Greenhouse Impact Due to the Use of Combustible Fuels: Life Cycle Viewpoint and Relative Radiative Forcing Commitment

Extensive information on the greenhouse impacts of various human actions is important in developing effective climate change mitigation strategies. The greenhouse impacts of combustible fuels consist not only of combustion emissions but also of emissions from the fuel production chain and possible effects on the ecosystem carbon storages. It is important to be able to assess the combined, total effect of these different emissions and to express the results in a comprehensive way. In this study, a new concept called relative radiative forcing commitment (RRFC) is presented and applied to depict the greenhouse impact of some combustible fuels currently used in Finland. RRFC is a ratio that accounts for the energy absorbed in the Earth system due to changes in greenhouse gas concentrations (production and combustion of fuel) compared to the energy released in the combustion of fuel. RRFC can also be expressed as a function of time in order to give a dynamic cumulative picture on the caused effect. Varying time horizons can be studied separately, as is the case when studying the effects of different climate policies on varying time scales. The RRFC for coal for 100 years is about 170, which means that in 100 years 170 times more energy is absorbed in the atmosphere due to the emissions of coal combustion activity than is released in combustion itself. RRFC values of the other studied fuel production chains varied from about 30 (forest residues fuel) to 190 (peat fuel) for the 100-year study period. The length of the studied time horizon had an impact on the RRFC values and, to some extent, on the relative positions of various fuels.     

广东省火电厂烟气脱硫装置的经济技术分析

简要介绍了广东省7个火电厂现有的5种烟气脱硫技术装置：海水脱硫、荷电干式烟气脱硫、湿式石灰石／石膏法烟气脱硫、DCL燃煤固硫剂脱硫及烟气循环流化床脱硫技术,对它们的经济、技术性进行了分析比较。     

CFB干法脱硫袋式除尘器设计及运行维护

阐述了CFB干法脱硫工艺,及其配套袋式除尘器的结构型式、设计选型和运行维护等方面的技术问题。     

湿式石灰/石灰石烟气脱硫工艺存在的问题及技术措施

正确处理湿式石灰／石灰石烟气脱硫（FGD）过程的石膏结垢、设备腐蚀等问题,是保证FGD系统长期稳定可靠运行的关键。本文对湿式石灰／石灰石FGD过程中的石膏结垢成因、设备腐蚀原因、烟气再热以及与液固分离等相关的亚硫酸盐的氧化等问题进行了分析,归纳对比了现行技术措施的优缺点。结合我国国情,综合考虑技术可行性和经济合理性等因素,就解决这些问题应采取的适宜措施提出了见解。     

燃煤锅炉湿式脱硫除尘一体化设备的综合分析

本文对湿式脱硫除尘一体化设备的结构和性能进行了较为全面的分析,指出了该设备存在的诸多弊病,提出了解决方案--脱硫、除尘分体组合式的思路.     

浅谈330MW机组半干法脱硫与锅炉同步投退

从我国发电企业的实际出发,结合电力企业的烟气脱硫技术,提出火力发电厂330MW机组半干法脱硫在点炉时同步投入、停炉时同步退出的具体方案、步骤和注意事项。     

Adsorption of nutrients and cadmium by different minerals: experimental studies and modelling

This work analyses cadmium sorption by natural vermiculite, zeolite, and pumice, which have been recently considered for their potential use in remediation of contaminated soils. Batch experiments were performed to investigate the interactions between the mineral surfaces and the main nutritive cations of Hoagland solution. In addition to their ameliorative effect of reducing metal mobility, these minerals are able to interact to different extents with various components of the nutrient solution and can change the availability of essential nutrients in solution. Therefore, the minerals were also exposed to a range of cadmium doses to compare their different affinities for this element and to analyse the cadmium–nutrient interactions. The results showed that the nutrient solution composition was significantly modified by contact with zeolite and vermiculite, and to a minor extent with pumice. The ionic equilibrium between the solid and aqueous phases was attained at several time points depending on the cation. Ammonium and potassium ions were almost entirely absorbed by zeolite, while in vermiculite endogenous magnesium ions were exchanged with the liquid phase calcium ions. The amount of cadmium adsorbed on mineral surfaces equilibrated with the nutrient solution showed the following sequence zeolite>vermiculite>pumice, and the cation concentrations of the fluid phase were sensitive to cadmium addition.     

Determinants of Trust for Public Lands: Fire and Fuels Management on the Bitterroot National Forest

Management of public lands occurs today with high levels of scrutiny and controversy. To succeed, managers seek the support, involvement, and endorsement of the public. This study examines trust as an indicator of managerial success and attempts to identify and measure the components that most influence it. A review of trust literature yielded 14 attributes that were hypothesized to contribute to trust, grouped into the three dimensions of Shared Norms and Values, Willingness to Endorse, and Perceived Efficacy. Operationalizing these attributes and dimensions, a telephone survey was administered to a sample of Montana, USA, residents living adjacent to the Bitterroot National Forest (n = 1,152). Each of the attributes was measured in the context of federal lands fire and fuel management. Structural equation modeling showed that all 14 attributes were found to be influential contributors to levels of trust. Results suggest that if managers are to maintain or increase levels of public trust, they need to consider each of trust’s attributes as they make social, ecological, and economic resource decisions.     

Adsorption of Pb and Cd on the natural surface coatings (NSCs) in the presence of organochlorine pesticides: a preliminary investigation

Adsorption of Pb and Cd in the presence and absence of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) on natural surface coatings (NSCs), which were collected in the Nanhu Lake in Changchun, China, was measured in order to investigate the effect of the OCPs on the adsorption of heavy metals on the NSCs. Adsorption of Pb/Cd was carried out under controlled laboratory conditions (mineral salt solution with defined species, ionic strength 0.05 mol/l, 25 degrees C and pH 6.0) with initial Pb and Cd concentrations ranging from 0.2 to 2.5 mol/l. The classical Langmuir adsorption isotherm was applied to estimate the equilibrium coefficients of the adsorption of Pb and Cd on the NSCs. Adsorption interference between Pb/Cd and the OCPs on the NSCs indicated that the adsorption of Pb/Cd on the NSCs was influenced by the OCPs, and competitive adsorption between Pb and the OCPs was observed while adsorption of Cd was enhanced by addition of the OCPs. Adsorption data fit the Langmuir isotherm well for the NSCs treated with the OCPs at different equilibrium concentrations. The results showed that the amount of adsorbed Pb decreased by more than 40% while the amount of adsorbed Cd increased by over 60% with an increase in the initial concentrations of the OCPs ranging from 0 to 5.0 microg/l and that adsorption of Pb/Cd on the NSCs was strongly affected by the OCPs. This preliminary study highlights the importance of the OCPs on the NSCs in controlling the transport, fate, biogeochemistry, bioavailability and toxicity of trace metals in aquatic environments.     

Adsorption of phenol and its derivatives from water using synthetic resins and low-cost natural adsorbents: a review

In this article, the technical feasibility of the use of activated carbon, synthetic resins, and various low-cost natural adsorbents for the removal of phenol and its derivatives from contaminated water has been reviewed. Instead of using commercial activated carbon and synthetic resins, researchers have worked on inexpensive materials such as coal fly ash, sludge, biomass, zeolites, and other adsorbents, which have high adsorption capacity and are locally available. The comparison of their removal performance with that of activated carbon and synthetic resins is presented in this study. From our survey of about 100 papers, low-cost adsorbents have demonstrated outstanding removal capabilities for phenol and its derivatives compared to activated carbons. Adsorbents that stand out for high adsorption capacities are coal-reject, residual coal treated with H3PO4, dried activated sludge, red mud, and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide-modified montmorillonite. Of these synthetic resins, HiSiv 1000 and IRA-420 display high adsorption capacity of phenol and XAD-4 has good adsorption capability for 2-nitrophenol. These polymeric adsorbents are suitable for industrial effluents containing phenol and its derivatives as mentioned previously. It should be noted that the adsorption capacities of the adsorbents presented here vary significantly depending on the characteristics of the individual adsorbent, the extent of chemical modifications, and the concentrations of solutes.     

Effect of the effective stress coefficient and sorption-induced strain on the evolution of coal permeability: Experimental observations

Permeability is one of the most important parameters for CO₂ injection in coal to enhance coalbed methane recovery. Laboratory characterization of coal permeability provides useful information for in situ permeability behavior of coal seams when adsorbing gases such as CO₂ are injected. In this study, a series of experiments have been conducted for coal samples using both non-adsorbing and adsorbing gases at various confining stresses and pore pressures. Our observations have showed that even under controlled stress conditions, coal permeability decreases with respect to pore pressure during the injection of adsorbing gases. In order to find out the causes of permeability decrease for adsorbing gases, a non-adsorbing gas (helium) is used to determine the effective stress coefficient. In these experiments using helium, the impact of gas sorption can be neglected and any permeability reduction is considered as due to the variation in the effective stress, which is controlled by the effective stress coefficient. The results show that the effective stress coefficient is pore pressure dependent and less than unity for the coal samples studied. The permeability reduction from helium experiments is then used to calibrate the subsequent flow-through experiments using adsorbing gases, CH₄ and CO₂. Through this calibration, the sole effect of sorption-induced strain on permeability change is obtained for these adsorbing gas flow-through experiments. In this paper, experimental results and analyses are reported including how the impact of effective stress coefficient is separated from that of the sorption-induced strain on the evolution of coal permeability.     

SO2 gas adsorption by modified kaolin clays: influence of previous heating and time acid treatments

Modified kaolin clays were used as adsorbents for SO(2) gas adsorptions. The clays were heated up to 900 °C previous to acid treatments with 0.5 N sulfuric acid solutions at boiling temperature during different times up to 1440 min. Equilibrium adsorption at 25 °C and 0.1 MPa was carried out by using a volumetric apparatus. The samples were characterized by chemical analysis, X-ray diffraction and infrared analysis. The heating of the clays followed by acid treatment improved the adsorption capacity of the kaolin clays. The presence of amorphous silica and hydroxyl in the final products improved SO(2) adsorption capacity. Better properties for SO(2) adsorption were found in kaolin rich in not well ordered kaolinite clay mineral.     

Utilization of waste product (tamarind seeds) for the removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous solutions: Equilibrium, kinetics, and regeneration studies

In the present study, an adsorbent was prepared from tamarind seeds and used after activation for the removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous solutions. The tamarind seeds were activated by treating them with concentrated sulfuric acid (98% w/w) at a temperature of 150 °C. The adsorption of Cr(VI) was found to be maximum at low values of initial pH in the range of 1–3. The adsorption process of Cr(VI) was tested with Langmuir, Freundlich, Redlich–Peterson, Koble–Corrigan, Tempkin, Dubinin–Radushkevich and Generalized isotherm models. Application of the Langmuir isotherm to the system yielded a maximum adsorption capacity of 29.7 mg/g at an equilibrium pH value ranging from 1.12 to 1.46. The adsorption process followed second-order kinetics and the corresponding rate constants obtained were 2.605 × 10⁻³, 0.818 × 10⁻³, 0.557 × 10⁻³ and 0.811 × 10⁻³ g/mg min⁻¹ for 50, 200, 300 and 400 mg/L of initial Cr(VI) concentration, respectively. The regenerated activated tamarind seeds showed more than 95% Cr(VI) removal of that obtained using the fresh activated tamarind seeds. A feasible solution is proposed for the disposal of the contaminants (acid and base solutions) containing high concentrations of Cr(VI) obtained during the regeneration (desorption) process.     

Identifying Biotic Integrity and Water Chemistry Relations in Nonwadeable Rivers of Wisconsin: Toward the Development of Nutrient Criteria

We sampled 41 sites on 34 nonwadeable rivers that represent the types of rivers in Wisconsin, and the kinds and intensities of nutrient and other anthropogenic stressors upon each river type. Sites covered much of United States Environmental Protection Agency national nutrient ecoregions VII—Mostly Glaciated Dairy Region, and VIII—Nutrient Poor, Largely Glaciated upper Midwest. Fish, macroinvertebrates, and three categories of environmental variables including nutrients, other water chemistry, and watershed features were collected using standard protocols. We summarized fish assemblages by index of biotic integrity (IBI) and its 10 component measures, and macroinvertebrates by 2 organic pollution tolerance and 12 proportional richness measures. All biotic and environmental variables represented a wide range of conditions, with biotic measures ranging from poor to excellent status, despite nutrient concentrations being consistently higher than reference concentrations reported for the regions. Regression tree analyses of nutrients on a suite of biotic measures identified breakpoints in total phosphorus (~0.06 mg/l) and total nitrogen (~0.64 mg/l) concentrations at which biotic assemblages were consistently impaired. Redundancy analyses (RDA) were used to identify the most important variables within each of the three environmental variable categories, which were then used to determine the relative influence of each variable category on the biota. Nutrient measures, suspended chlorophyll a, water clarity, and watershed land cover type (forest or row-crop agriculture) were the most important variables and they explained significant amounts of variation within the macroinvertebrate (R ² = 60.6%) and fish (R ² = 43.6%) assemblages. The environmental variables selected in the macroinvertebrate model were correlated to such an extent that partial RDA analyses could not attribute variation explained to individual environmental categories, assigning 89% of the explained variation to interactions among the categories. In contrast, partial RDA attributed much of the explained variation to the nutrient (25%) and other water chemistry (38%) categories for the fish model. Our analyses suggest that it would be beneficial to develop criteria based upon a suite of biotic and nutrient variables simultaneously to deem waters as not meeting their designated uses.     

Prospect of castor oil biodiesel in Bangladesh: Process development and optimization study

In this study, castor oil (CO) has been investigated as a potential source for biodiesel production in Bangladesh. Castor oil has been extracted from the seeds by mechanical press and the Soxhlet extraction method. Maximum oil content of 55.7% has been found by the Soxhlet extraction method. The physicochemical properties such as free fatty acid (FFA) content, kinematic viscosity, saponification value, and density of the oil have been measured by different standard methods. The FFA content and viscosity have been found considerably higher such as 33.5% and 253 mm²/s, respectively. Biodiesel has been prepared using a three-step method comprising of saponification of oil followed by acidification of the soap and esterification of FFA. The overall yield of FFA from CO is found to be around 89.2%. The final step is esterification that produces fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) and a maximum 97.4% conversion of FFA to biodiesel has been observed. The effect of the oil to methanol molar ratio, catalyst concentration, reaction temperature, and time has been investigated for esterification reaction and optimized using the response surface methodology. ¹H NMR of crude castor oil and castor oil methyl ester (COME) was studied and analyzed that confirms the complete conversion of castor oil to biodiesel. Finally, the biodiesel, produced under optimum conditions, was characterized using the various standard method and found comparable with petro-diesel and biodiesel standard.     

The ISO 14001 EMS Implementation Process and Its Implications: A Case Study of Central Japan

/ This study aims to investigate the ISO 14001 implementation process and its implications for regional environmental management. The region of Central Japan (known as Chubu in Japanese, which literally means center) was chosen for this case study. The study focuses on selected issues such as the: (1) trends and motives of private firms in the implementation of an ISO 14001-based environmental management system (EMS); (2) obstacles during system implementation; (3) role of the system in enhancing environmental performance within the certified organization; and (4) relation between the major stakeholders, local citizens, governments, and firms after adopting the system. To achieve these objectives, a questionnaire survey was mailed to all certified firms in the region. A 58% response was achieved overall. The results show that the main aims behind the adoption of ISO 14001 by firms in the Chubu region are to improve the environmental aspects within the enterprises and to enhance the employees' environmental awareness and capacity. The results have also shown that the ISO 14001-based EMS has had a great effect on a firm's environmental status as certified firms have claimed that natural resources such as fuel, water, and paper consumption have been more efficiently managed after adopting the system. Implementation of the system causes the firms to consider the role of the local people and the government in more effectively involving the local people in the firm's daily environmental activities. It also helps to enhance the environmental awareness among the local people. Adopting the system also promotes a better relation within the enterprises affiliated to the same group, such as more attention given by the parent firms (head offices) towards other firms working for the same group, or branches-mainly small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs)-in the field of EMS. Finally, the results show that firms give serious consideration to their final products' impacts on the environment. In other words, attention is given to life cycle analysis (LCA) among certified firms.     

Environmental Planning, Biodiversity and the Development Process: The Case of Hong Kong''s Chinese White Dolphins

Hong Kong has enjoyed more than 20 years of almost uninterrupted economic growth and the territory is widely recognized as one of the most successful of the newly industrializing economies. Economic success has, however, brought with it a variety of environmental problems including deterioration of air and water bodies and the loss of terrestrial and marine habitats. Environmental degradation also poses a serious threat to local biodiversity. Despite its stated commitment to environmental protection, the Hong Kong Government is still strongly growth-oriented and the territory's environmental institutions and policies often seem ineffective in resolving the conflicts that arise between development and the environment. To illustrate some of the contradictions inherent in Hong Kong's current approach to environmental and conservation issues, this paper focuses on the controversy surrounding the fate of the local population of the Indo-Pacific humped-back dolphin, or, as it is locally known, the Chinese white dolphin (Sousa chinensis). The dolphin's habitat has been disrupted by major development projects, marine pollution and fishing and shipping activity. It is possible that the species will be extinct in Hong Kong waters by the beginning of the next century. The paper examines the background to the controversy that has arisen surrounding the future of the dolphins and evaluates the Government's attempts to develop a conservation strategy to protect them. The preferred option—the creation of a dolphin sanctuary within a designated marine park area—has been strongly criticized by some local marine biologists and conservationists as being inadequate and inappropriate. The failure to address effectively the problems faced by the Chinese white dolphin may be attributed to the lack of an overall conservation strategy in Hong Kong, shortcomings in the territory's environmental impact assessment system and limited local scientific knowledge concerning the dolphin population.     

Evaluation of soil erosion risk using Analytic Network Process and GIS: A case study from Spanish mountain olive plantations

The study presents an approach that combined objective information such as sampling or experimental data with subjective information such as expert opinions. This combined approach was based on the Analytic Network Process method. It was applied to evaluate soil erosion risk and overcomes one of the drawbacks of USLE/RUSLE soil erosion models, namely that they do not consider interactions among soil erosion factors. Another advantage of this method is that it can be used if there are insufficient experimental data. The lack of experimental data can be compensated for through the use of expert evaluations. As an example of the proposed approach, the risk of soil erosion was evaluated in olive groves in Southern Spain, showing the potential of the ANP method for modelling a complex physical process like soil erosion.     

Pattern and Process in Northern Rocky Mountain Headwaters: Ecological Linkages in the Headwaters of the Crown of the Continent1

Abstract: The Crown of the Continent is one of the premiere ecosystems in North America containing Waterton‐Glacier International Peace Park, the Bob Marshall‐Great Bear‐Scapegoat Wilderness Complex in Montana, various Provincial Parks in British Columbia and Alberta, several national and state forest lands in the USA, and Crown Lands in Canada. The region is also the headwater source for three of the continent’s great rivers: Columbia, Missouri and Saskatchewan that flow to the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, respectively. Headwaters originate in high elevation alpine environs characterized by high snow accumulations in winter and rainstorms in summer. Most headwaters of the region contain high quality waters with few ions in solution and extremely low nutrient concentrations. Alpine streams have few species of aquatic organisms; however, they often possess rare species and have hydrogeomorphic features that make them vulnerable to climatic change. Subalpine and valley bottom streams of the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem (CCE) flow through well forested watersheds. Along the elevation gradient, the streams and rivers of the CCE flow through series of confining and nonconfining valleys resulting in distinct canyon and floodplain reaches. The alluvial floodplains are characterized by high species diversity and bioproduction maintained by the hydrologic linkages of habitats. The streams and rivers of the CCE have low nutrient concentrations, but may be significantly affected by wildfire, various resource extraction activities, such as logging or mining and exurban encroachment. Wildfire has been shown to increase nutrient loading in streams, both during a fire and then following the fire for as much as 5 years. Logging practices increase nutrient loading and the algal productivity of stream periphyton. Logging and associated roads are also known to increase sediment transport into Crown of the Continent streams directly affecting spawning success of native trout. The CCE is one of the fastest growing regions in the USA because of the many recreational amenities of the region. And, while the region has many remarkably pristine headwater streams and receiving rivers, there are many pending threats to water quality and quantity. One of the most urgent threats comes from the coal and gas fields in the northern part of the Crown of the Continent, where coal deposits are proposed for mountain‐top removal and open‐pit mining operations. This will have significant effects on the waters of the region, its native plants and animals and quality of life of the people.     

Learning to Network and Networking to Learn: Facilitating the Process of Adaptive Managementin a Local Response to the UK's National AirQuality Strategy

The adaptive management leitmotiv of “learning to manage and managing to learn” sets out an attractive agenda for dealing with the overwhelming complexity of environmental phenomena that humans have problematized. To ensure that this rallying cry translates into effective action, it is important to give consideration to structures and procedures for facilitating the efforts of those willing or able to respond to the adaptive management call. To date, calls to establish the right organization to coordinate multiagency responses have tended to emphasize the noun, or bounded-entity, sense of the word organization. We believe that this is at the expense of its other, verb or process, connotation. In this paper, rather than searching for the perfect organization structure that mandates mutual trust and collective action shaped by all relevant parties' perspectives and possible contributions, we direct attention towards the process of nurturing integrated adaptive responses among individuals who have diverse organizational allegiances. By shifting the balance towards the process connotation of the right organization, we hope that a new mindscape can be discerned for those interested in putting adaptive management principles into practice. We seek to conjure up an image of this mindscape through the phrase “learning to network and networking to learn,” and set out to strengthen this by demonstrating how adaptive response networks can arise from the mutually defining relationship between stakeholders and issues. This is demonstrated through a local response to the United Kingdom's National Air Quality Strategy.