Cesium migration in saturated silica sand and Hanford sediments as impacted by ionic strength

Large amounts of 137Cs have been accidentally released to the subsurface from the Hanford nuclear site in the state of Washington, USA. The cesium-containing liquids varied in ionic strengths, and often had high electrolyte contents, mainly in the form of NaNO3 and NaOH, reaching concentrations up to several moles per liter. In this study, we investigated the effect of ionic strengths on Cs migration through two types of porous media: silica sand and Hanford sediments. Cesium sorption and transport was studied in 1, 10, 100, and 1000 mM NaCl electrolyte solutions at pH 10. Sorption isotherms were constructed from batch equilibrium experiments and the batch-derived sorption parameters were compared with column breakthrough curves. Column transport experiments were analyzed with a two-site equilibrium-nonequilibrium model. Cesium sorption to the silica sand in batch experiments showed a linear sorption isotherm for all ionic strengths, which matched well with the results from the column experiments at 100 and 1000 mM ionic strength; however, the column experiments at 1 and 10 mM ionic strength indicated a nonlinear sorption behavior of Cs to the silica sand. Transport through silica sand occurred under one-site sorption and equilibrium conditions. Cesium sorption to Hanford sediments in both batch and column experiments was best described with a nonlinear Freundlich isotherm. The column experiments indicated that Cs transport in Hanford sediments occurred under two-site equilibrium and nonequilibrium sorption. The effect of ionic strength on Cs transport was much more pronounced in Hanford sediments than in silica sands. Effective retardation factors of Cs during transport through Hanford sediments were reduced by a factor of 10 when the ionic strength increased from 100 to 1000 mM; for silica sand, the effective retardation was reduced by a factor of 10 when ionic strength increased from 1 to 1000 mM. A two order of magnitude change in ionic strength was needed in the silica sand to observe the same change in Cs retardation as in Hanford sediments.     

Virus retention and transport through Al-oxide coated sand columns: effects of ionic strength and composition

Knowledge of the factors that influence the fate and transport of viruses in porous media is very important for accurately determining groundwater vulnerability and for developing protective regulations. In this study, six saturated sand column experiments were performed to examine the effects of a positively charged Al-oxide, which was coated on sand particles, on the retention and transport of viruses (phiX174 and MS-2) in background solutions of different ionic strength and composition. We found that the Al-oxide coating on sand significantly removed viruses during their transport in a phosphate buffered saline (PBS) solution. Mass balance calculations showed that 34% of the input MS-2 was inactivated/irreversibly sorbed on the surface of Al-oxide coated sand whereas 100% of phiX174 was recovered. Results from this study also indicated that higher ionic strength facilitated the transport of both phiX174 and MS-2 through the Al-oxide coated sand. This was attributed to the effect of ion shielding, which at higher ionic strength decreased the electrostatic attraction between the viral particles and the sand surface and consequently decreased virus sorption. Strong effect of the ionic strength indicates that an outer-sphere complexation mechanism was responsible for the virus sorption on the Al-oxide coated sand. Ion composition of the background solutions was also found to be a significant factor in influencing virus retention and transport. Virus transport was enhanced in the presence of phosphate (HPO(4)(2-)) as compared to bicarbonate (HCO(3)(-)), and the effect of HPO(4)(2-) was more significant on MS-2 than on phiX174. The presence of bivalent cations (Ca(2+) and Mg(2+)) increased virus transport because the cations partially screened the negative charges on the viruses therefore decreased the electrostatic attraction between the positively charged sand surface and the negatively charged viruses. Mass recovery data indicated that bivalent cations gave rise to a certain degree of inactivation/irreversibly sorption of phiX174 on the surface of Al-oxide coated sand. On the contrary, the bivalent cations appeared to have protected MS-2 from inactivation/irreversibly sorption. This study provides some insights into the mechanisms responsible for virus retention and transport in porous media.     

低COD浓度废水启动EGSB反应器

以厌氧活性污泥和好氧活性污泥接种于2个膨胀颗粒污泥床(EGSB)反应器中,进水流量为10 mL/min,回流量为180 mL/min,进水COD浓度在180 mg/L左右,有机负荷率(OLR)为1.728 kg COD/m3·d左右,污泥负荷率(SLR)为0.19 kg COD/kg MLSS·d左右,出水COD浓度维持在40mg/L左右,COD去除率达80%以上.控制温度在32～35 ℃,pH在6.8～7.2,反应器内氧化还原电位在-340 mV以下,水力停留时间(HRT)4.2 h,上升流速4.86 m/h以及加入80 mg/L絮凝剂(硫酸铝钾),缩短了启动时间,促进了颗粒污泥的形成.分别经过60 d和120 d运行,反应器启动成功.结果表明,上升流速、絮凝剂和污泥类型对颗粒污泥的形成有影响;接种好氧活性污泥在低浓度COD下,合理控制负荷速率能成功启动EGSB反应器.     

微絮凝对腐殖酸超滤过程膜污染的减缓特性

以硫酸铝[Al_2(SO_4)_3·18H_2O]为絮凝剂,腐殖酸(humic acid,HA)和高岭土(Kaolin)水溶液为原水,研究微絮凝过程产生的不同絮体形态,对自制聚偏氟乙烯(PVDF)超滤膜过滤过程的影响.主要考察了微絮凝过程中絮体的特性(粒径大小及分布,分形维数)以及不同条件下形成的絮体形态对膜通量的影响,利用扫描电镜(SEM)和原子力显微镜(AFM)对污染膜的表面形貌进行表征,并测定了PVDF膜与有机污染物之间黏附力大小,来解析不同絮体形态对超滤膜的膜污染影响机制.结果表明,Al~(3+)以电性中和作用水解去除有机物,随着絮凝剂投加量的增加,絮体粒径不断增大,絮体的分形维数减小.膜通量衰减速率与絮体的粒径呈负相关,絮体粒径越大,膜通量衰减速率越小,超滤过程中形成的滤饼层越疏松,同时,较小分形维数的絮体引起的膜污染较轻,其膜通量恢复率也较高.PVDF-有机污染物之间的相互作用力大小与运行初期相应污染膜通量衰减速率呈正相关.当Al~(3+)投加量为5 mg·L~(-1),初始pH=7时,HA去除率为96.7%,膜通量衰减最小,通量恢复率达到88%.     

Best practice recommendations for scale construction in organizational research: The development and initial validation of the Character Strength Inventory (CSI)

Proper scale development and validation provide the necessary foundation to facilitate future quantitative research in the organizational sciences. Using the framework provided by the Researcher's Notebook , the purpose of this study is twofold. First, we present a modern summary of best practice procedures for scale development, reliability analysis, and validity analysis. Second, we explain and illustrate these best practice procedures by describing each procedure in the context of developing and psychometrically analyzing a new Character Strength Inventory (CSI). Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of ionic strength on adsorption of As（Ⅲ） and As（Ⅴ） on variable charge soils

The study was to investigate the adsorption behavior of arsenite (As(Ⅲ)) and arsenate (As(Ⅴ)) on two variable charge soils, i.e., Haplic Acrisol and Rhodic Ferralsol at different ionic strengths and pH with batch methods. Results indicated that the amount of As(Ⅲ) adsorbed by these two soils increased with increasing solution pH, whereas it decreased with increasing ionic strength under the acidic condition. This suggested that As(Ⅲ) was mainly adsorbed on soil positive charge sites through electrostatic attraction under the acidic condition. Moreover, intersects of As(Ⅴ) adsorption-pH curves at different ionic strengths (a characteristic pH) are obtained for both soils. It was noted that above this pH, the adsorption of As(Ⅴ) was increased with increasing ionic strength, whereas below it the reverse trend was true. Precisely the intersect pH was 3.6 for Haplic Acrisol and 4.5 for Rhodic Ferralsol, which was near the values of PZSE (soil point of zero salt effect) of these soils. The effects of ionic strength and pH on arsenate adsorption by these soils were interpreted by the adsorption model. The results of zeta potential suggested that the potential in adsorption plane becomes less negative with increasing ionic strength above soil PZSE and decreases with increasing ionic strength below soil PZSE. These results further supported the hypothesis of the adsorption model that the potential in the adsorption plane changes with ionic strength with an opposite trend to surface charge of the soils. Therefore, the change of the potential in the adsorption plane was mainly responsible for the change of arsenate adsorption induced by ionic strength on variable charge soils.     

Effect of chemical and thermal activations on the properties of rice husk ash-based solidified wastes

Strength development,leachability and microstructure of heavy metals from the solidified waste using synthesis rice husk ash (sRHA) and lime blended at the weight ratio of 1:1 were used as binders.The heavy metal-containing sludge was used at the level of 0 wt.%,30 wt.%,and 50 wt.% dry weight,respectively.The sample specimens with and without 1.5 wt.% of sodium silicate (SiO 2 /Na 2 O=1.0) were cured under the ambient condition and elevated temperature curing at 50°C for 24 hr.Experimental results showed that the introduction of sodium silicate solution and elevated temperature curing to sRHA-based solidified waste containing 30 wt.% of heavy metal sludge gave one day strength of 20 kg/cm 2 compared to 0.9 kg/cm2 for the control sample.XRD patterns indicated that most metal-sulfides present in the sludge were appeared in the solidified waste and SEM coupled with EDX techniques reveal these metal-sulfide particles were trapped within the lime-sRHA matrices.In addition,cumulative leaching behavior by tank test (EA NEN 7375:2004) showed that solidified waste containing up to 30 wt.% of heavy metal sludge was suitable to dispose in a secured landfill.     

A2/O工艺中好氧污泥絮体的分形结构与理化特征分析

采用图像法和沉降柱法分别研究了A²/O工艺中好氧污泥絮体的形貌、粒度分布、低维分形维数和沉降速率、有效密度、空隙率以及质量分形维数,并尝试探讨了上述相关性质与这些污泥宏观操作性质(沉降、压缩、脱水和稳定性)相关的各种理化指标以及胞外高分子物质(EPS)的含量之间的变化关系.结果表明,污泥絮体呈现不规则的形貌,表面具有空隙.其有效密度一般随着其粒径的增加而降低,而空隙率和沉降速率却呈现与有效密度相反的变化趋势,这些均表明了污泥絮体的分形结构的存在.2次所采集的污泥絮体的中位直径分别为248.81、 332.86 μm,有效密度的平均值分别为0.004 0、 0.007 2 g·cm^-3,自由沉降速率的平均值分别为2.67、 4.79　mm·s^-1,空隙率的平均值分别为0.94、 0.89,一维分形维数分别为1.03、 1.19,二维分形维数分别为1.64、 1.84,采用基于Logan经验公式的有效密度-最大直径的双对数关系确定的质量分形维数分别为1.74、 2.29.尽管第2次所采集的污泥絮体较为密实,但其表面粗糙程度却比第1次的低.此外,研究中发现絮凝能力较高或负电荷较高的A²/O好氧污泥絮体具有高的SVI和ZSV值;分形维数较低的污泥具有高的剪切敏感性和低絮体强度,相应的污泥稳定性低;EPS总量高的污泥脱水性能差,EPS中蛋白质含量高的污泥其表面电荷也较高.     

A~2/O工艺中好氧污泥絮体的分形结构与理化特征分析

采用图像法和沉降柱法分别研究了A2/O工艺中好氧污泥絮体的形貌、粒度分布、低维分形维数和沉降速率、有效密度、空隙率以及质量分形维数,并尝试探讨了上述相关性质与这些污泥宏观操作性质(沉降、压缩、脱水和稳定性)相关的各种理化指标以及胞外高分子物质(EPS)的含量之间的变化关系.结果表明,污泥絮体呈现不规则的形貌,表面具有空隙.其有效密度一般随着其粒径的增加而降低,而空隙率和沉降速率却呈现与有效密度相反的变化趋势,这些均表明了污泥絮体的分形结构的存在.2次所采集的污泥絮体的中位直径分别为248.81、332.86μm,有效密度的平均值分别为0.0040、0.0072g·cm-3,自由沉降速率的平均值分别为2.67、4.79mm·s-1,空隙率的平均值分别为0.94、0.89,一维分形维数分别为1.03、1.19,二维分形维数分别为1.64、1.84,采用基于Logan经验公式的有效密度-最大直径的双对数关系确定的质量分形维数分别为1.74、2.29.尽管第2次所采集的污泥絮体较为密实,但其表面粗糙程度却比第1次的低.此外,研究中发现絮凝能力较高或负电荷较高的A2/O好氧污泥絮体具有高的SVI和ZSV值;分形维数较低...     

基质种类对活性污泥絮体性状的影响

利用葡萄糖、淀粉、乙酸钠和苯酚4种典型基质,分别在4个相同的序批式反应器(Sequencing Batch Reactor,SBR)中培养活性污泥,并研究了基质种类对活性污泥絮体性状的影响.结果表明,以葡萄糖为底物培养的活性污泥胞外多糖含量最少,而苯酚所培养的活性污泥胞外蛋白质最多;从形成的EPS总量来看,苯酚最多,乙酸钠次之,葡萄糖和淀粉较少.不同基质培养的污泥Zeta电位也有一定差别,这是由EPS中多糖和蛋白质的比例不同造成的.红外分析表明,4种基质培养的污泥EPS中的主要基团较为相似,羧基、醇羟基、羧酸、酰胺和多聚糖均是EPS中的主要基团.此外,进水基质对活性污泥絮体的粒度分布及分形结构也有重要影响.