Hierarchical pre-positioning of emergency resources for a chemical industrial parks concentrated area

Accidents in chemical industrial parks always cause fateful damage which can be reduced greatly by providing emergency resources sufficiently and timely. One effective way to enhance the emergency response capacity and agility is by pre-positioning of emergency resources for the potential accidents. The Yangtze River Delta of China is a large region where a large number of chemical industrial parks are concentrated. According to the distributing characteristics of demand points in this region, a mathematical model of hierarchical pre-positioning of emergency resources is proposed to ensure that accidents in all chemical industrial parks in this region can be responded timely and effectively. Considering accident domino effect and minimizing the total cost, the model gives optimal decisions of pre-positioning emergency resources, including the location and inventory of depots. The innovative hierarchical pre-positioning method greatly reduces the total cost in the premise of sufficient preparation for supplying emergency resources. Finally, in a visual graph of the Yangtze River Delta, the model is applied and the result shows its applicability.     

Justice for Bhopal! And No More Bhopals! Three decades of national and international campaigning

Dissatisfaction with the responses of the responsible corporation, Union Carbide, and the Indian government to Bhopal resulted in a campaign by national and international NGOs (non-governmental organisations) over the past three decades. While initially the Indian and international campaigns were separate, over time greater international cooperation took place. In the immediate aftermath of the disaster local NGOs prioritised health, justice and rehabilitation issues, while international NGOs used Bhopal to question chemical industry process and environmental safety in their own countries, as well as internationally. Indian NGOs called on international NGO resources to gain legitimacy for their campaign, to use NGOs as proxies and to extend the geographical scope of the campaign, while international NGOs used Bhopal as an example to advance NGOs analyses and policies. Over the period of the campaign, Indian NGOs became more sophisticated in their campaigning. The international campaign has increasingly become an online campaign, involved in an image or reputational war with Dow Chemical, which took over Union Carbide, while the original campaign issues of justice and reparations over the process safety disaster were joined by similar issues related to environmental safety of abandoned toxic waste.     

丹江口水库表层沉积物不同形态氮的赋存特征及其生物有效性

为了揭示丹江口水库沉积物氮空间分布特征及其生物有效性,采用连续分级提取法研究了表层沉积物中可交换态氮(Exchangeable nitrogen,EN)、酸解态氮(Acid hydrolysable nitrogen,HN)及残渣态氮(Residue nitrogen,RN)的赋存特征,同时结合生物可利用态氮的含量,探讨了各形态氮对生物可利用态氮的贡献。结果表明,丹江口水库沉积物中总氮(Total nitrogen,TN)在425~5796 mg/kg之间,平均为1 319.32 mg/kg,其中EN、HN和RN的平均值相对比例为2.15∶1.95∶1,且各形态氮含量的空间分布呈入库河流大于库区开阔区域的特征,尤其在丹江、老灌河以及犟河-堵河入库口的含量较大。潜在矿化氮(Potential mineralized nitrogen,PMN)含量在40.20~1 468.95 mg/kg之间,平均为275.06 mg/kg,其中EN对丹江口水库沉积物PMN的贡献较大,比例在19.85%~90.80%之间,平均为63.47%。各形态氮在不同的水环境条件下发生迁移转化,保持着水-沉积物界面氮的动态平衡。     

Geochemical distribution,bioavailability and potential toxicity of some trace metals in a complex micro-tidal estuary,Southwest India

The spatial and temporal variations of some trace metals in the surface sediments of Cochin Estuary were analyzed along with their geochemical associations to identify the possible sources, bioavailability and the health risks posed by them. The dominance of kaolinite and suggested that clay minerals distribution is influenced by sediment sorting. Total metal analysis revealed enrichment for Cd, Pb and Zn due to anthropogenic activities. The speciation analysis established that notwithstanding the large availability, carbonate as well as organic and sulfides bound fractions showed negligible associations with most of the metals. Hydrous Fe–Mn oxides appeared to play a major role in controlling the fate and transport of these metals in the sediments of Cochin Estuary. Lower contribution of the residual fractions for Cd (21%–26%), Pb (<60%) and Zn (24%–42%) indicated an obvious increase of other geochemical fractions. Risk assessment analysis revealed that regardless of total concentration, none of the analyzed metals were at safe levels in the estuary as appreciable percentages were found to be associated with mobile geochemical forms. The speciation study conspicuously established that the metals originating from non-geogenic sources are largely associated with the labile fractions and hence are more detrimental to the aquatic biota.     

Stock market responses to chemical accidents in Japan: An event study

Despite recent major chemical process accidents in Japan, the top management teams of firms still avoid taking costly risk reduction measures because of their low perceived impact on firm performance. The disclosure of information on accident risks might motivate managers to enhance workplace safety because of the subsequent evaluation of firms by investors in stock markets. If the disclosed risk information is newly available for investors, firms with a high risk of accidents would receive a poor evaluation by stock markets and thus managers would take risk reduction measures to prevent stock prices from declining. In this study, we conduct an event study analysis to examine whether accident risk information is already reflected in stock prices, using data on the Japanese chemical industry. The results of our event study show that the estimated cumulative average abnormal returns of firms' stocks are significantly negative after severe accidents actually occurred. This finding implies that risk information is not already reflected in the stock prices of Japanese chemical firms and that the disclosure of accident risk information has the potential to motivate the top management teams of firms to reduce their firms’ accident risk.     

粉煤灰综合利用过程中汞的二次释放规律研究

我国粉煤灰年产生量4亿t左右,近年来利用率稳定在65%～68%,主要利用方式包括建材生产、道路施工、建筑工程和农业利用.建材生产包括高温工序,可能存在粉煤灰中汞的二次释放.本研究设计实验模拟了水泥生产、蒸养砖生产的主要环境因素,利用程序升温脱附的方法研究粉煤灰利用过程中的汞迁移转化规律,并对全国范围内粉煤灰利用过程汞的二次释放量做出估算.研究发现,粉煤灰中的汞以HgCl2(Hg2Cl2)、HgS和HgO的形式存在;水泥生产过程中,粉煤灰中98%以上的汞会释放;蒸养砖生产过程中,粉煤灰中汞的平均释放率为28%,释放率主要受到粉煤灰中的HgCl2(Hg2Cl2)比例的影响.我国粉煤灰利用过程中的汞二次排放量由2002年的4.07 t.a-1增至2008年的9.18 t.a-1,其中水泥行业的贡献率占到96.6%.     

小分子有机酸对紫色土及其溶液中Pb的赋存影响

以紫色土中铅(Pb)为研究对象,采用以0.01 mol·L~(-1)硝酸钠(NaNO_3)为背景电解质的一步提取法,研究了不同浓度下乙酸,酒石酸和柠檬酸对土壤中Pb的释放作用,并通过土壤重金属形态的分步提取法和地球化学平衡软件Visual MINTEQ v3.0,进一步分析和预测了小分子有机酸作用下土壤中Pb以及土壤溶液中Pb的形态变化.在此基础上,分析了小分子有机酸对Pb作用的环境意义与环境风险.结果表明,3种小分子有机酸均显著增加了紫色土中Pb的释放量,活化效果表现为柠檬酸酒石酸乙酸.在有机酸作用下,土壤中交换态Pb总量增加,碳酸盐结合态Pb和铁锰氧化物结合态Pb总量降低;土壤溶液中Pb以有机结合态为主,占总Pb质量的45.16%~75.05%,游离态次之,占22.71%~50.25%,且随着浓度增加,柠檬酸和酒石酸作用下的土壤溶液中的游离态Pb和无机结合态Pb增加,而有机结合态Pb减少,乙酸则呈相反趋势.总体上看,小分子有机酸提高了紫色土中Pb的生物有效性,且存在地下水的淋溶风险,其中柠檬酸的淋溶风险远大于酒石酸和乙酸.     

Biosorption mechanisms involved in immobilization of soil Pb by Bacillus subtilis DBM in a multimetal-contaminated soil

Mechanisms of soil Pb immobilization by Bacillus subtilis DBM, a bacterial strain isolated from a heavy-metal-contaminated soil, were investigated. Adsorption and desorption experiments with living bacterial cells as well as dead cells revealed that both extracellular adsorption and intracellular accumulation were involved in the Pb2＋removal from the liquid phase. Of the sequestered Pb（II）, 8.5% was held by physical entrapment within the cell wall, 43.3% was held by ion-exchange, 9.7% was complexed with cell surface functional groups or precipitated on the cell surface, and 38.5% was intracellularly accumulated.Complexation of Pb2＋with carboxyl, hydroxyl, carbonyl, amido, and phosphate groups was demonstrated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic analysis. Precipitates of Pb5（PO4）3OH, Pb5（PO4）3Cl and Pb10（PO4）6（OH）2that formed on the cell surface during the biosorption process were identified by X-ray diffraction analysis. Transmission electron microscopy–energy dispersive spectroscopic analysis confirmed the presence of the Pb（II）precipitates and that Pb（II） could be sequestered both extracellularly and intracellularly.Incubation with B. subtilis DBM significantly decreased the amount of the weak-acid-soluble Pb fraction in a heavy-metal-contaminated soil, resulting in a reduction in Pb bioavailability, but increased the amount of its organic-matter-bound fraction by 71%. The ability of B.subtilis DBM to reduce the bioavailability of soil Pb makes it potentially useful for bacteria-assisted phytostabilization of multi-heavy-metal-contaminated soil.     

铅蓄电池厂污染土壤中重金属铅的清洗及形态变化分析

以我国西南某铅蓄电池厂区内不同污染负荷的铅污染土壤为研究对象,对其中铅含量和形态进行分析,并利用不同清洗剂清洗进行筛选.对不同pH条件下铅的清洗效率和铅形态进行分析,并对不同粒径土壤进行不同时间清洗以确定最佳清洗时间.结果表明,厂区内A和B点土壤污染严重,分别达到15 703.22 mg.kg-1和1 747.78 mg.kg-1,活动态铅比例较大,残渣态仅占17.32%、11.64%、14.6%和10.2%.EDTA、盐酸、柠檬酸、鼠李糖脂和SDS这5种清洗剂中EDTA和盐酸的提取效果最好.酸性条件下的清洗不仅能有效地提取铅总量并能有效地减小铅活动态的环境风险,建议pH 4～7最为合适.粗沙粒和细沙粒的清洗效果较好,清洗粉黏粒建议改进工艺,清洗时间定为240 min效果最好.     

HPLC-ICP-MS在植物有机硒形态分析中的应用现状

植物是人们摄取硒的主要来源,富硒植物中富含可开发利用的有机硒,我国湖北恩施高硒地区富硒植物资源丰富亟待开发利用。植物中硒的形态分析是研究开发富硒植物资源的基础,而高效液相色谱与电感耦合等离子体质谱联用技术(HPLC-ICP-MS)是目前硒形态分析使用最为广泛的技术,它在样品的前处理、分析灵敏度、准确性等方面均具有优势,可以实现富硒植物中含硒生物大分子、硒形态以及与氨基酸结合位点及机理的分析。因此作者综述了植物样品的预处理过程,介绍了HPLC-ICP-MS联用技术在测定植物硒形态及其应用方面的研究成果,为我国富硒植物、富硒产品中硒形态的分析测定、开发富硒植物资源提供指导。