Leaching of metals on stabilization of metal sludge using cement based materials

Toxicity characteristic leaching procedure(TCLP) of zinc plating sludge was carried out to assess the leaching potential of the sludge and the leachates were analyzed for heavy metals. The concentration of zinc, chromium, and lead in the leachate were 371.5 mg/L, 1.95 mg/L and 1.99 mg/L respectively. Solidification of zinc sludge was carried out using four different binder systems consisting of cement mortar, fly ash, clay and lime and cured for 28 d, The ratio of sludge added varied from 60% to 80% by volume. The solidified products were tested for metal fixing efficiency and physical strength. It was observed that the volume of sludge added that resulted in maximum metal stabilization was 60% for all the combinations, above which the metal fixation efficiency decreased resulting in high values of zinc in the leachate. Addition of 5% sodium silicate enhanced the chemical fixation of metals in all the binder systems. Among the four fixing agents studied, mixture of fly ash: lime, and cement mortar: lime stabilized zinc and other metals in the sludge effectively than other combinations. Addition of lime increased the stabilization of zinc whereas cement mortar increased the strength of the solidified product.     

Evaluation of mercury speciation and removal through air pollution control devices of a 190 MW boiler

Air pollution control devices (APCDs) are installed at coal-fired power plants for air pollutant regulation. Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) and wet flue gas desulfurization (FGD) systems have the co-benefits of air pollutant and mercury removal. Configuration and operational conditions of APCDs and mercury speciation a ect mercury removal e ciently at coal-fired utilities. The Ontario Hydro Method (OHM) recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was used to determine mercury speciation simultaneously at five sampling locations through SCR-ESP-FGD at a 190 MW unit. Chlorine in coal had been suggested as a factor a ecting the mercury speciation in flue gas; and low-chlorine coal was purported to produce less oxidized mercury (Hg2+) and more elemental mercury (Hg0) at the SCR inlet compared to higher chlorine coal. SCR could oxidize elemental mercury into oxidized mercury when SCR was in service, and oxidation e ciency reached 71.0%. Therefore, oxidized mercury removal e ciency was enhanced through a wet FGD system. In the non-ozone season, about 89.5%–96.8% of oxidized mercury was controlled, but only 54.9%–68.8% of the total mercury was captured through wet FGD. Oxidized mercury removal e ciency was 95.9%–98.0%, and there was a big di erence in the total mercury removal e ciencies from 78.0% to 90.2% in the ozone season. Mercury mass balance was evaluated to validate reliability of OHM testing data, and the ratio of mercury input in the coal to mercury output at the stack was from 0.84 to 1.08.     

Distribution and ecological effect of mercury in Laogang landfill, Shanghai, China

Laogang landfill near Shanghai is the largest landfill in China, and receives about 10000 t of daily garbage per day, Samples of topsoil and plants were analyzed to evaluate mercury pollution from the landfill. For topsoil samples, there were significant correlations among total mercury （HgT）, combinative mercury （Hgc） and gaseous mercury （HgG）, and content of total organic carbon （TOC）, but, no significantly relationship was found between Hg content and filling time. Hg content changes in vertical profiles with time showed that the average Hgv of profiles 1992, 1996, and 2000 was similar, but their average HgG was quite different. HgT was significantly correlated with Hgc in profile 1992 and 2000, and Hgv was significantly correlated with Hg6 in profile 1996. HgG/Hgv ratio in profile samples decreased in the order of （HgG,/HgT）1992〉（HgG/HgT）1996〉〉（HgG/HgT）2000. A simple outline of Hg release in landfill could be drawn： with increasing of filling time, degradation undergoes different biodegradation, accordingly, gaseous mercury goes through small, more, and small proportion to total mercury. Distribution of Hg in plants was inhomogeneous, following the order of leaf〉root〉stem. The highest value of leaf may be associated with higher atmospheric Hg from landfill. Ligneous plants （e.g. Phyllostachys glanca, Prunus salicina and Ligustrum lucidum） are capable of enriching more Hg than herbaceous plants.     

Efficiency of white lupin in the removal of mercury from contaminated soils： Soil and hydroponic experiments

This study examined the ability of the white lupin to remove mercury (Hg) from a hydroponic system (Hg concentrations 0, 1.25, 2.5, 5 and 10 μmol/L) and from soil in pots and lysimeters (total Hg concentration (19.2 ± 1.9) mg/kg availability 0.07%, and (28.9 ± 0.4) mg/kg availability 0.09%, respectively), and investigated the accumulation and distribution of Hg in different parts of the plant. White lupin roots efficiently took up Hg, but its translocation to the harvestable parts of the plant was low. The Hg concentration in the seeds posed no risk to human health according to the recommendations of the World Health Organization, but the shoots should not be used as fodder for livestock, at least when unmixed with other fodder crops. The accumulation of Hg in the hydroponically-grown plants was linear over the concentration range tested. The amount of Hg retained in the roots, relative to the shoots, was almost constant irrespective of Hg dose (90%). In the soil experiments, Hg accumulation increased with exposure time and was the greater in the lysimeter than in the pot experiments. Although Hg removal was the greater in the hydroponic system, revealing the potential of the white lupin to extract Hg, bioaccumulation was the greatest in the lysimeter-grown plants; the latter system more likely reflects the true behaviour of white lupin in the field when Hg availability is a factor that limits Hg removal. The present results suggest that the white lupin could be used in long-term soil reclamation strategies that include the goal of profitable land use in Hg-polluted areas.     

Control factors of partial nitritation for landfill leachate treatment

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (ANAMMOX) technology has potential technical superiority and economical efficiency for the nitrogen removal from landfill leachate, which contains high-strength ammonium nitrogen (NH4 -N) and refractory organics. To complete the ANAMMOX process, a preceding partial nitritation step to produce the appropriate ratio of nitrite/ammonium is a key stage. The objective of this study was to determine the optimal conditions to acquire constant partial nitritation for landfill leachate treatment, and a bench scale fixed bed bio-film reactor was used in this study to investigate the effects of the running factors on the partial nitritation. The results showed that both the dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration and the ammonium volumetric loading rate (Nv) had effects on the partial nitritation. In the controlling conditions with a temperature of 30±1℃, Nv of 0.2-1.0 kg NH4 -N/(m3d), and DO concentration of 0.8-2.3 mg/L, the steady partial nitritation was achieved as follows: more than 94% partial nitritation efficiency (nitrite as the main product), 60%-74% NH4 -N removal efficiency, and NO2--N/NH4 -N ratio (concentration ratio) of 1.0-1.4 in the effluent. The impact of temperature was related to iVv at certain DO concentration, and the temperature range of 25-30癈 was suitable for treating high strength ammonium leachate. Ammonium-oxidizing bacteria could be acclimated to higher FA (free ammonium) in the range of 122-224 mg/L. According to the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis result of the bio-film in the reactor, there were 25 kinds of 16S rRNA gene fragments, which indicated that abundant microbial communities existed in the bio-film, although high concentrations of ammonium and FA may inhibit the growth of the nitrite-oxidizing bacteria and other microorganisms in the reactor.     

Photodegradation of 2,4-D induced by NO2- in aqueous solutions：The role of NO2

To elucidate the effect of nitrite ion （NO2^-） on the photodegradation of organic pollutants, a 300 W mercury lamp and Pyrex tubes restricting the transmission of wavelengths below 290nm were used to simulate sunlight, and the photodegradation processes of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid （2,4-D） with different concentrations of NO2^- in freshwater and seawater were studied. The effect of reactive oxygen species （ROS） on the photolysis of 2,4-D was also demonstrated using electron paramagnetic resonance （EPR）. The results indicated that the 2,4-D photolysis reaction followed the first-order kinetics in freshwater and seawater under different concentrations of NO2^-. Meanwhile, the photochemical reaction rate of 2,4-D increased with increasing concentration of NO2^-. When the concentration of NO2^- was lower than 23 mg/L, the photodegradation rate of 2,4-D in seawater was higher than that in freshwater. However, when the concentration of NO2^- was reached 230 mg/L, 2,4-D degradation slowed down in seawater. It was important to note that EPR spectra showed NO2 radical was generated in the NO5 solution under simulated sunlight irradiation, indicating that 2,4-D photodegradation could be induced by NO2. These results show the key role of NO2^- in photochemistry and are helpful for better understanding of the phototransformation of environmental contaminants in natural aquatic systems.     

Silver impregnated carbon for adsorption and desorption of elemental mercury vapors

The Hg0 vapor adsorption experimental results on a novel sorbent obtained by impregnating a commercially available activated carbon (Darco G60 from BDH) with silver nitrate were reported. The study was performed by using a fundamental approach, in an apparatus at laboratory scale in which a synthetic flue gas, formed by Hg0 vapors in a nitrogen gas stream, at a given temperature and mercury concentration, was flowed through a fixed bed of adsorbent material. Breakthrough curves and adsorption isotherms were obtained for bed temperatures of 90, 120 and 150°C and for Hg0 concentrations in the gas varying in the range of 0.8–5.0 mg/m3. The experimental gas-solid equilibrium data were used to evaluate the Langmuir parameters and the heat of adsorption. The experimental results showed that silver impregnated carbon was very effective to capture elemental mercury and the amount of mercury adsorbed by the carbon decreased as the bed temperature increased. In addition, to evaluate the possibility of adsorbent recovery, desorption was also studied. Desorption runs showed that both the adsorbing material and the mercury could be easily recovered, since at the end of desorption the residue on solid was almost negligible. The material balance on mercury and the constitutive equations of the adsorption phenomenon were integrated, leading to the evaluation of only one kinetic parameter which fits well both the experimentally determined breakthrough and desorption curves.     

To take a clean technology as a strategy for pollution control in industry

A clean technology in thermal power station by adding of limestone into coal for getting the co-melted compounds was studied. Comparing with conventional technology, the quantity of ash discharged is decreased from 85% to 15%, the water consumption is 80% less than traditional method. The slag discharged could be used as raw materials for cement and bricks. In addition, the SO2 content is decreased as well.     

Metal chlorides loaded on activated carbon to capture elemental mercury

Activated carbon (AC) was considered to be an effective sorbent to control mercury in combustion systems. However, its capture capacity was low and it required a high carbon-to-mercury mass ratio. AC loaded with catalyst showed a high elemental mercury (Hg0) capture capacity due to large surface area of AC and high oxidization ability of catalyst. In this study, several metal chlorides and metal oxides were used to promote the sorption capacity of AC. As a result, metal chlorides were better than metal oxides loaded on AC to remove gaseous mercury. X-ray diffractometer (XRD), thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) and specific surface area by Brunauer- Emmett-Teller method (BET) analysis showed the main mechanisms: first, AC had an enormous surface area for loading enough MClx; second, Cl and MxOy were generated during pyrogenation of MClx; finally, there were lots of active elements such as Cl and MxOy which could react with elemental mercury and convert it to mercury oxide and mercury chloride. The HgO and HgCl2 might be released from AC’s porous structure by thermo regeneration. A catalytic chemisorption mechanism predominates the sorption process of elemental mercury. As Co and Mn were valence variable metal elements, their catalytic effect on Hg0 oxidization may accelerate both oxidation and halogenation of Hg0. The sorbents loaded with metal chlorides possessed a synergistic function of catalytic effect of valence variable metal and chlorine oxidation.     

Characterization of refuse landfill leachates of three di erent stages in landfill stabilization process

Landfill leachates with di erent ages (mature leachate, 11 years; semi-mature leachate, 5 years; fresh leachate, under operation) were collected from Laogang Refuse Landfill, Shanghai to characterize the colloid size distribution and variations of leachate. These leachates were separated using micro-filtration and ultra-filtration into specific size fractions, i.e., suspended particles (SP) (> 1.2 m), coarse colloids (CC) (1.2–0.45 m), fine colloids (FC) (0.45 m, 5 kDa/1 kDa molecular weight (MW)), and dissolved organic matters (DM, < 5 kDa/1 kDa MW). The specific colloids in each size fraction were quantified and characterized through chemical oxygen demands (COD), total solid (TS), pH, NH4 +-N, total organic carbon (TOC) and fixed solid (FS). It was found that COD, NH4 +-N and TS in leachate decreased significantly over ages, while pH increased. The dissolved fractions (< 5 kDa/1 kDa) dominated (over 50%) in three leachates in terms of COD, and the organic matter content in dissolved fraction of leachates decreased and the inorganic matter increased as the disposal time extended, with the TOC/COD ratio 30%–7%. Dissolved fractions decreased from 82% to 40% in terms of TOC as the disposal time extended, suggested that the organic matter remained in leachate would form into middle molecular weight substances during the degradation process.     

Die Bleisulfidhalogenide Pb2SJ2 und Pb2SBr2

The Science of Nature -