| 1. |
- Andersson, Anna, 1990-
(författare)
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Uncharted Waters : Non-target analysis of disinfection by-products in drinking water
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Disinfection by-products (DBPs) are potentially toxic compounds formed when drinking water is treated with disinfectants, such as chlorine or chloramine. A large proportion of the exposure to DBPs is still unknown and the health risks observed through epidemiological studies cannot be explained by DBPs known today. In this thesis, a part of the unknown DBP fraction is investigated, covering a wide range of non-volatile, chlorine/bromine-containing DBPs. The goals were to investigate how the compositions of these DBPs differ between water treatment plants, how their occurrence changes in the distribution system until reaching consumers and how new treatment techniques can reduce their formation and toxicity. To analyze unknown DBPs, a non-targeted approach adopting ultra-high-resolution mass spectrometry, Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS), was used, where the mass of molecules is measured with such accuracy that the elemental composition of individual DBPs can be calculated. A panel of bioassays was used to assess the combined toxic effects from these DBP mixtures. The results show that the formation of these DBPs to a large extent was specific to each water treatment plant and that local conditions influenced DBP formation, based on e.g., the abundance of organic material with certain chemical structures, bromide and disinfection procedure and agent (chlorine or chloramine). The DBPs were detected in both chlorinated and chloraminated water and in all tap water samples, demonstrating that they are part of human exposure. The number of DBP formulae decreased and the DBP composition changed between drinking water treatment and consumer taps, suggesting that DBP exposure to consumers is not necessarily resembling measurements at the treatment plants. Evaluation of new treatment techniques showed that suspended ion exchange and ozonation have potential to decrease the formation and toxic effects of DBPs and that the removal of organic matter can influence qualitative aspects of DBP formation, such as the proportions of chlorine-containing (less toxic) versus bromine-containing (more toxic) DBPs. Through increased knowledge about the role and relevance of non-volatile DBPs, this work can contribute to future monitoring and actions to reduce the health risks associated with DBPs in chlorinated or chloraminated drinking water.
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| 2. |
- Duc, Nguyen Thanh, 1980-
(författare)
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Abiotic and biotic methane dynamics in relation to the origin of life
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Methane (CH4) plays an important role in regulating Earth’s climate. Its atmospheric concentrations are related to both biotic and abiotic processes. The biotic one can be formed either by chemoautotrophic or heterotrophic pathways by methanogens. Abiotic CH4 formation can occur from several sequential reactions starting with H2 production by serpentinization of Fe-bearing minerals followed by Fischer-Tropsch Type reactions or thermogenic reactions from hydrocarbons. In the presence of suitable electron acceptors, microbial oxidation utilizes CH4 and contributes to regulating its emission. From the perspectives of astrobiology and Earth climate regulation, this thesis focuses on: (1) Dynamics of CH4 formation and oxidation in lake sediments (Paper I), (2) Constructing an automatic flux chamber to facilitate its emission measurements (Paper II), (3) dynamics of both abiotic and biotic CH4 formation processes related to olivine water interaction in temperature range 30 - 70°C (Paper III and IV). Paper I showed that potential CH4 oxidation strongly correlated to in situ its formation rates across a wide variety of lake sediments. This means that the oxidation rates could be enhanced in environments having the high formation rates. Thereby, the oxidation would likely be able to keep up with potentially increasing the formation rates, as a result diffusive CH4 release from freshwater sediments might not necessarily increase due to global warming. Paper II presented a new automated approach to assess temporal variability of its aquatic fluxes. Paper III and IV together revealed that H2 can be formed via olivine-water interaction. Abiotic CH4 formation was formed likely by Fischer-Tropsch Type reactions at low inorganic carbon concentration but by thermogenic processes at high inorganic carbon concentration. Paper IV showed that biotic methanogenic metabolism could harvest H2 and produce CH4. The dynamics of these processes seemed strongly affected by carbonate chemistry.
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| 3. |
- Ekstrand, Eva-Maria, 1985-
(författare)
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Anaerobic digestion in the kraft pulp and paper industry : Challenges and possibilities for implementation
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The pulp and paper industry is a large producer of wastewater and sludge, putting high pressure on waste treatment. In addition, more rigorous environmental legislation for pollution control and demands to increase the use of renewable energy have put further pressure on the pulp and paper industry’s waste treatment, where anaerobic digestion (AD) and the production of methane could pose a solution. Kraft pulping makes up 80% of the world production of virgin wood pulp, thus, the wastewaters from this sector represent a large unused potential for methane production.There are three main types of substrates available for AD at pulp and paper mills, the wastewaters, the primary sludge/fibre sludge, and the waste activated sludge. AD treatment of these streams has been associated with several challenges, such as the presence of inhibiting compounds or low degradability during AD. The aim of this thesis was to experimentally address these challenges and potentials, focusing on wastes from kraft mills.Methane potential batch tests showed that many wastewater streams still posed challenges to AD, but the alkaline elemental chlorine-free bleaching stream and the condensate effluents had good methane potentials. Further, the methane potential of kraft mill fibre sludge was high, and co-digestion of kraft mill fibre sludge and waste activated sludge was feasible in stirred tank reactors with sludge recirculation. By increasing the organic loading in a pilot-scale activated sludge facility and thereby lowering the sludge age, the degradability of the waste activated sludge was improved. The higher wastewater treatment capacity achieved by this method provides an opportunity for the mills to increase their pulp and paper production. Further, by dewatering the digestate after AD and returning the liquid to the activated sludge treatment, costs for nutrient supplementation can be reduced.In conclusion, the thesis shows that AD of wastes from the kraft pulp and paper industry was feasible and carried many benefits regarding the generation of methane as a renewable energy carrier, improved wastewater treatment and reduced costs. Different strategies on how AD may be implemented in the kraft pulp and paper industry were formulated and discussed.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Rudberg, David, 1989-
(författare)
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CO2 Emissions from Northern Lakes : Insights on regulation and spatiotemporal variability across contrasting lakes in Sweden
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Lakes cover only ~2 % of the global land area, but their connections to the surrounding catchment make them important for the global carbon cycle. A considerable amount of the carbon input to lakes is emitted to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO2) through diffusive flux. This CO2 flux varies with surface water CO2 concentrations (CwCO2) and the transfer velocity of CO2 across the thin boundary layer between surface water and atmosphere (k), which both in turn depend on physical, biological, and chemical factors that interplay with lake and catchment characteristics over various time scales. Comprehensive studies of these interlinkages across lake types are rare, and current assessments of lake CO2 emissions are therefore uncertain. In this thesis, the variability and regulation of lake CO2 fluxes across a latitudinal gradient in Sweden is investigated. The thesis explores how CwCO2 and k regulate lake CO2 fluxes and how spatiotemporal patterns of CO2 fluxes vary within and across lakes.Regulation of CO2 flux at shorter temporal scales (<1 week) was dominated by k. However, the contribution from CwCO2 increased over time making it the dominant factor for seasonal CO2 flux in some lakes. Furthermore, we show that ways of assessing k in lakes may lead to bias, possibly due to inadequate consideration of processes occurring at the upper surface layer of lakes. In the three lakes where daynight variability was studied, we found consistent patterns of higher fluxes of CO2 at daytime during periods where lakes were emitting CO2. Meanwhile, the period of lake water column turnover in autumn was crucial for both day-night variability and total lake CO2 fluxes. Based on the patterns above, we have made recommendations on improved study design for representative measurements of CO2 fluxes in lakes. In addition, we produced models for estimating CO2 flux from combinations of climatic data, satellite imagery and national lake inventory data, i.e., information that is relatively easily available and thus simplify extrapolation of flux estimates to other lakes. Patterns observed across our models suggest strong climate feedbacks, which may lead to increasing CO2 fluxes from lakes at northern latitudes along with precipitation and temperature increases there. Thus, results in this thesis urges forthcoming studies to better account for spatiotemporal variability to improve upon models that can be used for large-scale estimates and future predictions of lake CO2 fluxes.
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| 6. |
- Ashiq, Muhammad Jamshaid, 1987-
(författare)
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The occurrence of disinfection by-products in four Swedish drinking waterworks
- 2022
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Disinfection by-products (DBPs) are unwanted, potentially toxic compounds formed when drinking water is disinfected with chemical disinfectants such as chlorine or chloramine. The levels of DBPs produced depends on parameters, such as levels of natural organic matter (NOM) and the nature and concentration of chemical disinfectant used. In this thesis, the effects of two different types of chemical disinfectants, chlorine and chloramine, are investigated in terms of levels of DBP production. The goal was to investigate if chlorine disinfection produces similar levels and types of DBPs as in case of chloramination.Within the thesis work was also tested a method based on a gas chromatograph coupled with halogen selective detector (GC-XSD) to determine the known DBPs in the drinking water.The results show that the formation of DBPs at chlorine or chloramine disinfection were similar. Still, chloramine is preferably used because it produces less legally regulated DBPs.The GC-XSD worked well for the determination of DBPs in drinking water. Since XSD is very selective and specific towards halogens and easy to operate, therefore this setup not only a potential tool for routine DBPs monitoring at drinking water facilities, but it could also be used for the determination of unknow halogenated compounds.Through increased knowledge in the formation of DBPs and their determination with GC-XSD can contribute to the development of better methods to quantify known and identify unknow halogenated organic compounds in treated drinking water and reduce public exposure to potentially toxic halogenated organic compounds.
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| 7. |
- Larsson, Madeleine
(författare)
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Anaerobic Digestion of Wastewaters from Pulp and Paper Mills : A Substantial Source for Biomethane Production in Sweden
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The Swedish pulp and paper industry is the third largest exporter of pulp and paper products worldwide. It is a highly energy-demanding and water-utilising industry, which generates large volumes of wastewater rich in organic material. These organic materials are to different extents suitable for anaerobic digestion (AD) and production of energy-rich biomethane. The implementation of an AD process within the wastewater treatment plant of a mill would increase the treatment capacity and decrease the overall energy consumption due to less aeration and lower sludge production and in addition produce biomethane. Despite the many benefits of AD it is only applied at two mills in Sweden today. The reason for the low implementation over the years may be due to problems encountered linked to the complexity and varying composition of the wastewaters. Due to changes in market demands many mills have broadened their product portfolios and turned towards more refined products. This has increased both the complexity and the variations of the wastewaters´ composition even further, as the above changes can imply an increased pulp bleaching and utilisation of more diverse raw materials within the mills.The main aim of this thesis was therefore to generate knowledge needed for an expansion of the biomethane production within the pulp and paper industry. As a first step to achieve this an evaluation of the biomethane potential and the suitability for AD of wastewaters within a range of Swedish pulp and paper mills was performed. Thus, around 70 wastewater streams from 11 different processes at eight mills were screened for their biomethane potential. In a second step, the impact of shifts in wood raw material and bleaching on the AD process and the biomethane production was investigated and further evaluated in upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactors.The screening showed that the biomethane potential within the Swedish pulp and paper industry could be estimated to 700 GWh, which corresponds to 40% of the Swedish biomethane production during 2014. However, depending on the conditions at each specific mill the strategy for the establishment of AD needs to differ. For mills producing kraft pulp the potential is mainly found in wastewaters rich in fibres, alkaline kraft bleaching wastewaters and methanol-rich condensates. The biomethane potential within thermo-mechanical pulp- (TMP) and chemical thermo-mechanical pulp (CTMP) mills is mainly present in the total effluents after pre-sedimentation and in the bleaching effluents as these holds high concentrations of dissolved organic material. The screening further showed that the raw material used for pulp production is an important factor for the biomethane potential of a specific wastewater stream, i.e. hardwood (HW) wastewaters have higher potentials than those from softwood (SW) pulp production. This was confirmed in the lab-scale UASB reactor experiments, in which an alkaline kraft bleaching wastewater and a composite pulping and bleaching CTMP wastewater were used as substrates. AD processes were developed and maintained stable throughout shifts in wastewater composition related to changes in the wood raw materials between SW and HW for the kraft wastewater and spruce, aspen and birch for the CTMP wastewater. The lower biomethane production from SW- compared to HW wastewaters was due to a lower degradability together with a higher ratio of sulphuric compounds per TOC for the SW case. The impact of shifts between bleached and unbleached CTMP production could not be fully evaluated in the continuous process mainly due to technical problems. However, due to the large increase in dissolved organic material when bleaching is applied, the potential biomethane production will increase during the production of bleached pulp compared to unbleached pulp. Based on the biomethane potentials obtained for one of the included CTMP mills, their yearly production of biomethane was estimated to 5-27 GWh with the lowest and the highest value corresponding to the production of unbleached spruce pulp vs. bleached birch pulp.Thus, the results of the investigations presented in this thesis show that the UASBreactor is suitable for AD of wastewaters within the pulp and paper industry. The results also show that challenges related to variations in the organic material composition of the wastewaters due to variations in wood raw materials could be managed. The outcome of the thesis work also imply that the production of more refined products, which may include the introduction of an increased number of raw materials and extended bleaching protocols, could increase the potential biomethane production, especially if the pulp production will make use of more HW.
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| 8. |
- Montelius, Malin
(författare)
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Chlorine Cycling in Terrestrial Environments
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Chlorinated organic compounds (Clorg) are produced naturally in soil. Formation and degradation of Clorg affect the chlorine (Cl) cycling in terrestrial environments and chlorine can be retained or released from soil. Cl is known to have the same behaviour as radioactive chlorine-36 (36Cl), a long-lived radioisotope with a half-life of 300,000 years. 36Cl attracts interest because of its presence in radioactive waste, making 36Cl a potential risk for humans and animals due to possible biological uptake. This thesis studies the distribution and cycling of chloride (Cl–) and Clorg in terrestrial environments by using laboratory controlled soil incubation studies and a forest field study. The results show higher amounts of Cl– and Clorg and higher chlorination rates in coniferous forest soils than in pasture and agricultural soils. Tree species is the most important factor regulating Cl– and Clorg levels, whereas geographical location, atmospheric deposition, and soil type are less important. The root zone was the most active site of the chlorination process. Moreover, this thesis confirms that bulk Clorg dechlorination rates are similar to, or higher than, chlorination rates and that there are at least two major Clorg pools, one being dechlorinated quickly and one remarkably slower. While chlorination rates were negatively influenced by nitrogen additions, dechlorination rates, seem unaffected by nitrogen. The results implicate that Cl cycling is highly active in soils and Cl– and Clorg levels result from a dynamic equilibrium between chlorination and dechlorination. Influence of tree species and the rapid and slow cycling of some Cl pools, are critical to consider in studies of Cl in terrestrial environments. This information can be used to better understand Cl in risk-assessment modelling including inorganic and organic 36Cl.
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| 9. |
- Natchimuthu, Sivakiruthika
(författare)
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Freshwater methane and carbon dioxide fluxes : Spatio-temporal variability and an integrated assessment of lake and stream emissions in a catchment
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Freshwater bodies such as lakes and streams release the greenhouse gases methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. Global freshwater CH4 and CO2 emissions have been estimated to be of a similar magnitude to the global land or ocean carbon sink, and are thus significant components of global carbon budgets. However, the data supporting global estimates frequently lacks information regarding spatial and temporal variability and are thus highly inaccurate. In this thesis, detailed studies of the spatio-temporal variability of CH4 and CO2 fluxes were conducted in the open water areas of lakes and streams within a whole catchment in Sweden. One aim was also to evaluate the importance of spatio-temporal variability in lake and stream fluxes when making whole catchment aquatic or large scale assessments. Apart from the expected large spatio-temporal variability in lake fluxes, interactions between spatial and temporal variability in CH4 fluxes were found. Shallow lakes and shallow areas of lakes were observed to emit more CH4 as compared to their deeper counterparts. This spatial variability interacted with the temporal variability driven by an exponential temperature response of the fluxes, which meant that shallow waters were more sensitive to warming than deeper ones. Such interactions may be important for climate feedbacks. Surface water CO2 in lakes showed significant spatio-temporal variability and, when considering variability in both space and time, CO2 fluxes were largely controlled by concentrations, rather than gas transfer velocities. Stream fluxes were also highly variable in space and time and in particular, stream CH4 fluxes were surprisingly large and more variable than CO2 fluxes. Fluxes were large from stream areas with steep slopes and periods of high discharge which occupied a small fraction of the total stream area and the total measurement period, respectively, and a failure to account for these spatially distinct or episodic high fluxes could lead to underestimates. The total aquatic fluxes from the whole catchment were estimated by combining the measurements in open waters of lakes and streams. Using our data, recommendations on improved study designs for representative measurements in lakes and streams were provided for future studies. Thus, this thesis presents findings relating to flux regulation in lakes and streams, and urges forthcoming studies to better consider spatio-temporal variability so as to achieve unbiased large-scale estimates.
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| 10. |
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