Characterization of trace organic compounds in recycled water used for irrigation on turf and comparison with rain
- Authors: Heaven, M. , Verheyen, Vincent , Cruickshank, Alicia , Wild, Karl , Watkins, Mark , Nash, David
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Agricultural Water Management Vol. 103, no. (2012), p. 176-181
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Wastewaters are increasingly being reused in public spaces to supplant the use of potable water. In this study we investigated possible trace organic contaminants in wastewater from a dairy factory applied to a recreation reserve. Samples were taken of recycled dairy factory wastewater used to irrigate the reserve and from the subsurface drainage system after irrigation and after rainfall. Using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, it was found that irrigation drainage mostly contained different compounds to those in rainfall drainage. This drainage water was found to contain residues of three agrochemicals (dicamba, 0.4 ± 0.07
Successful social entrepreneurship: The case of the Eaglehawk Recycle Shop
- Authors: Harman, Jessie
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Conference proceedings
- Full Text: false
- Description: This paper reports examines a successful partnership between a local government authority and a private nonprofit organisation to operate a community recycling venture at the Bendigo Municipal Tip in central Victoria.
Effects of varying organic matter content on the development of green roof vegetation: A six year experiment
- Authors: Bates, Adam , Sadler, Jon , Greswell, Richard , Mackay, Rae
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Ecological Engineering Vol. 82, no. September (2015), p. 301-310
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Green roofs can potentially be used to tackle a variety of environmental problems, and can be used as development mitigation for the loss of ground-based habitats. Brown (biodiversity) roofs are a type of green roof designed to imitate brownfield habitat, but the best way of engineering these habitats requires more research. We tested the effects of altering organic matter content on the development of vegetation assemblages of experimental brown (biodiversity) roof mesocosms. Three mulch treatments were tested: (1) sandy loam, where 10 mm of sandy loam mulch (about 3% organic matter by dry weight) was added to 100 mm of recycled aggregate; (2) compost, where the mulch also contained some garden compost (about 6% organic matter by dry weight); and (3) no mulch, where no mulch was added. Mesocosms were seeded with a wildflower mix that included some Sedum acre, and vegetation development was investigated over a six-year period. Species richness, assemblage character, number of plants able to seed, and above-ground plant biomass were measured. Drought disturbance was an important control on plant assemblages in all mulch treatments, but there were significant treatment response interactions. The more productive compost treatment was associated with larger plant coverage and diversity before the occurrence of a sequence of drought disturbances, but was more strongly negatively affected by the disturbances than the two less productive treatments. We suggest that this was due to the over-production of plant biomass in the more productive treatment, which made the plants more vulnerable to the effects of drought disturbance, leading to a kind of 'boom-bust' assemblage dynamic. The 'ideal' amount of added organic matter for these green roof systems was very low, but other types of green roof that have a larger water holding capacity, and/or more drought resistant plant floras, will likely require more organic matter or fertiliser. Nonetheless, nutrient-supported productivity in green roof systems should be kept low in order to avoid boom-bust plant assemblage dynamics. Research into the best way of engineering green roof habitats should take place over a long enough multi-year time period to include the effects of temporally infrequent disturbances. © 2015 Elsevier B.V.
The effect of stabilization on the utilization of municipal sewage sludge as a soil amendment
- Authors: Černe, Marko , Palčić, Igor , Pasković, Igor , Major, Nikola , Romić, Marija , Filipović, Vilim , Igrc, Marina Diana , Perčin, Aleksandra , Goreta Ban, Smiljana , Zorko, Benjamin , Vodenik, Branko , Glavič Cindro, Denis , Milačič, Radmila , Heath, David John , Ban, Dean
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Waste Management Vol. 94, no. (2019), p. 27-38
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Stabilization procedures affect nutrient and inorganic contaminant concentrations.•Anaerobic sludge has the highest levels of metals and radionuclides.•High P and N contents in sludge are a measure of its potential as a fertilizer.•Adsorption of metals and radionuclides to sludge biomass increases with nutrient content.•Soil amendment with sewage sludge is a promising strategy for nutrient recovery. This study assesses the potential use of different types of stabilized sewage sludge as a soil amendment by considering their physicochemical characteristics, nutritional status, and their trace metal and radionuclide content. The concentrations of trace metals and radionuclides were determined using ICP-OES and gamma-ray spectrometry, respectively. For determining nutritional status and chemical characterization, this study followed standard ISO-recommended procedures. Data analysis revealed that anaerobic sludge contains higher concentrations of Cr, Hg, and Ni compared to aerobic and non-biologically stabilized sludge. A similar observation was observed in the case of 226Ra, 210Pb, 228Ra, and 228Th. Furthermore, the high levels of P and N in aerobic sludge suggest that biologically stabilized sludge has the potential to be a good fertilizer. In addition, the study finds strong evidence that nutrients are involved in the adsorption of metals and radionuclides onto sludge biomass. Overall, eight of the nine studied sludge samples are safe for agricultural use since the concentrations of trace metals fall well below the limits set by Croatian legislation (NN 38/08). In addition, the levels of radionuclides do not pose a radiological risk. This means that soil conditioning with sewage sludge remains a viable strategy for nutrient recovery from municipal waste, although long-term impact assessments of repeated applications are necessary.
Microplastics in terrestrial ecosystems: A scientometric analysis
- Authors: He, Donghui , Bristow, Keith , Filipović, Vilim , Lv, Jialong , He, Hailong
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Sustainability Vol. 12, no. 20 (2020), p. 8739
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Microplastics, as an emerging contaminant, have been shown to threaten the sustainability of ecosystems, and there is also concern about human exposure, as microplastic particles tend to bioaccumulate and biomagnify through the food chain. While microplastics in marine environments have been extensively studied, research on microplastics in terrestrial ecosystems is just starting to gain momentum. In this paper, we used scientometric analysis to understand the current status of microplastic research in terrestrial systems. The global scientific literature on microplastics in terrestrial ecosystems, based on data from the Web of Science between 1986 and 2020, was explored with the VOSviewer scientometric software. Co-occurrence visualization maps and citation analysis were used to identify the relationship among keywords, authors, organizations, countries, and journals focusing on the issues of terrestrial microplastics. The results show that research on microplastics in terrestrial systems just started in the past few years but is increasing rapidly. Science of the Total Environment ranks first among the journals publishing papers on terrestrial microplastics. In addition, we also highlighted the desire to establish standards/protocols for extracting and quantifying microplastics in soils. Future studies are recommended to fill the knowledge gaps on the abundance, distribution, ecological and economic effects, and toxicity of microplastics.
Initial state of excavated soil and rock (ESR) to influence the stabilisation with cement
- Authors: Lu, Yi , Xu, Changhao , Baghbani, Abolfazl
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Construction and Building Materials Vol. 400, no. (2023), p.
- Full Text:
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- Description: This paper investigates the initial state of excavated soil and rock (ESR). These initial states include dry density, organic content, water content (Wc), cement content (Cc), liquid index (LI), dry or wet mixing method. Three ESRs collected from tunnelling projects and kaolin were used in this study to compare. The specimens (i.e., 50 mm in diameter and 100 mm in height) were prepared in the laboratory and cured at 7 and 14 days, and then assessed by the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) test. The analysis shows that the ratio of Wc/Cc is the primary factor to obtain different UCS for high LI ESR and a simple equation is proposed for quick prediction. For ESR with a more general LI, predictive equations are also proposed in terms of artificial neural network (ANN) and genetic programming (GP) for 7-days curing time. The results indicate that the both ANN models with Bayesian Regularization (BR) algorithm outperform ANN with Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) and GP model are accurate to predict UCS of mixtures. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd
AI grey box model for alum sludge as a soil stabilizer : an accurate predictive tool
- Authors: Baghbani, Abolfazl , Nguyen, Minh , Kafle, Bidur , Baghbani, Hasan , Shirani Faradonbeh, Roohollah
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Geotechnical Engineering Vol. 17, no. 5 (2023), p. 480-494
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: By using a grey box AI model, a comprehensive study is presented on the behaviour prediction of alum sludge as a soil stabilizer. To creat models for predicting the California bearing rtio (CBR) of alum sludge as a soil stabilizer, the study employs statistical models, including multiple linear regression (MLR) and Partial least squares (PLS), and advanced artificial intelligence, including classificatoin and regression random forests (CRRF) and classification and regression trees (CART). Results show that CRRF and CART models accurately predict CBR values better than MLR and PLS models. For predicting the behaviour of alum sludge in soil stablization, the compaction number of hammer and sludge content were the most significant parameters. Gs and optimum moisture content of soil were the least important parameters. Study results provide valuable insights into alum sludge’s behaviour as a soil stablizer, which could reduce waste and promote sustainable practice. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.