Removal of added nitrate in the single, binary, and ternary systems of cotton burr compost, zerovalent iron, and sediment: Implications for groundwater nitrate remediation using permeable reactive barriers

Recent research has shown that carbonaceous solid materials and zerovalent iron (Fe(0)) may potentially be used as media in permeable reactive barriers (PRBs) to degrade groundwater nitrate via heterotrophic denitrification in the solid carbon system, and via abiotic reduction and autotrophic denitrification in the Fe(0) system. Questions arise as whether the more expensive Fe(0) is more effective than the less expensive carbonaceous solid materials for groundwater nitrate remediation, and whether there is any synergistic effect of mixing the two different types of materials. We carried out batch tests to study the nature and rates of removal of added nitrate in the suspensions of single, binary, and ternary systems of cotton burr compost, Peerless Fe(0), and a sediment low in organic carbon. Cotton burr compost acted as both organic carbon source and supporting material for the growth of indigenous denitrifiers. Batch tests showed that cotton burr compost alone removed added nitrate at a greater rate than did Peerless Fe(0) alone on an equal mass basis with a pseudo-first-order rate constant k=0.0830+/-0.0031 h(-1) for cotton burr compost and a k=0.00223+/-0.00022 h(-1) for Peerless Fe(0); cotton burr compost also removed added nitrate at a faster rate than did cotton burr compost mixed with Peerless Fe(0) and/or the sediment. Furthermore, there was no substantial accumulation of ammonium ions in the cotton burr compost system, in contrast to the systems containing Peerless Fe(0) in which ammonium ions persisted as major products of nitrate reduction. It is concluded that cotton burr compost alone may be used as an excellent denitrification medium in a PRB for groundwater nitrate removal. Further study is needed to evaluate performance of its field applications.     

Reliable evidences that the removal mechanism of hexavalent chromium by natural biomaterials is adsorption-coupled reduction

For the last few decades, over 200 papers have been published in the Cr(VI) biosorption research field. Most early studies have claimed that Cr(VI) was removed from aqueous phase through an anionic adsorption, but this approach has been lost old original position. It has been newly explained that these findings were misinterpreted due to errors in measuring the concentrations of different chromium species in the aqueous phase, insufficient contact time required for equilibrium and the lack of information about the oxidation state of the chromium bound to biomaterials. Although 'adsorption-coupled reduction' is now widely accepted as the mechanism of Cr(VI) biosorption by natural biomaterials, a number of researchers still believe that Cr(VI) is removed by anionic adsorption onto the biomaterials. Therefore, the objective of this study was to show reliable evidences that the removal mechanism of Cr(VI) by natural biomaterials is 'adsorption-coupled reduction'. Sixteen natural biomaterials were used to study the Cr(VI) biosorption. Not only Cr(VI) but also total Cr in the aqueous phase were analyzed. X-ray photoelectron spectroscope was also used to verify the oxidation state of the chromium bound to the biomaterials. Finally, the removal behavior of Cr(VI) by each biomaterial was described by a kinetic model based on a redox reaction.     

Structure optimization and annual performance analysis of the lens-walled compound parabolic concentrator

The primary lens-walled compound parabolic concentrator (lens-walled CPC) has a significant advantage of a larger half acceptance angle as a static solar concentrator, but it also has a drawback of a low optical efficiency. In order to overcome this drawback, in this article, series of structure parameters were investigated and compared to further improve the optical efficiency within the half acceptance angle combined with the material properties. The average optical efficiencies of the improved lens-walled CPCs could achieve more than 82% within the half acceptance angle of 35?. Experiments were adopted to verify the credibility and validity of the simulation. Moreover, annual performance of the lens-walled CPCs comparison with that of the mirror CPC for Nottingham was analyzed. Results show that the improved lens-walled CPC has a higher optical performance for actual building application.     

Stable isotope on the evaluation of water quality in the presence of WWTPs in rivers

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - We investigated the distribution of nitrogen compounds in Han River as well as two tributaries of Tancheon and Jungrangcheon. Particularly, we...     

Benchmarking Optical/Thermal Satellite Imagery for Estimating Evapotranspiration and Soil Moisture in Decision Support Tools

Generally, one expects evapotranspiration (ET) maps derived from optical/thermal Landsat and MODIS satellite imagery to improve decision support tools and lead to superior decisions regarding water resources management. However, there is lack of supportive evidence to accept or reject this expectation. We “benchmark” three existing hydrologic decision support tools with the following benchmarks: annual ET for the ET Toolbox developed by the United States Bureau of Reclamation, predicted rainfall‐runoff hydrographs for the Gridded Surface/Subsurface Hydrologic Analysis model developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the average annual groundwater recharge for the Distributed Parameter Watershed Model used by Daniel B. Stephens & Associates. The conclusion of this benchmark study is that the use of NASA/USGS optical/thermal satellite imagery can considerably improve hydrologic decision support tools compared to their traditional implementations. The benefits of improved decision making, resulting from more accurate results of hydrologic support systems using optical/thermal satellite imagery, should substantially exceed the costs for acquiring such imagery and implementing the remote sensing algorithms. In fact, the value of reduced error in estimating average annual groundwater recharge in the San Gabriel Mountains, California alone, in terms of value of water, may be as large as $1 billion, more than sufficient to pay for one new Landsat satellite.     

微波消解-流动注射分光光度法测定总氮和总磷

以碱性过硫酸钾溶液为消解液,采用微波消解-流动注射分光光度法测定水中总氮和总磷。在碱性过硫酸钾溶液中氢氧化钠质量浓度为9.6g/L、微波功率为320W、消解管长度为16m的条件下,总氮和总磷的检出限分别为0.040m g/L和0.020mg/L,线性范围分别为0.040～3.500mg/L和0.020～2.500mg/L,相对标准偏差分别为1.6%和1.0%。微波消解-流动注射分光光度法应用于河水、湖水、化工废水等实际水样中总氮和总磷的测定,加标回收率分别为95.7%～98.1%和97.2%～102.2%。     

两种表面活性剂对剩余污泥产酸影响的比较研究

在批式反应器中研究了常温下2种(两性和阳离子)表面活性剂对剩余污泥产酸的影响,结果表明,2种表面活性剂均能较大幅度地提高剩余污泥生产有机酸的产量.在污泥发酵的第4天,0.1g·g-1(表面活性剂与污泥干重比,下同)的两性和阳离子表面活性剂可分别使剩余污泥生产有机酸的浓度达到226.4和861.4 mg·L-1(以COD计,下同),而空白试验中生成的有机酸浓度仅为3.2 mg·L-1.同时,剩余污泥的有机酸产量随表面活性剂加入量的增加而增加.当表面活性剂的加入量低于0.2 g·g-1时,用两性表面活性剂处理的剩余污泥中有机酸浓度仅为用阳离子表面活性剂处理的剩余污泥中有机酸浓度的50%;当表面活性剂的加入量增至0.3 g·g-1时,两者的有机酸最大产量接近.此外,表面活性剂的种类和加入量对有机酸的组成分布也有一定的影响.     

直链烷基苯磺酸盐促进剩余污泥产生短链脂肪酸的研究

采用批试试验的方法研究了十二烷基苯磺酸钠(C12-LAS)对剩余污泥在厌氧发酵过程中产生的短链脂肪酸(SCFAs)的影响.结果表明,C12-LAS的投加极大地提高了剩余污泥厌氧发酵过程中的SCFAs产量.当C12-LAS加入量低于0.1g·g-1时,SCFAs产量随着C12-LAS加入量的增加而增加,然而,当C12-LAS加入量高于0.1g·g-1时,SCFAs产量反而有所降低.从污泥产酸量以及经济成本考虑,C12-LAS的最佳投加量为0.02g·g-1,此时剩余污泥的SCFAs最大产量出现在第6天.进一步的研究表明,C12-LAS不仅促使大量的碳水化合物和蛋白质脱离污泥颗粒并溶解到液相中,而且抑制了产甲烷菌的活性.尽管剩余污泥经历着酸化过程,但由于其释放出大量的NH4 -N,污泥在整个厌氧发酵过程中的pH值逐渐升高.