Shoichiro Hamamoto

Extreme Compaction Effects on Gas Transport Parameters and Estimated Climate Gas Exchange for a Landfill Final Cover Soil

Landfill sites have been implicated in greenhouse warming scenarios as a significant source of atmospheric methane. In this study, the effects of extreme compaction on the two main soil-gas transport parameters, the gas diffusion coefficient (Dp) and the intrinsic air permeability (ka), and the cumulative methane oxidation rate in a landfill cover soil were investigated. Extremely compacted landfill cover soil exhibited negligible inactive soil-air contents for both Dp and ka. In addition, greater Dp and ka were observed as compared with normal compacted soils at the same soil-air content (e), likely because of reduced water-blockage effects under extreme compaction. These phenomena are not included in existing predictive models for Dp(e) and ka(e). On the basis of the measured data, new predictive models for Dp(e) and ka(e) were developed with model parameters (representing air-filled pore connectivity and water-blockage effects) expressed as functions of dry density (ρb). The developed Dp(e) and ka(e) m...

Correlating Gas Transport Parameters and X-Ray Computed Tomography Measurements in Porous Media

Abstract Gas transport parameters and X-ray computed tomography (CT) measurements in porous medium under controlled and identical conditions provide a useful methodology for studying the relationships among them, ultimately leading to a better understanding of subsurface gaseous transport and other soil physical processes. The objective of this study was to characterize the relationships between gas transport parameters and soil-pore geometry revealed by X-ray CT. Sands of different shapes with a mean particle diameter (d50) ranging from 0.19 to 1.51 mm were used as porous media under both air-dried and partially saturated conditions. Gas transport parameters including gas dispersivity (&agr;), diffusivity (DP/D0), and permeability (ka) were measured using a unified measurement system (UMS). The 3DMA-Rock computational package was used for analysis of three-dimensional CT data. A strong linear relationship was found between &agr; and tortuosity calculated from gas transport parameters ( ), indicating that gas dispersivity has a linear and inverse relationship with gas diffusivity. A linear relationship was also found between ka and d50/TUMS2, indicating a strong dependency of ka on mean particle size and direct correlation with gas diffusivity. Tortuosity (TMFX) and equivalent pore diameter (deq.MFX) analyzed from microfocus X-ray CT increased linearly with increasing d50 for both Granusil and Accusand and further showing no effect of particle shape. The TUMS values showed reasonably good agreement with TMFX values. The ka showed a strong relationship when plotted against deq.MFX/TMFX2, indicating its strong dependency on pore size distribution and tortuosity of pore space.

Temperature change affected groundwater quality in a confined marine aquifer during long-term heating and cooling

Global warming and urbanization together with development of subsurface infrastructures (e.g. subways, shopping complexes, sewage systems, and Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) systems) will likely cause a rapid increase in the temperature of relatively shallow groundwater reservoirs (subsurface thermal pollution). However, potential effects of a subsurface temperature change on groundwater quality due to changed physical, chemical, and microbial processes have received little attention. We therefore investigated changes in 34 groundwater quality parameters during a 13-month enhanced-heating period, followed by 14 months of natural or enhanced cooling in a confined marine aquifer at around 17 m depth on the Saitama University campus, Japan. A full-scale GSHP test facility consisting of a 50 m deep U-tube for circulating the heat-carrying fluid and four monitoring wells at 1, 2, 5, and 10 m from the U-tube were installed, and groundwater quality was monitored every 1-2 weeks. Rapid changes in the groundwater level in the area, especially during the summer, prevented accurate analyses of temperature effects using a single-well time series. Instead, Dual-Well Analysis (DWA) was applied, comparing variations in subsurface temperature and groundwater chemical concentrations between the thermally-disturbed well and a non-affected reference well. Using the 1 m distant well (temperature increase up to 7 °C) and the 10 m distant well (non-temperature-affected), the DWA showed an approximately linear relationships for eight components (B, Si, Li, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), Mg(2+), NH4(+), Na(+), and K(+)) during the combined 27 months of heating and cooling, suggesting changes in concentration between 4% and 31% for a temperature change of 7 °C.

Adsorption of Cd(II) and Pb(II) onto Humic Acid–Treated Coconut (Cocos nucifera) Husk

AbstractThis study was conducted to characterize the adsorption of Cd2+ and Pb2+ by raw coconut husk (RCH) and humic acid–treated coconut husk (HACH). Grounded and sieved coconut husk (CH) from Sri Lanka was treated with humic acid to use as the adsorbent in laboratory experiments. Capacities of HACH and RCH for adsorption of Cd2+ and Pb2+ at different pH, ionic strengths, initial metal concentrations, and contact times between adsorbent and adsorbate were measured. The effects of binary metal solution, anions, and cations on adsorptions of Cd2+ and Pb2+ by treated and nontreated CH in batch experiments were also examined. The surface characteristics of HACH and RCH were investigated by scanning electron micrography (SEM), X-ray energy dispersion analysis (EDAX), methylene blue (MB), and the Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller (BET) methods to explain the results. Results showed that adsorption of Cd2+ and Pb2+ ions by HACH was independent of pH and ionic strength. The maximum adsorption capacities of Cd2+ and P...

Effect of aggregate structure on VOC gas adsorption onto volcanic ash soil.

The understanding of the gaseous adsorption process and the parameters of volatile organic compounds such as organic solvents or fuels onto soils is very important in the analysis of the transport or fate of these chemicals in soils. Batch adsorption experiments with six different treatments were conducted to determine the adsorption of isohexane, a gaseous aliphatic, onto volcanic ash soil (Tachikawa loam). The measured gas adsorption coefficient for samples of Tachikawa loam used in the first three treatments, Control, AD (aggregate destroyed), and AD-OMR (aggregate destroyed and organic matter removed), implied that the aggregate structure of volcanic ash soil as well as organic matter strongly enhanced gas adsorption under the dry condition, whereas under the wet condition, the aggregate structure played an important role in gas adsorption regardless of the insolubility of isohexane. In the gas adsorption experiments for the last three treatments, soils were sieved in different sizes of mesh and were separated into three different aggregate or particle size fractions (2.0-1.0mm, 1.0-0.5mm, and less than 0.5mm). Tachikawa loam with a larger size fraction showed higher gas adsorption coefficient, suggesting the higher contributions of macroaggregates to isohexane gas adsorption under dry and wet conditions.

Temperature Effects on Geotechnical Properties of Kaolin Clay: Simultaneous Measurements of Consolidation Characteristics, Shear Stiffness and Permeability Using a Modified Oedometer

The increased worldwide use of shallow geothermal energy systems including ground source heat pumps (GSHPs) have given concerns of possible temperature effects on soil geotechnical properties. In this study, the effects of temperature on mechanical characteristics such as consolidation settlement, shear stiffness, and permeability of kaolin clay were investigated. A modified oedometer apparatus which allows the simultaneous measurements of consolidation settlement, shear wave velocity, and hydraulic conductivity was developed and used. Consolidation tests on preconsolidated kaolin samples (two sample sizes: ϕ 6 cm x H 10 cm and ϕ 6 cm x H 2 cm) were performed under sequentially increasing consolidation pressures at three different temperatures (5 °C, 15 °C, and 40 °C). Larger apparent preconsolidation pressure, Pac, was seen at higher temperature (40 °C) for both sample sizes, but only for samples having relatively high initial void ratios between 1.53 and 1.62. Relatively higher shear modulus as a function of void ratio was observed for samples at higher temperature, suggesting that changes in fabric structure (likely caused by enhanced inter-particle forces between clay particles at higher temperature) resulted in the increased shear stiffness and, thus, higher Pac at 40 °C. Oppositely, temperature effects on the Manuscript received February 5, 2013. This work was partly funded by a grant from the Research Management Bureau, Saitama University, the grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) (No.22860012), and a JSPS bilateral research project. This work was also partially supported by a CREST project, a research grant from the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). E. E. Mon is with Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University, 255 Shimo-okubo, Sakura ku, Saitama, 338-8570, Japan. (phone/fax: (+81) 48-858-3116; e-mail: nyima.eimon@gmail.com). S. Hamamoto, is with Graduate School of Science and Engineering, and Institute for Environmental Science and Technology, Saitama University, 255 Shimo-okubo, Sakura ku, Saitama, 338-8570, Japan. (e-mail: hamasyo@mail.saitama-u.ac.jp) K. Kawamoto is with Graduate School of Science and Engineering, and Institute for Environmental Science and Technology, Saitama University, 255 Shimo-okubo, Sakura ku, Saitama, 338-8570, Japan. (e-mail: kawamoto@mail.saitama-u.ac.jp). T. Komatsu is with Graduate School of Science and Engineering, and Institute for Environmental Science and Technology, Saitama University, 255 Shimo-okubo, Sakura ku, Saitama, 338-8570, Japan. (e-mail: komatsu@mail.saitama-u.ac.jp). P. Modrup is with Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry, and Environmental Engineering, Aalborg University, 9000 Aalborg, Denmark. (e-mail: pm@bio.aau.dk). permeability of kaolin clay were not significant within the studied temperature range between 5 °C and 40 °C.

Gas Transport Parameters for Compacted Reddish-Brown Soil in Sri Lankan Landfill Final Cover

Gas exchange through the compacted final cover soil at landfill sites plays a vital role for emission, fate, and transport of toxic landfill gases. This study involved measuring the soil-gas diffusivity (Dp/Do, the ratio of gas diffusion coefficients in soil and free air) and air permeability (ka) for differently compacted soil samples (reddish-brown soil) from the final cover at the Maharagama landfill in Sri Lanka. The samples were prepared by either standard Proctor compaction or hand compaction to dry bulk densities of 1.60–1.94  g cm-3. Existing and modified models for predicting Dp/Do and ka were tested against the measured data. The simple, single-parameter Buckingham model predicted measured Dp/Do values across compaction levels equally well or better than a dry bulk density (DBD) dependent model and a soil-water retention (SWR) dependent model. The measured ka values for differently compacted samples were highly affected by the compaction level and the sample moisture preparation method. Also, fo...

Synthesis and Secretion of Isoflavones by Field-Grown Soybean

Isoflavones play important roles in rhizosphere plant-microbe interactions. Daidzein and genistein secreted by soybean roots induce the symbiotic interaction with rhizobia and may modulate rhizosphere interactions with microbes. Yet despite their important roles, little is known about the biosynthesis, secretion and fate of isoflavones in field-grown soybeans. Here, we analyzed isoflavone contents and the expression of isoflavone biosynthesis genes in field-grown soybeans. In roots, isoflavone contents and composition did not change with crop growth, but the expression of UGT4, an isoflavone-specific 7-O-glucosyltransferase, and of ICHG (isoflavone conjugates hydrolyzing beta-glucosidase) was decreased during the reproductive stages. Isoflavone contents were higher in rhizosphere soil than in bulk soil during both vegetative and reproductive stages, and were comparable in the rhizosphere soil between these two stages. We analyzed the degradation dynamics of daidzein and its glucosides to develop a model for predicting rhizosphere isoflavone contents from the amount of isoflavones secreted in hydroponic culture. Conjugates of daidzein were degraded much faster than daidzein, with degradation rate constants of 8.51 d-1 for malonyldaidzin and 11.6 d-1 for daidzin, vs. 9.15 × 10-2 d-1 for daidzein. The model suggested that secretion of isoflavones into the rhizosphere is higher during vegetative stages than during reproductive stages in field-grown soybean.

The pH Dependency of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid Adsorption and Desorption in Andosol and Kaolinite

Abstract Batch adsorption and consecutive desorption experiments were performed under different pH conditions to assess the pH dependency of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) adsorption and desorption in Andosol (having pH-dependent surface charge characteristics) and kaolinite. The adsorption-desorption isotherms for both Andosol and kaolinite were well fitted by the Freundlich isotherm model. Adsorption of 2,4-D onto Andosol increased markedly with decreasing pH and was higher than for kaolinite under the same pH condition. Hysteresis, expressing the nonsingularity of the desorption compared with the adsorption isotherm, was found at all concentrations and each pH for both Andosol and kaolinite. For Andosol, the fitted Freundlich parameters for desorption, Kf,d and nd, showed a negative, linear and a positive, exponential relationship, respectively, with pH. Higher hysteresis index (&ohgr;), expressing the degree of partial irreversibility of 2,4-D adsorption, was obtained under lower pH, indicating that less adsorbed 2,4-D was released back from the Andosol under acidic condition. The effect of pH on 2,4-D desorption from kaolinite was less pronounced as compared with Andosol. Combining the measured data in this study with previously reported data on 2,4-D adsorption-desorption in several types of soil including Andosols, the possible mobility of adsorbed 2,4-D in soil was evaluated. Results show that adsorbed 2,4-D in soils exhibiting a total adsorption percentage of less than 55% of the applied pesticide typically exhibited a greater potential to be mobile in the soil-water system. Opposite, a total adsorption percentage greater than 55% implied higher residual adsorption and a prolonged existence of adsorbed 2,4-D in the soils.

Effects of Flow Rate and Gas Species on Microbubble and Nanobubble Transport in Porous Media

AbstractTransport of microbubbles and nanobubbles (MNBs) in porous media has drawn increasing attention as a promising technology for soil and groundwater remediation. Understanding the transport m...