Humic-like substances global levels and extraction methods in aerosols

Environmental Chemistry Letters - The abundance of humic-like substances in the atmosphere has received considerable attention since these substances play an important role in various atmospheric...     

Chemical states of arsenic contained in sewage sludge incineration ash and insolubilized material

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - The chemical states of arsenic contained in 4 kinds of sewage sludge incineration ash and insolubilized materials are analyzed using a leaching...     

Airborne hydrophilic microplastics in cloud water at high altitudes and their role in cloud formation

Microplastic pollution is occurring in most ecosystem, yet their presence in high altitude clouds and their influence on cloud formation and climate change are poorly known. Here we analyzed microplastics in cloud water sampled at the summits of Japan mountains at 1300–3776 m altitude by attenuated total reflection imaging and micro-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. We observed nine microplastics including polyethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polymethyl methacrylate, polyamide 6, polycarbonate, ethylene–propylene copolymer or polyethylene–polypropylene alloy, polyurethane, and epoxy resin. Microplastic were fragmented, with mean concentrations ranging from 6.7 to 13.9 pieces per liter, and with Feret diameters ranging from 7.1 to 94.6 μm. Microplastics bearing hydrophilic groups such as carbonyl and/or hydroxyl groups were abundant, suggesting that they might have acted as condensation nuclei of cloud ice and water. Overall, our finding suggest that high-altitude microplastics cloud influence cloud formation and, in turn, might modify the climate.

     

Human factors and tidal influences on water quality of an urban river in Can Tho, a major city of the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

In this study, we focused on water quality in an urban canal and the Mekong River in the city of Can Tho, a central municipality of the Mekong Delta region, southern Vietnam. Water temperature, pH, electrical conductivity, BOD₅, COD_Cr, Na⁺, Cl^?, NH₄ ⁺?N, SO₄ ^2??S, NO₃ ^??N, and NO₂ ^??N for both canal and river, and tide level of the urban canal, were monitored once per month from May 2010 to April 2012. The urban canal is subject to severe anthropogenic contamination, owing to poor sewage treatment. In general, water quality in the canal exhibited strong tidal variation, poorer at lower tides and better at higher tides. Some anomalies were observed, with degraded water quality under some high-tide conditions. These were associated with flow from the upstream residential area. Therefore, it was concluded that water quality in the urban canal changed with a balance between dilution effects and extent of contaminant supply, both driven by tidal fluctuations in the Mekong River.     

Characterization of trace constituents in landfill gas and a comparison of sites in Asia

Because landfill gas (LFG) contains an abundance of methane, the utilization of LFG as a renewable energy source is becoming popular in many countries. LFG, however, contains various trace constituents, some of which may pose problems during utilization. For example, siloxanes and halogenated volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can cause difficulties when present in the fuel of gas engines. In addition, many VOCs and mercury have harmful effects on human health, especially on the health of workers at landfill sites and people living near the landfills. Energy recovery from LFG is expected to make great progress in the near future, particularly in Asia, but we found little information on the trace constituents of LFG in this region. Therefore, we sought to characterize the trace components in LFG generated in two landfill sites in China and one site in Japan, to determine the typical concentrations of these trace components in LFG, and to compare their concentrations among landfill sites in Asia. We concluded that the trace components in LFG at the sites studied were mainly siloxanes generated from sewage sludge and harmful benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene compounds from petroleum products.     

不同溶剂提取芦竹化感物质对铜绿微囊藻生长的影响

研究并比较了3种极性不同的有机溶剂(甲醇、乙酸乙酯、正己烷)提取的芦竹(Arundo donax Linn.)化感物质对铜绿微囊藻生长的影响.通过跟踪观察藻细胞形态,测定藻细胞密度和细胞大小,发现3种溶剂提取物对铜绿微囊藻均有抑制作用.抑藻作用出现早晚次序:甲醇提取物<乙酸乙酯提取物<正己烷提取物.随作用时间的延长,投加低浓度甲醇提取物藻细胞生长恢复明显,高浓度抑藻效果较乙酸乙酯提取物及正己烷提取物弱.高浓度乙酸乙酯提取物、正己烷提取物在分别作用2　d、 4 d　后,抑藻效果均接近100%.各溶剂提取物的半效应质量浓度(EC_50,6　d)分别为甲醇提取物0.17　 g·L^-1,乙酸乙酯提取物0.05 g·L^-1,正己烷提取物0.08 g·L^-1.研究同时发现,投加甲醇提取物藻细胞空洞化,投加乙酸乙酯提取物藻细胞空洞化、破碎以及部分抱团,投加正己烷提取物藻细胞出现褶皱及聚团现象.各溶剂提取物均引起铜绿微囊藻细胞体积减小,其中乙酸乙酯提取物的效果最强.     

Evaluation of different sewage sludges as a potential biodiesel source in Japan

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are producing and treating ever-larger quantities of sewage sludge as urban populations increase in size....     

Aqueous leaching of cattle manure incineration ash to produce a phosphate enriched fertilizer

Ash produced from the combustion of livestock manure contains large amounts of phosphorus (P), which is an important resource as a fertilizer. Some studies have extracted and recovered P from incinerated biomass ash using inorganic acid or alkaline agents, which produce wastewater that requires treatment and is expensive due to the cost of chemicals. Livestock manure ash contains not only P, but also water soluble salts, which could be a negative influence on plant growth and shall be preferably removed from the recovered fertilizer. In this study, we removed salinity from cattle manure incineration ash by simple aqueous leaching, while retaining the P content. The optimal condition was a 20 min leaching time at a liquid/solid (L/S) ratio of 10 mL g-ash^?1. Under this condition, over 90 % of Cl and 20 % of Na in the original ash was removed, while over 99 % of the P was retained in the leached residue. The leached residue met the fertilizer standard in Japan in terms of citrate soluble fertilizer components and contained few heavy metals. X-ray analyses of the ash indicated that Cl was mainly present as KCl in the original ash, while P was mainly present as Ca compounds in the ash.     

Examination of in vivo mutagenicity of sodium arsenite and dimethylarsinic acid in gpt delta rats

Arsenic is a well-known human bladder and liver carcinogen, but its exact mechanism of carcinogenicity is not fully understood. Dimethylarsinic acid(DMAV) is a major urinary metabolite of sodium arsenite(i As~Ⅲ) and induces urinary bladder cancers in rats. DMAVand i As~Ⅲare negative in in vitro mutagenicity tests. However, their in vivo mutagenicities have not been determined. The purpose of present study is to evaluate the in vivo mutagenicities of DMAVand i As~Ⅲin rat urinary bladder epithelium and liver using gpt delta F344 rats.Ten-week old male gpt delta F344 rats were randomized into 3 groups and administered 0,92 mg/L DMAV, or 87 mg/L i As~Ⅲ(each 50 mg/L As) for 13 weeks in the drinking water. In the mutation assay, point mutations are detected in the gpt gene by 6-thioguanine selection(gpt assay) and deletion mutations are identified in the red/gam genes by Spi-selection(Spi-assay). Results of the gpt and Spi-assays showed that DMAVand i As~Ⅲhad no effects on the mutant frequencies or mutation spectrum in urinary bladder epithelium or liver. These findings indicate that DMAVand i As~Ⅲare not mutagenic in urinary bladder epithelium or liver in rats.     

Comparison of two types of municipal solid waste incinerator fly ashes with different alkaline reagents in washing experiments

In this study, we propose a "washing-calcination-conversion of washed fly ash into cement material with bottom ash" (WCCB) system to reduce the amount of fly ash that must be specially treated so it can be used as raw cement material. Calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) is widely used in air-pollution control devices of incinerators while sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) is not. We conducted single-, double-, and triple-washing experiments to compare the washing characteristics of two types of fly ash. Unlike NaHCO3 fly ash, Ca(OH)2 fly ash has almost twice as much washed residue and almost 2.5 times more chlorine after the same washing procedure. After washing once, the washing frequency is also important for NaHCO3 fly ash, while the mixing time and liquid/solid ratio are more critical for Ca(OH)2 fly ash. The use of NaHCO3 is more suitable for the WCCB system.