Monitoring biological wastewater treatment processes: Recent advances in spectroscopy applications

Biological processes based on aerobic and anaerobic technologies have been continuously developed to wastewater treatment and are currently routinely employed to reduce the contaminants discharge levels in the environment. However, most methodologies commonly applied for monitoring key parameters are labor intensive, time-consuming and just provide a snapshot of the process. Thus, spectroscopy applications in biological processes are, nowadays, considered a rapid and effective alternative technology for real-time monitoring though still lacking implementation in full-scale plants. In this review, the application of spectroscopic techniques to aerobic and anaerobic systems is addressed focusing on UV--Vis, infrared, and fluorescence spectroscopy. Furthermore, chemometric techniques, valuable tools to extract the relevant data, are also referred. To that effect, a detailed analysis is performed for aerobic and anaerobic systems to summarize the findings that have been obtained since 2000. Future prospects for the application of spectroscopic techniques in biological wastewater treatment processes are further discussed.The authors thank the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit, COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684) and the project RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462) and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. The authors also acknowledge the financial support to Daniela P. Mesquita and Cristina Quintelas through the postdoctoral Grants (SFRH/BPD/82558/2011 and SFRH/BPD/101338/2014) provided by FCT - Portugal.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Multivariate Analysis in Management, Engineering and the Sciences

Recently statistical knowledge has become an important requirement and occupies a prominent position in the exercise of various professions. In the real world, the processes have a large volume of data and are naturally multivariate and as such, require a proper treatment. For these conditions it is difficult or practically impossible to use methods of univariate statistics. The wide application of multivariate techniques and the need to spread them more fully in the academic and the business justify the creation of this book. The objective is to demonstrate interdisciplinary applications to identify patterns, trends, association sand dependencies, in the areas of Management, Engineering and Sciences. The book is addressed to both practicing professionals and researchers in the field

Biodiversity Conservation and Utilization in a Diverse World

This book "Biodiversity Conservation and Utilization in a Diverse World" sees biodiversity as management and utilization of resources in satisfying human needs in multi-sectional areas including agriculture, forestry, fisheries, wildlife and other exhaustible and inexhaustible resources. Its value is to fulfill actual human preferences and variability of life is measured by amount of genetic variation available. In viewing diversity as an ultimate moral value, one is faced with a situation in environmental preservation in order to allow components of total diversity to flourish and constitute a threat to continuous existence and decrease total diversity. The overall importance described economic benefits from bio-diversity, though difficult to measure and varying, but are limited on a local scale, increase on a regional or national scale and become potentially substantial on a transnational or global scale

Memoria del 2001: Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla.

145 páginas.Durante el primer año del siglo XXI el Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (IRNAS) ha seguido realizando su labor investigadora y formativa así como la de asistencia técnica tanto externa como interna y de divulgación tanto de los resultados obtenidos como de su capacidad de I+D. La actividad investigadora del IRNAS se ha mantenido en la línea del año anterior, siendo financiada fundamentalmente mediante proyectos concedidos por la UE, la CICYT-FEDER, Junta de Andalucía, otros Ministerios y la empresa privada, siendo este último sector el que menos contribuye a esta financiación. Parece obvio que tenemos que hacer entre todos un esfuerzo por captar mayores recursos de este sector productivo. Como consecuencia de la actividad investigadora realizada se han publicado 50 artículos en revistas internacionales, recogidas en SCI, 6 en revistas nacionales, 45 trabajos en libros o publicaciones colectivas, 4 Tesis doctorales, 2 de licenciatura, 5 trabajos Fin de Carrera, 5 Fin de Curso, así como 6 patentes registradas. El personal del IRNAS ha participado en congresos internacionales con 66 comunicaciones y en nacionales con 20. En el aspecto formativo se ha contribuido a la formación de 47 personas de diversa cualificación académica mediante los contratos asignados al IRNAS tras el convenio INEM-CSIC. Así mismo, se sigue participando en diversos programas de Doctorado, Master y Cursos tanto en la Universidad Hispalense como en la Pablo de Olavide, de Sevilla, habiéndose defendido las Tesis Doctorales, de Licenciatura y proyectos Fin de Carrera mencionados anteriormente. En el ámbito internacional el IRNAS sigue implicado en su tradicional política de intercambio y colaboración con paises europeos, latinoamericanos y del Magreb, como indican las Acciones Integradas del MCYT, Convenios y Acciones Especiales del CSIC, etc. que recogen esta Memoria. En la Finca experimental “La Hampa” se han seguido realizando las experiencias de campo que necesitan llevar a cabo diversos grupos del IRNAS, en el contexto de proyectos financiados con fondos gubernamentales nacionales, autonómicos, europeos y de empresas privadas.Peer reviewe

Towards 2020: Environmental challenges and opportunities for the next decade

The theme of this year’s colloquium is “Towards 2020: Environmental challenges and opportunities for the next decade” which reflects the many environmental targets that have been set for the year 2020 in areas of climate change, renewable energy, water protection and biodiversity. In relation to the latter, we are delighted to have Professor Michael Depledge (Former Chairman of UK Science Advisory Committee on the Environment & Climate Change) at ENVIRON 2011 to deliver the colloquium keynote address on “Health and the Value of Nature”. The colloquium plenary session has a number of high profile speakers who will address the colloquium theme of environmental challenges and opportunities for the next decade including Professor John Sweeney (NUI Maynooth), Ms Laura Burke (Director of EPA’s Office of Climate, Licensing Research and Resource Use) and Mr John Mullins (CEO of Bord Gais). The research programme has 95 oral presentations and 60 poster presentations in the themes of water quality, energy and climate change, marine and coastal research, environmental management, environmental technologies, environment and health, and biodiversity and ecosystems. In addition, for the first year, poster presenters have the opportunity to make a 1 minute oral presentation on their poster during the oral sessions in the relevant theme. The 2011 colloquium also sees an increase the number of workshops and seminars accompanying the programme with an emphasis on training and development for postgraduates in the environmental area. We are particularly pleased to have a link with the Environment Graduate Programme in the “Ocean Studies Workshop” which illustrates how the ENVIRON colloquium can support and benefit from the various graduate programmes currently being developed within Universities. Finally ENVIRON 2011 and the UCC 2011 Law and the Environment symposium have been deliberately scheduled together at the same time and location to allow delegates from both conferences to benefit from each other’s programmes

Experimental investigation and modelling of the heating value and elemental composition of biomass through artificial intelligence

Abstract: Knowledge advancement in artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies provides new potential predictive reliability for biomass energy value chain. However, for the prediction approach against experimental methodology, the prediction accuracy is expected to be high in order to develop a high fidelity and robust software which can serve as a tool in the decision making process. The global standards related to classification methods and energetic properties of biomass are still evolving given different observation and results which have been reported in the literature. Apart from these, there is a need for a holistic understanding of the effect of particle sizes and geospatial factors on the physicochemical properties of biomass to increase the uptake of bioenergy. Therefore, this research carried out an experimental investigation of some selected bioresources and also develops high-fidelity models built on artificial intelligence capability to accurately classify the biomass feedstocks, predict the main elemental composition (Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen) on dry basis and the Heating value in (MJ/kg) of biomass...Ph.D. (Mechanical Engineering Science

Reducing the risk for water biota by adsorption of pharmaceuticals and heavy metals using a fixed-bed column with a novel biochar

Pharmaceuticals and heavy metals derived from point sources and non-point sources find their ways into water bodies. One of the important sources of such pollutants is wastewater or effluents from wastewater treatment plants. The presence of pharmaceuticals and heavy metals in the water bodies causes irreversible damages to flora, fauna and human health. Risk assessment plays a vital role in identifying the pollution intensity. The adsorption process is one of the most appropriate processes in eliminating such pollutants from wastewater. In this study, a fixed-bed column is used to verify the feasibility of using a novel biochar material to remove organic (pharmaceuticals) and inorganic (heavy metals) compounds. This study was conducted in 3 phases. In the first phase, the pollution intensity of pollutants in wastewater effluent was evaluated by risk assessment formulas. In the second phase, the impact of the initial concentration, flow rate and bed depth on the laboratory-scale adsorption column performance were investigated. In the third phase, the Adam-Bohart model was used to design the large-scale fixed-bed column. Moreover, the pollution intensity of pollutants was determined. The results clearly indicated that the presence of venlafaxine and heavy metals in wastewater effluent poses adverse effects on aquatic and marine organisms. The adsorption of venlafaxine, Ni, Pb and Cu on biochar in a laboratory-scale column was observed as well as in the larger-scale column. Increasing the initial concentration and bed depth along with decreasing the flow rate caused the adsorption capacity to be on the rise. The removal over 90% of venlafaxine, Ni, Pb and Cu was found at the breakthrough point where the adsorption capacity was increased from 0.8 to 5.4 mg/g for venlafaxine, from 1.92 to 18.24 µg/g for Ni, from 3.84 to 30.72 µg/g for Pb, and from 2.88 to 24 µg/g for Cu. The large-scale column, tested on real effluent at wastewater treatment plant, confirmed the feasibility of using biochar to eliminate 95% of venlafaxine and 90% of Ni, Pb and Cu at the breakthrough point. The adsorption capacity at the breakthrough point was 3051.406 ng/g for venlafaxine, 24.364 µg/g for Ni, 0.1296 µg/g for Pb, and 7.115 µg/g for Cu. The pollution intensity of venlafaxine, Ni, Pb and Cu to aquatic and marine organisms decreased from a high to low risk due to the utilization of novel biochar in the fixed-bed column