Greenhouse gas emissions from two hydroelectric reservoirs in Mediterranean region.

Water reservoirs are used for many purposes, such as water supply, irrigation, flood mitigation, and hydroelectric energy generation. Although hydroelectric energy is considered "green," many studies show that the construction of a reservoir enhances greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at the transformed area. These emissions, mainly of CO, CH, and NO gases, depend on the age of the reservoir, landscape and soil composition, fauna and flora remnants of the impounded area, climatic conditions, and basin runoffs.

Comparative water quality assessment between a young and a stabilized hydroelectric reservoir in Aliakmon River, Greece.

In this work, a comparative study on the water quality characteristics of two in-line water reservoirs (artificial lakes) in Aliakmon River (Western Macedonia, Greece) is performed. Polyfytos Reservoir and Ilarion Reservoir were created in 1975 and 2012 respectively, in order to serve the homonymous hydroelectric stations. In young artificial lakes, severe deterioration of water quality may occur; thus, the monitoring and assessment of their water quality characteristics and their statistical interpretation are of great importance.

Particulate organics degradation and sludge minimization in aerobic, complete SRT bioreactors.

The study evaluates the assumption that in activated sludge processes and under specific operating conditions, the considered unbiodegradable particulate organic fractions of influent (XU) organic solids and biomass decay residues (cell debris, XE) are degraded. The evaluation was performed by comparing sludge observed yield (Yobs) evolution in two full scale, complete solids retention time (SRT), aerobic bioreactors, to the predictions of two activated sludge models. The results showed that in steady state operating conditions of complete solids retention AS processes very low solids accumulation occur.

Influence of wastewater treatment plants' operational conditions on activated sludge microbiological and morphological characteristics.

The effect of wastewater composition and operating conditions in activated sludge (AS) microbiological and morphological characteristics was studied in three AS wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs): (a) a high organic load slaughterhouse AS WWTP, operating at complete solids retention, monitored from its start-up and for 425 days; (b) a seasonally operational, low nitrogen load fruit canning industry AS WWTP, operating at complete solids retention, monitored from its start-up and until the end of the season (87 days); (c) a municipal AS WWTP, treating wastewater from a semi-combined sewer system, monitored during the transitions from dry to rainy and again to dry periods of operation. The sludge microbiological and morphological characteristics were correlated to nutrients' availability, solids retention time, hydraulic retention time, dissolved oxygen, mixed liquor suspended solids (MLVSS), organic load (F/M) and substrate utilization rate. The AS WWTPs' operation was distinguished in periods based on biomass growth phase, characterized by different biological and morphological characteristics and on operational conditions.

Net biomass production under complete solids retention in high organic load activated sludge process.

The effect of complete solids retention on net biomass production, at a slaughterhouse's activated sludge wastewater treatment process, was studied for 425 days. The process reached equilibrium after 150 days. In equilibrium phase, and until the end of the study, relative constant MLVSS to MLSS ratio, low food to microorganisms ratio (F/M), low substrate utilization rate (SUR) and negligible observed sludge yield (Y obs) were measured.

Evaluating sedimentation problems in activated sludge treatment plants operating at complete sludge retention time.

Zero net sludge growth can be achieved by complete retention of solids in activated sludge wastewater treatment, especially in high strength and biodegradable wastewaters. When increasing the solids retention time, MLSS and MLVSS concentrations reach a plateau phase and observed growth yields values tend to zero (Yobs ≈ 0). In this work, in order to evaluate sedimentation problems arised due to high MLSS concentrations and complete sludge retention operational conditions, two identical innovative slaughterhouse wastewater treatment plants were studied.

Uncertainty in spectrophotometric analysis--"error propagation break up", a novel statistical method for uncertainty management.

In this work, is given the Combined Standard Uncertainty (CSU) calculation procedure, which can be applied in spectrophotometric measurements. For the assessment of the computations, different approaches are discussed, such as the contribution to the Combined Standard Uncertainty of the reproducibility, the repeatability, the total bias, the calibration curve, and the type of the measurand. Results of inter-laboratory measurements confirmed the assumptions.