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Description
Airports are a critical component of a region’s network and socioeconomic development. Regardless of the type of airport–commercial, general, regional, national, or international–their construction and development are highly advantageous to communities. Some advantages include, but are not limited to new job opportunities, access to the global market, and increased economic activity. Nonetheless, airport development has some downsides that a community must always account for. These downsides directly impact the sustainability of a region; greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, energy inefficiencies, water pollution, air pollution, and waste are just a few examples. However, twenty-first century global sustainability efforts are shifting the dynamic of sustainability practices in the U.S. The fight for a balance between socioeconomic benefits and the minimization of negative environmental impacts is advancing thanks to the development and implementation of sustainable practices and technology. For instance, U.S. airport development has seen a rise in the use of sustainable construction technologies and practices. Some of the examples of construction technologies and practices implemented in sustainable airport development are virtual design and construction, Spot by Boston Dynamics, prefabrication, and others. The multiple-case studies based on these technologies and practices indicate joint efforts for sustainability by the aviation and construction industries.
ContributorsPalacios, Martha Dennise (Author) / Cirillo, Michael (Thesis advisor) / Faith, Edward (Committee member) / Pearson, Michael (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
Generally, porous structures are nano-enabled with a high loading of nanoparticles (NPs) to enhance adsorption capacity, but pore blockage plays a determinant role in kinetics in this approach. The goal of this study is to investigate the effect of NPs loading on the adsorption kinetics and capacity of titanium dioxide (TiO2). To accomplish this, side-emitting optical fibers impregnated with different mass loadings of TiO2 (Ti-NIFs) were developed and characterized. Additionally, taking advantage of the use of optical fibers, the potential influence of ultraviolet light (UV) irradiation in arsenate adsorption over TiO2 was studied. The adsorption kinetics and capacity of Ti-NIFs were compared with slurry TiO2 nanoparticles in batch reactors. Arsenate adsorption was evaluated under both UV irradiation and dark conditions. The Ti-NIF with the lowest TiO2 loading showed comparable adsorption rate to NPs in suspension. Higher loadings resulted in high mass-transfer limitations. Interestingly, the normalized adsorption capacity of the produced Ti-NIFs maintained the adsorption capacity similar as they were freely dispersed. The experiments showed that UV has no influence in arsenate adsorption onto TiO2, contrary to previous literature indicating a positive effect, which was likely due to pH drift. Overall, this study shows that loadings of nanoparticles below 1% effectively enhance nano-enabled surfaces' performance.
ContributorsGonzalez Rodriguez, Jose Ricardo (Author) / Westerhoff, Paul (Thesis advisor) / Garcia-Segura, Sergi (Committee member) / Hristovski, Kiril (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
Chlorinated ethenes are among the most prevalent legacy contaminants affecting groundwater quality. A common treatment for chlorinated ethenes in the subsurface is in situ anaerobic bioremediation where the organohalide-respiring bacteria, Dehalococcoides mccartyi, convert the contaminants to non-toxic ethene via hydrogen (H2) dependent reductive dehalogenation. Typically, D. mccartyi obtain H2 through the fermentation of organic substrates by fermentative bacteria. However, stimulation of H2 competing processes causing production of methane (a potent greenhouse gas), rapid substrate consumption of simple substrates, and well/pore clogging by viscous complex substrates often challenge bioremediation, leading to slow rates of dehalogenation or stalls at chlorinated intermediates.This dissertation details the potential of microbial chain elongation as a technology for bioremediation of chlorinated ethenes. In chain elongation, bacteria reliably produce H2 and carboxylates (e.g., butyrate (C4)) using simple compounds (e.g., ethanol (C2) and acetate (C2)) as substrates. Under certain conditions, production of alcohols (e.g., butanol (C4)) can also occur. Here, chain elongation was demonstrated to drive reductive dehalogenation of trichloroethene via direct rapid-release H2 and slow-release H2 during fermentation of elongated products. Results showed chain elongation suppressed methanogenesis, supporting chain elongation as a potential solution for bioremediation when typical fermentable substrates do not meet treatment goals. Next, the potential for chain elongation was evaluated using groundwater and soil from a Superfund site experiencing challenges with bioremediation. Soils from the site were found to contain chain elongating bacteria, while groundwater not previously stimulated with ethanol and acetate was steered to chain elongate with bioaugmentation. Additional chain elongation substrate combinations relevant to bioremediation were identified. Results are being used to inform the design of a pilot study at the site. Lastly, this research identified and demonstrated higher ethanol concentrations, higher total pressures, and higher H2 partial pressure improves chain elongation activity and production of butanol, an important biofuel. These results aid in efforts to make chain elongation relevant as a bioprocess in a circular economy and bioremediation. Cumulatively, this dissertation research demonstrated the potential of chain elongation in bioremediation of chlorinated ethenes, indicating it should be considered when evaluating solutions for contaminated sites.
ContributorsRobles, Aide (Author) / Delgado, Anca G. (Thesis advisor) / Torres, Cesar I. (Committee member) / Bennett, Peter J. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
Efforts to enhance the quality of life and promote better health have led to improved water quality standards. Adequate daily fluid intake, primarily from tap water, is crucial for human health. By improving drinking water quality, negative health effects associated with consuming inadequate water can be mitigated. Although the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets and enforces federal water quality limits at water treatment plants, water quality reaching end users degrades during the water delivery process, emphasizing the need for proactive control systems in buildings to ensure safe drinking water.Future commercial and institutional buildings are anticipated to feature real-time water quality sensors, automated flushing and filtration systems, temperature control devices, and chemical boosters. Integrating these technologies with a reliable water quality control system that optimizes the use of chemical additives, filtration, flushing, and temperature adjustments ensures users consistently have access to water of adequate quality. Additionally, existing buildings can be retrofitted with these technologies at a reasonable cost, guaranteeing user safety.
In the absence of smart buildings with the required technology, Chapter 2 describes developing an EPANET-MSX (a multi-species extension of EPA’s water simulation tool) model for a typical 5-story building. Chapter 3 involves creating accurate nonlinear approximation models of EPANET-MSX’s complex fluid dynamics and chemical reactions and developing an open-loop water quality control system that can regulate the water quality based on the approximated state of water quality. To address potential sudden changes in water quality, improve predictions, and reduce the gap between approximated and true state of water quality, a feedback control loop is developed in Chapter 4.
Lastly, this dissertation includes the development of a reinforcement learning (RL) based water quality control system for cases where the approximation models prove inadequate and cause instability during implementation with a real building water network. The RL-based control system can be implemented in various buildings without the need to develop new hydraulic models and can handle the stochastic nature of water demand, ensuring the proactive control system’s effectiveness in maintaining water quality within safe limits for consumption.
ContributorsGhasemzadeh, Kiarash (Author) / Mirchandani, Pitu (Thesis advisor) / Boyer, Treavor (Committee member) / Ju, Feng (Committee member) / Pedrielli, Giulia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
During the rapid growth of infrastructure projects globally, countries pay high environmental and social costs as a result of the impacts caused from utilizing the traditional open-cut utility installation method that still widely being used in Egypt. For that, it was essential to have alternatives to reduce these environmental impacts and social costs; however, there are some obstacles that prevent the implementation and the realization of these alternatives.This research is conducted mainly to evaluate the environmental impacts of open-cut excavation vs. trenchless technology in Egypt, through two main methodologies. Firstly, a field survey that aims to measure knowledge of people working in the Egyptian construction industry of trenchless technology, and the harms caused from keeping utilizing open-cut for installing all kinds of underground utilities. In addition to investigating the reasons behind not relying on trenchless technology as a safe alternative for open-cut in Egypt.
Furthermore, in order to compare the greenhouse gases emissions resulted from both open-cut vs trenchless technology, a real case study is applied quantifying the amounts of the resulted greenhouse gases from each method. The results show that greenhouse gases emissions generated from open-cut were extremely higher than that of horizontal directional drilling as a trenchless installation method.
ContributorsKhedr, Ahmed Mossad Saeed Hafez (Author) / Ariaratnam, Samuel (Thesis advisor) / El Asmar, Mounir (Committee member) / Chong, Oswald (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
While most household surfactants are biodegradable in aerobic conditions, their presence in a microbiological treatment process can lead to the proliferation of antimicrobial-resistance genes (ARG) in bacteria, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Surfactants can be cationic, anionic, or zwitterionic, and these different classes may have different effects on the proliferation of ARG. This study evaluated how the three classes of surfactants affected the microbial community’s structure and ARG in O2-based membrane biofilm reactors (O2-MBfRs) that provided at least 98% surfactant removal. Cationic cetrimonium bromide (CTAB) had by far the strongest impact with highest ARG abundance in the biofilm. In particular, Pseudomonas and Stenotrophomonas, the two main genera in the biofilm treating CTAB, were highly correlated to the abundance of ARG for efflux pumps and antibiotic inactivation. CTAB also promoted potential of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) of ARG. Combining results from the metabolome and metagenome identified four possible pathways for CTAB biodegradation. Of special important is a new pathway: β-carbon oxidation of CTAB to produce betaine. An insufficient nitrogen source could lead to irreversible ARB and ARG enrichment in the MBfR biofilm. Finally, a two-stage O2-MBfR successfully removed a high concentration (730 mg/L) of CTAB: Partial CTAB removal in the Lead reactor relieved inhibition in the Lag reactor. Metagenomic analysis also revealed that the Lag reactor was enriched in genes for CTAB and metabolite oxygenation.
ContributorsZheng, Chenwei (Author) / Rittmann, Bruce (Thesis advisor) / Delgado, Anca (Committee member) / Krajmalnik-Brown, Rosa (Committee member) / Lai, Yen-Jung (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
The purpose of this study was to comprehend the global warming potential (GWP), cost variability, and competitiveness of steel with rising carbon taxes. Aluminum, glass fiber composite, and carbon fiber composite were chosen as competing materials. In order to compare the aforementioned factors, the GWP of several processes to produce steel, aluminum, and fiber composites was examined. Cost analyses of various methods were also carried out to determine their viability. Energy consumption data for each of the paths under consideration were taken from the literature for the study. To get the consistent GWP for traditional and decarbonized scenarios, the required energy is multiplied with corresponding energy source (natural gas or electricity). Even after accounting for the carbon tax and the weight-reduction factor, the results show that steel still has the lowest production costs, followed by aluminum, while fiber composites remain the most costly. EAF- steel and secondary aluminum has least GWP followed by H2-DRI (Hydrogen- Direct Reduced Iron)steel and NG-DRI (Natural Gas- Direct Reduced Iron) steel with carbon capture and storage (CCS). The state of art technology for glass fiber reinforced composite also emits less carbon dioxide but the cost of production is still high. Carbon fiber reinforced composite emits most carbon dioxide and is least economical.
ContributorsRajulwar, Vaishnavi Vijay (Author) / Seetharaman, Sridhar (Thesis advisor) / Emady, Heather (Committee member) / Nian, Qiong (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
Selenium oxyanions (i.e., selenate and selenite) can be released into the environment from surface mining. Selenium is an essential micronutrient, but high selenium in water has adverse health effects for aquatic animals and humans. Mine-influenced water is often co-contaminated with high concentrations of nitrate, selenium oxyanions, and sulfate. The Saturated Rock Fill (SRF) is a treatment technology that utilizes waste rocks from surface mining to create a biological treatment system that can be effective at removing nitrate and selenium-oxyanions from the mine-influenced water. The Selenium, Sulfur, and Nitrogen species (SeSANS) model can be used to estimate the respiration, synthesis, and endogenous decay of biomass in an SRF. The goal of this thesis is to simulate SRF biofilms using a biofilm version of SeSANS. Three nitrate loads (100, 250, and 450 kg NO3-N/day) with a low flow rate (1000 m3/d) or a high flow rate (5000 m3/d) -- a total of six scenarios -- were simulated for 5000 days of operation. The influent water contained 0.18 g Se/m3 of selenate, 0.02 Se/m3 selenite, and 800 S/m3 of sulfate; the input nitrate concentration was 100, 250, and 450 g N/m3 for the low flow rate and 20, 50, and 90 g N/m3 for the high flow rate. Methanol was injected as the electron donor. These criteria were used to define a successful simulation: effluent nitrate < 3 mg N/L and total dissolved Se < 0.029 mg Se/L, minimal sulfate reduction, and an average biofilm-biomass density of 96 kg TS/m3. To achieve those criteria, the following model parameters were adjusted: rate for methanol addition, biofilm thickness, SRF volumes, and biofilm-detachment rates. The most important parameter for achieving all the goals was the methanol addition ratio: 3.56 g COD/g NO3-N. Another important outcome was that the high-flow-rate scenarios required a larger total SRF volume to achieve target nitrate and Se-oxyanion reductions. The results of the simulations can be used to estimate biofilm characteristics and optimize the SRF configuration and treatment operation.
ContributorsKuo, Jacqueline (Author) / Rittmann, Bruce E (Thesis advisor) / Boltz, Joshua P (Committee member) / Torres, Cesar (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
Quantum computing has the potential to revolutionize the signal-processing field by providing more efficient methods for analyzing signals. This thesis explores the application of quantum computing in signal analysis synthesis for compression applications. More specifically, the study focuses on two key approaches: quantum Fourier transform (QFT) and quantum linear prediction (QLP). The research is motivated by the potential advantages offered by quantum computing in massive signal processing tasks and presents novel quantum circuit designs for QFT, quantum autocorrelation, and QLP, enabling signal analysis synthesis using quantum algorithms. The two approaches are explained as follows. The Quantum Fourier transform (QFT) demonstrates the potential for improved speed in quantum computing compared to classical methods. This thesis focuses on quantum encoding of signals and designing quantum algorithms for signal analysis synthesis, and signal compression using QFTs. Comparative studies are conducted to evaluate quantum computations for Fourier transform applications, considering Signal-to-Noise-Ratio results. The effects of qubit precision and quantum noise are also analyzed. The QFT algorithm is also developed in the J-DSP simulation environment, providing hands-on laboratory experiences for signal-processing students. User-friendly simulation programs on QFT-based signal analysis synthesis using peak picking, and perceptual selection using psychoacoustics in the J-DSP are developed. Further, this research is extended to analyze the autocorrelation of the signal using QFTs and develop a quantum linear prediction (QLP) algorithm for speech processing applications. QFTs and IQFTs are used to compute the quantum autocorrelation of the signal, and the HHL algorithm is modified and used to compute the solutions of the linear equations using quantum computing. The performance of the QLP algorithm is evaluated for system identification, spectral estimation, and speech analysis synthesis, and comparisons are performed for QLP and CLP results. The results demonstrate the following: effective quantum circuits for accurate QFT-based speech analysis synthesis, evaluation of performance with quantum noise, design of accurate quantum autocorrelation, and development of a modified HHL algorithm for efficient QLP. Overall, this thesis contributes to the research on quantum computing for signal processing applications and provides a foundation for further exploration of quantum algorithms for signal analysis synthesis.
ContributorsSharma, Aradhita (Author) / Spanias, Andreas (Thesis advisor) / Tepedelenlioğlu, Cihan (Committee member) / Turaga, Pavan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
The reactive transport related to microbially induced desaturation and precipitation (MIDP) via dissimilatory reduction of nitrogen (denitrification) in a sand layer trapped between the two silt layers was evaluated experimentally. MIDP is an emerging non-disruptive liquefaction mitigation technique that stimulates naturally occurring microorganisms to reduce nitrate to nitrogen gas and oxidize organic carbon to inorganic carbon. The relatively insoluble nitrogen gas desaturates the soil and carbonate ions combine with calcium ions in the pore water and precipitate as calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Both desaturation and carbonate precipitation can mitigate liquefaction potential, but both processes, along with biomass formation, also modify the hydraulic properties of the soil, complicating the treatment process. Several studies have already demonstrated the mechanical response for MIDP treated homogenous granular soils at the bench scale. In addition, tank tests performed by Stallings Young et al. 2021 in coarse sand and stratified sandy soil conditions have been performed to evaluate the reactive transport and treatment performance at meter-scale planar flow conditions in uniform and stratified sand layers. However, there are many instances in the field where liquefiable sand layers are overlain by thin silt layers. Knowledge of the distribution of substrates and products and their effect on the reactive transport in such stratified soil conditions and the longevity of the gas bubbles is limited. In this study, an experiment was performed simulating two-dimensional planar flow conditions to evaluate the condition where a liquefiable sand layer is confined between silt layers. Multiple treatment cycles were employed targeting a maximum iii average CaCO3 content of 1%. Time lapse image analysis of the flow of substrates throughout the process was used to determine seepage velocity and monitor changes in the hydraulic properties of the soil and the migration and persistence of desaturation throughout and after the treatment. The measurement results of various embedded sensors were used to analyze the effectiveness of MIDP treatment and distribution of substrates and products throughout the treated soil with time. Results highlighted various mechanisms by which gas could migrate through the soil.
ContributorsKarmacharya, Deepesh (Author) / Kavazanjain, Edward (Thesis advisor) / van Paasses, Leon (Committee member) / Zapata, Claudia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023