Understanding the organic micropollutants transport mechanisms in the fertilizer-drawn forward osmosis process

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd We systematically investigated the transport mechanisms of organic micropollutants (OMPs) in a fertilizer-drawn forward osmosis (FDFO) membrane process. Four representative OMPs, i.e., atenolol, atrazine, primidone, and caffeine, were chosen for their different molecular weights and structural characteristics. All the FDFO experiments were conducted with the membrane active layer on the feed solution (FS) side using three different fertilizer draw solutions (DS): potassium chloride (KCl), monoammonium phosphate (MAP), and diammonium phosphate (DAP) due to their different properties (i.e., osmotic pressure, diffusivity, viscosity and solution pH). Using KCl as the DS resulted in both the highest water flux and the highest reverse solute flux (RSF), while MAP and DAP resulted in similar water fluxes with varying RSF. The pH of the FS increased with DAP as the DS due to the reverse diffusion of NH4+ ions from the DS toward the FS, while for MAP and DAP DS, the pH of the FS was not impacted. The OMPs transport behavior (OMPs flux) was evaluated and compared with a simulated OMPs flux obtained via the pore-hindrance transport model to identify the effects of the OMPs structural properties. When MAP was used as DS, the OMPs flux was dominantly influenced by the physicochemical properties (i.e., hydrophobicity and surface charge). Those OMPs with positive charge and more hydrophobic, exhibited higher forward OMP fluxes. With DAP as the DS, the more hydrated FO membrane (caused by increased pH) as well as the enhanced RSF hindered OMPs transport through the FO membrane. With KCl as DS, the structural properties of the OMPs were dominant factors in the OMPs flux, however the higher RSF of the KCl draw solute may likely hamper the OMPs transport through the membrane especially those with higher MW (e.g., atenolol). The pore-hindrance model can be instrumental in understanding the effects of the hydrodynamic properties and the surface properties on the OMPs transport behaviors

Investigation of pilot-scale 8040 FO membrane module under different operating conditions for brackish water desalination 2 3

Abstract 8 Two spiral wound forward osmosis (SWFO) membrane modules with different spacer design (CS; 9 corrugated spacer and MS; medium spacer) were investigated for the fertilizer drawn forward osmosis 10 desalination of brackish groundwater (BGW) at a pilot-scale level. This study mainly focused on 11 examining the influence of various operating conditions such as feed flow rate, total dissolved solids 12 (TDS) concentration of the BGW feed, and draw solution (DS) concentrations using ammonium 13 sulphate ((NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 , SOA) on the performance of two membrane modules. The feed flow rate played 14 a positive role in the average water flux of the pilot-scale FO membrane module due to enhanced 15 mass transfer coefficient across the membrane surface. Feed TDS and DS concentrations also played a 16 significant role in both FO membrane modules because they are directly related to the osmotic driving 17 force and membrane fouling tendency. CS module performed slightly better than MS module during 18 all experiments due to probably enhanced mass transfer and lower fouling propensity associated with 19 the corrugated spacer. Besides, CS spacer provides larger channel space that can accommodate larger 20 volume of DS and hence could maintain higher DS concentration. However, the extent of dilution for 21 the CS module is slightly lower. 22 2

Urine Treatment on the International Space Station: Current Practice and Novel Approaches

A reliable, robust, and resilient water recovery system is of paramount importance on board the International Space Station (ISS). Such a system must be able to treat all sources of water, thereby reducing resupply costs and allowing for longer-term space missions. As such, technologies able to dewater urine in microgravity have been investigated by different space agencies. However, despite over 50 years of research and advancements on water extraction from human urine, the Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) and the Water Processor Assembly (WPA) now operating on the ISS still achieve suboptimal water recovery rates and require periodic consumables resupply. Additionally, urine brine from the treatment is collected for disposal and not yet reused. These factors, combined with the need for a life support system capable of tolerating even dormant periods of up to one year, make the research in this field ever more critical. As such, in the last decade, extensive research was conducted on the adaptation of existing or emerging technologies for the ISS context. In virtue of having a strong chemical resistance, small footprint, tuneable selectivity and versatility, novel membrane-based processes have been in focus for treating human urine. Their hybridisation with thermal and biological processes as well as the combination with new nanomaterials have been particularly investigated. This article critically reviews the UPA and WPA processes currently in operation on the ISS, summarising the research directions and needs, highlighted by major space agencies, necessary for allowing life support for missions outside the Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Additionally, it reviews the technologies recently proposed to improve the performance of the system as well as new concepts to allow for the valorisation of the nutrients in urine or the brine after urine dewatering

Where eagles soar: Fine-resolution tracking reveals the spatiotemporal use of differential soaring modes in a large raptor

Unlike smaller raptors, which can readily use flapping flight, large raptors are mainly restricted to soaring flight due to energetic constraints. Soaring comprises of two main strategies: thermal and orographic soaring. These soaring strategies are driven by discrete uplift sources determined by the underlying topography and meteorological conditions in an area. High‐resolution GPS tracking of raptor flight allows the identification of these flight strategies and interpretation of the spatiotemporal occurrence of thermal and orographic soaring. In this study, we develop methods to identify soaring flight behaviors from high‐resolution GPS tracking data of Verreaux’s eagle Aquila verreauxii and analyze these data to understand the conditions that promote the use of thermal and orographic soaring. We use these findings to predict the use of soaring flight both spatially (across the landscape) and temporally (throughout the year) in two topographically contrasting regions in South Africa. We found that topography is important in determining the occurrence of soaring flight and that thermal soaring occurs in relatively flat areas which are likely to have good thermal uplift availability. The predicted use of orographic soaring was predominately determined by terrain slope. Contrary to our expectations, the topography and meteorology of eagle territories in the Sandveld promoted the use of soaring flight to a greater extent than in territories in the more mountainous Cederberg region. Spatiotemporal mapping of predicted flight behaviors can broaden our understanding of how large raptors like the Verreaux’s eagle use their habitat and how that links to energetics (as the preferential use of areas that maximize net energy gain is expected), reproductive success, and ultimately population dynamics. Understanding the fine‐scale landscape use and environmental drivers of raptor flight can also help to predict and mitigate potential detrimental effects of anthropogenic developments, such as mortality via collision with wind turbines.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Biological Earth observation with animal sensors

Space-based tracking technology using low-cost miniature tags is now delivering data on fine-scale animal movement at near-global scale. Linked with remotely sensed environmental data, this offers a biological lens on habitat integrity and connectivity for conservation and human health; a global network of animal sentinels of environmen-tal change

Movement Mechanisms of Gyps himalayensis (Himalayan Vultures) in the Central Asian Flyway

In a space varying from sub-atomic to cosmic scales, nothing is static. As Heraclitus stated half a millennium B.C.: ´Panta rhei´ - everything is constantly on the move.Seasonal wildlife movements are often described and characterized as migrations, which may have evolved from dispersal movements. Animal movements per se may not have captured human attention from the beginning, but animal migrations have since Aristotle. Apparently, migratory movements were abundant throughout the millennia, and individual survival and population processes depended on them. The magnitude of migration phenomena on earth has dwindled with global species extinction and population decline. Numerous such migration phenomena may become history, and more of them will vanish in case our efforts for species conservation fail.The phenomenon of animal migration has captivated scientific interest, and mysteries of wildlife movements are being researched, deciphered and understood. In general, wildlife movements are described in the forms of various migration and five movement types: i) dispersal, ii) nomadic iii) pursuing, iv) escape, and v) spreading. Wildlife migrations can also take the form of partial migration, when only a part of a population migrates seasonally. Partial migration can be found both within long-distance and altitudinal migrations.Movement study in wildlife has begun with simple marking on animal such as with metal or colour bands in early 20th century. In the later part of 20th animal movement studies were performed using satellite tracking, and only recently have GPS point locations been recorded for birds on a global scale. Researcher have now begun to use miniature solar-powered light weight hardware with single to multi-sensor biologgers, efficient to collate animal behaviour via recordings of an individual´s activity (mostly through 3D-ACC sensors) and its exact spatial locations (via GPS sensors). Through the use of 3D-acceleration sensors, one can now also estimate the movement energy via the calculation of the overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA). This measurement is sufficiently correlated to the overall energy expenditure of individuals to allow for comparisons among and between species.The most modern bio-logging units are remotely programmable which allow researchers to remotely manage sampling regimes. Movement data from bio-loggers that are back-packed on the birds are most efficiently and automatically read out to online database (such as Movebank) via GSM or GPRS mobile network communication systems.For my movement research, e-OBS GmbH solar-powered tags with GPS and ACC sensors, packaged with GSM and GPRS communication facilities were used. The e- OBS bio-logger can be remotely managed via an internet interface, either to collect low or high resolution (1Hz) GPS point data. Every day the bio-logger relays five GPS fixes to the Movebank online database, whereas with a GPRS package, all onboard data (GPS and ACC) are automatically uploaded to Movebank when the tagged bird is within the mobile network. Along with high resolution GPS data, I have used 13 environmental parameters available from the Movebank’s EnvDATA system which influence the vulture movement.In the Asian landscapes, data from animal migrations or movement research are very scanty. However, there is outstanding research on Bar-headed Goose (Anser indicus) migration, other notable studies in Asia are: - the migration of Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) and Common Swift (Apus apus pekinensis). Otherwise, movement studies in three major Asian avian migration flyways have been mostly focussed on the understanding of the spread of avian influenza.Research on vultures across this continent is also scarce. Across Asia, some conservation, pharmacological and mortality studies have been conducted on scavengers, but movement research on Asian vultures is almost non-existing. Otherwise, very little about the movement of vultures in Asia is known.For the first time, this study focuses on the annual movements of the Himalayan Vulture (Gyps himalayensis). I define annual movements is a composite of biannual seasonal migrations from summer to winter areas, daily survival, locomotion and exploratory or continuous nomadic flight. I have chosen this species to study for manifold reasons. Raptors belonging to the vulture taxonomic group are critically endangered around the world, sixteen of the 23 species are enlisted in the threatened category. Himalayan Vulture is a near-threatened species with existing estimated population below 334,000 individuals. It is the heaviest (6-12kg) flying bird in Asia which performs biannual seasonal migratory movements across the Himalayas, and an obligate scavenger making it one of the best species to understand flight mechanisms, migration and annual movements. Vultures are soaring raptors popularly known to harvest wind energies, such as thermals and orographic uplifts as well as tail winds for energy conserving movements.In this study of the Himalayan Vultures, I have assessed the survival and annual movements, flight characteristics and annual movements in relation to environmental factors and flight mechanisms over the Himalayas in the thin air.I back-packed eObs bio-loggers on 18 free ranging and wild Himalayan Vultures, mostly immatures and juveniles or nonbreeding sub-adults. During the first year of the experiment, five of the 18 Himalayan Vultures died en route to their summer areas during their northward seasonal migration. In the assessment of survival and annual movements, I looked at mortality depending upon environmental parameters and initial departure flight distance from winter areas. I demonstrate that en route, migration mortality in Himalayan Vultures is about 27%. It is observed that those dead individuals during migration flew north directly against the north-south meridional head winds, less able to find and use thermal uplifts, and also remained in high density human settlement areas with high humidity and high temperatures. In contrast, those individuals that survived who were able to find thermal uplifts, maintained optimal flight height above the grounds, chose to stay away from high density human settlement and remained in overall higher altitude locations with low temperatures, and their initial migration distance until their first stopover was > 1500km. Mean annual cumulative distance travelled by Himalayan Vultures is 31578 km, and mean of summer movement range is quadruple times the mean winter movement range. The movement tracks and movement range confirms that Himalayan Vultures are truly a migratory species.In the analysis of flight characteristics and annual movements, I analysed how flight characteristics are affected by 13 selected environmental factors. Animals are in constant interaction with abiotic environmental parameters in their movements. A movement may entail seasonal migratory movements and daily movements in both summer and winter areas. I provide a descriptive investigation of flight characteristics of annual movements and annual navigation pathways of the Himalayan Vulture in Asia. I show the environmental conditions that vultures prefer for their living. This examination also demonstrates that vultures migrate to warmer climes in winter, at altitudes below 3800m, and summer in areas of altitudes above 4000m. In the winter, vultures move from lower NDVI to higher NDVI areas. I illustrate that vultures in their summer range are exposed to stronger thermal and orographic uplifts, higher surrounding temperature with drier atmospheric humidity and lower precipitation. Flight height above the ground in summer areas is two times the winter flight height (mean range 180-340m). With this annual movement study, I showcase the north-south and east-west movement range extension of the Himalayan Vultures in Asia.One of the primary quests in this study was also to understand the flight mechanisms of the Himalayan Vultures over the surging mountains of the Himalayas coupled with thin air. Soaring raptors can fly at high altitudes of up to 9000 meters, and Himalayan Vultures are known to fly at around 7000 meters. Using high resolution circle or thermalling GPS data (1Hz), from 50-6500 meters above sea level, a 2-fold range of air densities, I assessed the behavioural adaptation to the flight into thin air. People’s quest to unravel how birds fly long journeys during their migration are still a scientific challenge. While quite a number of studies have been conducted to understand the physiological adaptations of flight mechanisms, the specific mechanisms underlying the behavioural adjustments to high-altitude flights are largely unknown. To create the necessary lift to support the same weight and maintain soaring flight in thin air, birds might modify lift coefficient by biophysical changes, such as wing posture and increasing the power expenditure. Alternatively, they can change their flight characteristics. We show that vultures use the latter and increase circle radius by 35% and airspeed by 21% over their flight altitude range. These simple behavioural adjustments enable vultures to move seamlessly during their annual migrations over the Himalaya without increasing energy output to flight in high elevations.Finally, I recommend existing movement data sets can be analysed comparatively to better understand annual movement characteristics, migration and navigation, landscape level energetics, daily activity pattern, as well as time and energy budgets. Given its wide range distribution, I strongly suggest and call for collaboration among all the Himalayan Vulture range countries for the conservation management of the species as the species use vast expanse of Asian landscape. I also advice to use these movement data to proactively plan for infrastructure development and installations. Furthermore, I also recommend immediate future research as to understand the Himalayan Vulture foraging behaviour and herding movement. I propose that cremation of human corpses in sky burials by Buddhist and Parsee in Asian landscape be encouraged and continued with caution of the use of NSAIDs. Attention is also drawn on how bio-loggers with high resolution and multi-sensor capabilities on birds will serve as an independent real-time mobile weather buoy, which in turn can also serve as sentinels for various weather fronts. Similarly, real time analysis of behavioural (ACC) data may eventually be used to predict impending natural disasters.publishe

Erhaia Davis & Kuo (Gastropoda, Rissooidea, Amnicolidae) also in Bhutan

The occurrence of at least one species of Erhaia in Bhutan, viz. Erhaia wangchuki sp. n., is confirmed by DNA sequencing. A second unnamed species from Bhutan, that might be congeneric, is known from only a single shell. According to the molecular analysis, E. wangchuki is most closely related to a still undescribed Erhaia species from China. These two species together with E. jianouensis and Akiyoshia kobayashii, both also from China, form a well supported clade. Awaiting additional molecular data, the apparent inconsistency regarding Erhaia versus Akiyoshia is not dealt with here. The extant true sister species of E. wangchuki could be among the four SE Himalayan species from Bhutan and Nepal that are classified with Erhaia on the basis of conchological data only