Identification of potential electrotrophic microbial community in paddy soils by enrichment of microbial electrolysis cell biocathodes

Electrotrophs are microbes that can receive electrons directly from cathode in a microbial electrolysis cell (MEC). They not only participate in organic biosynthesis, but also be crucial in cathode-based bioremediation. However, little is known about the electrotrophic community in paddy soils. Here, the putative electrotrophs were enriched by cathodes of MECs constructed from five paddy soils with various properties using bicarbonate as an electron acceptor, and identified by 16S rRNA-gene based Illumina sequencing. The electrons were gradually consumed on the cathodes, and 25%–45% of which were recovered to reduce bicarbonate to acetic acid during MEC operation. Firmicutes was the dominant bacterial phylum on the cathodes, and Bacillus genus within this phylum was greatly enriched and was the most abundant population among the detected putative electrotrophs for almost all soils. Furthermore, several other members of Firmicutes and Proteobacteria may also participate in electrotrophic process in different soils. Soil pH, amorphous iron and electrical conductivity significantly influenced the putative electrotrophic bacterial community, which explained about 33.5% of the community structural variation. This study provides a basis for understanding the microbial diversity of putative electrotrophs in paddy soils, and highlights the importance of soil properties in shaping the community of putative electrotrophs.     

Morphology-dependent interfacial interactions of Fe2O3 with Ag nanoparticles for determining the catalytic reduction of p-nitrophenol

In this work,we fabricated three kinds of Ag/Fe_2O_3 model catalysts with different morphologies to study the interfacial interactions between Ag and Fe_2O_3,and how they affected the catalytic activity in hydrogenation of p-nitrophenol was explored.The hydrothermal method was used to synthesize the metal oxide supported silver catalyst,with various morphologies including nanoplates(NPs),nanospheres(NSs),and nanocubes(NCs).The crystal structure,morphology and surface elements of the composite were investigated by various measurements,such as X-ray diffraction(XRD),scanning electron microscopy(SEM),transmission electron microscopy(TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS).The catalytic activity was also evaluated by the reduction of p-nitrophenol to p-aminophenol.It was found that the activities of the above catalysts varied with the morphology of the support.Among them,Ag/Fe_2O_3 NPs promoted the highest performance,Ag/Fe_2O_3 NSs were slightly inferior,and Ag/Fe_2O_3 NCs were the worst.At last,we ascribed the remarkable activity of Ag/Fe_2O_3 NPs to the strong metal-support interactions between Ag and Fe_2O_3.     

Synergistic effects of Cu species and acidity of Cu-ZSM-5 on catalytic performance for selective catalytic oxidation of n-butylamine

In this work, a series of Cu-ZSM-5 catalysts with different SiO₂/Al₂O₃ ratios (25, 50, 100 and 200) were synthesized and investigated in n-butylamine catalytic degradation. The n-butylamine can be completely catalytic degradation at 350°C over all Cu-ZSM-5 catalysts. Moreover, Cu-ZSM-5 (25) exhibited the highest selectivity to N₂, exceeding 90% at 350°C. These samples were investigated in detail by several characterizations to illuminate the dependence of the catalytic performance on redox properties, Cu species, and acidity. The characterization results proved that the redox properties and chemisorption oxygen primarily affect n-butylamine conversion. N₂ selectivity was impacted by the Brønsted acidity and the isolated Cu²⁺ species. Meanwhile, the surface acid sites over Cu-ZSM-5 catalysts could influence the formation of Cu species. Furthermore, in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectra was adopted to explore the reaction mechanism. The Cu-ZSM-5 catalysts are the most prospective catalysts for nitrogen-containing volatile organic compounds removal, and the results in this study could provide new insights into catalysts design for VOC catalytic oxidation.     

UV/H2O2 oxidation of tri(2-chloroethyl) phosphate: Intermediate products, degradation pathway and toxicity evaluation

Tri(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP) with the initial concentration of 5 mg/L was degraded by UV/H₂O₂ oxidation process. The removal rate of TCEP in the UV/H₂O₂ system was 89.1% with the production of Cl^? and PO₄^3? of 0.23 and 0.64 mg/L. The removal rate of total organic carbon of the reaction was 48.8% and the pH reached 3.3 after the reaction. The oxidative degradation process of TCEP in the UV/H₂O₂ system obeyed the first order kinetic reaction with the apparent rate constant of 0.0025 min^?1 (R²=0.9788). The intermediate products were isolated and identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometer. The addition reaction of HO? and H₂O and the oxidation reaction with H₂O₂ were found during the degradation pathway of 5 mg/L TCEP in the UV/H₂O₂ system. For the first time, environment risk was estimated via the “ecological structure activity relationships” program and acute and chronic toxicity changes of intermediate products were pointed out. The luminescence inhibition rate of photobacterium was used to evaluate the acute toxicity of intermediate products. The results showed that the toxicity of the intermediate products increased with the increase of reaction time, which may be due to the production of chlorine compounds. Some measures should be introduced to the UV/H₂O₂ system to remove the highly toxic Cl-containing compounds, such as a nanofiltration or reverse osmosis unit.     

精神活性物质在北京市某污水处理厂中的污染特征与生态风险

为了解污水处理厂对精神活性物质的去除特征及总出水对受纳水体的生态风险,采用固相萃取-高效液相色谱-串联质谱法调查了北京市某污水处理厂中13种精神活性物质的浓度水平与负荷量变化,并运用RQ（risk quotient,风险熵）对总出水中精神活性物质进行风险评估.结果表明:①13种精神活性物质在总进水与总出水中均能检出,总质量浓度平均值分别为2 395.10和63.59 ng/L,其中ρ（EPH）（EPH表示麻黄碱）占比分别为93.9%和67.9%,其次为COD（可待因）与METH（甲基苯丙胺）.污水处理厂上游地表水中ρ（EPH）、ρ（METH）与ρ（KET）（KET为氯胺酮）均高于总出水及其下游地表水,说明上游沿河可能有新的污染源输入.②污水处理厂对NK（去甲氯胺酮）、BE（苯甲酰爱康宁）和MTD（美沙酮）均呈负去除,其他精神活性物质的去除主要发生在二级生物处理与三级处理（超滤膜与UV消毒）阶段.③污水处理厂服务区域内精神活性物质的周内负荷量存在一定波动,AMP（苯丙胺）、METH、MDA（3,4-亚甲二氧基苯丙胺）、MDMA（3,4-亚甲二氧基甲基苯丙胺）、KET与HER（海洛因）的负荷量均在周末升高.④污水处理厂总出水中精神活性物质的生态风险均较低（RQ < 0.10）.研究显示,污水处理厂不能完全去除污水中的精神活性物质,总出水中残留精神活性物质对受纳河流生态系统产生的长期混合效应不容忽视.      

Photodegradation of Hexafluoropropylene Oxide Trimer Acid under UV Irradiation

As a novel alternative to traditional perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), hexafluoroproplyene oxide trimer acid (HFPO-TA) has been detected worldwide in surface water. Moreover, recent researches have demonstrated that HFPO-TA has stronger bioaccumulation potential and higher hepatotoxicity than PFOA. To treat these contaminants e.g. PFOA and PFOS, some photochemical techniques by adding exogenous substances had been reported. However, there is still no report for the behavior of HFPO-TA itself under direct UV irradiation. The current study investigated the photo-transformation of HFPO-TA under UV irradiation in aqueous solution. After 72 hr photoreaction, 75% degradation ratio and 25% defluorination ratio were achieved under ambient condition. Reducing active species, i.e., hydrated electrons and active hydrogen atoms, generated from water splitting played dominant roles in degradation of HFPO-TA, which was confirmed by different effects of reaction atmospheres and quenching experiments. A possible degradation pathway was proposed based on the products identification and theoretical calculations. In general, HFPO-TA would be transformed into shorter-chain PFASs, including hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA), perfluoropropionic acid (PFA) and trifluoroacetate (TFA). This research provides basic information for HFPO-TA photodegradation process and is essential to develop novel remediation techniques for HFPO-TA and other alternatives with similar structures.     

过硫酸钠缓释材料的释放性能及其对2, 4-二硝基甲苯的降解效果

针对原位化学氧化技术修复土壤和地下水时氧化剂因释放过快而导致的利用率低等问题,通过熔化成型法制备过硫酸钠缓释材料,分析石蜡、硅砂和过硫酸钠不同配比对材料成型度和释放性能的影响,研究缓释过程中溶液pH的变化,探讨其在水溶液中的缓释行为及其对2,4-二硝基甲苯（2,4-DNT）的降解效果.结果表明:当固定过硫酸钠质量为6 g、硅砂质量为18 g、蜡砂比（石蜡、硅砂质量之比）为1:4~1:8时,过硫酸钠缓释材料成型度适中,且过硫酸钠的累积缓释量随着时间的延长而逐渐增大,第31天时过硫酸钠累积释放百分比为74.67%~88.40%,可实现过硫酸钠的持续可控释放.当硅砂质量为18 g、蜡砂比为1:1~1:6时,过硫酸钠累积释放百分比随着过硫酸钠质量的增加而增大,且溶液中的pH呈先降低后上升的变化规律.缓释材料缓释前后实物图和显微镜分析结果显示,过硫酸钠缓释材料的释放是一个由外到内、速率由快变慢最终趋于平稳的过程.过硫酸钠质量为12 g、硅砂质量为18 g、蜡砂比为1:4的缓释材料对2,4-DNT具有较好的降解效果,第16次置换浓度为0.2 mg/L的2,4-DNT水溶液时,2,4-DNT的降解率为56.38%.研究显示,改变制备材料的配比可有效实现缓释材料中过硫酸钠的缓慢释放及对污染物的有效降解,可为原位化学氧化修复土壤和地下水提供理论支撑.      

高原湖泊沉积物中反硝化微生物的群落特征——以包头南海湖为例

为了探明内蒙古高原富营养化城市湖泊中nirS型反硝化细菌群落结构的特异性,利用特异性功能基因nirS对包头市南海湖的表层沉积物进行反硝化细菌多样性测定,在分析各采样点沉积物理化指标的基础上,对各样品中nirS型反硝化细菌群落和多样性进行研究.结果表明,南海湖沉积物Shannon指数变化为3.07~3.41,相比于其他研究,反硝化微生物多样性相对较低.参与反硝化的优势菌属与大多数湖泊保持一致,以假单胞菌属（Pseudomonas）和红杆菌属（Rhodobacter）为主.冗余分析（RDA）指出,城市湖泊中的各种类型的污染物对反硝化优势菌属有明显的促进作用,红杆菌属（Rhodobacter）与硝酸盐氮、亚硝酸盐氮呈正相关,假单胞菌属（Pseudomonas）除受硝酸盐氮、亚硝酸盐氮的影响外,还与总磷呈较强的正相关.南海湖nirS型反硝化细菌中的主要菌属促进了反硝化作用,加速了南海湖氮素的去除.     

地方环境约束目标对经济增长的影响效应

从2003~2017年中国283个地级市的政府工作报告中,收集了各年度各城市的环境保护约束目标,考察了各类环境约束目标对经济增长的影响.研究发现,对于SO₂等工业污染物的直接约束能够在促使政府提升环境治理力度的同时,释放经济增长红利;关于空气质量优良天数和PM_2.5浓度的间接约束不足以刺激污染型企业转型,且导致经济增长速度放缓.无环境约束将产生正向经济增长效应,但会以环境污染为代价.中间机制检验结果显示,产业结构和环境治理是环境约束影响经济增长的主要传导渠道.在环境保护约束的特征方面,约束目标“加码”将抑制经济增长,设定污染物减排区间更有利于发挥经济增长效应.经济与环境协调度方面,对环境污染物设定约束目标有助于促进经济与环境协调发展,无约束则不利于经济增长和环境保护双重目标的实现.地方政府应在明确设定污染物排放目标的基础上,遵循渐进原则对环境保护约束目标进行调整.