Environmental lead pollution threatens the children living in the Pearl River Delta region, China

Introduction and purpose

The objective of this study is to determine children??s blood lead levels and identify sources of lead exposure. Childhood lead exposure constitutes a major pediatric health problem today in China. A blood lead screening survey program for children in the age group of 2?C12?years residing in Pearl River Delta region, south of China, was carried out from Dec 2007 to Jan 2008.

Methods

Blood lead levels and lead isotope ratios of a total of 761 participants were assessed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy. Measurements of urban environmental samples for source identification of children lead exposure were also performed.

Results and conclusions

The geometric mean value of the children??s blood lead levels was 57.05???g/L, and 9.6% of them were higher than 100???g/L. The blood lead levels were still much higher than those in developed countries. Based on the data of environmental lead source inventories, lead isotopic tracing revealed that there is about 6.7% past used gasoline Pb embedded in Shenzhen residential dust and about 15.6% in Guangzhou dust, respectively.     

Toxicokinetics/toxicodynamics links bioavailability for assessing arsenic uptake and toxicity in three aquaculture species

The purpose of this study was to link toxicokinetics/toxicodynamics (TK/TD) and bioavailability-based metal uptake kinetics to assess arsenic (As) uptake and bioaccumulation in three common farmed species of tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus), milkfish (Chanos chanos), and freshwater clam (Corbicula fluminea). We developed a mechanistic framework by linking damage assessment model (DAM) and bioavailability-based Michaelis?CMenten model for describing TK/TD and As uptake mechanisms. The proposed model was verified with published acute toxicity data. The estimated TK/TD parameters were used to simulate the relationship between bioavailable As uptake and susceptibility probability. The As toxicity was also evaluated based on a constructed elimination?Crecovery scheme. Absorption rate constants were estimated to be 0.025, 0.016, and 0.175?mL g^?1 h^?1 and As uptake rate constant estimates were 22.875, 63.125, and 788.318?ng g^?1 h^?1 for tilapia, milkfish, and freshwater clam, respectively. Here we showed that a potential trade-off between capacities of As elimination and damage recovery was found among three farmed species. Moreover, the susceptibility probability can also be estimated by the elimination?Crecovery relations. This study suggested that bioavailability-based uptake kinetics and TK/TD-based DAM could be integrated for assessing metal uptake and toxicity in aquatic organisms. This study is useful to quantitatively assess the complex environmental behavior of metal uptake and implicate to risk assessment of metals in aquaculture systems.     

Enhanced mercuric chloride adsorption onto sulfur-modified activated carbons derived from waste tires

A number of activated carbons derived from waste tires were further impregnated by gaseous elemental sulfur at temperatures of 400 and 650 degrees C, with a carbon and sulfur mass ratio of 1:3. The capabilities of sulfur diffusing into the micropores of the activated carbons were significantly different between 400 and 650 degrees C, resulting in obvious dissimilarities in the sulfur content of the activated carbons. The sulfur-impregnated activated carbons were examined for the adsorptive capacity of gas-phase mercuric chloride (HgC1) by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The analytical precision of TGA was up to 10(-6) g at the inlet HgCl2 concentrations of 100, 300, and 500 microg/m3, for an adsorption time of 3 hr and an adsorption temperature of 150 degrees C, simulating the flue gas emitted from municipal solid waste (MSW) incinerators. Experimental results showed that sulfur modification can slightly reduce the specific surface area of activated carbons. High-surface-area activated carbons after sulfur modification had abundant mesopores and micropores, whereas low-surface-area activated carbons had abundant macropores and mesopores. Sulfur molecules were evenly distributed on the surface of the inner pores after sulfur modification, and the sulfur content of the activated carbons increased from 2-2.5% to 5-11%. After sulfur modification, the adsorptive capacity of HgCl2 for high-surface-area sulfurized activated carbons reached 1.557 mg/g (22 times higher than the virgin activated carbons). The injection of activated carbons was followed by fabric filtration, which is commonly used to remove HgCl2 from MSW incinerators. The residence time of activated carbons collected in the fabric filter is commonly about 1 hr, but the time required to achieve equilibrium is less than 10 min. Consequently, it is worthwhile to compare the adsorption rates of HgCl2 in the time intervals of < 10 and 10-60 min.     

k-C*模型的人工湿地模拟研究

采用自由表面流人工湿地,对广东省中山市某小区对应段的河涌进行生态修复改造。基于k-C*模型的计算结果表明,在对现有河涌的面积的利用下,TP和NH4+-N的去除效果受到限制。采用多因素正交实验对模型的计算结果进行实验验证和分析,研究了4种植物、4种基质,分别在2、4、6和8 d水力停留时间(HRT)下对TP和NH4+-N的去除效果,得到影响TP和NH4+-N去除效果的因素主次顺序分别为基质→植物→HRT和基质→HRT→植物;各因素的最佳水平条件分别为:风车草、颗粒活性炭、4 d(HRT)。在最佳水平条件下进行实验,结果表明,TP和NH4+-N的浓度均可达到出水排放标准浓度指标。k-C*模型的计算值总是比实验值偏高,但两者之间的误差在一个数量级范围内。     

生物通风技术修复柴油污染土壤的土柱模拟实验

生物通风技术是将土壤气相抽提和生物降解结合起来的原位强迫氧化降解方法,对于修复因地下储油罐泄漏引起的土壤污染具有广阔的应用前景。通过室内土柱模拟柴油泄漏污染土壤,分析了不同历时残余总石油烃(total pe-troleum hydrocarbon,TPH)的平衡分布规律以及土壤中不同深度柴油量、总柴油量的变化。结果表明:(1)各柱残余TPH剖面分布差异的原因受土柱的初始装填情况的影响较大;(2)残余TPH平衡分布曲线呈双峰型的土柱,柴油的去除主要以挥发作用及生物降解作用为主;(3)挥发作用主要是由通风孔隙体积数及土壤含水率来影响的;重力作用则主要是由初始油浓度、土壤含水率、C∶N∶P影响的;除通风方式外,其余4个因素都对生物降解作用有影响;(4)初始油浓度较大,土壤含水率较小的柱8和柱11,生物降解作用最明显,柴油去除效果最好。该成果可为生物通风过程的强化提供理论依据。     

基于人工蜂群算法与BP神经网络的水质评价模型

针对BP网络水质评价模型的不足,引入人工蜂群(ABC)算法,将求解BP神经网络各层权值、阀值的过程转化为蜜蜂寻找最佳蜜源的过程,提出了一种新的结合人工蜂群算法的BP网络水质评价方法(ABC-BP)。并以2000—2006年渭河监测断面的10组实测数据作为测试样本对其水质进行了评价,实验结果表明该方法得到的水质评价结果准确,并具有很强的稳定性和鲁棒性。     

西安市城市主干道路面径流初期冲刷效应

以西安市城市主干道南二环太白路高架桥为路面径流采样区域,采用人工等时间间隔采样方法,在桥梁排水立管对2010年9—11月的3场径流事件进行全程采样,测试径流过程SS、COD、溶解性COD、NH3-N、Pb、溶解性Pb、Zn和溶解性Zn的浓度变化,研究路面径流的初期冲刷效应及其影响因素。结果表明,西安市城市主干道路面径流污染严重,降雨数小时后的末期径流仍具有较高的污染水平;径流过程污染物浓度变化规律与其赋存形态有关,SS、COD、Pb等以颗粒态为主的污染物的浓度随雨强变化剧烈波动,NH3-N、溶解态COD、溶解态Zn等以溶解态为主的污染物浓度变化受雨强影响较小,随径流过程呈逐渐减小趋势;路面径流初期冲刷现象并非普遍存在,与污染物的赋存状态和场次降雨特征密切相关,溶解态污染物易于出现初期冲刷现象,颗粒态污染物是否出现初期冲刷与场次降雨特征有关;测试的3场径流事件初期30%的径流携带的SS、COD、溶解性COD、NH3-N、Pb、Zn和溶解性Zn的负荷占场次径流总负荷的比例分别为21.8%～50.0%、25.5%～49.3%、36.3%～52.6%、52.6%～66.7%、26.8%～45.0%、27.2%～63.4%和36.2%～62.6%,表明仅对初期径流进行治理无法实现对西安市路面径流污染的有效控制。     

沸石渗滤床在城市初期雨水径流污染控制的应用研究

根据城市初期雨水径流的污染负荷初始冲刷效应以及主要污染物COD和N/P与SS成线性相关性的污染特点,对初期雨水的主要污染物COD和N/P开展了控制技术研究。以示范工程为基础,研究城市初期雨水径流污染控制的强化处理技术即沸石渗滤床技术,运行结果表明,对NH3-N、TP、COD都有较好的去除效果,其中对NH3-N的去除效果较为明显,进水氨氮浓度在2～5 mg/L,出水都能达到地表IV类水标准(NH3-N≤0.5 mg/L)。