Masters Degrees (Civil Engineering)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10413/6844

Browse

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

A comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) of water treatment plants using alternative sources of water (seawater and mine affected water).
(2016) Goga, Taahira.; Buckley, Christopher Andrew.; Friedrich, Elena.
Water is a replenishing, yet at times scarce resource that is necessary for the growth and development of all organisms and plant life. In South Africa, the situation is challenging due to competing demands for limited fresh water reserves. Thus, the search for technological solutions is necessary to alleviate water shortages. Two of the potential measures to increase available water supply are desalination and reuse of water. As with any industrial operation, potable water production involves several processes which inherently impact the environment. These need to be taken into consideration in the design and management of water treatment operations. The purpose of the study was to conduct an environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of two water treatment membrane plants that use alternative feed sources namely seawater and mine affected water. The first plant will be located in the Southern area of the eThekwini Municipality and will utilise seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) to produce 150 Mℓ/d of potable water. The second is a case study based on an existing mine water reclamation plant in Mpumalanga that is designed around a two stage ultrafiltration-reverse osmosis (UF-RO) process used to treat 15 Mℓ/d of mine affected water. The LCA guidelines, which were established by the International Organisation for Standardisation, were utilised for the purposes of this study. Design data was collected for both the construction and operation phases of the plants while SimaPro was used as the LCA analysis software with the application of the ReCiPe Midpoint method. The key findings from the assessment reveal that electricity production and consumption is responsible for the majority of environmental impacts that stem from the respective plants. A further analysis indicated that the South African electricity mix has greater environmental impacts than other energy sources such as photovoltaic and wind power. The integration of these energy systems with alternative water treatment processes has been proven to reduce environmental loads to levels associated with conventional water technologies. Based on these results, it is recommended that focus should shift towards energy minimisation techniques and the use of renewable energy sources in order to advance the environmental performance of water treatment processes.
Following a cleaner production approach to guide the permitting process of odour producing industries : an assessment of case studies.
(2011) Nzimande, Bawinile.; Buckley, Christopher Andrew.
The eThekwini Municipality is facing two major challenges in controlling odorous emissions by various industries in the South Durban Basin; firstly, getting industry to manage their onsite odorous emissions and, secondly regulating these odorous emissions. This study focused on the Jacobs’s Industrial Complex (JIC) which comprises various industries releasing air emissions which impact on the local air quality. The impact of these emissions is supported by the number of odour complaints reported to the eThekwini Environmental Health Department by the public. Cleaner production (CP) is an integrated approach aimed at continuously reducing environmental impacts of processes, products and services through applying preventive approaches rather than controlling and managing pollution once it has been created. This dissertation has assessed the application of CP as a concept to prevent and reduce emissions of odours by industries in the JIC that are an impacting on the environment and neighbouring communities. Three CP case studies are analysed to demonstrate the applicability of the approach. These are a CP project for drum reprocessing company based in the South Durban Basin and two waste minimisation clubs which operated from 1998 to 2000 in Durban. The key findings, outcomes, experiences and lessons learnt from these case studies underpin the recommendation of an approach that can be applied by eThekwini Municipality to incorporate CP in the scheduled trade (ST) permitting of odour producing industries. This research has applied a multi-case study design implying both qualitative and quantitative approaches. A qualitative approach was used in the detailed analyses of case studies whilst the quantitative one was applied in the graphical analyses of the odour complaints statistics for the JIC. The study concludes by drawing two major recommendations from the lessons leant. Recommendation 1: The general CP strategy that can be applied by eThekwini Municipality in regulating, promoting, enforcing, monitoring and evaluating application of CP practices among stakeholders. The recommended objectives for the general strategy include: · Enforcement of uniform regulatory standards. · Development of a policy or guidelines. · Effective compliance monitoring and enforcement. · Develop a local Cleaner Production Centre (LCPC). · Ensure co-operative governance. · Provide adequate financial resources. · Monitoring and evaluation. Recommendation 2: Strategy for incorporating CP in the ST permitting of odour producing industries. It is recommended that the ST permit holder for an odour producing industry comply with the following: · Prioritisation of odour like the other priority pollutants. · Industry to perform an audit to map odour emitting areas. · Permit holder to development a CP based odour management plan. · Investigate possible CP projects that can be undertaken to prevent and mitigate odour emissions. · Incorporate an odour management plan into a 5 year environmental improvement plan. · Develop and appropriately manage an odour complaints management system. · Set odour management performance indicators and baselines for targets and reporting. · The permit holder should include odour management performance including odour complaints management in the annual report.
A life cycle analysis for the application of decentralised sanitation technologies at Newlands Mashu in the Ethekwini Municipality.
(2020) Wissing, Gareth Christian.; Friedrich, Elena.; Buckley, Christopher Andrew.
Safe sanitation is a privilege and in many developing countries sanitation provision is an ongoing major issue. To meet the growing sanitation demands of developed and developing countries around the world, various sanitation technologies and systems have been proposed. One such technology that is highlighted in this study is the Decentralised Wastewater Treatment System (DEWATS). DEWATS is a wastewater treatment technology that aims to treat and dispose of wastewater near the source that the wastewater is generated and excludes the conventional centralised sewer network that directs wastewater to a regional wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). As with all wastewater treatment technologies, various wastewater treatment phases and processes intrinsically impact the environment. It is important for engineers, planners, designers and stakeholders involved in the treatment of wastewater to be informed of the various environmental consequences as a result of the implementation of DEWATS. The purpose of this study was to undertake an environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of a DEWATS in a local context. The DEWATS plant considered in this study is located in eThekwini Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal and was designed to treat wastewater volumes of 41.6m³/d. This study was aligned with LCA guidelines produced by the International Organisation for Standardisation. During the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) phase of this study, data for both the construction and operation phases were collected and subsequently processed using SimaPro LCA analysis software and the CML (Centrum Melieukunde Leiden) midpoint methodology. The key findings of this study revealed that domestic water consumption was the largest contributor to environmental impacts on the impact categories considered. Further to this, it was found that low flush interventions resulted in a large reduction in wastewater and significantly improve the environmental profile of the DEWATS. Based on the results of this study it is recommended that further emphasis on the reduction of greywater generation is required and a reduction on the reliance on municipal domestic water. Although a separate process, the minimisation of the energy requirements of upstream water treatment processes may significantly improve the environmental profile of the DEWATS.
The relationship between the infrastructure, within the palmiet catchment, and the condition of the Palmiet River water quality and Riparian zone.
(2016) Naidoo, Semeshan.; Friedrich, Elena.; Buckley, Christopher Andrew.
The construction and daily operation of infrastructure systems, has imposed significant negative consequences on the natural environment. The primary aim of this study was to explore the relationship between the infrastructure, within the Palmiet Catchment, and the condition of the river water quality and riparian zone. It was hypothesized that the Palmiet Catchment has been significantly impacted by the development of the surrounding land. Visual observations of the accessible areas of the Palmiet River, and its associated tributaries, were undertaken with the following key impacts assessed: indigenous vegetation removal, exotic vegetation, channel modification, inundation, water abstraction, flow modification, bed modification, water quality and rubbish dumping. The recorded impacts were then represented onto Geographic Information Systems forming baseline maps of the current ecological condition of the Palmiet River, relative to the abovementioned impacts. Results indicated that the Palmiet River and its riparian zone were in various degrees of degradation. The river channel has been extensively modified by hard infrastructure, thus reducing the infiltration ability resulting in the channelling of the river water. In addition, the impervious surfaces, numerous stormwater outlets and obstructions, i.e. infrastructure supports within the river channel, has significantly modified the flow rate causing the scouring of both the riverbed and riverbank. Numerous blockages and failures in the sewer system as well as illegal activities of industries, in the Pinetown and New Germany areas, has resulted in sewage, containing trade effluent, being discharged directly into the Palmiet River, affecting the water quality. The informal settlements, located near the mouth of the Palmiet River, are another major contributor to the degradation of the Palmiet catchment. Service delivery problems and trust issues in this area has resulted in the accumulation of waste items along the riverbank. The results obtained validate the hypothesis that urbanisation, and infrastructure development in particular, has led to the degradation of the natural environment. By understanding the extent and severity of the impacts imposed on the Palmiet Catchment remedial interventions can be implemented. These interventions include: retention ponds, weirs and wetlands to regulate and slow down the flow of the Palmiet River; geotextile engineering solutions as opposed to hard infrastructure solutions to stabilise collapsing riverbanks; rainwater tanks and retention areas in industries and households to reduce the amount of runoff entering the Palmiet River, the rainwater tanks can potentially also serve as a supplement to the water needs, thereby, reducing the water bills; improved service delivery and the potential hiring of members from the informal settlement to reduce and remove the accumulation of waste and promote trust between different members of the community, and wider municipal area.

Browse

Browsing Masters Degrees (Civil Engineering) by Author "Buckley, Christopher Andrew."