Evolutionary crystal structure prediction proved to be a powerful approach for studying a wide range of materials. Here we present a specifically designed algorithm for the prediction of the structure of complex crystals consisting of well defined molecular units. The main feature of this new approach is that each unit is treated as a whole body, which drastically reduces the search space and i...

Trichloroethylene (TCE)-transforming aquifer methanotrophs were evaluated for the influence of TCE oxidation toxicity and the effect of reductant availability on TCE transformation rates during methane starvation. TCE oxidation at relatively low (6 mg liter-1) TCE concentrations significantly reduced subsequent methane utilization in mixed and pure cultures tested and reduced the number of viab...

The trichloroethylene (TCE) transformation rate and capacity of a mixed methanotrophic culture at room temperature were measured to determine the effects of time without methane (resting), use of an alternative energy source (formate), aeration, and toxicity of TCE and its transformation products. The initial specific TCE transformation rate of resting cells was 0.6 mg of TCE per mg of cells pe...

Waste streams such as municipal wastewater and animal manure contain organic materials and nutrients that can be converted and recovered for bioenergy and renewable fertilizer production. In the first part of this thesis, the anaerobic co-digestion of dairy manure with kitchen waste and chicken fat was studied for the purpose of increasing biogas production. The methane yields of co-digestion s...

Animal production, particularly the keeping of ruminants, has been identified as the largest single source of anthropogenic methane emission. On average, 75% of the methane emitted is released from enteric fermentation while 25% is assumed to result from manure storage. There has been a strong interest for many years to reduce enteric methane, since it represents an energy loss for the ruminant...

A diverse database of 268 687 covalent organic framework geometries and accompanying ab initio derived system-specific force fields is developed. This ready-to-use, as shown by our high-throughput study for vehicular methane storage.

Coalbed methane (CBM) plays an important role in coal mining safety and natural gas production. In this work, The CBM potential of B2 seam in Parvadeh IV coal deposit, in central Iran, was evaluated using a combination of local regression and geostatistical methods. As there were 30 sparse methane sampling points in the Parvadeh IV coal deposit, no valid variogram was achieved for the methane c...

Background: Waterweeds (Elodea nuttallii and Elodea canadensis) are invasive neophytes, which have been proliferating at a phenomenal rate during the last decades in German waterways. In case of overgrowth, the strong covering of vegetation can cause problems in hydroelectric power plants and leads to limitations in ship and boat traffic as well as in use for bathing and fishing activities. Aft...