Emission factors of particulate matter, CO and CO2 in the pyrolytic processing of typical electronic wastes

A self-designed experimental device was employed to simulate the pyrolytic dismantling process of selected electronic wastes(E-wastes), including printed wiring boards(PWBs)and plastic casings. The generated particulate matter(PM) of different particle sizes, carbon monoxide(CO) and carbon dioxide(CO_2) were determined, and the corresponding emission factors(EFs) were estimated. Finer particles with particle sizes of 0.4–2.1 μm accounted for78.9% and 89.3% of PM emitted by the pyrolytic processing of PWBs and plastic casings,respectively, and the corresponding EFs were 9.68 ± 4.81 and 18.49 ± 7.2 g/kg, respectively.The EFs of CO and CO_2 from PWBs and plastic casings were 55.9 ± 26.9 and 1182 ± 439 g/kg,and 133.6 ± 34.6 and 2827 ± 276 g/kg, respectively. Compared with other emission sources,such as coal, biomass, and traffic exhaust, the EFs of E-wastes were relatively higher,especially for PM. There were significant positive correlations(p 0.05) of the initial contents of carbon and nitrogen in PWBs with the related EFs of PM, CO, and CO_2, while the correlations for plastic casings were insignificant. The EFs of CO of PWBs were significantly positively correlated with the corresponding EFs of PM and the parent polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs); however, the same result was not observed for plastic casings.     

Removal of elemental mercury by photocatalytic oxidation over La2O3/Bi2O3 composite

La₂O₃/Bi₂O₃ photocatalysts were prepared by impregnation of Bi₂O₃ with an aqueous solution of lanthanum precursor followed by calcination at different temperatures. The composite materials were used for the first time for the photocatalytic removal of Hg⁰ from a simulated flue gas under UV light irradiation. The results showed that the sample containing 6 wt.% La₂O₃ and calcined at 500°C has the highest dispersion of the active sites, which was promoted by the strong interaction with the support (i.e., the formation of Bi-O-La species). Since they are fully accessible on the surface, the material also exhibits excellent optical properties while the heterojunction formed in La₂O₃/Bi₂O₃ promotes the separation and migration of photoelectron-hole pairs and thus Hg⁰ oxidation efficiency is enhanced. The effects of the various factors (e.g., the reaction temperature and composition of the simulated flue gas (i.e., O₂, NO, H₂O, and SO₂)) on the efficiency of the Hg⁰ photocatalytic oxidation were investigated. The results demonstrated that O₂ and SO₂ enhanced the efficiency of the reaction while the reaction temperature, NO, and H₂O had an inhibitory effect.     

Biodegradation of typical azole fungicides in activated sludge under aerobic conditions

Widespread use of azole fungicides and low removal efficiency in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have led to the elevated concentration of azole fungicides in receiving environment. However, there was limited research about the removal mechanism of azole fungicides in the biological treatment of WWTPs. Imidazole fungicide climbazole and triazole fungicide fluconazole were selected to investigate the biodegradation mechanism of azole fungicides in activated sludge under aerobic conditions. Climbazole was found to be adsorbed to solid sludge and resulted in quick biodegradation. The degradation of climbazole in the aerobic activated sludge system was fitted well by the first-order kinetic model with a half-life of 5.3 days, while fluconazole tended to stay in liquid and had only about 30% of loss within 77 days incubation. Ten biotransformation products of climbazole were identified by high resolution mass spectrometry using suspect and non-target screening method. But no biodegradation products of fluconazole were identified due to its limited removal. The possible biodegradation pathways for climbazole were proposed based on the products identification and pathway prediction system, and involves oxidative dehalogenation, side chain oxidation and azole ring loss. The findings from this study suggest that it should be a concern for the persistence of fluconazole in the environment.     

中国东北沈抚地区土壤中PBDEs的残留、来源及风险评价

为研究我国东北地区表层土壤中多溴联苯醚(PBDEs)的残留和分布.于2016夏季采集了3个城市(沈阳、抚顺和沈抚新区)的72份土壤样品,覆盖本地区4种不同的土地利用类型:城镇用地,农村居住用地,耕地和林地.分析了表层土壤中14种PBDEs的残留,组成和分布特征,探究了本地区PBDEs主要来源及贡献率,并对人体暴露水平和健康风险进行了评估.结果表明,表层土壤Σ_(14)PBDEs的含量(以干重计,下同)范围在0. 279～50. 719 ng·g~(-1)之间,均值为(10. 466±9. 246) ng·g~(-1).不同城市PBDEs的含量规律为:抚顺沈阳沈抚新区背景点,不同类型土地规律为:城镇用地农村居住用地耕地林地.在所有PBDEs组分中,十溴联苯醚占比最高,为81. 25%～89. 23%.来源分析表明,商用十溴联苯醚是主要来源,多元线性回归分析(PCA-MLR)结果显示其贡献率为66. 06%.暴露水平和健康风险评价的结果又表明,5种不同人群中,抚顺的幼儿人群暴露剂量最高,为(20. 98±25. 01) ng·(kg·d)~(-1)在不同土地类型中,城镇用地的幼儿人群暴露剂量最高,(18. 54±20. 27)ng·(kg·d)~(-1),本地区总体非致癌健康风险处于较低水平.     

Mercury accumulation and dynamics in montane forests along an elevation gradient in Southwest China

Understanding atmospheric mercury (Hg) accumulation in remote montane forests is critical to assess the Hg ecological risk to wildlife and human health. To quantify impacts of vegetation, climatic and topographic factors on Hg accumulation in montane forests, we assessed the Hg distribution and stoichiometric relations among Hg, carbon (C), and nitrogen (N) in four forest types along the elevation of Mt. Gongga. Our results show that Hg concentration in plant tissues follows the descending order of litter > leaf, bark > root > branch > bole wood, indicating the importance of atmospheric Hg uptake by foliage for Hg accumulation in plants. The foliar Hg/C (from 237.0 ± 171.4 to 56.8 ± 27.7 µg/kg) and Hg/N (from 7.5 ± 3.9 to 2.5 ± 1.2 mg/kg) both decrease along the elevation. These elevation gradients are caused by the heterogeneity of vegetation uptake of atmospheric Hg and the variation of atmospheric Hg° concentrations at different altitudes. Organic soil Hg accumulation is controlled by forest types, topographic and climatic factors, with the highest concentration in the mixed forest (244.9 ± 55.7 µg/kg) and the lowest value in the alpine forest (151.9 ± 44.5 µg/kg). Further analysis suggests that soil Hg is positively correlated to C (r² = 0.66) and N (r² = 0.57), and Hg/C and Hg/N both increase with the soil depth. These stoichiometric relations highlight the combined effects from environmental and climatic factors which mediating legacy Hg accumulation and selective Hg absorption during processes of organic soil mineralization.     

Improved atmospheric mercury simulation using updated gas-particle partition and organic aerosol concentrations

The gaseous or particulate forms of divalent mercury (Hg^II) significantly impact the spatial distribution of atmospheric mercury concentration and deposition flux (FLX). In the new nested-grid GEOS-Chem model, we try to modify the Hg^II gas-particle partitioning relationship with synchronous and hourly observations at four sites in China. Observations of gaseous oxidized Hg (GOM), particulate-bound Hg (PBM), and PM_2.5 were used to derive an empirical gas-particle partitioning coefficient as a function of temperature (T) and organic aerosol (OA) concentrations under different relative humidity (RH). Results showed that with increasing RH, the dominant process of Hg^II gas-particle partitioning changed from physical adsorption to chemical desorption. And the dominant factor of Hg^II gas-particle partitioning changed from T to OA concentrations. We thus improved the simulated OA concentration field by introducing intermediate-volatility and semi-volatile organic compounds (I/SVOCs) emission inventory into the model framework and refining the volatile distributions of I/SVOCs according to new filed tests in the recent literatures. Finally, normalized mean biases (NMBs) of monthly gaseous element mercury (GEM), GOM, PBM, WFLX were reduced from −33%–29%, 95%–300%, 64%–261%, 117%–122% to −13%–0%, −20%–80%, −31%–50%, −17%–23%. The improved model explains 69%–98% of the observed atmospheric Hg decrease during 2013–2020 and can serve as a useful tool to evaluate the effectiveness of the Minamata Convention on Mercury.     

Effects of fulvic acid and humic acid from different sources on Hg methylation in soil and accumulation in rice

Humus is often used as an organic modifier to reduce the bioaccumulation of heavy metals in plants, but the effects of different humus components from different sources on the fate of mercury (Hg) in paddy fields are still unclear. Here, fulvic acid (FA) and humic acid (HA) extracted from composted straw (CS), composted cow dung (CCD), peat soil (PM) and lignite coal (LC) were used to understand their effects on the methylation and bioaccumulation of Hg in paddy soil by pot experiments. Amendments of both FA and HA largely increased the abundance of Hg-methylating microbes and low-molecular-weight organic matters (e.g, cysteine) in paddy soil. They were also found to change the aromaticity, molecular size and Chromophoric DOM concentration of DOM, and resulted in heterogeneous effects on migration and transformation of Hg. All the FA-amended treatments increased the mobility and methylation of Hg in soil and its absorption in roots. Nevertheless, FA from different sources have heterogeneous effects on transport of Hg between rice tissues. FA-CCD and FA-PM promoted the translocation of MeHg from roots to rice grains by 32.95% and 41.12%, while FA-CS and FA-LC significantly inhibited the translocation of inorganic Hg (IHg) by 52.65% and 66.06% and of MeHg by 46.65% and 36.23%, respectively. In contrast, all HA-amended treatments reduced the mobility of soil Hg, but promoted Hg methylation in soil. Among which, HA-CCD and HA-PM promoted the translocation of MeHg in rice tissues by 88.95% and 64.10%, while its accumulation in rice grains by 28.43% and 28.69%, respectively. In general, the application of some FA and HA as organic modifiers to reduce Hg bioaccumulation in rice is not feasible.     

Experimental evaluation of the rainfall retention and inorganic pollutant mitigation effect by dual-layer and polyacrylamide-modified green roofs

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Research on substrate layer modification and filler configuration is an important direction for improving the retention and interception efficiency of...     

山西晋中焦化基地多环芳烃排放对周边大田卷心菜的影响

饮食摄入是多环芳烃(PAHs)人体暴露的主要途径之一,探究PAHs污染对农产品安全和人体健康的影响具有重要意义。山西晋中拥有大型焦化企业,也是北方重要的大田蔬菜种植基地,当地PAHs污染的特征和影响具有相当的典型性。研究选取修文工业基地周边的大田蔬菜基地作为研究区域,分别采集大气(含气相和颗粒相)、菜地表土和卷心菜菜心样品,确定各类样品中母体PAHs的浓度水平、组成比例和分布特征。结果表明,蔬菜基地周边大气中母体PAHs的平均浓度为301 ng·m-3。大气母体PAHs主要存在于气相,低环(2~3环)组分占据优势。利用同分异构体特征比值和主成分分析对大气PAHs进行初步源解析,炼焦、燃煤和生物质燃烧、以及交通尾气排放是当地PAHs的主要排放源。菜地表土母体PAHs的中位数浓度为236ng·g-1,范围为130~703 ng·g-1,以中、高环(4~6环)组分为主,菜地表土母体PAHs浓度与土壤总有机碳(TOC)分数呈现显著正相关关系。当地大田种植卷心菜菜心的PAHs中位数浓度为12.9 ng·g-1,范围为0.9~47.6 ng·g-1,低环组分所占比例最大,其组分谱分布与大气相似。偏相关分析显示周边大气PAHs对卷心菜菜心PAHs的传输贡献要大于表土PAHs。     

胡敏酸、富里酸对土壤-地下水系统中BDE-47迁移的影响

多溴联苯醚(polybrominated diphenyl ethers,PBDEs)是土壤-地下水系统中广泛存在的有机污染物,研究土壤组分对其迁移行为的影响是解决土壤-地下水系统中多溴联苯醚归趋问题的关键。以典型多溴联苯醚同系物2,2',4,4'-四溴联苯醚(2,2',4,4'-tetrabromodiphenyl ether,BDE-47)为研究对象,选取胡敏酸(humic acid,HA)、富里酸(fulvic acid,FA)2种代表性土壤有机组分,配制不同浓度的FA、HA溶液(150 mg·L~(-1)、50 mg·L~(-1)),分别对不同浓度的BDE-47(100μg·g~(-1)、10μg·g~(-1))污染土壤进行土柱淋滤实验,探讨FA、HA对土壤-地下水系统中BDE-47迁移的影响。结果表明,HA作用下,实验组下层土壤中BDE-47的残留比例分别为0.62%和0.40%,分别低于对照组的0.72%和3.36%;FA作用下,实验组下层土壤中BDE-47的残留比例分别为6.40%和6.71%,分别高于对照组的0.72%和3.36%。结合HA和FA的元素组成和结构特征分析可知,疏水性强的HA能够促进BDE-47随水流迁移进入地下水系统;亲水性强的FA促进BDE-47在土壤系统中的分布,阻滞了土壤系统中BDE-47进入地下水系统。本文为评估HA、FA对土壤-地下水系统中BDE-47迁移的影响提供依据。