scholarly journals Irradiation of Sewage Sludge

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto M. Uribe ◽  
Jean Engohang-Ndong

A review of the current status of sewage sludge decontamination using electron beam irradiation at industrial scale is presented. The chapter includes a historical development of the technology using both gamma and electron beam sources, a description of a facility using an electron accelerator, a discussion of the quality control techniques used to certify that satisfactory decontamination levels for safe use of treated sludge have been achieved, the effect of electron beam irradiation on the bacteria and virus present in a typical sample of municipal sewage sludge, and an analysis of the costs of decontaminating sewage sludge using electron beam irradiation compared to traditional and more routine technologies. Finally, the chapter concludes by emphasizing on the fact that electron accelerators described in this chapter are capable to decontaminate a typical municipal sewage sludge at competitive costs which are shown to be comparable and/or lower than routinely used technologies to achieve class A biosolids by the Environmental Protection Agency standards.

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nahid A.A. Siddig ◽  
Asma A. Ahmed ◽  
Sarra A.M. Saad ◽  
Faisal Hammad Mekky Koua

Municipal sewage sludge from wastewater treatment is an important nutritional source for sustainable agriculture. Here, we report on the assessment of the accumulation of heavy metals in Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (Trewavas 1983) fed on earthworms Eisenia fetida reared on soil treated with different concentrations of sewage sludge (25% and 100%) during sludge-earthworm-fish short-term cycling. In this short-term cycling the Nile tilapia collected from the White Nile were chosen as final consumers, whereas the earthworms reared on loam soil mixed with different ratios of sludge were used as a feed for the final consumers. Our results indicate that the concentrations of Cd2+, Cr2+, Pb2+ and Zn2+ in the sludge treated soil are proportional to the sludge content in the soil. Importantly, the accumulation of these heavy metals was significantly low in the earthworms and the Nile tilapia in comparison with the treated soil and that these concentrations in the Nile tilapia were below the international limits recommended by the US Environmental Protection Agency (2014). Moreover, the growth and overall flesh quality of the fish were improved as indicated by the growth increase up to 146% when fed on earthworm reared in 100% sludge. Additionally, our physicochemical properties (i.e. pH, soil moisture, electric conductivity and organic matters) evaluation on the soil indicates an improvement of the soil quality when mixed with sewage sludge. These results suggest a sustainable application of sewage sludge in fish culture owing to its high nutritional values, low cost, and low risk of hazardous heavy metals when using primary consumers with heavy metals bioaccumulation capability such as E. fetida.


2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (S2) ◽  
pp. 490-491
Author(s):  
Paula Horny ◽  
Dominique Drouin ◽  
Raynald Gauvin ◽  
Gianluigi A. Botton

The formation of a silicon alloy has been achieved by electron beam irradiation of a nickel-silicon bilayer. This process, called SiDWEL1 , has been developed by Quantiscript. The nickel-silicon bilayer is very thin and the electron beam operates at low energy and current. Silicide formation occurred around the interaction volume of the electrons within the material. This paper describes the nature of the structures produced and the origin of the difficulties encountered with the characterization. The necessity of further analysis with TEM based techniques is highlighted.Figure 1 presents a cross-section of a typical sample. The growth of silicide grains is induced by the e-beam irradiation of the stack for few microseconds. Nucieation is initiated by the diffusion of silicon atoms in nickel grains, induced by the heating arising from the electron beam interaction with the solid. A new phase is revealed by FE-SEM observation, after wet etching of the nickel film, as shown in figures 2 and 3.


Author(s):  
B. L. Armbruster ◽  
B. Kraus ◽  
M. Pan

One goal in electron microscopy of biological specimens is to improve the quality of data to equal the resolution capabilities of modem transmission electron microscopes. Radiation damage and beam- induced movement caused by charging of the sample, low image contrast at high resolution, and sensitivity to external vibration and drift in side entry specimen holders limit the effective resolution one can achieve. Several methods have been developed to address these limitations: cryomethods are widely employed to preserve and stabilize specimens against some of the adverse effects of the vacuum and electron beam irradiation, spot-scan imaging reduces charging and associated beam-induced movement, and energy-filtered imaging removes the “fog” caused by inelastic scattering of electrons which is particularly pronounced in thick specimens.Although most cryoholders can easily achieve a 3.4Å resolution specification, information perpendicular to the goniometer axis may be degraded due to vibration. Absolute drift after mechanical and thermal equilibration as well as drift after movement of a holder may cause loss of resolution in any direction.


Agronomie ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Gigliotti ◽  
Pier Lodovico Giusquiani ◽  
Daniela Businelli

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