The kinetic of the catalytic decomposition of methyl isobutyl ketone over a Pt/gamma-Al2O3 catalyst

Environmental catalysis also can refer to catalytic technologies for reducing emission of environmentally unacceptable compounds. Catalytic decomposition also is one of the cost-effective technologies to solve the troublesome volatile organic compounds. This study treated methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) by a commercial catalyst, Pt/gamma-Al(2)O(3), in an isothermal fixed bed differential reactor. The effects of O(2) and MIBK content in carrier gas on the catalysis's reaction rate are also observed. Three kinetic models, i.e. the Mars and van Krevelen model, Langmuir-Hinshelwood model and power-rate law were applied to best fit the experimental results. The results indicate that the kinetic behavior of MIBK oxidation with catalysis can be accounted for by using the rate expression of the Mars and van Krevelen model and Langmuir-Hinshelwood model. Kinetic parameters are also determined on the basis of the differential reactor data. The experimental results are compared with those of the model predicted.     

Effect of pre-hydrolysis on floc structure

Morphological changes in flocs were elucidated by small-angle light scattering, free settling tests and microscopic observation to determine the effects of pre-hydrolysis (alkaline treatment and ultrasonication) on two sludges--primary raw sludge from the Malabar Sewage Treatment Plant, Sydney (sludge M) and biological sludge collected at the nitrogen removal unit of St Marys Sewage Treatment Plant in Sydney (sludge S). Ultrasonication or alkaline treatment released a marked amount of insoluble organic matter in a soluble form. The latter treatment was more efficient than the former. Meanwhile, the pre-hydrolyzed flocs had more compact structures than the original ones, as shown by their higher free-settling fractal dimension, lower areal porosity and smaller internal pores. In particular, alkaline treatment yielded flocs with more compact interiors than did ultrasonication. Such detailed structural information could not be elicited by monitoring the change in floc size. The greater resistance to mass transfer of the hydrolyzed flocs thus produced does not reduce the efficiency of subsequent digestion, indicating that the surface reaction rate on the solid surface might have dominated since the pre-hydrolysis steps modified the local chemical environment to promote digestion.     

Upgrading the conventional grease trap using a tube settler

Grease traps are widely used by most restaurants and food processing industries in Hong Kong to reduce oil and grease to an acceptable level before it can be discharged to public sewers. To meet demanding effluent standards in the future, it is necessary to polish the effluent by upgrading the conventional trap design. This study evaluated the possibility of upgrading traditional grease traps by installing tube settlers inside the trap. Their efficiency of removing chemical oxygen demand (COD) and oil/grease was examined to justify the performance. It was found that installing a tube settler is a feasible and cheap way to upgrade the conventional grease trap, since it improved oil/grease removal efficiency by 8-10% compared to the conventional design. In addition, a remarkable improvement in COD removal was observed following a very short hydraulic detention time after the installation of tube settlers. This ensured acceptable effluent quality under peak flowrates. Two mathematical models were also proposed to facilitate trap design.     

A TWO-DIMENSIONAL PARTICLE TRACKING ESTUARINE TRANSPORT MODEL1

ABSTRACT: A two-dimensional particle tracking model is developed for estuarine water quality investigation. The method requires only the solution of a two-dimensional hydrodynamics model and, therefore, is more economical to use than conventional multi-dimensional estuarine transport models. The present model does not consider turbulent diffusion, and it handles only conservative constituents. The model was applied to Humboldt Bay, California, where the flushing of sewage effluent was simulated. The model was applied to evaluate the present release plan, and to determine alternative release plans for limiting the transport of sewage effluent into shellfish producing areas Within the Bay.     

Application of proteomics in environmental science

Proteomics involves the separation of proteins, identification of the amino acid sequence of the interested or target proteins, study of the function of the proteins, modification, structure and ultimate assignments to functional pathways in the cell. The proteomic investigations have contributed greatly to human diseases studies, new drugs discovery researches, and environmental science in recent years. This article provides a review on the development of the main proteomic technologies, including both the gel based and non-gel based technologies, and their applications in environmental science. Proteomic technologies have been utilized in the environmental stresses studies to analyze the induction or reduction of proteins at expression level and identify the target proteins to investigate their function in response to environmental stresses, such as high or low pH, oxidation stress, and toxic chemicals. Such protein responses are also helpful to understand the mechanisms of some cellular activities and the functions of some proteins.     

开发建设广西合山国家矿山公园——对资源枯竭型城市经济转型战略的探讨

经济转型是资源枯竭型城市必须面对的重大问题.本文以广西合山市为例,分析了资源型城市转型的必要性及战略方式,探讨了经济转型的可行性,并提出了矿山公园的建设规划及效益分析,可为同类型城市的经济转型及矿业遗迹合理开发提供借鉴.     

排污权交易初始价格定价方案研究

排污权交易初始分配价格的合理性将在很大程度上决定排污权交易市场的活跃程度,并使排污权交易更好地发挥市场经济手段的最大效用。初始价格的确定依据应为结合排污权时限及贴现率下的不同污染物的社会平均污染治理成本,并兼顾区域经济发展、行业水平、企业公平等因素。文章从定价方式、时限、发布与调整机制、配套措施等方面研究排污权初始价格的定价方案;并以某市为例,通过调查排污量占全市排污量85%以上的企业的污染治理成本,根据所研究的方案获得该市COD、SO2等排污权交易初始分配价格。     

Effects of continuously regenerating diesel particulate filters on regulated emissions and number-size distribution of particles emitted from a diesel engine

The effects of continuously regenerating diesel particulate filter (CRDPF) systems on regulated gaseous emissions, and number-size distribution and mass of particles emanated from a diesel engine have been investigated in this study. Two CRDPF units (CRDPF-1 and CRDPF-2) with di erent specifications were separately retrofitted to the engine running with European steady-state cycle (ESC). An electrical low pressure impactor (ELPI) was used for particle number-size distribution measurement and mass estimation. The conversion/reduction rate (RCR) of hydrocarbons (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) across CRDPF-1 was 83% and 96.3%, respectively. Similarly, the RCR of HC and CO and across CRDPF-2 was 91.8% and 99.1%, respectively. The number concentration of particles and their concentration peaks; nuclei mode, accumulation mode and total particles; and particle mass were highly reduced with the CRDPF units. The nuclei mode particles at downstream of CRDPF-1 and CRDPF-2 decreased by 99.9% to 100% and 97.8% to 99.8% respectively; and the particle mass reduced by 73% to 92.2% and 35.3% to 72.4%, respectively, depending on the engine conditions. In addition, nuclei mode particles increased with the increasing of engine speed due to the heterogeneous nucleation initiated by the higher exhaust temperature, while accumulation mode particles were higher at higher loads due to the decrease in the air-to-fuel ratio (A/F) at higher loads.     

Differences of the oxidation process and secondary organic aerosol formation at low and high precursor concentrations

Current atmospheric quality models usually underestimate the level of ambient secondary organic aerosol(SOA), one of the possible reasons is that the precursors at different concentrations may undergo different oxidation processes and further affect SOA formation. Therefore, there is a need to perform more chamber studies to disclose the influence. In this work, SOA formation over a wide range of initial precursor concentrations(tens of ppb to hundreds of ppb levels) was investigated in a 30 m3 indoor smog chamber,and mainly through the analysis of multiple generations of VOCs detected from HR-To FPTRMS to expound the difference in the oxidation process between low and high precursor concentrations. Compared to high initial concentrations, gas-phase intermediates formed at low concentrations had a higher intensity by about one order of magnitude, and the lowvolatility compounds also had a higher formation potential due to the competition between semi-volatile intermediates and precursors with oxidants. In addition, the formed SOA was more oxidized with higher f44 value(0.14 ± 0.02) and more relevant to real atmosphere than that formed at high concentrations. This work should help to deeply understand SOA formation and improve the performance of air quality models for SOA simulation.     

长江口崇明东滩海三棱藨草对沉积物有机碳库的贡献研究

湿地植被通过光合作用、埋藏分解等方式将有机碳输送至沉积物中,为了探究植被对于湿地沉积物有机碳库的贡献率,本文使用埋管与长石粉样方两种手段,以崇明东滩为例,定量估算了海三棱藨草植被对潮滩沉积物有机碳库的贡献率.埋管研究显示,不同温度下死亡植被分解输入和沉积物呼吸降解过程的差异是造成沉积物中冬夏两季有机碳含量差异明显的主要原因.冬末时节埋管沉积物有机碳平均含量为5.72mg·g-1,碳库呈"积累"状态;夏季含量减少为4.89 mg·g-1,碳库呈"亏损"状态.海三棱藨草死亡、倒伏和掩埋,使得沉积物有机碳含量剖面出现显著分层,埋管样品中分层间隔为10 cm左右,与长石粉样方测研究区域当年沉积速率相对应(11.6 cm·a-1:2012年8月28日—2013年9月2日).沉积物有机碳含量与δ13C值的显著负相关性(p0.01)表明,植被输入有机碳的累积和降解是沉积物碳库动态变化的主要因素.忽略有机质降解中碳的分馏作用下,根据碳同位素质量平衡混合模型,计算得出春夏季植被有机碳净输入为0.65 mg·g-1,约占沉积物有机碳库含量的7.35%,秋冬季节植被有机碳净输入为2.06 mg·g-1,约为占有机碳库含量的31.20%.