Degassing of H/He, CFCs and SF6 by denitrification: Measurements and two-phase transport simulations

The production of N₂ gas by denitrification may lead to the appearance of a gas phase below the water table prohibiting the conservative transport of tracer gases required for groundwater dating. We used a two-phase flow and transport model (STOMP) to study the reliability of ³H/³He, CFCs and SF₆ as groundwater age tracers under agricultural land where denitrification causes degassing. We were able to reproduce the amount of degassing (R² = 69%), as well as the ³H (R² = 79%) and ³He (R² = 76%) concentrations observed in a ³H/³He data set using simple 2D models. We found that the TDG correction of the ³H/³He age overestimated the control ³He/³He age by 2.1 years, due to the accumulation of ³He in the gas phase. The total uncertainty of degassed ³H/³He ages of 6 years (± 2 σ) is due to the correction of degassed ³He using the TDG method, but also due to the travel time in the unsaturated zone and the diffusion of bomb peak ³He. CFCs appear to be subject to significant degradation in anoxic groundwater and SF₆ is highly susceptible to degassing. We conclude that ³H/³He is the most reliable method to date degassed groundwater and that two-phase flow models such as STOMP are useful tools to assist in the interpretation of degassed groundwater age tracer data.     

Modulation of steroidogenesis by coastal waters and sewage effluents of Hong Kong, China, using the H295R assay

BACKGROUND, AIM, AND SCOPE: The presence of a variety of pollutants in the aquatic environment that can potentially interfere with the production of sex steroid hormones in wildlife and humans has been of increasing concern. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of extracts from Hong Kong marine waters, and influents and effluents from wastewater treatment plants on steroidogenesis using the H295R cell bioassay. After exposing H295R cells to extracts of water, the expression of four steroidogenic genes and the production of three steroid hormones were measured. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Water samples were collected during the summer of 2005 from 24 coastal marine areas and from the influents and effluents of two major waste water treatment plants (WWTPs) in Hong Kong, China. Samples were extracted by solid phase extraction (SPE). H295R cells were exposed for 48 h to dilutions of these extracts. Modulations of the expression of the steroidogenic genes CYP19, CYP17, 3betaHSD2, and CYP11beta2 were determined by measuring mRNA concentrations by real-time polymerase chain reaction (Q-RT-PCR). Production of the hormones progesterone (P), estradiol (E2), and testosterone (T) was quantified using enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). RESULTS: Extracts from samples collected in two fish culture areas inhibited growth and proliferation of H295R cells at concentrations greater or equal to 10(5) L equivalents. The cells were exposed to the equivalent concentration of active substances in 10,000 L of water. Thus, to observe the same level of effect as observed in vitro on aquatic organisms would require a bioaccumulation factor of this same magnitude. None of the other 22 marine samples affected growth of the cells at any dilution tested. Twelve of the marine water samples completely inhibited the expression of CYP19 without affecting E2 production; inhibition of CYP17 expression was observed only in one of the samples while expression of CYP11beta2 was induced as much as five- and ninefold after exposure of cells to extracts from two locations. The expression of the progesterone gene 3betaHSD2 was not affected by any of the samples; only one sample induced approximately fourfold the production of E2. Although more than twofold inductions were observed for P and T production, none of these values were statistically significant to conclude effects on the production of these two hormones. While influents from WWTPs did not affect gene expression, an approximately 30% inhibition in the production of E2 and a 40% increase in P occurred for the exposure with influents from the Sha Tin and Stonecutters WWTPs, respectively. Effluents from WWTPs did not affect the production of any of the studied hormones, but a decrement in the expression of the aldosterone gene CYP11beta2 was observed for the Sha Tin WWTP exposure. No direct correlation could be established between gene expression and hormone production. DISCUSSION: Observed cytotoxicity in the two samples from fish culture areas suggest the presence of toxic compounds; chemical analysis is required for their full identification. Although effluents from WWTPs did not affect hormone production, other types of endocrine activity such as receptor-mediated effects cannot be ruled out. Interactions due to the complexity of the samples and alternative steroidogenic pathways might explain the lack of correlation between gene expression and hormone production results. CONCLUSIONS: Changes observed in gene expression and hormone production suggest the presence in Hong Kong coastal waters of pollutants with endocrine disruption potential and others of significant toxic effects. The aromatase and aldosterone genes seem to be the most affected by the exposures, while E2 and P are the hormones with more significant changes observed. Results also suggest effectiveness in the removing of compounds with endocrine activity by the WWTPs studied, as effluent samples did not significantly affect hormone production. The H295R cell showed to be a valuable toll in the battery required for the analysis of endocrine disrupting activities of complex environmental samples. RECOMMENDATIONS AND PERSPECTIVES: Due to the intrinsic complexity of environmental samples, a combination of analytical tools is required to realistically assess environmental conditions, especially in aquatic systems. In the evaluation of endocrine disrupting activities, the H295R cell bioassay should be used in combination with other genomic, biological, chemical, and hydrological tests to establish viable modes for endocrine disruption and identify compounds responsible for the observed effects.     

UV和UV/H2O2工艺对水中二嗪磷的降解

在低压汞灯（LPUV,253.7nm）光照条件下,研究了过氧化氢（H₂O₂）加入量对二嗪磷降解动力学、产物生成和降解途径的影响规律与作用机理.结果表明,二嗪磷水溶液在单独UV和UV/H₂O₂工艺中的降解反应均符合准一级反应动力学,且反应速率常数（k）随H₂O₂加入量的增加而增大,H₂O₂加入量为0,5,10mg/L时的k分别为0.0234,0.0301,0.0341min-1.在UV光照处理条件下,二嗪磷水溶液中的溶解性有机碳（DOC）随H₂O₂加入量的增加而降低,但其矿化度均相对较低（光照120min时的DOC去除率均低于20%）.此外,UV光照处理时,H₂O₂的加入对二嗪磷光氧化降解产物的种类及生成量均存在显著影响.二嗪磷水溶液单独UV光照处理60min时检出了8种中间/降解产物,但经UV/H₂O₂工艺处理60min时仅检出了6种中间/降解产物,且不同H₂O₂加入量时的光氧化降解产物生成量或浓度及随UV光照处理时间的变化幅度与趋势均存在较大程度的差别.基于二嗪磷及其降解产物的定性、（半）定量分析结果,提出了二嗪磷水溶液在单独UV和UV/H₂O₂工艺中的降解途径与机理.     

氢气添加对乙醇/空气预混火焰燃烧特性影响的数值模拟研究

通过对不同混合比率的乙醇/氢气/空气燃烧特性进行数值模拟,研究氢气添加量对点火延迟时间、层流燃烧速度、火焰厚度、化学反应滞留时间及组分分布情况的影响。研究发现一定程度上氢气添加量的增加能够缩短混合气体的点火延迟时间,并且氢气对点火延迟时间的影响随着温度的升高而逐渐减小。随着混合比率的增大,层流燃烧速度增大,并且在混合比率大于0.4时显著增大。火焰厚度及化学反应滞留时间随氢气增加而逐渐减小。此外,进一步分析组分分布情况得知氢气添加使火焰中H*、O*、OH*自由基摩尔分数峰值增大,并且H+O+OH摩尔分数峰值与层流燃烧速度存在线性关系。     

普光天然气净化厂投料试车H2S泄漏安全管理

普光气田天然气净化厂是中国石化集团公司"川气东送工程"的关键组成部分,在投料试车期间,富含高浓度H2S的原料气决定了净化过程中的泄漏中毒高风险,尤其在投料试车过程中,实时监测现场H2S气体浓度是试车安全管理的关键。介绍了天然气净化厂净化工艺,分析了试车安全风险;利用安全监测系统、GasFindIR红外成像仪、有毒挥发气体分析仪等先进仪器设备建立了实时安全管理监测方法,实时监测现场H2S气体浓度。结果表明,该方法在天然气净化厂投料试车阶段发现H2S气体泄漏及时,泄漏点定位准确,泄漏量检测精确,保证了普光气田天然气净化厂投料试车作业安全的顺利进行,为高含H2S气田投料试车作业的安全管理提供了参考。     

Emission reduction and profit-neutral permit allocations

The present paper addresses two policy objectives: to implement a market for pollution permits and to make regulation acceptable for businesses. Profit-neutral permit allocations are defined as the number of permits that the regulator should give for free so that post-regulation profits (i.e. a firm's profits in the products market plus the value of the allowances granted for free) are equal to pre-regulation profits. The proposed model is developed by assuming that firms use polluting technologies and compete “à la Cournot”. The paper demonstrates that a low number of free allowances is sufficient to meet these two goals. Moreover, the regulator can fully offset losses, even when the reduction in emissions is high, provided that the sectors concerned are not monopolies, both for isoelastic and linear demand functions.     

Do energy prices affect employment? Decomposed international evidence

This paper analyzes the energy price-employment nexus and contributes to the literature by showing that it is important to decompose the regulatory effect into demand, cost, and factor-shift effects. This is done by means of a cross-country multi-sectoral dataset. The results show that both rising energy prices and shadow prices of energy have no significant effect on net employment when the manufacturing sectors only are analyzed. While finding significant variations across countries, the average employment effects become significantly positive once jobs in the economy as a whole are considered. This change is driven mainly by larger positive cost effects, which more than offset the negative demand effects and reductions in the positive factor-shift effects. Moreover, the paper reveals that the often implemented approach of using a simple regulation regressor, instead of decomposing the employment effect, can result in biased estimates.     

Cumulative carbon emissions and economic policy: In search of general principles

We exploit recent advances in climate science to develop a physically consistent, yet surprisingly simple, model of climate policy. It seems that key economic models have greatly overestimated the delay between carbon emissions and warming, and ignored the saturation of carbon sinks that takes place when the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide rises. This has important implications for climate policy. If carbon emissions are abated, damages are avoided almost immediately. Therefore it is optimal to reduce emissions significantly in the near term and bring about a slow transition to optimal peak warming, even if optimal steady-state/peak warming is high. The optimal carbon price should start relatively high and grow relatively fast.     

高效钙钛矿型H2-SCR催化剂的制备与研究

用溶胶凝胶法合成了3种不同B位的钙钛矿催化剂,同时用X射线衍射(XRD)、比表面积分析(BET)、扫描电镜(SEM)、程序升温化学吸附(TPR)4种手段对催化剂进行了物理化学表征.从经济性和实际性考虑,本研究使用了清洁无二次污染的H2作为SCR的还原剂,同时控制了H2的加入比例,在小NO/H2比(1∶1、1∶5、1∶10)情况下,考察了3种催化剂的催化效率.由于实际燃煤烟气中含有大量的O2,因此,同时考察了高O2(O2/NO=100∶1)的加入对氧化还原反应的影响.从考察结果我们得知,在NO/H2为1∶1时,LaCoO3和LaNiO3的催化活性优于LaMnO3,达到80％.而在高H2/NO比时,则是LaMnO3的催化活性最高,达95％以上.O2的加入对氧化还原反应影响较大,温度高于250℃时,O2出现竞争性反应,消耗了大部分的还原剂,使得NO脱除率降低,而在250℃以下,O2的影响较小.     

前驱物结晶体升华成膜法制备TiO2薄膜及其光催化性研究

采用“前驱物结晶体升华成膜法”工艺，使含钛前驱物结晶体草酸氧钛酸以升华的方式，均匀地在玻璃表面形成前驱物薄膜；经过热处理，制备出外观平整透明的玻璃基TiO2薄膜，其薄膜厚度为80-100nm，粒度≤50nm。初步研究了制备条件、薄膜性能和本工艺制备的玻璃基TiO2纳米薄膜对甲基对硫磷的光催化降解性能。