Improved product selectivity of electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide by tuning local carbon dioxide concentration with multiphysics models

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) is promising to alleviate carbon emissions and produce fuels and materials in a circular way, yet effective...     

Insights into the electron transfer mechanisms of permanganate activation by carbon nanotube membrane for enhanced micropollutants degradation

● A CNT filter enabled effective KMnO₄ activation via facilitated electron transfer. ● Ultra-fast degradation of micropollutants were achieved in KMnO₄/CNT system. ● CNT mediated electron transfer process from electron-rich molecules to KMnO₄. ● Electron transfer dominated organic degradation. Numerous reagents have been proposed as electron sacrificers to induce the decomposition of permanganate (KMnO₄) by producing highly reactive Mn species for micropollutants degradation. However, this strategy can lead to low KMnO₄ utilization efficiency due to limitations associated with poor mass transport and high energy consumption. In the present study, we rationally designed a catalytic carbon nanotube (CNT) membrane for KMnO₄ activation toward enhanced degradation of micropollutants. The proposed flow-through system outperformed conventional batch reactor owing to the improved mass transfer via convection. Under optimal conditionals, a > 70% removal (equivalent to an oxidation flux of 2.43 mmol/(h·m²)) of 80 μmol/L sulfamethoxazole (SMX) solution can be achieved at single-pass mode. The experimental analysis and DFT studies verified that CNT could mediate direct electron transfer from organic molecules to KMnO₄, resulting in a high utilization efficiency of KMnO₄. Furthermore, the KMnO₄/CNT system had outstanding reusability and CNT could maintain a long-lasting reactivity, which served as a green strategy for the remediation of micropollutants in a sustainable manner. This study provides new insights into the electron transfer mechanisms and unveils the advantages of effective KMnO₄ utilization in the KMnO₄/CNT system for environmental remediation.     

Understanding and addressing the environmental risk of microplastics

Over the past decades, the plastic production has been dramatically increased. Indeed, a category of small plastic particles mainly with the shapes of fragments, fibers, or spheres, called microplastics (particles smaller than 5 mm) and nanoplastics (particles smaller than 1 μm) have attracted particular attention. Because of its wide distribution in the environment and potential adverse effects to animal and human, microplastic pollution has been reported as a serious environment problem receiving increased attention in recent years. As one of the commonly detected emerging contaminants in the environment, recent evidence indicates that the concentration of microplastics show an increasing trend, for the reason that up to 12.7 million metric tons of plastic litter is released into aquatic environment from land-based sources each year. Furthermore, microplastic exposure levels of model organisms in laboratory studies are usually several orders of magnitude higher than those found in environment, and the microplastics exposure conditions are also different with those observed in the environment. Additionally, the detection of microplastics in feces indicates that they can be excreted out of the bodies of animal and human. Hence, great uncertainties might exist in microplastics exposure and health risk assessment based on current studies, which might be exaggerated. Policies reduce microplastic emission sources and hence minimize their environmental risks are determined. To promote the above policies, we must first overcome the technical obstacles of detecting microplastics in various samples.     

Evaluation of activated sludge properties’ changes in industrial-wastewater pre-treatment: role of residual aluminum hydrolyzed species with different polymerization degree

● Medium poly Al salts dominated the PAC residual salts with a rational dosage. ● Settlement flocculation effect under medium poly Al salts showed a better trend. ● Complex of medium poly Al salts and enzymes promoted cell activity. ● Medium poly Al salts were beneficial to the effluent indexes. With the widespread introduction of pre-coagulation prior to the biological unit in various industrial wastewater treatments, it is noteworthy that long-term accumulation of residual coagulants has certains effect on both micro and macro characteristics of activated sludge (AS). In this study, the morphology distributions of residual aluminum salts (RAS) and their effects on the removal efficiency of AS were investigated under different PAC concentrations. The results showed that the dominance of medium polymeric RAS, formed under an appropriate PAC dose of 20 mg/L enhanced the hydrophobicity, flocculation, and sedimentation performances of AS, as well as the enzymatic activity in cells in the sludge system, improving the main pollutants removal efficiency of the treatment system. Comparatively the species composition with monomer and dimer / high polymer RAS as the overwhelming parts under an over-dosed PAC concentration of 55 mg/L resulted in excessive secretion of EPS with loose flocs structure and conspicuous inhibition of cellular activity, leading to the deterioration of physico-chemical and biological properties of AS. Based on these findings, this study can shed light on the role of the RAS hydrolyzed species distributions, closely relevant to Al dosage, in affecting the comprehensive properties of AS and provide a theoretical reference for coagulants dosage precise control in the pretreatment of industrial wastewater.     

A new prediction method of industrial atmospheric pollutant emission intensity based on pollutant emission standard quantification

● Established a quantification method of pollutant emission standard. ● Predicted the SO₂ emission intensity of single coking enterprises in China. ● Evaluated the influence of pollutant discharge standard on prediction accuracy. ● Analyzed the SO₂ emissions of Chinese provincial and municipal coking enterprises. Industrial emissions are the main source of atmospheric pollutants in China. Accurate and reasonable prediction of the emission of atmospheric pollutants from single enterprise can determine the exact source of atmospheric pollutants and control atmospheric pollution precisely. Based on China’s coking enterprises in 2020, we proposed a quantitative method for pollutant emission standards and introduced the quantification results of pollutant emission standards (QRPES) into the construction of support vector regression (SVR) and random forest regression (RFR) prediction methods for SO₂ emission of coking enterprises in China. The results show that, affected by the types of coke ovens and regions, China’s current coking enterprises have implemented a total of 21 emission standards, with marked differences. After adding QRPES, it was found that the root mean squared error (RMSE) of SVR and RFR decreased from 0.055 kt/a and 0.059 kt/a to 0.045 kt/a and 0.039 kt/a, and theR² increased from 0.890 and 0.881 to 0.926 and 0.945, respectively. This shows that the QRPES can greatly improve the prediction accuracy, and the SO₂ emissions of each enterprise are highly correlated with the strictness of standards. The predicted result shows that 45% of SO₂ emissions from Chinese coking enterprises are concentrated in Shanxi, Shaanxi and Hebei provinces in central China. The method created in this paper fills in the blank of forecasting method of air pollutant emission intensity of single enterprise and is of great help to the accurate control of air pollutants.     

长江江豚监测现状及展望

长江江豚(Neophocaena asiaeorientalis)是唯一淡水生活的鼠海豚类,近年来种群数量严重下降,2013年被世界自然保护联盟红色名录列为“极度濒危”,2021年升级为我国国家一级重点保护野生动物,2022年种群有所恢复。长江江豚是长江生态系统健康的指示物种,我国科学家自20世纪50年代开始监测至今,监测方法不断更新完善,对长江江豚现状的了解也越来越充分。该文回顾了截线抽样法、水下被动声学及自动实时监测系统、无人机、环境DNA等监测方法的应用及取得的成效,分析监测方法存在的不足,预测技术发展趋势,提出改进建议,为长江江豚的监测及保护提供基本参考。     

江苏省宿迁市某监测井地下水砷超标原因研究

江苏宿迁市中部某远离工业企业的监测井地下水砷（As）指标连续多期次超《地下水质量标准》（GB/T 14848—2017）Ⅳ类标准限值。为探究该监测井地下水As长期超标原因,通过在监测井附近新钻取岩芯沉积物中不同形态As的提取实验,结合新井和监测井中地下水的同步取样与水质参数的测试,系统分析了监测井点位地下水As超标的原因。研究结果发现,离监测井5 m处的新井地下水As质量浓度不超标,而监测井中As仍超标。对比新井和监测井的水质参数与沉积物中As的赋存形态发现,在还原性和弱碱性的环境条件下,地下水类型及地层沉积物中碳酸盐结合态的变化可能对地下水As质量分数有明显的影响,而铁-锰氧化物结合态与有机物-硫化物结合态的变化对As质量分数超标影响则有限。此外,不排除可能受到成井工艺不规范与监测井受到串层污染的影响。     

碳基层状双金属氢氧化物对含氮污染物的去除研究进展

水中含氮污染物种类繁杂,危害巨大,是亟待解决的环境问题之一.层状双金属氢氧化物(LDH)与多孔碳的复合材料(LDH/C)具备记忆效应、结构可调性、阴离子可交换性等优势,在去除水体中含氮污染物方面极具潜力.根据2015年以来LDH/C研究成果,系统综述了LDH/C的合成方法;详细介绍了LDH/C去除含氮污染物的吸附性能;...     

塔里木油田库尔勒生活基地生活垃圾处理现状与对策探讨

对塔里木油田库尔勒生活基地生活垃圾的处理现状和主要构成进行调查后,结合所在城市生活垃圾的处理方式,提出库尔勒生活基地生活垃圾"分类收集与回收利用"的途径,分析了实施中可能存在的问题,探讨了具体的对策,强调要从加强环保宣传、明确管理部门责任、完善回收设施、采用半市场化处理的对策思路。