Simulation and evaluation on the eco-industrial system of Changchun economic and technological development zone, China

Reasonable structure, adaptive patterns and effective regulation of society, economy and environment subsystems should be taken into account in order to obtain harmonious development of urban eco-industrial system. We simulated and evaluated a redesigned eco-industrial system in Changchun Economic and Technological Development Zone (CCETDZ) in the present work using system dynamics and grey cluster methods. Four typical development strategies were simulated during 2005–2020 via standard system dynamic models. Furthermore, analytic hierarchy process and grey cluster allowed for the eco-industrial system evaluation and scenarios optimizing. Our dynamic simulation and statistical analysis revealed that: (1) CCETDZ would have different development scenarios under different strategies. The total population in scenario 2 grew most rapidly and reached 3.28 × 10⁵ in 2020, exceeding its long-term planning expected population. And the GDP differences among these four scenarios would amount to 6.41 × 10¹⁰ RMB. On the other hand, environmental pollution would become serious along with economy increasing. As a restriction factor, positive or negative increment of water resource will occur according to the selected strategy. (2) The fourth strategy would have the best efficiency, which means that the most efficiently development of CCETDZ required to take science, technology, environment progress and economy increase into account at the same time. (3) Positive environment protection measures, such as cleaner production, green manufacture, production life cycle management and environment friendly industries, should be attached great importance the same as economy development during 2005–2020 in CCETDZ.     

Evaluation of levels, sources and distribution of toxic elements in PM10 in a suburban industrial region, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The Oswaldo Cruz Foundation Campus (FIOCRUZ), in a suburban region of the city of Rio de Janeiro, was selected as a case study to assess the pollution released from vehicle and industrial facilities in Basin III, the most polluted area of the city. Concentrations of particulate matter (PM10) and trace metals in airborne particles were determined in an intensive field campaign. The samplings were performed every six days for 24 h periods, using a PM10 high volume sampler, from September 2004 to August 2005. PM10 mass concentrations were determined gravimetrically and the metals by ICP-OES. For PM10, the arithmetic mean for the period is 169 ± 42 μg m⁻³ which is 3.4 times the national recommended standard of 50 μg m⁻³. Additionally, 51% of the samplings exceeded the recommended 24 h limit of 150 μg m⁻³. Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn and Al were the metals that presented the higher concentrations. The correlation matrix gave two main clusters and three significant principal components (PC). Both PC1 and PC2 are associated to crustal, vehicular and industrial emissions while PC3 is mainly associated to geological material. Enrichment factors for Zn, Cu, Cd and Pb indicate that for these elements, anthropic sources prevail over natural inputs. PM10 levels showed a good correlation with hospital admissions for respiratory diseases in children and elderly people.     

Thermal supplementing soil nutrients through biocomposting of night-soil in the northwestern Indian Himalaya

Agriculture is one of the prime activities of the hill people residing in the northwestern Indian Himalaya. However, poor soil fertility in these areas is a big hurdle to sustainable farming. The effects of washout of topsoil and its nutrients, year after year, due to the abundance of snowfall, avalanches, landslides and erosion further add to the woes of the farmers. In the cold and harsh climatic conditions of the region, with grass and vegetation cover being scanty, it is not possible to maintain large herds of cattle for the adequate production of farmyard manure. Faced with this situation, the locals have relied heavily on obtaining organic manure derived from composting of human excreta. In earlier times the dire necessity of the farmers helped them overcome the revulsion associated with the practice of handling human excreta, but now with the advent of modernisation and the easy availability of chemical fertilisers, the people are distancing themselves from this age-old practice. More and more people are opting for modern toilets and leaving behind the traditional toilets that made possible the harvesting of manure from night-soil. As a result, this primitive practice is on the verge of extinction. This eco-friendly practice, that has sustained the land for so many generations, needs to be continued and strengthened as the long-term consequences of excessive and indiscriminant use of chemical fertilisers are becoming too obvious to ignore. Traditional knowledge needs to be combined with modern scientific know-how to make this practice safer and more acceptable. If the composting operation is managed properly, the handling will be less loathsome and the concerns of health and hygiene too will stand addressed. The present study attempts a detailed profile of the practice of 'supplementing soil nutrients through biocomposting of night-soil' in the cold desert region of Lahaul Valley. Four villages running from the northwestern part to the southeastern part of the valley were selected. The study is broadly based on a direct interview of heads of the various households in the selected villages of Kuthar (2600m), Hinsa (2700m), Jahlma (3000m) and Khoksar (3200m).     

Fluorescence imaging applied to tracer distributions in variably saturated fractured clayey till

The study of mechanisms controlling preferential flow and transport in variably saturated fractured clayey till is often hindered by insufficient spatial resolution or unknown measuring volume. With the objective to study these mechanisms while circumventing the obstacles, tracer experiments with two fluorescent tracers Acid Yellow 7 (AY7) and Sulforhodamine B (SB) were performed at three different rain events for a fall and a summer season. Irrigated areas were excavated down to depths of 2.8 m and the movement of both tracers in the exposed profiles was delineated simultaneously by high spatial resolution apparent concentration maps (pixel approximately 1 mm(2)) obtained with an imaging device. The device consists of a light source and a CCD camera, both equipped with tracer-specific-filters for fluorescent light. The fluorescence images were corrected for nonuniform lighting, changing surface roughness, and varying optical properties of the soil profile. The resulting two-dimensional apparent concentration distribution profiles of the tracers showed that: (i) relative low water content in the upper 10 cm of the irrigated till in summer had a pronounced retardation effect on the AY7-migration and no effect on the SB-migration; (ii) the dead-end biopores were not activated in the fall season; (iii) only 3D fracture-plans connected to hydraulically active 1D-biopores contributed to the leaching; (iv) the tracer migration primary followed macropores during both seasons, though AY7 also followed a topsoil piston transport in summer; (v) the highest tracer pixel apparent concentrations were often found in macropores and most pronounced in the summer season; and (vi) 3D-dilution in fractures seems to play a dominating role in AY7-migration in the fall season.     

Estimated nationwide effects of pesticide spray drift on terrestrial habitats in the Netherlands

This study estimated the potential effects of pesticide drift on terrestrial ecosystems outside target areas, for the Dutch situation. A series of field trials was conducted to estimate the effects of drift on different species groups at different distances from a treated plot for different categories of pesticide: herbicides, fungicides and insecticides. Measurements of the pesticide drift deposition resulting from standard agricultural practice were used to model deposition outside the treated area. These data were then combined with national statistics on cropland and pesticide use to assess the ecological effects of pesticide drift for the Netherlands as a whole. Three scenarios were considered: the recent past (1998), the present (2005) and an optimised scenario based on 'best available practice' (2010). In the recent past the impact of herbicide drift on sensitive life stages non-target vascular plants is estimated to have exceeded the 50% effect level on 59% of adjacent linear landscape elements such as ditch banks and hedgerows. For the impact of insecticides and fungicides on non-target insects and fungi this 50% effect figure was 29% and 28% of linear elements, respectively. In the present situation, with (narrow) unsprayed buffer zones and other measures in place, these percentages are down to 41% for herbicides, 21% for insecticides and 14% for fungicides. In the optimised scenario, with a greater buffer width of 2.25m for potatoes (compared to 1.50m in 2005) and 1m for other crops (compared to 0.25 and 0.5m in 2005) and 'best available practice', these percentages can be cut to zero. In natural areas located within farming regions the 10% effect level can be reduced from 31% of such areas (1998) to 0% under conditions of 'best available practice'.     

Porous silica spheres as indoor air pollutant scavengers

Porous silica spheres were investigated for their effectiveness in removing typical indoor air pollutants, such as aromatic and carbonyl-containing volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and compared to the commercially available polymer styrene-divinylbenzene (XAD-4). The silica spheres and the XAD-4 resin were coated on denuder sampling devices and their adsorption efficiencies for VOCs evaluated using an indoor air simulation chamber. Real indoor sampling was also undertaken to evaluate the affinity of the silica adsorbents for a variety of indoor VOCs. The silica sphere adsorbents were found to have a high affinity for polar carbonyls and found to be more efficient than the XAD-4 resin at adsorbing carbonyls in an indoor environment.     

Effective monitoring of agriculture: a response

The development of effective agricultural monitoring networks is essential to track, anticipate and manage changes in the social, economic and environmental aspects of agriculture. We welcome the perspective of Lindenmayer and Likens (J. Environ. Monit., 2011, 13, 1559) as published in the Journal of Environmental Monitoring on our earlier paper, "Monitoring the World's Agriculture" (Sachs et al., Nature, 2010, 466, 558-560). In this response, we address their three main critiques labeled as 'the passive approach', 'the problem with uniform metrics' and 'the problem with composite metrics'. We expand on specific research questions at the core of the network design, on the distinction between key universal and site-specific metrics to detect change over time and across scales, and on the need for composite metrics in decision-making. We believe that simultaneously measuring indicators of the three pillars of sustainability (environmentally sound, social responsible and economically viable) in an effectively integrated monitoring system will ultimately allow scientists and land managers alike to find solutions to the most pressing problems facing global food security.     

Elevated radioxenon detected remotely following the Fukushima nuclear accident

We report on the first measurements of short-lived gaseous fission products detected outside of Japan following the Fukushima nuclear releases, which occurred after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. The measurements were conducted at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), (46°16′47″N, 119°16′53″W) located more than 7000 km from the emission point in Fukushima Japan (37°25′17″N, 141°1′57″E). First detections of ¹³³Xe were made starting early March 16, only four days following the earthquake. Maximum concentrations of ¹³³Xe were in excess of 40 Bq/m³, which is more than ×40,000 the average concentration of this isotope is this part of the United States.     

Environmental impact of APC residues from municipal solid waste incineration: reuse assessment based on soil and surface water protection criteria

Waste management and environmental protection are mandatory requirements of modern society. In our study, air pollution control (APC) residues from municipal solid waste incinerators (MSWI) were considered as a mixture of fly ash and fine particulate solids collected in scrubbers and fabric filters. These are hazardous wastes and require treatment before landfill. Although there are a number of treatment options, it is highly recommended to find practical applications rather than just dump them in landfill sites. In general, for using a construction material, beyond technical specifications also soil and surface water criteria may be used to ensure environmental protection. The Dutch Building Materials Decree (BMD) is a valuable tool in this respect and it was used to investigate which properties do not meet the threshold criteria so that APC residues can be further used as secondary building material. To this end, some scenarios were evaluated by considering release of inorganic species from unmoulded and moulded applications. The main conclusion is that the high amount of soluble salts makes the APC residues a building material prohibited in any of the conditions tested. In case of moulding materials, the limits of heavy metals are complied, and their use in Category 1 would be allowed. However, also in this case, the soluble salts lead to the classification of "building material not allowed". The treatments with phosphates or silicates are able to solve the problem of heavy metals, but difficulties with the soluble salts are still observed. This analysis suggests that for APC residues to comply with soil and surface water protection criteria to be further used as building material at least a pre-treating for removing soluble salts is absolutely required.     

Feasibility of producing ethanol from food waste

Food waste generated in Korea is rich in carbohydrate as high as 65% of total solids. Using the food waste, the feasibility of ethanol production was investigated in a lab-scale fermentor. Pretreatment with hydrolyzing enzymes including carbohydrase, glucoamylase, cellulase and protease were tested for hydrolysis of food waste. The carbohydrase was able to hydrolyze and produce glucose with a glucose yield of 0.63 g glucose/g total solid. Enzymatic hydrolysis and ethanol fermentation by using carbohydrase and Saccharomyces cerevisiae were conducted in the batch mode. For separated hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF), ethanol concentration reached at the level corresponding to an ethanol yield of 0.43 g ethanol/g total solids. For simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF), the ethanol yield was 0.31 g ethanol/g total solids. During the continuous operation of SHF, the volumetric ethanol production rate was 1.18 g/lh with an ethanol yield of 0.3g ethanol/g total solids. For SSF process, the volumetric ethanol production rate was 0.8 g/lh with an ethanol yield of 0.2g ethanol/g total solids.