Effect of a high strength chemical industry wastewater on microbial community dynamics and mesophilic methane generation

A high strength chemical industry wastewater was assessed for its impact on anaerobic microbial com- munity dynamics and consequently mesophilic methane generation. Cumulative methane production was 251 mL/g total chemical oxygen demand removed at standard temperature and pressure at the end of 30 days experimental period with a highest recorded methane percentage of 80.6% of total biogas volume. Volatile fatty acids （VFAs） analysis revealed that acetic acid was the major intermediate VFAs produced with propionic acid accumulating over the experimental period. Quantitative analysis of microbial communities in the test and control groups with quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction highlighted that in the test group, Eubacteria （96.3%） was dominant in comparison with methanogens （3.7%）. The latter were dominated by Methanomicrobiales and Methanobacteriales while in test groups increased over the experimental period, reaching a maximum on day 30. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis profile was performed, targeting the 16S rRNA gene of Eubacteria and Archaea, with the DNA samples extracted at 3 different time points from the test groups. A phylogenetic tree was constructed for the sequences using the neighborhood joining method. The analysis revealed that the presence of organisms resembling Syntrophomonadaceae could have contributed to increased production of acetic and propionic acid intermediates while decrease of organisms resembling Pelotomaculum sp. could have most likely contributed to accumulation of propionic acid. This study suggested that the degradation of organic components within the high strength industrial wastewater is closely linked with the activity of certain niche microbial communities within eubacteria and methanogens.     

A restoration-promoting integrated floating bed and its experimental performance in eutrophication remediation

Numerous studies on eutrophication remediation have mainly focused on purifying water first, then restoring submerged macrophytes. A restoration-promoting integrated floating bed （RPIFB） was designed to combine the processes of water purification and macrophyte restoration simultaneously. Two outdoor experiments were conducted to evaluate the ecological functions of the RP1FB. Trial 1 was conducted to compare the eutrophication purification among floating bed, gradual-submerging bed （GSB） and RPIFB technologies. The results illustrated that RPIFB has the best purification capacity. Removal efficiencies of RPIFB for TN, TP,NH4＋-N, NO3-N, CODcr, Chlorophyll-a and turbidity were 74.45%, 98.31%, 74.71%, 88.81%, 71.42%, 90.17% and 85%, respectively. In trial 2, influences of depth of GSB and photic area in RPIFB on biota were investigated. When the depth of GSB decreased and the photic area of RPIFB grew, the height of Potamogeton crispus Linn. increased, but the biomass of Canna indica Linn. was reduced. The mortalities of Misgurnus anguillicaudatus and Bellamya aeruginosa in each group were all less than 7%. All results indicated that when the RPIFB was embedded into the eutrophic water, the regime shift from phytoplankton-dominated to macrophyte-dominated state could be promoted. Thus, the RPIFB is a promising remediation technology for eutrophication and submerged macrophyte restoration.     

Review on water leakage control in distribution networks and the associated environmental benefits

Water supply is the primary element of an urban system. Due to rapid urbanization and water scarcity, maintaining a stable and safe water supply has become a challenge to many cities, whereas a large amount of water is lost from the pipes of distribution systems. Water leakage is not only a waste of water resources, but also incurs great socio-economic costs. This article presents a comprehensive review on the potential water leakage control approaches and specifically discusses the benefits of each to environmental conservation. It is concluded that water leakage could be further reduced by improving leakage detection capability through a combination of predictive modeling and monitoring instruments, optimizing pipe maintenance strategy, and developing an instant pressure regulation system. The environment could benefit from these actions because of water savings and the reduction of energy consumption as well as greenhouse gas emissions.     

Acute and chronic toxic effects of Pb2+ on polychaete Perinereis aibuhitensis：Morphological changes and responses of the antioxidant system

Perinereis aibuhitensis was used to assess adverse biological effects caused by acute and chronic Pb2＋exposure in artificial seawater under controlled laboratory conditions. In 96-hr acute toxicity experiments,the morphological changes showed a positive time/dose-dependent tendency,and the 96-hr LC50 value of Pb2＋was 686.41 mg/L. The responses of enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants in tissues including catalase（CAT）,peroxidase（POD）,superoxide dismutase（SOD）,glutathione peroxidase（GSH-PX）,malondialdehyde（MDA） and the content of total soluble protein（TSP）,were investigated on days 1,4,7 and 10 after Pb2＋exposure under chronic toxicity testing. Results showed that the activation of the antioxidant system in P. aibuhitensis depended on the Pb2＋concentration and the duration of exposure time.Specifically,POD and SOD activities were induced on the first day of the exposure and decreased to the control level on day 10 after exposure. Therefore,these two indexes could be used to indicate oxidative stress associated with P. aibuhitensis exposure to Pb2＋.     

Formation pathways of brominated products from benzophenone-4 chlorination in the presence of bromide ions

The brominated products, formed in chlorination treatment of benzophenone-4 in the presence of bromide ions, were identified, and the formation pathways were proposed.Under disinfection conditions, benzophenone-4 would undertake electrophilic substitution generating mono- or di-halogenated products, which would be oxidized to esters and further hydrolyzed to phenol derivatives. The generated catechol intermediate would be transformed into furan-like heterocyclic product. The product species were p H-dependent,while benzophenone-4 elimination was chlorine dose-dependent. When the chlorination treatment was performed on ambient water spiked with benzophenone-4 and bromide ions, most of brominated byproducts could be detected, and the acute toxicity significantly increased as well.     

Removal of phosphate from wastewater using alkaline residue

Alkaline residue(AR) was found to be an efficient adsorbent for phosphate removal from wastewater. The kinetic and equilibrium of phosphate removal were investigated to evaluate the performance of modified alkaline residue. After treatment by NaOH(AR-NaOH), removal performance was significantly improved, while removal performance was almost completely lost after treatment by HCl(AR-HCl). The kinetics of the removal process by all adsorbents was well characterized by the pseudo second-order model. The Langmuir model exhibited the best correlation for AR-HCl, while AR was effectively described by Freundlich model. Both models were well fitted to AR-NaOH. The maximum adsorption capacities calculated from Langmuir equation were in following manner: AR-NaOH AR AR-HCl. Phosphate removal by alkaline residue was pH dependent process. Mechanisms for phosphate removal mainly involved adsorption and precipitation, varied with equilibrium pH of solution. For AR-HCl, the acid equilibrium pH( 6.0) was unfavorable for the formation of Ca-P precipitate, with adsorption as the key mechanism for phosphate removal. In contrast, for AR and ARNaOH, precipitation was the dominant mechanism for phosphate removal, due to the incrase on pH( 8.0) after phosphate removal. The results of both XRD and SEM analysis confirmed CaHPO4·2H2O formation after phosphate removal by AR and AR-NaOH.     

Aerobic granules cultivated and operated in continuous-flow bioreactor under particle-size selective pressure

A novel method based on the selective pressure of particle size （particle-size cultivation method, PSCM） was developed for the cultivation and operation of aerobic granular sludge in a continuous-flow reactor, and compared with the conventional method based on the selective pressure of settling velocity （settling-velocity cultivation method, SVCM）. Results indicated that aerobic granules could be cultivated in continuous operation mode by this developed method within 14 days. Although in the granulation process, under particle-size selective pressure, mixed liquor suspended solids （MLSS） in the reactor fluctuated greatly and filamentous bacteria dominated the sludge system during the initial operation days, no obvious difference in profile was found between the aerobic granules cultivated by PSCM and SVCM. Moreover, aerobic granules cultivated by PSCM presented larger diameter, lower water content and higher specific rates of nitrification, denitrifieation and phosphorus removal, but lower settling velocity. Under long term operation of more than 30 days, aerobic granules in the continuous-flow reactor could remain stable and obtain good chemical oxygen demand （COD）, NH4^＋-N, total nitrogen （TN） and total phosphorus （TP） removal. The results indicate that PSCM was dependent on the cultivation and maintenance of the stability of aerobic granules in continuous-flow bioreactors.     

高絮凝活性酿酒酵母菌株筛选及其培养条件研究

从实验室保藏菌种中筛选到1株具有高絮凝活性的酿酒酵母(Saccharomyces cerevisiae)菌株,利用其发酵液进行絮凝实验,结果表明:该絮凝剂对4 g/L、pH为7的高岭土悬浊液有很好的絮凝效果;该菌株产絮凝剂的最佳培养条件:碳源为葡萄糖,氮源为蛋白胨,培养温度为30℃,初始pH值为5.5,液体震荡培养96 h后絮凝率最高可达92.6%。     

International experience of green development in Western China: an overall review of policy and practice

Green development emphasizes co-development between economic and environmental dimensions, and is a people-centered sustainable development approach. Western China demands green development, and international experience could provide necessary, unique and important help and support for Western China to achieve its green development goals. This paper has made a comprehensive overall review and analysis of international experience in green development policy and its implementation, in particular, OECD countries’ (mostly Australia and Canada) experience have been analyzed following the major policy foci defined by the Task Force on Strategy and Policies on Environment and Development in Western China initiated by China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED). Data and information were gathered from the field surveys and investigations, expert meetings, as well as literature review. The main sessions include policy framework and road map establishment, implementation and performance assessment, co-development between economic development and environmental protection, as well as green employment and poverty alleviation. The paper has addressed five policy considerations for the future promotion of green development in Western China.     

Research on whole life cycle carbon emission model of typical buildings

Based on the theory of life cycle assessment (LCA), this article analyzes the influence factors on carbon emissions from residential buildings. In the article, the life cycle of residential buildings has been divided into five stages: building materials production period, construction period, operation and maintenance period, demolition period, and solid waste recycle and disposal period. Based on this definition, the authors provide a theoretical model to calculate carbon emissions of residential building life cycle. In particular, the factor of human activities was introduced in the calculation of carbon emissions from the buildings. Furthermore, the authors put forward a model for calculation with the unit of carbon emissions for per-capita living space.