Meeroff, Daniel E.

Deep injection well technology is a reliable and cost-effective technique to manage hazardous wastewater. However, reduced injectivity is an issue for the performance of an injection well which can happen due to the occurrence of biogeochemical clogging. A class 1 deep injection well located at the Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County has long suffered similar problems that occurred due to the formation of chemical precipitation and biofilm. In the case of the biofilm, the dominant microorganism detected in previous work was determined to be Entamoeba dispar. The prime source of the protozoan was identified as the local groundwater, which is employed for different purposes within the solid waste facility, such as cooling water and dilution water. Therefore, it is imperative to examine the effectiveness of the commonly used disinfectant chlorine to inactivate the protozoan to eliminate biofilms and clogging. This study conducted a laboratory-based chlorination of the groundwater sample to reveal the required dosages of chlorine needed for 3.0-log inactivation of E. dispar in various temperature (20°C, 25°C, 30°C, and 35°C) and pH (6.5, 7.0, 7.5) conditions.

As the global population is increasing, the generation of various waste materials (fats, oils and grease, fruit waste etc.) is increasing, which when landfilled, takes up valuable landfill space. Anaerobic digestion techniques have been developed that potentially convert these waste materials into energy and fertilizer, thus reducing landfill demand. It has been hypothesized that addition of high strength organic waste to conventional wastewater sludge can enhance the generation of onsite biogas at wastewater treatment plants, to meet the energy requirements of the plant partially or fully.
To determine the anaerobic biodegradability of fats, oils and grease and fruit waste residuals, lab scale ultimate digestibility tests were conducted for a period of 63 days under mesophilic conditions. High strength organic wastes, thickened waste activated sludge and inoculum were mixed at 9 different ratios, and the mixtures were incubated in 500 mL serum bottles. After 63 days, the highest methane yield of 280 mL/gVS and 243 mL/gVS were obtained with mixtures containing 10% FOG with 10% red apples and 10% FOG only respectively whereas the methane yield of inoculum was only 8 mL/gVS. Preliminary cost analyses were conducted using the laboratory derived data

Nuisance odors from landfills have more impact than just being an annoyance to nearby residents. With an ever-increasing population, a larger number of communities are located in closer proximity to landfills than ever before. This has brought along with it, more regular conflicts with landfill authorities surrounding the issue of odors, resulting in complaints, lawsuits, fines, and even re-siting operations. The absence of an objective method of quantifying nuisance odors makes the task of creating regulations and setting standards even more complicated. The current research focuses on a method to objectively quantify landfill odors. The human odorant binding protein 2A (hOBPIIa) can be produced using published recombinant gene technology and can be used as a biosensor to quantify odorants through spectrofluorometric measurements. The current work is a continuation of the previous work by Rahman (2020). In this work, the spent biosensor after it reacts with an odorant is shown to be regenerated by applying additional fluorophore following La Chateliers’ principle, so that the same batch of protein can be used to run multiple experiments with odorants. An important part of the work miniaturized the earlier version of the experimental setup and incorporates a much more efficient flow-through system. This setup is capable of collecting real-time readings, increasing the overall accuracy and shortening the duration of each set of the experiment. The current work also explores the response of the biosensor with an expanded group of pure odorants, including hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, toluene, formaldehyde, tert-butyl mercaptan, and methyl mercaptan as well as their mixtures, thus expanding the list of odorants tested under this principle. The results show that the protein shows a concentration-dependent response differing on the hydrophobicity of the target compound.

Current flood-risk models lack fidelity at the neighborhood level. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) develops flood maps based on experts’ experience and estimates on the probability of flooding. First Street Foundation evaluates flood risk with regional and subjective measures, without impact from torrential rain and nuisance flooding. The purpose of this research is to develop a data-driven method to determine a comprehensive flood-risk that accounts for severe, moderate, and nuisance flood events at the single-family home level, while also estimating the recovery time from the specified flood event.
The method developed uses the Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) method from the American Society of Quality (ASQ) to determine the Consequence of Flooding (CoF), following the 1-day 100-yr storm for the Probability of Flooding (PoF). The product of CoF and PoF provides an estimate of the flood-risk. An estimated Resilience Index value derived from flood-risk, is used to determine the recovery time after a severe or moderate

Deep injection wells are considered among the most efficient, environmentally-friendly and cost-effective techniques to dispose of wastewater. However, formation of biofilms in the casing pipe can reduce the effective diameter, which in turn, can lower the injectivity of wastewater and ultimately results in injection failure. A class 1 deep injection well located at the Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County was revealed to be getting clogged due to the development of a microbial community where Entamoeba dispar, a protozoan species was found to be the abundant microorganism in the biofilm. The injection well is used to discharge industrial wastewater coming from several sources at the facility which are discharged to a collection chamber, known as the wet well, before being disposed down the deep injection well pipe. Prior to design and implementation of a suitable treatment technique to inactivate the protozoan species, it is imperative to reveal the origins of the microorganism coming to the deep injection well. Therefore, the objective of the current research was to develop a technique to identify potential sources of Entamoeba dispar. In this study, samples were collected from the seven sources as well as from the wet well. Initially, a number of onsite and laboratory experiments were conducted to monitor the water quality parameters of the collected samples. In case of microbiological investigations, microscopic analysis was carried out to detect the microorganism in the wastewater specimens followed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and gel-electrophoresis assays. In addition, the number of DNA copies in each of the tested samples was determined using the ImageJ app. From the microscopic analysis, no samples were found to be Entamoeba dispar positive. However, PCR and gel electrophoresis tests results indicated that wet well, NEFCO effluent, class 1, REF 1 and groundwater dilution samples were positive and the calculated number of DNA copies were 6545, 6849, 16763, 6351 and 5635 in 100 mL of the wastewater specimens respectively. The PCR technique used in this study is sensitive enough to detect even 4 DNA copies of the target microorganism. All the positive samples have one thing in common, which is they all contain local groundwater from site, indicating a potential source for further investigation.

Nuisance odor levels produced by solid waste management operations are subject to regulatory standards due to their impacts on the quality of life of the residents living nearby the facility. Failure to meet regulatory standards may result in fines, litigation, inability to acquire permits, mitigation, and re-siting operations. Since measurement of environmental nuisance odors is currently limited to subjective techniques, monitoring odor levels to meet such standards is often problematic. This is becoming more acute as increasing residential populations begin to encroach on properties adjacent to landfills. In order to ensure that nuisance odor issues are minimized, it is necessary to provide an objective measurement. The objective of the current research is to develop a biosensor for providing an objective, standard measurement of odors. The approach is to modify the human odorant binding protein (hOBPIIa), isolated using published biomolecular techniques, by fluorescently tagging it with a chromophore functional group. When this protein is tagged with a fluorophore marker and excited in a spectrofluorometer, it emits light of a certain wavelength that can be detected and quantified. Once odorant molecules are exposed to this complex, they start replacing the fluorophore, and as a result, the emitted light intensity decreases in proportion to the number of odorant molecules. Since the protein response depends on odorant concentration, following an inverse Beer’s Law relationship, the odorants can be quantified accurately and rapidly using fluorometric measurements. The results establish quantitation ranges for different pure and mixture of odorant gases as well as the amount of gas that can be quantified across various flow rates.

Leachate clogging in the Leachate Collection System (LCS) due to chemical precipitations and biofilms produced by microbial activities is a common phenomenon in any Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) landfill. This study focuses on quantifying the factors that impact the micro-environment of leachate; and microbial activities that help the precipitates to form and attach to the LCS. It also evaluates the performance of operational changes that have been implemented or the potential alternatives and recommends the possible measures to reduce the severity of clogging. A field scale side-by-side pipe network, and several laboratory setups were used in this study. Calcite is identified to be the predominant phase present in the precipitates using XRD/XRF analysis which, concur with the previous studies. Microbial growth and activities enhance the precipitation of CaCO3 in LCS. Clogging in LCS pipes can be controlled if not eliminated by continuous monitoring along with frequent cleaning with physiochemical processes.

The anaerobic biodegradability of food waste (FW), meat waste and FOG (fats, oils
and greases) with municipal primary sewage sludge was assessed using a laboratory scale
anaerobic digester and by ultimate sludge digestibility, at mesophilic conditions by varying
the inoculum to feedstock ratio (1:2-1:10) and solids retention time (SRT). Preliminary
analysis assessed the anaerobic digestion of food waste and meat at a biogas production
over 30 days at 1000 mL and 1400 mL, respectively. The maximum methane yield was
0.18 m3/kg VS and 0.50 m3/kg VS for 1:10 in meat and FOG, respectively in 28 days with
56-61% volatile solids of destruction and first order methane generation rate of 0.15 d-1 for
both meat and FOG. The optimal ratio for meat and FOG was determined to be beyond
highest ratio tested (1:10), and longer SRT should be considered to investigate the impact
of feedstock on methane yield. Preliminary modeling suggests that for one 1.74 MG
digester, diverting just 0.6% of the food waste generated in one-third of Palm Beach
County could produce enough methane to power 130-360 homes for one full month.

Landfilling is the most common method of solid waste disposal in the United
States. However, a reported issue with landfill management is the production of
leachate, which is a wastewater that is typically too strong to be discharged to
municipal wastewater treatment facilities. After reviewing the performance of
existing leachate treatment methods, it is clear that an understanding of emerging
issues and an all-inclusive solution to long-term management of leachate is currently
not available. The goal of this project is to address the lack of viable and sustainable
engineering alternatives for handling leachate. One such futuristic technology is
called Photochemical Iron Mediated Aeration (PIMA).
Based on the Iron Mediated Aeration process, the PIMA process involves the
combined oxidation effect of hydroxyl radicals and ultraviolet radiation with the air
stripping potential of aeration. The experiments conducted demonstrated promising
results but also the lack of maturity of this technique.

Multiple tracers, such as DO, ammonia, TN, TOC, E. coli, TC, and Enterococcus were
analyzed in order to identify and characterize trends in coastal water quality. This study
focused on three factors; wastewater disposal and treatment alternative; season; and
human population density. Samples were collected in representative sites of urban
Broward County and of rural Taylor County, FL, for pair-wise comparison. Sites
included areas connected to the public sewer network and served by on-site treatment and
disposal system (OSTDS). Sampling activities were conducted through seasonal low and
seasonal high water table elevation (SLWT and SHWT), and always on slack to outgoing
tide. Different statistical tests were performed, including: t-Tests, correlation analysis,
principal component analysis (PCA), and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results
suggested that water quality is lower: in urban sites compared to rural sites; in OSTDS
sites compared to sewered areas; and SHWT compared to SLWT.