Kareem Hassan

Abstract

Egypt and most of the MENA countries are suffering from physical water scarcity. The abundance of fresh water is very limited; consequently, it is needed to rethink about the use of non-conventional water resources as a source of water for agricultural purposes. This study investigated the influence of magnetic treatment on brackish water, and its application for sustainable agriculture practices. The experimental work was divided into four main categories: The first category was the physical analysis of magnetically treated brackish water; including surface tension investigation, salt solubility test, and nutrients solubility test. The second category was the chemical analysis; including TDS, pH, nutrients and dissolved oxygen. The third category was the application of magnetically treated brackish water on soil enhancement; including soil desalinization test, and nutrients release in soil. The fourth category was the application of magnetically treated brackish water for crops irrigation; including seed germination test, and pilot scale cultivation. The results of this study proved the positive influence of magnetic treatment on brackish water; it reduced the surface tension of brackish water by 26%, and this change in surface tension lasted for 2 days after magnetic treatment, in addition to the significant increase of salt and nutrients solubility. The chemical properties of water did not change significantly; nevertheless the dissolved oxygen of magnetically treated brackish water was increased significantly. The application of magnetic treatment of brackish water enhanced the soil desalinization up to 25% and increased the soil’s nutrient content in the plant root zone by 33-53%. The barely seeds irrigated with magnetically treated brackish water had a significant increase in germination rate up to 30%, and an increase in crop yield by 25%. The magnetic treatment of brackish water improved its quality and productivity for irrigation, which will open the door for different agricultural applications. Further studies and applications are needed in this field to come up with optimized design values for the key variables of magnetic treatment, leading to maximizing the benefits of the abundant brackish water in Egypt.

Department

Environmental Engineering Program

Degree Name

MS in Environmental Engineering

Graduation Date

2-1-2015

Submission Date

December 2015

First Advisor

El Gendy, Ahmed

Committee Member 1

Nour, Mohamed

Committee Member 2

El-Baradei, Sherien

Extent

115 p.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Rights

The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy.

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval

Approval has been obtained for this item

Comments

Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisors Dr. Ahmed EL-Gendy and Dr. Mohamed Hamdy Nour for their continuous support of my M.Sc. study and related research. Their patience, motivation, and immense knowledge were the main drive to finalize this work. They were supporting me by all means of technical support. In addition to their unforgotten personal advices that reshaped my mentality and personality. Besides my advisors, I would like to thank the rest of my thesis committee: Prof. Ashraf Ghanem, Prof. Basel Kamel and Dr. Sherien El-Baradei for their insightful comments, and their valuable questions which incented me to widen my research outcomes from various perspectives. I am very beholden to my fruitful parents Hanan Abdo and Khaled Hassan, who enlighten my life, and none of my achievements would have been possible without their love and encouragement. Also I would like to express my heart-felt gratitude to my sisters and brothers; Heba, Ola, Mahmoud and Abdel-Rahman. I warmly appreciate the generosity and understanding of my beloved family throughout this endeavor. I want to express my deep sincere and gratitude to Chemist Ahmed Saad for his help and technical support in the Environmental Engineering laboratory and for his appreciated advices. I am very thankful to Mr. Mohamed Saad -the Solid Waste Management Laboratory manager- for his technical support and company through the very late hours and overnight work in the laboratory. I would like to thank the lab technicians Mohamed Moustafa and Qasem Ali for their technical assistance throughout my experimental work in and outside the lab. Special thanks to Professor Edward Smith the former head of the Environmental Engineering program, who gave me the opportunity to work at the and study at the American University in Cairo. I am grateful to Dr. Khalid Beni-Melhim for enlightening me the first glance of research at the Environmental Engineering laboratory.

Download

Share

COinS