Co-pyrolysis of oil sludge with hydrogen-rich plastics in a vertical stirring reactor: Kinetic analysis,emissions, and products

● Collaborative treatment of plastics and OS was established to improve oil quality. ● PE addition successfully improved OS pyrolysis process by deploying H/C_eff ratio. ● Higher H/C_eff ratio promoted cracking to obtain more gas and light oil fractions. ● The degradation of PE and OS was promoted each other under their temperature range. Pyrolysis is an effective method to treat oily sludge (OS) due to its balance between oil recovery and nonhazardous disposal. However, tank bottom OS contains a high content of heavy fractions, which creates obstacles for pyrolysis due to the high activation energy. The incomplete cracking of macromolecules and secondary polymerization decreases the oil quality and causes coking during the operation process. This study introduced polyethylene (PE) into OS to deploy the H/C_eff ratio of feedstocks for pyrolysis. A strong interaction between OS and PE during copyrolysis could be observed from the TG/DTG curves. PE tightly participated in OS degradation, while OS also promoted PE degradation at high temperature. Apparent pits were generated in solid residues from copyrolysis, which was attributed to the uniform and violent gas release. In addition to HCN, other nitrogenous and sulphurous pollutants were inhibited. Accordingly, more gas products were attained after PE addition with more value-added compositions of alkanes and alkenes. Although the oil yield decreased after PE addition, the oil products from copyrolysis possessed higher heating values and higher contents of light fractions with short chains as well as paraffins. Consequently, copyrolysis of OS and PE significantly improved the pyrolysis process and resulted in high oil quality.     

Product identification and toxicity change during oxidation of methotrexate by ferrate and permanganate in water

• Oxidation of methotrexate by high-valent metal-oxo species was first explored. • Fe(VI) presented a higher reactivity to MTX than Mn(VII) at pH 8.0. • Ketonization and cleavage of peptide bond were two initial reaction pathways. • Products of MTX were not genotoxic, neurotoxic, or endocrine-disrupting chemicals. • The less biodegradable products exhibited developmental and acute/chronic toxicity. Accompanying an annual increase in cancer incidence, the global use of anticancer drugs has remarkably increased with their worldwide environmental prevalence and ecological risks. In this study, the oxidation of methotrexate (MTX), a typical anticancer drug with ubiquitous occurrence and multi-endpoint toxicity, by ferrate(VI) (Fe(VI)) and permanganate (Mn(VII))) was investigated in water. Fe(VI) exhibited a higher reactivity with MTX (93.34 M⁻¹ s⁻¹) than Mn(VII) (3.01 M⁻¹ s⁻¹) at pH 8.0. The introduction of Cu(II) and Fe(III) at 1.0 mM improved the removal efficiency of 5.0 μM MTX by 100.0 μM Fe(VI) from 80% to 95% and 100% after 4 min, respectively. Seven oxidized products (OPs) were identified during oxidative treatments, while OP-191 and OP-205 were characterized as specific products for Fe(VI) oxidation. Initial ketonization of the L-glutamic acid moiety and cleavage of the peptide bond of MTX were proposed. Additionally, a multi-endpoint toxicity evaluation indicated no genotoxicity, neurotoxicity, or endocrine-disrupting effects of MTX and its OPs. Particularly, serious developmental toxicity in zebrafish larvae was observed in the treated MTX solutions. Based on the acute and chronic aquatic toxicity prediction, OP-190, OP-192, OP-206, and OP-208 were deemed toxic or very toxic compared to harmful MTX. Furthermore, the reduced biodegradability index from 0.15 (MTX) to −0.5 to −0.2 (OP-192, OP-206, and OP-468) indicated the formation of lower biodegradable OPs. Overall, this study suggests that Fe(VI) and Mn(VII) oxidation are promising treatments for remediating anticancer drug-contaminated water. However, the environmental risks associated with these treatments should be considered in the evaluation of water safety.     

New insights into different surfactants’ impacts on sludge fermentation: Focusing on the particular metabolic processes and microbial genetic traits

• The promoting effects for VFA generation follow the order of APG>SDBS>HTAB. • Surfactants improve the WAS solubilization/hydrolysis and acidification processes. • The VFA promotion is associated with surfactants’ distinctive characteristics. • Surfactants induce the enrichment of functional bacteria for VFA biosynthesis. • The vital genes for substrates delivery, metabolism, and VFA yields are upregulated. Surfactants were expected to exhibit positive effects on the waste activated sludge (WAS) disposal. However, the systematic comparison of different categories of surfactants on the WAS fermentation and the functional mechanisms, especially microbial metabolic traits, have not yet been precisely explored. This study revealed the positive effects of different surfactants on the volatile fatty acid (VFA) production, which followed the order of alkyl polysaccharides (APG)>sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS)>hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (HTAB). Mechanistic exploration found that the presence of different surfactants improved solubilization and hydrolysis steps, and then contributed to the subsequent acidification with different efficiencies. The functional microorganisms associated with VFA generation were enriched in surfactant-conditioned reactors. Metagenomic analysis further indicated that the key genes involved in the particular process of VFA generation were over-expressed. The simultaneous bioavailable substrate improvement, functional bacterial enrichment, and metabolic activity upregulation induced by different surfactants jointly contributed to VFA promotion during WAS fermentation. This study could provide a comprehensive realization of surfactants’ impacts on the WAS fermentation process, and more importantly, it reminded the public to discern the distinct interplaying effects induced by different chemicals in regulating the WAS disposal and resource recovery.     

Treatment of fluorine-containing pharmaceutical wastewater by VUV/UV process

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - As an advanced oxidation process, vacuum ultraviolet/ultraviolet (VUV/UV) has been intensively studied for drinking water treatment, but assessment of...     

Method and mechanism of chromium removal from soil: a systematic review

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Heavy metal pollution has increasingly affected human life, and the treatment of heavy metal pollution, especially chromium pollution, is still a...     

Construction,renovation, and demolition waste in landfill: a review of waste characteristics,environmental impacts,and mitigation measures

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - With the increase in global population, industrialization, and urbanization, waste from construction, renovation, and demolition (CRD) activities has...     

Emission inventory and control policy for non-road construction machinery in Tianjin

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The establishment of a non-road construction machinery emission inventory forms the basis for the analysis of pollutant emission characteristics and...     

Exploring volatility of carbon price in European Union due to COVID-19 pandemic

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The European Union (EU) Emissions Trading System is the most important means for the EU to achieve carbon neutrality, but it has been severely...     

Power to gas: an option for 2060 high penetration rate of renewable energy scenario of China

Replacing conventional fossil fuel power plants with large-scale renewable energy sources (RES) is a crucial aspect of the decarbonization of the power sector and represents a key part of the carbon-neutral strategy of China. The high penetration rate of renewable energy in the electricity system, however, implies the challenges of dealing with the intermittency and fluctuation of RES. Power to gas (P2G), which can convert surplus renewable power into a chemical form of energy (i.e., synthetic gas), can help handle this challenge and supply new energy carriers for various energy sectors. By modeling three potential 2060 energy mix scenarios in China, this paper aims to describe the possible contribution of the high penetration rate of renewable energy combined with P2G in the future sustainable energy system. Different schemes are listed and compared, and the results are used in a basic economic evaluation of the synthetic gas production cost for the P2G plants. Ideally, nearly 18 million tons of carbon dioxide would be recycled and transformed into methane (around 9.37 km³) annually in China. Considering a zero price for the excess renewable power and future costs of the components, the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of the final production of methane is estimated at 0.86 $/m³_SNG.

     

Developing a method for assessing environmental sustainability based on the Google Earth Engine platform

Environmental sustainability is the foundation and of great significance for the sustainable development of urban agglomerations. Taking the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration as an example, we developed a method to effectively assess long-term regional environmental sustainability based on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. We used the GEE to obtain 5206 Landsat remote sensing images in the region from 1983 to 2016 and developed the comprehensive environmental index (CEI) to assess regional environmental sustainability based on the theme-oriented framework proposed by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development. We found that the environmental sustainability of the urban agglomeration showed a trend of first rising, then falling, and then rising again in the past 30 years. The average CEI increased from 0.621 to 0.631 from 1985 to 1990, dropped to the lowest value of 0.618 in 2000, and then rose to the highest value of 0.672 in 2015. In particular, the extent of areas in which environmental sustainability improved (56% of the region) was greater than the extent of areas in which environmental deterioration occurred. The environmental sustainability of Hengshui, Xingtai, and Cangzhou in the southeast of the region has been significantly improved. The method proposed in this study provides an automatic, rapid, and extensible way to assess regional environmental sustainability and provides a scientific reference for improving the sustainability of the regional environment.