Bærekraftig tilnærming til behandling av forurensning ved veibygging

Mehrdad Ghorbani Mooselu fra Fakultet for teknologi og realfag ved UiA disputerer for ph.d.-graden med avhandlingen «Sustainable Approaches for Highway Runoff Management During Construction and Operation» tirsdag 24 mai 2022.

Han har fulgt doktorgradsprogrammet ved Fakultet for teknologi og realfag ved UiA, med spesialisering i ingeniørvitenskap, forskningsområde bygg. Doktorgradsarbeidet er utført som en del av Forskningsrådets prosjekt MEERC (more efficient and environmentally-friendly road construction).

Slik oppsummerer Mehrdad Ghorbani Mooselu selv avhandlingen:

Sustainable Approaches for Highway Runoff Management

Urban development necessitates building new infrastructure, such as new highways. These constructions impose environmental damages and pollution loads on surrounding ecosystems.

This PhD project focuses on the effects of road runoff on water quality and seeks sustainable measures to manage highway runoff during construction and operation.

Field observation data from a construction site

First, the vulnerability of water quality to road construction was analyzed over time and space using field observation data from a construction site in the project for a new 22 km highway, E18 Arendal-Tvedestrand, in southern Norway.

Also, the effect of each construction activity on water quality was analyzed.

Analysis of the field monitoring data indicates that the type and size of construction activities directly affect water quality. In this regard, blasting, area cleaning, and construction of water management measures have the highest impact on surface water quality during road construction.

Decision-makers can apply the data provided by the water quality monitoring network for reliable assessments of water quality and to support protecting policies.

Optimizing the water quality monitoring network

In the next stage of this PhD project, two different approaches, involving information theory and gamma test theory, were suggested to optimize the water quality monitoring network during road construction.

The results showed that the number of stations in the primary stations could be reduced while the value of generated information is constant.

Also, it is necessary to modify the monitoring network based on variations in construction activities.

Due to the importance of water quality monitoring and the lack of a comprehensive monitoring system on a regional scale and for longer stretches of road, remote sensing (RS) feasibility to provide supplementary data for ground-based observation was evaluated.

In this regard, the satellite data (i.e., Sentinel-2 Multi-Spectral Imager satellite imagery products) was applied to estimate turbidity and chlorophyll-a parameters in roadside water bodies. The suggested remote sensing techniques are able to estimate turbidity and chlorophyll-a with reliable accuracy and consistent with field observations, reflecting the spatiotemporal effects of road construction and operations on water quality.

Treatment of tunneling wastewater

Tunneling is a critical activity in road construction, which may generate several manufactured and natural water-borne pollutants for receiving water bodies.

The tunneling wastewater is generally known for high concentrations of suspended solids and particle-bound contaminants such as heavy metals. These particles reduce light penetration, can change both temperature and spawning conditions, reduce fish foods, and damage fish gill tissues.

Therefore in the last part of this Ph.D. project, the characterization, and treatment of tunneling wastewater were also investigated.

An efficient two-step treatment strategy (15 min sedimentation followed by chemical coagulation and 45 min sedimentation) was suggested for the treatment of tunneling wastewater.

Both natural (i.e., chitosan) and chemical coagulants were investigated for removing finer particles. The optimum coagulant dosages in the jar test exhibit high treatment efficiency (92-99%) for both turbidity and suspended solids, especially for particle removal in the range of 10-100 μm, which is hard to remove by sedimentation ponds and may pose serious threats to the aquatic ecosystem.

It is hoped the knowledge generated by this project will help decision-makers with management strategies and support UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The proposed approaches directly contribute to managing highway runoff and achieving SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation) and especially target 6.3 (water quality).

Disputasfakta:

Prøveforelesning og disputas finner sted i Auditorium C2 040, Campus Grimstad og digitalt i konferanseprogrammet Zoom (lenke under).

Disputasen blir ledet av instituttleder Paul Ragnar Svennevig, Institutt for ingeniørvitenskap, Fakultet for teknologi og realfag, Universitetet i Agder.

Prøveforelesning tirsdag 24 mai kl 10:15

Disputas tirsdag 24 mai kl 12:15

 

Oppgitt emne for prøveforelesning: «Overview of BMPs for road runoff management and effects on the aims of the WFD»

Tittel på avhandling: «Sustainable Approaches for Highway Runoff Management During Construction and Operation»

Søk etter avhandlingen i AURA - Agder University Research Archive, som er et digitalt arkiv for vitenskapelige artikler, avhandlinger og masteroppgaver fra ansatte og studenter ved Universitetet i Agder. AURA blir jevnlig oppdatert.

Avhandlingen er tilgjengelig her:

https://uia.brage.unit.no/uia-xmlui/handle/11250/2994236 - eller på pdf:

PHD Thesis Mehrdad Ghorbani Mooselu Final-29April2022.pdf

 

Kandidaten: Mehrdad Ghorbani Mooselu (1987, Firoozabad, Iran) B.Sc. in Civil Engineering, Yasouj University, Iran (2010) MSc. in Environmental Engineering, Shiraz University, Iran (2013)

Opponenter:

Førsteopponent: Professor Rita Hilliges, University of Applied Science, Hochschule Augsburg, Tyskland

Annenopponent: Førsteamanuensis Kim Aleksander Haukeland Paus, NMBU - Norges miljø- og biovitenskapelige universitet

Bedømmelseskomitéen er ledet av førsteamanuensis Svitlana Rogovchenko, Fakultet for teknologi og realfag, Universitetet i Agder

Veiledere i doktorgradsarbeidet var professor Helge Liltved, UiA (hovedveileder) seniorforsker, dr. philos Atle Hindar, NIVA og strategisk rådgiver ytre miljø Marianne Simonsen Bjørkenes, Nye Veier AS (medveiledere)

Opponent ex auditorio:

Tidsfrist for å stille spørsmål er senest i løpet av pausen mellom opponentene. Den som stiller spørsmål bør ha lest avhandlingen. Kontaktpersonens e-post er tilgjengelig i chat-funksjonen under disputasen, og spørsmål ex auditorio kan sendes til Emma Elisabeth Horneman på e-post emma.e.horneman@uia.no