Flowering pattern of biodiesel plant Jatropha in frost- and drought-prone regions of Botswana

Jatropha has gained interest as a potential biodiesel feedstock. Nevertheless, its oil production decreases significantly in frost- and drought-prone regions. In this study, we characterized the flowering pattern of Jatropha in Botswana in the 2014/2015 season. Extensive springtime pruning synchronized Jatropha regrowth in summer and effectively stimulated growth after frost damage. Flowering started in February 2015 and peaked in April and May. Wide variations in flowering frequency were observed among different Jatropha accessions. Trees flowering in February and March produced fruit in May, but most trees only flowered in April and May and did not yield fruit because of cold snaps. These observations suggested that harvesting seed before wintertime is the key to improve Jatropha production in the Botswana climate. This study highlighted the importance of inducing early flowering by developing new agricultural managements. These may include frost cover and sun shades to prevent stress-induced damage, canopy control by pruning, optimization of fertilization practice, and/or introduction of superior Jatropha varieties.     

西北干旱地区农宅雨水转化为可饮水技术

雨水集流工程对于解决干旱地区人民生活用水问题起着重要作用,甘肃省兰州市榆中县北山地区处于严重缺水的地区,人畜的饮用水为雨水、雪水直接沉淀后的水窖水。经过对北山饮用水进行水质检测,发现水中浊度、锰含量、微生物数量均超过《生活饮用水卫生标准》(GB5749-2006)的规定值。通过对传统滤池进行改造并结合阳光消毒研制出了一种新型水处理器——阳光消毒-生物砂滤池(SBF)家庭水处理设备,通过生物砂滤池中微生物对雨水中污染物的氧化分解及河砂的过滤使水浊度及锰得到有效地去除,日光高温灭活和光氧化降解综合作用杀灭水中致病微生物。用SBF家庭水处理设备对雨水进行处理,水中浊度、锰含量、微生物数量均达到标准的规定值。     

石英砂滤料表面润湿改性

采用硅烷偶联剂、钛酸酯偶联剂和铝酸酯偶联剂对石英砂进行表面改性,以制备亲油疏水性滤料。研究得出,钛酸酯偶联剂改性石英砂的最佳工艺条件为:偶联剂用量15%,反应温度90℃,搅拌时间15 min;硅烷偶联剂和铝酸酯偶联剂改性石英砂的最佳工艺条件均为:偶联剂用量15%,反应温度110℃,搅拌时间15 min。水对钛酸酯偶联剂改性石英砂滤料的润湿重量由改性前的1.5589 g降低到0.0282 g,水对硅烷偶联剂改性石英砂滤料的润湿重量降低到0.0607 g,水对铝酸酯改性石英砂滤料的润湿重量降低到0.2664 g。静态吸附实验表明,硅烷偶联剂、钛酸酯偶联剂和铝酸酯偶联剂改性石英砂滤料对油的吸附容量分别增加了33.67%、42.87%和22.30%。XPS和FT-IR分析表明,偶联剂均以化学键的方式包覆在石英砂滤料表面,结合稳定。     

The Potential of Pulse-Jet Baghouses for Utility Boilers. Part 2: Performance of Pulse-Jet Fabric Filter Pilot Plants

Pulse-jet fabric filters (PJFFs) are widely used in U.S. industrial boiler applications and in utility and industrial boilers abroad. Their small size and reduced cost relative to more conventional reverse-gas baghouses makes the use of PJFFs appear to be an attractive particulate control option for utility boilers. This paper (Part 2 of a three-part series) summarizes the results of pilot PJFF studies sponsored by the Electric Power Research Institute at different utility sites in the United States. The purpose of these tests is to evaluate PJFF performance for U.S. fossil-fuel-fired applications. These data are also used to corroborate the results of a recent worldwide survey of PJFF user experience, as described in Part 1 of this series. Part 3 will provide a cost comparison of PJFFs to other particulate control options such as electrostatic precipitators and reverse-gas baghouses.     

Evidence for the inhibitory effects of silver nanoparticles on the activities of soil exoenzymes

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are well known to have antimicrobial ability, but very little is known about the effect of AgNPs on soil exoenzyme activities, which reflect the potential of a soil to support biochemical processes. This study provides evidence of the inhibitory effects of AgNPs on the activities of soil exoenzymes. Six exoenzymes related to nutrient cycles (urease, acid phosphatase, arylsulfatase, β-glucosidase) and the overall microbial activity (dehydrogenase, fluorescein diacetate hydrolase) were tested in soils treated with AgNPs (1, 10, 100 and 1000 μg g(-1)) and silver ion (0.035, 0.175, 0.525, 1 and 1.5 μg g(-1)). AgNPs were capable of inhibiting the activities of all the exoenzymes tested in this study. Especially, the urease and dehydrogenase activities were significantly related to the presence of AgNPs. The effects of silver ions dissolved from the AgNPs were not significant, indicating the adverse effects caused by AgNPs themselves. This study suggested that AgNPs negatively affect soil exoenzyme activities, with the urease activity especially sensitive to AgNPs.     

Combining a finite mixture distribution model with indicator kriging to delineate and map the spatial patterns of soil heavy metal pollution in Chunghua County, central Taiwan

This study identifies the natural background, anthropogenic background and distribution of contamination caused by heavy metal pollutants in soil in Chunghua County of central Taiwan by using a finite mixture distribution model (FMDM). The probabilities of contaminated area distribution are mapped using single-variable indicator kriging and multiple-variable indicator kriging (MVIK) with the FMDM cut-off values and regulation thresholds for heavy metals. FMDM results indicate that Cr, Cu, Ni and Zn can be individually fitted by a mixture model representing the background and contamination distributions of the four metals in soil. The FMDM cut-off values for contamination caused by the metals are close to the regulation thresholds, except for the cut-off value of Zn. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve validates that indicator kriging and MVIK with FMDM cut-off values can reliably delineate heavy metals contamination, particularly for areas lacking background information and high heavy metal concentrations in soil.     

Size mass distribution of water-soluble ionic species and gas conversion to sulfate and nitrate in particulate matter in southern Taiwan

A Micro-Orifice Uniform Deposition Impactor (MOUDI) and a Nano-MOUDI were employed to determine the size-segregated mass distributions of ambient particulate matter (PM) and water-soluble ionic species for particulate constituents. In addition, gas precursors, including HCl, HONO, HNO₃, SO₂, and NH₃ gases, were analyzed by an annular denuder system. PM size mass distribution, mass concentration, and ionic species concentration were measured during the day and at night during episode and non-episode periods in winter and summer. Average total suspended particle (TSP) concentrations during episode days in winter were as high as 153?±?33 μg/m³, and PM mass concentrations in summer were as low as one-third of that in winter. Generally, PM concentration at night was higher than that in the daytime in southern Taiwan during the sampling periods. In winter during the episode periods, the size-segregated mass distribution of PM mass concentration was mostly in the 0.32–3.2-μm range, and the PM concentration increased significantly in the range of 0.32–3.2 μm at night. Ammonium, nitrate, and sulfate were the dominant water-soluble ionic species in PM, contributing 34–48 % of TSP mass. High concentrations of ammonia (12.9–49 μg/m³) and SO₂ (2.6–27 μg/m³) were observed in the gas precursors. The conversion ratio was high in the PM size range of 0.18–3.2 μm both during the day and at night in winter, and the conversion ratio of episode days was 20 % higher than that of non-episode days. The conversion factor was high for both nitrogen and sulfur species at nighttime, especially on episode days.     

Transmissometer Measurement of Participate Emissions from a Jet Engine Test Facility

The body of information presented in this paper is directed toward those individuals involved with handling hazardous materials, whether in actual use of such chemicals, or in monitoring atmospheric emissions. Although specifically relating experience in the design and testing of phosgene emission control equipment, it attempts to establish general guidelines for effectively dealing with emissions of hazardous materials. An approach for handling chemical pollutants having no established air quality emission standards is developed. The paper presents a technique for establishing process emissions at acceptably low levels to insure the health and safety of the general population as well as that of the process workers themselves. Methods, suitable for measuring phosgene at these low levels, have been investigated, and problems associated with such an investigation are discussed. While complete theoretical scrubber design criteria are beyond the scope of this paper, many of the "real world" problems which affected scrubber performance are presented. Finally, the practical aspects of process emissions control are illustrated by actual results from the system test.     

Testing and Commercialization of Byproduct Dibasic cids as Buffer Additives for Limestone Flue Gas esulfurization Systems

Pilot plant (0.1 MW) tests and utility boiler full scale demonstration (194 MW) of byproduct organic dibasic acids (DBA) as buffer additives to limestone scrubbers have shown performance improvements equivalent to those achieved by the addition of pure adipic acid. Both SO₂ removal efficiency and limestone utilization increased, and no significant operating problems were observed with three of the four DBA tested. Chemical and biological evaluations of scrubber samples taken during the DBA testing indicated no detectable tOxicity or mutagenicity, and no significant environmental impact is expected as a result of DBA addition. Economic estimates indicate that substitution of DBA for pure adipic acid as a buffer additive will result in additive cost savings of 30 % or greater.     

Trends and Relationships of O3, NOx and HC in the South Coast Air Basin of California

A basin-wide air quality trend analysis for the South Coast Air Basin of California is conducted for hydrocarbons (HC), NO_x, O₃ and CO using multi-station composite daily maximum-hour average ambient concentrations for the third quarter (July, August and September) from 1968 to 1985. Emissions and air quality trends are compared for the period 1968-1984. Ambient HC and NOX trends are somewhat different from estimated emission trends of HC and NO_x, while a definite, downward trend of ambient CO is consistent with vehicular emission control measures. Basin-wide ambient HC, NO_x and O₃ appear to show downward trends for the period 1970-1985, but because of high fluctuations it is difficult to delineate trends for shorter periods. The meteorology (850 mb temperature)-adjusted O₃ shows a more consistent downward trend than does unadjusted O₃. Polynomial and multiplicative regression models for basin-wide empirical O₃-HC-NO_x relationships Indicate that the O₃ variation is explained largely by the meteorological variable (850 mb temperature) although model estimations are improved by adding HC and NO_x concentration terms.