Lead contamination in tea garden soils and factors affecting its bioavailability

The consumption of heavy metals is detrimental to human health and most countries restrict the concentration of metals such as lead (Pb) in food and beverages. Recent tests have detected high Pb concentrations in certain commercial brands of tea leaves and this finding has raised concerns for both producers and consumers. To investigate what factors may be contributing to the increase in Pb accumulation in the tea leaves we collected tea leaves and soils from tea producing areas and analyzed them for Pb concentration, pH and organic matter content. The result showed the Pb concentration of 47% investigated tea leaves samples was beyond 2 mg kg(-1), the permissible levels given by China. The total Pb concentration in the surface and subsurface soil layers averaged 36.4 and 32.2 mg kg(-1), respectively which fall below of the 60 mg kg(-1) limit provided for organic tea gardens in China. The pH of the tea garden soils was severely acidic with the lowest pH of 3.37. Soils under older tea gardens tended to have a lower pH and a higher Pb bioavailability which was defined as the amount of lead extracted by CaCl2 solution than those under younger tea gardens. We found that the concentration of bioavailable Pb and the percentage of bioavailable Pb (bioavailable Pb relative to total Pb concentration) were positively correlated with soil H+ activity and soil organic matter content, and the organic matter accumulation contribute more effects on Pb bioavailability in these two factors. We conclude that soil acidification and organic matter accumulation could contribute to increasing Pb bioavailability in soil and that these could increase Pb uptake and accumulation in the tea leaves.     

Influences of dissolved and colloidal organic carbon on the uptake of Ag, Cd, and Cr by the marine mussel Perna viridis

The cross-flow ultrafiltration and radiotracer techniques were used to study the influences of natural dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and colloidal organic carbon (COC) on the bioavailability of Ag, Cd, and Cr to the green mussel Perna viridis. We examined the uptake of these metals by the mussels at different concentrations of DOC and COC from different origins (estuarine, coastal, and diatom decomposed). Using the DOC originating from the decomposed diatom (Thalassiosira pseudonana), we demonstrated that Cd and Cr uptake, quantified by the concentration factor (DCF), increased linearly with increasing DOC concentration. There was, however, no consistent influence of natural DOC concentration on the metal uptake when the DOC was obtained from different sources of seawater (coastal and estuarine). The influences of COC on metal bioavailability were metal-specific and dependent on the geochemical properties of colloids and colloid-metal complexation. Cd uptake rate was not influenced by the COC concentrations. Uptake of diatom-decomposed colloidal Cr was enhanced by 3.4x, whereas the uptake of diatom-decomposed colloidal Ag was decreased by 8.2x compared with the uptake of low molecular weight Cr and Ag (<1 kDa). The uptake of diatom-decomposed colloidal Cr and Ag was generally lower than the uptake of metals bound with the same type of colloids for 2 days. Further aging of the colloid-metal binding reduced metal bioavailability to the mussels. In the presence of different sizes of colloidal particles where there was no major binding of colloids with the metals, metal uptake by the mussels was not influenced by different COC concentrations. Overall, our study suggests that although metal dissociation from colloids may be an important step for the uptake of colloidal metals, other mechanisms such as pinocytosis and co-transport may also be involved in the uptake of these metals, especially in aquatic environments with high DOC and COC concentrations.     

Levels of 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo- -dioxin (2,3,7,8-TCDD) in adipose tissue of U.S. Vietnam veterans seeking medical assistance

2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo- -dioxin (2,3,7,8-TCDD) was detected in an earlier study in adipose tissue of U.S. veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam. The levels appear to be directly related to the intensity of exposure¹. We now report on a group of thirteen Vietnam veterans who were screened for 2,3,7,8-TCDD in adipose tissue. All the veterans had sought medical assistance and some had health effects that may be ascribed to exposure to 2,3,7,8-TCDD. Also included are control patients who were taken from the population of the U.S. 2,3,7,8-TCDD was detected in most of the adipose tissue samples at levels ranging from 2 to 14 ppt. No significant differences in the tissue levels of Vietnam veterans and the other persons were found in this preliminary study.     

炼油厂轻污染水回用试验研究

针对某炼油厂轻污染废水水质情况，选用了BAF（生物曝气滤池）工艺＋SF（砂滤）工艺对该废水进行净化处理。通过试验研究，得到了BAF工艺合适的运行参数，取得了满意的试验结果。经BAF工艺处理后，出水COD和油平均浓度分别为9.78mg／L和0.24mg／L，再经SF工艺进一步去除SS后，出水SS平均浓度为3．8mg／L，系统处理出水完全达到工业回用水水质要求。试验证明：BAF工艺是一种高效的处理方法，适合炼油厂轻污染水的净化处理。     

双循环两相生物处理工艺工程应用的探讨

探讨了新型生物脱氮除磷工艺--双循环两相(BICT)生物处理工艺的生产规模应用问题.通过在序批式活性污泥法基础上增设独立的生物膜反应器,实现微生物的分相培养,BICT工艺为提高系统的脱氮除磷能力,增强运行稳定性和可靠性创造了条件.技术经济比较分析说明,BICT工艺技术先进、运行稳定,投资及运行费用具有竞争力,在污水处理要求愈加严格的情况下,具有推广价值和应用前景.     

SBR工艺处理糠醛废水研究

将糠醛厂塔底废水与其他生产废水混合,利用SBR工艺进行处理,研究了运行工况、污泥负荷和进水pH等对处理效果的影响.结果表明,反应操作灵活;适宜运行参数为pH 6～8,进水10 min,搅拌100 min,曝气120 min,沉淀120 min,出水10min;当进水COD≤950 mg/L,日污泥负荷MCOD/MMLSS=0.346时,出水COD＜100 mg/L.     

膜生物反应器的研究及在废水处理中的应用

综合论述了膜生物反应器的发展概况、基本原理、技术特点及分类等。     

鲁棒fuzzy-PID在污水pH值控制中的应用

某化工企业排放出来的高浓度有机污水酸碱度因工艺的不稳定性而波动较大，在集散控制系统上采用了常规PID控制后，生物中和罐污水的酸碱度超调量偏大，稳态误差也高于预定值，达不到当地的排放要求，加进了模糊建模和鲁棒控制技术后，实施结果表明，酸碱度控制系统的动静态性能指标显著提高，鲁棒fuzzy-PID模糊控制技术对滞后对象具有较高的可控性。     

鸭河口水库水体总氮、总磷预测研究

根据鸭河口水库受纳点源及面源污染负荷情况，选择枯水期为预测时期，采用迪隆模型对鸭河口水库水体总氮、总磷进行预测研究，为鸭河口水库水质保持和富营养化防治提供基础数据。     

高效堆肥菌种的筛选及在城市污泥堆肥上的应用

分离筛选出了4株猪粪堆肥菌种,初步的分类鉴定表明它们均属于芽孢杆菌属.利用这些菌种制成混合菌剂,并进行城市污泥堆肥对比试验,结果显示,接菌处理在各项堆肥指标上明显优于未接菌的空白处理,自制菌与酵素菌在堆肥过程中具有非常相似的发酵能力,均能加快堆肥的升温速度,提高堆肥的最高温度,加快物料含水率的下降.说明自制菌不但可以应用于猪粪的堆肥发酵,在城市污泥高温堆肥方面也有很好的应用潜力.