Indirect effect of nutrient accumulation intensified toxicity risk of metals in sediments from urban river network

The levels of metals in sediments of urban river ecosystems are crucial for aquatic environmental health and pollution assessment. Yet little is known about the interaction of nutrients with metals for environmental risks under contamination accumulation. Here, we combined hierarchical cluster, correlation, and principal component analysis with structural equation model (SEM) to investigate the pollution level, source, toxicity risk, and interaction associated with metals and nutrients in the sediments of a river network in a city area of East China. The results showed that the pollution associated with metals in sediments was rated as moderate degree of contamination load and medium-high toxicity risk in the middle and downstream of urban rivers based on contamination factor, pollution load index, and environmental toxicity quotient. The concentration of mercury (Hg) and zinc (Zn) showed a significant correlation with toxic risks, which had more contribution to toxicity than other metals in the study area. Organic nitrogen and organic pollution index showed heavily polluted sediments in south of the study area. Though correlation analysis indicated that nutrients and metals had different input zones from anthropogenic sources in the urban river network, SEM suggested that nutrient accumulation indirectly intensified toxicity risk of metals by 13.6% in sediments. Therefore, we suggested the combined consideration of metal toxicity risk with nutrient accumulation, which may provide a comprehensive understanding to identify sediment pollution.

Toxicity rate of metals in sediments from urban river network indirectly intensified by nutrients accumulation

     

Enhanced removal of lead(II) and cadmium(II) from water in alum coagulation by ferrate(VI) pretreatment.

A laboratory study demonstrated that ferrate pretreatment significantly enhanced lead and cadmium removal in alum coagulation, under the conditions of natural surface water. The enhancement of lead removal was approximately 21 to 37% by ferrate pretreatment at a dosage of 1 to 5 mg/L. The enhanced removal of cadmium by ferrate pretreatment at a dosage of 1 to 5 mg/L exceeded the removal by alum coagulation alone 2-to 12-fold. Cadmium is much more difficult to remove than lead in alum coagulation. The performance of ferrate in enhancing the removal of lead and cadmium in alum coagulation was better than that of ferric chloride. The removal of lead and cadmium was highly pH-dependent, following the general trend of higher pH being related to higher removal. Satisfactory removal of cadmium could be expected by ferrate pretreatment combined with adjusting the pH of the water.     

An intelligent emissions controller for fuel lean gas reburn in coal-fired power plants

The application of artificial intelligence techniques for performance optimization of the fuel lean gas reburn (FLGR) system is investigated. A multilayer, feedforward artificial neural network is applied to model static nonlinear relationships between the distribution of injected natural gas into the upper region of the furnace of a coal-fired boiler and the corresponding oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions exiting the furnace. Based on this model, optimal distributions of injected gas are determined such that the largest NOx reduction is achieved for each value of total injected gas. This optimization is accomplished through the development of a new optimization method based on neural networks. This new optimal control algorithm, which can be used as an alternative generic tool for solving multidimensional nonlinear constrained optimization problems, is described and its results are successfully validated against an off-the-shelf tool for solving mathematical programming problems. Encouraging results obtained using plant data from one of Commonwealth Edison's coal-fired electric power plants demonstrate the feasibility of the overall approach. Preliminary results show that the use of this intelligent controller will also enable the determination of the most cost-effective operating conditions of the FLGR system by considering, along with the optimal distribution of the injected gas, the cost differential between natural gas and coal and the open-market price of NOx emission credits. Further study, however, is necessary, including the construction of a more comprehensive database, needed to develop high-fidelity process models and to add carbon monoxide (CO) emissions to the model of the gas reburn system.     

放电等离子体与饲养酵母联合处理味精废水的初步研究

对采用放电等离子体与饲养酵母联合处理味精废水进行了初步研究。结果表明，放电等离子体预处理后废水的CODcr值普遍升高，但经假丝酵母联合处理后CODCr去除率增加了38．3％，效果明显优于仅采用饲养酵母法处理的味精废水，说明放电等离子体预处理可使味精废水中的有机大分子破坏成小分子，有利于生物降解，为味精废水治理提供了一条新的途径。实验初步研究了联合处理后的CODcr去除率与预处理电压、预处理电流、预处理次数的关系，结果表明存在相应的最优值。     

Observations of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol degradation by ozone

The aqueous reactivity of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP) with ozone has been studied at laboratory-scale using a simple gas bubble/liquid contacting system. Degradation rate constants were measured directly and found to be 7.6 and 77.2 M(-1)s(-1) at pH 2 and 7.5, respectively. At pH 7.5, 10 min of ozonation ( identical with 15 mM ozone consumption) achieved a 90% degradation of TCP, which corresponded to the release of approximately 2 mol Cl(-) per mol TCP. The presence of hydrogen peroxide in solution did not significantly increase the TCP degradation but increased the overall dechlorination to 2.7 mol Cl(-) per mol TCP. The presence of humic acid (HA) in solution was found to enhance the degradation rate of TCP at low relative HA concentrations (<0.6 g/g HA:TCP), but to reduce the rate at higher HA concentrations.     

Performance of the Button Personal Inhalable Sampler for the measurement of outdoor aeroallergens

No personal aerosol sampler has been evaluated for monitoring aeroallergens in outdoor field conditions and compared to conventional stationary aerobiological samplers. Recently developed Button Personal Inhalable Aerosol Sampler has demonstrated high sampling efficiency for non-biological particles and low sensitivity to the wind direction and velocity. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the Button Sampler for the measurement of outdoor pollen grains and fungal spores side-by-side with the widely used Rotorod Sampler. The sampling was performed for 8 months (spring, summer and fall) at a monitoring station on the roof of a two-storied office building located in the center of the city of Cincinnati. Two identical Button Samplers, one oriented towards the most prevalent wind and the other towards the opposite wind and a Rotorod Sampler were placed side-by-side. The total fungal spore concentration ranged from 129 to 12,980 spores m(-3) (number per cubic meter of air) and the total pollen concentration from 4 to 4536 pollen m(-3). The fungal spore concentrations obtained with the two Button Samplers correlated well (r = 0.95; p<0.0001). The pollen data also showed positive correlation. These findings strongly support the results of earlier studies conducted with non-biological aerosol particles, which demonstrated a low wind dependence of the performance of the Button Sampler compared to other samplers. The Button Sampler's inlet efficiency was found to be more dependent on wind direction when sampling larger sized Pinaceae pollen grains (aerodynamic diameter approximately 65 mum). Compared to Rotorod, both Button Samplers measured significantly higher total fungal spore concentrations. For total pollen count, the Button Sampler facing the prevalent wind showed concentrations levels comparable to that of the Rotorod, but the Button Sampler oriented opposite to the prevalent wind demonstrated lower concentration levels. Overall, it was concluded that the Button Sampler is efficient for the personal sampling of outdoor aeroallergens, and is especially beneficial for aeroallergens of small particle size.     

应用GIS分析太湖水质的污染现状

随着空间技术和计算机技术的日益发展，地理信息系统（GIS）作为一门技术，不但在地学方面有了较为广泛的应用，而且在环境部门也越来越显出其优势性。以水质采样监测的大量第一手资料为基础，应用GIS工具，对太湖水质的污染现状进行了分析，并对此进行解释提出了可能的解决办法。     

光纤化学传感器的实验研究

主要研究对象为基于离子选择性中性载体的无机离子化学传感器，采用以吸光度为主要测量信号的分光光度法为主要分析方法。依据该传感器的特征，可使分析光束与被测溶液分开，甚至对不透明的液体作分光光度分析。为此，在离子选择性中性载体PVC膜的响应特征基础上设计并研制一种新型结构的光吸收池，应用前景广阔。     

小型圆环状尖端脉冲电晕等离子体除尘器的研制

本文介绍一种小型的脉冲电晕等离子体除尘器 ,它采用圆环状尖端电晕极 ,电晕放电稳定 ,放电电流较集中 ,不容易产生火花放电