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Grantee Research Project Results

Center for Reinventing Aging Infrastructure for Nutrient Management (RAINmgt)

EPA Grant Number: R835569
Center: Center for Reinventing Aging Infrastructure for Nutrient Management
Center Director: Mihelcic, James R.
Title: Center for Reinventing Aging Infrastructure for Nutrient Management (RAINmgt)
Investigators: Mihelcic, James R. , Shih, Jhih-Shyang , Yeh, Daniel H , Zimmerman, Julie B. , Cunningham, Jeffrey A. , Trotz, Maya , Boyer, Treavor H. , Zhang, Qiong , Ergas, Sarina , Olmstead, Sheila , Kuwayama, Yusuke , Richardson, Nathan , Davis, Allen , Coney, Earnest
Current Investigators: Mihelcic, James R. , Cunningham, Jeffrey A. , Zimmerman, Julie B. , Yeh, Daniel H , Boyer, Treavor H. , Davis, Allen , Coney, Earnest , Shih, Jhih-Shyang , Trotz, Maya , Richardson, Nathan , Zhang, Qiong , Ergas, Sarina , Olmstead, Sheila , Kuwayama, Yusuke
Institution: Resources for the Future
Current Institution: University of South Florida , Resources for the Future , University of Florida , University of Maryland - College Park , Yale University
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: September 1, 2013 through August 31, 2018
Project Amount: $3,123,375
RFA: Centers for Water Research on National Priorities Related to a Systems View of Nutrient Management (2012) RFA Text |  Recipients Lists
Research Category: Watersheds , Water

Objective:

The mission of RAINmgt is to achieve sustainable and cost-effective health and environmental outcomes by re-imagining aging coastal urban infrastructure systems for nutrient recovery and management contributing to sustainable and healthy communities. The overall goal is to develop the science behind new technology and management innovations and a deep understanding of the integrated system while demonstrating and assessing these innovations to provide new knowledge for students, community members, and other stakeholders. Systems approaches allow us to evaluate and optimize an integrated system of technologies and management strategies.

Approach:

The three research thrusts focus on innovative technologies and strategies as well as the integrative system and:

  1. address point and diffuse sources of nutrients,
  2. consider different scales (i.e., household, building, community, and city),
  3. develop and assess options with different implementation time frames, and
  4. prioritize source reduction and reuse/recycling.

The overall research question for Research Thrusts 1 and 2 what innovative and sustainable nutrient management technologies and strategies can be developed, demonstrated, and integrated for novel management of point and non-point sources of nutrients? Research Thrust 3 will apply systems approaches and socioeconomic and environmental analyses to the science and demonstration projects of Research Thrusts 1 and 2. RAINmgt will quantify social, environmental and economic benefits and costs, defining barriers to implement new technological approaches (in terms of incentives for their adoption by private households and businesses, and regulated public entities such as municipal treatment plants). Demonstration projects are integrated with community engagement and take place at:

  1. the largest science museum in the Southeast U.S.,
  2. residential homes,
  3. Tampa's Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant,
  4. a university building, and,
  5. a low income, predominantly African American community which is the largest community draining to McKay Bay (and subsequently Tampa Bay).

Expected Results:

RAINmgt will demonstrate how to systematically operationalize the concept of sustainability into decision-making. The science, demonstrations, research outcomes, educational and outreach materials, and decision support tools generated will illuminate an innovative path forward for economic, environmental, and social optimization of nutrient management technologies and strategies in urban coastal watersheds to support the creation and maintenance of sustainable and healthy communities. The Center will also prepare a wide range of community members and future engineers and managers, to achieve progress along a path forward for sustainable nutrient management.


Journal Articles: 20 Displayed | Download in RIS Format

Publications Views
Other center views: All 87 publications 21 publications in selected types All 20 journal articles
Publications
Type Citation Sub Project Document Sources
Journal Article Cornejo PK, Zhang Q, Mihelcic JR. How does scale of implementation impact the environmental sustainability of wastewater treatment integrated with resource recovery? Environmental Science & Technology 2016;50(13):6680-6689. R835569 (2016)
R835569 (2017)
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  • Journal Article Diaz-Elsayed N, Xu X, Balaguer-Barbosa M, Zhang Q. An evaluation of the sustainability of onsite wastewater treatment systems for nutrient management. Water Research 2017;121:186-196. R835569 (2017)
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  • Journal Article Ishii SK, Boyer TH. Life cycle comparison of centralized wastewater treatment and urine source separation with struvite precipitation: focus on urine nutrient management. Water Research 2015;79:88-103. R835569 (2017)
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  • Journal Article Kassouf H, Omer K, Parra A, Cunningham J. Treatment of an Aerobic Digester Sidestream in a Microbial Fuel Cell:Nitrate Removal and Electricity Generation. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING 2022;148(4). R835569 (Final)
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  • Journal Article Kuwayama Y, Kamen H. What drives the reuse of municipal wastewater? A county-level analysis of Florida. Land Economics 2016;92(4):679-702. R835569 (2015)
    R835569 (2016)
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  • Journal Article Lopez-Ponnada EV, Lynn TJ, Peterson M, Ergas SJ, Mihelcic JR. Application of denitrifying wood chip bioreactors for management of residential non-point sources of nitrogen. Journal of Biological Engineering 2017;11:16 (14 pp). R835569 (2017)
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  • Journal Article Lopez-Ponnada E, Lynn T, Ergas S, Mihelcic J. Long-term field performance of a conventional and modified bioretention system for removing dissolved nitrogen species in stormwater runoff. WATER RESEARCH 2020;170. R835569 (Final)
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  • Journal Article Lynn TJ, Yeh DH, Ergas SJ. Performance of denitrifying stormwater biofilters under intermittent conditions. Environmental Engineering Science 2015;32(9):796-805. R835569 (2016)
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  • Journal Article Lynn TJ, Ergas SJ, Nachabe MH. Effect of hydrodynamic dispersion in denitrifying wood-chip stormwater biofilters. Journal of Sustainable Water in the Built Environment 2016;2(4). R835569 (2015)
    R835569 (2016)
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  • Journal Article Lynn TJ, Nachabe MH, Ergas SJ. Modeling denitrifying stormwater biofilters using SWMM5. Journal of Environmental Engineering 2017;143(7):04017017. R835569 (2017)
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  • Journal Article Omer K, Cools C, Balaguer-Barbosa M, Zainina N, Mihelcic J, Chen G, Cunningham J. Energy Recovery and Nitrogen Management from Struvite Precipitation Effluent via Microbial Fuel Cells. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING 2019;145(3). R835569 (Final)
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  • Journal Article Ray H, Saetta D, Boyer TH. Characterization of urea hydrolysis in fresh human urine and inhibition by chemical addition. Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology 2018;4(1):87-98. R835569 (2017)
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  • Journal Article Saetta D, Boyer TH. Mimicking and inhibiting urea hydrolysis in nonwater urinals. Environmental Science & Technology 2017;51(23):13850-13858. R835569 (2017)
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  • Journal Article Suchetana B, Rajagopalan B, Silverstein J. Modeling risk attributes of wastewater treatment plant violations of total ammonia nitrogen discharge limits in the United States. STOCHASTIC ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND RISK ASSESSMENT 2019;33(3):879-889. R835569 (Final)
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  • Journal Article Tong S, Rodriguez-Gonzalez LC, Feng C, Ergas SJ. Comparison of particulate pyrite autotrophic denitrification (PPAD) and sulfur oxidizing denitrification (SOD) for treatment of nitrified wastewater. Water Science and Technology 2017;75(1-2):239-246. R835569 (2017)
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  • Journal Article Tong S, Stocks JL, Rodriguez-Gonzalez LC, Feng C, Ergas SJ. Effect of oyster shell medium and organic substrate on the performance of a particulate pyrite autotrophic denitrification (PPAD) process. Bioresource Technology 2017;244(Pt 1):296-303. R835569 (2017)
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  • Journal Article Wang R, Zimmerman JB. Economic and environmental assessment of office building rainwater harvesting systems in various U.S. cities. Environmental Science & Technology 2015;49(3):1768-1778. R835569 (2014)
    R835569 (2015)
    R835569 (2016)
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  • Journal Article Xu X, Schreiber D, Lu Q, Zhang Q. A GIS-Based Framework Creating Green Stormwater Infrastructure Inventory Relevant to Surface Transportation Planning. SUSTAINABILITY 2018;10(12). R835569 (Final)
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  • Journal Article Xu X, Zhang Q. Sustainable Configuration of Bioretention Systems for Nutrient Management through Life-Cycle Assessment and Cost Analysis. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING 2019;145(5). R835569 (Final)
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  • Journal Article Tong S, Rodriguez-Gonzalez LC, Feng C, Ergas SJ. Comparison of particulate pyrite autotrophic denitrification (PPAD) and sulfur oxidizing denitrification (SOD) for treatment of nitrified wastewater. Water Science & Technology2017;75(1-2):239-246. R835569 (2016)
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  • Supplemental Keywords:

    built environment, policy, resource recovery, water, energy, nutrients;

    Progress and Final Reports:

  • 2014 Progress Report
  • 2015 Progress Report
  • 2016 Progress Report
  • 2017 Progress Report
  • Final Report
  • Top of Page

    The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.

    Project Research Results

    • Final Report
    • 2017 Progress Report
    • 2016 Progress Report
    • 2015 Progress Report
    • 2014 Progress Report
    87 publications for this center
    20 journal articles for this center

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