Development of a functional green 3R wall biotechnology for the use in public urban settings | |
| Author | Santipong Grailert |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.EV-19-19 |
| Subject(s) | Refuse and refuse disposal Green roofs (Gardening) Recycling (Waste, etc.) Waste minimization Biotechnology |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Environmental Engineering and Management |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Due to the rapid growth nowadays in urban population, many big cities are becoming lack of green space. To overcome the issue of lack of space, Green Wall is an ideal solution to achieve greenery. Urban Waste Management and Agriculture (Urban food production) into this scenario can make it even more attractive and economically sustainable. The aim of this study was to develop a functional design of innovative Green 3R Wall biotechnology for the use in public urban settings. In order to integrate wastewater (human urine) fertilizer into Green 3R Wall system without causing any unpleasant odor and hygienic issue, the semi – automated drip irrigation/fertigation system was developed for the sustainable for sustainable and odorless point delivery urine fertilizer to individual plants while applying the different specific nitrogen loading rate of wastewater (urine) fertilizer. This development integrates Double Green Walls with waste recycling (3R) and urban agricultural food production based on wasted nutrients recycling. Various species of aesthetically pleasing and food producing plant were grown under different solid organic and plastic waste recycling. The physiological parameters of these plants were studied to quantify benefits obtained from Green Walls. The Green 3R Walls help in monetary savings through waste attenuation, food production, landscape improvement. The developed semi- automated drip irrigation/fertigation was found that the system has good hydraulic performance to irrigate water and fertigate wastewater (urine) fertilizer to plants without significant clogging problems. The water velocity of this system was found to be 0.42 m/s which is optimum to flush out the wastewater (urine) fertilizer out of drip irrigation fertigation system. It also can be concluded that 4 liters of irrigation water was enough to flush fertilizer out of the pipe and drip emitters. The fertilizer distribution uniformity of this system was found that it has 92- 97.75 % of emission uniformity (%EU) which means that the wastewater (urine) fertilizer was distributed evenly to individual plants. In olfactory examination of wastewater (urine) fertilizer application was not found the unpleasant odor even at high specific application rates (NLR of 1.25 gN/m2. d). This can be concluded that this semi – automated drip irrigation/fertigation system was capable of fertigating wastewater (urine) fertilizer at the high nitrogen loading rate. In the studies on irrigation/fertigation regimes, the selected plant species in Double Green 3R were monitored the physiological parameters in order to determine the appropriate N loading rate. It was found that at the NLR of 3.48 – 3.77 gN/m2.week is the optimum rates for all plants varieties and this application rate was appropriate to fertigate without unpleasant odor. The developed Double Green 3R Wall can be concluded to feature higher benefits than general green walls in terms of wastewater (urine) recycling, solid waste recycling and urban food production. |
| Year | 2019 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Energy and Climate Change (Former title: Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (DEECC)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Environmental Engineering (EV) |
| Chairperson(s) | Shipin, Oleg V.; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Visvanathan, C.;Dhakal, Shobhakar; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Royal Thai Government Fellowship; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2019 |