Pseudomonas sp. ZXY-1, a newly isolated and highly efficient atrazine-degrading bacterium, and optimization of biodegradation using response surface methodology

Atrazine, a widely used herbicide, is increasing the agricultural production effectively, while also causing great environmental concern. Efficient atrazine-degrading bacterium is necessary to removal atrazine rapidly to keep a safe environment. In the present study, a new atrazine-degrading strain ZXY-1, identified as Pseudomonas, was isolated. This new isolated strain has a strong ability to biodegrade atrazine with a high efficiency of 9.09 mg/L/hr.Temperature, p H, inoculum size and initial atrazine concentration were examined to further optimize the degradation of atrazine, and the synthetic effect of these factors were investigated by the response surface methodology. With a high quadratic polynomial mathematical model(R~2= 0.9821) being obtained, the highest biodegradation efficiency of 19.03 mg/L/hr was reached compared to previous reports under the optimal conditions(30.71°C, pH 7.14, 4.23%(V/V) inoculum size and 157.1 mg/L initial atrazine concentration).Overall, this study provided an efficient bacterium and approach that could be potentially useful for the bioremediation of wastewater containing atrazine.     

Shifts in microbial community structure and diversity in a MBR combined with worm reactors treating synthetic wastewater

The chemical oxygen demand (COD) and NH₃-N removal, membrane fouling, sludge characteristics and microbial community structure in a membrane bioreactor (MBR) coupled with worm reactors (SSBWR) were evaluated for 210 days. The obtained results were compared to those from a conventional MBR (C-MBR) operated in parallel. The results indicated that the combined MBR (S-MBR) achieved higher COD and NH₃-N removal efficiency, slower increase in membrane fouling, better sludge settleability and higher activities of the related enzymes in the activated sludge. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis was used to analyze the microbial community structures in the C-MBR and the S-MBR. The microbial community structure in the S-MBR was more diverse than that in the C-MBR. Additionally, the slow-growing microbes such as Saprospiraceae, Actinomyces, Frankia, Clostridium, Comamonas, Pseudomonas, Dechloromonas and Flavobacterium were enriched in the S-MBR, further accounting for the sludge reduction, membrane fouling alleviation and wastewater treatment.     

Performance and microbial community of a membrane bioreactor system——Treating wastewater from ethanol fermentation of food waste

In this study, a lab-scale biological anaerobic/anaerobic/anoxic/membrane bioreactor(A_-~3MBR) was designed to treat wastewater from the ethanol fermentation of food waste,a promising way for the disposal of food waste and reclamation of resources. The 454 pyrosequencing technique was used to investigate the composition of the microbial community in the treatment system. The system yielded a stable effluent concentration of chemical oxygen demand(202 ± 23 mg/L), total nitrogen(62.1 ± 7.1 mg/L), ammonia(0.3 ±0.13 mg/L) and total phosphorus(8.3 ± 0.9 mg/L), and the reactors played different roles in specific pollutant removal. The exploration of the microbial community in the system revealed that:(1) the microbial diversity of anaerobic reactors A_1 and A_2, in which organic pollutants were massively degraded, was much higher than that in anoxic A_3 and aerobic MBR;(2) although the community composition in each reactor was quite different, bacteria assigned to the classes Clostridia, Bacteroidia, and Synergistia were important and common microorganisms for organic pollutant degradation in the anaerobic units, and bacteria from Alphaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria were the dominant microbial population in A_3 and MBR;(3) the taxon identification indicated that Arcobacter in the anaerobic reactors and Thauera in the anoxic reactor were two representative genera in the biological process. Our results proved that the biological A_-~3MBR process is an alternative technique for treating wastewater from food waste.     

Research on the degradation mechanism of pyridine in drinking water by dielectric barrier discharge

Pyridine, an important chemical raw material, is widely used in industry, for example in textiles,leather, printing, dyeing, etc. In this research, a dielectric barrier discharge(DBD) system was developed to remove pyridine, as a representative type of nitrogen heterocyclic compound in drinking water. First, the influence of the active species inhibitors tertiary butanol alcohol(TBA),HCO_3~-, and CO_3~(2-)on the degradation rate of pyridine was investigated to verify the existence of active species produced by the strong ionization discharge in the system. The intermediate and final products generated in the degradation process of pyridine were confirmed and analyzed through a series of analytical techniques, including liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry(LC–MS), high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC), ion chromatography(IC), total organic carbon(TOC) analysis, ultraviolet(UV) spectroscopy, etc. The results showed that the degradation of pyridine was mainly due to the strong oxidizing power of ozone and hydroxyl radical produced by the DBD system. Several intermediate products including 3-hydroxyl pyridine, fumaric acid, 2, 3-dihydroxypyridine, and oxalic acid were detected. Nitrogen was removed from the pyridine molecule to form nitrate. Through analysis of the degradation mechanism of pyridine, the oxidation pathway was deduced. The study provided a theoretical and experimental basis for the application of DBD strong ionization discharge in treatment of nitrogen heterocyclic compounds in drinking water.     

Assessment of the maximum allowed acid deposition load at current stage in China

Soil acidification caused by acid deposition has been significant in some forests in southern China. We present an approach for assessing the current stage maximum allowed load (SML) of acid deposition for terrestrial system in the country. The main idea was that soil base cation exchange as a finite buffer to acidity was included in the soil acidity mass balance calculation at current acidification stage. We calculated the SML for five forests in southern China. The usual critical loads for the same forests were also calculated by the steady state mass balance model for comparison. The results showed that the SML is a more tolerant limit than the critical load for the forests with soils not acidified seriously at current stage. However, the SML become a more stringent limit to acid deposition when the forest soils have acidified seriously to very low base cation saturation. In this case the SML assessment is beneficial for the soils recovering from a serious acidified state. Based on a national scale database, the SML mapping for non-agricultural soil system in China was carried out.     

北京市郊区夏季臭氧重污染特征及生成效率

为研究北京郊区夏季O₃(臭氧)重污染过程特征及O₃生成的光化学敏感性,基于2016年夏季在北京郊区开展的针对O₃及其相关污染物的强化观测试验(7月23日—8月31日,共计40 d),分析了观测期间O₃浓度[以φ(O₃)计]变化特征、O₃重污染过程主控因素与O₃敏感性化学特征.结果表明:观测期间φ(O₃)超标时有发生,最大小时φ(O₃)为151.1×10-9,其中有15 d的φ(O₃)最大8 h滑动平均值(O₃-max-8h)超过了GB 3095—2012《环境空气质量标准》二级标准限值,占观测天数的37.5%;不同O₃重污染过程成因有所不同,城市烟羽传输的污染物对郊区O₃重污染过程影响显著(观测期间臭氧重污染过程:过程1,7月27—29日;过程3,8月9—11日;过程4,8月16日;过程5,8月21—24日),区域光化学污染对郊区O₃重污染过程也有贡献(观测期间O₃重污染过程2:8月4—6日);结合后向气流轨迹进一步辅助说明了不同重污染过程中O₃的来源不同.研究还发现,观测区域存在反“周末效应”现象,说明观测区域周末受人为影响较为明显;基于观测数据计算的OPE(O₃生成效率)分析了O₃光化学敏感性表明,在有OPE值的22 d内NO_x控制区和VOCs控制区出现的概率(41%)相等,即观测区域O₃对NO_x和VOCs均敏感;此外还发现,在O₃重污染过程中光化学敏感性会随其反应进程发生改变,由NO_x控制区逐渐转变为VOCs控制区.      

重庆市夏秋季VOCs对臭氧和二次有机气溶胶生成潜势的估算

为估算重庆市夏秋季VOCs（挥发性有机物）对O₃和SOA（二次有机气溶胶）的生成潜势,利用在线GC-MS/FID在2015年8月22日-9月23日对重庆市区点和郊区点VOCs开展了为期一个月的实时观测,获得市区点和郊区点$ \varphi $（TVOCs）（总挥发性有机物）分别为41.35×10-9和22.72×10-9,其中市区点以烷烃（35.2%）和烯炔烃（25.2%）为主,郊区点以含氧挥发性有机物（oxygenated volatile organic compounds,OVOCs）（30.6%）和烷烃（26.0%）为主.结合最大增量反应活性量化市区点和郊区点VOCs的OFPs（臭氧生成潜势）分别为149.11×10-9和71.09×10-9,市区点OFPs最大的是乙烯、丙烯、甲苯、C8和C9的芳香烃等,郊区点OFPs最大的VOCs是丙烯醛、异戊二烯和甲基乙烯基酮.结合气溶胶生成系数量化郊区点和市区点VOCs对SOA的生成贡献分别为0.36和1.26 μg/m3,相比国内其余城市VOCs的SOAP（二次有机气溶胶生成潜势）较小,主要以甲基环己烷、正壬烷、正葵烷和十一烷等高碳烷烃,以及甲苯、苯、二甲苯和乙苯等芳香烃的SOAP为主.研究显示,控制烯炔烃和芳香烃的浓度有助于控制重庆市O₃的生成,控制高碳烷烃和芳香烃则有助于控制重庆市SOA的生成.      

Capability of cation exchange technology to remove proven N-nitrosodimethylamine precursors

N-nitrosodimethylamine(NDMA) precursors consist of a positively charged dimethylamine group and a non-polar moiety, which inspired us to develop a targeted cation exchange technology to remove NDMA precursors. In this study, we tested the removal of two representative NDMA precursors, dimethylamine(DMA) and ranitidine(RNTD), by strong acidic cation exchange resin. The results showed that pH greatly affected the exchange efficiency, with high removal(DMA 78% and RNTD 94%) observed at pH pk_a-1 when the molar ratio of exchange capacity to precursor was 4. The exchange order was obtained as follows: Ca~(2+) Mg~(2+) RNTD~+ K~+ DMA~+ NH_4~+ Na~+. The partition coefficient of DMA~+to Na~+was 1.41 ± 0.26, while that of RNTD~+to Na~+was 12.1 ± 1.9. The pseudo second-order equation fitted the cation exchange kinetics well. Bivalent inorganic cations such as Ca~(2+)were found to have a notable effect on NA precursor removal in softening column test. Besides DMA and RNTD, cation exchange process also worked well for removing other 7 model NDMA precursors. Overall, NDMA precursor removal can be an added benefit of making use of cation exchange water softening processes.     

覆盖金属氧化物对湖泊沉积物溶解性有机质特征的影响

为揭示不同金属氧化物对湖泊沉积物DOM（溶解性有机质）影响机制,通过室内模拟试验,在沉积物表层分别覆盖Fe、Al、Mn氧化物及湖沙后培养1 a,并利用三维荧光和紫外光谱方法进行表征.结果表明:① 覆盖Al、Fe、Mn氧化物和湖沙主要降低了0~3 cm沉积物的w（DOC）,降幅分别为8.61%、6.27%、22.38%和0.44%. ② 沉积物中DOM的类络氨酸峰（peak B₁）和类色氨酸峰（peak T₂）均产生较大变化.其中三种氧化物均显著降低了上层沉积物中DOM的peak T₂,使底层DOM的peakT₂显著增加. Mn氧化物使DOM的peak B₁降低,Fe和Al氧化物使DOM的peak B₁增加,湖沙则使两类峰均降低. ③ 覆盖金属氧化物改变了沉积物DOM结构特征,其中覆盖Fe氧化物增强了其芳香性,而覆盖Mn氧化物和Al氧化却降低其芳香性,但三者均使DOM腐质化程度及官能团数量增加,并使FI（Fluorescence Index,荧光指数）增大,表明DOM向生物源转化.研究显示,沉积物表层覆盖金属氧化物影响了沉积物中DOM迁移和转化,并促进了其降解,导致其分子量和腐殖化程度增加.      

原子吸收法测定海水中铁含量的不确定度评定

为了保证海水中铁元素含量的检测质量,更好地深入了解铁在整个海水体系的生物地球化学中扮演的角色,需科学地评定检测结果的分散性。文章依据《测量不确定度的评定与表示》(JJF1059-1999)的理论,以浙江近海海水为例,评定原子吸收法测定海水中铁含量的不确定度。测得浙江近海样品中铁的浓度为5.2μg/L,扩展不确定度U=0.8μg/L(k=2)。通过对各不确定度分量进行评定发现,利用该方法测定海水中铁含量时,对其合成标准不确定度的主要贡献来自于样品制备过程,尤其是萃取过程。