Investigation of titanium liquid/gas diffusion layers in proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells

In a proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cell (PEMEC), liquid/gas diffusion layer (LGDL) is expected to transport electrons, heat, and reactants/products to and from the catalyst layer with minimum voltage, current, thermal, interfacial, and fluidic losses. In addition, carbon materials, which are typically used in PEM fuel cells (PEMFCs), are unsuitable in PEMECs due to the high ohmic potential and highly oxidative environment of the oxygen electrode. In this study, a set of titanium gas diffusion layers with different thicknesses and porosities are designed and examined coupled with the development of a robust titanium bipolar plate. It has been found that the performance of electrolyzer improves along with a decrease in thickness or porosity of the anode LGDL of titanium woven meshes. The ohmic resistance of anode LGDL and contact resistance between anode LGDL and the anode catalyst play dominant roles in electrolyzer performance, and better performance can be obtained by reducing ohmic resistance. Thin titanium LGDLs with straight-through pores and optimal pore morphologies are recommended for the future developments of low-cost LGDLs with minimum ohmic/transport losses.     

生物倍增工艺同步脱氮除磷强化途径分析

通过对生物倍增工艺处理市政污水的沿程污染物降解规律的考察表明,工艺对有机物的去除效果显著,COD和BOD5出水分别为47.80 mg/L和19.80 mg/L;氨氮去除率可达100%。发现厌氧区提前发生反硝化并一定程度上影响系统除磷效果;通过对各主要影响因素进行分析,认为低碳源的进水条件是影响系统同步脱氮除磷效果的关键因素;提出在进水口直接添加碳源以及分点进水的碳源分配＋辅助化学除磷的方式可强化氮磷去除效果。     

城市自来水中挥发性有机氯污染物检测及健康风险评价初步研究

水质安全是饮用水安全的重中之重,直接关系到人体健康。采用健康风险评价模式,对某市饮用水进行了分析和评价。研究结果表明,该市通过饮水途径引起的非致癌健康风险中四氯化碳最大,三氯甲烷次之,两者风险水平在10-5～10-6,远低于美国环境保护署推荐的最大可接受风险水平。通过饮水途径所致健康风险中,四氯乙烯所引起的致癌风险最大(1.2×10-8),但远远低于美国环境保护署推荐的通过饮水途径最大可接受风险水平(5×10-5)。根据美国环境保护署的推荐值,初步认为目前该市饮用水中挥发性有机污染物不会对人体产生明显的健康危害。     

Cadmium tolerance in six poplar species

Selection of poplar species with greater Cd tolerance and exploiting the physiological mechanisms involved in Cd tolerance are crucial for application of these species to phyto-remediation. The aim of this study is to investigate variation in Cd tolerance among the six poplar species and its underlying physiological mechanisms. Cuttings of six Populus species were cultivated for 10 weeks before exposure to either 0 or 200 μM CdSO₄ for 20 days. Gas exchange in mature leaves was determined by a portable photosynthesis system. Cd concentrations in tissues were analyzed by a flame atomic absorbance spectrometry. Subsequently, Cd amount per plant, bio-concentration factor (BCF) and translocation factor (T _f) were calculated. Nonenzymatic compounds and activities of antioxidative enzymes in tissues were analyzed spectrophotometrically. Cd exposure caused decline in photosynthesis in four poplar species including Populus cathayana (zhonghua 1). Among the six species, P. cathayana (zhonghua 1) displayed the highest Cd concentrations in tissues, the largest Cd amount in aerial parts, the highest BCF in aerial parts and T _f under Cd exposure. Under Cd stress, increases in total soluble sugars in roots but decreases in starch in roots, wood, and leaves of P. cathayana (zhonghua 1) were found. Induced O ₂ ^?? and H₂O₂ production in roots and leaves, and increases in free proline, soluble phenolics, and activities of antioxidative enzymes were observed in P. cathayana (zhonghua 1). Based on results of this pot experiment, it is concluded that P. cathayana (zhonghua 1) is superior to other five species for Cd phyto-remediation, and its well-coordinated physiological changes under Cd exposure confer the great Cd tolerance of this species.     

Modeling of a combined ultraviolet-biofilter system to treat gaseous chlorobenzene I: model development and parametric sensitivity

A new type of a combined ultraviolet (UV)-biofilter system for air pollution control is developed. In this paper, two conceptual mathematical submodels of the UV reactor and standalone biofilter are developed. All model parameters have been determined by independent experiments or have been taken from literature. Results from UV and the standalone biofilter submodels are in a good agreement with experimental data. However, the performance of the combined system has significantly deviated from those of the UV or standalone submodels because of the stimulating effects of UV irradiation products on the subsequent biofilter performance. A modified model that considers the stimulating effects has agreed well with experimental data over a wide range of operating conditions. Further analysis of the primary parametric sensitivity of the model has shown that inlet chlorobenzene concentrations, gas empty-bed residence time in the UV reactor, and light intensity are important operating conditions.     

新生态MnO2吸附剂对酸性媒介染料废水脱色特性研究

本文主要报道了一种用于染料废水处理的新型材料即新生态MnO2 及其对三种酸性媒介染料染色废水的脱色作用及影响脱色效果的主要因素。研究结果表明 ,新生态MnO2 对酸性媒介染料的吸附能力很强 ,当染料浓度为2 0 0mg/L、pH <2时 ,其对酸性媒介黑T、酸性媒介绿G和酸性媒介黄GG的脱色率分别达 98.2 %、94.5 %和 96 .4%。染料吸附效果受体系pH值、MnO2 投加量、吸附时间及温度等因素的影响 ,其中pH值是最主要的影响因素。新生态MnO2 对酸性媒介黄GG的吸附作用符合Langmuir吸附等温式     

Hydroxyl radical scavenging role of chloride and bicarbonate ions in the H2O2/UV process

Simultaneous effect of inorganic anions, such as chloride and bicarbonate ions, on the scavenging of hydroxyl radicals (HO*) in the H2O2/UV process is the focus of this paper. The model compound of n-chlorobutane (BuCl) was used as the probe of HO*. By changing the pH conditions (2-9) and the concentrations of NaCl (0.25-2500 mM) and NaHCO3 (25 mM), the variation of HO* concentrations and the rate of H2O2 decomposition were compared. In general, the BuCl and H2O2 follow closely the first-order reaction within the first 10 and 40 min, respectively. In the presence of chloride alone at the pH range of 2-6, the HO* concentration in the reaction mixture increases with the increase of pH, and the HO* concentration at pH = 6 is 100 times of that at pH = 2. Including bicarbonate species in the solution, the peak HO* concentration was found at a certain pH, which shifts from 4, 5, to 5-7, as the molar ratios of chloride/bicarbonate species increase from 1 to 100. In addition, without bicarbonate species HO* concentration decreases significantly with increasing chloride concentration but remained rather unchanged beyond 1250 mM. In contrast, the HO* scavenging in the presence of bicarbonate species became relatively significant only when the chloride concentration reached beyond 250 mM. Throughout all experiments of different water quality conditions, the H2O2 decomposition rate remains rather unchanged.     

Pattern recognition of the movement tracks of medaka (Oryzias latipes) in response to sub-lethal treatments of an insecticide by using artificial neural networks

Specimens of medaka (Oryzias latipes) were observed continuously through an automatic image recognition system before and after treatments of an anti-cholinesterase insecticide, diazinon (0.1 mg/l), for 4 days in semi-natural conditions (2 days before treatment and 2 days after treatment). The "smooth" pattern was typically shown as a normal movement behavior, while the "shaking" pattern was frequently observed after treatments of diazinon. These smooth and shaking patterns were selected for training with an artificial neural network. Parameters characterizing the movement tracks, such as speed, degree of backward movements, stop duration, turning rate, meander, and maximum distance movements in the y-axis of 1-min duration, were given as input (six nodes) to a multi-layer perceptron with the back propagation algorithm. Binary information for the smooth and shaking patterns was separately given as the matching output (one node), while eight nodes were assigned to a single hidden layer. As new input data were given to the trained network, it was possible to recognize the smooth and shaking patterns of the new input data. Average recognition rates of the smooth pattern decreased significantly while those for the shaking pattern increased to a higher degree after treatments of diazinon. The trained network was able to reveal the difference in the shaking pattern in different light phases before treatments of diazinon. This study demonstrated that artificial neural networks could be useful for detecting the presence of toxic chemicals in the environment by serving as in-situ behavioral monitoring tools.     

Bioaccessibility of polychlorinated biphenyls in workplace dust and its implication for risk assessment

Human exposure to bioaccessible PCBs via indoor dust is limited around the world. In the present study, the workplace dust sample from commercial office, hospital, secondary school, shopping mall, electronic factory and manufacturing plant were collected from Hong Kong for PCBs analyses. Total PCBs concentrations ranged from 46.8 to 249 ng g⁻¹, with a median of 107 ng g⁻¹. Manufacturing plant showed the highest concentration among all of sampling sites. PCB 77 was found as the dominant congeners. The bioaccessibility of PCBs in small intestinal juice ranging from 8.3% to 26.0% was significantly higher than that in gastric condition, ranging from 4.8% to 12.4%. In addition, significant negative correlations (p < 0.05) were observed between K_OW and bioaccessibility for all workplace dust samples. Risk assessment indicated that the averaged daily dose of dioxin-like PCBs via non-dietary intake of workplace dust, considering the bioaccessibility of PCBs, were much lower than the TDI of dioxins (2.3 pg WHO-TEQ kg bw⁻¹ d⁻¹) established by Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives.     

高负荷人工土层地下渗滤系统处理生活污水中试工程的研究

对传统的地下渗滤系统进行改进,采用多层过渡结构的人工土层来增大对颗粒有机物的接触氧化表面积,同时设置曝气装置保证好氧过程的氧气供应,可以大大提高污水地下处理系统的水力负荷.以中国南方典型的红壤土、河沙和砾石为填充材料,处理广州地化所小区的生活污水,水力负荷达40 cm/d,远大于类似系统.试验结果表明,改进后的系统能创造良好的好氧/厌氧环境,对污染物去除效果良好,COD、BOD5、TN、NH 4-N、TP和SS去除率分别达到了76.7%～89.1%、83.3%～92.5%、50.3%～66.1%、65.2%～79.6%、75.4%～90.1%和77.0%～91.3%,出水主要污染物达到了《污水综合排放标准》(GB 8978-1996)一级排放标准或二级排放标准.