Clean and effective removal of Cl(-I) from strongly acidic wastewater by PbO2

Recycling strongly acidic wastewater as diluted H₂SO₄ after contaminants contained being removed was previously proposed, however, Cl(-I), a kind of contaminant contained in strongly acidic wastewater, is difficult to remove, which severely degrades the quality of recycled H₂SO₄. In this study, the removal of Cl(-I) using PbO₂ was investigated and the involved mechanisms were explored. The removal efficiency of Cl(-I) reached 93.38% at 50℃ when PbO₂/Cl(-I) mole ratio reached 2:1. The identification of reaction products shows that Cl(-I) was oxidized to Cl₂, and PbO₂ was reduced to PbSO₄. Cl₂ was absorbed by NaOH to form NaClO, which was used for the regeneration of PbO₂ from the generated PbSO₄. Cl(-I) was removed through two pathways, i.e., surface oxidation and •OH radical oxidation. •OH generated by the reaction of PbO₂ and OH⁻ plays an important role in Cl(-I) removal. The regenerated PbO₂ had excellent performance to remove Cl(-I) after six-time regeneration. This study provided an in-depth understanding on the effective removal of Cl(-I) by the oxidation method.     

An integrative analysis of miRNA and mRNA expression in the brains of Alzheimer's disease transgenic mice after real-world PM2.5 exposure

Fine particulatematter (PM2.5) is associated with increased risks of Alzheimer’s disease (AD),yet the toxicologicalmechanisms of PM2.5 promoting AD remain unclear. In this study,wildtype and APP/PS1 transgenic mice (AD mice) were exposed to either filtered air (FA) or PM2.5 for eight weeks with a real-world exposure system in Taiyuan, China (mean PM2.5 concentration in the cage was 61 μg/m3). We found that PM2.5 exposure could remarkably aggravate AD mice’s ethological and brain ultrastructural damage, along with the elevation of the pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6 and TNF-α), Aβ-42 and AChE levels and the decline of ChAT levels in the brains. Based on high-throughput sequencing results, some differentially expressed (DE) mRNAs and DE miRNAs in the brains of AD mice after PM2.5 exposure were screened.Using RT-qPCR, seven DEmiRNAs (mmu-miR-193b-5p, 122b-5p, 466h-3p, 10b-5p, 1895, 384–5p, and 6412) and six genes (Pcdhgb8, Unc13b, Robo3, Prph, Pter, and Tbata) were evidenced the and verified. Two miRNA-target gene pairs (miR-125b-Pcdhgb8 pair and miR-466h-3p-IL-17Rα/TGF-βR2/Aβ-42/AChE pairs) were demonstrated that they were more related to PM2.5-induced brain injury. Results of Gene Ontology (GO) pathways and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways predicted that synaptic and postsynaptic regulation, axon guidance, Wnt, MAPK, and mTOR pathways might be the possible regulatory mechanisms associated with pathological response. These revealed that PM2.5- elevated pro-inflammatory cytokine levels and PM2.5-altered neurotransmitter levels in AD mice could be the important causes of brain damage and proposed the promising miRNA andmRNA biomarkers and potentialmiRNA-mRNA interaction networks of PM2.5-promoted AD.     

ASD-ICP-MS联合快速测定《土壤环境质量标准》中的金属元素简

采用HNO3-HCl-HF-HClO4体系在全自动消解仪消解土壤样品,以50.0μg/L的Rh作内标,用电感耦合等离子体-质谱仪同时测定《土壤环境质量标准》的7种元素Cd、 As、Cu、 Pb、 Cr、 Zn、 Ni。结果表明,土壤标样的测定值与标准值吻合,各元素对应的检出限和相对标准偏差分别为： Cd：0.002 mg/kg和3.6%, As：0.05 mg/kg和5.5%, Cu：0.10 mg/kg和2.9%, Pb：0.18 mg/kg和4.7%, Cr：0.25 mg/kg和2.2%, Zn：0.40 mg/kg和3.4%, Ni：0.20 mg/kg和3.8%。该方法简便快捷,灵敏度高,重现性好。     

Evaluation of efficiency of aircraft liquid waste treatment and identification of daily inspection indices: a case study in Changchun, China

Evaluation of the efficiency of aircraft liquid waste treatment has previously been conducted to prevent pollution of the environment. The current study aimed to provide a set of practical methods for efficient airport sanitary supervision. Aircraft liquid waste was collected at Longjia International Airport, Changchun from multiple flights. The efficiency of liquid waste treatment as well as the water quality of the wastewater processed via a second-stage wastewater facility were examined by measuring a number of physical, chemical, and biological indices. Our results indicated that treatment solely via resolvable sanitizing liquid was not sufficient. Although the contents of first-class pollutants all met the requirements of the standard criteria, the contents of a number of second-class pollutants did not satisfy these criteria. However, after further treatment via a second-stage wastewater facility installed at the airport, all indices reached second-grade requirements of the discharge standard. We suggest that daily inspection and quarantine indices at airports should include the suspension content, biological oxygen demands after 5 days, chemical oxygen demand total organic carbon content, amino nitrogen content, total phosphorous content, and the level of fecal coliforms.     

二氧化氯在医院含菌废水处理中的应用

二氧化氯混合消毒剂是新一代广谱高效消毒剂,消毒能力是次氯的3～5倍.二氧化氯发生器性能安全可靠,运行稳定,操作方便,对人体无不良作用.介绍了二氧化氯混合消毒剂在中国长城铝业公司职工医院含菌废水处理的应用实例.     

Copper leaching of MSWI bottom ash co-disposed with refuse: Effect of short-term accelerated weathering

Co-disposal of refuse with municipal solid waste incinerator (MSWI) bottom ash (IBA) either multi-layered as landfill cover or mixed with refuse could pose additional risk to the environment because of enhanced leaching of heavy metals, especially Cu. This study applied short-term accelerated weathering to IBA, and monitored the mineralogical and chemical properties of IBA during the weathering process. Cu extractability of the weathered IBA was then evaluated using standard leaching protocols (i.e. SPLP and TCLP) and co-disposal leaching procedure. The results showed that weathering had little or no beneficial effect on Cu leaching in SPLP and TCLP, which can be explained by the adsorption and complexation of Cu with DOM. However, the Cu leaching of weathered IBA was reduced significantly when situated in fresh simulated landfill leachate. This was attributed to weakening Cu complexation with fulvic acid or hydrophilic fractions and/or intensifying Cu absorption to neoformed hydr(oxide) minerals in weathered IBA. The amount of total leaching Cu and Cu in free or labile complex fraction (the fraction with the highest mobility and bio-toxicity) of the 408-h weathered IBA were remarkably decreased by 86.3% and 97.6% in the 15-day co-disposal leaching test. Accelerated weathering of IBA may be an effective pretreatment method to decrease Cu leaching prior to its co-disposal with refuse.     

Methyl Tertiary Hexyl Ether and Methyl Tertiary Octyl Ether as Gasoline Oxygenates: Assessing Risks from Atmospheric Dispersion and Deposition

Abstract

Methyl tertiary hexyl ether (MtHxE) and methyl tertiary octyl ether (MtOcE) are currently being developed as replacement oxygenates for methyl tertiary butyl ether (MtBE) in gasoline. As was the case with MtBE, the introduction of these ethers into fuel supplies guarantees their introduction into the environment as well. In this study, a screening-level risk assessment was performed by comparing predicted environmental concentrations (PEC) of these ethers to concentrations that might cause adverse effects to humans or ecosystems. A simple box model that has successfully estimated urban air concentrations of MtBE was adapted to predict atmospheric concentrations of MtHxE and MtOcE. Expected atmospheric concentrations of these ethers were also estimated using the European Union System for the Evaluation of Substances (EUSES) multimedia fate model, which simultaneously calculates PECs in the various environmental compartments of air, water, soil, and sediment. Because little or no data are available on the physicochemical, environmental, and toxicological properties of MtHxE and MtOcE, estimation methods were used in conjunction with EUSES to predict both the PECs and the concentrations at which these ethers might pose a threat. The results suggest that these ethers would contaminate the air of a moderately sized U.S. city (Boston, MA) at levels similar to those found previously for MtBE. The risk assessment module in EUSES predicted risk characterization ratios of 10^?3 and 10^?2 for MtHxE and MtOcE, respectively, in Boston, and 10^?2 and 10^?1 in very large urban centers, suggesting that these ethers pose only a minimal threat to ecosystems at the anticipated environmental concentrations. The assessment also indicates that these compounds are possible human carcinogens and that they may be present in urban air at concentrations that pose an unacceptable cancer risk. Therefore, testing of the toxicological properties of these compounds is recommended before they replace MtBE in gasoline.     

火焰原子吸收光度法测定水中铝的方法改进

研究了在盐酸介质中，壬基酚聚氧乙烯-7醚（NP-7）活化下，火焰原子吸收光度法测定环境水体中铝的方法改进。在25mL容量瓶中，加入5．0mL体积分数为50％的盐酸、2．0mL质量浓度为0．01g／mL NP-7和4．0mL质量浓度为75．0μg/mL的铝标准溶液，在原子吸收分光光度计的最佳测定条件下测定吸光度。根据吸光度与铝质量浓度绘制了工作曲线，线性范围3．0～24．0μg/mL，检出限1．32μg/mL。该法用于环境水体中铝含量的测定，加标回收率为94．4％～101．4％，最大相对标准偏差5．8％，方法对比最大相对误差4．1％。     

Effects of plant density on the photosynthetic and chloroplast characteristics of maize under high-yielding conditions

The Science of Nature - Knowledge on animal personality has provided new insights into evolutionary biology and animal ecology, as behavioural types have been shown to affect fitness. Animal...