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Water Usage (water + usage)
Selected AbstractsOperational cost savings in dairy plant water usage,INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DAIRY TECHNOLOGY, Issue 2 2006P J WILLIAMS Public awareness and concern over food safety, together with intensified regulatory control over the impact of food processing operations on the environment, present new challenges to the industry. This paper outlines a systematic approach to water management that addresses both cost-reduction strategies and environmental performance improvement, which can enhance industry image while maintaining product and brand integrity. Many companies already operate a well-defined environmental management system (EMS), and some have already sought accreditation to ISO 14001. However, the implementation of, among others, the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive, the Water Directive and the Climate Change Levy (CCL) are raising new and important questions. [source] Farm size, irrigation practices, and on-farm irrigation efficiency,IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE, Issue 1 2005R. K. Skaggs Abstract Relationships between farm size, irrigation practices, and on-farm irrigation efficiency in the Elephant Butte Irrigation District, New Mexico, USA are explored using 2001 water delivery data supplied by the irrigation district. The study area is experiencing rapid population growth, development, and competition for existing water supplies. It is conventionally assumed that in the future water will be transferred from agriculture to other uses. Analysis of pecan orchard water delivery data, fieldwork, and interviews with irrigators found extremely long irrigation durations, inefficient irrigation practices, inadequate on-farm infrastructure, and lack of interest in making improvements to the current irrigation system or methods on the smallest farms. These findings are attributed to the nature of residential/lifestyle or retirement agriculture. Irrigation practices on large, commercial orchards are notably different from the smallest farms: irrigation event durations are shorter, less water is applied, and the producers are commercially oriented. With respect to future increases in the efficiency of irrigation water usage, large, commercially oriented producers already have a high level of physical efficiency. Small producers appear to view irrigation as a consumptive, recreational, social, or lifestyle activity, rather than an income-generating pursuit, thus the cost of inducing changes in their practices may be extremely high. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Effects of Deficit Irrigation and Salinity Stress on Common Bean (Phaseolus Vulgaris L.) and Mungbean (Vigna Radiata (L.) Wilczek) Grown in a Controlled EnvironmentJOURNAL OF AGRONOMY AND CROP SCIENCE, Issue 4 2010M. Bourgault Abstract As water for irrigation purposes becomes increasingly scarce because of climate change and population growth, there is growing interest in regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) as a way to improve efficiency of water usage and farm productivity in arid and semi-arid areas. Salinity is also becoming an important problem in these same regions. Experiments were performed to investigate the effects of RDI and salt stress on two legumes crops, common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and mungbean (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek); previous work showed contrasting responses to RDI by these two crops under field conditions. The seed and biomass yields of both crops were reduced as a result of increasing water deficit stress; however, mungbean was able to maintain the same proportion of its biomass in reproductive structures and maintain its harvest index under stress, whereas common bean's decreased. In addition, photosynthesis in mungbean was higher than in common bean and higher at the same levels of transpiration. Finally, salinity stress did not affect the water potential, harvest index or the specific leaf weight of either crop. There were no interactions between salinity and crops or RDI levels, which suggest that the two crops do not differ in their response to salinity stress, and that RDI levels do not modify this response. [source] Direct filtration of Procion dye bath wastewaters by nanofiltration membranes: flux and removal characteristicsJOURNAL OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY & BIOTECHNOLOGY, Issue 12 2003Ismail Koyuncu Abstract The treatment and reuse of industrial wastewaters by membrane processes has become more attractive in the last few years due to constraints on water usage. The aim of this study was to investigate the direct filtration of reactive dye house wastewaters by nanofiltration membranes based on permeate flux, and sodium chloride and colour removal. Experiments were performed using both synthetic and industrial dye bath wastewaters with the fluxes of the industrial dye bath wastewaters lower than those of the synthetic solutions. The effects of operating conditions such as pressure and pH were assessed. Studies with DS5 DK type (polysulfone,polyamide) membranes showed that nanofiltration membranes are suitable for direct treatment of wastewaters and the permeate quality was appropriate for reuse in the dyeing process. Pre-treatment and neutralisation were important for recovery of large amounts of salt and water from the permeate stream. Neutralisation of the solution with HCl rather than H2SO4 gave a better permeate from the point of view of the reuse. The highest permeate flux and colour removal and the lowest salt removal were achieved with the HCl neutralisation. Copyright © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry [source] RECOVERY OF SINAPIC ACID FROM A WASTE STREAM IN THE PROCESSING OF YELLOW MUSTARD PROTEIN ISOLATEJOURNAL OF FOOD PROCESS ENGINEERING, Issue 2 2008N. PRAPAKORNWIRIYA ABSTRACT A large amount of waste permeates generated from the processing of yellow mustard protein was concentrated fivefold using a nanofilter with a molecular weight cut off of 1,000 Da, while approximately 74% of sinapic acid was retained. Sinapic acid was then released from sinapine, its esterified form, by an alkaline hydrolysis. The hydrolyzed solution was acidified to prevent oxidation of the sinapic acid and to precipitate the remaining proteins. Subsequently, sinapic acid and other phenolics were extracted by a two-stage extraction using a mixture of diethyl ether and ethyl acetate (1:1), 165-min extraction time and permeate-to-solvent ratio of 1:2. Approximately 95% of the sinapic acid in the acidified permeate was finally concentrated in the solvent phase. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS This development has led to an economical process to recover phenolics and to treat effluent from a process of oilseed protein while reducing the use of water during the extraction of protein. A reduction of water usage makes the processing of oilseed protein isolate more economically attractive, and the recovered phenolics may find a use as a nutraceutical. The developed process is not only limited to the recovery of phenolics from mustard, but also applied for recovering phenolic acids, specifically sinapic acid, from waste water from membrane processing of protein from mustard and similar polyphenol-containing oilseeds. [source] Food Waste Management by Life Cycle Assessment of the Food ChainJOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE, Issue 3 2004THOMAS OHLSSON ABSTRACT: In the past, environmental activities in the food industry used to be focused on meeting the requirements set by authorities on waste and sewage disposal and, more recently, regarding emissions to air. Today environmental issues are considered an essential part of the corporate image in progressive food industries. To avoid sub-optimization, food waste management should involve assessing the environmental impact of the whole food chain. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is an ISO-standardized method to assess the environmental impact of a food product. It evaluates the resources used to perform the different activities through the chain of production from raw material to the user step. It also summarizes the emission/waste to air, water, and land from the same activities throughout the chain. These emissions are then related to the major environmental concerns such as eutrophication, acidification, and ecotoxicity, the factors most relevant for the food sector. The food industry uses the LCAs to identify the steps in the food chain that have the largest impact on the environment in order to target the improvement efforts. It is then used to choose among alternatives in the selection of raw materials, packaging material, and other inputs as well as waste management strategies. A large number of food production chains have been assessed by LCAs over the years. This will be exemplified by a comparison of the environmental impact of ecologically grown raw materials to those conventionally grown. Today LCA is often integrated into process and product development, for example, in a project for reduction of water usage and waste valorization in a diversified dairy. [source] Cold-climate origin of the enclosed depressions and wetlands (,spungs') of the Pine Barrens, southern New Jersey, USAPERMAFROST AND PERIGLACIAL PROCESSES, Issue 4 2001Hugh M. French Abstract The ,frost-thaw' or thermokarst-lake-basin hypothesis, first invoked by P. E. Wolfe in 1953 to explain the enclosed depressions and shallow basins (,spungs') of southern New Jersey, is re-examined. The most probable explanation is that they formed in late Wisconsinan times as deflation hollows, or ,blowouts', when strong katabatic winds flowed southwards from the continental ice margin across the sparsely vegetated, tundra terrain of the Pine Barrens. Wedge structures and cryoturbation phenomena suggest the existence of either permafrost or deep seasonal frost, and imply mean annual air temperatures of between ,0.5 °C and ,6 °C. When the groundwater table rose in late-glacial times, the hollows became ponds or wetlands. These were utilized as early as 12,000 years ago by palaeoindian and early archaic cultures as hunting camp sites. Today, many of these wetlands are drying up as the regional water table falls in response to increased water usage from agriculture and urbanization. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. RÉSUMÉ L'hypothèse gel-dégel ou de bassins thermokarstiques, invoquée pour la première fois par P.E. Wolfe en 1953 pour expliquer les dépressions fermées et les bassins peu profonds (spungs) du sud du New Jersey, est réexaminée. L'explication la plus probable est que ces dépressions se sont formées à la fin du Wisconsin comme des creux de déflation au moment où des vents catabatiques violents soufflaient vers le sud sur la marge de la calotte glaciaire et sur la végétation éparse de la toundra qui couvrait les Pine Barrens. Des structures en coin et des cryoturbations suggèrent l'existence, soit d'un pergélisol, soit d'un gel profond saisonnier, et impliquent des températures annuelles de l'air comprises entre , 0.5 et , 6°C. Quand la nappe aquifère s'est élevée à la fin de la glaciation, les dépressions sont devenues des mares ou des zones humides. Elles furent utilisées comme sites de camps de chasse, il y a 12000 ans par des Paléoindiens et des cultures archaïques primitives. Aujourd'hui, beaucoup de ces terres humides disparaissent à la suite de l'abaissement régional de la nappe aquifère résultant d'un accroissement de l'utilisation d'eau par l'agriculture et l'urbanisation. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | ||||||||||