Browsing by Author "Tyrrell, Sean"

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    Can chemical and molecular biomarkers help discriminating industrial, rural and urban environments?
    (Cranfield University, 2018-02-05 10:48) Coulon, Frederic; Tyrrell, Sean; Garcia Alcega, Sonia
    Underlying data to study the feasibility of differentiate urban, rural and industrial areas between seasons with chemical and molecular markers such as MVOCs and PLFAs
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    Conceptual energy and water recovery system for self-sustained nano membrane toilet
    (Energy Conservation and Management, 2016-08-12) Hanak, Dawid P.; Kolios, Athanasios; Onabanjo, Tosin; Wagland, Stuart Thomas; Patchigolla, Kumar; Fidalgo Fernandez, Beatriz; Manovic, Vasilije; McAdam, Ewan J.; Parker, Alison; Williams, Leon; Tyrrell, Sean; Cartmell, Elise
    With about 2.4 billion people worldwide without access to improved sanitation facilities, there is a strong incentive for development of novel sanitation systems to improve the quality of life and reduce mortality. The Nano Membrane Toilet is expected to provide a unique household-scale system that would produce electricity and recover water from human excrement and urine. This study was undertaken to evaluate the performance of the conceptual energy and water recovery system for the Nano Membrane Toilet designed for a household of ten people and to assess its self-sustainability. A process model of the entire system, including the thermochemical conversion island, a Stirling engine and a water recovery system was developed in Aspen Plus®. The energy and water recovery system for the Nano Membrane Toilet was characterised with the specific net power output of 23.1 Wh/kgsettledsolids and water recovery rate of 13.4 dm3/day in the nominal operating mode. Additionally, if no supernatant was processed, the specific net power output was increased to 69.2 Wh/kgsettledsolids. Such household-scale system would deliver the net power output (1.9–5.8 W). This was found to be enough to charge mobile phones or power clock radios, or provide light for the household using low-voltage LED bulbs.
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    Effect of temperature on bacteriophage-mediated lysis efficiency with a special emphasis on bacterial temperature history
    (University of Mohammed Premier, Oujda, Morocco, 2022-09-30) Ameh, E. M.; Nocker, Andreas; Tyrrell, Sean; Harris, Jim A.; Orlova, E. V.; Ignatiou, A.
    Despite the great potential of phages as biocontrol agents, there is much uncertainty about the environmental factors influencing lysis efficiency. In this study we investigated the effect of temperature using three distinct lytic E. coli phages that were isolated from a single environmental water sample. All three were identified as dsDNA phages belonging to the Myoviridae family. Whereas the optimal growth temperature of E. coli is well known to be 37 ˚C and exposure of phages (prior to mixing with bacteria) to temperatures between 4 and 37˚C did not affect their infectivity, plaque sizes and numbers greatly decreased with increasing incubation temperature (20˚C, 30˚C, 37˚C) of the phage-host mix. At 37˚C, no visible plaques were observed. Results suggest that temperature sensitivity of the phage-host interaction is distinct from the temperature susceptibility of the two players and corroborate previous reports that highest lysis rates are obtained at temperatures approximate with ambient conditions of the phage environment. Infectivity was however found not only to depend on the incubation temperature of the phage-host mix, but also on the bacterial temperature history. Moreover, exposure of bacteria to heat stress prior to phage challenge resulted in a phage-resistant phenotype raising the question whether bacterial pathogens shed from warm-blooded hosts might be less susceptible to phages adapted to environmental temperature conditions.