Review of Italian experience on automotive shredder residue characterization and management

Automotive Shredder Residue (ASR) is a special waste that can be classified as either hazardous or non hazardous depending on the amount of hazardous substances and on the features of leachate gathered from EN12457/2 test. However both the strict regulation concerning landfills and the EU targets related to End-of-Life Vehicles (ELVs) recovery and recycling rate to achieve by 2015 (Directive 2000/53/EC), will limit current landfilling practice and will impose an increased efficiency of ELVs valorization. The present paper considers ELVs context in Italy, taking into account ASRs physical–chemical features and current processing practice, focusing on the enhancement of secondary materials recovery. The application in waste-to-energy plants, cement kilns or metallurgical processes is also analyzed, with a particular attention to the possible connected environmental impacts. Pyrolysis and gasification are considered as emerging technologies although the only use of ASR is debatable; its mixing with other waste streams is gradually being applied in commercial processes. The environmental impacts of the processes are acceptable, but more supporting data are needed and the advantage over (co-)incineration remains to be proven.     

Effects of productivity on biodiversity in forest ecosystems across the United States and China

In the global campaign against biodiversity loss in forest ecosystems, land managers need to know the status of forest biodiversity, but practical guidelines for conserving biodiversity in forest management are lacking. A major obstacle is the incomplete understanding of the relationship between site primary productivity and plant diversity, due to insufficient ecosystem‐wide data, especially for taxonomically and structurally diverse forest ecosystems. We investigated the effects of site productivity (the site's inherent capacity to grow timber) on tree species richness across 19 types of forest ecosystems in North America and China through 3 ground‐sourced forest inventory data sets (U.S. Forest Inventory and Analysis, Cooperative Alaska Forest Inventory, and Chinese Forest Management Planning Inventory). All forest types conformed to a consistent and highly significant (P < 0.001) hump‐shaped unimodal relationship, of which the generalized coefficients of determination averaged 20.5% over all the forest types. That is, tree species richness first increased as productivity increased at a progressively slower rate, and, after reaching a maximum, richness started to decline. Our consistent findings suggest that forests of high productivity would sustain few species because they consist mostly of flat homogeneous areas lacking an environmental gradient along which a diversity of species with different habitats can coexist. The consistency of the productivity–biodiversity relationship among the 3 data sets we examined makes it possible to quantify the expected tree species richness that a forest stand is capable of sustaining, and a comparison between the actual species richness and the sustainable values can be useful in prioritizing conservation efforts.     

Knowledge spillovers and subsequent innovation in green energy: the role of public R&D

Environmental Science and Pollution Research -     

Effect of straw retention on carbon footprint under different cropping sequences in Northeast China

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Inappropriate farm management practices can lead to increased agricultural inputs and changes in atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, impacting...     

巴丹吉林沙漠与库布齐沙漠植被现状调查

本文通过对巴丹吉林和库布齐两大沙漠的共计12个点位的植被调查显示,两大沙漠植被均以灌木建群,都伴生大量一年生沙生先锋植物;库布齐沙漠植物群落中,多年生草本物种数增加,是群落趋于稳定的表现;库布齐沙漠人工治理力度较大,使得群落生境趋优速度加快。巴丹吉林沙漠植物群落基本处于自然状态。     

北方冬季农村供暖对PM2.5的影响及解决方案研究

为研究北方冬季农村供暖对PM2.5的影响,我们在北方的部分乡镇农村进行了为期一年半的调查走访,结果表明,北方冬季农村供暖用煤总量大,利用效率低,其生活用煤产生的烟尘总量相当于工业用煤的2.7倍,加之村落人口密集,室内通风条件差,故现有的供暖形式对人体健康危害很大。针对供暖方式的研究,我们提出了在农村推行集中供暖的方案。     

地下水污染抽出处理技术中抽水井最优布局方案研究

抽出-处理技术是治理地下水污染简便易行的方法。影响抽出-处理效率的因素很多,本文在介绍了各种技术影响因素后,采用Visual Modflow软件着重分析技术因素中井群的不同布局对抽水效率的影响。本文设计了10种井布局方案,都以抽出污染物的量达到95%为目标,得出井以直线形式排列在污染羽中轴线上,且集中排列在污染源下游的布局为最优方案,为地下水污染的抽出处理技术方案提供参考。     

试论天津市农业污染防治地方环境标准的制定

文章通过对当前天津市农业源污染现状的分析,阐明了天津市农业污染防治地方环境标准制定的意义与必要性。在研究了国家、环境保护部及地方关于农业源水环境污染防治标准制定现状的基础上,进一步结合天津市农业源污染的实际情况,有针对性地提出天津市农业污染防治地方环境标准研究与制定工作的具体建议,以及对标准实施方面的一些看法。     

Review of the progress in preparing nano Ti02： An important environmental engineering material

TiO2 nanomaterial is promising with its high potential and outstanding performance in photocatalytic environmental applications, such as CO2 conversion, water treatment, and air quality control. For many of these applications, the particle size, crystal structure and phase, porosity, and surface area influence the activity of TiO2 dramatically. TiO2 nanomaterials with special structures and morphologies, such as nanospheres, nanowires, nanotubes, nanorods, and nanoflowers are thus synthesized due to their desired characteristics. With an emphasis on the different morphologies of TiO2 and the influence factors in the synthesis, this review summarizes fourteen TiO2 preparation methods, such as the sol-gel method, solvothermal method, and reverse micelle method. The TiO2 formation mechanisms, the advantages and disadvantages of the preparation methods, and the photocatalytic environmental application examples are proposed as well.     

黑河下游额济纳河流域生态环境现状及发展趋势

本文通过资料和监测数据阐述了2006—2011年黑河下游额济纳河流域生态环境现状及其变化趋势。土地覆盖监测数据结果表明,截至2011年额济纳河流域绿洲面积达3232km^2,水域湿地面积达118km^2,额济纳绿洲植被覆盖度总体呈增加趋势,局部地区增加显著,而个别地区植被呈缓慢退化。水资源调查数据说明。额济纳河流域绿洲的维持和恢复仍取决于黑河水的补给量,近几年黑河水在额济纳境内的进入量基本能维持额济纳现有绿洲规模。