Environmental lead pollution threatens the children living in the Pearl River Delta region, China

Introduction and purpose

The objective of this study is to determine children??s blood lead levels and identify sources of lead exposure. Childhood lead exposure constitutes a major pediatric health problem today in China. A blood lead screening survey program for children in the age group of 2?C12?years residing in Pearl River Delta region, south of China, was carried out from Dec 2007 to Jan 2008.

Methods

Blood lead levels and lead isotope ratios of a total of 761 participants were assessed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy. Measurements of urban environmental samples for source identification of children lead exposure were also performed.

Results and conclusions

The geometric mean value of the children??s blood lead levels was 57.05???g/L, and 9.6% of them were higher than 100???g/L. The blood lead levels were still much higher than those in developed countries. Based on the data of environmental lead source inventories, lead isotopic tracing revealed that there is about 6.7% past used gasoline Pb embedded in Shenzhen residential dust and about 15.6% in Guangzhou dust, respectively.     

Determination of partition and diffusion coefficients of formaldehyde in selected building materials and impact of relative humidity

The partition and effective diffusion coefficients of formaldehyde were measured for three materials (conventional gypsum wallboard, "green" gypsum wallboard, and "green" carpet) under three relative humidity (RH) conditions (20%, 50%, and 70% RH). The "green" materials contained recycled materials and were friendly to environment. A dynamic dual-chamber test method was used. Results showed that a higher relative humidity led to a larger effective diffusion coefficient for two kinds of wallboards and carpet. The carpet was also found to be very permeable resulting in an effective diffusion coefficient at the same order of magnitude with the formaldehyde diffusion coefficient in air. The partition coefficient (K(ma)) of formaldehyde in conventional wallboard was 1.52 times larger at 50% RH than at 20% RH, whereas it decreased slightly from 50% to 70% RH, presumably due to the combined effects of water solubility of formaldehyde and micro-pore blocking by condensed moisture at the high RH level. The partition coefficient of formaldehyde increased slightly with the increase of relative humidity in "green" wallboard and "green" carpet. At the same relative humidity level, the "green" wallboard had larger partition coefficient and effective diffusion coefficient than the conventional wallboard, presumably due to the micro-pore structure differences between the two materials. The data generated could be used to assess the sorption effects of formaldehyde on building materials and to evaluate its impact on the formaldehyde concentration in buildings.     

Historical change of mercury pollution in remote Yongle archipelago, South China Sea

We collected three ornithogenic coral sand sedimentary profiles from Jinyin Island, Jinqing Island and Guangjin Island of Yongle archipelago, South China Sea and reconstructed the deposition flux of anthropogenic Hg over the past 700 years in the study area. On the whole, the anthropogenic Hg flux is relatively low; it remained at a low level before the Industrial Revolution with a small peak at about 1450-1550 AD, which may record the enhanced metallurgy activity in Ming Dynasty of China. During the 20th century, the deposition flux of anthropogenic Hg increased rapidly, but two troughs occurred during the periods around 1940s and 1970s, corresponding to the economic depression caused by World War II, Civil War in China (1945-1949), and the Culture Revolution (1966-1976) in China. Since the 1970s the deposition flux of anthropogenic Hg has been persistently increasing, apparently the result of fast economic development in East and Southeast Asia countries around South China Sea.     

Textural and chemical properties of swine-manure-derived biochar pertinent to its potential use as a soil amendment

Biochars have received increasing attention in recent years because of their properties pertaining to soil fertility and contaminant immobilization as well as serving as carbon sinks. In this work, a series of biochars were produced from dried swine manure waste by slow pyrolysis at different temperatures (i.e., 673-1073 K). The characterization of the resulting biochars was examined for its relevance to its potential use as soil amendment. It was found that the pore properties, ash contents and pH values of all swine-manure-derived biochars basically increased as temperature increased, while the yield and nitrogen/oxygen contents decreased with increasing temperature as a result of pyrolytic volatilization during pyrolysis. From the organic and inorganic elements analyses, the manure-derived biochar was rich in soil nutrients such as N, P, Ca, Mg, and K. Furthermore, the pore, surface and chemical properties were also consistent with the observations of the SEM-EDS, XRD and FTIR. This result suggested that the mesoporous manure-derived biochar could be used as an excellent medium to soil environment.     

光催化过程中羟基自由基的产生与效能

采用异丙醇淬灭的方法考察了羟基自由基在光催化氧化酸性橙II过程中的产生和效能,研究了TiO2(P-25)的浓度、异丙醇的用量、酸性橙II的初始浓度、初始pH条件和天然共存离子对羟基自由基贡献率的影响。结果表明,在TiO2(P-25)浓度提高时羟基自由基的贡献率逐步提高并稳定在77.6%,异丙醇的投加量对羟基自由基的贡献率影响不大,酸性橙II初始浓度的提高则使羟基自由基的贡献率降低。在中性pH条件下羟基自由基的贡献率最高,酸性或碱性条件下较低。天然共存离子中HCO3-对羟基自由基的淬灭效应最强,F-的淬灭效应最弱。     

实时荧光定量PCR对A2/O短程硝化系统内氨氧化菌的定量分析

通过控制好氧区低DO浓度以及缩短好氧实际水力停留时间(actual hydraulic retention time,AHRT),在处理低C/N比实际生活污水的A2/O工艺中,成功启动并维持了短程硝化反硝化;系统亚硝酸盐积累率稳定维持在90%左右,氨氮去除率在95%以上。通过提取富集氨氧化菌(ammonia oxidizing bacteria,AOB)的基因组DNA,经两次常规PCR扩增和琼脂糖凝胶电泳,以纯化回收的DNA扩增片段作为实时荧光定量PCR检测AOB数量的DNA标准品,建立了检测AOB数量的实时荧光定量PCR标准曲线。利用实时荧光定量PCR技术比较了A2/O系统在不同运行条件及亚硝酸盐积累率情况下AOB菌群数量。结果表明,随着系统亚硝酸盐积累率的上升,系统内AOB菌群数量也大幅上升。全程硝化和短程硝化时,系统内的AOB菌群数量分别为5.28×109cells/g MLVSS和3.95×1010cells/g MLVSS。此外,亚硝酸盐积累率的下降相对于AOB菌群数量的下降有一定的滞后性。     

超声波促进城市生活污泥缺氧/好氧消化的研究

本研究将超声波预处理引入城市生活污泥缺氧/好氧消化工艺中,自主设计了容积为30 L的生活污泥超声波-缺氧/好氧消化中试系统并用以实验研究。超声波预处理的参数为超声频率28 kHz,声能密度0.15 W/mL,超声时间10 min,超声间隔12 h,污泥超声比例30%。结果表明,引入超声预处理后,缩短了污泥的稳定时间,提高了污泥的消化效率。污泥消化10 d就已经达到了稳定标准,比未引入超声预处理时缩短了12 d,而MLVSS最大去除率提高了11%,达到了55.10%。超声波的引入,对污泥缺氧/好氧消化系统中污泥上清液溶解性COD（SCOD）的变化趋势影响比较明显,而对上清液的pH、氨氮和TP的变化趋势没有明显影响。     

铁炭微电解工艺处理采油废水的研究

随着采油废水产生量的逐渐增大以及排放标准的日益严格,寻找一种经济、高效的处理方法显得十分必要。采用铁炭微电解技术对冀东油田采油废水进行了处理。考察了铁屑粒径、pH值、Fe/C质量比和反应时间对COD去除率的影响并设计了正交实验,结果表明,影响微电解工艺的因素主次关系为:pH>Fe/C质量比>反应时间,在最佳条件pH=5,Fe/C质量比为7∶1,反应时间50 min下,原水COD由170 mg/L降至95.6 mg/L,去除率达43.85%,出水满足国家二级排放标准。     

散堆填料对海水脱硫吸收系统性能影响的实验研究

在海水烟气脱硫中试实验台上进行了填料形式、填料高度变化对脱硫效率和系统压降影响规律的实验研究;研究中将喷淋空塔和分别填装A型、B型、C型3种填料的吸收塔进行了综合性能对比,并进行了填料高度分别为0.6、1.2和1.8 m的对比实验。结果表明,填料塔的脱硫效率高于喷淋空塔;当空塔气速为3 m/s时,填装C型填料的吸收塔的综合性能最优;当空塔气速小于2.5 m/s时,填装A型填料的吸收塔的综合性能最优;在满足相同脱硫效率的指标下,虽然增加填料高度降低了海水喷淋量,并且系统压降出现一定比例下降,但是在工程设计中必须综合考虑塔高、填料支架载荷等因素选择合适的填料堆积高度。