Wastewater nutrient removal by Chlorella pyrenoidosa and Scenedesmus sp

Two different species of photosynthetic microalgae, Chlorella pyrenoidosa and Scenedesmus sp., were grown in settled and activated sewage filtrates at two different inoculum sizes, aimed to reduce nutrient load from wastewater. Higher growth rates were recorded in cultures with higher inoculum size, and algal cells usually grew better in settled sewage than in activated sewage. As algae started to grow and multiply, both nitrogen and phosphorus content in wastewater decreased significantly. The removal rate was rapid during the first week of growth and more than 2/3 of wastewater N and P was reduced. After the initial period, the removal rate slowed down. At the end of this study, more than 80% of total-P and inorganic N present in settled sewage were reduced but such removal efficiency was lower in activated sewage. In general, high inoculum size of algal cells provided more N and P removal than low inoculum, and Chlorella cells performed better than Scenedesmus. These results suggest that cultivation of Chlorella seems to be one of the feasible methods to reduce the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus entering the nearby coastal water, thus preventing the eutrophication problem. It is also clear that algal ponds with high inoculum size might be more suitable to be installed as a secondary rather than a tertiary treatment process.     

How environmental management driving forces affect environmental and economic performance of SMEs: a study in the Northern China district

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) form the core of societal and economic development. However, most people query on the implementation and performance of environmental management. In this paper, the manufacturing SMEs in Northern China with different pollution levels are studied to explore the main forces (e.g., government, society, market, and enterprise itself) driving SMEs for promoting environmental management. It focuses on the correlation between environmental management and economic performance for SMEs at different pollution levels. The results show that SMEs of different pollution levels have significant differences in the relationship of driving forces and performance. First, for SMEs with high-pollution levels, social and market driving forces and government incentives are revealed having a significant effect on their environmental performance. Driving forces from within the enterprise itself and the market provide a positive effect on the economic performance, while social forces have a negative effect. Second, for SMEs with light pollution, social and market driving forces, and government assistance play a supporting role on corporate environmental performance improvement. It is also found that the driving force of the enterprise itself does not have a significant effect on the environmental performance for SMEs with different pollution levels. In addition, the environmental performance and economic performance for SMEs with high or light-pollution levels are positively correlated. Further, it shows that the environmental performance is moderately correlated with financial indices, but not significantly with the non-financial indices.     

Assessment of climate change vulnerability of tourism in Hungary

This paper applies vulnerability assessment methodology to assess the comparative vulnerability of different tourism supply types by region in Hungary. The steps of the methodology include (1) definition of tourism supply typology, (2) identifying exposure indicators, (3) identifying sensitivity indicators, (4) identification of adaptive capacity indicators and (5) developing a vulnerability map. It is clear that climate change has potential negative effects on tourism in Hungary, but the spatial distribution, as well as the sub-sectoral (by tourism supply types) differences of these impacts is almost unknown. Most research papers dealing with the vulnerability of tourism mainly focus on a specific tourism type, whereas this article aims to address all of them from a regional point of view. The key results presented in this paper include the vulnerability map of the country showing the relative vulnerability of different tourism supply types and detailed analysis investigating the possible causes and driving factors. We have categorized tourism regions based on the five most vulnerable tourism supply types. The most significant of them all turned out to be outdoor event-based tourism, being the most vulnerable in the two southern regions, since the expected impacts of climate change are foreseen to be the most significant in these areas.     

Agriotes proximus and A. lineatus (Coleoptera: Elateridae): a comparative study on the pheromone composition and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene sequence

The presence of geranyl octanoate, previously found in pheromone gland extracts of Agriotes lineatus females, was also demonstrated in gland extracts of A. proximus females. Similar to A. lineatus, geranyl butanoate was present only in trace amounts in A. proximus female gland extracts. In air entrainment samples of female A. lineatus and A. proximus beetles, the relative ratio of geranyl butanoate and geranyl octanoate was higher than that in gland extracts. In addition, comparison of a segment of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene of feral specimens of A. lineatus and A. proximus showed >99% similarity. Both pheromone profile and nucleotide sequence analysis delineate close relationship between the investigated taxa and postulate taxonomic revision. Further studies on sympatric populations of A. lineatus and A. proximus are underway to investigate and better understand possible processes of species diversification.     

Growth, photosynthesis and antioxidant responses of two microalgal species, Chlorella vulgaris and Selenastrum capricornutum, to nonylphenol stress

The effect of nonylphenol (NP) on growth, photochemistry and biochemistry of two green microalgae, Chlorella vulgaris and Selenanstrum capricornutum, and their ability to degrade NP were compared. The 96 h EC₅₀ of C. vulgaris and S. capricornutum were greater than 4.0 and 1.0 mg L⁻¹ NP, respectively, suggesting that the former species was more tolerant to NP. Both microalgae acclimated to NP stress through down-regulating their photosynthetic activities, including antenna size (chlorophyll a content), maximal photochemistry (Fv/Fm) and the light absorbed by PSII (ABS/CS₀), but the dissipation of energy from reaction centres (DI₀/RC) increased with the increase of NP concentrations. In C. vulgaris, the changes of these parameters were more significant than in S. capricornutum and recovered completely after a 96 h exposure. The antioxidant responses, such as GSH content, CAT and POD activities in C. vulgaris increased with the increase of NP concentrations after a 24 h exposure, but these changes disappeared with exposure time and recovered to the control levels after 96 h. In S. capricornutum, although GSH content, CAT and POD activities also increased when exposed to low- to moderate-NP concentrations, these values were significantly reduced at a high concentration (4 mg L⁻¹) even after a 96 h exposure, indicating its antioxidant responses were significantly delayed. It is clear that the more NP-tolerant species, C. vulgaris, acclimated better with a faster recovery of its photosynthetic activity from the NP-induced damage, and exhibited more efficient and rapid responses to NP-induced oxidative stress. C. vulgaris also had a higher NP degradation ability than S. capricornutum.     

Effects of alkaline and bioorganic amendments on cadmium,lead, zinc,and nutrient accumulation in brown rice and grain yield in acidic paddy fields contaminated with a mixture of heavy metals

Paddy soils and rice (Oryza sativa L.) contaminated by mixed heavy metals have given rise to great concern. Field experiments were conducted over two cultivation seasons to study the effects of steel slag (SS), fly ash (FA), limestone (LS), bioorganic fertilizer (BF), and the combination of SS and BF (SSBF) on rice grain yield, Cd, Pb, and Zn and nutrient accumulation in brown rice, bioavailability of Cd, Pb, and Zn in soil as well as soil properties (pH and catalase), at two acidic paddy fields contaminated with mixed heavy metals (Cd, Pb, and Zn). Compared to the controls, SS, LS, and SSBF at both low and high additions significantly elevated soil pH over both cultivation seasons. The high treatments of SS and SSBF markedly increased grain yields, the accumulation of P and Ca in brown rice and soil catalase activities in the first cultivation season. The most striking result was from SS application (4.0 t ha^?1) that consistently and significantly reduced the soil bioavailability of Cd, Pb, and Zn by 38.5–91.2 % and the concentrations of Cd and Pb in brown rice by 20.9–50.9 % in the two soils over both cultivation seasons. LS addition (4.0 t ha^?1) also markedly reduced the bioavailable Cd, Pb, and Zn in soil and the Cd concentrations in brown rice. BF remobilized soil Cd and Pb leading to more accumulation of these metals in brown rice. The results showed that steel slag was most effective in the remediation of acidic paddy soils contaminated with mixed heavy metals.     

Recovering valuable metals from recycled photovoltaic modules

Recovering valuable metals such as Si, Ag, Cu, and Al has become a pressing issue as end-of-life photovoltaic modules need to be recycled in the near future to meet legislative requirements in most countries. Of major interest is the recovery and recycling of high-purity silicon (>99.9%) for the production of wafers and semiconductors. The value of Si in crystalline-type photovoltaic modules is estimated to be ?$95/kW at the 2012 metal price. At the current installed capacity of 30 GW/yr, the metal value in the PV modules represents valuable resources that should be recovered in the future. The recycling of end-of-life photovoltaic modules would supply >88,000 and 207,000 tpa Si by 2040 and 2050, respectively. This represents more than 50% of the required Si for module fabrication. Experimental testwork on crystalline Si modules could recover a >99.98%-grade Si product by HNO₃/NaOH leaching to remove Al, Ag, and Ti and other metal ions from the doped Si. A further pyrometallurgical smelting at 1520ºC using CaO–CaF₂–SiO₂ slag mixture to scavenge the residual metals after acid leaching could finally produce >99.998%-grade Si. A process based on HNO₃/NaOH leaching and subsequent smelting is proposed for recycling Si from rejected or recycled photovoltaic modules.

Implications:The photovoltaic industry is considering options of recycling PV modules to recover metals such as Si, Ag, Cu, Al, and others used in the manufacturing of the PV cells. This is to retain its “green” image and to comply with current legislations in several countries. An evaluation of potential resources made available from PV wastes and the technologies used for processing these materials is therefore of significant importance to the industry. Of interest are the costs of processing and the potential revenues gained from recycling, which should determine the viability of economic recycling of PV modules in the future.     

Feasibility of using microalgal biomass cultured in domestic wastewater for the removal of chromium pollutants

The feasibility of obtaining and using the biomass of a microalga, Chlorella miniata, from domestic wastewater (DW) cultures for the removal of chromium(III) [Cr(III)] and chromium(VI) [Cr(VI)] was compared with that from commercial Bristol medium (BM). Results showed that Chlorella miniata cultured in DW under 16-8 hours light-dark cycle [DW(16-8)] had similar growth to that in BM [BM(16-8)], but these two biomass had different biochemical compositions, and the former one had lower carbohydrate and higher protein content. When cultured in domestic wastewater, a higher biomass was obtained under continuous illumination [DW(24-0)], and the cells had higher carbohydrate and lower protein concentrations than that of DW(16-8). The spectra of the Fourier transform infrared spectrometer revealed that the functional groups on the surface of the three kinds of biomass--DW(16-8), DW(24-0), and BM(16-8)--were comparable, except an additional peak at 1731 cm(-1) was found in the biomass cultured in domestic wastewater, which was probably the result of bacterial contamination. Although biochemical differences were found among the three kinds of microalgal biomass, similar biosorption performances to chromium pollutants were recorded, with approximately 75% Cr(III) and 100% Cr(VI) removed at equilibrium in Cr(III) and Cr(VI) experiments, respectively, when dead biomass was used as a biosorbent. Therefore, it is possible to culture Chlorella miniata in domestic wastewater and use the biomass for the removal of chromium pollutants.     

Size dependent cytotoxicity of fly ash particles

Fly ash samples were collected from the electrostatic precipitator of a coal-fired power plant in Hong Kong. The particles of the respirable range (smaller than 10 μm) were divided into 4 groups according to their particle size (mass median aerodynamic diameters). The surface morphology and the metal contents (Fe, Mn, Al and Zn) of fly ash particles were examined by a scanning electron microscope and an inductively coupled plasma spectrophotometer, respectively. The particles were very heterogenous in size and shape as well as the concentration of metals. The cytotoxicity of these four groups of fly ash particles was evaluated using an in vitro rat alveolar macrophages culture assay. The viability of alveolar macrophages was lower when incubated with smaller size particles. This relationship was also reflected by the damage of the surface morphology of the cells and the release of cytoplasmic (lactate dehydrogenase) and lysosomal (acid phosphatase and β-glucuronidase) marker enzymes into the culture media.     

Tail loss and thermoregulation in the common lizard<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Zootoca vivipara</Emphasis>

Tail autotomy in lizards is an adaptive strategy that has evolved to reduce the risk of predation. Since tail loss reduces body mass and moving ability—which in turn are expected to influence thermal balance—there is potential for a trade-off between tail autotomy and thermoregulation. To test this hypothesis, we studied a common lizard (Zootoca vivipara) population at high latitude, inhabiting a high-cost thermal environment. Z. vivipara is a small, non-territorial lizard known as a very accurate thermoregulator. We made two predictions: (1) the reduced body weight due to tail loss results in faster heating rate (a benefit), and (2) the reduction in locomotor ability after tail loss induces a shift to the use of thermally poorer microhabitats (a cost), thus decreasing the field body temperatures of active lizards. We did not find any effect of tail loss on heating rate in laboratory experiments conducted under different thermal conditions. Likewise, no significant relationship between tail condition and field body temperatures, or between tail condition and thermal microhabitat use, were detected. Thus, our results suggest that tail autotomy does not influence the accuracy of thermoregulation in small-bodied lizards.Electronic Supplementary Material  Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at