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Project properties |
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| Title | Exploring the impact of aeration and on ammonia volatilization from seawater under diverse environmental and chemical conditions |
| Group | Marine Animal Ecology |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 24-39 |
| Supervisor(s) | Michael Yeboah
Edwin Foekema |
| Examiner(s) | Tinka Murk, Ronald Osinga, Reindert Nijland, Rosa van der Ven or Diede Maas |
| Contact info | michael.yeboah@wur.nl
edwin.foekema@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2025/01/01 |
| End date | 2026/01/01 |
| Description | Ammonia is proposed as a potential replacement for heavy fuel oil (HFO) for powering ships. This is primarily due to its carbon-free nature, which would enable the maritime sector to reduce its carbon footprint. However, ammonia spills in marine environments pose significant ecological and environmental risks due to the compound’s toxicity. Immediate volatilization from water provides crucial opportunity to reduce its impact on water chemistry and toxicity thereof. However, marine areas are heterogenous over space and time and spills can occur across a wide range of conditions. These conditions including varying temperatures, pH levels, alkalinity, and salinity etc. may influence ammonia residence time in water as well as applicable mitigation (e.g., aeration) First, understanding how these factors influence the behavior of ammonia, especially its volatilization rate. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the impact of aeration on ammonia volatilization in seawater under different environmental and chemical conditions. The research will shed light on the role of factors in influencing ammonia dynamics and help predict potential mitigation strategies suitable for scenarios across diverse marine ecosystems. In practice, you will perform experiment studies in microcosms and monitor the fate of ammonia under predetermined environmental conditions. For this you will be trained how to analyze ammonia and its metabolites in seawater by means of an autoanalyzer.
Research Goals: - Delineate relevant chemical and physical variables to be implemented in ammonia mitigation experiments - Investigate the main and interactive effects of these factors on ammonia dynamics (e.g., volatilization rate, other immediate effect) This study will contribute to developing effective mitigation strategies for mitigation as an essential part of the AmmoniaDrive project |
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