How farmers develop local ecological knowledge for on-farm tree management: The perspectives of some farming communities of Ghana

Scientific insights into what it means to manage on-farm trees by local farmers, is an essential step towards documenting local ecological knowledge for sustainable landscape management. A study was therefore conducted in the Kumawu Forest District in the Ashanti Region of Ghana to assess how farmers conceptualise on-farm tree management and develop local knowledge for it. Using a case study approach, data were collected through informal interviews and focus group discussions with 120 farmers drawn from 15 communities who were involved in the management of three cropping systems; cocoa, maize and cassava-cocoyam-plantain mix. It was observed that the farmers regard on-farm tree management as a continuous process which occurs in three phases of the farming cycle; land preparation, crop cultivation and fallow management. For each of the three phases, farmers are guided by specific principles that ensure enough light penetration in-between tree crowns in the land preparation phase, suitable spacing between trees and crops in the crop cultivation phase and adequate tree regeneration in the fallow phase. The decisions made during the selection of tree species, spacing of trees adjudged suitable for any particular cropping system and recruitment of saplings prior to the fallow phase of farming constitute tree management. Farmers develop tree management knowledge by studying the physical characteristics of species, matching them to ecological functions they could perform and how they are likely to respond to treatments meant to control or enhance their development. Species are then subjected to trial and recommended or otherwise.     

Review of LCA studies of solid waste management systems – Part I: Lessons learned and perspectives

The continuously increasing solid waste generation worldwide calls for management strategies that integrate concerns for environmental sustainability. By quantifying environmental impacts of systems, life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool, which can contribute to answer that call. But how, where and to which extent has it been applied to solid waste management systems (SWMSs) until now, and which lessons can be learnt from the findings of these LCA applications? To address these questions, we performed a critical review of 222 published LCA studies of SWMS. We first analysed the geographic distribution and found that the published studies have primarily been concentrated in Europe with little application in developing countries. In terms of technological coverage, they have largely overlooked application of LCA to waste prevention activities and to relevant waste types apart from household waste, e.g. construction and demolition waste. Waste management practitioners are thus encouraged to abridge these gaps in future applications of LCA. In addition to this contextual analysis, we also evaluated the findings of selected studies of good quality and found that there is little agreement in the conclusions among them. The strong dependence of each SWMS on local conditions, such as waste composition or energy system, prevents a meaningful generalisation of the LCA results as we find it in the waste hierarchy. We therefore recommend stakeholders in solid waste management to regard LCA as a tool, which, by its ability of capturing the local specific conditions in the modelling of environmental impacts and benefits of a SWMS, allows identifying critical problems and proposing improvement options adapted to the local specificities.     

Review of LCA studies of solid waste management systems – Part II: Methodological guidance for a better practice

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is increasingly used in waste management to identify strategies that prevent or minimise negative impacts on ecosystems, human health or natural resources. However, the quality of the provided support to decision- and policy-makers is strongly dependent on a proper conduct of the LCA. How has LCA been applied until now? Are there any inconsistencies in the past practice? To answer these questions, we draw on a critical review of 222 published LCA studies of solid waste management systems. We analyse the past practice against the ISO standard requirements and the ILCD Handbook guidelines for each major step within the goal definition, scope definition, inventory analysis, impact assessment, and interpretation phases of the methodology. Results show that malpractices exist in several aspects of the LCA with large differences across studies. Examples are a frequent neglect of the goal definition, a frequent lack of transparency and precision in the definition of the scope of the study, e.g. an unclear delimitation of the system boundaries, a truncated impact coverage, difficulties in capturing influential local specificities such as representative waste compositions into the inventory, and a frequent lack of essential sensitivity and uncertainty analyses. Many of these aspects are important for the reliability of the results. For each of them, we therefore provide detailed recommendations to practitioners of waste management LCAs.     

北京电动出租车与燃油出租车生命周期环境影响比较研究

燃油机动车尾气排放是导致城市包括雾霾在内的大气环境问题的主要来源之一.以电动汽车替代传统燃油车是当前各国解决城市大气污染问题的重要举措.北京于2011年启动了电动出租车推广计划.为比较北京市迷迪电动汽车和现代燃油车生命周期的环境影响,运用生命周期评价方法,基于Ga Bi4.4软件,选用CML2001和EI99影响评价模型对两款车的生产、使用和报废回收全生命周期过程的环境影响进行了定量评价,并针对汽车报废里程和电力能源结构进行了敏感性分析.结果表明,从全生命周期视角,根据EI99评价模型,迷迪电动汽车环境影响总体上优于现代燃油车,尤其在削减化石能源消耗方面优势凸显,但在生态系统质量影响及人体健康影响方面却略有增大的趋势;利用CML2001模型对比分析得出迷迪电动汽车比燃油出租车在对非生物资源消耗、全球变暖以及臭氧层损耗等方面有明显改善;但在生产阶段尤其是动力系统生产方面在非生物资源消耗、酸化、富营养化、全球变暖、光化学臭氧合成、臭氧层损耗、生态毒性等生态环境影响却均有增大趋势.使用阶段电力生产是迷迪电动汽车非生物资源消耗、酸化、富营养化、全球变暖、光化学臭氧合成、生态毒性等环境影响的主要来源;而现代燃油出租车使用阶段的环境影响主要来源于尾气排放和汽油生产,其中尾气排放是造成现代燃油车在富营养化和全球变暖等方面影响潜值较大的主要原因;基于清单数据库,针对致霾因子影响分析得出,在2010年北京市电力能源驱动下,迷迪电动车明显增加了超细颗粒物(PM2.5)、氮氧化物(NOx)、硫氧化物(SOx)、挥发性有机物(volatile organic compouds,VOCs)等因子的全生命周期的排放,而同时降低了氨气(NH3)的排放量,使用阶段排放的差别是造成上述趋势的主要原因.对关键因素敏感性分析发现,随着报废里程以及清洁能源比例的增加,迷迪电动汽车相对现代燃油车的单位里程碳减排量呈现增加的趋势.清洁电力能源的使用可大幅降低迷迪电动汽车致霾污染物的排放量.根据分析结果,为北京市电动车的推广提出了对策建议.     

南京北郊黑碳气溶胶的来源解析

利用七波段黑碳仪对2015年1~12月南京北郊地区黑碳(black carbon,BC)气溶胶实时监测,并结合黑碳仪模型对该期间内BC进行来源解析,探讨化石燃料排放产生BC(BCff)与生物质燃烧产生BC(BCbb)各自的贡献大小.结果表明,观测期间BC的吸收波长指数(α)和生物质燃烧对BC的贡献百分比(BB)的变化范围都较大但趋势较为一致;冬季α值偏高而夏季α值较低,表明不同季节时间BC来源和强度的差异性.BCff在各季节BC总浓度中占比略有不同但均高于75%;BC、BCff和BCbb的日变化趋势均呈双峰特征,在07:00~09:00和18:00~21:00左右浓度有最大值;全天中,BCff对BC贡献最大,浓度值约为BCbb的3~5倍;夜晚BC浓度普遍高于白天,其平均浓度值是白天的1.2倍.由浓度权重轨迹分析的结果可知,影响南京北郊地区高浓度BC的源区主要集中在浙江、安徽以及江西和福建等地区.     

微生物燃料电池改性阳极处理PTA废水

探讨了不同改性阳极对微生物燃料电池(microbial fuel cell,MFC)产电性能及其对MFC处理难降解废水能力的影响.以单室空气阴极为基础,利用0.1 g电气石、质量分数75%二氧化锰/埃洛石纳米管(manganese bioxide/halloysite nanotube,MnO_2/HNT)和多壁碳纳米管-羧基(multi-walled carbon nanotube-carboxyl,MWCNT-COOH)对MFC阳极进行修饰.结果表明,不同改性阳极的MFC对含精对苯二甲酸(purified terephthalic acid,PTA)废水的去除率均高于70%,且化学需氧量(chemical oxygen demand,COD)去除率在79%以上.相较于其他几种改性阳极,以MWCNT-COOH改性材料作阳极的MFC产生的最大输出电压最高,获得的最大功率密度最高,分别为529 mV和252.73 mW·m~(-2).     

Performance of low temperature Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) catalyzed by mixed bacterial consortia

Microbial Fuel Cells(MFCs) are a promising technology for treating wastewater in a sustainable manner. In potential applications, low temperatures substantially reduce MFC performance. To better understand the effect of temperature and particularly how bioanodes respond to changes in temperature, we investigated the current generation of mixed-culture and pure-culture MFCs at two low temperatures, 10°C and 5°C. The results implied that the mixed-culture MFC sustainably performed better than the pure-culture(Shewanella) MFC at 10°C, but the electrogenic activity of anodic bacteria was substantially reduced at the lower temperature of 5°C. At 10°C, the maximum output voltage generated with the mixed-culture was 540–560 m V, which was 10%–15% higher than that of Shewanella MFCs. The maximum power density reached 465.3 ± 5.8 m W/m~2 for the mixed-culture at10°C, while only 68.7 ± 3.7 m W/m~2 was achieved with the pure-culture. It was shown that the anodic biofilm of the mixed-culture MFC had a lower overpotential and resistance than the pure-culture MFC. Phylogenetic analysis disclosed the prevalence of Geobacter and Pseudomonas rather than Shewanella in the mixed-culture anodic biofilm, which mitigated the increase of resistance or overpotential at low temperatures.     

港口罢工对周边空气质量的影响

港口污染物的排放浓度极大地影响着周边的空气质量,以2013年3月28日香港国际集装箱码头发生的罢工事件为契机来探究港口运作短暂的瘫痪对周边空气质量的影响。首先,进行污染物之间的相关性分析确定影响本次罢工事件的污染物主要为NO_2、NO_x、SO_2以及O_3。其次,基于罢工前、罢工期间以及罢工后污染物排放的浓度变化,进行横向对比发现罢工期间的污染物确实有一定程度的减少。再次,利用纵向对比排除四季带来的影响探究不同年份同一阶段污染物浓度的变化情况评估罢工期间的空气质量。最后,以NO_2为例建立预测模型对罢工期间的NO_2浓度进行预测,根据实际值与预测值之间的差异来说明罢工影响了NO_2的预测趋势。这项研究主要强调港口空气质量对整个环境的影响,在一定程度上说明政府实施政策的有效性,为政府提供了决策支持,同时也要注重污染物之间的相互转化作用对环境的影响。     

水泥窑协同处置生活垃圾焚烧飞灰的汞排放特性及管控措施探讨

生活垃圾焚烧飞灰资源化利用主要途径之一是作为生产水泥原料。飞灰中富集了高浓度的汞、镉、铅等重金属。新型水泥窑的工艺特点导致高挥发性的汞无法固化在水泥熟料中,汞主要随烟气外排。当水泥窑处置飞灰规模较大、飞灰中汞含量较高时,如不采取控制措施,会导致水泥窑排放烟气中汞浓度超过标准限值。分别从机理分析、数据统计演算及实际检测结果多方面进行了验证,提出应加强对水泥窑协同处置飞灰过程中汞污染的认识及监督管理,探索有效的汞排放控制途径,确保汞排放达标。     

复合生物阴极型微生物燃料电池处理废水及同步产电性能

为研究生物阴极在MFC（微生物燃料电池）中的应用,分别以粒径为2~4 mm的颗粒活性炭和粒径为2~4、4~8、8~12 mm的颗粒石墨为阴极基质材料,构建升流复合生物阴极型单室MFC,研究阴极基质材料的种类和粒径对MFC的产电性能和净水效能的影响.结果表明:当阳极基质材料为2~4 mm粒径的颗粒活性炭时,燃料电池中利用玻璃纤维取代离子交换膜,阴极基质材料为选用4~8 mm粒径颗粒石墨的反应柱产电量最大,为534 mV（外电阻为1 000 Ω）,最大功率密度达到631.6 mW/m3,库伦效率为3.82%;阴极的pH越低越有利于阴极的产电反应;不同阴极基质材料的MFC对COD_Cr去除率均在80%左右,TN、NH₄+-N及TP的去除率最高可分别达到79%、93%和34%.研究显示,阴极基质材料的种类和粒径对MFC的产电性影响较大,但对其净水效能的影响不大.