Determining the suitability of rainwater harvesting for the achievement of sustainable development goals in Wadi Watir, Egypt using GIS techniques.

Scarcity of water has emerged as a major problem globally due to climate change and population growth, especially in semi-arid and arid regions. Egypt is currently experiencing serious water challenges due to its limited water resources. The water challenges require optimal and sustainable water management, which should be linked to sustainable development goals.

Data on the soil and vegetation properties at the small gully catchment area: Steppe region of Kalmykia Republic (South Russia).

In rural areas, research on the environment in native (untaught) soils is important to understand the rate of pedogenesis and to prevent the problems associated with hidden huger. In this article, original data on vegetation, chemical properties and elemental and mineralogical composition of Kastanozems (Protosalic, Siltic) and Hypersalic Solonetz (Siltic) of the small gully catchment (2 ha in total) located at the NE Ergeni Upland (Western Kalmykia, Russia) were presented. Vegetation was described and cut off (to characterize an aboveground biomass) at 13 key plots of 1 × 1 m.

Characterisation of the dynamics of past droughts.

Drought is a complex natural phenomenon. The description of the way in which drought changes (moves) in space may help to acquire knowledge on its drivers and processes to improve its monitoring and prediction. This research presents the application of an approach to characterise the dynamics of drought.

Hydrolysis kinetics in anaerobic degradation of particulate organic material: an overview.

The applicability of different kinetics to the hydrolysis of particulate organic material in anaerobic digestion is discussed. Hydrolysis has traditionally been modelled according to the first-order kinetics. For complex substrate, the first-order kinetics should be modified in order to take into account hardly degradable material.

Corrected first-order model of DEHP degradation.

Corrected first-order model was applied to describe the biological removal of di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) in sludge-amended soil along with batch and continuous-flow anaerobic reactors with different initial/influent DEHP concentrations and hydraulic retention times. Only two kinetic parameters - the first-order rate coefficient k describing the overall kinetics of the process and the coefficient alpha characterizing the fraction of non-degradable DEHP - were used to fit the array of experimental data published earlier. The values of k and alpha estimated for DEHP removal from different sludges at 35 degrees C varied within the range of 0.

Modelling MSW decomposition under landfill conditions considering hydrolytic and methanogenic inhibition.

A landfill typically progresses through a series of microbial degradation phases, in which hydrolysis, production and consumption of fermentation products, such as fatty acids, and methane formation play important roles. For ultimate degradation of the waste, stable methanogenic conditions have to be attained, and maintained for sufficient time. Using experimental data from 100-L landfill simulation reactors containing municipal solid waste from a residential area, a distributed model, which accounts for vertical water flow, was developed.

Kinetic analysis of the transformation of phthalate esters in a series of stoichiometric reactions in anaerobic wastes.

Phthalates such as dimethyl phthalate, dimethyl terephthalate (DMT), diethyl phthalate (DEP), di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and mono(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP) are degraded to varying degrees under anaerobic conditions in waste treatment systems. Here we kinetically analyse the enzymatic hydrolyses involved and the subsequent stoichiometric reactions. The resulting model indicates that the degradation of the alcohols released and the transformation of the phthalic acid (PA) result in biphasic kinetics for the methane formation during transformation of DMT, DEP and MEHP.

Two-phase model of hydrolysis kinetics and its applications to anaerobic degradation of particulate organic matter.

The various equations of hydrolysis kinetics included into the generalized simulation model (METHANE) were tested on the anaerobic digestion of cellulose, sludge, and cattle manure. The good agreement between the model simulation results and experimental data was obtained. The Contois equation, taking into account a hydrolytic biomass, and the first-order equation with respect to the particulate substrate only, were shown to be the approximations of two-phase hydrolysis kinetics.