Integration of Electrical Resistivity and Electromagnetic Radiation Methods for Fracture Flow System Detection

An electrical resistivity and electromagnetic emission survey was carried out involving the use of vertical electrical soundings (VES) and natural pulse electromagnetic field of the earth (NPEMFE). The use of this new methodology managed to detect the fracture flow system rupture zones in the underground, also answered the questions about the deferent subsurface water bodies. The present study focuses on Marsaba-Feshcha sub-basin in the northeast of the Dead Sea. Due to the scarcity of boreholes in the study area, several geophysical methods were implanted. The combination of these two methods (VES and NPEMFE) with the field observations and East-West transversal faults with the coordination (624437/242888) was determined, cutting through the anticlines with their mainly impervious cores with fracture length of >400 m. These transversal faults saddle inside Nabi Musa syncline (Boqea syncline), leading to a hydraulic connection between the Lower and the Upper Aquifer. Due to the identified transversal fault, the water of the Upper and Lower Aquifer mixed and emerged as springs at Ein Feshcha group.We gratefully acknowledge the financial and logistic support provided by SMART project at KIT University which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Special regards to the staff of natural reserve Ein Feshcha for their support and understanding. Special thanks also go to the reviewers for their efforts for improving and finalizing the outcome manuscript

Solar Photovoltaic Systems on Public Schools Buildings: A Case Study in Palestine

Renewable energy exploitation has proved its promising characteristics in sustainably securing energy needs. This work is a comprehensive assessment of the potential of renewable penetration in securing electricity needs in Palestine. Methods of assessment have been determined based on solar potential. Al-Dahriya secondary school in the south Hebron directorate of education was used as a case study, where these building have low working hours all over the year, which will increase the total income of the annual solar energy. AutoCad software simulation program was used to draw the rooftop of the school. The powerful HOMER ProR software was used for the simulation processes of the PV system and its requirements. Results showed that, the rooftop could accommodate 144 panels, with 57.16 KW. This system will produce 92,866 KWh every year, which could be an input of 5.12% of the total annual power consumption in Palestine if this system installed on every school in Palestine, which are in total 3074 schools. Due to the number of working hours and low energy consumption in schools, the payback period of the project will be 4.38 years. The income of the surplus when installing such project on all schools in Palestine will be around 43 million USD to the Palestinian Treasury every year after the payback period

Photodegradation using TiO2-activated borosilicate tubes

This study examines the photocatalytic activity of titanium dioxide (TiO2) semiconductor supported on borosilicate tubes (cut-off 290 nm) towards removal of a mix of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) from water. For this purpose, two widely used analgesic and anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), ibuprofen (IBU) and mefenamic acid, along with MCPA sodium monohydrate, which is a common herbicide frequently used in the agricultural activities, were selected as a case study. Borosilicate tubes were coated with titanium oxide through two different approaches: sol-gel dip-coating and a hybrid nanoparticle dip-coating and plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) process. The photochemical reactor that hosts the titania-coated tubes was designed to permit continuous throughput of liquid feed stream. The photodegradation experiments were performed in laboratory conditions under artificial irradiation simulating solar light. The efficiency of direct photolysis and heterogeneous photocatalysis (TiO2) was investigated, and the performance of each coating method was evaluated. Kinetic studies for each experiment were accomplished, the overall results showed poor efficiency and insufficient removal for NSAIDs through direct photolysis, whereas applying heterogeneous photacatalysis with TiO2 coated on borosilicate tubes was found to accelerate their degradation rate with complete decomposition. Concomitantly, kinetic experimental results showed a critical difference of performance for the two coating methods used; in particular, the degradation rates of pollutants by the solgel- coated tubes were much faster than the degradation by the nanoparticle/PECVD-coated tubes. Using TiO2 supported on borosilicate tubes appears to be a promising alternative to conventional TiO2 suspension and avoid post-separation stages. The results achieved in this study can be used to optimise large-scale applications, and expanding the study to cover a wide range of pollutants will lead to achieve more representative results.We are grateful to Eng. Stefano Costacurta from Symera Srl, Italy, and Eng. Alessandro Patelli from the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Padova, Italy, for the great efforts that had exerted in the manufacturing and for the characterisation of the TiO2- activated borosilicate tubes used in this research work. This work was supported by the European Commission in the framework of the Project BDiffusion of nanotechnology based devices for water treatment and recycling- NANOWAT^ (ENPI CBC MED I.B/2.1/049, Grant No. 7/1997)

TiO2 and Active Coated Glass Photodegradation of Ibuprofen

Commercial non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are considered as toxic to the environment since they induce side e ects when consumed by humans or aquatic life. Ibuprofen is a member of the NSAID family and is widely used as an anti-inflammatory and painkiller agent. Photolysis is a potentially important method of degradation for several emerging contaminants, and individual compounds can undergo photolysis to various degrees, depending on their chemical structure. The e ciency oftitanium dioxide (TiO2) and photocatalysis was investigated for the removal of ibuprofen from the aquatic environment, and the performance of these di erent processes was evaluated. In heterogeneous photocatalysis, two experiments were carried out using TiO2 as (i) dispersed powder, and (ii) TiO2 immobilized on the active surface of commercial coated glass. The kinetics of each photoreaction was determined, and the identification of the photoproducts was carried out by liquid chromatography coupled with Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (LC-FTICR MS). The overall results suggest that the TiO2 active thin layer immobilized on the glass substrate can avoid recovery problems related to the use of TiO2 powder in heterogeneous photocatalysis and may be a promising tool toward protecting the environment from emerging contaminants such as ibuprofen and its derivatives.Funding: This work was supported by the European Union in the framework of the Project “Di usion of nanotechnology-based devices for water treatment and recycling; NANOWAT” (ENPI CBC MED I-B/2.1/049, Grant No. 7/1997). Acknowledgments: Many thanks to Jawad H. Shoqueir, the head of Soil and hydrology Lab at Al-Quds University, for his support to partially cover the publication fee from his own budget. Results reported in this article were partially presented by Samer Khalaf at the Second International Conference on Recycle and Reuse, 4–6 June 2014, Istanbul, Turkey and published in the book of abstracts

TiO2 and Active Coated Glass Photodegradation of Ibuprofen

Commercial non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are considered as toxic to the environment since they induce side effects when consumed by humans or aquatic life. Ibuprofen is a member of the NSAID family and is widely used as an anti-inflammatory and painkiller agent. Photolysis is a potentially important method of degradation for several emerging contaminants, and individual compounds can undergo photolysis to various degrees, depending on their chemical structure. The efficiency oftitanium dioxide (TiO2) and photocatalysis was investigated for the removal of ibuprofen from the aquatic environment, and the performance of these different processes was evaluated. In heterogeneous photocatalysis, two experiments were carried out using TiO2 as (i) dispersed powder, and (ii) TiO2 immobilized on the active surface of commercial coated glass. The kinetics of each photoreaction was determined, and the identification of the photoproducts was carried out by liquid chromatography coupled with Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (LC-FTICR MS). The overall results suggest that the TiO2 active thin layer immobilized on the glass substrate can avoid recovery problems related to the use of TiO2 powder in heterogeneous photocatalysis and may be a promising tool toward protecting the environment from emerging contaminants such as ibuprofen and its derivativ

Removal of Herbicides from Water Using Heterogeneous Photocatalysis Case Study: MCPA Sodium Monohydrate

In this study, the herbicide MCPA sodium salt monohydrate (sodium (4-chloro-2 methylphenoxy) acetate has been studied as are presentative compound used in the agricultural field. Accordingly, direct photolysis and photocatalytic experiments under artificial irradiation simulating solar light in laboratorial conditions were performed. Photocatalytic experiments were performed using TiO2 dispersed powder and as an immobilized thin layer on the surface of blue glasses. The obtained results of photolysis showed a poor efficacy toward degradation of MCPA sodium monohydrate, with half-life (t1/2) 6931.5 min. While, the addition of TiO2 dispersed powder to the photocatalytic process enhances the process dramatically with (t1/2) equal to 36.5 min; furthermore, complete mineralization had been reached after approximately 4 hours, whereas the addition of TiO2 through immobilized system led to enhance the degradation rate with 2236 min. as t1/2. In spite of this, using TiO2 supported on glass substrates with more improvements could be a promising alternative to conventional TiO2 suspension, and provides a clean treatment method