Kevin McDonnell
UCD Ireland, Agriculture and Food Sciences, Faculty Member
Research Interests: Biology and Biometrics
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Research Interests: Environmental Science, Chemistry, Air Quality, Carbon Dioxide, Combustion, and 15 moreMinerals, Medicine, Multidisciplinary, Incineration, Carbon Monoxide, Legislation, Animals, Flue Gas, Gases, Hydrochloric Acid, Air Pollutants, Energy recovery, Bioresource technology, Meat and Bone Meal, and Biological products
... Colm D. Everard Biosystems Engineering, Bioresources Research Centre, University College Dublin, Ireland. E-mail: colm.everard@ucd.ie. Kevin P. McDonnell ... Journal of Food Science, 72, E130-E137. Gowen, AA, O'Donnell, CP,... more
... Colm D. Everard Biosystems Engineering, Bioresources Research Centre, University College Dublin, Ireland. E-mail: colm.everard@ucd.ie. Kevin P. McDonnell ... Journal of Food Science, 72, E130-E137. Gowen, AA, O'Donnell, CP, Cullen, PJ, Downey, G., Frias, JM, 2007. ...
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ABSTRACT Increased use of biomass can diversify the fuel-supply and lead to a more secure energy supply. Increasing the use of renewable, carbon neutral forms of energy, such as phototrophic crops, will allow for decreased use of fossil... more
ABSTRACT Increased use of biomass can diversify the fuel-supply and lead to a more secure energy supply. Increasing the use of renewable, carbon neutral forms of energy, such as phototrophic crops, will allow for decreased use of fossil fuels which is essential to decrease the levels of greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere. Pelletizing of dried biomass has several advantages such as increasing energy density, improving storability and reducing handling and transport costs. Variability within the properties of pellets produced from energy crops is influenced by a plethora of factors including plant genetics, growing environment, harvesting method, storage, climatic conditions and seasonal variation. There is a need to develop new technologies and techniques for real time determination of pellet calorific value. Hyperspectral images can be obtained by recorded multiple line-scans over a moving sample and combining them to create an image. The potential of hyperspectral imaging in conjunction with chemometrics to predict calorific values of pellets produced from varying blends of energy grasses and Pine wood (Pinus) was assessed. Energy grasses assessed in this study were Tall Fescue (Festuca arundinacea) and Reed Canary Grass (Phalaris arundinacea). Spectral data within the near infrared spectral region of 900 to 1,700 nm was assessed. Partial least squares regression model for calorific value prediction, over a range of 16.4 to 18.9 MJ kg-1, gave a correlation coefficient (R) of 0.90 with a root mean square error of cross validation of 0.32 MJ kg-1 (number of samples = 9). Results demonstrated that hyperspectral imaging in combination with chemometrics has the potential to be employed in a real time pellet grading system. This would allow for increased efficiency in energy conversion systems.
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This study assesses, from an economic standpoint, the most suitable production, provision and conversion paths for converting biomass (straw, willow, Miscanthus) into liquid fuels in Ireland. Results showed that an intermediate conversion... more
This study assesses, from an economic standpoint, the most suitable production, provision and conversion paths for converting biomass (straw, willow, Miscanthus) into liquid fuels in Ireland. Results showed that an intermediate conversion step increased biodiesel production costs except at transport distances greater than those expected in Ireland. At a transport distance of 240 km Fischer-Tropsch diesel can be produced from 0.39–0.54 €l, suggesting biomass gasification and synthesis technologies have potential to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and that Fischer-Tropsch diesel can, with governmental support, be cost competitive with its fossil diesel equivalent.
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Research Interests: Environmental Science, Risk assessment, Medicine, Ireland, Incineration, and 13 moreAnimals, Risk factors, Cattle, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, Prions, Public health systems and services research, Statistical models, Risk Factors, Risk Assessment, Agricultural Safety and Health, Bone and Bones, Environmental Exposure, and Meat and Bone Meal
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... A Data Matrix is a very efficient, two-dimensional (2D) barcode symbology that uses a small ... of square modules with a unique perimeter pattern, which helps the barcode scanner to ... algorithm (Reed and Solomon, 1960) of ECC 200... more
... A Data Matrix is a very efficient, two-dimensional (2D) barcode symbology that uses a small ... of square modules with a unique perimeter pattern, which helps the barcode scanner to ... algorithm (Reed and Solomon, 1960) of ECC 200 furthermore allows the recognition of barcodes ...
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Title Performance accuracy of real-time GPS asset tracking systems for timber haulage trucks travelling on both internal forest road and public road networks Authors(s) Devlin, Ger; McDonnell, Kevin Publication date 2009-01 Publication... more
Title Performance accuracy of real-time GPS asset tracking systems for timber haulage trucks travelling on both internal forest road and public road networks Authors(s) Devlin, Ger; McDonnell, Kevin Publication date 2009-01 Publication information International Journal of Forest Engineering, 20 (1): 45-49 Publisher Taylor and Francis Link to online version http://journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/IJFE/article/view/12428 Item record/more information http://hdl.handle.net/10197/6069 Publisher's statement This is an electronic version of an article published in International Journal of Forest Engineering, 20(1): 45-49 (2009). Journal of Forest Engineering is available online at: www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14942119.2009.10702575 Publisher's version (DOI) 10.1080/14942119.2009.10702575
Domestic and industrial effluents are being considered as possible sources of nutrients for biomass crops. Sustainable disposal of such wastes is important, as previous disposal routes are not acceptable, while the absolute quantity of... more
Domestic and industrial effluents are being considered as possible sources of nutrients for biomass crops. Sustainable disposal of such wastes is important, as previous disposal routes are not acceptable, while the absolute quantity of the wastes being produced in Ireland is growing. Concern related to possible water-pollution risks from such practices makes determining the impact of such land-spreading practices a priority. The impact of the spreading of biosolid sludge and brewers waste on groundwater (GW) and runoff-water quality was studied. The wastes were spread on six plots of Miscanthus X Giganteus and six of short rotation coppiced willow. Brewer’s waste and biosolid sludge were spread (per the relevant spreading regulations) at 100-, 50- , and 0-percent of permissible limits on plots containing each type of crop, respectively. Brewer’s waste was applied using a purpose-built irrigation system, biosolid was spread using a conventional disk spreader. GW samples were collecte...
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Abstract Grass silage and cattle slurry have been identified as potential significant resources for biogas production. While a higher proportion of grass silage enables a higher specific methane yield to be achieved, there are concerns... more
Abstract Grass silage and cattle slurry have been identified as potential significant resources for biogas production. While a higher proportion of grass silage enables a higher specific methane yield to be achieved, there are concerns that using high shares of grass silage may have negative environmental impacts. Previous studies which consider grass as a feedstock have focused on environmental sustainability in the context of GHG mitigation. However, there is a potential risk of burden shifting occurring if other environmental impacts, such as eutrophication and terrestrial acidification, are not taken into account. A consequential life cycle assessment was conducted to examine mono-digestion of cattle slurry and co-digestion with grass silage in different ratios on a volatile solids (VS) basis. The prior uses of the feedstocks were considered, along with the processes displaced by the biogas and digestate produced. The net environmental impact varied according to the proportion of silage and slurry digested. Higher environmental burdens were observed for mixes with a greater ratio of grass silage to slurry. The optimum environmental performance for the baseline scenario was observed at a VS ratio of 0.4:0.6 for silage and slurry, where there is a net reduction for all impact categories considered. The choice of marginal technologies that are displaced has a significant influence on the results, as have the assumptions about how the grass silage is sourced. This study provides greater insight into the environmental impacts of co-digesting an energy crop with animal manure in varying proportions.
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To manage greenhouse gas emissions, directives on renewable energy usage have been developed by the European Commission with the objective to reduce overall emissions by 40% by 2030 which presents a significant potential for renewable... more
To manage greenhouse gas emissions, directives on renewable energy usage have been developed by the European Commission with the objective to reduce overall emissions by 40% by 2030 which presents a significant potential for renewable energy sources. At the same time, it is a challenge for these energy technologies which can only be solved by integrated solutions. Carbon capture and storage combined with geothermal energy could serve as a novel approach to reduce CO2 emissions and at the same time facilitate some of the negative impacts associated with fossil fuel-based power plants. This study focuses on the technical and economic feasibility of combining these technologies based on a published model, data and market research. In the European Union, Germany is the most energy intensive country, and it also has an untapped potential for geothermal energy in the northern as well as the western regions. The CO2 plume geothermal system using supercritical carbon dioxide as the working ...
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Concentrated land spreading of poultry litter has the potential to cause nutrient build-up in soils, eutrophication of water bodies, air pollution and the spread of pathogens. As a result, alternative routes for the disposal of poultry... more
Concentrated land spreading of poultry litter has the potential to cause nutrient build-up in soils, eutrophication of water bodies, air pollution and the spread of pathogens. As a result, alternative routes for the disposal of poultry litter are being sought. A consequential life cycle assessment was conducted to examine several scenarios where biogas produced from poultry litter is used to generate heat and electricity or is upgraded to biomethane which can substitute natural gas. For all of the scenarios considered in this study, diverting poultry litter to anaerobic digestion leads to reduced environmental impacts for global warming, fine particulate matter formation and terrestrial acidification. However, the extent to which environmental impacts are reduced varies significantly across the scenarios. Displaced processes including electricity or natural gas, peat moss production and avoided land spreading of litter contribute the most to reducing environmental impacts. Consequential life cycle assessment is a suitable tool to inform decision-makers about the impact of introducing a new multifunctional technology like anaerobic digestion when considering the systems which are displaced. The results show the range of potential environmental outcomes, rather than predicting a single most-likely outcome. The results of this study indicate that anaerobic digestion is a suitable disposal route for poultry litter which may lead to reduced environmental impacts. This type of analysis is recommended when considering alternative feedstocks and valorisation pathways in the circular economy.
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Monitoring anaerobic digestion (AD) leachate for changes in acetate and propionate concentrations is essential for effective AD operation. In this paper the development of a novel propionate cell-based biosensor is described. A previously... more
Monitoring anaerobic digestion (AD) leachate for changes in acetate and propionate concentrations is essential for effective AD operation. In this paper the development of a novel propionate cell-based biosensor is described. A previously designed E. coli mutant (IMD Wldgy) that could selectively determine acetate concentrations in synthetic leachates, based on oxygen uptake measurements, was used as a starting point in the development of a propionate biosensor. However, the propionate-grown IMD Wldgy cells exhibited extremely low propionate:acetate O consumption ratios (1:2.4). Screening for alternative propionate-grown E. coli strains naturally possessing a more favourable propionate:acetate O consumption ratio identified strain IMD 1, which exhibited a positive ratio (1.6:1). To improve the selectivity of the strain, successive gene knockouts were performed generating the IMD 1 hldgyep mutant. However, propionate-grown IMD 1hdlgyep's O consumption ratio was deemed too low to be considered as a propionate detecting bio-element. It was reasoned that the mechanisms by which E. coli activates acetate had to be removed. Deleting acs (acetyl-CoA synthesase) and ackA (acetate kinase) from IMD Wldgyep, resulted in an E. coli IMD Wldgyepak knockout mutant that, when grown on propionate, produced a mean propionate:acetate O consumption ratio of approx. 13:1. The resulting IMD Wldgyep and IMD Wldgyepak strains, which formed the acetate- and propionate-biosensor, respectively, were capable of detecting acetate and propionate concentrations ranging from 0.05mM to 4.5mM within two-phase AD synthetic leachates.
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Research Interests: Sustainability and MDPI
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In today's globalized world, to ensure effective traceability, food-producing animals must be identified by a tamper-proof and durable technique. This article investigates the avian comb profile as a potential biometric-based method... more
In today's globalized world, to ensure effective traceability, food-producing animals must be identified by a tamper-proof and durable technique. This article investigates the avian comb profile as a potential biometric-based method for the traceability of poultry. Forty mature hens were used for this experiment. Video was acquired of comb profiles, and morphological image processing techniques including dilation and erosion were performed on still images obtained from the video with the purpose of linking a segmented template or "fingerprint" with each bird that was imaged to act as a unique identifier. Comb profile features were abstracted using the Zahn-Roskies Fourier descriptor technique for subsequent shape analysis. Multivariate discriminant analysis was applied to the most discriminant harmonic variables, resulting in a positive classification rate of 80.6%. When a simple comb overlap function was combined with the Fourier technique, the rate increased to 84.4%.
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In January 2010, electronic identification of sheep was introduced within the European Union. This article presents an alternative method of verification of sheep identity. Current identification protocols implement a system in which the... more
In January 2010, electronic identification of sheep was introduced within the European Union. This article presents an alternative method of verification of sheep identity. Current identification protocols implement a system in which the tag number is traced throughout the traceability system and not the animal; this can lead to misidentification and the possibility of tampering with identifiers. Retinal identification offers a non-invasive, accurate, and tamper-proof method of identification in which the retinal vascular patterns of both eyes are recorded for identification. There are more than 200 distinct breeds of sheep worldwide, so it is important to determine if breed affects the retinal image matching performance as a result of different eye physiology, such as the amount of myelinization (dark pigmentation present on the ocular fundus) that forms within the retinal vascular area that is examined for identification. A previous study determined that the best condition in which to achieve optimum quality retinal images was indoors; therefore, all the retinal images in this experiment were collected indoors. This study sets out the matching score criteria that are required to successfully implement retinal imaging as a viable method of sheep identification. The objectives of this study were to examine the effects of breed and age of sheep on the matching scores recorded and to set a matching score decision criterion for a retinal imaging system. A representative sample (n = 160) of four breeds of sheep (Cheviot, Charollais, Suffolk, and Texel) categorized into two age groups ( 2 years) were examined. A non-parametric statistical analysis of matching scores showed that there was no observable effect of breed (p = 0.209) or age category (p = 0.181) on the matching performance. The recognition performance of a single-eye retinal system (either the left or right eye retinal image was used for identity) was estimated to have a false match error of 0.43% and a false non-match error of 0.96% at a matching score threshold of 75 when sheep retinal images were obtained indoors. When the recognition system was based on the two retinas, the false non-match rate achieved was 2.66 × 10-7, or approximately one false non-match in 3.7 million matching attempts.
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ABSTRACT. Arising from the current need for positive identification for cattle traceability, the objective of this work was to investigate the feasibility of using muzzle pattern as a biometric-based identifier for cattle by acquiring... more
ABSTRACT. Arising from the current need for positive identification for cattle traceability, the objective of this work was to investigate the feasibility of using muzzle pattern as a biometric-based identifier for cattle by acquiring muzzle patterns through lifted ink prints ...
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Restrictions on the use of meat and bone meal (MBM) in animal diets as a result of the BSE crisis have resulted in a need to implement traceability procedures to identify and classify the origins of MBM. To facilitate the development of... more
Restrictions on the use of meat and bone meal (MBM) in animal diets as a result of the BSE crisis have resulted in a need to implement traceability procedures to identify and classify the origins of MBM. To facilitate the development of such methodologies, a laboratory-scale rendering (LSR) procedure was developed for the production of MBM of known background under controlled conditions using offal and bone material from single species. Each step of the rendering process was simulated to provide a realistic representation of a commercial rendering operation, on laboratory scale. Cross contamination between the species was prevented by using an intensive cleaning routine. Proximate analysis of the LSR-produced MBM showed that it compared favourably with typical output from commercial rendering plants.