Lower flammability limits of flammable ternary organic mixtures: Synergistic behavior

Organic flammable liquids and their mixtures, which possess high risk of combustion and explosion, are widely used as raw materials and solvents in chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Lower flammability limits (LFL) is one of the most important parameters to characterize the combustion and explosion hazards of combustible gases and liquid vapors. The LFL of various ternary organic mixtures consist of ketone (acetone and butanone), ester (ethyl acetate) and alcohol (ethanol and isopropanol) were tested at 25 °C and atmospheric pressure. The results showed that resulted LFL values of the experiment were always lower than those calculated by volume fraction weighting method when the volume fraction of alcohol was less than 20 vol% but more than 10 vol%. The co-existence of alcohol and ethyl acetate had synergistic effect on reducing the LFL values of ternary organic mixtures and thus increased their explosive risk. The mechanism of synergistic effect was analyzed, and the results showed that the OH· and H· radicals produced by the oxidation decomposition of alcohols and esters accelerated the oxidation process of ternary organic mixtures, which led to the decrease of experimental LFL values and thus corresponding increased of their explosive risk. This study would be expected to provide some guidance for designing or choosing safer and more suitable ternary organic mixtures prior to their applications for engineering.     

Predicting the aquatic risk of realistic pesticide mixtures to species assemblages in Portuguese river basins

Although pesticide regulatory tools are mainly based on individual substances, aquatic ecosystems are usually exposed to multiple pesticides from their use on the variety of crops within the catchment of a river. This study estimated the impact of measured pesticide mixtures in surface waters from 2002 and 2008 within three important Portuguese river basins (‘Mondego’, ‘Sado’ and ‘Tejo’) on primary producers, arthropods and fish by toxic pressure calculation. Species sensitivity distributions (SSDs), in combination with mixture toxicity models, were applied. Considering the differences in the responses of the taxonomic groups as well as in the pesticide exposures that these organisms experience, variable acute multi-substance potentially affected fractions (msPAFs) were obtained. The median msPAF for primary producers and arthropods in surface waters of all river basins exceeded 5%, the cut-off value used in the prospective SSD approach for deriving individual environmental quality standards. A ranking procedure identified various photosystem II inhibiting herbicides, with oxadiazon having the relatively largest toxic effects on primary producers, while the organophosphorus insecticides, chlorfenvinphos and chlorpyrifos, and the organochloride endosulfan had the largest effects on arthropods and fish, respectively. These results ensure compliance with European legislation with regard to ecological risk assessment and management of pesticides in surface waters.     

Immobilization of lead in anthropogenic contaminated soils using phosphates with/without oxalic acid

Understanding the effects of oxalic acid(OA) on the immobilization of Pb(Ⅱ) in contaminated soils by phosphate materials, has considerable benefits for risk assessment and remediation strategies for the soil. A series of phosphate amendments with/without oxalic acid were applied to two anthropogenic contaminated soils. We investigated the immobilization of Pb(Ⅱ) by KH2PO4, phosphate rock(PR), activated phosphate rock(APR) and synthetic hydroxyapatite(HAP) at different phosphate:Pb(P:Pb) molar ratios(0, 0.6, 2.0 and 4.0) in the presence/absence of 50 mmol oxalic acid/kg soil, respectively. The effects of treatments were evaluated using single extraction with deionized water or Ca Cl2, Community Bureau of Reference(BCR) sequential extraction and toxicity characteristic leaching procedure(TCLP)methods. Our results showed that the concentration of water extractable, exchangeable and TCLP-Pb all decreased with incubation time. The concentration of water-extractable Pb after120 days was reduced by 100% when soils were amended with APR, HAP and HAP + OA, and the TCLP-Pb was 5 mg/L for the red soil at P:Pb molar ratio 4.0. Water-soluble Pb could not be detected and the TCLP-Pb was 5 mg/L at all treatments applied to the yellow-brown soil. BCR results indicated that APR was most effective, although a slight enhancement of water-soluble phosphate was detected at the P:Pb molar ratio 4.0 at the beginning of incubation. Oxalic acid activated phosphates, and so mixing insoluble phosphates with oxalic acid may be a useful strategy to improve their effectiveness in reducing Pb bioavailability.     

Comparative analysis of anaerobically digested wastes flow properties

The flow curve of anaerobically digested wastes from different origins was determined through rheological measurements. Regardless of their origin, samples can be divided into two families: simple non-Newtonian liquids well modelled by basic power law below 10%DC and viscoelastic liquids with a yield stress, well modelled by a Herschel–Bulkley model above. In all the cases, the rheological behaviour is driven by both the organic content and the volatile fraction (organic content/solid content), indicating that anaerobic digestion tends to smooth the rheological characteristics of organic wastes, whichever their origins.     

Optimization of the recovery of plastics for recycling by density media separation cyclones

Material recovery processes are presented as the optimum option for recycling plastic wastes as a means of recovering hydrocarbon resources. There exist a large variety of automated material recovery processes for recycling of such wastes but each with significant limitations. Of these, the separation based on differences in densities is advocated as the optimum process either for producing recycled products or preparing wastes for subsequent recovery processing.Density separation processes based on cyclone type density media separation (DMS) is presented as an important, potential method for increasing plastics recycling process capacities. It is demonstrated to have the capacity to separate a significantly larger range of particle sizes than those presently processed industrially. The mathematical relationship for the prediction of quality of typical LARCODEMS type density media separations by particle size and density as expressed by the Ecart Probable is presented.A proposed device configuration is presented for density media separation to optimize the recovery and purity of both density fractions produced. It is also suggested that to be economically viable, a large scale of operation is required for industrial plastics recycling operations recovering and producing a number of different plastics with a purity to be used as a substitute for virgin material.     

大亚湾和四十里湾附近海域表层沉积物中无机碳形态研究

采用连续浸取法对位于亚热带的大亚湾和温带的四十里湾附近海域的表层沉积物样品中无机碳的赋存形态进行了研究,将无机碳分为可交换态（NaCl相）、弱碱浸取态（NH.3H2O相）、强碱浸取态（NaOH相）、弱酸浸取态（NH2OH.HCl相）和残渣态,测定了相关地球化学参数粒度组成和总有机碳（TOC）.结果表明,NH2OH.HC...     

滇西北剑湖沉积物磷形态、空间分布及释放贡献

采用连续分级提取法提取了剑湖沉积物中弱吸附态磷(NH_4Cl-P)、可还原态磷(BD-P)、铁铝氧化态磷(NaOH-rP)、有机质结合态磷(NaOH-nrP)、钙结合态磷(HCl-P)和残渣态磷(Res-P)6种形态的磷,并对表层(0~10 cm)沉积物磷形态水平空间分布、沉积柱芯(0~75 cm)磷形态垂向空间分布和释放贡献特征进行了分析.结果表明:表层沉积物6种磷形态平均含量差别较大,其含量由高到低排序为HCl-PRes-PNaOH-rPNaOH-nrPBD-PNH_4Cl-P;HCl-P含量是NH_4Cl-P的72倍,3种稳定磷形态(HCl-P、Res-P和NaOH-rP)含量是3种潜在可移动磷形态(NaOH-nrP、BD-P和NH_4Cl-P)含量的6.5倍.NH_4Cl-P、BD-P、NaOH-nrP和NaOH-rP含量的变异系数明显高于HCl-P和Res-P含量的变异系数.尽管表层沉积物6种磷形态的水平空间分布特征不尽相同,4条主要入湖河流入湖口区6种磷形态含量平均值之和是湖周浅水区的1.40倍,但能指示出入湖河流是外源磷污染物输入的主要通道.虽然沉积柱芯6种磷形态垂向空间分布特征各异,6种磷形态入湖口区表层平均含量分别是底层的1.60、1.87、1.87、1.61、1.18和1.15倍,其他湖区表层平均含量分别是底层的1.18、1.34、1.39、1.41、0.97和0.83倍,但除HCl-P和Res-P在其他湖区为随深度增加而缓慢递增外,基本上能反映出6种磷形态含量在入湖口区随深度增加而递减的程度都远强于其他湖区.外源磷输入和人为活动影响是3种潜在可移动磷形态和NaOH-rP的主要因素,流域地质背景是HCl-P和Res-P的主要影响因素.6种磷形态在入湖口区快释放贡献率多为负值,表示以滞留状态为主,慢释放贡献率全为正值,表示都为释放状态,滞留贡献最大和释放贡献最大的都是NaOH-rP;其他湖区快释放贡献率和慢释放贡献率多为正值,表示都以释放状态为主,NaOH-rP释放贡献最大,Res-P滞留贡献最大.     

南水北调对密云水库水位变幅带土壤磷释放量的影响

南水北调来水引起的水位上涨可能会导致密云水库水位变幅带土壤中磷的释放.过量的磷可能会引起水体富营养,因此,研究水库变幅带磷释放风险对密云水库水质安全保障具有科学指导意义.本研究采用连续浸提法测定密云水库变幅带土壤及沉积物中弱吸附态磷(NH_4ClP)、铁磷(BD-P)、铝磷(NaOH-P)及钙磷(HCl-P)等4种不同形态磷含量,探讨其分布特征;并在室内进行了磷释放模拟实验,估算了南水北调来水引起水库水位上升所致的易释放磷的释放量.结果表明,NH_4Cl-P、BD-P、NaOH-P、HCl-P广泛地分布于密云水库变幅带土壤及沉积物中.在白河、内湖及潮河3个库区,磷形态分布具有一致规律,即HCl-PNaOH-PBD-PNH_4Cl-P.因密云水库变幅带为中国典型的北方碱性土壤,变幅带无机磷主要为钙磷.NH_4Cl-P在3个库区变幅带土壤中含量相差不大,在受水动扰动力影响较小的内湖库区BD-P含量略高于其它2个库区.在3个不同库区中,潜在活性磷NH_4Cl-P和较稳定的NaOH-P在岸上和水陆交界面土壤及水下沉积物中含量相差不大,受氧化还原条件影响较大的BD-P在沉积物中的含量略高于岸上和水陆交界面土壤.磷释放模拟实验及释放量估算结果表明,水库水位上涨3 m的情况下,白河、潮河和内湖库区淹没变幅带土壤分别释放1.02、0.80、0.37 mg·m~(-2)易释放磷.白河和内湖库区变幅带被水淹没土壤中磷释放的风险可能更高,需加强防护.     

水铁矿及其胶体对砷的吸附与吸附形态

采用吸附实验,通过吸附动力学和吸附等温模型,研究了水铁矿及其胶体对As(Ⅲ)和As(Ⅴ)的吸附能力.在此基础上,使用连续提取和As化学形态提取技术分别对水铁矿及其胶体固相上吸附As的结合形态和化学形态进行提取分析.吸附动力学研究以及Langmuir和Freundlich两种吸附等温模型拟合结果表明,水铁矿及其胶体对As的吸附为多层吸附,且易于进行.水铁矿胶体对As(Ⅲ)和As(Ⅴ)的吸附量分别为194.8 g·kg~(-1)和107.3 g·kg~(-1),而水铁矿对As(Ⅲ)和As(Ⅴ)的吸附能力分别为155.2 g·kg~(-1)和104.4 g·kg~(-1),均低于水铁矿胶体.水铁矿及其胶体吸附的As以专性吸附As、无定形铁氧化物结合As和晶型铁氧化物结合As形式存在,胶体上未形成残渣态As.因此,水铁矿胶体吸附As的牢固程度低于吸附As后形成残渣态As的水铁矿,且所吸附的As容易重新释放到环境中,增加环境风险.水铁矿单独存在时不具有将As(Ⅴ)还原为As(Ⅲ)的能力.