Aerobic degradation of bisphenol A by Achromobacter xylosoxidans strain B-16 isolated from compost leachate of municipal solid waste

A novel bacterium designated strain B-16 was isolated from the compost leachate of the municipal solid waste (MSW) in a laboratory reactor. This strain was identified as a gram-negative bacterium, Achromobacter xylosoxidans that could grow on bisphenol A (BPA, a representative endocrine disruptor) as a sole carbon source under aerobic condition. BPA-degrading characteristics of strain B-16 were investigated in liquid cultures. The results show that BPA degradation was influenced by several factors (e.g. inoculum size, substrate concentration, temperature and pH, etc). The half-lives, optimum temperature and pH were found to be 0.58-3.1d, 35 degrees C and 7.0, respectively. BPA-degrading activity and cell growth were inhibited at high substrate concentration. Metabolic intermediates detected during the degradation process were identified as p-hydroxybenzaldehyde, p-hydroxybenzoic acid and p-hydroquinone, respectively. Metabolic pathway of BPA degradation was proposed in this study.     

Column studies on transport of deicing additive benzotriazole in a sandy aquifer and a zerovalent iron barrier

Benzotriazole (BTA), a chemical with wide industrial applications, is a typical additive in deicer/anti-icer used at airport. To achieve a better understanding of the transport behaviour and environmental fate of BTA, laboratory column studies have been performed on subsoil samples from Oslo Airport, Gardermoen. To explore possibilities for aquifer remediation, BTA behaviour was also studied in a column of granular zerovalent iron (Fe(0)). The subsoil column study demonstrates a very limited retardation of BTA. Consecutive loadings of BTA of the subsoil column showed no change of the break-through curve (BTC) and complete desorption was observed. The sorption behaviour of BTA to metallic iron (Fe(0)) was rather complex. Considerable retardation was observed in the Fe(0) column and repeated BTA loading resulted in an earlier break-through. Between 20% and 50% of the input concentration was retained permanently in the iron (Fe(0)) column. The BTA sorption to metallic iron was found to be enhanced by chloride which lowered the break-through concentration (i.e the C/C(0) plateau). The fraction of BTA remaining in the iron column was found to vary with the flow rate, indicating a time dependant multilayer sorption mechanism. The steady increase in the amount of adsorbed BTA to the iron column during loading corresponds to a rather strong bonding of 4-15 BTA layers to the iron surface. A very slow desorption of BTA was observed; even after flushing with 753 pore volumes of BTA free water, 7.5% of the BTA remained in the column. A geochemical model was developed based on PHREEQC-2 to simulate the sorption and transport of BTA in the tested materials. The BTA sorption was modelled with Freundlich sorption isotherms, as earlier determined in batch experiments. A slight adjustment of the Freundlich parameters was required to fit the observed column break-through. However, our model was not able to simulate the long-term retainment of BTA in the granular iron columns. The simulations confirm the high mobility of BTA in groundwater aquifers and suggest that zerovalent iron could be used to retain a BTA plume, although oxidation of the sorbent might reduce the long-term performance of such a remediation scheme and slow desorption has been observed.     

Influence of the DMPP (3,4-dimethyl pyrazole phosphate) on nitrogen transformation and leaching in multi-layer soil columns

The application of nitrogen fertilizers leads to various ecological problems such as nitrate leaching. The use of nitrification inhibitors as nitrate leaching retardants is a proposal that has been suggested for inclusion in regulations in many countries. In this study, using a multi-layer soil column device, the influence of new nitrification inhibitor DMPP (3,4-dimethyl pyrazole phosphate) was studied for understanding the nitrogen vertical transformation and lowering the nitrate leaching at different soil profile depths. The results indicated that, within 60 d of experiment, the regular urea added 1.0% DMPP can effectively inhibit the ammonium oxidation in the soil, and improve the ammonium concentration in soil solution over the 20cm depths of soil profile, while decline the concentrations of nitrate and nitrite. No obvious difference was found on ammonium concentrations in soil solution collected from deep profile under 20cm depths between regular urea and the urea added 1.0% DMPP. There was also no significant difference for the nitrate, ammonium and nitrite concentrations in the soil solution under 40cm depths of soil profile with the increasing nitrogen application level, among the treatments of urea added 1.0% DMPP within 60 d. It is proposed that DMPP could be used as an effective nitrification inhibitor in some region to control ammonium oxidation and decline the ion-nitrogen leaching, minimizing the shallow groundwater pollution risk and being beneficial for the ecological environment.     

Bioavailability to grains of rice of aged and fresh DDD and DDE in soils

DDT had been widely used around the world before 1980s and is still under production and use for non-agricultural purposes in China. Because of their special physicochemical properties, p,p'-DDT and its main metabolites, p,p'-DDD and p,p'-DDE, accumulated and persisted in the environment, presenting potential menace on biota. A green-house study was conducted to determine the bioavailability of p,p'-DDD and p,p'-DDE to grains of rice and the influences of traditional Chinese farming practices on their bioaccumulation. Paddy rice and dry rice were grown in submerged paddy soils and non-submerged upland soils, respectively. Two types of soil, Hydragric Anthrosols (An) and Hydragric Acrisols (Ac), were employed. Bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) of DDE ranged from 0.67 for rice grown in non-submerged An to 0.84 in submerged An in the control group, whilst BAFs were all below 0.04 in experimental groups. BAFs of DDD varied from 1.39 for submerged An to 2.26 for submerged Ac in original soils. In contrast, BAFs were between 0.05 for non-submerged Ac and 0.08 for submerged An in DDD-contaminated soils. Flooding seemed to have two contradictory effects on the DDE/DDD accumulation by rice: on one hand, it made the pollutants more mobile and bioavailable; while on the other hand, it enhanced the degradation and binding of POPs. Adding rice straw to the soils protected DDE from being taken up yet promoted DDD accumulation by rice. Furthermore, the distinct inorganic component of the soils might also play an important role in the environmental activities of POPs.     

Biohydrogen production through fermentation using liquid swine manure as substrate

In this paper, continuous production of hydrogen through fermentation with liquid swine manure as substrate was researched using a semi-continuously fed fermenter (8 L in total volume and 4 L in working volume). The pH and temperature for the fermenter were controlled at 5.3 +/- 0.1 and 35 +/- 1 degrees C, respectively, throughout the experiment. Three hydraulic retention times (16, 20, and 24 h) were investigated for their impact on the efficiency and performance of the fermenter in terms of hydrogen yields. The results indicate that hydraulic retention time (HRT) has a strong influence on the fermenter performance. An increasing HRT would increase the variation in hydrogen concentration in the offgas. To produce hydrogen with a fairly consistent concentration, the HRT of the fermenter should not exceed 16 h, which, however, did not appear to be short enough to control methanogenesis because the offgas still contained about 5% methane. When methane content in the offgas exceeded 2%, an inverse linear relationship between hydrogen and methane was observed with a correlation coefficient of 0.9699. To increase hydrogen content in the offgas, methane production has to be limited to below 2%. Also, keeping oxygen content in the fermenter below 1.5% would increase the hydrogen concentration to over 15%. The product to substrate ratio was found to be around 50% for the fermenter system studied, evidenced by the observation that for every 6 liters of manure fermented, 3 liters of pure hydrogen were produced, which was significant and encouraging.     

固相微萃取技术在环境监测中的应用进展

为了促使我国环境监测工作更加深人和细致,得到更准确可靠的监测结果,对固相微萃取(SPME)技术在大气监测、水体监测、土壤及沉积物监测和生物监测中的应用进行了综述.根据SPME在测定污染物的浓度和存在形式,来源、分布和运移规律,以及降解、转化过程等方面的特点,提出进一步开发SPME原位测定技术和与大型仪器联用技术,将有利于其测定范围和种类的增加.同时由于SPME技术的特点适合海洋环境介质的测定,建议在海洋监测领域推广使用,使我国的海洋环境监测工作更加深入和广泛.     

昆明市城中村火灾事故统计分析

城中村是中国快速城市化进程中的一个普遍现象,由于缺乏统一规划和专门管理,城中村的高火灾风险成为当前面临的重要问题并得到社会各界关注.为获得昆明市城中村火灾的特点和规律,从2004-2006年昆明市火灾统计记录中区分出城中村和非城中村火灾数据,在此基础上采用Bayes统计分析城中村不同用途建筑物的火灾发生概率及概率比例.结果表明,相比城中村其他用途的建筑,居住用房火灾概率较低,而具有生产和加工性质的行业作坊、易燃易爆场所和娱乐场所的火灾概率较高,分别是居住用房的48倍、26倍和18倍.进一步采用火灾原因-场所关联对比分析了城中村和非城中村火灾的特点.从火灾发生场所看,与非城中村相比,城中村居住场所火灾发生比例高7.2%,路边可燃物高88.8%,木材、家具加工厂高184.8%,易燃易爆场所高521.4%; 从火灾原因看,城中村电气、电线短路致灾比例高1 2%,限制行为能力人(小孩和精神病人)致灾比例高65 1%,燃放烟花爆竹致灾比例高3.5%,吸烟致灾比例高50.9%,违章操作致灾比例高59.0%.这些差异基本上反映了城中村的主要外在特征,这些外在特征经城中村实地调研得到证实.     

冬季自然通风对住宅室内空气品质的改善性能评价

为获得理想的自然通风方式,以改善寒冷地区住宅冬季室内空气品质、营造舒适的室内环境,采用现场实测和理论分析相结合的方法,对冬季自然通风中的室内外环境参数进行了测试,得到了室外环境参数、人工调节方式对室内环境参数及空气品质的影响特征; 针对舒适与健康的双重要求是寒冷地区住宅冬季通风的主要矛盾这一特点,分别采用临界温度、热舒适性、排污效率、人工调节便捷性等指标对不同方案的通风性能进行了评价.结果表明,采用18 ℃的临界温度可保证采暖所需的热能最低值,同时也有利于抑制甲醛、氨等的释放及挥发速率; 各房间的热舒适性均满足相关规范要求,即本文所列举的这4种方案在执行过程中并没有牺牲房间的热舒适性,只是稍微有些偏凉.方案6的排污效率最高,为88%,方案8次之,方案3最低.这与方案6中两进风口关于回风口对称布置,室内平均空气龄最短有关; 4种方案具有相同的人工调节便捷性.综合各方面因素,方案6为本文最佳通风方案.     

HAN阻隔防爆模型研究

通过合理简化,利用多方气体状态方程,分别建立油品储运容器内可燃混合气体定容爆炸模型和装设阻隔防爆材料的油品储运容器内可燃混合气体爆炸模型,获得了阻隔防爆性能测试装置的燃爆容器抗爆设计限值,以及其在HAN阻隔防爆测试中燃爆容器试爆压力量级的控制下限值,同时,还给出HAN工程应用中容器留空率的计算方法,具有实际指导意义。     

我国南方冰雪灾害的特征与城市救灾对策研究

在对2008年初中国南方所发生的冰雪灾害的损失、影响和成因进行分析的基础上,指出该次灾害具有受灾范围的全面性、灾害过程的发展性和救灾行动的艰难性等特征,阐明冰雪灾害在城市会造成停电停水、交通瘫痪和通讯中断等严重灾情,进而引发断油断粮、物价飞涨和人心恐慌等综合性灾害。通过冰雪灾害对城市救灾行动的总结,指出冰雪灾害给城市政府的深刻启示在于城市规模的急速扩张必须同时加强防灾救灾的软硬件建设,并提出城市必须采取持久开展防灾救灾知识宜传教育、大力加强防灾救灾基础设施建设、科学制订各类灾害的专业性应急预案和努力构建协同联动救灾机制等对策,有效提升城市应对灾害的能力,减少灾害造成的损失。