Electrocatalytic biofilm reactor for effective and energy-efficient azo dye degradation: the synergistic effect of MnOx/Ti flow-through anode and biofilm on the cathode

● MnO _x /Ti flow-through anode was coupled with the biofilm-attached cathode in ECBR. ● ECBR was able to enhance the azo dye removal and reduce the energy consumption. ● Mn^IV=O generated on the electrified MnO _x /Ti anode catalyzed the azo dye oxidation. ● Aerobic heterotrophic bacteria on the cathode degraded azo dye intermediate products. ● Biodegradation of intermediate products was stimulated under the electric field. Dyeing wastewater treatment remains a challenge. Although effective, the in-series process using electrochemical oxidation as the pre- or post-treatment of biodegradation is long. This study proposes a compact dual-chamber electrocatalytic biofilm reactor (ECBR) to complete azo dye decolorization and mineralization in a single unit via anodic oxidation on a MnO_x/Ti flow-through anode followed by cathodic biodegradation on carbon felts. Compared with the electrocatalytic reactor with a stainless-steel cathode (ECR-SS) and the biofilm reactor (BR), the ECBR increased the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency by 24 % and 31 % (600 mg/L Acid Orange 7 as the feed, current of 6 mA), respectively. The COD removal efficiency of the ECBR was even higher than the sum of those of ECR-SS and BR. The ECBR also reduced the energy consumption (3.07 kWh/kg COD) by approximately half compared with ECR-SS. The advantages of the ECBR in azo dye removal were attributed to the synergistic effect of the MnO_x/Ti flow-through anode and cathodic biofilms. Catalyzed by Mn^IV=O generated on the MnO_x/Ti anode under a low applied current, azo dyes were oxidized and decolored. The intermediate products with improved biodegradability were further mineralized by the cathodic aerobic heterotrophic bacteria (non-electrochemically active) under the stimulation of the applied current. Taking advantage of the mutual interactions among the electricity, anode, and bacteria, this study provides a novel and compact process for the effective and energy-efficient treatment of azo dye wastewater.     

PFOS青春期暴露对成年期雄性大鼠的生殖毒性

为探究青春期的PFOS暴露对成年后的SD大鼠的生殖毒性,对出生后第21天(PND21)的SD大鼠经口灌胃不同剂量的PFOS(5、10和20mg·kg~(-1)),连续染毒7d,在出生后第56天(PND56)时,对各染毒组SD大鼠的体质量、精子数量、血清中的睾酮浓度,以及睾丸间质细胞睾酮合成的相关基因mRNA水平进行了检测。结果显示,10mg·kg~(-1)剂量组大鼠体质量较对照组明显下降(P<0.01);精子数量在10mg·kg~(-1)和20mg·kg~(-1)剂量组明显降低(P<0.05);血清中睾酮浓度随着PFOS剂量的加大有明显下降的趋势,20mg·kg~(-1)剂量组显著低于对照组(P<0.05);类/胆固醇相关基因star和cyp11α1的mRNA表达水平明显下调。研究表明,青春期的PFOS暴露会导致睾酮合成途径中相关因子的功能缺失,破坏成熟睾丸间质细胞的功能,致使睾酮水平降低,并抑制精子生成,从而破坏生殖系统的功能。     

Official sources,news outlets,or search engines? Rumour validation on social media during Hurricanes Harvey and Irma

This study, based on data collected from a representative sample of adults in the United States, explores the social cognitive variables that motivated Americans to validate rumours on social media about Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, both of which struck in August/September 2017. The results indicate that risk perception and negative emotions are positively related to systematic processing of relevant risk information, and that systematic processing is significantly related to rumour validation through search engines such as Google. In contrast, trust in information about the hurricane is significantly related to validation through official sources, such as FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), and major news outlets such as The New York Times. Trust in information is also significantly related to systematic processing of risk information. The findings of this study suggest that ordinary citizens may be motivated to validate rumours on social media, which is an increasingly important issue in contemporary societies.     

Collaborative influence of morphology tuning and RE (La,Y, and Sm) doping on photocatalytic performance of nanoceria

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Tuning morphology and doping additional rare earth (RE) cations are potential techniques to promote the photocatalytic performance of ceria (CeO2),...     

Abatement costs of combatting industrial water pollution: convergence across Chinese provinces

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Industrial water pollution has become one of the largest threats to China's sustainable development and human welfare. Although China has...     

河源市城区春季PM_(2.5)典型污染过程案例分析

以河源市区2016年3月27日—4月4日污染过程为研究对象,基于同期气象条件与空气质量监测数据,分析了PM_(2.5)与气象因子间的相关性,探究河源市区PM_(2.5)污染变化特征。结果表明,3月30日河源市ρ(PM_(2.5))/ρ(PM_(10))和ρ(PM_(2.5))/ρ(CO)分别为0.87和0.08,明显高于其他时段,说明当天细颗粒物污染老化和二次转化程度突出。在此次污染过程的2个不同阶段,河源市ρ(PM_(2.5))波动受到多项气象要素共同影响,其中与气压先后呈现较强负相关(R~2=0.646 2)和不明显正相关(R~2=0.006 5),与气温呈现不明显正相关(R~2=0.008 4,R~2=0.033 9),与风速先后呈现弱负相关(R~2=0.105 2)和不明显正相关(R~2=0.072 9),与相对湿度先后呈现弱正相关(R~2=0.391 3)和弱负相关(R~2=0.176 9)。通过比较该时段河源市与周边城市的ρ(PM_(2.5))变化趋势及后向轨迹分析,发现河源市与周边城市在相似的气象背景条件下,PM_(2.5)污染主要来源于本地源排放和珠三角区域传输。     

Roles of oxidant,activator, and surfactant on enhanced electrokinetic remediation of PAHs historically contaminated soil

Electrokinetic (EK) remediation technology can enhance the migration of reagents to soil and is especially suitable for in situ remediation of low permeability contaminated soil. Due to the long aging time and strong hydrophobicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from historically polluted soil, some enhanced reagents (oxidant, activator, and surfactant) were used to increase the mobility of PAHs, and remove and degrade PAHs in soil. However, under the electrical field, there are few reports on the roles and combined effect of oxidant, activator, and surfactant for remediation of PAHs historically contaminated soil. In the present study, sodium persulfate (PS, oxidant, 100 g L^?1) or/and Tween 80 (TW80, surfactant, 50 g L^?1) were added to the anolyte, and citric acid chelated iron(II) (CA-Fe(II), activator, 0.10 mol L^?1) was added to catholyte to explore the roles and contribution of enhanced reagents and combined effect on PAHs removal in soil. A constant voltage of 20 V was applied and the total experiment duration was 10 days. The results showed that the removal rate of PAHs in each treatment was PS + CA-Fe(II) (21.3%) > PS + TW80 + CA-Fe(II) (19.9%) > PS (17.4%) > PS + TW80 (11.4%) > TW80 (8.1%) > CK (7.5%). The combination of PS and CA-Fe(II) had the highest removal efficiency of PAHs, and CA-Fe(II) in the catholyte could be transported toward anode via electromigration. The addition of TW80 reduced the electroosmotic flow and inhibited the transport of PS from anolyte to the soil, which decreased the removal of PAHs (from 17.4 to 11.4% with PS, from 21.3 to 19.9% with PS+CA-Fe(II)). The calculation of contribution rates showed that PS was the strongest enhancer (3.3~9.9%), followed by CA-Fe(II) (3.9~8.5%) (with PS), and the contribution of TW80 was small and even negative (?1.4~0.6%). The above results indicated that the combined application of oxidant and activator was conducive to the removal of PAHs, while the addition of surfactant reduced the EOF and the migration of oxidant and further reduced the PAHs removal efficiency. The present study will help to further understand the role of enhanced reagents (especially surfactant) during enhanced EK remediation of PAHs historically contaminated soil.

     

Carbon emission reduction potential and its influencing factors in China’s coal-fired power industry: a cost optimization and decomposition analysis

Environment, Development and Sustainability - China has become the world’s most carbon-emitting country, and the coal-fired power industry (CFPI) dominates China’s carbon emissions....     

Initial carbon release characteristics, mechanisms and denitrification performance of a novel slow release carbon source

External carbon source addition is one of the effective methods for the treatment of wastewater with low carbon to nitrogen ratio (C/N). Compared with fast-release liquid carbon sources, slow-release solid carbon sources are more suitable for the denitrification process. A novel slow-release solid carbon source (corncob-polyvinyl alcohol sodium alginate- poly-caprolactone, i.e. CPSP) was prepared using corn cob (CC) and poly-caprolactone with polyvinyl alcohol sodium alginate as hybrid scaffold. The physical properties and carbon release characteristics of CPSP and three other carbon sources were compared. CPSP had stable framework and good carbon release performance, which followed the second order release equation. The formic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid and butyric acid released from CPSP accounted for 8.27% ± 1.66 %, 56.48% ± 3.71 %, 18.46% ± 2.69% and 16.79% ± 3.02% of the total released acids respectively. The start-up period of CPSP was shorter than that of the other carbon sources in denitrification experiment, and no COD pollution was observed in the start-up phase (25–72 h) and stable phase (73–240 hr). The composition and structure of the dissolved organic compounds released by CPSP and other carbon sources were analyzed by UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy and three-dimensional fluorescence spectroscopy, which indicated that CPSP was more suitable for denitrification than the other studied carbon sources.

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Mechanistic insight into the inhibitory effect of artemisinin sustained-release inhibitors with different particle sizes on Microcystis aeruginosa

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Environment-friendly algaecides based on allelopathy have been widely used to control harmful algal blooms. In this research, micro and nano scale...