Life cycle assessment of bagasse waste management options

Bagasse is mostly utilized for steam and power production for domestic sugar mills. There have been a number of alternatives that could well be applied to manage bagasse, such as pulp production, conversion to biogas and electricity production. The selection of proper alternatives depends significantly on the appropriateness of the technology both from the technical and the environmental points of view. This work proposes a simple model based on the application of life cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental impacts of various alternatives for dealing with bagasse waste. The environmental aspects of concern included global warming potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential and photochemical oxidant creation. Four waste management scenarios for bagasse were evaluated: landfilling with utilization of landfill gas, anaerobic digestion with biogas production, incineration for power generation, and pulp production. In landfills, environmental impacts depended significantly on the biogas collection efficiency, whereas incineration of bagasse to electricity in the power plant showed better environmental performance than that of conventional low biogas collection efficiency landfills. Anaerobic digestion of bagasse in a control biogas reactor was superior to the other two energy generation options in all environmental aspects. Although the use of bagasse in pulp mills created relatively high environmental burdens, the results from the LCA revealed that other stages of the life cycle produced relatively small impacts and that this option might be the most environmentally benign alternative.     

Batch studies of adsorption of copper and lead on activated carbon from Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehn. Bark

Powdered activated carbon (PAC) prepared from Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehn. bark was tested for its adsorption capacity for Cu(Ⅱ) and Pb(Ⅱ). The experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of pH, contact time, initial metal concentration, and temperature. The best adsorption of both Cu(Ⅱ) and Pb(Ⅱ) occurred at pH 5, where the adsorption reached equilibrium within 45 min for the whole range of initial heavy metal concentrations (0.1-10 mmol/L). The adsorption kinetics was found to follow the pseudo-...     

Profiling and monitoring of DOM in brewery wastewater and treated wastewater

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) in raw and treated wastewater from two breweries in Thailand was profiled and monitored for the purpose of water reclamation. The wastewater and the effluent from the use of an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) and activated sludge (AS) were collected and analyzed through a resin fractionation method using the fluorescent excitation?Cemission matrix (FEEM) technique. The results revealed that the major organic fractions in the brewery wastewater were hydrophobic acid (HPOA) and hydrophilic base (HPIB), accounting for 65% of total dissolved organic carbon (DOC) mass for brewery A and 56% of total DOC mass for brewery B. The FEEM results indicated that the organic matter in the wastewaters of both breweries were mainly composed of tryptophan-like substances, represented by peaks C (230 nm_Ex/340?C365 nm_Em) and D (265?C295 nm_Ex/315?C390 nm_Em), and humic-like substances, represented by peaks E (290 nm_Ex/400 nm_Em), F (330?C335 nm_Ex/395?C410 nm_Em), and G (255?C265 nm_Ex/435?C455 nm_Em). The analysis revealed that the reduction of DOM occurred mostly during the UASB treatment where most of the DOM reduction resulted from the removal of the HPOA and HPIB fractions. The HPOA fraction, a group of humic-like substances, is of particular concern when reclaiming treated brewery wastewater, and although it was reduced by more than 80% of its initial amount, it was still a dominant DOM fraction in the effluents.     

Characterization of brewery wastewater with spectrofluorometry analysis

The wastewater treatment systems from the three local breweries consist of upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) and activated sludge (AS) connected in series for which the influent and effluent from each treatment step were collected and determined for their dissolved organic matter (DOM) surrogate parameters including dissolved organic carbon (DOC), UV(254) and SUVA(254). The analyses suggested that the influent wastewater contained a high level of aromatic organic content classified as humic substances with high average molecular weight. Organic removal mostly occurred in the UASBs where DOC and UV(254) were reduced by 24-58% and 38-50%, respectively. Spectrofluorometry analysis (fluorescent excitation-emission matrix: FEEM) was reasonably accurate in evaluating DOM reduction during the treatment course. A total of eight fluorescent peaks were detected by the FEEM technique comprising (A) 230 nm(Ex)/315 nm(Em), (B) 275 nm(Ex)/315 nm(Em), (C) 230 nm(Ex)/365 nm(Em), (D) 285 nm(Ex)/365 nm(Em), (E) 290 nm(Ex)/400 nm(Em), (F) 335-355 nm(Ex)/405-465 nm(Em), (G) 255 nm(Ex)/455 nm(Em), and (H) 500 nm(Ex)/525 nm(Em). Peaks 'A and B' and 'C and D' were associated with tyrosine-like, tryptophan-like substances, respectively, whilst each individual peak E, F and G was associated with humic and fulvic acid-like substances. Peaks C, D, F and H were always found in the influent wastewater from all the breweries, whereas the effluents only exhibited Peak F. The origin of Peak H had not been recognized elsewhere and was not identified in this work. This suggested that FEEM could not only be used to monitor the reduction in DOM, but it could also provide details on the organic composition of the wastewater.     

Removal of basic dye (Astrazon Blue FGRL) using macroalga Caulerpa lentillifera

The macroalga Caulerpa lentillifera was found to have adsorption capacity for a basic dye, Astrazon Blue FGRL. For the whole range of concentrations employed in this work (20-1280 mgl(-1)), the adsorption reached equilibrium within the first hour. The kinetic data corresponded well with the pseudo second-order kinetic model where the rate constants decreased as initial dye concentrations increased. At low dye concentrations (20-80 mgl(-1)), an increase in the adsorbent dosage resulted in a higher removal percentage of the dye, but a lower amount of dye adsorbed per unit mass (q). The adsorption isotherm followed both the Langmuir and Freundlich models within the temperature range employed in this work (18-70 degrees C). The highest maximum adsorption capacity (q(m)) was obtained at 50 degrees C. The enthalpy of adsorption was estimated at 14.87 kJmol(-1) suggesting a chemical adsorption mechanism.     

Influence of particle size and salinity on adsorption of basic dyes by agricultural waste： dried Seagrape （Caulerpa lentiUifera）

Green macroalga Caulerpa lentillifera was found to have reasonable adsorption capacity for basic dyes, Astrazon Blue FGRL （AB）, Astrazon Red GTLN （AR）, and Astrazon Golden Yellow GL-E （AY）. The initial dye concentration was in the range of 100-1,800 mg/L. The dried algal sorbent was ground and sieved into 3 sizes： S （0.1-0.84 mm）, M （0.84-2.0 mm）, and L sizes （larger than 2.0 mm）. For all conditions examined in this work （at 25℃ in batch systems）, the adsorption reached equilibrium within the first hour. The kinetic data corresponded well with the pseudo second order kinetic model where the rate constant, k2, decreased as the sorbent size increased for all dyes. The adsorption isotherms followed both Langmuir and Freundlich models. Among three sorbent sizes, S size gave the highest adsorption capacity followed by M and L sizes. A reduction of sorbent size increased the specific surface area for mass transfer, and also increased the total pore volume, thus providing more active sites for adsorption. The adsorption of AB was adversely influenced by the protonation of algal surface at low pH. On the other hand, the adsorption of AR and AY could be due to weak electrostatic interaction, which was not significantly affected by pH. Increasing salinity of the system caused a decrease in adsorption capacity possibly due to the competition between Na^＋ and the dye cations for the binding sites on algal surface. Moreover, an increase in salinity generated a compressed electrical double layer on the algal surface which exerted repulsive force, retarding the adsorption of positive charged molecules such as the basic dyes.     

Characterization of haloacetic acid precursors in source water

Raw water from the Bangkok (Thailand) main municipal water supply canal was examined for its natural organic composition by fractionation with adsorption resins. DAX-8 resin was the first resin employed to fractionate the hydrophobic fractions. Fractionation at neutral pH resulted in the separation of the hydrophobic neutral components; at a high pH level (approx. 10) separation of the hydrophobic base components occurred; and at a low pH level (approx. 2) the hydrophobic acid components were separated. AG-MP-50 cationic resin was then used to separate the hydrophilic base components, and WA-10, a weak anionic resin, was applied finally to fractionate the hydrophilic acid and neutral components. Subsequently, each fraction was tested for its chlorine disinfection by-product (DBP) formation potential. The HAA formation tests demonstrated that the various organic fractions had different reactivity levels for the formation of haloacetic acids (HAAs). For this source water, the hydrophilic neutral fraction dominated over the other five fractions in being the main organic component and the most significant precursor of HAAs formation. On the other hand, in terms of specific HAA formation potential (FP), the hydrophobic and hydrophilic base fractions were the most reactive precursors to the formation of HAAs. In all cases, the quantity of HAAs formed depended linearly upon the amount of organic constituents in the water sample.     

Dynamic and equilibrium studies of the RDX removal from soil using CMC-coated zerovalent iron nanoparticles

Rapid chemical degradation of toxic RDX explosive in soil can be accomplished using zerovalent nanoiron suspension stabilized in dilute carboxymethyl cellulose solution (CMC-ZVINs). The effect of operating conditions (redox-potential, Fe/RDX molar ratio) was studied on batchwise removal of RDX in contaminated soil. While anaerobic conditions resulted in 98% RDX removal in 3 h, only slightly over 60% RDX removal could be attained under aerobic conditions. The molar ratio did not have any influence on the intermediate and final RDX degradation products (methylenedinitramine, nitroso derivative, N₂, N₂O, NO₂^?), however, their distribution changed. Dynamic studies were conducted using a flow-through short column packed with RDX-contaminated soil and fed with CMC-ZVINs. The column was operated at two interstitial velocities (2.2 and 1.6 cm min^?1), resulting in the 76.6% and 95% removal of the initial RDX soil contamination load (60 mg kg^?1), respectively. While the column operating conditions could be further optimized, 95% of the RDX initially present in the contaminated soil packed in the column was degraded when flushed with a CMC-ZVINs suspension in this work.