Impact of meteorological condition changes on air quality and particulate chemical composition during the COVID-19 lockdown

Stringent quarantine measures during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown period (January 23, 2020 to March 15, 2020) have resulted in a distinct decrease in anthropogenic source emissions in North China Plain compared to the paralleled period of 2019. Particularly, 22.7% decrease in NO₂ and 3.0% increase of O₃ was observed in Tianjin, nonlinear relationship between O₃ generation and NO₂ implied that synergetic control of NO_x and VOCs is needed. Deteriorating meteorological condition during the COVID-19 lockdown obscured the actual PM_2.5 reduction. Fireworks transport in 2020 Spring Festival (SF) triggered regional haze pollution. PM_2.5 during the COVID-19 lockdown only reduced by 5.6% in Tianjin. Here we used the dispersion coefficient to normalize the measured PM_2.5 (DN-PM_2.5), aiming to eliminate the adverse meteorological impact and roughly estimate the actual PM_2.5 reduction, which reduced by 17.7% during the COVID-19 lockdown. In terms of PM_2.5 chemical composition, significant NO₃^? increase was observed during the COVID-19 lockdown. However, as a tracer of atmospheric oxidation capacity, odd oxygen (O_x = NO₂ + O₃) was observed to reduce during the COVID-19 lockdown, whereas relative humidity (RH), specific humidity and aerosol liquid water content (ALWC) were observed with noticeable enhancement. Nitrogen oxidation rate (NOR) was observed to increase at higher specific humidity and ALWC, especially in the haze episode occurred during 2020SF, high air humidity and obvious nitrate generation was observed. Anomalously enhanced air humidity may response for the nitrate increase during the COVID-19 lockdown period.     

Development of Hybrid Film Based on Carboxymethyl Chitosan-Gum Arabic Incorporated Citric Acid and Polyphenols from Cinnamomum camphora Seeds for Active Food Packaging

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - In this study, carboxymethyl chitosan with gum Arabic (CG) based novel functional films containing Cinnamomum camphora seeds extract (CCSE) at varying...     

Developing “precise-acting” strategies for improving anaerobic methanogenesis of organic waste: Insights from the electron transfer system of syntrophic partners

Methanogenesis is the last step in anaerobic digestion, which is usually a rate-limiting step in the biological treatment of organic waste. The low methanogenesis efficiency (low methane production rate, low methane yield, low methane content) substantially limits the development of anaerobic digestion technology. Traditional pretreatment methods and bio-stimulation strategies have impacts on the entire anaerobic system and cannot directly enhance methanogenesis in a targeted manner, which was defined as “broad-acting” strategies in this perspective. Further, we discussed our opinion of methanogenesis process with insights from the electron transfer system of syntrophic partners and provided potential targeted enhancing strategy for high-efficiency electron transfer system. These “precise-acting” strategies are expected to achieve an efficient methanogenesis process and enhance the bio-energy recovery of organic waste.     

Highly efficient photocatalytic oxidation of antibiotic ciprofloxacin using TiO2@g-C3N4@biochar composite

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In this present study, a novel indirect Z-scheme TiO2@g-C3N4@biochar (TiO2@g-C3N4@BC) composite photocatalyst was successfully fabricated and...     

Investigation of indole biodegradation by Cupriavidus sp. strain IDO with emphases on downstream biotransformation and indigo production

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Indole, as a typical N-heterocyclic aromatic pollutant, poses risks to living things; however, indole-biotransformation mechanisms remain...     

The effects of air pollution on the lung cancer mortality in rural areas of eastern China: a multi-region study

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Recently, the burden of lung cancer (LC) has attracted global attention. Meanwhile, LC has become the leading cause of death in China. Many studies...     

pH值和曝气强度对铁还原预处理硝基苯废水效果的影响

从反应机理方面分析了pH值和曝气强度对铁还原预处理硝基苯废水的影响。研究表明:pH值对铁还原的影响明显,适当的曝气强度可有效提高铁还原预处理效果。综合考虑,最佳pH值范围为2~4,最佳曝气强度为1.50m3/(m2·h)。CODCr去除率达50%~60%,硝基苯去除率达90%以上,出水BOD5/CODCr由不到0.1提高至0.4以上。     

工业锅炉除尘脱硫废水回用技术及设备的开发

针对工业锅炉除尘脱硫废水设计一套工业化的处理设备,并对其实际的处理性能进行考察和评价。该设备由网格絮凝+复合流沉淀+浅滤层过滤三个单元组成,设备构造合理,系统性能协调。设备正常运行时处理出水浑浊度平均值<10度,最大值<15度,出水浑浊度波动系数为1.8,浑浊度极差10.5度,水质稳定,满足回用水质要求。     

PDMS半透膜采样装置的制作研究

水中痕量持久性有机污染物的监测是经典的分析化学难题,传统分析方法既费时又费材料,且只能测定某一时间点的浓度.三油酸甘油脂半透膜被动采样器虽能克服传统方法的一些缺点,但对膜的要求较高.通过在一个固定于不锈钢网上,扁平、密封的商品低密度聚乙烯(LDPE)膜袋夹层中均匀涂布聚二甲基硅氧烷(PDMS),制作出一种新的半透膜被动采样器.用此被动采样器在混合多氯联苯(PCBs)的过饱和水溶液中反复模拟采样,测得半透膜最佳富集时间、时间和富集量的关系曲线以及其它特性.使用气质联用仪测得的数据证明此装置可用于水体中多氯联苯等痕量持久性有机污染物的采集和定量分析,其线性富集时间可达 9 d,富集率大约为3×103 ~ 6×103倍,为今后的环境监测提供了一种制作简单、使用方便、富集率好、费用低廉的新方法.     

煤炭生物脱硫正交实验研究

通过对取自城门山,杨桃坞,德兴和云南的嗜酸氧化亚铁硫杆菌(Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans)的生理活性的研究比较,选取了氧化活性较好的德兴菌种做正交试验.应用正交试验的方法研究了浸出时间,煤浆质量分数,pH值和接种量这4个因素的组合作用对煤炭生物脱硫效果的影响.对试验结果进行极差分析和方差分析,结果表明各因素对脱硫效果的影响有很大差异.在所研究因素的水平范围内,浸出时间对煤脱硫效率的影响最为显著,影响率达到74.21%;pH值对煤脱硫效率的影响也很显著,影响率为16.80%;接种量对煤脱硫效率的影响较为显著的,其影响率仅为5.27%;煤浆质量分数对脱硫效率的影响率最低,仅为1.78%.通过对正交试验的实验结果的直接观察,极差分析和方差分析,获得了三个可能的最优方案.其中通过实验结果直接观察得到的最优方案的脱硫率可达63.80%.