Development of the Metropolitan Water Availability Index (MWAI) and short-term assessment with multi-scale remote sensing technologies

Global climate change will influence environmental conditions including temperature, surface radiation, soil moisture, and sea level, and it will also significantly impact regional-scale hydrologic processes such as evapotranspiration (ET), precipitation, runoff, and snowmelt. The quantity and quality of water available for drinking and other domestic usage is also likely to be affected by changes in these processes. Consequently, it is necessary to assess and reflect upon the challenges ahead for water infrastructure and the general public in metropolitan regions. One approach to the problem is to use index-based assessment, forecasting and planning. The drought indices previously developed were not developed for domestic water supplies, and thus are insufficient for the purpose of such an assessment. This paper aims to propose and develop a “Metropolitan Water Availability Index (MWAI)” to assess the status of both the quantity and quality of available potable water sources diverted from the hydrologic cycle in a metropolitan region. In this approach, the accessible water may be expressed as volume per month or week (i.e., m³/month or m³/week) relative to a prescribed historical record, and such a trend analysis may result in final MWAI values ranging from ?1 to +1 for regional water management decision making. The MWAI computation uses data and information from both historical point measurements and spatial remote-sensing based monitoring. Variables such as precipitation, river discharge, and water quality changes at drinking water plant intakes at specific locations are past “point” measurements in MWAI calculations. On the other hand, remote sensing provides information on both spatial and temporal distributions of key variables. Examples of remote-sensing images and sensor network technologies are in-situ sensor networks, ground-based radar, air-borne aircraft, and even space-borne satellites. A case study in Tampa Bay, Florida is described to demonstrate the short-term assessment of the MWAI concept at a practical level. It is anticipated that such a forecasting methodology may be extended for middle-term and long-term water supply assessment.     

Innovative design of an LDPE reactor bay against gas explosion using a risk-based approach coupled with high fidelity computer tools

High pressure tubular reactors for the production of Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) are, for safety reasons, enclosed in a protective bay open towards the sky. They are becoming longer and larger due to production capacity increases. TECHNIP has historically designed these reactor bays based on Licensor information, which include more or less empirical correlations. Further capacity developments require the design of these concrete enclosures to be challenged. With this in mind, the present study shows the interest of implementing an innovative methodology based upon a risk-based approach to define new design criteria for the enclosure walls. The method, which combines both risk analysis with computational fluid dynamics modelling (3D CFD) and non-linear finite element analysis (NLFEA) tools, allows a clear determination of the design overpressure loads applied on walls and offers an optimisation of the concrete wall thickness. The CFD study also leads to a better understanding of the ventilation and efficiency of safety systems (gas detection, depressurisation) with possibility for improvement of the hazardous area classification rating.     

Comparing Waste-to-Energy technologies by applying energy system analysis

Even when policies of waste prevention, re-use and recycling are prioritised a fraction of waste will still be left which can be used for energy recovery. This article asks the question: How to utilise waste for energy in the best way seen from an energy system perspective? Eight different Waste-to-Energy technologies are compared with a focus on fuel efficiency, CO₂ reductions and costs. The comparison is carried out by conducting detailed energy system analyses of the present as well as a potential future Danish energy system with a large share of combined heat and power as well as wind power. The study shows potential of using waste for the production of transport fuels. Biogas and thermal gasification technologies are hence interesting alternatives to waste incineration and it is recommended to support the use of biogas based on manure and organic waste. It is also recommended to support research into gasification of waste without the addition of coal and biomass. Together the two solutions may contribute to alternate use of one third of the waste which is currently incinerated. The remaining fractions should still be incinerated with priority to combined heat and power plants with high electric efficiency.     

Environmentally Friendly Polyurethane Composites: Preparation, Characterization and Mechanical Properties

The waterborne polyurethane (PU) prepolymer was prepared based on isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI), polyester polyol (N220), dimethylol propionic acid (DMPA) and hydroxyethyl methyl acrylate (HEMA). The modified waterborne polyurethane–acrylate (PUA) emulsions were obtained with different proportions of acrylate (butyl acrylate and methyl methacrylate) and initiating agent by in situ dispersion technique. The structures and thermal properties of prepared PU and PUA were analyzed and characterized with FT-IR, UV–Vis spectroscopy and DSC. The PUA hybrid samples had lower glass transition temperature of hard segment and higher decomposition temperatures than PU sample. Performances of the emulsion and film were studied by means of apparent viscidity, particle size and polydispersity, surface tension and mechanical properties. The results indicated that the particle sizes of the PUA dispersions were larger than those of the pure PU and the solvent resistance, mechanical properties of PUA films was improved compare with the unmodified polyurethane film. The film had the biggest hardness and the least water absorption when the BA/MMA mass ratio 5:5 modified PU. The obtained PUA have great potential application such as coatings, leather finishing, adhesives, sealants, plastic coatings and wood finishes.     

Engineered nanoparticles in wastewater and wastewater sludge – Evidence and impacts

Nanotechnology has widespread application in agricultural, environmental and industrial sectors ranging from fabrication of molecular assemblies to microbial array chips. Despite the booming application of nanotechnology, there have been serious implications which are coming into light in the recent years within different environmental compartments, namely air, water and soil and its likely impact on the human health. Health and environmental effects of common metals and materials are well-known, however, when the metals and materials take the form of nanoparticles – consequential hazards based on shape and size are yet to be explored. The nanoparticles released from different nanomaterials used in our household and industrial commodities find their way through waste disposal routes into the wastewater treatment facilities and end up in wastewater sludge. Further escape of these nanoparticles into the effluent will contaminate the aquatic and soil environment. Hence, an understanding of the presence, behavior and impact of these nanoparticles in wastewater and wastewater sludge is necessary and timely. Despite the lack of sufficient literature, the present review attempts to link various compartmentalization aspects of the nanoparticles, their physical properties and toxicity in wastewater and wastewater sludge through simile drawn from other environmental streams.     

The Role of Disaggregation of Asset Values in Flood Loss Estimation: A Comparison of Different Modeling Approaches at the Mulde River,Germany

In loss estimation there is a spatial mismatch of hazard data that are commonly modeled on an explicit raster level and exposure data that are often available only for aggregated administrative units. Usually disaggregation methods that use ancillary information to distribute lumped exposure data in a finer spatial resolution help to bridge this gap. However, the actual influence of different mapping techniques and ancillary data on the final loss estimation has not been analyzed yet. In this paper three methods are applied to disaggregate residential building assets using two kinds of land use/land cover (LULC) data. The resulting disaggregated assets are validated and compared using census data of the residential building number on the community and constituency level. In addition, the disaggregated assets are taken to estimate residential building losses due to the flood in August 2002 in 21 municipalities on the River Mulde in Saxony, Germany. Losses are calculated with the help of four loss models. In general, disaggregation helps to decrease the error variance within the loss estimation. It must, however, be stated that the application of sophisticated disaggregation methods does not lead to significant improvements compared to the straightforward binary method. Therefore more effort should instead be put into the provision of high-resolution LULC data. Finally, the remaining uncertainties in loss estimation are high and demand further improvements in all modeling aspects.     

Enhanced activated persulfate oxidation of ciprofloxacin using a low-grade titanium ore under sunlight: influence of the irradiation source on its transformation products

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In this work, the activated persulfate oxidation of ciprofloxacin (CIP) using a low-grade titanium ore under sunlight or simulated sunlight were...     

Comparative life cycle analysis of municipal waste management systems: Kırklareli/Turkey case study

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Waste-to-energy approaches are becoming increasingly important around the world, and municipal solid waste (MSW) as a renewable and sustainable energy...     

Mesoporous carbon nanomaterials induced pulmonary surfactant inhibition, cytotoxicity, inflammation and lung fibrosis

Environmental exposure and health risk upon engineered nanomaterials are increasingly concerned. The family of mesoporous carbon nanomaterials(MCNs) is a rising star in nanotechnology for multidisciplinary research with versatile applications in electronics,energy and gas storage, and biomedicine. Meanwhile, there is mounting concern on their environmental health risks due to the growing production and usage of MCNs. The lung is the primary site for particle invasion under environmental exposure to nanomaterials. Here, we studied the comprehensive toxicological profile of MCNs in the lung under the scenario of moderate environmental exposure. It was found that at a low concentration of 10 μg/mL MCNs induced biophysical inhibition of natural pulmonary surfactant. Moreover, MCNs at similar concentrations reduced viability of J774 A.1 macrophages and lung epithelial A549 cells.Incubating with nature pulmonary surfactant effectively reduced the cytotoxicity of MCNs.Regarding the pro-inflammatory responses, MCNs activated macrophages in vitro, and stimulated lung inflammation in mice after inhalation exposure, associated with lung fibrosis.Moreover, we found that the size of MCNs played a significant role in regulating cytotoxicity and pro-inflammatory potential of this nanomaterial. In general, larger MCNs induced more pronounced cytotoxic and pro-inflammatory effects than their smaller counterparts. Our results provided valuable information on the toxicological profile and environmental health risks of MCNs, and suggested that fine-tuning the size of MCNs could be a practical precautionary design strategy to increase safety and biocompatibility of this nanomaterial.