Màster Oficial - Enginyeria Ambiental

URI permanent per a aquesta col·leccióhttps://hdl.handle.net/2445/60677

Treballs Finals del Màster d'Enginyeria Ambiental de la Facultat de Química de la Universitat de Barcelona.

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Removal of organic contaminants by constructed wetlands and solar-based oxidation processes
(2022-06) Piera Santacruz, Ana; Cruz Alcalde, Alberto; López Vinent, Núria
Micropollutants (MPs), substances that exist in very small traces in water, have been attracting the attention of the scientific community because of their frequent occurrence in the aquatic environment even after passing through conventional water and wastewater treatment systems. A large number of sources thus contribute to the introduction of MPs into the environment. Waste water treatment plants (WWTP) are also considered the major source of MPs entrance in the aquatic environment. Thus, appropriate treatment processes capable of removing MPs and other relevant pollutants need to be adopted in order to preserve the environment. So that, a hybrid process constructed wetland (CW) and advanced oxidation process (AOP) has been investigated in this study. The performance of MPs removal from constructed wetlands was investigated using two different aquatic plants (Phragmites australis and Cyperus haspan) and two modes of operation (with or without recirculation). The results revealed that no significant differences were observed between plants. However, an enhancement of the MPs elimination was achieved in the CW with recirculation (about 80 % of some MPs) compared to the CW without recirculation (about 50 % of MPs elimination). Additionally, it was studied the potential of CWs as a pretreatment of photo-Fenton in order to improve the process’ efficiency on MPs degradation. The results disclosed that total removal of MPs were achieved in less than 30 min in the matrices pretreated with recirculated CW while less than 80% of MPs removal was obtained in 120 min without pretreatment.
Study of a gas-permeable membrane contactor for ammonia recovery from manure
(2022-06) Ben Hammou Abboud, Yasmina; Dosta Parras, Joan; Serra Toro, Andreu
Ammoniacal nitrogen present in livestock manure represents a valuable resource that can be recovered to generate fertilizers by using gas-permeable hydrophobic membranes, which have gained increasing interest for their efficiency and low cost. In this study, the use of an ammonia-permeable hollow fibre membrane (active surface area of 0.50 m2) to recover the nitrogen present in a synthetic solution and filtered manure was analysed. Its principle of operation is based on the ammonia (NH3) mass transfer from the feed to an acid extract solution or trapping solution (in this study, using diluted H2SO4 75%) due to the difference in concentrations of ammonia, enhanced by the control of pH. For experiments with 2L of synthetic feed at pH values above 9, more than 98% of ammonia (1.8 g N/L) was recovered in 8 hours at 25°C (equal volumes of feed and trapping solution). The manure experiments were performed after pre-treating the manure by centrifugating and filtrating it in order to determine the nitrogen recovery under different conditions. The pH set for the manure experiments was determined from the synthetic feed experiments where duplicates were executed testing a pH range value for the feed from 6 to 12. Volume ratios of 1:1 and 1:10 were analysed and recoveries of more than 99% were obtained with a trapping volume 10 times lower than the feed solution (pre-treated manure) under the conditions mentioned above. From the current project, the use of a lab-scale hollow-fiber ammonia gas permeable membrane contactor has been proved to be highly efficient to recover ammonia from a high loaded nitrogen wastewater such as pre-treated manure.
Adding biochar to the composting process: effect of the resulting amendment in agricultural soils
(2020) Noguer Pich, Bet; Rigol Parera, Anna; Sauras Yera, Teresa
Agricultural soils are reaching critical points in soil health and functionality. The main soil issues are loss of structure, low fertility and soil carbon deficits. Previous experiences support that mixing compost and biochar and using the mixture as soil amendment can improve plant growth by increasing water and nutrient retention and decreasing soil compaction and, in addition, being a sustainable option were residues are reused and C sequestrated in soils. Moreover, some recent studies go further and suggest the application of biochar in composting process. In our study, a review of the effect of applying co-composted biochar in agricultural soils was done. Nineteen worldwide articles studying soil and plant parameters as soil organic carbon, soil water content, pH, cation exchange capacity, greenhouse gases emission, plant nutrient uptake and plant yield, were reviewed. Co-composted biochar (COMBI) application in soils generally resulted in beneficial changes for soil health as an increase of soil organic content, soil water content, cation exchange capacity (especially when applied in high doses), crop yield and a reduction in N2O emissions. Moreover, co-composted biochar as amendment also regulates soil pH in the correct range between 5.5 and 7.5. Regarding CO2 emissions, different trends were observed among reviewed studies and more investigation needs to be done to study soil CO2 emissions together with other emissions produced in the whole life of co-composted biochar and compared with those emissions that biomass would have emit if was not converted into this material. All these trends greatly vary with different experimental conditions as soil type, soil pH and COMBI application rates. Finally, further work on the application of co-composted biochar in soil quality and plant growth is still necessary to understand the effect of co-composted biochar when applied in different conditions as soil type, soil pH, location, amendment application rate, among others.
Potential and limitations of co-fermentation: A review
(2020) Pérez i Esteban, Noemí; Astals Garcia, Sergi; Dosta Parras, Joan
Fermentation is a biotechnological process to generate value from organic waste. During this process, volatile fatty acids (VFA) are obtained as a product, which can be directly used to support other biotechnologies and contribute to the circular economy. However, some substrates present a series of characteristics that are not totally optimal. Co-fermentation is a way to alleviate these drawbacks, which consists on fermenting two or more substrates simultaneously. Co-fermentation is a relatively new approach to the fermentation process as the articles ranging from 2013-2020 account for 77%. A wide range of substrates and combinations have been studied. The more utilised main substrate is waste activated sludge (WAS) followed by primary sludge (PS). Most publications have focused on studying the combination of WAS and food waste (FW) and WAS and agro-industrial (e.g. corn stalk and mushrooms). Most researchers emphasize pH control using chemicals and balancing C/N ratio. Besides, the substrate has been shown to influence the VFA profile as well as the pH. The addition of agro-industrial residue can delay the co-fermentation process due to its high content in lignocellulosic compounds. Overall, other parameters and mixtures should be studied, and more continuous experiments are needed to finish studying co-fermentation
Application of the photo-Fenton process at circumneutral pH to agricultural water reuse
(2020) Lai, Claudia; Cruz Alcalde, Alberto; Sans Mazón, Carme
The high water consumption in agriculture (60-70% of freshwater) and the prediction of a significant growth usage led the scientific community to the concept that the reuse of WW is necessary. Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) and, in particular, photo-Fenton technique showed up to be very useful for the elimination of micropollutants (MPs) and disinfection from wastewater by generating powerful Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). The strategy of this project consisted in involving three organic fertilizers (EDTA-Fe, EDDS-Fe and DTPA-Fe) in the application of the photo-Fenton process at neutral pH for Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) abatement (100%, 94.1% and 90.1% of SMX degradation, respectively). To be iron chelate agents, their employment permitted to avoid iron precipitation making plausible water reuse for agricultural purposes containing already a fertilizer. In this way, DTPA-Fe complex has been deeply investigated since it is the less known in scientific community so far, showing a great outcome in photo-Fenton technique application. This thesis is focus on reaction’s mechanism of the process as there would be a chance that iron complexes would participate with dissolved oxygen and sunlight to the generation of ROS, which could have significant environmental implications if they are also formed in aquatic ecosystems. From test with tert butanol as radical hydroxyl (HO∙) scavenger, this most oxidation species showed up to be the responsible of SMX degradation. Also, the introduction of solar light in the system revealed a possible iron complex excitation and radical species formation ([DTPA-Fe(II)]*2-, DTPA∙3-, O2∙-) so its engagement in reaction but at very minimum level. In addition, oxygen and hydrogen peroxide allowed the development of ROS species so increasing the efficiency of the process itself (69.2% when only H2O2 applied, 30.1% when only O2 applied).To sum up, photo-Fenton with iron complexes at neutral pH revealed to be very efficient technique in terms of reference compound removal, considering to be a possible strategy to apply in one line of WWTP (Wastewater Treatment Plant) to wastewater reuse in agriculture since the availability of solar light is free.
Development of an air pollutant emission control system for the Fishmeal Industry in Peru
(2020) Bernales Muñoz, Milagros del Carmen; Sans Mazón, Carme
Peruvian fishery is ranked among the 10 countries with the highest global fisheries production due to the abundance of marine biomass located on the Pacific coast. Therefore, it is a strategic resource for the country’s economy, especially for anchovy fishing, the main marine resource for the production of fishmeal, for which 95% of the catch is destined and which ends up placing Peru as the leading producer of fishmeal in the world. Since the 1950s, the evolution of the fishing industry has been constant, however, the fishmeal industry is one of the sources generating emissions of particulate matter (PM), nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur oxides (SOx), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), trimethylamine (C3H9N), mercaptans and ammonia (NH3) in the country. These emissions are currently treated with atmospheric control techniques and have managed to comply with the maximum permissible limits established by Peruvian legislation. However, another polluting aspect not taken into account with so much pressure towards the industry is the pollution towards the population caused by the bad odors generated during the process. In this research a review of the production process of fishmeal, the legislation established by the Peruvian state and the European Union was carried out, and of the different scientific studies focused on the control of odours produced by various industries and especially the fishing industry and fishmeal. With the available scientific information, an air pollutant treatment system has been developed to help reduce odors to 100%. This system includes the control techniques already used by the industry, such as, the use of cyclones, scrubbers with sea water, to which is added the addition of a biofilter as a new technique. The selection of the biofilter for odor reduction was based on savings in installation and maintenance costs compared to incineration (thermal and catalytic), chemical absorption, water absorption and adsorption, by 84%, 58%, 57 % and 11% respectively. In addition to the high efficiency achieved in the elimination of hydrogen sulfide (H2S), trimethylamine (C3H9N), mercaptans and ammonia (NH3) in fishmeal plants, the food sector, sewage and waste treatment plants. It should be noted that the parameters of use of the biofilter are still under study, so there is no specific model for each industry
Water Footprint for People
(2020) Garino, Agustina María; Giménez Farreras, Jaume
The water footprint (WF) is an indicator that measures the amount of water used and polluted to produce each of the goods and services we use (volume/ time). It can be calculated for a process, a product’s entire value chain, a business, a river basin, a nation, an individual person or community of consumers. It has three components: green water footprint (rain water stored in the root zone of the soil and evaporated, transpired or incorporated by plants), blue water footprint (water that has been sourced from surface or groundwater resources and is either evaporated, incorporated into a product, changed from one water body to another or returned at a different time) and grey water footprint (amount of fresh water required to assimilate the load of pollutants to meet specific water quality standards). For this project, the footprint of an average consumer in Spain was calculated. The type of diet, habits, activities, consumption of products, and country of origin have an impact in the accounting of an individual’s footprint. The footprint is composed of both direct and indirect water use. The direct water footprint is the water that a person uses and pollutes directly in activities such as taking a shower, washing the dishes, watering a garden, flushing the toilet, etc. To calculate it, the minimum flow of different appliances and an assumed frequency and duration of every activity was considered. The direct water footprint calculated was 226 m3/year. The indirect water footprint is the water use associated to the production of the goods and services used by the consumer. The indirect footprint was calculated for an average Spanish diet and other consumptions like clothing, footwear, tobacco and books. The footprints for many of the products consumed by a Spanish person have already had their footprint accounted through numerous studies, but for some of the consumptions the footprint had to be calculated using different methodologies obtained from the Water Footprint Assessment Manual. For the diet component of the footprint there were three food products that had theirs calculated. The first methodology used was for the green, blue and grey footprint of growing a crop. This calculating methodology was previously tested comparing the footprint for bananas grown in Morocco, given in a previous study, with the calculated footprint of bananas grown in Islas Canarias. The testing showed the variablility of the outcome, given different climatological and crop parameters. The crop chosen to calculate its footprint as part of the Spanish diet was the melon. The second calculating methodology was used to calculate the footprint of producing fish through acquaculture, which considered the feed-related footprint and the water evaporation and infiltration from the ponds. The third product considered was pastries, which considered all the possible pastry compositions varying the ingredient proportions and the type of fat used. The footprint associated to a Spanish diet amounted to 1,839 m3/year.For the other consumptions an average Spanish person has on a yearly basis, the calculation was made adding the individual footprint for each material, taken from various studies, in adequate proportions for each product. The total footprint for the assumed yearly purchases of clothing, footwear, tobacco and books was 123.13 m3/year. Considering the direct and indirect water footprint for an average Spanish consumer the total calculated was 2.188 m3/year. The indirect footprint had the biggest impact on the total, contributing with 1,962.13 m3/year. The food group with the largest footprint was farm animal meats, which includes pig, bovine, poultry and goat meat and offals, with 515.65 m3/year, and the single product with the largest contribution to an average Spanish person’s annual footprint was pigmeat with 303 m3/year. Making changes in habits, diet and other consumptions can have a significant impact on reducing one’s water footprint. However, it has to be taken into account that when reducing the consumption of a product there is an associated increase in the consumption of a substitute, which changes the location of the footprint but does not necessarily reduce it. Hence, when the aim is to reduce our footprint, it is important to compare the alternatives to see if it entails an actual significant reduction.
Introducing Eco-gamma: A novel environmental impact index for water quantity and quality evaluation
(2020) Quezada Prado, Mauricio Daniel; Bonet i Ruiz, Jordi; Bonet Ruiz, Alexandra
The main motivation of this work is the creation and proposal of a new index that measures the environmental impact of water quality degradation. There are many methods that currently assess impacts based on the quantity of water consumed or some specific effects on human health but not a transversally accepted method for the change in water quality due human or natural pollution. The first chapter of this report is the introduction to the subject and background information supporting the main ideas. It is established that the property the index will be developed from is the growth rate of the living forms inhabiting an aquatic environment. Then, a summary of the literary review performed is presented in chapter 2. The most relevant findings of the review are the gamma concept and the cardinal model, both which are later used as the basis for the index development, called Eco-gamma due its inspiration in the gamma concept. This chapter is complemented with the description of different properties of the water that may affect the growth rate of their living forms and a list of possible pollution sources. Next chapter is the index development, where some relevant parameters are characterized from the previous review, which are needed to be included in the form of the cardinal model adopted. A back-up for temperature and other typical variables is set. After that, the index mathematical expression is presented, along with a discussion of its most relevant characteristics. Finally, categories of impact are defined according to the possible values of Eco-gamma index. Chapter 5 corresponds to the application of the index. It includes a basic example together with a more complex problem. All the assumptions are explained, which are typical tasks in real life applications. The closure chapter of conclusions has final discussions about the index and mentions possible guidelines and future tasks to improve and expand the index basis and applications of this work.
Guidance for implementation of standard ISO 14001 in a Galvanic Company
(2020) Vallespinós Forner, Albert; Ruiz Hernando, María
Nowadays, with the increase of pollution and the advance of climate change, Environmental Management Systems (EMS) are becoming more important and necessary to help companies and society to be less harmful to the environment. The present work focuses on the implementation of the standard ISO 14001:2015, a practical tool for organizations aiming to successfully manage their environmental responsibilities. The implementation is done by following the standard specifications listed at European Community regulation 1221/2009 EMAS III, with the objective to comply with all the certification requirements of ISO 14001:2015. Furthermore, the implementation phases explained during this project can be considered as a guideline of how the standard can be implemented. Specifically, the rule is implemented at GALVANIX, a fictitious galvanic corporation created and described using data from Environmental Authorisations of companies of the same type, in this case galvanic sector. Located at Barcelona, Spain, GALVANIX main activity is to produce profiles and sheets of aluminium highly resistant. Furthermore, in addition of the EMS, an Initial Environmental Review is carried out with the objective to know better the starting point of the company, facilitating the progression and implementation over time of the EMS. During the description of the fictitious company, is noticed a lack of organization and efficient practices related on environmental aspects such as atmospheric emissions or waste management, as well as the suboptimal usage of resources like water, energy or raw materials. Thanks to the EMS, is believed these main problems are going to be solved while improving overall environmental performance.
Design of an innovative collection System for the organic fraction of municipal solid waste
(2020) López Díaz, Andrés; Bayarri Ferrer, Bernardí; Astals Garcia, Sergi
Climate change is one of the biggest challenges humanity is actually facing. This is why the European Union has recently issued a more restrictive waste management Directive, which establishes a minimum percentages of selective waste collection for the coming years. To achieve these objective is necessary to improve the current selective collection methods. This is why organic matter becomes important, due to the large amount that is generated as well as its subsequent valorization possibilities. In this final master project a study of the current collection systems is made to find out which are their main characteristics that allow improving the separation efficiency. In addition, the existing technologies that allow differentiating organic matter from other types of materials are reviewed. Succeeding, an innovative organic matter collection system based on X-ray technology is designed. This prototype is design to reject the organic matter waste bags that have an amount of improper materials greater than the desired maximum limit. In this way, citizens can be rewarded for making good use of the system. Subsequently, due to the high cost of the X-ray based system a second system was designed. It is a system where users are identified by QR codes on the waste bags. This allows a subsequent bag inspection to benefit or fine the user. Finally, a preliminary economic comparison of both systems and the current one is carried out. In addition to the environmental advantages and compliance with the European Directive, better separation of organic waste at source reduces the cost of pre-treating it. With this framework, the economic feasibility of both designs is studied
Continuous culture of sulphur-oxidizing microorganisms for metal recovery
(2020) Fradera Admetlla, Vinyet; Dosta Parras, Joan
Nowadays heavy metal contamination has become a global problem. So, it is necessary to find a way to remove heavy metals and biological extraction can be a good alternative from physical or chemical. Biological extraction ahs low energy demand and it is considered a green and environment friendlier technique. The most commonly biological method used in metal recovery is called bioleaching. An example of bioleaching could be use sulphur oxidizing bacteria (SOB) to oxidized elemental sulphur to sulphuric acid, lowering pH and improving heavy metals solubilization. The present work aims to study copper recovery and to enrich sulphur oxidizing microorganisms in a reactor to obtain an effluent to be able to carry out the bioleaching process. A continuous stirred tank reactor with mixed of Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans and sulphur-oxidizing microorganisms to achieved the effluent, had been tested. Also, a bioleaching Jar-Test in order to assess copper solubilization as a function of sulphuric acid dose, total solids content and stirring time. After activating the microorganisms, the reactor was able to start up properly, achieving an effluent with a 0.06 M of sulphuric acid concentration. In addition, Jar-Test was reached a copper solubilization between 148.25 mg Cu/kg sludge and 203.86 mg Cu/kg sludge. The factor combination that obtained the best copper solubilization was: 2% total solids content, 6 days of stirring time and 3 g S°/L transformed in sulphuric acid dose.
Development status of global marine wind energy and contribution to the future development in Spain
(2020) Llin Brosa, Marc; Bonet i Ruiz, Jordi; Bonet Ruiz, Alexandra
Everybody agrees that fossil fuel energies are not sustainable and renewable energies should be introduced (eolic, solar, biomass, etc) in the electricity mix; however, there is sometimes reticence to have these installations in the own territory. To reach future sustainable growth goals like Europe to be climate neutral in 2050 the energy provided by the forces that take place in the sea called “blue energy” will be a key technology. Offshore wind energy is one of these energies, the ongoing increasing size of wind turbines decreases its costs of production and maintenance taking advantage of the scale economy. Marine wind turbines solve this space problem and have the advantage that the absence of obstacles in the sea provide more favorable conditions. This energy is rapidly growing and maturing in some parts of the world starting to play an important role in the energy system of some countries like the UK, China, Germany or Denmark. Even is expected that offshore wind power could reach onshore wind power in the next few years in terms of new aerogenerators installed. Although Europe currently has the largest floating wind energy capacity in the world, in some countries the deployment of this type of renewable energy has not started yet. Spain has great wind potential to produce clean energy that is not currently being exploited due to some economic and technological limitations. These limitations are beginning to be overcome with the evolution of technology, so the exploitation of the wind resource in the sea begins to be a viable option. In this context, the aim of this work is to conduct a study of the global development of offshore wind energy, review the state of the art of marine wind turbines and analyze the case of development in Spain, its limitations and future steps to follow. Based on the analyzed information, conclusions have been drawn that contribute to the expansion of this energy in Spain.
Design of a wastewater treatment plant for the company Lácteos San Antonio in Cuenca - Ecuador
(2020) Webster Moscoso, Juan Francisco; Sans Mazón, Carme
The care of its use, treatment, release and circulation of water allows water to be considered as a renewable resource, more so according to research carried out by international entities that ensure that 80% of the water used in the world is returned to the ecosystem without any treatment, so it is considered that by 2030 the world will face a 40% deficit of water. Among these statistics is Ecuador, a country where the discharges of untreated water are mostly discharged into public sewers or river channels. Lácteos San Antonio, company dedicated to the production of products derived from milk, based on the environmental requirements, requires to determine the most favorable technologies applicable for a wastewater treatment plant that fits their realities. In the present project a study of the most used techniques in Food, Drink and Milk industries around the world, considered within the Best Available Techniques is carried out, as well as scientific articles of authors who have developed researches of the technologies applied to the treatment of the waste water coming from the processes of the dairy industry in order to define the most indicated processes taking into account their efficiency and adaptability to the realities of the company.
Activated Sludge Process Design & Simulation of a Domestic Wastewater Influenced by Wine Production
(2019-06) Fàbregas Oller, Oriol; Micó Reche, Ma. del Mar
Urban wastewater can have different characteristics depending on its origin and the industrial component. When focusing on wastewater influenced by wine industry, these characteristics are very significant for the design of a Wastewater Treatment Plant. This wastewater gathers a high quantity of organic matter during the harvest of the grapes season (vintage). In this study are evaluated and solved the main difficulties in the design of an Activated Sludge (AS) process from an urban WWTP in a winery region in Aragón, Spain. After a research, it has been concluded that the main challenges for the water treatment of urban winery regions like this are the high flowrate and high organic matter load, especially in the shape of readily biodegradable organic matter (mainly organic acids, sugars and alcohols). Another difficulty found has been the lack of nutrients needed for the microorganisms to biologically treat the organic matter in this wastewater. After the research has been done, the peaks of organic matter have been solved by designing the AS process with the influent parameters from the month of October as a worst-case scenario. Designing the plant to meet parameters in this scenario ensures that the system will overcome the increase of organic load provoked during vintage period. The AS process will also perform properly during the rest of the year. Secondly, through the influent analysis, the nitrogen scarcity challenge has been analyzed. It has been concluded that the minimum BOD5 ratio of BOD5:TKN:TP = 100:5:1 has not been achieved during some parts of the year. Because of this, the minimum nitrogen and phosphorous ratio in the Activated Sludge process has been increased into BOD5:TKN:TP = 100:7:1.2 to calculate the ammonia and orthophosphates addition that is needed in every month of the year. Then, a preliminary design of the AS process has been performed according the ASM1 model and using the worst-case scenario influent. This model can give an idea of the dimensions of the system, which is adjusted and checked later through simulation. However, this model requires a COD fractioning, and, in this case, it hugely varies from a standard one because the readily biodegradable COD fraction (like organic acids, sugars and alcohols) takes a high percentage. COD fractioning from Beck and collaborators work (2005 (1)) has been used as a reference, since it is also devoted to urban wastewater from a winery region. This fractioning suits better because it lowers the recalcitrant fraction of the COD in the influent and increases the biodegradable one.After the ASM1 calculation, the design volume of the aerobic reactor has been set at 248.8 m3 and its Solid Retention Time has been stablished at 5 days. The design inlet flowrate has been 1.5 times higher than the flowrate of the worst-case scenario influent. In the last part of the report, LynxASM1 software has been used to perform the simulation of the AS system and it takes the ASM1 values obtained in the preliminary design. A worst-case scenario and a yearly simulation have been made to assure that the effluent meets the legislation standards of a WWTP with no nitrogen release limitations.
Abatement of Clothianidin pesticide by Ozonation
(2019-06) Cruz Diego, Lucas; Sans Mazón, Carme; Cruz Alcalde, Alberto
The aim of this project is to study the degradation by ozonation of clothianidin, a compound of environmental concern. Concretely, the study is focused on investigate the kinetics of direct and indirect pesticide removal, which depend on hydroxyl radical (indirect way) and ozone directly (direct way), to obtain the second order rate constants of the degradation reactions. IIn addition, and because MPs are not mineralized but transformed into other chemical species, it is important to know which are these products and which risks could they pose because of their presence in the aquatic environment. Being so, preliminary studies on the degradation mechanisms and ecotoxicity screening were also performed in this work
Study of catalytic iron ozonation for the removal of emerging contaminants
(2019-06) Sánchez Fontanet, Laura; Sans Mazón, Carme; Cruz Alcalde, Alberto
During last century, water has been consumed by human for agriculture, industrial processes and municipal use in huge amounts. This, together with the increase on the water quality standard, leads to water scarcity in many parts of the world. Emerging contaminants, which are organic recalcitrant compounds found recently in water, compromise nowadays the quality of the availability fresh water due to their unknown effect on human and environment health. This research was focused on the study of an Advanced Oxidation Process (AOPs), the Zero Valent Iron catalytic ozonation (O3/ZVI), to treat spiked miliQ and bottled water at pH = 7.5 with a contaminant pesticide model: acetamiprid. Results showed that the type of water used had an effect on acetamiprid degradation being faster for miliQ water. These results were attributed to the concentration of bicarbonates present in bottled water which were demonstrated to have a scavenging effect of free hydroxyl radicals which are responsible of acetamiprid degradation. Also the presence of organic matter (NOM) showed a positive effect on single ozonation performance but an opposite outcome on O3/ZVI degradation capacity. This research increases the knowledge about O3/ZVI for further scientific research and technical applications.
Assessing Volatile Fatty Acids production from food waste at MBT plants: focusing on temperature influence
(2019-06) Fernández Domínguez, David; Dosta Parras, Joan; Astals Garcia, Sergi
The implementation of the circular economy paradigm requires a change in economic dynamics towards more sustainable and renewable strategies. Under this scenario, waste is not considered a residue but instead a source of add-value products. The Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW) represents around the 30% of the municipal solid waste and its treatment is a big challenge to deal with since the European union restricted its landfilling. Thermal treatment such as incineration and pyrolysis have high energy requirements and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) while biological treatments, such as composting and anaerobic digestion (AD), operation cost is lower but generate products (compost and biogas) with low market value. Mechanical-Biological Treatment plants (MBT) incorporate biological stages that reduce and stabilize the biodegradable matter present in the OFMSW. The AD process can be engineered to promote the accumulation of fermentation products such as Volatile Fatty Acids (VFA) including acetic, propionic and butyric acid, among others. VFA have a higher market price than biogas and have a wide range of utilities. However, there is still some controversy regarding the impact of operational conditions on VFA yield and VFA profile. Therefore, this research investigates the influence of temperature as operational parameter to maximize VFA production from OFMSW and minimize methanogenic activity at different temperatures. Experimental results have shown that the configuration of MBT plant using wet AD with supernatant from AD recirculation is ideal for VFA production since the waste liquid stream under treatment has high alkalinity, a pH near 6 and readily organic matter available to be fermented into VFA. Fermentation under mesophilic conditions (35 ⁰C) have been increased VFA concentration from 6 g VFA/L to 20 g VFA/L which is in the top-tier of values in the literature. Experiments at different temperatures (20, 45, 55 and 70 ⁰C) have shown that both the ratio CODVFA/sCOD and specific production (gCODVFA/gVS) decreased as temperature increased even that the differences at 45 and 55 ⁰C from 35 ⁰C were slight. Nevertheless, 20 ⁰C resulted to be an unfeasible temperature for VFAs production. This investigation could generate an alternative for biorefinery innovations and valorization of OFMSW
ANSYS® Fluent simulation of a conventional chimney
(2019-06) Pitarch Gres, Roger; Torres i Castillo, Ricard; Bonet Ruiz, Alexandra
The aim of this master final project is to simulate a conventional industrial chimney to know its internal dynamics. Two different models have been considered, one with a laminar regime and the other with a turbulent one. Two different simulations have been made in each model; one that only includes a mixture of gases as an inlet fluid and another that incorporates particles to the previous model. Firstly, the model has been validated based on the query of different sources. Once the model has converged, there have been studies of pressure, temperature and velocity. The dimensions of the chimney have been established based on current state regulations and are identical in both models. Moreover, in order to understand better the study, a detailed explanation of the different stages (model geometry, meshing and setup) was performed and the results are shown in images as contour, vectors and some graphics. The energy balance has also been squared and the hydrodynamic length has been calculated
A proposal for a waste tyre treatment plant and its environmental impact assesment
(2018-06) Tortello Branchi, Maximiliano; Ruiz Hernando, María; Torres i Castillo, Ricard
The annual generation of waste tyre (WT) in Catalonia is approximately 40,000 tons. The control of their disposal is an environmental issue due to their non-biodegradable components. In Spain the correct coordination and treatment of WTs is conduced by two integrated management systems (IMS), who were created from the requeriment of the Real Decreto 1619/2005. Unfortunately, the IMSs estimate that an amount between 15% and 20% of WTs are not being declared, implying they are not receiving a proper treatment. The recycling of WTs, whose main materials are rubber, steel and textile can be conduced in two ways: using them as a tyre derived fuel (TDF) or as a tyre derived material (TDM). The WTs treatment plant planned in this study include mechanical treatments and size reduction technologies to obtain different sizes of TDM, with the purpose to comply with the different alternatives of applications, even as a TDF for cement industry.
Co-substrate analysis for biogas production enhancement in an anaerobic digestion plant of Argentina
(2018-06) Ramirez, Martín Eduardo; Mata Álvarez, Joan
Anaerobic co-digestion is a feasible option to overcome the drawbacks of mono-digestion and to improve the economic viability of anaerobic digestion plants due to higher methane production. It offer several benefits over digestion of separate materials, such as increased cost-efficiency (one plant several waster), increased degradation of the treated materials due to synergistic effects, improve optimal moisture and nutrient content, and also dilution of inhibitive compounds. The TFM was focused on Sudoeste Plant, a WWTP (wastewater treatment plant) from Buenos Aires where the sludge treatment plant is currently being built. The co-substrate selected was the biowaste from Central Market due to its proximity to the plant

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