Environmental Engineering

The global growth in small wind turbine (SWT) markets and in the number of SWT manufacturers has brought about an urgent need for more rigorous testing of SWTs in order to ensure safety, reliability and performance. This work presents modelling of the wind resource at the Australian National Small Wind Turbine Centre (NSWTC) test site to give insight into the scope and scheduling of power performance tests, and assess testing completion requirements for national and international SWT performance standards. Wind modelling of the long-term wind resource at the site was used to guide the NSWTC testing program and develop a tool to provide recommendations regarding suitable months for testing particular turbines. The predictions from the tool are compared to the results of testing a SOMA 1000 small wind turbine. The results indicate that current testing standards need to specify more than 10 minutes worth of data in each bin in order to reduce uncertainty errors in power curves, particularly at higher wind speeds and during furling and unfurling of the turbine. Furthermore, this work supports observations that there are often notable discrepancies between published SWT manufacturer power curves and test results at high wind speeds.

I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. Jonathan Whale, for guiding me throughout this dissertation. I would like to thank Mr. Colin Black, Mr. Daniel Jones and Mr. Bernie Brix for their valuable advices and support. I would also like to thank the Bureau of Meteorology and Jandakot Airport for providing useful data for WAsP modelling.

A natural thermosyphon solar water heating system (SWHS) has been constructed at a high altitude research station in a remote northwestern region of Nepal. This SWHS is the prototype for a larger community bathing system proposed for a nearby village. This paper describes the community bathing centre and presents the results of a validated TRNSYS model that has been used to predict its performance and to test various operational strategies. Predictions from the model indicate that the design target of 550 showers can be provided each week if these showers are limited to 10 litres at 35°C and the centre is operated between 9am and 3pm.

This paper aims to highlight the importance and need for High Altitude Solar Water Heaters (HASWH) for poor, remote communities in order to improve their hygiene conditions. It draws attention to the utilisation of the abundant, locally available solar energy resource, as a sustainable source of energy for the poorest of the poor in the remote Himalayan communities. It emphasises that improved personal hygiene, through appropriate applied renewable energy technologies, is an important and integral part of people's appropriate and sustainable holistic development. In addition it is an effective preventative medical treatment for people in such communities. This paper discusses the results of the first two years of service of the 1 st generation HASWH, including, its shortcomings and need for improvements. It discusses the details of the 2 nd generation HASWH which has provided, since November 2005, encouraging and satisfactory results, and is now a part of an installed and holistic community development project in the village of Dhadhaphaya in Humla. It includes the data collected under defined climate conditions, presented through diagrams and graphs; the first practical experiences obtained by the project implementing High Altitude Research Station (HARS) staff and the local community; and the lessons learned and possible further improvements and developments of this technology.

Meat processing and abattoir operations face several issues in regards with solid waste management worldwide. Presently, most wastes from slaughterhouses are landfilled, which not only causes major environmental damage, but also adds to running costs of the abattoir. In order to combat these issues, several waste treatment methods have been trialled, including conventional thermochemical processes such as pyrolysis and torrefaction. However, these methods were found to be economically unviable because the waste has to be dried prior to treatment. Hydrothermal carbonisation (HTC) overcomes this challenge and treats waste having moisture content of up to 90% at low temperatures, while generating value added products. This project was focused on a particular abattoir waste known as paunch. Paunch waste is the undigested feed of cattle and makes up 10% of the animal’s weight. Different reaction temperatures (150, 180 and 200 °C) and times (1 and 4 h), as well as varied feedstock moistur...