Simultaneous removal of ammonia and N-nitrosamine precursors from high ammonia water by zeolite and powdered activated carbon

When adding sufficient chlorine to achieve breakpoint chlorination to source water containing high concentration of ammonia during drinking water treatment, high concentrations of disinfection by-products(DBPs) may form. If N-nitrosamine precursors are present, highly toxic N-nitrosamines, primarily N-nitrosodimethylamine(NDMA), may also form. Removing their precursors before disinfection should be a more effective way to minimize these DBPs formation. In this study, zeolites and activated carbon were examined for ammonia and N-nitrosamine precursor removal when incorporated into drinking water treatment processes.The test results indicate that Mordenite zeolite can remove ammonia and five of seven N-nitrosamine precursors efficiently by single step adsorption test. The practical applicability was evaluated by simulation of typical drinking water treatment processes using six-gang stirring system. The Mordenite zeolite was applied at the steps of lime softening, alum coagulation, and alum coagulation with powdered activated carbon(PAC) sorption. While the lime softening process resulted in poor zeolite performance, alum coagulation did not impact ammonia and N-nitrosamine precursor removal. During alum coagulation, more than67% ammonia and 70%–100% N-nitrosamine precursors were removed by Mordenite zeolite(except 3-(dimethylaminomethyl)indole(DMAI) and 4-dimethylaminoantipyrine(DMAP)). PAC effectively removed DMAI and DMAP when added during alum coagulation. A combination of the zeolite and PAC selected efficiently removed ammonia and all tested seven N-nitrosamine precursors(dimethylamine(DMA), ethylmethylamine(EMA), diethylamine(DEA), dipropylamine(DPA), trimethylamine(TMA), DMAP, and DMAI) during the alum coagulation process.     

中国生态用地及生态系统服务价值变化研究

生态用地具有重要的生态系统服务功能,在维护生态平衡、保障国土生态安全、应对全球气候变化中具有特殊地位。论文在总结国内研究学者有关生态用地研究成果的基础上,从生态系统服务功能入手,界定了生态用地的概念,根据生态干扰度构建了生态用地分类体系,并将生态用地分类与土地利用分类进行衔接,对全国生态用地的生态系统服务价值进行了评估,分析其特征及规律。研究表明：1）广义的生态用地是指能发挥供给、调节、支持生态系统服务功能,以及对维持区域生态平衡和调节全球气候具有重要作用的土地类型;2）依据“生态干扰度”构建了生态用地分类体系,将生态用地分为3个一级地类、5个二级地类和31个三级地类;3）2012年全国生态用地的生态系统服务价值为280 483.80亿元,呈现“西高、中次、东低”空间格局。2009—2012年全国生态用地的生态系统服务价值整体呈下降趋势,变化幅度空间分布差异较大,呈现“中增、东西减”的格局特点;2009—2012年全国生态用地各项生态系统服务功能受到损失,呈下降趋势,生态系统稳定性不容乐观。     

1970—2013年西北干旱区空中水汽含量时空变化与降水量的关系

论文基于1970—2013年西北干旱区高空和地面气象资料,采用多种统计学方法,分析了西北干旱区空中水汽含量的时空变化特征及其与降水量的关系。结果表明：1）1970—2002年,西北干旱区空中水汽含量呈显著的增加趋势,速率为0.835 mm/10 a（P<0.01）,其中以夏季增速最高（1.709 mm/10 a,P<0.01）;而降水效率基本稳定,仅春、冬季节略增。在空间上,1970—2002年水汽含量变化速率大小依次为北疆>南疆>河西走廊,其中冬、春季节以北疆水汽增速最大,夏、秋季节以南疆水汽增速最高。2）2003—2013年,西北干旱区水汽含量呈不显著下降趋势（-2.061 mm/10 a）;而降水效率明显增加,速率为0.136%/10 a,这说明近年来空中水汽转化为降水的效率明显提升。同时,北疆降水效率增加幅度明显高于其他地区。3）西北干旱区各季节的降水效率与降水量均呈显著正相关性,而水汽含量与降水量的相关性则表现出明显的季节性差异：春季>夏季>秋季>冬季。另外,新疆降水变化与水汽含量和降水效率均呈显著正相关性,而河西走廊降水量与降水效率的关系更为密切。     

Long-term observations of tropospheric NO2, SO2 and HCHO by MAX-DOAS in Yangtze River Delta area, China

Yangtze River Delta(YRD) area is one of the important economic zones in China. However,this area faces increasing environmental problems. In this study, we use ground-based multi-axis differential optical absorption spectroscopy(MAX-DOAS) network in Eastern China to retrieve variations of NO_2, SO_2, and formaldehyde(HCHO) in the YRD area. Three cities of YRD(Hefei, Nanjing, and Shanghai) were selected for long-term observations. This paper presents technical performance and characteristics of instruments, their distribution in YRD, and results of vertical column densities(VCDs) and profiles of NO_2, SO_2, and HCHO.Average diurnal variations of tropospheric NO_2 and SO_2 in different seasons over the three stations yielded minimum values at noon or in the early afternoon, whereas tropospheric HCHO reached the maximum during midday hours. Slight reduction of the pollutants in weekends occurred in all the three sites. In general trace gas concentrations gradually reduced from Shanghai to Hefei. Tropospheric VCDs of NO_2, SO_2, and HCHO were compared with those from Ozone Monitoring Instrument(OMI) satellite observations, resulting in R~2 of 0.606, 0.5432, and 0.5566, respectively. According to analysis of regional transports of pollutants, pollution process happened in YRD under the north wind with the pollution dissipating in the southeast wind. The feature is significant in exploring transport of tropospheric trace gas pollution in YRD, and provides basis for satellite and model validation.     

Insights into the formation of secondary organic carbon in the summertime in urban Shanghai

To investigate formation mechanisms of secondary organic carbon(SOC) in Eastern China,measurements were conducted in an urban site in Shanghai in the summer of 2015. A period of high O_3 concentrations(daily peak 120 ppb) was observed, during which daily maximum SOC concentrations exceeding 9.0 μg/(C·m~3). Diurnal variations of SOC concentration and SOC/organic carbon(OC) ratio exhibited both daytime and nighttime peaks. The SOC concentrations correlated well with O_x(= O_3+ NO_2) and relative humidity in the daytime and nighttime, respectively, suggesting that secondary organic aerosol formation in Shanghai is driven by both photochemical production and aqueous phase reactions. Single particle mass spectrometry was used to examine the formation pathways of SOC. Along with the daytime increase of SOC, the number fraction of elemental carbon(EC) particles coated with OC quickly increased from 38.1% to 61.9% in the size range of 250–2000 nm, which was likely due to gas-to-particle partitioning of photochemically generated semi-volatile organic compounds onto EC particles. In the nighttime, particles rich in OC components were highly hygroscopic, and number fraction of these particles correlated well with relative humidity and SOC/OC nocturnal peaks. Meanwhile, as an aqueous-phase SOC tracer, particles that contained oxalate-Fe(III) complex also peaked at night. These observations suggested that aqueous-phase processes had an important contribution to the SOC nighttime formation. The influence of aerosol acidity on SOC formation was studied by both bulk and single particle level measurements, suggesting that the aqueous-phase formation of SOC was enhanced by particle acidity.     

A comparison of chemical MSW compositional data between China and Denmark

Chemical waste compositions are important for municipal solid waste management, as they determine the pollution potentials from different waste strategies. A representative dataset for chemical characteristics of individual waste fractions is frequently required to assess chemical waste composition, but it is usually reported in developed countries and not in developing countries. In this study, a dataset for Chinese waste was established through careful data screening and assessment, named as CN dataset. Meanwhile, a dataset for Danish waste (DK dataset) was also summarized based on previous studies. In order to quantitatively evaluate the reliabilities of CN and DK datasets, the chemical waste compositions in four Chinese cities were estimated by utilizing both of them, respectively. It is indicated that the usage of CN datasets led to significantly lower discrepancies from the actual values based on laboratory analysis in most cases. Within the datasets, the moisture contents of food waste, paper, textiles, and plastics, the carbon content of food waste, as well as the oxygen content of plastics would induce significant divergences, which should be paid special attention when gathering the information. In addition, the fractional waste compositions in China showed similar features with other developing countries but differ significantly with developed countries. Thus the above-mentioned conclusions could also be true in other developing countries.     

Performance and mechanism of Cr(VI) removal by zero-valent iron loaded onto expanded graphite

Zero-valent iron (ZVI) was loaded on expanded graphite (EG) to produce a composite material (EG-ZVI) for efficient removal of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)). EG and EG-ZVI were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis. EG-ZVI had a high specific surface area and contained sub-micron sized particles of zero-valent iron. Batch experiments were employed to evaluate the Cr(VI) removal performance. The results showed that the Cr(VI) removal rate was 98.80% for EG-ZVI, which was higher than that for both EG (10.00%) and ZVI (29.80%). Furthermore, the removal rate of Cr(VI) by EG-ZVI showed little dependence on solution pH within a pH range of 1–9. Even at pH 11, a Cr(VI) removal rate of 62.44% was obtained after reaction for 1 hr. EG-ZVI could enhance the removal of Cr(VI) via chemical reduction and physical adsorption, respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to analyze the mechanisms of Cr(VI) removal, which indicated that the ZVI loaded on the surface was oxidized, and the removed Cr(VI) was immobilized via the formation of Cr(III) hydroxide and Cr(III)–Fe(III) hydroxide/oxyhydroxide on the surface of EG-ZVI.     

Behaviors and kinetics of toluene adsorption‐desorption on activated carbons with varying pore structure

This work was undertaken to investigate the behaviors and kinetics of toluene adsorption and desorption on activated carbons with varying pore structure. Five kinds of activated carbon from different raw materials were selected. Adsorption isotherms and breakthrough curves for toluene were measured. Langmuir and Freundlich equations were fitted to the equilibrium data, and the Freundlich equation was more suitable for simulating toluene adsorption. The process consisted of monolayer, multilayer and partial active site adsorption types. The effect of the pore structure of the activated carbons on toluene adsorption capacity was investigated. The quasi-first-order model was more suitable for describing the process than the quasi-second-order model. The adsorption data was also modeled by the internal particle diffusion model and it was found that the adsorption process could be divided into three stages. In the external surface adsorption process, the rate depended on the specific surface area. During the particle diffusion stage, pore structure and volume were the main factors affecting adsorption rate. In the final equilibrium stage, the rate was determined by the ratio of meso-and macro-pores to total pore volume. The rate over the whole adsorption process was dominated by the toluene concentration. The desorption behavior of toluene on activated carbons was investigated,and the process was divided into heat and mass transfer parts corresponding to emission and diffusion mechanisms, respectively. Physical adsorption played the main role during the adsorption process.     

广东红海湾海域表层水环境中重金属含量特征及污染评价

为了研究红海湾海域水体中重金属的污染水平,2015年5月和11月在研究海域设48个采样站位进行了表层水样分析,分析了Cu、Pb、Zn、Cd、Cr、Hg和As共7种重金属的含量及污染特征,采用单因子污染指数评价法和综合污染评价法对研究海域的水质污染情况进行评价分析,利用变异系数法来分析了各调查站位之间污染物在空间尺度上离散程度,使用相关性分析和PCA方法分析重金属污染物的主要来源。结果表明,该海域表层海水中Cu、Pb、Zn、Cd、Cr、Hg和As含量的平均值均满足《海水水质标准》二类水质要求,单因子污染指数法评价结果显示7种重金属平均含量的污染程度大体排序为:Zn＞Pb＞Cu＞As＞Cd＞Cr＞Hg。综合污染评价法显示评价海域表层海水中7种重金属综合污染指数的平均值均小于1,且综合污染指数整体相差不大,研究海域属于清洁海域。变异系数结果表明各站位间水体中重金属含量在调查海域空间离散度较大,研究海域的重金属污染物来自不同的污染源。相关性分析和PCA方法分析表明,重金属元素Cu、Pb、Zn、Cd、Cr、Hg和As之间的相关系数较小,且前三个主分中的研究重金属元素正载荷较低,因此重金属元素相互之间都不具有相似的污染水平或共同的污染来源,元素之间具有共同来源的概率较低。     

北京市加油站职业病危害现状调查

目的:了解北京地区加油站职业病危害现状。方法:按照国家相关标准规范对北京市137家加油站的工作场所进行了汽油、苯、甲苯、二甲苯和噪声的检测。结果:加油站职业病危害因素浓/强度均符合国家职业接触限值要求,确定汽油为主要职业病危害因素。结论:北京市加油站职业危害较小,但长期接触低浓度的汽油,加之劳动强度大、作业时间长等特点会损害人体的免疫功能。