Fossil fuels are currently the major energy source and are rapidly consumed to supply the increasing energy demands of mankind. CO2, a product of fossil fuel combustion, leads to climate change and will have a serious impact on our environment. There is an increasing need to mitigate CO2 emissions using carbon–neutral energy sources. Therefore, research activities are devoted to CO2 capture, storage and utilization. For instance, photocatalytic reduction of CO2 into hydrocarbon fuels is a promising avenue to recycle carbon dioxide. Here we review the present status of the emission and utilization of CO2. Then we review the photocatalytic conversion of CO2 by TiO2, modified TiO2 and non-titanium metal oxides. Finally, the challenges and prospects for further development of CO2 photocatalytic reduction are presented. 相似文献
The aim of this study is to analyze the effect of salinity on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) biodegradation, community structure and naphthalene dioxygenase gene (ndo) diversity of a halophilic bacterial consortium with the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) approach. The consortium was developed from oil-contaminated saline soil after enrichment for six times, using phenanthrene as the substrate. The prominent species in the bacterial consortium at all salinities were identified as halophilic bacteria Halomonas, Alcanivorax, Marinobacter, Idiomarina, Martelella and uncultured bacteria. The predominant microbes gradually changed associating with the saline concentration fluctuations ranging from 0.1% to 25% (w/v). Two ndo alpha subunits were dominant at salinities ranging from 0.1% to 20%, while not been clearly detected at 25% salinity. Consistently, the biodegradation occurred at salinities ranging from 0.1% to 20%, while no at 25% salinity, suggesting the two ndo genes played an important role in the degradation. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that both of the two ndo alpha subunits were related to the classic nah-like gene from Pseudomonas stutzeri AN10 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa PaK1, while one with identity of about 82% and the other one with identity of 90% at amino acid sequence level. We concluded that salinity greatly affected halophilic bacterial community structure and also the functional genes which were more related to biodegradation.
In wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), a secondary settler acts as a clarifier, sludge thickener, and sludge storage tank during peak flows and therefore plays an important role in the performance of the activated sludge process. Sludge thickening occurs in the lower portions of secondary clarifiers during their operation. In this study, by detecting the hindered zone from the complete thickening process of activated sludge, a simple model for the sludge thickening velocity, us = aXb (a = 0.9925SSVI3.5, b = 3.541ln(SSVI3.5)+12.973), describing the potential and performance of activated sludge thickening in the hindered zone was developed. However, sludge thickening in the compression zone was not studied because sludge in the compression zone showed limited thickening. This empirical model was developed using batch settling data obtained from four WWTPs and validated using measured data from a fifth WWTP to better study sludge thickening. To explore different sludge settling and thickening mechanisms, the curves of sludge thickening and sludge settling were compared. Finally, it was found that several factors including temperature, stirring, initial depth, and polymer conditioning can lead to highly concentrated return sludge and biomass in a biologic reactor. 相似文献