Techno-economic characteristics of wastewater treatment plants retrofitted from the conventional activated sludge process to the membrane bioreactor process

• Retrofitting from CAS to MBR increased effluent quality and environmental benefits. • Retrofitting from CAS to MBR increased energy consumption but not operating cost. • Retrofitting from CAS to MBR increased the net profit and cost efficiency. • The advantage of MBR is related to the adopted effluent standard. • The techno-economy of MBR improves with stricter effluent standards. While a growing number of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are being retrofitted from the conventional activated sludge (CAS) process to the membrane bioreactor (MBR) process, the debate on the techno-economy of MBR vs. CAS has continued and calls for a thorough assessment based on techno-economic valuation. In this study, we analyzed the operating data of 20 large-scale WWTPs (capacity≥10000 m³/d) and compared their techno-economy before and after the retrofitting from CAS to MBR. Through cost-benefit analysis, we evaluated the net profit by subtracting the operating cost from the environmental benefit (estimated by the shadow price of pollutant removal and water reclamation). After the retrofitting, the removal rate of pollutants increased (e.g., from 89.0% to 93.3% on average for NH₃-N), the average energy consumption increased from 0.40 to 0.57 kWh/m³, but the operating cost did not increase significantly. The average marginal environmental benefit increased remarkably (from 0.47 to 0.66 CNY/g for NH₃-N removal), leading to an increase in the average net profit from 19.4 to 24.4 CNY/m³. We further scored the technical efficiencies via data envelopment analysis based on non-radial directional distance functions. After the retrofitting, the relative cost efficiency increased from 0.70 to 0.73 (the theoretical maximum is 1), while the relative energy efficiency did not change significantly. The techno-economy is closely related to the effluent standard adopted, particularly when truncating the extra benefit of pollutant removal beyond the standard in economic modeling. The modeling results suggested that MBR is more profitable than CAS given stricter effluent standards.     

Spatiotemporal variations of dissolved organic matter in a typical multi-source watershed in northern China: a fluorescent evidence

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The amount of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in a multi-source watershed is important for complete management and assessing the river basin’s...     

Application of improved seasonal GM(1,1) model based on HP filter for runoff prediction in Xiangjiang River

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Runoff forecasting is essential for the reasonable use of regional water resources, flood prevention, and mitigation, as well as the development of...     

Macroeconomic lockdown effects of COVID-19 on small business in China: empirical insights from SEM technique

The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in the China has exposed small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to a variety of challenges, some of which are potentially life-threatening to their sustainability. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the macroeconomic lockdown effects of COVID-19 on small business in China. A survey questionnaire with 313 participants was used to collect the data. In this study, the SEM technique was used to analyse model. The data have been gathered for the study from the managers and employees of Chinese SMEs. The findings of the study show that COVID-19 has a significant negative impact on financial performance, operational performance, profitability, access to finance, and customer satisfaction. According to the study's findings, external support aids have a greater impact on SMEs' ability to survive and thrive through innovation than on their actual performance. The findings of this study have a number of important practical consequences for small- and medium-sized business owners, governments, and policymakers.

     

Preparation of in-situ nitrogen-doped lignin-based porous carbon and its efficient adsorption of chloramphenicol in water

Porous carbon is an excellent absorbent for pollutants in water. Here, we report a breakthrough in performance of porous carbon based on lignin prepared using sodium lignosulfonate (SLS), potassium carbonate and melamine as precursor, activator and nitrogen source, respectively. A series of characterization tests confirmed that in-situ nitrogen doping greatly enhanced porous structure, resulting in a specific surface area of 2567.9 m² g^?1 and total pore volume of 1.499 cm³ g^?1, which is nearly twice that of non-nitrogen-doped porous carbon. Moreover, adsorption experiments revealed that at 303 K, the saturated adsorption capacity of chloramphenicol was as high as 713.7 mg g^?1, corresponding to an improvement of 33.7%. Further, the prepared porous carbon exhibited a strong anti-interference against metal ions and humic acid. The adsorption process was confirmed to be an endothermic reaction dominated by physical adsorption, indicating that an increase in temperature is conducive to adsorption. The results of this study show that nitrogen-doped lignin-based porous carbon prepared by in-situ doping is a promising material to significantly alleviate water pollution owing to its low cost, excellent pore structure and good adsorption properties.

     

复杂地形高含硫输气管道环境风险事故模拟

以四川“普光气田”高含硫输气管道为研究对象,采用地随坐标三维客观诊断风场以及Lagrangian 烟团模型,对复杂地形区高含硫输气管道发生断裂事故的H2S 扩散情况进行了模拟.结果表明,H2S 的分布并非主要发生在下风向区域,而是由于受山体阻挡,在山前堆积或发生翻越、绕流呈跳跃式分布.山腰接近山顶和低洼河谷处断裂点模拟对比表明,断裂点越高,污染物扩散条件越好.风险敏感点的分布决定管道断裂环境风险大小,将H2S 扩散结果与研究区内居民点分布相结合,综合判断位于高处的断裂点环境风险小于低洼处点,因此建议管道建设沿地势较高的等高线进行敷设.     

四溴二苯醚对人甲状腺细胞功能的影响

为研究四溴二苯醚(BDE-47)对原代培养人甲状腺细胞功能的影响,分别用浓度为10-12、10-10和10-8mol·L-1的BDE-47处理原代人甲状腺滤泡上皮细胞(TEC)24h,采用化学发光酶联免疫检测法检测细胞上清液中甲状腺球蛋白(Tg)的浓度,半定量逆转录聚合酶链反应技术检测功能相关的Tg基因和双链复合蛋白8(Pax-8)基因的表达.结果表明,10-12、10-10mol·L-1暴露组Tg分泌量较对照组显著减少(p<0.05),而10-8mol·L-1BDE-47组Tg分泌量与对照组无显著性差异(p>0.05).甲状腺功能相关Tg基因和Pax-8基因的表达量随BDE-47浓度的增加而显著降低(p<0.05),呈明显的剂量-效应关系.以上结果提示,BDE-47对离体培养的原代人甲状腺细胞的功能具有抑制作用,甲状腺功能相关Tg基因和Pax-8基因的表达下调可能是其作用机制之一.     

Contributing institutional factors of rural environmental pollution in the process of modernization in China —In the perspective of the efficiency of environmental management system

With the development of rural pollution, its characteristic and institutional factor should be studied for pollution control through economics and sociology. Based on the data gathered from investigations by several government sectors, rural environmental pollution can be divided into two types by its sources: internal source type and external source type. The internal source type is the main component of rural pollution at present, which can be further divided into three types. Research shows that the contributing institutional factors of rural pollution issues and the effectiveness of environmental management system over rural pollution can be summarized as distinctiveness. In essence, the rural pollution issue results from the dualism of rural and urban areas’ inadaptability to rural modernization. In detail, the contributing factors can be summed up on three institutional levels. There are obvious loopholes in rural environmental management system which, in the meantime, is incapable and inadaptable to rural pollution control. There exist similar questions in the related public service system, which are intensified by inappropriate reform which brought about incompatible incentive in the recent years. However, in the eleventh five-year plan period, there are advantageous trends in the three institutional levels.     

Combustion and inorganic bromine emission of waste printed circuit boards in a high temperature furnace

High temperature combustion experiments of waste printed circuit boards (PCBs) were conducted using a lab-scale system featuring a continuously-fed drop tube furnace. Combustion efficiency and the occurrence of inorganic bromine (HBr and Br₂) were systematically studied by monitoring the main combustion products continuously. The influence of furnace temperature (T) was studied from 800 to 1400 °C, the excess air factor (EAF) was varied from 1.2 to 1.9 and the residence time in the high temperature zone (RT_HT) was set at 0.25, 0.5, or 0.75 s.Combustion efficiency depends on temperature, EAF and RT_HT; temperature has the most significant effect. Conversion of organic bromine from flame retardants into HBr and Br₂ depends on temperature and EAF. Temperature has crucial influence over the ratio of HBr to Br₂, whereas oxygen partial pressure plays a minor role. The two forms of inorganic bromine seem substantially to reach thermodynamic equilibrium within 0.25 s. High temperature is required to improve the combustion performance: at 1200 °C or higher, an EAF of 1.3 or more, and a RT_HT exceeding 0.75 s, combustion is quite complete, the CO concentration in flue gas and remained carbon in ash are sufficiently low, and organobrominated compounds are successfully decomposed (more than 99.9%).According to these results, incineration of waste PCBs without preliminary separation and without additives would perform very well under certain conditions; the potential precursors for brominated dioxins formation could be destroyed efficiently. Increasing temperature could decrease the volume percentage ratio of Br₂/HBr in flue gas greatly.     

计算机辅助事故树分析中的图形输入法

笔者提出计算机辅助事故树分析中事故树数据的图形输入法。通过详细讨论数据采集过程中数据结构的选用和算法设计 ,不但能方便地实现计算机辅助事故树绘图 ,而且在绘图的同时得到事故树的全部数据 ,进而可对事故树进行全部定性和定量分析。这种方法是计算机辅助事故树分析中绘图和数据输入方法的重要补充 ,同时也将有益于其他类型树及图的绘制和分析。最后 ,给出了一个实例 ,应用图形输入法得到满意的结果。该方法不仅是事故树的新绘制方法 ,也是全新的事故树数据输入法 ,是事故树算法的拓展和补充