Environmental Engineering

Since California is experiencing the impact of environmental changes, our department is focusing on engineering solutions to environmental problems. Land, water, and air resources are integral components of environmental systems that are directly linked with agricultural and food production operations. Engineering research pertaining to agricultural and related biological systems inherently is concerned with efficient use of natural resources and the overall environmental impact of new technologies. Understanding the environmental impact of current agricultural practices, developing innovative agricultural technologies, engineering systems for pollution control and prevention, and conservation and utilization of natural resources are major thrusts of our environmental engineering research.

Water and soil are integral components of farming operations. Cultural practices affect the physical structure of soils and the quality of irrigation return flows. Highly productive and environmentally sound agricultural practices are being developed. Control of dust generation, chemical aerosol drift, and gaseous emissions are the focus of air quality research. Waste management of various production systems, including livestock feeding, crop production, and food processing operations, is an important area of environmental engineering research. Biological, physical, and chemical principles are applied to engineering systems to develop innovative technologies to convert residues into valuable products and to reclaim wastewater for water recycling and pollution control. Organic residues are converted into food, feed, chemicals, and fuels through various biological and thermal-chemical conversion processes. Anaerobic digestion, composting, musroom cultivation, biocontrol agent production, and combustion are example technologies currently being studied and developed by our faculty and students. California leads the nation in milk and egg production. Research is underway to develop integrated wastewater treatment systems and effective bioremediation techniques for livestock operations to control gaseous emissions and convert animal wastes into methane gas. Fruit and vegetable processing covers an extremely diverse range of raw materials and products. Solids waste conversion and utilization and wastewater treatment for water reuse are the focuses of recent food waste management research. Collection, harvest, and utilization of field crop residues are being investigated as air pollution control and resource utilization alternatives to conventional open-field burning practices.

Researchers use biotechnology facilities available in the department to perform tissue culture studies. One such study involves the production of a biological control agent of mosquitoes.

Controlled environment chambers have been designed and constructed to study heat and gas exchange and mycelia growth that occur during mushroom cultivation

This 150-liter rotating-drum reactor is used to study heat and mass transfer and microbial community structure during the composting process. The reactor is equipped with sensors to monitor temperature, oxygen, relative humidity, and matric potential.

Development of equipment and techniques for minimizing off-target spray, or drift, during the application of sprays in nearby orchards is the objective of this study.

Air flow models of orchards are valuable for understanding of spray drift control and overall application effectiveness. This tower in a pecan orchard is fitted with windspeed sensors to collect needed data. UC Davis researchers are working with others from New Mexico and Connecticut on a U.S.E.P.A. project titled: Visualization and quantification of spray drift from orchards

Field burning of rice crop residues in California will likely be phased out in the near future. Various projects on residue utilization are underway, including this one on development of suitable mushroom cultivation substrates