Leaching characteristics of heavy metals from sewage sludge by Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans MET

An acidophilic, sulfur-oxidizing Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans MET bacterium was isolated from anaerobically digested, dewatered sewage sludge. This bacterium showed sulfur-oxidizing ability at both acidic and neutral conditions, and allowed metal leaching even at a high (130 g L(-1)) sludge solids concentration. We found that low metal leaching efficiency at high solids concentration was mainly due to an increase in buffering capacity resulting in retardation of pH reduction. Therefore, metal leaching was mainly influenced not by sludge solids concentration, but by the pH (or sulfate concentration per unit sludge mass) of the sludge solutions. The relationship between the pH of the sludge solution and the efficiency of metal leaching was obtained by quantitatively investigating the effect of pH reduction or the amount of sulfate produced per unit sludge mass on leaching of each metal. Furthermore, the relationship between total metal content in the sludge and metal leached to the solution was obtained for each metal. Such a relationship allowed estimation of leachable metal at various amounts of total metal content in sludge.     

Integration of accident scenario generation and multiobjective optimization for safety-cost decision making in chemical processes

Investment in Chemical Process Industries for improving their safety requires considering risk level, environmental effect, cost and many other aspects simultaneously. This paper focuses on a new systematic method of finding the most cost–risk–effective investment scenario set. The method uses the automatic accident scenario generation technique first to find a set of the most dangerous scenarios. Then it uses the multiobjective optimization method to decide the priority of the investment. These computations includes considering many constraints such as limited budget, environmental requirements and social demands. The Styrene Monomer plant case study proves the practical use of this integration method of accident scenario generation and multiobjective optimization.     

Interpolating SRTM Elevation Data to Higher Resolution to Improve Hydrologic Analysis

The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) digital elevation model (DEM) has been a valuable resource for hydrological analysis, providing elevation data at a consistent resolution on a near‐global scale. However, its resolution (three arc‐second or 90 m) is sometimes too low to obtain the desired level of accuracy and precision for hydrologic analysis. We evaluated the performance of several methods for interpolating SRTM three arc‐second data to a 30‐m resolution grid to better represent topography and derive terrain characteristics of the landscape. STRM data were interpolated to 30‐m DEMs on a common grid using spline, inverse distance weighting (IDW), kriging (KR), natural neighbor methods, and cubic convolution (CC) resampling. Accuracy of the methods was assessed by comparing interpolated and resampled 30‐m grids with the reference data. Slope, aspect, sinks, and stream networks were derived for the 30‐m grids and compared on a cell‐by‐cell basis to evaluate their performance in reproducing the derivatives. The comparisons identify spline and KR as the most accurate interpolation methods, of which spline is preferred because of its relative simplicity. IDW provided the greatest bias in all methods with artifacts evident in slope and aspect maps. The performance of CC projection directly to a 30‐m resolution was comparable to spline interpolation, thus is recommended as the most convenient method for interpolating SRTM to a higher resolution.     

Dissolved organic matter effects on the performance of a barrier to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon transport by groundwater

In order to contain the movement of organic contaminants in groundwater, a subsurface sorption barrier consisting of sand or clay minerals coated with a cationic surfactant has been proposed. The effectiveness of such a sorption barrier might be affected by the presence of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the groundwater. To study the impact of DOM on barrier performance, a series of batch experiments were performed by measuring naphthalene and phenanthrene sorption onto sand coated with cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) and bentonite coated with hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (HDTMA) in the presence of various concentrations of DOM. The overall soil-water distribution coefficient (K*) of naphthalene and phenanthrene onto CPC-coated sand decreased with increasing DOM concentration, whereas the K* of the compounds onto HDTMA-coated bentonite slightly increased with increasing DOM concentration. To describe the overall distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the systems, a competitive multiphase sorption (CMS) model was developed and compared with an overall mechanistic sorption (OMS) model. The modeling studies showed that while the OMS model did not explain the CPC-coated sand experimental results, a model that included competitive sorption between DOM and PAH did. The experimental results and the modeling study indicated that there was no apparent competition between DOM and PAH in the HDTMA-coated bentonite system, and indicated that in groundwater systems with high DOM, a barrier using HDTMA-coated bentonite might be more effective.     

A kinetic study on oxidation of pentachlorophenol by ozone

The kinetics of pentachlorophenol (PCP) ozonation in terms of the gaseous O3 and dissolved PCP concentrations has been investigated. When the O3 concentration in the gas phase was in the range of 10 to 40 g O3/m3, the O3 dissolved for a short time period was proportional to the gaseous O3 concentration. In this range, the ozonation reaction was first order for each reactant and the overall reaction was second order. At 25 degrees C, in an aqueous solution, the reaction rate constant was estimated to be 10.048 L/mol.sec. The reaction rate was much greater than the mass-transfer rate, indicating that the reaction of O3 and PCP was an interface reaction on the surface of gaseous O3 bubbles. The final product of the PCP ozonation was oxalic acid, with the carbon yield of the reaction being 59.4%. The ozonation of PCP in the aqueous solution was not a radical reaction but a direct reaction between O3 and PCP molecules under the conditions investigated in this study, since O3 has a high selectivity toward PCP. The reaction rate increased with the reaction temperature up to 35 degrees C but decreased at temperatures greater than 35 degrees C due to the decreased solubility of O3. The addition of H2O2 did not increase the reaction rate significantly.     

Wilderness forms and their implications for global environmental policy and conservation

With the intention of securing industry-free land and seascapes, protecting wilderness entered international policy as a formal target for the first time in the zero draft of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity. Given this increased prominence in international policy, it is timely to consider the extent to which the construct of wilderness supports global conservation objectives. We evaluated the construct by overlaying recently updated cumulative human pressure maps that offer a global-scale delineation of industry-free land as wilderness with maps of carbon stock, species richness, and ground travel time from urban centers. Wilderness areas took variable forms in relation to carbon stock, species richness, and proximity to urban centers, where 10% of wilderness areas represented high carbon and species richness, 20% low carbon and species richness, and 3% high levels of remoteness (>48 h), carbon, and species richness. Approximately 35% of all remaining wilderness in 2013 was accessible in <24 h of travel time from urban centers. Although the construct of wilderness can be used to secure benefits in specific contexts, its application in conservation must account for contextual and social implications. The diverse characterization of wilderness under a global environmental conservation lens shows that a nuanced framing and application of the construct is needed to improve understanding, communication, and retention of its variable forms as industry-free places.