Evaluation of biological water purification functions of inland lakes using an aquatic ecosystem model

An effective measure to cope with eutrophication of lakes is to remove nutrients that can cause algal blooming by taking advantage of natural water purification processes. Here the term “purification” is defined, in a wide sense, as the potential role of a water body to contribute to the reduction of pollutants and thus controlling eutrophication. Also regarded as a kind of ecological regulating services, biological purification involves various processes concerning seasonal nutrient fixation, such as uptake by aquatic macrophytes, biofouling onto foliage substrates, feeding by organisms in higher trophic level, and eternal loss or removal of substance from the water. In order to evaluate the water purification ability, a numerical lake ecosystem model highlighting the role of macrophyte colonies in the shore zone was developed and applied to Lakes Suwa, Kasumi and Biwa, as well as five small lakes attached to Lake Biwa.     

Development of dioxin toxicity evaluation method in human milk by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay--assay validation for human milk

In this study, the development of a toxicity evaluation method for dioxins in human milk by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was reported. A total of 17 human milk samples were tested by ELISA and by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) to assess whether the ELISA performed on samples obtained from primiparas could be considered as reliable enough for identifying a dioxins contamination in human milk. The concept of toxicity equivalent quantity (TEQ) screening was validated by comparing TEQ values for a set of human milk samples to the ELISA responses predicted for those samples. A fairly good correlation (r=0.920) between immunoassay and GC/MS was achieved for human milk. This ELISA should be useful for biological samples monitoring.     

Enrichment of elements in industrial waste incineration bottom ashes obtained from three different types of incinerators,as studied by ICP-AES and ICP-MS

The elemental composition of the industrial waste incineration bottom ash (IWIBA) samples collected from three different types of incinerator with different kinds of wastes were compared. The major-to-ultratrace elements in the IWIBA samples were determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). As a result, ca. 40 elements in the concentration range from milligrams per gram to submicrograms per gram could be determined with relative standard deviations of less than 5%. The IWIBA sample from petrochemical wastes contained lower concentrations of the elements, because fewer mineral constituents were contained in the input waste materials. On the contrary, the elemental concentrations in the IWIBA sample from industrial solid wastes provided the highest values for most elements, while the elemental compositions of the IWIBA sample from food wastes were similar to those of municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash. In addition, it was found from the analytical results that the levels of various heavy metals such as Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, As, Zr, Mo, Sb, Ba, and Pb were higher in the IWIBA samples than in municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash. The enrichment factors of the elements in the IWIBA samples were estimated from the analytical results to compare the elemental distributions in incineration bottom ashes in relation to their mining influence factors, which are the indices for human use of the elements.     

Experiments and numerical simulation on methane flame quenching by water mist

The study of extinguishment using water mist has been motivated due to the phase-out of the use of halens and the search for alternative means that preserve all of the benefits of a clean total flooding agent without adverse environmental impact. With the numerical simulation, we analyzed a gas–liquid two-phase problem including water (liquid), air and methane (gas) using Eulerian equations for the liquid phase and the full Navier–Stokes equations for the gas phase. Gaseous mass, momentum and energy equations are integrated simultaneously by a Harten–Yee explicit non-MUSCL modified-flux type TVD scheme for the convective terms and a central difference scheme for the viscous terms. Liquid phase conservation equations are solved with an application of a flux-vector-splitting scheme. In the experiments in an open room (500×500×500 mm) we observed an interaction of the diffusion flame with the water mists. The results show remarkable flame quenching and a good agreement between the numerical and experimental results.     

Oil adsorbent produced by the carbonization of rice husks

In this study, rice husks considered to be agricultural waste are converted into an adsorbent intended for use in the disposal of oil spills. The raw and refined (defiberized) husks of Japanese Akita Komachi rice were pyrolyzed in a vacuum (500 Pa) at 300-800 degrees C. The amount of A-heavy and B-heavy oils adsorbed on the carbonized rice husk were then evaluated. Oil adsorption is dependent on the type of oil. Rice husks refined and then pyrolyzed at 600-700 degrees C (1.0 g) adsorbed >6.0 g of B-heavy oil and <1.5 g of water, which indicates their usefulness as an adsorbent for oil spill cleanup in Japan. The refining process contributes to an improvement in the oil adsorption capacity, while the carbonization time (at 600 degrees C) has only a minor influence. The residual fluid components in the carbonized rice husks, rather than their porosity, are closely related to oil adsorption capacity.     

An Atmospheric Dispersion Model for the Environmental Impact Assessment of Thermal Power Plants in Japan—A Method for Evaluating Topographical Effects

Abstract

An atmospheric dispersion model was developed for the environmental impact assessment of thermal power plants in Japan, and a method for evaluating topographical effects using this model was proposed. The atmospheric dispersion model consists of an airflow model with a turbulence closure model based on the algebraic Reynolds stress model and a Lagrangian particle dispersion model (LPDM). The evaluation of the maximum concentration of air pollutants such as SO₂, NO_x, and suspended particulate matter is usually considered of primary importance for environmental impact assessment. Three indices were therefore estimated by the atmospheric dispersion model: the ratios (α and β, respectively) of the maximum concentration and the distance of the point of the maximum concentration from the source over topography to the respective values over a flat plane, and the relative concentration distribution [γ(x)] along the ground surface projection of the plume axis normalized by the maximum concentration over a flat plane. The atmospheric dispersion model was applied to the topography around a power plant with a maximum elevation of more than 1000 m. The values of α and β evaluated by the atmospheric dispersion model varied between 1 and 3 and between 1 and 0.4, respectively, depending on the topographical features. These results and the calculated distributions of γ(x) were highly similar to the results of the wind tunnel experiment. Therefore, when the slope of a hill or mountain is similar to the topography considered in this study, it is possible to evaluate topographical effects on exhaust gas dispersion with reasonable accuracy using the atmospheric dispersion model as well as wind tunnel experiments.     

Virus inactivation during coagulation with aluminum coagulants

We used the bacteriophages Qβ and MS2 to determine whether viruses are inactivated by aluminum coagulants during the coagulation process. We performed batch coagulation and filtration experiments with virus-containing solutions. After filtering the supernatant of the coagulated solution through a membrane with a pore size of 50 nm, we measured the virus concentration by both the plaque forming unit (PFU) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods. The virus concentration determined by the PFU method, which determines the infectious virus concentration, was always lower than that determined by the PCR-based method, which determines total virus concentration, regardless of infectivity. This discrepancy can be explained by the formation of aggregates consisting of several virus particles or by the inactivation of viruses in the coagulation process. The former possibility can be discounted because (i) aggregates of several virus particles would not pass through the 50-nm pores of the filtration membrane, and (ii) our particle size measurements revealed that the virus particles in the membrane filtrate were monodispersed. These observations clearly showed that non-infectious Qβ particles were present in the membrane filtrate after the coagulation process with aluminum coagulants. We subsequently revealed that the viruses lost their infectivity after being mixed with hydrolyzing aluminum species during the coagulation process.     

污水二氧化氯和氯消毒过程中遗传毒性的变化及氨氮的影响

采用umu遗传毒性测试方法考察了二氧化氯和氯消毒对几种城市污水生物处理出水遗传毒性的影响,发现当二氧化氯消毒剂从0　mg/L增加到30　mg/L时,几种污水的遗传毒性均先迅速降低后趋于稳定,而当氯消毒剂从0　mg/L增加到30　mg/L时,几种污水的遗传毒性的变化规律不同.进一步研究氨氮对污水消毒过程中遗传毒性变化的影响,发现氨氮对污水二氧化氯消毒过程中遗传毒性的变化规律没有显著影响,但是对污水氯消毒过程中遗传毒性的变化规律却起着至关重要的作用.当氨氮含量较小（<10～20　mg/L）时,污水氯消毒后的遗传毒性小于消毒前;当氨氮含量较大时（>10～20　mg/L）,污水氯消毒后的遗传毒性大于消毒前.     

污水氯和二氧化氯消毒过程中溶解性有机物变化的三维荧光光谱解析

采用三维荧光光谱（3DEEM）技术对污水在氯和二氧化氯消毒过程中溶解性有机物（DOM）的变化进行了初步解析.结果表明,与饮用水、地表水等不同,生物处理出水含有较多的芳香族蛋白质和溶解性微生物代谢产物,且其中的腐殖质主要为生物源,芳香性较弱.在氯和二氧化氯消毒后,污水DOM中的芳香族蛋白质和微生物代谢产物类物质的荧光峰发生蓝移,即峰值的激发或发射波长减少了几个nm,这可能由芳香环结构的破坏引起;而腐殖质类物质的荧光峰发生红移,即峰值的激发或发射波长增加了几个到二十几个nm,此现象与地表水相反,可能与腐殖质的来源不同有关.与遗传毒性的变化类似,氨氮对水样氯消毒后的荧光变化有明显影响,但对二氧化氯消毒后的荧光变化无明显影响.     

Analysis method for PCBs in reclaimed oil using a fast-GC triple stage quadrupole mass spectrometer with the 13-component quantitation method

It is necessary for companies supplying reclaimed oil to analyze polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), because there is a possibility of the presence of contaminants due to trace-level PCBs in the reclaimed oil. However, common analysis methods of PCBs are time-consuming and complicated. Fast-GC triple stage quadrupole mass spectrometer with the 13-component quantitation method is an official method for analyzing PCBs in insulating oil in Japan. This method is extremely fast and simplified. The purpose of this study involves an investigation of the aforementioned fast and simple method for potential use in the analysis of reclaimed oil. Furthermore, it was attempted to combine the method with sample preparation involving only hexane dilution. The effect of sample dilutions corresponding to 100, 300, and 500 times was evaluated for reducing the matrix effect. The matrix effect was suppressed at a dilution ratio equal to or exceeding 300 times. Calibration curves of four points, namely 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, and 0.5 ng/mL, (ignored origin) by using an internal standard method were prepared for the 13 components. The square of regression coefficient (R²) values of all calibration curves exceeded 0.997. This method was adopted for the analysis of reclaimed oil containing 0.5 μg/mL PCBs, which corresponds to the judgment criteria, and accurate quantitation (accuracy value, 94.0–102%) and good repeatability (%RSD, 3.6%) were obtained. Furthermore, the required sensitivity was maintained even when 800 samples were analyzed without a cleaning ion source and an exchanging analysis column.