Catalytic degradation of toxic organic dye using an aluminum-doped Cu0.4Zn0.6-xAlxFe2O4 (x = 0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6) spinel ferrite in a photo-Fenton system

Catalytic activity of spinel ferrite in breaking down toxic dye materials are promising due to their uniqueness. In this study, aluminum-doped copper zinc ferrite, Cu_0.4Zn_0.6-xAl_xFe₂O₄ (x = 0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6), a catalyst for toxic dye degradation is synthesized through chemical co-precipitation route. The formation of the spinel ferrite catalyst is initially confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectra, which shows the frequency of metal-oxygen bond vibration at 539 and 427 cm⁻¹ attributed to the tetrahedral and octahedral sites respectively. Higher intensity sharp peak of X-ray diffraction for (311) plane is the evidence for the phase purity and the formation of spinel ferrite. The crystallite size is found to decrease with the increase of Al³⁺ ion. The surface structure of the obtained particles is investigated using a scanning electron microscope. Analyses of the material's magnetic characteristics using a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) revealed that it is, in fact, a soft magnet, as evidenced by the loop of its hysteresis, which is narrow. The catalytic degradation of methylene blue dye under the mechanism of the photo-Fenton process is studied with the obtained spinel ferrites and the result is found to be as high as 96.5%. The process follows pseudo-second order kinetics and the Langmuir isotherm.     

Degradation of polyacrylamide (PAM) and methane production by mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestion: Effect of temperature and concentration

• PAM degradation in thermophilic AD in comparison with mesophilic AD. • PAM degradation and its impact on thermophilic and mesophilic AD. • Enhanced methane yield in presence of PAM during thermophilic and mesophilic AD. • PAM degradation and microbial community analysis in thermophilic and mesophilic AD. Polyacrylamide (PAM) is generally employed in wastewater treatment processes such as sludge dewatering and therefore exists in the sludge. Furthermore, it degrades slowly and can deteriorate methane yield during anaerobic digestion (AD). The impact or fate of PAM in AD under thermophilic conditions is still unclear. This study mainly focuses on PAM degradation and enhanced methane production from PAM-added sludge during 15 days of thermophilic (55°C) AD compared to mesophilic (35°C) AD. Sludge and PAM dose from 10 to 50 g/kg TSS were used. The results showed that PAM degraded by 76% to 78% with acrylamide (AM) content of 0.2 to 3.3 mg/L in thermophilic AD. However, it degraded only 27% to 30% with AM content of 0.5 to 7.2 mg/L in mesophilic AD. The methane yield was almost 230 to 238.4 mL/g VSS on the 8th day in thermophilic AD but was 115.2 to 128.6 mL/g VSS in mesophilic AD. Mechanism investigation revealed that thermophilic AD with continuous stirring not only enhanced PAM degradation but also boosted the organics release from the sludge with added PAM and gave higher methane yield than mesophilic AD.     

过一硫酸盐的活化及其降解水中有机污染物机理的研究进展

基于活化过一硫酸盐（PMS）产生SO₄^-·的新型高级氧化技术,在芬顿和类芬顿催化降解水中有机污染物的研究中占有重要地位。本文从活化PMS方法的特点和用途出发,对目前活化PMS的主要方法进行了论述,并对活化PMS降解水中有机污染物的机理进行了探讨,最后对该领域研究中存在的问题进行了分析。指出,开发高效的协同活化PMS的方法将成为该领域研究的必然趋势。     

废水中甲基橙的电化学降解

以FTO导电玻璃作为阳极、石墨电极作为阴极电解模拟甲基橙废水,优化了工艺条件,并对甲基橙的降解机理进行了初步探究。实验结果表明,在NaCl投加量5 g/L、电压8 V、废水pH 6、初始甲基橙质量浓度6.0 mg/L的优化条件下电解30 min,废水的脱色率达91.3%,COD降低了62%。机理研究结果表明,电解产生的羟基自由基与甲基橙发生氧化还原反应,破坏了甲基橙的显色基团,使其内部某些化学键发生断裂,从而达到脱色的目的。     

预氧化聚丙烯腈/g-C3N4光催化降解罗丹明B

以聚丙烯腈(PAN)和g-C_3N_4为原料,采用超声波辅助分散的溶液浸渍法及煅烧法制备了具有共轭结构的预氧化聚丙烯腈/g-C_3N_4复合光催化剂(CPAN/g-C_3N_4),采用XRD、SEM、FTIR、UV-Vis DRS、EIS等技术对光催化剂进行了表征,考察了CPAN/g-C_3N_4对罗丹明B(Rh B)的可见光催化降解性能。结果表明:CPAN与g-C_3N_4具有良好的协同作用,使g-C_3N_4片状结构堆叠体颗粒显著减小,明显增强了光催化剂在全部光谱范围内的光吸收,有效提高了光生电子-空穴分离效率;在PAN与g-C_3N_4质量比为1∶200、煅烧温度250 ℃、煅烧时间1 h条件下所制备的CPAN/g-C_3N_4光催化活性最高,且具有良好的光催化活性稳定性。超氧自由基和光生空穴为CPAN/g-C_3N_4复合光催化剂光降解罗丹明B的主要活性物种。     

Application of environmentally conscious manufacturing strategies for an automotive component

Application of appropriate environmentally conscious manufacturing strategies enables the sustainable development of products and processes. Automotive component manufacturers recognise the potential of applying appropriate strategies for attaining Triple Bottom Line benefits. In this context, three strategies such as eco-efficiency, waste minimisation and material efficiency are being applied to minimise environmental impacts associated with the manufacture of automotive products and its associated processes. A case study of an automotive component manufacturing firm has been exemplified. After conducting the study, the potential environmental impact was reduced by 20% and eco-efficiency was improved by 13%. Further, improvements have been observed in terms of overall resource consumption and material efficiency. The overall power consumption was reduced by 18% and weight of the component was reduced by 11%. The study aimed at improving the sustainable performance of product by incorporating green and environmentally friendlier manufacturing practices.

Abbreviations: USEPA: United Nations Environmental Protection Agency; OECD: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development; WBCSD: World Business Council for Sustainable Development; Eco-QFD: Environmental Quality Function Deployment; WCED: World Commission on Environment and Development; LCA: Life Cycle Assessment     

Using culturomics and social media data to characterize wildlife consumption

Wildlife provides food, medicine, clothing, and other necessities for humans, but overexploitation can disrupt the sustainability of wildlife resources and severely threaten global biodiversity. Understanding the characteristics of consumer behavior is helpful for wildlife managers and policy makers, but the traditional survey methods are laborious and time-consuming. In contrast, culturomics may more efficiently identify the features of wildlife consumption. As a case study of the culturomics approach, we examined tiger bone wine consumption in China based on social media and Baidu search engine data. Tiger bone wine is one of the most purchased tiger products; its consumption is closely related to tiger poaching, which greatly threatens wild tiger survival. We searched a popular social media website for the term “tiger bone wine” and focused on posts that were originally created from 1 January 2012 to 31 December 2018. We filtered and classified posts related to the purchase, sale, or consumption of tiger bone wine and extracted information on providers, consumption motivations, year of production, and place of origin of the tiger bone wines based on the texts and photos of these posts. We found 756 posts related to tiger bone wine consumption, 113 of which mentioned providers of tiger bone wine, including friends (53%), elder relatives (37%), peer relatives (7%), and others (3%). Out of the 756 posts, 266 indicated the motivations of tiger bone wine consumption. Tiger bone wines were consumed as a tonic (34%), medicine (23%), game product (30%), and a symbol of wealth (28%). Some posts indicated ≥2 consumption motivations. These findings were consistent with the search queries from Baidu index. Such information could help develop targeted strategies for tiger conservation. The culturomics approach illustrated by our study is a rapid and cost-efficient way to characterize wildlife consumption.     

受限空间内惰性气体对CH4爆炸抑制特性研究

N2和CO2是常用的惰性抑爆气体,为研究两种气体的抑爆特性,采用20L球形爆炸试验装置,分析了不同浓度配比条件下N2/CH4/空气以及CO2/CH4/空气混合气体的爆炸压力,同时采集爆炸后的气体样品,对比分析爆炸后残留气体的主要成分。结果显示:随CH4浓度从5%增加至12.5%时,完全抑制CH4爆炸需要的惰性气体最小量先增大后降低,CH4浓度在6.5%~7.5%之间时,抑爆需要的惰性气体的量最大;在同一CH4浓度条件下,抑爆需要N2的量大于CO2,并且CH4浓度在5%~6.5%时,抑爆需要两种惰性气体的量值差别最大;当CH4浓度一定时,随着加入惰性气体量的增大,爆炸最大超压逐渐降低,惰性气体浓度和爆炸超压之间基本呈线性关系;在同样条件下,相对于N2,CO2为抑爆气体时,爆炸后腔体内残留的CH4浓度较高。研究成果为惰性气体抑爆技术提供技术支撑,同时为揭示惰性气体抑爆机理有一定作用。     

Investigation of biocatalytic potential of garbage enzyme and its influence on stabilization of industrial waste activated sludge

The decomposable waste thrown into the environment can be used to produce value added bio-product which in turn reduces the production of greenhouse gas. Garbage enzyme is one such value added product produced by fermentation of organic solid waste. In the present study enzyme activity and disinfectant potential of garbage enzyme was evaluated and its influence on reduction of total solids, suspended solids and pathogens in dairy waste activated sludge were studied. The result showed the garbage enzyme possesses protease, amylase and lipase activity and reduced 37.2% of total solids, 38.6% of suspended solids and 99% of pathogens in dairy waste activated sludge. This significant result may be helpful for researchers to compare the effectiveness of earth-friendly garbage enzyme treatment of industrial sludge with various physical and chemical pre-treatment methods to improve the biogas production from the sludge digestion unit.     

MCM-41分子筛负载铁铈催化降解甲基橙

采用等体积浸渍法制备了负载型有序介孔Fe-Ce/MCM-41催化剂。研究了该催化剂降解甲基橙的适宜工艺条件,并采用XPS,XRD,TEM技术对该催化剂进行了表征。实验结果表明,该催化剂Fenton氧化降解甲基橙的较适宜工艺条件为:溶液pH 5.0、甲基橙溶液初始质量浓度100 mg/L、催化剂加入量2.0 g/L、H_2O_2浓度20 mmol/L,在此适宜条件下反应120 min时,甲基橙去除率接近100%。表征结果显示:Fe-Ce/MCM-41催化剂主要由铁、铈、氧、碳4种元素组成;铁与铈的摩尔比接近3∶1;铁和铈主要以Fe_3O_4和CeO_2的形态存在于催化剂表面。