Prithvi Simha – Page 13 – Kretsloppsteknik

Masters Thesis Student for Urine Drying Project

Published 21 June, 2020
By Prithvi Simha

Our intern Chinmoy Deb from India, has successfully completed all his theory subjects at SLU for the Mater’s program “Soil, Water and Environment” in a duration of one year. In his theory subjects, he had worked with soil-water systems and Geochemical modelling. Chinmoy has opted for a “One-year Master Thesis” for the rest of the credits left. He was here last year for the completion of his Bachelor’s thesis on Urine Drying Technologies. This year, in continuation with his previous work, Chinmoy will be focusing on different methods and medias for urine drying. Primarily, he’ll be concentrating on reclamation of water from human urine.

Group activity after Jenna’s PhD defence.

Published 15 June, 2020
By Prithvi Simha

To celebrate the successful PhD defence of Jenna Senecal, we combined it with the annual spring semester Brännboll game of PhDs vs the non-PhDs, a perfect activity for social distancing. The referees (aka the PhDs) are still counting the results due to some unclear activities regarding how to run after batting (not cutting corners) and how to normalize by age and education combined with the number of players. The non-PhDs felt that they won (as usual) but need to work and get their PhDs so they can go to the other side and be the ones who make the rules.

PhD Defence Jenna Senecal

Published 15 June, 2020
By Prithvi Simha

Vi gratulerar Jenna Senecal för hennes lyckade presentation av sin doktorsavhandling “Safe Nutrient Recovery from Human Urine – System and Hugiene Evaluation of Alkaline Urine Dehydration”. Det var en mycket intressant diskussion med opponenten Professor Chris Buckley från University of KwaZulu Natal. Detta följdes av en lika intressant diskussion med betygsnämnden, Ana Soares Cranfield Water Sciences Institute, H.B. Wittgren VA-Syd & Sweden Water Research, Helvi Heinonen-Tanski University of Eastern Finland, Malgorzata Krzywonos Wrocław University of Economics and Business och Sofia Boqvist från SLU. Om du missade disputationen men tycker att det vore intressant att höra finns den upplagd på institutionen för Energi och tekniks Facebooksida. Evenemanget genomfördes både online och inför publik i en stor sal på SLU med vidhållande av social distans, totalt deltog 22 personer på plats och upp till ytterligare 36 personer via zoom. Allting fungerade bra även om vi saknade alla intressanta diskussioner på postseminariet efter disputationen.

PhD defence Jenna Senecal

Published 15 June, 2020
By Prithvi Simha

We congratulate Jenna Senecal for a well performed defence of her PhD thesis “Safe Nutrient Recovery from Human Urine – System and Hugiene Evaluation of Alkaline Urine Dehydration”. It was a great discussion with the opponent Professor Chris Buckley from University of KwaZulu Natal, followed by the discussion with the evaluation committee, Ana Soares Cranfield Water Sciences Institute, H.B. Wittgren VA-Syd & Sweden Water Research, Helvi Heinonen-Tanski University of Eastern Finland, Malgorzata Krzywonos Wrocław University of Economics and Business and Sofia Boqvist SLU. If you missed it the event is available on the Energi och teknik Facebook page. The event was performed online as well as with an audience in the room, with social distance, in total there were 22 persons in the room listening and up to 36 persons following the dissertation online, it worked well, even if we were missing the interesting post seminar discussions with all involved persons.

36th month meeting for the Run4Life project

Published 8 June, 2020
By Prithvi Simha

The 36 month meeting during June 2-3 for the run4life project was like everything else held like an online meeting. All presentations and discussions were made online. It was interesting to hear that all the pilot areas included in the project were progressing and people are moving into the separating houses in Helsingborg, Gent, Sneek and Vigo. We all looking forward to the final year of the project and the exciting results we will get from it.

Link: https://run4life-project.eu/

Madeleine Fogde Honorary doctor at NJ faculty at SLU

Published 8 June, 2020
By Prithvi Simha

Congratulations and welcome to SLU, we look forward to continue the collaboration in the future. Program Manager Madeleine Fogde is a trained teacher and currently program manager for the Swedish International Agricultural Network Initiative (Siani), which is coordinated by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI). Siani has a broad membership base and is a very inclusive organization that offers an attractive network for people working with agricultural research globally. She has worked extensively with low-income countries in Africa, including in a water supply and ecological sanitation program in Mozambique. She has a large worldwide network in agriculture, sanitation and women’s organizations.

New publication on fate of Ascaris at various pH, temperature and moisture levels

Published 1 June, 2020
By Prithvi Simha

A new study assessed the inactivation of Ascaris eggs under various conditions and observed that the exposure of Ascaris eggs to elevated pH (10.5–12.5) at temperatures <27.5 °C for >70 days had no effect on egg viability. To accelerate the inactivation of STH, an increase in the treatment temperature is more effective than pH increase. Alkaline pH alone did not inactivate the eggs but can enhance the effect of ammonia, which is likely to be present in organic wastes.

Follow the link to access the article: https://doi.org/10.2166/wh.2020.264

Senecal, J., Nordin, A., & Vinnerås, B. (2020). Fate of Ascaris at various pH, temperature and moisture levels. Journal of Water and Health.

PhD Defence of Jenna Senecal on June 11th at 9h00

Published 1 June, 2020
By Prithvi Simha

On June 11th @ 9h00 Jenna Senecal will defend her thesis titled “Safe Nutrient Recovery from Human Urine – System and Hygiene Evaluation of Alkaline Urine Dehydration.” You are most welcome to watch the defence. One may come in person to Framtiden room in the MVM building at SLU (max 25 people) or join online.

For online viewing, one can stream it from facebook at our departmental webpage. Or join via zoom: https://slu-se.zoom.us/j/65645045319 with password: 528646

Process efficiency and ventilation requirement in BSFL composting of substrates with high water content

Published 18 May, 2020
By Prithvi Simha

Our latest publication on BSFL composting entitled Process efficiency and ventilation requirement in black soldier fly larvae composting of substrates with high water content has been recently published in Science of the Total Environment. In this study we investigated the impact on increasing substrate water content on the process efficiency in black soldier fly larvae composting. We used the gathered data to make a model predicting the required ventilation for achieving a residue dry enough to allow for dry separation of larvae from treatment residue at the end of the composting. In contrast to what other studies have found, we fund that it is possible to BSFL compost substrates with water content 80 – 90 % and dry separate the larvae from the residue. For substrates with water content >90% it was more difficult, as the process efficiency decreased greatly, while the ventilation requirement increased.

New Publication on drying human urine using different alkaline media & temperatures

Published 13 May, 2020
By Prithvi Simha

In a study recently published in Science of the Total Environment, we present results from a study that investigated drying of fresh source-separated human urine in five different alkaline media (pH > 11) at elevated temperatures (50 and 60 °C) with minimal loss of urea, urine’s principal nitrogen compound. We found that it was possible to concentrate urine 48 times, yielding dry end-products with high fertiliser value: approximately, 10% N, 1% P, and 4% K. We monitored the physicochemical properties and the composition of various dehydration media to provide useful insights into their suitability for dehydrating urine. We demonstrated that it is possible to recover >90% nitrogen when treating fresh urine by alkaline dehydration by inhibiting the enzymatic hydrolysis of urea at elevated pH and minimising the chemical hydrolysis of urea with high urine dehydration rates.