In woodland streams, the decomposition of allochthonous organic matter constitutes a fundamental ecosystem process, where aquatic hyphomycetes play a pivotal role. It is therefore greatly affected by water temperature and nutrient concentrations. The individual effects of these factors on the decomposition of litter have been studied previously. However, in the climate warming scenario predicte...

Nanofiltration with inorganic meso-porous membranes is being considered more and more for water purification applications. For specific applications inorganic membranes may have advantages over organic polymer-based membranes due to their rigid pore structure, and thermochemical stability. However, the permeability and, partly through that, the permselectivity of inorganic membranes need to be ...

The present study provides a thermodynamic analysis of solar thermochemical cycles for splitting of H2O or CO2. Such cycles, powered by concentrated solar energy, have the potential to produce fuels in a sustainable way. We extend a previous study on the thermodynamics of water splitting by also taking into account CO2 splitting and the influence of the solar absorption efficiency. Based on thi...

Changes in chemical composition and digestibility of peanut hulls after a variety of thermochemical treatments were monitored. Mineral acids and base under elevated temperature (121°C) were generally ineffective for decreasing the fibrous, lignocellulosic component of the hulls. Only nitric acid-treatment effectively decreased the relative lignin content of the hulls. The 1ignin:nitrogen ratio ...

the photocatalytic decomposition of trichloroethylene (tce) and tetrachloroethylene (pce)in water was studied. tce and pce were present in water at very low concentrations of about 15 μg/dm3. thisconcentration level corresponds to the one occasionally occurring in groundwater. results of this researchconfirmed usefulness of the photocatalytic process for successful removal of low-concentrated t...

The management of wastewater sludge, now often referred to as biosolids, accounts for a major portion of the cost of the wastewater treatment process and represents significant technical challenges. In many wastewater treatment facilities, the bottleneck of the sludge handling system is the dewatering operation. Advanced sludge treatment (AST) processes have been developed in order to improve s...