Full-scale evaluation of mercury control with sorbent injection and COHPAC at Alabama Power E.C. Gaston

The overall objective of this project was to determine the cost and impacts of Hg control using sorbent injection into a Compact Hybrid Particulate Collector (COHPAC) at Alabama Power's Gaston Unit 3. This test is part of a program funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) to obtain the necessary information to assess the costs of controlling Hg from coal-fired utility plants that do not have scrubbers for SO2 control. The economics will be developed based on various levels of Hg control. Gaston Unit 3 was chosen for testing because COHPAC represents a cost-effective retrofit option for utilities with existing electrostatic precipitators (ESPs). COHPAC is an EPRI-patented concept that places a high air-to-cloth ratio baghouse downstream of an existing ESP to improve overall particulate collection efficiency. Activated carbons were injected upstream of COHPAC and downstream of the ESP to obtain performance and operational data. Results were very encouraging, with up to 90% removal of Hg for short operating periods using powdered activated carbon (PAC). During the long-term tests, an average Hg removal efficiency of 78% was measured. The PAC injection rate for the long-term tests was chosen to maintain COHPAC cleaning frequency at less than 1.5 pulses/bag/hr.     

Long-term effects of fertilization on the forms and availability of soil phosphorus in rice paddy

The changes in total P accumulation and P compounds with time in the plough layer in a paddy soil in southern Korea were investigated in relation to the continuous application of chemical fertilizers (NPK), straw based compost (Compost), combination these two (NPK+Compost) for 31 years. Continuous fertilization increased the total and inorganic P contents in plough layers. In NPK, inorganic P fraction did not change with time, but organic P content increased significantly. Long-term application of chemical fertilizer together with compost accelerated the decrease in the organic P fraction, presumably due to promoting microbial activity in the plow layer, and then increased significantly inorganic P fraction. Compost application decreased the residual P and Fe-P fractions and then increased inorganic P fraction, in spite of continuous compost application. Increase in total, inorganic and extractable P with time may be closely related to the increase in the availability of accumulated P for rice growth.     

Reduction of greenhouse gases from anaerobic piggery wastewater treatment by bromochloromethane in Taiwan

This work establishes methods of reducing the amount of methane produced from the anaerobic treatment of piggery wastewater by either reducing the storage time before solid/liquid separation or inhibiting the activity of methanogens in anaerobic wastewater treatment system. Experimental results showed these two methods can be adopted effectively to reduce methane production resulting from anaerobic piggery wastewater treatment. First, the wastewater must be processed using solid/liquid separation immediately after washing pig houses. This process can reduce by 62% the biogas production and indirectly decrease the methane production from the anaerobic wastewater treatment reactor. Second, adding 10 mg L(-1) bromochloromethane (BCM) daily into the anaerobic wastewater treatment reactor can significantly reduce the amount of biogas and methane produced during the anaerobic fermentation process. Furthermore, biogas production can be completely inhibited after 4 days. Adding BCM (< or =10 mg L(-1)) to wastewater only slightly affected the efficiency of the anaerobic wastewater treatment process. Results in this study can provide the basis for further research on reduction of the amount of methane produced from anaerobic wastewater treatments.     

生物质催化气化制取富氢燃气的研究

以流化床为反应器 ,探讨了一些主要参数如 :反应器温度 ,水蒸气 ,当量比ER以及催化剂对气体成分、氢产率和潜在氢产率的影响。实验所用催化剂为白云石和镍基催化剂。在实验条件范围内 ,氢产率为 2 2— 83g/kg生物质 (湿基 ) ,潜在氢产率为 115— 2 2 3g/kg生物质 (湿基 )。结果表明 ,较高的反应器温度 ,适当的水蒸气添加量可以有效提高氢的产出 ;白云石和镍基催化剂可使产品气中的氢含量提高 10 %以上。     

Modeling VOCs adsorption onto activated carbon

The activated carbon adsorption process is affected by the characteristics of adsorbent, adsorbate and environmental conditions. In this study, both adsorption and desorption processes are assumed to occur simultaneously and a numerical model was developed with a non-linear driving force in conjunction with the Langmuir model for predicting the overall adsorption process. The numerical model provides both adsorption and desorption rate constants and activation energies. The resultant equilibrium constants are of the same order of magnitude as reported by other studies. Results show that the model could well predict the adsorption isotherms and breakthrough curves under various conditions.     

Management and performance of Taiwan's waste recycling fund

Taiwan's resource recycling program was formally established in 1989, starting with the mandatory recycling of polyethylene terephthalate bottles. The number of mandatory regulated materials was extended to 8 categories with 27 items by 2002. Because of false data reporting, financial scandal, lack of transparency of the system, and the demand from parliament, the recycling policy has gradually changed from entirely privatized to being nationalized. Currently, the structure is built on six main bodies: fund management committee, consumers, industries responsible, recyclers, fee reviewing committee, and auditing agents. The industries that are responsible submit a fee, which is set by the fee reviewing committee, to the waste recycling fund (WRF), which is operated by the fund management committee. The auditing agents routinely check the responsible industries by documentation review as well as on-site counting to ensure that the fee is correctly submitted. The WRF provides initiatives to collect and dispose of the end-of-life products. The fund is split into a trust fund and a nonbusiness fund to deal with the collection, disposal, and treatment of the listed materials. The latter deals with the supporting works and ensures that the system runs effectively. The ratio of trust fund to nonbusiness fund is 80-20%. It is no doubt that the current practice achieves some improvements. Household waste has been reduced by 22%. And, most importantly, the benefit-to-cost ratio was as high as 1.24. However, similar to other state-owned systems, the resource recycling program has been criticized for false reporting from the responsible industries, a rigid system, and complicated procedures. To build a sustainable enterprise, the recycling program should be privatized as the recycling market and operating procedures are well established and fully mature.     

Fine (PM2.5), coarse (PM2.5-10), and metallic elements of suspended particulates for incense burning at Tzu Yun Yen temple in central Taiwan

Ambient suspended particulate concentrations were measured at Tzu Yun Yen temple (120 degrees, 34('), 10(") E; 24 degrees, 16('), 12(") N) in this study. This is representative of incense burning and semi-open sampling sites. The Universal-sampler collected fine and coarse particle material was used to measure suspended particulate concentrations, and sampling periods were from 16/08/2001 to 2/1/2002 at Tzu Yun Yen temple. In addition, metallic element concentrations, compositions of PM(2.5) and PM(2.5-10) for incense burning at Tzu Yun Yen temple were also analyzed in this study. The PM(2.5)/PM(10) ratios ranged between 31% and 87% and averaged 70+/-11% during incense the burning period, respectively. The median metallic element concentration order for these elements is Fe>Zn>Cr>Cd>Pb>Mn>Ni>Cu in fine particles (PM(2.5)) at the Tzu Yun Yen temple sampling site. The median metallic element concentration order for these elements is Fe>Zn>Cr>Pb>Cd>Ni>Mn>Cu in coarse particle (PM(2.5-10)) at the Tzu Yun Yen temple sampling site. Fine particulates (PM(2.5)) are the main portion of PM(10) at Tzu Yun Yen temple in this study. From the point of view of PM(10), these data reflect that the elements Fe, Zn, and Cr were the major elements distributed at Tzu Yun Yen temple in this study.     

Diffusion of hydrogen sulfide and methyl mercaptan onto microporous alkaline activated carbon

Activated carbon kinetic studies show that both H2S and CH3SH yielded pore diffusion coefficients from 10(-6) to 10(-8) cm2/s. Results indicated that pore structures could influence effective diffusivity. Under the same adsorbate concentration, CH3SH exhibited a greater effective pore diffusion coefficient than H2S. This may be attributed to the fact that CH3SH has both polar (-SH) and non-polar (-CH3) functional groups and dissolves into water easier, thus providing more attraction for the activated carbon surface. In addition, the saturation vapor pressure of CH3SH is lower than that of H2S. Therefore, CH3SH is easier to adsorb onto activated carbon than H2S.     

Utilization of agricultural waste corn cob for the preparation of carbon adsorbent

In the present study, a series of activated carbons were prepared from agricultural waste corn cob by chemical and physical activations with potassium hydroxide (KOH)/potassium carbonate (K2CO3) and carbon dioxide (CO2). The effect of process variables such as impregnation ratio, impregnation time, activation temperature and soaking time of CO2 was studied in order to relate these preparation parameters with the physical properties of final carbon products. The resulting activated carbons were characterized by nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms at 77 K. The surface areas and pore volumes of carbons were estimated by the BET equation, the Langmuir equation and the t-plot method. Under the experimental conditions investigated, the main parameters in the activation of corn cob were found to be the impregnation ratio and activation temperature. The soaking time of CO2 is another important variable, which had a strong effect on the pore volume development. The BET surface area and total pore volume were as large as about 2000 m2/g and about 1.0 cm3/g, respectively. This study showed that the activation of agricultural waste corn cob with KOH/K2CO3 and CO2 was suitable for the preparation of large-surface-area activated carbons.     

污水处理厂中浮游生物群落DNA指纹及其与水质指标的关系

以武汉龙王嘴污水处理系统为研究对象,揭示了污水处理各阶段中浮游生物群落的DNA指纹拓扑结构,进而探索了其与浮游生物群落结构和环境理化因子的关系.首先建立了污水处理系统中浮游生物群落总DNA提取方法,然后用原核与真核特异性引物对流程(A2/O氧化沟工艺)中不同阶段的浮游生物群落总DNA进行PCR扩增,用变性梯度凝胶电泳(DGGE)检测,并对平行水样分别进行常规理化因子和浮游生物物种的检测与鉴定.结果显示,各采样点理化因子、物种组成与浮游生物DNA指纹的统计分析结果十分吻合.厌氧、缺氧和好氧阶段间差异较小,进水、出水分别与其它采样点间差异较大.研究结果表明,污水中浮游生物群落具有丰富的多样性,其DNA指纹在空间距离较短的污水处理过程中发生了改变,而且其改变的趋势与生物组成和理化指标的趋势相符,说明浮游生物群落DNA指纹与水质指标密切相关.