a simple method with several advantages, including better control of the growth conditions and a one-step process to obtain the nanostructures of PbS. Scanning probe microscopy studies indicate that the growth of PbS nanofilms follows a two-dimensional layer-by-layer growth kinetics at the beginning of electrodeposition but a three-dimensional growth dominates after the formation of the first few layers. The results of morphological and structural investigations reveal that PbS nanostructures grown by this method are single-crystalline in cubic structure and have a preferential orientation along the [2 0 0] direction. The optical absorption spectra of PbS nanostructures show the blue-shift with respect to those of the bulk counterpart, which are attributed as quantum-size effect.     

Numerical Study on Effects of Fuel Mixture Fraction and Li-6 Enrichment on Neutronic Parameters of a Fusion–Fission Hybrid Reactor

This study presents the effects of mixture fractions of nuclear fuels (mixture of fissile–fertile fuels and mixture of two different fertile fuels) and ⁶Li enrichment on the neutronic parameters (the tritium breeding ratio, TBR, the fission rate, FR, the energy multiplication ratio, M, the fissile breeding rate, FBR, the neutron leakage out of blanket, L, and the peak-to-average fission power density ratio, Γ) of a deuterium–tritium (D–T) fusion neutron-driven hybrid blanket. Three different fertile fuels (²³²Th, ²³⁸U and ²⁴⁴Cm), and one fissile fuel (²³⁵U) were selected as the nuclear fuel. Two different coolants (pressurized helium and natural lithium) were used for the nuclear heat transfer out of the fuel zone (FZ). The Boltzmann transport equation was solved numerically for obtaining the neutronic parameters with the help of the neutron transport code XSDRNPM/SCALE4.4a. In addition, these calculations were performed by also using the MCNP4B code. The sub-limits of the mixture fractions and ⁶Li enrichment were determined for the tritium self-sufficiency. The considered hybrid reactor can be operated in a self-sufficiency mode in the cases with the fuel mixtures mixed with a fraction of equal to or greater than these sub-limits. Furthermore, the numerical results show that the fissile fuel breeding and fission potentials of the blankets with the helium coolant are higher than with the lithium coolant.     

A simple simultaneous geometric and intensity correction method for echo-planar imaging by EPI-based phase modulation

A technique, based on Echo planar imaging (EPI)-based phase modulation factor maps, is described for correction of EPI distortions resulting from field inhomogeneity. In this paper, a phase modulation factor was employed to remove the distortions. The phase modulation factor was obtained experimentally by collecting EPI images with a spin-echo (TE) spacing, deltaTE, equal to the inter-echo time interval, T(i). Then, the distortions resulting from the field inhomogeneity were removed by modulating the kappa-space data with the phase modulation factor. One of the advantages of this method is that it requires only a few extra scans to collect the information on field inhomogeneity. The proposed method does not require a phase unwrapping procedure for field inhomogeneity correction and, hence, is easier to implement, compared to other techniques. In addition, it corrects geometric distortion as well as intensity distortions simultaneously, which is robust to external noise or estimation error in severely distorted images. In this work, we also compared the proposed technique with others including, a) interpolation method with EPI-based displacement maps, and b) modulation method with phase modulation factor maps generated from spin-echo images. The results suggest the proposed technique is superior in correcting severely distorted images.     

Dynamic component testing of a series system with redundant subsystems

We consider the component testing problem of a series system with redundant subsystems where all components fail exponentially. The main feature of our model is that the component failure rates are not constant parameters, but in fact change in a dynamic fashion with respect to time. The optimal component testing problem is formulated as a semi-infinite linear program. We present an algorithmic procedure to compute optimal test times based on the column generation technique, and illustrate it with numerical results.     

Determination of neotectonic features of the Karasu Basin (SE Turkey) and their relationship with Quaternary volcanic activity using Landsat ETM+ imagery

The junction between the East Anatolian and the Dead Sea fault zones lies close to an unstable F: Transform fault (FFF) triple junction where the African, Eurasian and Arabian plates meet in south-eastern Turkey. The Karasu Basin is an ephemeral rifted structure located close to the junction of these plate boundaries and is expressed by a range of tectono-morphological features. This study uses remote sensing to define tectonic structures and discriminate volcanic rocks linked to rifting within the basin using Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) imagery. Prior to advanced image processing stages, images were corrected to eliminate atmospheric scattering effects and determine the best band combination for multi-spectral processing techniques based on statistical methods. Following pre-processing stages, edge detection filters were applied to derive tectonic structures defining the basin. The Brovey transformation, a statistical data merging method, was used to combine reflective multi-spectral bands with the Landsat ETM+?panchromatic band. This method fuses higher spatial data with data of lower spatial value. The western margin of the Karasu Basin is defined by the left-lateral Amanos Fault Zone with a contemporary motion (c. –0.4 mm a^?1) probably accommodating most of the left-lateral strike-slip motion between Arabian and African plates on the northern continuation of the Dead Sea Fault Zone. The rift zone has been the site of extensive recent volcanism concentrated within the Brunhes Chron (<0.78 Ma) and linked to fault block rotations between the intracontinental master faults. The boundaries of this activity are defined here using a regolith mapping technique.     

An adaptive signal compression system with pre-specified reconstruction quality and compression rate

Two essential properties of a signal compression method are the compression rate and the distance between the original signal and the reconstruction from the compressed signal. These two properties are used to assess the performance and quality of the method. In a recent work [B. Tümer, B. Demir?z, Lecture Notes in Computer Science-Computer and Information Sciences, volume 2869, chapter Signal Compression Using Growing Cell Structures: A Transformational Approach, Springer Verlag, 2003, pp. 952-959], an adaptive signal compression system (ACS) is presented which defines the performance of the system as a function of the system complexity, system sensitivity and data size. For a compression method, it is desirable to formulate the performance of the system as a function of the system complexity and sensitivity to optimize the performance of the system. It would be further desirable to express the reconstruction quality in terms of the same system parameters so as to know up front what compression rate to end up with for a specific reconstruction quality. In this work, we modify ACS such that the modified ACS (MACS) estimates the reconstruction quality for a given system complexity and sensitivity. Once this relation is identified it is possible to optimize either compression rate or reconstruction quality with respect to system sensitivity and system complexity while limiting the other one.