Reliable evidences that the removal mechanism of hexavalent chromium by natural biomaterials is adsorption-coupled reduction

For the last few decades, over 200 papers have been published in the Cr(VI) biosorption research field. Most early studies have claimed that Cr(VI) was removed from aqueous phase through an anionic adsorption, but this approach has been lost old original position. It has been newly explained that these findings were misinterpreted due to errors in measuring the concentrations of different chromium species in the aqueous phase, insufficient contact time required for equilibrium and the lack of information about the oxidation state of the chromium bound to biomaterials. Although 'adsorption-coupled reduction' is now widely accepted as the mechanism of Cr(VI) biosorption by natural biomaterials, a number of researchers still believe that Cr(VI) is removed by anionic adsorption onto the biomaterials. Therefore, the objective of this study was to show reliable evidences that the removal mechanism of Cr(VI) by natural biomaterials is 'adsorption-coupled reduction'. Sixteen natural biomaterials were used to study the Cr(VI) biosorption. Not only Cr(VI) but also total Cr in the aqueous phase were analyzed. X-ray photoelectron spectroscope was also used to verify the oxidation state of the chromium bound to the biomaterials. Finally, the removal behavior of Cr(VI) by each biomaterial was described by a kinetic model based on a redox reaction.     

Characterization of PM2.5 aerosols dominated by local pollution and Asian dust observed at an urban site in Korea during aerosol characterization experiments (ACE)--Asia Project

Daily fine particulate matter (PM2.5) samples were collected at Gwangju, Korea, during the Aerosol Characterization Experiments (ACE)-Asia Project to determine the chemical properties of PM2.5 originating from local pollution and Asian dust (AD) storms. During the study period, two significant events occurred on April 10-13 and 24-25, 2001, and a minor event occurred on April 19, 2001. Based on air mass transport pathways identified by back-trajectory calculation, the PM2.5 dataset was classified into three types of aerosol populations: local pollution and two AD aerosol types. The two AD types were transported along different pathways. One originated from Gobi desert area in Mongolia, passing through Hunshandake desert in Northern Inner Mongolia, urban and polluted regions of China (AD1), and the other originated in sandy deserts located in the Northeast Inner Mongolia Plateau and then flowed southward through the Korean peninsula (AD2). During the AD2 event, a smoke plume that originated in North Korea was transported to our study site. Mass balance closures show that crustal materials were the most significant species during both AD events, contributing -48% to the PM2.5 mass; sulfate aerosols (19.1%) and organic matter (OM; 24.6%) were the second greatest contributors during the AD1 and AD2 periods, respectively, indicating that aerosol properties were dependent on the transport pathway. The sulfate concentration constituted only 6.4% (4.5 microg/m3) of the AD2 PM2.5 mass. OM was the major chemical species in the local pollution-dominated PM2.5 aerosols, accounting for 28.7% of the measured PM2.5 mass, followed by sulfate (21.4%), nitrate (15%), ammonium (12.8%), elemental carbon (8.9%), and crustal material (6.5%). Together with substantial enhancement of the crustal elements (Mg, Al, K, Ca, Sc, Ti, Mn, Fe, Sr, Zr, Ba, and Ce), higher concentrations of pollution elements (S, V, Ni, Zn, As, Cd, and Pb) were observed during AD1 and AD2 than during the local pollution period, indicating that, in addition to crustal material, the AD dust storms also had a significant influence on anthropogenic elements.     

Regeneration of iron for trichloroethylene reduction by Shewanella alga BrY

Zero valent iron (ZVI), the primary reactive material in several permeable reactive barriers, is often oxidized to ferrous or ferric iron, resulting in decreased reactivity with time. Iron reducing bacteria can reconvert the ferric iron to its ferrous form, prolonging the reduction of chlorinated organic contaminants. In this study, the reduction of Fe(II,III) oxide and Fe(III) oxide by a strain of iron reducing bacteria of the group Shewanella alga BrY(S. alga BrY) was observed in both aqueous and solid phases. S. alga BrY preferentially reduced dissolved ferric iron over the solid ferric iron. In the presence of iron oxide the Fe(II) ions reduced by S. alga BrY efficiently reduced trichloroethylene (TCE). On the other hand, Fe(II) produced by S. alga BrY covered the reactive surfaces of ZVI iron filings and inhibited the reduction of TCE by ZVI. The formation of precipitates on the iron oxide or Fe0 surface was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. The results suggest that iron-reducing bacteria in the oxidized Fe0 barriers can enhance the removal rate of chlorinated organic compounds and influence on the long-term performance of Fe0 reactive barriers.     

日本企业的环境责任

上世纪90年代初期,日本的许多企业都未将环境管理、指标、社会责任等纳入企业成本、运营和规划中,他们认为这会给企业带来负担。也无必要,这种情形与现阶段的中国企业有着非常类似的“价值取向”,我们希望这篇文章能给中国的同行们带来一些思考和借鉴,从而使得我们的企业更绿,环境更清洁,社会更可持续。[编者按]     

Gender differences in public office workers’ satisfaction,subjective symptoms and musculoskeletal complaints in workplace and office environments

This study investigates differences between male and female public office workers’ satisfaction levels, sick building syndrome (SBS) symptoms and musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) complaints in workplace and office environments. Questionnaire surveys were performed in 30 offices from 15 public institutions. Male and female workers of the same age were coupled and selected from each office, gathering a total of 120 male and 120 female subjects. The results show that differences exist between genders in noise and lighting satisfaction levels, SBS-related symptoms (eye, nose, skin) and MSD complaints of hand/wrist/finger, while there is no difference in overall satisfaction level of office environments. The study also suggests that office design for public office workers should take into account gender differences in preventing MSDs and also SBS. The findings of this study are expected to serve as basic data for designing effective public office environments.     

Relative importance of polychlorinated naphthalenes compared to dioxins, and polychlorinated biphenyls in human serum from Korea: Contribution to TEQs and potential sources

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in human have been studied extensively; however, polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) have been studied less widely. The mean concentrations of PCNs, PCDDs, PCDFs, and PCBs in 61 healthy human volunteers were 2170 pg/g lipid, 452 pg/g lipid, 116 pg/g lipid, and 120 ng/g lipid respectively, and the mean toxic equivalents (TEQs) contributed by PCNs, PCDDs, PCDFs, and PCBs were 5.88, 5.22, 5.48, and 5.33 pg/g lipid, respectively. PCNs contributed to 26.8% of the total TEQs. 1,2,3,7,8-PeCDD, 2,3,4,7,8-PeCDF, PCB126, and hepta-CN-73 accounted for >62% of the total TEQs in the human serum samples. The overall serum PCN homologue profiles of all subjects were dominated by tetra- and penta-CN homologues, and the most predominant individual congener was hepta-CN-73, which contributed 17.5% of the total serum PCN concentration. Enrichment of hepta-CN-73 in the human serum samples might be due to contributors from combustion sources.     

Asian dust events observed by a 20-m monitoring tower in Mongolia during 2009

A 20-m Asian dust monitoring tower was installed at Erdene in Dornogobi, Mongolia in later 2008, which is one of the high Asian dust source regions in the Asian domain, to investigate meteorological conditions for the dust events. The tower was equipped with meteorological sensors (temperature, humidity and wind speed at four levels, precipitation and pressure near the surface), radiation sensors (solar radiation, net radiation) and soil measurement sensors (soil moisture and soil temperature at three levels and soil heat flux at one level) and turbulent measurement (sonic anemometer) at the 8 m height and PM₁₀ concentration measurement (beta guage) at the 3 m height. Measurement was made for a full year of 2009. The observed data indicated that dust events occur all year round with the maximum hourly mean maximum concentration of 4107 μg m^?3 in the early May to a minimum of 92 μg m^?3 in later August. It was found that the dust concentration at this site is directly related to the wind speed exceeding the threshold wind speed (likewise the corresponding friction velocity) during the winter to early spring. However, the observed dust concentration is not only related to the wind speed exceeding the threshold wind speed but also to the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) during the late spring to the late autumn due to the growth of vegetation. It was also found that the surface soil moisture content does not affect the dust concentration due to the relatively short residence time of the soil moisture in the surface soil. The presently monitored data can be used to verify parameters used in the Asian Dust Aerosol Model (ADAM) that is the operational forecasting dust model in the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).     

A contribution of brown carbon aerosol to the aerosol light absorption and its radiative forcing in East Asia

Brown carbon aerosols were recently found to be ubiquitous and effectively absorb solar radiation. We use a 3-D global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) together with aircraft and ground based observations from the TRACE-P and the ACE-Asia campaigns to examine the contribution of brown carbon aerosol to the aerosol light absorption and its climatic implication over East Asia in spring 2001. We estimated brown carbon aerosol concentrations in the model using the mass ratio of brown carbon to black carbon (BC) aerosols based on measurements in China and Europe. The comparison of simulated versus observed aerosol light absorption showed that the model accounting for brown carbon aerosol resulted in a better agreement with the observations in East Asian-Pacific outflow. We then used the model results to compute the radiative forcing of brown carbon, which amounts up to ?2.4 W m^?2 and 0.24 W m^?2 at the surface and at the top of the atmosphere (TOA), respectively, over East Asia. Mean radiative forcing of brown carbon aerosol is ?0.43 W m^?2 and 0.05 W m^?2 at the surface and at the TOA, accounting for about 15% of total radiative forcing (?2.2 W m^?2 and 0.33 W m^?2) by absorbing aerosols (BC + brown carbon aerosol), having a significant climatic implication in East Asia.     

Flux measurements of volatile organic compounds by the relaxed eddy accumulation method combined with a GC-FID system in urban Houston,Texas

A tall tower flux measurement setup was established in metropolitan Houston, Texas, to measure trace gas fluxes from emission sources in the urban surface layer. We describe a new relaxed eddy accumulation (REA) system combined with a dual-channel GC-FID used for VOC flux measurements, focusing on benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes (BTEX) results. Ambient air sampled from 60 m above the ground next to a sonic anemometer was subsampled by a membrane pump and pushed into an REA valve system with two Teflon bag reservoirs, then transferred to two preconcentration units for thermal desorption. We discuss the performance of our system and the selected BTEX measurement results using approximately 8 weeks of data (May 22–July 22, 2008), presenting diurnal variations of concentrations and fluxes of these traffic tracers. The measured values exhibited diurnal cycles with dominant morning and midday peaks during weekdays related to rush hour traffic and additional weekday daytime toluene and xylenes emissions. Local evaporative emissions, likely from solvent usage, significantly contributed to the measured fluxes. We upscaled measured emissions to the county level using a high resolution land cover data set and compared the results with EPA’s National Emission Inventory (NEI).     

Chemical characteristics of fine particulate matters measured during severe winter haze events in Ulaanbaatar,Mongolia

In order to investigate the chemical characteristics of atmospheric aerosol measured during a severe winter haze event, 12-hr PM_2.5 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 μm) samples were collected at an urban site in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, from January 9 to February 17, 2008. On average, 12-hr PM_2.5 mass concentration was 105.1 ± 34.9 μg/m³. Low PM_2.5 mass concentrations were measured when low pressure developed over central Mongolia. The 12-hr average organic mass by carbon (OMC) varied from 6.4 to 132.3 μg/m³, with a mean of 54.9 ± 25.4 μg/m³, whereas elemental carbon (EC) concentration ranged from 0.1 to 3.6 μgC/m³, with a mean of 1.5 ± 0.8 μgC/m³. Ammonium sulfate was found to be the most abundant water-soluble ionic component in Ulaanbaatar during the sampling period, with an average concentration of 11.3 ± 5.0 μg/m³. In order to characterize the effect of air mass pathway on fine particulate matter characteristics, 5-day back-trajectory analysis was conducted, using the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model. The haze level was classified into three categories, based on the 5-day air mass back trajectories, as Stagnant (ST), Continental (CT), and Low Pressure (LP) cases. PM_2.5 mass concentration during the Stagnant condition was approximately 2.5 times higher than that during the Low Pressure condition, mainly due to increased pollutant concentration of OMC and secondary ammonium sulfate.

Implications: Mongolia is experiencing rapid rates of urbanization similar to other Asian countries, resulting in air pollution problems by the growing number of automobiles and industrialization. Ulaanbaatar, capital of Mongolia, is inherently vulnerable to air pollution because of its emission sources, topography, and meteorological characteristics. Very limited measurements on chemical characteristics of particulate matter have been carried out in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.