Effects of rare earth elements La and Yb on the morphological and functional development of zebrafish embryos

In recent years, with the wide applications and mineral exploitation of rare earth elements, their potential environmental and health effects have caused increasing public concern. Effect of rare earth elements La and Yb on the morphological and functional development of zebrafish embryos were studied. The embryos were exposed to La³⁺ or Yb³⁺ at 0, 0.01, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5 and 1.0 mmol/L, respectively. Early life stage parameters such as egg and embryo mortality, gastrula development, tail detachment, eyes, somite formation, circulatory system, pigmentation, malformations, hatching rate, length of larvae and mortality were investigated. The results showed La³⁺ and Yb³⁺ delayed zebrafish embryo and larval development, decreased survival and hatching rates, and caused tail malformation in a concentration-dependent way. Moreover, heavy rare-earth ytterbium led to more severe acute toxicity of zebrafish embryo than light rare-earth lanthanum.     

Operating condition influences on PCDD/Fs emissions from sinter pot tests with hot flue gas recycling

This study was designed to clarify the influence of operating conditions on the formation and emissions of polychlorinated-pdibenzodioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) from a sintering process with hot flue gas recycling. A pilot scale sinter pot with simulated flue gas recycling was developed, and four key operational parameters, including temperature, oxygen content of the simulated waste flue gas, the coke rate of the sintering mixture, and the quicklime quality, were selected for exploring PCDD/Fs formation. The results showed that the temperature of the recycled flue gas had a major affect on PCDD/Fs formation, and a high temperature could significantly increase their formation during sintering. A clear linear correlation between the temperature of recycling flue gas and PCDD/Fs emission (r = 0.93) was found. PCDD/Fs could be reduced to a certain extent by decreasing the level of oxygen in the recycled flue gas, while sintering quality was unchanged. The coke rate had no significant influence on the formation of PCDD/Fs, but the quality of quicklime used in the sintering mixture could affect not only the amount of PCDD/Fs emissions but also the sintering productivity. Compared with a benchmark sinter pot test, PCDD/Fs emissions markedly decreased with improvements to quicklime quality. However, the reduction in PCDD/Fs emissions realized by using high-quality quicklime was limited by the temperature of the inlet gas. The highest reduction achieved was 51% compared with conventional quicklime when the temperature of the inlet gas was 150°C.     

Three-dimensional hydrodynamic and water quality model for TMDL development of Lake Fuxian, China

Lake Fuxian is the largest deep freshwater lake in China. Although its average water quality meets Class I of the China National Water Quality Standard (CNWQS), i.e., GB3838-2002, monitoring data indicate that the water quality approaches the Class II threshold in some areas. Thus it is urgent to reduce the watershed load through the total maximum daily load (TMDL) program. A three-dimensional hydrodynamic and water quality model was developed for Lake Fuxian, simulating flow circulation and pollutant fate and transport. The model development process consists of several steps, including grid generation, initial and boundary condition configurations, and model calibration processes. The model accurately reproduced the observed water surface elevation, spatiotemporal variations in temperature, and total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentrations, suggesting a reasonable numerical representation of the prototype system for further TMDL analyses. The TMDL was calculated using two interpretations of the water quality standards for Class I of the CNWQS based on the maximum instantaneous surface and annual average surface water concentrations. Analysis of the first scenario indicated that the TN, TP and COD loads should be reduced by 66%, 68% and 57%, respectively. Water quality was the highest priority; however, local economic development and cost feasibility for load reduction can pose significant issues. In the second interpretation, the model results showed that, under the existing conditions, the average water quality meets the Class I standard and therefore load reduction is unnecessary. Future studies are needed to conduct risk and cost assessments for realistic decision-making.     

Heavy metal phytoextraction by Sedum alfredii is affected by continual clipping and phosphorus fertilization amendment

Improving the efficacy of phytoextraction is critical for its successful application in metal contaminated soils. Mineral nutrition affects plant growth and metal absorption and subsequently the accumulation of heavy metal through hyper-accumulator plants. This study assessed the effects of di-hydrogen phosphates (KH₂PO₄, Ca(H₂PO₄)₂, NaH₂PO₄ and NH₄H₂PO₄) application at three levels (22, 88 and 352 mg P/kg soil) on Sedum alfredii growth and metal uptake by three consecutive harvests on aged and Zn/Cd combined contaminated paddy soil. The addition of phosphates (P) significantly increased the amount of Zn taken up by S. alfredii due to increased shoot Zn concentration and dry matter yield (DMY) (P<0.05). The highest phytoextraction of Zn and Cd was observed in KH₂PO₄ and NH₄H₂PO₄ treatment at 352 mg P/kg soil. The amount of Zn removed by phytoextraction increased in the order of 1st clipping<2nd clipping<3rd clipping, and for Cd extraction the order was 2nd clipping<1st clipping<3rd clipping. These results indicate that the application of P fertilizers coupled with multiple cuttings can enhance the removal of Zn and Cd from contaminated soils by S. alfredii, thus shortening the time needed for accomplishing remediation goals.     

长江三角洲地区基于喷涂工艺的溶剂源VOCs排放特征

了解挥发性有机物(volatile organic compounds,VOCs)的溶剂源排放特征是制定长江三角洲地区PM2.5和臭氧防控策略的关键.本研究通过罐采样-GC-MS/FID测定了长江三角洲地区重点喷涂行业(集装箱喷涂、造船喷涂、木器喷涂和汽车喷涂业)的VOCs排放特征.结果表明,长江三角洲地区喷涂行业排放的主要VOCs组分为甲苯、二甲苯、乙苯等芳香烃类物质,三者之和占总VOCs的质量分数为79%~99%.生产工艺的不同对VOCs的排放组成影响并不大,废气处理装置中活性炭吸附对VOCs的组成并无明显影响,而催化燃烧的处理过程会使VOCs的排放组成产生显著变化,乙烯排放明显增大,同时也使得催化燃烧处理最大增量反应活性(maximum increment reactivity,MIR)值高于活性炭吸附处理后的MIR值,说明不同的处理措施的使用将影响VOCs对臭氧的生成作用.     

自上而下的城市能源消耗碳排放估算方法

快速的城镇化进程带来城市碳排放的快速增长,准确的城市水平碳排放数据对于制定科学合理的碳减排政策极为关键,明确碳排放源的关键类别可以做到有的放矢和精准管控.但是目前中国碳排放数据的研究主要集中在国家、地区和省级层面,城市水平由于所需基础数据的不透明和不准确,长久以来缺乏完整的碳排放清单.为解决该问题,在以前相关研究的基础上,通过省级能源平衡表,尝试利用合理的分配指标从省级碳排放数据估算出下属城市的碳排放,构建了一套自上而下的城市能源消耗碳排放估算方法.通过与现有可获得的城市水平数据进行对比,发现估算差距均在10%以内,证明了该方法的可行性和准确性,并尝试在时间尺度进行了扩展.为获取在时间和空间上均连续的中国城市能源消耗碳排放数据提供了科学的方法和合理的思路,也能为各城市分配减排任务和城市间进行减排协商提供可靠的数据支撑.     

The ignored emission of volatile organic compounds from iron ore sinter process

Iron ore sintering is a major source of gaseous and particulate pollutants emission in iron smelt plant. The aim of present study is to characterize the volatile organic compounds(VOCs) emission profiles from iron ore sintering process. Both sinter pot test and sinter simulation experiment were conducted and compared. Out results showed that sinter process produced large quantity of VOCs together with NOxand SO_2. VOCs and NO were produced simultaneously in sinter pot test from 3 to 24 min after ignition, flowed by SO_2 production from 15 min to the end of sintering. Total VOCs(TVOC) concentration in sinter flue gas was affected by the coal and coke ratio in sinter raw material. The maximum TVOC concentration was 34.5 ppm when using 100% coal as fuel. Sinter simulation experiments found that the number of VOCs species and their concentrations were found by sinter temperature. The largest VOCs species varieties were obtained at 500 °C. Benzene, toluene,xylene and ethylbenzene were major VOCs in sinter flue gas based on the results from both simulation test and sinter pot. It thus demonstrated that in addition to NO_x, SO_2 and metal oxide particles, sinter flue gas also contained significant amount of VOCs whose environmental impact cannot be ignored. Based on our work, it is timely needed to establish a new VOC emission standard for sinter flue gas and develop advanced techniques to simultaneously eliminate multi-pollutants in iron ore sinter process.     

Enhanced nitrate reduction in water by a combined bio-electrochemical system of microbial fuel cells and submerged aquatic plant Ceratophyllum demersum

High nitrate(NO_3~-)loading in water bodies is a crucial factor inducing the eutrophication of lakes.We tried to enhance NO_3~-reduction in overlying water by coupling sediment microbial fuel cells(SMFCs)with submerged aquatic plant Ceratophyllum demersum.A comparative study was conducted by setting four treatments:open-circuit SMFC(Control),closed-circuit SMFC(SMFC-c),open-circuit SMFC with C.demersum(Plant),and closed-circuit SMFC with C.demersum(P-SMFC-c).The electrochemical parameters were documented to illustrate the bio-electrochemical characteristics of SMFC-c and P-SMFC-c.Removal pathways of NO_3~- in different treatments were studied by adding quantitative~(15)NO_3~- to water column.The results showed that the cathodic reaction in SMFC-c was mainly catalyzed by aerobic organisms attached on the cathode,including algae,Pseudomonas,Bacillus,and Albidiferax.The oxygen secreted by plants significantly improved the power generation of SMFC-c.Both electrogenesis and plants enhanced the complete removal of NO_3~- from the sediment–water system.The complete removal rates of added~(15)N increased by 17.6% and 10.2% for SMFC-c and plant,respectively,when compared with control at the end of experiment.The electrochemical/heterotrophic and aerobic denitrification on cathodes mainly drove the higher reduction of NO_3~- in SMFC-c and plant,respectively.The coexistence of electrogenesis and plants further increased the complete removal of NO_3~- with a rate of 23.1%.The heterotrophic and aerobic denitrifications were simultaneously promoted with a highest abundance of Flavobacterium,Bacillus,Geobacter,Pseudomonas,Rhodobacter,and Arenimonas on the cathode.     

Temporal variability of visibility and its parameterizations in Ningbo, China

Simultaneous and continuous measurements of visibility, meteorological parameters and air pollutants were carried out at a suburban site in Ningbo from June 1, 2013 to May 31,2015. The characteristics of visibility and their relationships with air pollutants and meteorological factors were investigated using multiple statistical methods. Daily visibility ranged from 0.6 to 34.1 km, with a mean value of 11.8 km. During the 2-year experiment,43.4% of daily visibility was found to be less than 10.0 km and only 9.2% was greater than 20.0 km. Visibility was lower in winter with a frequency of 53.4% in the range of 0.0–5.0 km.Annual visibility had an obvious diurnal variation, with the lowest and highest visibility being 7.5 km at approximately 06:00 local time and 15.6 km at approximately 14:00 local time, respectively. Multiple correspondence analysis(MCA) indicated that the different ranges of visibility were significantly affected by different levels of pollutants and meteorological conditions. Based on the analyses, visibility was found to be an exponential function of PM_(2.5) concentrations within a certain range of relative humidity. Thus, nonlinear models combining multiple linear regressions with exponential regression were subsequently developed using the data collected from June 2014 to May 2015, and the data from June 2013 to May 2014 was used to evaluate the performance of the model. It was demonstrated that the derived models can quantitatively describe the relationships between visibility, air quality and meteorological parameters in Ningbo.