Using biochar for remediation of soils contaminated with heavy metals and organic pollutants

Soil contamination with heavy metals and organic pollutants has increasingly become a serious global environmental issue in recent years. Considerable efforts have been made to remediate contaminated soils. Biochar has a large surface area, and high capacity to adsorb heavy metals and organic pollutants. Biochar can potentially be used to reduce the bioavailability and leachability of heavy metals and organic pollutants in soils through adsorption and other physicochemical reactions. Biochar is typically an alkaline material which can increase soil pH and contribute to stabilization of heavy metals. Application of biochar for remediation of contaminated soils may provide a new solution to the soil pollution problem. This paper provides an overview on the impact of biochar on the environmental fate and mobility of heavy metals and organic pollutants in contaminated soils and its implication for remediation of contaminated soils. Further research directions are identified to ensure a safe and sustainable use of biochar as a soil amendment for remediation of contaminated soils.     

The impact of sewage sludge compost on tree peony growth and soil microbiological,and biochemical properties

In order to assess the suitability of sludge compost application for tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa)–soil ecosystems, we determined soil microbial biomass C (C_mic), basal respiration (R_mic), enzyme activities, and tree peony growth parameters at 0–75% sludge compost amendment dosage. Soil C_mic, R_mic, C_mic as a percent of soil organic C, enzyme (invertase, urease, proteinase, phosphatase, polyphenoloxidase) activities, and plant height, flower diameter, and flower numbers per plant of tree peony significantly increased after sludge compost amendment; however, with the increasing sludge compost amendment dosage, a decreasing trend above 45% sludge compost amendment became apparent although soil organic C, total Kjeldahl N, and total P always increased with the sludge compost amendment. Soil metabolic quotient first showed a decreasing trend with the increasing sludge compost application in the range of 15–45%, and then an increasing trend from compost application of 45–75%, with the minimum found at compost application of 45%. As for the diseased plants, 50% of tree peony under the treatment without sludge compost amendment suffered from yellow leaf disease of tree peony, while no any disease was observed under the treatments with sludge compost application of 30–75%, which showed sludge compost application had significant suppressive effect on the yellow leaf disease of tree peony. This result convincingly demonstrated that ?45% sludge compost application dosage can take advantage of beneficial effect on tree peony growth and tree peony–soil ecosystems.     

Mass transfer coefficients for volatilization of polychlorinated biphenyls from the Hudson River,New York measured using micrometeorological approaches

Air–water exchange is an important process controlling the fate of many organic chemicals in the environment. Modeling this process is hampered by the lack of direct observations. Thus, the purpose of this work was to derive direct measurements of the mass transfer coefficients for air–water exchange (v_aw) of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) that may be used to check the validity of values derived from tracer gas experiments. v_aw values for PCBs were determined using previously published turbulent fluxes divided by the corresponding dissolved phase concentrations. The median v_aw values for each homolog decreased with increasing molecular weight and ranged from 0.29 for hexachlorobiphenyls to 2.2 m d^?1 for monochlorobiphenyls with a propagated uncertainty of about 70%, lower than in previous studies. Due to relatively low wind speeds and possible sorption of PCBs to colloids, these numbers may be biased low. These field measurements of v_aw differ by as much as a factor of 23 from predictions based on the widely-used Whitman two-film model. Therefore a new formulation for the calculation of v_aw based on field measurements is needed. This study demonstrates that micrometeorological approaches are a viable option for the measurement of v_aw for hydrophobic organics such as PCBs and should be used to generate enough field data on the air–water exchange of hydrophobic organics to allow the development of new predictive models.     

Factors influencing on the bioaccessibility of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in size-specific dust from air conditioner filters

Size-specific concentrations and bioaccessibility of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in dust from air conditioner filters were measured, and the factors influencing the PBDE bioaccessibility were determined. Generally, the PBDE concentrations increased with decreasing dust particle size, and BDE209 (deca-BDE) was generally the predominant congener. The bioaccessibility ranged from 20.3% to 50.8% for tri- to hepta-BDEs, and from 5.1% to 13.9% for BDE209 in dust fractions of varied particle size. The bioaccessibility of most PBDE congeners decreased with increasing dust particle size. The way of being of PBDE (adsorbed to dust surface or incorporated into polymers) in dust significantly influenced the bioaccessibility. There was a significant negative correlation between the tri- to hepta-BDE bioaccessibility and organic matter (OM) contents in dust. Furthermore, tri- to hepta-BDE bioaccessibility increased with increasing polarity of OMs, while with decreasing aromaticity of OMs. The tri- to hepta-BDE bioaccessibility significantly positively correlated with the surface areas and pore volumes of dust. Using multiple linear regression analysis, it was found that the OM contents and pore volumes of dust were the most important factors to influence the tri- to hepta-BDE bioaccessibility and they could be used to estimate the bioaccessibility of tri- to hepta-BDEs according to the following equation: bioaccessibility (%) = 45.05 − 0.49 × OM% + 1.79 × pore volume. However, BDE209 bioaccessibility did not correlate to any of these factors.     

Effect of chlorination and ultraviolet disinfection on tetA-mediated tetracycline resistance of Escherichia coli

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are an emerging threat to public health during drinking water consumption and reclaimed water reuse. Several studies have shown that the proportions of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in waters may increase when exposed to low doses of UV light or chlorine. In this study, inactivation of tetracycline-resistant Escherichia coli and antibiotic-sensitive E. coli by UV disinfection and chlorination was compared to determine the tolerance of tetracycline-resistant E. coli to UV light and chlorine, and tetracycline resistance of a tetracycline-resistant E. coli population was studied under different doses of the disinfectants. Our results showed that relative to antibiotic-sensitive E. coli, tetracycline-resistant E. coli had the same tolerance to UV light and a potentially higher tolerance to chlorination. The mortality frequency distributions of tetracycline-resistant E. coli exposed to tetracycline were shifted by both chlorination and UV disinfection. When compared to the hemi-inhibitory concentrations (IC₅₀) of tetracycline-resistant E. coli with no exposure to UV or chlorination, the IC₅₀ of tetracycline-resistant E. coli treated with tetracycline was 40% lower when inactivation by UV light or chlorination reached 3-log but was 1.18 times greater when inactivation by chlorination reached 4.3-log. Chlorination applied to drinking water or reclaimed water treatment may increase the risk of selection for highly tetracycline-resistant E. coli.     

碘掺杂Ti02可见光光催化性能研究

在低于100℃温度条件下,采用溶胶一凝胶法以钛酸正丁酯为钛源,碘酸钾为碘源,制备了I掺杂纳米TiO2催化剂（I-TiO2）,运用x-射线衍射（XRD）、透射电镜（TEM）及x-射线光电子能谱（XPS）等对催化剂进行表征,结果表明,TiO2及I-TiO2催化剂均为锐钛矿,I吸附并包裹在TiO2表面或以间隙进入的形式存在,并未进入TiO2晶格。通过在可见光照射下（A〉420nm）以罗丹明B（RhodamineB,RhB）的光催化降解为探针反应研究了在不同条件下制备催化剂的催化性能,结果表明,掺杂比为n1：n^ti=0．05：l,焙烧温度为400℃,降解介质条件pH=7时,l-TiO2光催化活性明显优于未掺杂的TiO2。光催化降解过程通过红外光谱（IR）,总有机碳（TOC）跟踪测定,比较了TiO2掺杂前后降解RhB和对氯苯酚（4-CP）的光催化特性差异;同时采用苯甲酸荧光光度法跟踪测定体系中的氧化物种,表明在可见光下,I-TiO2光催化体系中产生·OH高活性氧化物种从而氧化降解目标化合物。     

天然和CPB改性沸石对Hg^2＋的吸附特征

通过静态实验研究溴代十六烷基吡啶（CPB）改性沸石和天然沸石对废水中Hg^2＋的吸附特性,探讨了吸附动力学、吸附平衡和吸附热力学机制。研究表明：Langmuir方程能较好地描述2种沸石对Hg^2＋的吸附,CPB改性沸石对Hg^2＋的吸附率得到显著提高。实验条件下,改性沸石对Hg^2＋的吸附率从67．5％提高到98．9％,吸附容量从0．521mg／g提高到3．07mg／g。利用准一级动力学方程、假二级动力学方程、颗粒内扩散模型和Elovich方程分别对动力学过程进行拟合,发现2种沸石对Hg^2＋的吸附均满足假二级动力学方程,且离子的颗粒内扩散对整个吸附过程有影响。动力学拟合、D-R方程拟合和热力学研究综合表明：2种沸石对Hg^2＋的吸附既存在化学吸附又存在物理吸附,吸附吉布斯自由能变（△G^0）、焓变（△H^0）、熵变（△S^0）均小于0,反应为自发的放热反应,低温有利于吸附的进行。     

3种载体固定化菌藻共生系统脱氮除磷效果的对比

采用3种不同载体（海藻酸钠、聚乙烯醇、复合载体）,分别将小球藻和栅藻与活性污泥固定成菌藻共生系统,制成菌藻凝胶小球,单独菌、单独藻的凝胶小球,用于处理人工污水。结果表明,（1）复合载体固定的菌藻共生系统氮磷去除效果最好,PVA载体的脱氮除磷效果次于复合载体优于海藻酸钠;（2）固定化菌藻共生系统的脱氮除磷效果明显优于单独固定菌和单独固定藻,固定菌的效果较差;（3）3种载体包埋下的固定化小球藻的脱氮除磷效果均较相同载体固定化的栅藻效果好。     

木屑处置漏油事故的室内模拟

用锯木屑作为吸附材料,0#柴油为吸附对象进行室内模拟实验,研究了木屑对纯油、水中浮油的吸附以及吸油后的木屑在水中的漂浮性能;并以木屑粒径、木屑投加量、振荡频率、油膜厚度为研究指标,设计了5因素4水平的正交实验,考察了各因素对0#柴油的吸附量、去除率以及木屑漂浮率的影响并对优化条件进行了讨论。结果表明,在实验研究范围内,木屑对水中柴油的吸附速度极快,1min即可达到饱和,饱和吸附量为8．08g／g;木屑在水中漂浮性能良好,静态时经72h漂浮,漂浮率维持在92％左右;振荡频率为150r／min时,72h内漂浮率维持在68％以上;最佳吸油条件组合为吸附剂粒径10～20目,振荡频率120r／min,木屑投加量0．7g,油膜厚度1．65mm。