Grain size variation in sand column along Chhatrapur coast, Ganjam district, Odisha – A clue to the depositional environment

The concentration of heavy mineral placer deposits along the coastal tracts are function of various favourable factors i.e. hinterland geological formations, prevalence of favourable climatic condition, their transportation through intricate drainage systems and various coastal processes, which operated during the geological past. Textural analysis of the available unconsolidated sediments from the present deposits is of vital importance to decode the prevailing depositional environment while grain size analysis is the major parameter used. Present study highlights the grain size analysis of the identified sand column from Chhatrapur Mineral Sand Deposit along the coastal tract of Odisha to infer the environment of deposition of heavy mineral bearing sand and their heavy mineral content variation. Standard procedure of sampling, data analysis and interpretation techniques were adopted. Result shows that, sands from frontal and rear dune are characterized by distinct bi-modal distribution, medium to fine, moderately to well sorted with good positive skewness, whereas, sand from Inter-dunal region shows dominant unimodal, medium to coarse grain, moderately poorly sorted nature and slightly positive skewness. The better heavy mineral concentration (10 to 25 % grade) in frontal and rear dunes is attributed to prevalence of aeolian dune deposition accompanied by good sorting. In contrast, the low concentration of heavy mineral (3 to 6 %) in inter dune region is due to occasional fluvial regime and poor sorting of sediments. Thus, grain size analysis can be an effective tool to decipher local prevailing depositional environment, which has a bearing on heavy mineral concentration as well.

Design of a column test bench for the evaluation of alternative absorbent materials in wastewater treatment

One of the most used processes for wastewater treatment is filtration, still having unknowns related to the new possible absorbent materials which can provide better pollutant removal. This project proposes a column test bench capable of working with different materials, particle diameters (> 0.35mm) and densities and densities with three columns of 1.5 m length and 4 inches of diameter.. To perform this project, the type of reactive material for the filter medium was identified, considering the nominal and critical size of the fine sand (0.35m), as a basis for determining the design of the length, diameter of the and thickness column. The design conditions were taken so that the hydraulic system can function as a slow and rapid filter. The most critical operating conditions were selected, Qmax: 16.72 lpm and Filtration Rate: 19.80 m / h. Under these operating conditions, a hydraulic head loss of 2.77 m was obtained within the sand column. The result of this research is the design of a column test system that can work under different hydraulics conditions and absorbent materials with sizes greater than 0.35 mm, intended for the investigation of wastewater treatment from car washers and the removal of heavy metals. The final cost of building the column test is about 25% of the commercial price system.

ECO-Friendly approach in strengthening the different grain size particles by utilizing Sporsarcina pausterii NIOT1

A distinct grain size of 600, 425 and 212 μm sand column was developed to test the efficiency of bacterial strain Sporsarcina pausterii NIOT-1. The bacterial strain was effectively able to precipitate calcite crystals between the soil particles through enzymatic hydrolysis of urea which increases ammonium concentration to the maximum of 371.43 mM, 314.54 mM, 302.49 mM, EC of 98.81 ms/cm, 101.84 ms/cm, 101.34 ms/cm and pH of 8.80, 8.90, 8.80 respectively. The synthesized biomaterials have the maximum UCS of 2400 Mpa with 212 μm grain size followed by 425 and 600 μm with 2200 and 2100 Mpa. Scanning Electron Microscopy and XRD results justify the precipitation of CaCO3 bridging the sand particle. In the study, the maximum UCS attained with fine sand particle size and reduced with the increasing grain size. The current study observed an inverse relationship between grain size and strength. The current green synthesis study also attempts for the feasibility approach to reduce coastal erosion.

Methods to Improve nZVI Adsorbance on Silicates Surface for Nitrate Reduction

<p>Efforts to remove excess nitrate in the groundwater typically involves expensive ion-exchange membranes or slow reacting bio-reactors. Nano-sized zero valent iron (nZVI) has been used successfully to reduce nitrate into ammonia in various sites in USA and Europe. However, nZVI has a number of major setbacks associated with it, namely the tendency to agglomerate due to magnetic properties, and the possible toxicity due to the nano-sized material. To circumvent these two setbacks, nZVI could be adsorbed onto solid support. In this research, geothermal sediment microsilicate 600 (Misi) was utilised as a support. Initial results suggested that Misi has potential as a support for nZVI, however modifications were required to improve the adsorbance of nZVI onto Misi surface. Calcination, activation, acid wash and iron oxyhydroxide coating were used as surface modifications for Misi. It was found that the two most important modifications for nZVI adsorption was calcination at either 400 or 600 °C and acid washing in 5.6 M HCl. Equipped with this knowledge, other silica and silicates were also used to adsorb nZVI. For pure silica surfaces, 3-APTES and 3-TPTMS ligands and pore enlarging methods of calcination of porogen and salt wash were also used. nZVI was not able to be fully adsorbed on pure silica surfaces. Four other silicates were examined: Rice husk ash, Western Australia silica fume, Mt Piper fly ash, and precipitated aluminium silicate. Of these, only Western Australia silica fume and precipitated aluminium silicate showed potential as nZVI support. Based on the SEM-EDS XRD data of all the silica and silicates, it could be tentatively concluded that nZVI requires an aluminium silicate surface for successful adsorption. Aluminium silicate surfaces typically has an exchangeable cation present, and this cation might play a part in nZVI adsorption. The nZVI/Misi surface was then utilised to reduce nitrate. It was discovered that even though activation and FeOOH did not play a part in nZVI adsorption onto Misi surface, these two steps were important in reduction of nitrate, as the presence of activation and FeOOH increase the reduction of nitrate significantly within 60 minutes. The Misi-supported nZVI were also shown to be more stable in dispersion, and less agglomerated as shown in a sand column experiment.</p>

Methods to Improve nZVI Adsorbance on Silicates Surface for Nitrate Reduction

<p>Efforts to remove excess nitrate in the groundwater typically involves expensive ion-exchange membranes or slow reacting bio-reactors. Nano-sized zero valent iron (nZVI) has been used successfully to reduce nitrate into ammonia in various sites in USA and Europe. However, nZVI has a number of major setbacks associated with it, namely the tendency to agglomerate due to magnetic properties, and the possible toxicity due to the nano-sized material. To circumvent these two setbacks, nZVI could be adsorbed onto solid support. In this research, geothermal sediment microsilicate 600 (Misi) was utilised as a support. Initial results suggested that Misi has potential as a support for nZVI, however modifications were required to improve the adsorbance of nZVI onto Misi surface. Calcination, activation, acid wash and iron oxyhydroxide coating were used as surface modifications for Misi. It was found that the two most important modifications for nZVI adsorption was calcination at either 400 or 600 °C and acid washing in 5.6 M HCl. Equipped with this knowledge, other silica and silicates were also used to adsorb nZVI. For pure silica surfaces, 3-APTES and 3-TPTMS ligands and pore enlarging methods of calcination of porogen and salt wash were also used. nZVI was not able to be fully adsorbed on pure silica surfaces. Four other silicates were examined: Rice husk ash, Western Australia silica fume, Mt Piper fly ash, and precipitated aluminium silicate. Of these, only Western Australia silica fume and precipitated aluminium silicate showed potential as nZVI support. Based on the SEM-EDS XRD data of all the silica and silicates, it could be tentatively concluded that nZVI requires an aluminium silicate surface for successful adsorption. Aluminium silicate surfaces typically has an exchangeable cation present, and this cation might play a part in nZVI adsorption. The nZVI/Misi surface was then utilised to reduce nitrate. It was discovered that even though activation and FeOOH did not play a part in nZVI adsorption onto Misi surface, these two steps were important in reduction of nitrate, as the presence of activation and FeOOH increase the reduction of nitrate significantly within 60 minutes. The Misi-supported nZVI were also shown to be more stable in dispersion, and less agglomerated as shown in a sand column experiment.</p>

Heavy metals removal from landfill leachate by coagulation/flocculation process combined with continuous adsorption using eggshell waste materials

The use of agricultural waste materials to remove heavy metals from wastewater is attractive due to its simplicity and economic efficiency. In this study, the applicability of calcined eggshell waste materials (CES) for heavy metals removal from real wastewater were examined via transport column experiment preceded by coagulation/flocculation process.A column packed with granular activated carbon (GAC) is operated in parallel to CES column to evaluate the adsorptive attributes of CES. The findings are assessed from another set of column experiment consisting of sand followed by CES column to evaluate the effect of particulate matter on CES performance toward heavy metals removal. In coagulation experiment, alum addition at an optimum dose (3.0 g/L) reduced the total suspended solids (TSS) by 80%, whereas the Fe, Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni, and Cr were reduced by 80, 77, 76, 73, 56, and 49% respectively. Under the current applied hydrodynamic conditions, using sand column before CES column improved the removal efficiencies of Fe, Pb, Cu, Zn, Ni, and Cr from 50–92%, 55–93%, 60–87%, 53–76%, 45–65%, and 41–60% respectively. The whole results illustrate that CES can be competitive to GAC for heavy metals removal from landfill leachate, mainly if applied after PM removal by sand filtration.

Physical modeling of sand columns application in recharge reservoir to prevent seawater intrusion

This study aims to provide visual evidence by the physical simulation to demonstrate the sand column performance of a recharge reservoir to control seawater encroachment and confirm some previous studies. In this analysis, a two-dimensional sand tank illustrates the sand column's role in overcoming seawater intrusion. Besides using dyes, the sand tank is also fitted with sensors to observe the length of seawater penetration. Furthermore, the simulation using SEAWAT numerical modeling is used as a reference in this analysis. The criteria analyzed were the number of sand columns, the reservoir water level, and the isochlors concentration. The results revealed a reasonably close match between physical and computational modeling. It was also found that the more sand columns and the higher the reservoir water level, resulted in the decrease of seawater penetration length that occurred. Physical and computational modeling findings indicated that the optimal results are derived using three sand columns with an RMSE value of 0.76. The seawater infiltration length decreased to 84.72% relative to sand column-free conditions at a reservoir water level of 15.0 cm.