Competition for electrons between reductive dechlorination and denitrification

It is common that 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP) coexists with nitrate or nitrite in industrial wastewaters. In this work, simultaneous reductive dechlorination of TCP and denitrification of nitrate or nitrite competed for electron donor, which led to their mutual inhibition. All inhibitions could be relieved to a certain degree by augmenting an organic electron donor, but the impact of the added electron donor was strongest for TCP. For simultaneous reduction of TCP together with nitrate, TCP’s removal rate value increased 75% and 150%, respectively, when added glucose was increased from 0.4 mmol?L^–1 to 0.5 mmol?L^–1 and to 0.76 mmol?L^–1. For comparison, the removal rate for nitrate increased by only 25% and 114% for the same added glucose. The relationship between their initial biodegradation rates versus their initial concentrations could be represented well with the Monod model, which quantified their half-maximum-rate concentration (K _S value), and K _S values for TCP, nitrate, and nitrite were larger with simultaneous reduction than independent reduction. The increases in K _S are further evidence that competition for the electron donor led to mutual inhibition. For bioremediation of wastewater containing TCP and oxidized nitrogen, both reduction reactions should proceed more rapidly if the oxidized nitrogen is nitrite instead of nitrate and if readily biodegradable electron acceptor is augmented.

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Cancer risk from gaseous carbonyl compounds in indoor environment generated from household coal combustion in Xuanwei,China

Airborne carbonyls were characterized from emitted indoor coal combustion. Samples were collected in Xuanwei (Yunnan Province), a region in China with a high rate of lung cancer. Eleven of 19 types of samples (58%) demonstrated formaldehyde concentrations higher than the World Health Organization exposure limit (a 30-min average of 100 μg m^?3). Different positive significant correlations between glyoxal/methylglyoxal and formaldehyde/acetaldehyde concentrations were observed, suggesting possible different characteristics in emissions between two pairs of carbonyl compounds. A sample in the highest inhalation risk shows 29.2 times higher risk than the lowest sample, suggesting different coal sampling locations could contribute to the variation of inhalation risk. Inhabitants in Xuanwei also tend to spend more time cooking and more days per year indoors than the national average. The calculated cancer risk ranged from 2.2–63 × 10^?5, which shows 13 types of samples at high-risk level. Cumulative effect in combination with different carbonyls could have contributed to the additive actual inhalation cancer risk. There is a need to explicitly address the health effects of environmentally relevant doses, considering life-long exposure in indoor dwellings.     

Effect of tea saponin on phytoremediation of Cd and pyrene in contaminated soils by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Lolium multiflorum</Emphasis>

Tea saponin (TS), a kind of green biosurfactant produced by plants, was added into the Cd–pyrene co-contaminated soils to evaluate its influence on phytoremediation of Cd and pyrene by Lolium multiflorum. The results showed that the accumulation of pyrene in L. multiflorum was significantly promoted by the TS. Compared with no TS treatments (PL and ML), the aboveground concentrations of pyrene in TS treatments (PLT and MLT) increased by 135 and 30%, respectively, and the underground concentrations of pyrene in TS treatments (PLT and MLT) increased by 40 and 25%. The concentrations of Cd in the aboveground and underground parts in single contaminated treatments were all significantly more than those in co-contaminated treatments, while the situation of pyrene was quite the reverse. Besides, the addition of TS enhanced activities of dehydrogenase and polyphenol oxidase in soils and increased the biomass of L. multiflorum. The micromorphology of L. multiflorum was not affected by TS. The study suggests that the use of L. multiflorum with TS is an alternative technology for remediation of Cd–pyrene co-contaminated soils.     

Carbon dioxide emissions from cities in China based on high resolution emission gridded data

Based on the China high resolution emission gridded data (1 km spatial resolution), this article is aimed to create a Chinese city carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission data set using consolidated data sources as well as normalized and standardized data processing methods. Standard methods were used to calculate city CO₂ emissions, including scope 1 and scope 2. Cities with higher CO₂ emissions are mostly in north, northeast, and eastern coastal areas. Cities with lower CO₂ emissions are in the western region. Cites with higher CO₂ emissions are clustered in the Jing-Jin-Ji Region (such as Beijing, Tianjin, and Tangshan), and the Yangtze River Delta region (such as Shanghai and Suzhou). The city per capita CO₂ emission is larger in the north than the south. There are obvious aggregations of cities with high per capita CO₂ emission in the north. Four cities among the top 10 per capita emissions (Erdos, Wuhai, Shizuishan, and Yinchuan) cluster in the main coal production areas of northern China. This indicates the significant impact of coal resources endowment on city industry and CO₂ emissions. The majority (77%) of cities have annual CO₂ emissions below 50 million tons. The mean annual emission, among all cities, is 37 million tons. Emissions from service-based cities, which include the smallest number of cities, are the highest. Industrial cities are the largest category and the emission distribution from these cities is close to the normal distribution. Emissions and degree of dispersion, in the other cities (excluding industrial cities and service-based cities), are in the lowest level. Per capita CO₂ emissions in these cities are generally below 20 t/person (89%) with a mean value of 11 t/person. The distribution interval of per capita CO₂ emission within industrial cities is the largest among the three city categories. This indicates greater differences among per capita CO₂ emissions of industrial cities. The distribution interval of per capita CO₂ emission of other cities is the lowest, indicating smaller differences of per capita CO₂ emissions among this city category. Three policy suggestions are proposed: first, city CO₂ emission inventory data in China should be increased, especially for prefecture level cities. Second, city responsibility for emission reduction, and partitioning the national goal should be established, using a bottom-up approach based on specific CO₂ emission levels and potential for emission reductions in each city. Third, comparative and benchmarking research on city CO₂ emissions should be conducted, and a Top Runner system of city CO₂ emission reduction should be established.     

Microbial fuel cells: Advances in electrode modifications for improvement of system performance

There is an increasing trend to conduct the researches related to Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) in the recent years. Limited power output has been the major obstacle for the practical application and upscaling of MFCs. Attempts have been made on electrode modifications such as anode treatments, cathode modifications with catalysts and bio cathodes developments to produce varying degrees of improved output current depending upon the types of modifications. Power density and Coulombic efficiency have been considered as the important parameters to analyze the system performances. This paper overviews on the advances made in MFCs’ researches focusing on different types of electrodes modifications along with the involved methodology. Furthermore, the system performances of different modified MFCs are compared in terms of the power density and the Coulombic efficiency.     

Comparison of the daily global solar radiation from different data sources in Northwest China climate

The solar radiation data are of high importance to the solar energy systems. Conventional methods to obtain the solar radiation data are from weather stations, solar radiation models, commercial software databases, and field measurements. In the present study, a new daily global solar radiation model is proposed, by combining the quadratic function of sunshine fraction and sine function of the day of the year. The solar radiation model calculated data are then compared with China Meteorological Data Sharing System (CMDSS) data, TRNSYS data, and field-measured data in Northwest China climate. It is found that the newly proposed solar radiation model has better performance than the other nine solar radiation models in the literature. The solar radiation model calculated data fit well with the CMDSS annually average data. The TRNSYS data are a bit larger than the CMDSS annually average data in summer half year and a little smaller than those in winter half year. The solar radiation model and the CMDSS annually average data have the best correlation, whereas the TRNSYS data and the field-measured data have the worst correlation. The solar radiation model calculated data have the best correlation with the other three data sources.     

US-UV-Fenton降解硝基苯

采用超声波(US)、紫外光(UV)和Fenton联合降解硝基苯,初步探讨了其作用规律。研究结果表明,UV可以促进双氧水转化自由基的效率,而US同时具有强化传质作用和超声氧化作用,两者均能够强化Fenton氧化硝基苯的降解过程。正交实验结果表明,H2O2初始浓度是硝基苯降解和矿化的最显著影响因素,反应时间和超声功率是矿化的显著影响因素。最佳反应条件为:H2O2500 mg/L、Fe2+10 mg/L、反应时间60 min、超声波功率100 W,此时,硝基苯完全降解,TOC去除率达到73.0%。Fenton、UV/Fenton和US/UV/Fenton降解硝基苯过程均符合伪一级反应动力学模式,反应速率常数分别为3.37×10-2、3.81×10-2和5.10×10-2min-1。     

粉煤灰的改性及对刚果红的吸附

分别采用沸水浸泡、酸浸、碱浸和加热的方法对粉煤灰进行改性处理,利用FTIR仪和XRD仪对改性粉煤灰的成分和官能团进行了分析,并利用改性粉煤灰对模拟刚果红废水进行脱色。实验结果表明：碱改性粉煤灰中含有大量官能团,以及NaPl型沸石类物质,能够明显提高粉煤灰对刚果红的吸附性能;与活性炭相比,碱改性粉煤灰具有更高的性价比;在初始刚果红质量浓度为20mg/L、碱改性粉煤灰加入量为50g/L的条件下,废水的脱色率可达87.52%;碱改性粉煤灰对刚果红的吸附过程遵循二级反应动力学,较好地符合Langmuir等温式和Freundlich等温式。     

An overview on the processes and technologies for recycling cathodic active materials from spent lithium-ion batteries

This paper aims to make an overview on the current status and new tendency for recycling cathodic active materials from spent lithium-ion batteries. Firstly, it introduces several kinds of pretreatment technologies, followed by the summary of all kinds of single recycling processes mainly focusing on organic acid leaching and synergistic extraction. Then, several examples of typical combined processes and industrial recycling processes are presented in detail. Meanwhile, the advantages, disadvantages and prospect of each single process, combined process, as well as industrial recycling processes, are discussed. Finally, based on a novel acidic organic solvent, the authors briefly introduce an environmental friendly process to directly recycle and resynthesize cathodic active material LiNi_1/3Co_1/3Mn_1/3O₂ from spent lithium-ion batteries. The preliminary experimental results demonstrated the advantages of low reaction temperature, high separation efficiency and organic solvent cycling and preventing secondary pollution to the environment. This process may be used for large-scale recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries after further study.     

活性污泥缺氧转化1-2-7-三氨基-8-羟基-3-6-萘二磺酸

1—2-7-三氨基-8-羟基-3—6-萘二磺酸（TAHNDS）作为偶氮染料的脱色产物很难被常规的厌氧-好氧染料废水处理工艺所去除。研究了未经驯化的活性污泥对TAHNDS的缺氧转化效果。结果表明,只有在特定的缺氧条件下（ORP在-50～-150mV之间）,TAHNDS才能被活性污泥所降解转化。当浓度在10—80mg／L范围内,TAHNDS可在72h内转化93％以上。加入100mg／L的硝酸盐和0．64mmol／L的氧化还原介体蒽醌-2-磺酸钠（AQS）可将40mg／L的TAHNDS的转化时间从84h缩短到36h。光谱及HPLC—MS分析表明,TAHNDS在缺氧条件下主要是通过脱氨基和脱磺酸作用生成已知可好氧生物降解的3,5-二氨基4-羟基萘-2-磺酸。因此,缺氧处理有望作为预处理工艺促进废水中TAHNDS的完全降解。