Comparison on surface properties and desulfurization of MnO2 and pyrolusite blended activated carbon by steam activation

In this study, MnO₂ and pyrolusite were used as the catalysts to prepare modified activated carbon, that is, AC-Mn and AC-P, respectively, from coals by blending method and steam activation. The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) results indicated that the AC-P had higher surface areas and micropore volumes than the AC-Mn with the same blending ratio. The relative contents of basic functional groups (i.e., C = O, π-π*) on AC-P were slightly lower than those on AC-Mn, while both contained the same main metal species, namely, MnO. The desulfurization results showed that with 3 wt% of blending ratio, AC-Mn3 and AC-P3 had higher sulfur capacities at 220 and 205 mg/g, respectively, which were much higher than for the blank one (149.6 mg/g). Moreover, the AC-P had relatively higher sulfur capacity than the AC-Mn with the same contents of Mn, which might be attributed to the existence of other metals in pyrolusite. After the desulfurization process, MnO were gradually transferred into MnSO₄, and the relative contents of basic functional groups decreased evidently for both AC-Mn3 and AC-P3. The results demonstrated that pyrolusite could be one good alternative to MnO₂ to prepare modified activated carbon for desulfurization.

Implications: MnO₂ and pyrolusite were used as the additives to prepare modified activated carbon from coals by a blending method and by steam activation, that is, AC-Mn and AC-P, respectively. The AC-P had higher surface areas and micropore volumes than the AC-Mn with the same blending ratio. The AC-Mn and AC-P had higher sulfur capacities than a blank one. Moreover, the AC-P had relatively higher sulfur capacity than the AC-Mn with the same contents of Mn. The results demonstrated that pyrolusite could be one good alternative to MnO₂ to prepare modified activated carbon for desulfurizatio.     

Feasibility of coupling a thermal/optical carbon analyzer to a quadrupole mass spectrometer for enhanced PM2.5 speciation

A thermal/optical carbon analyzer (TOA), normally used for quantification of organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) in PM_2.5 (fine particulate matter) speciation networks, was adapted to direct thermally evolved gases to an electron impact quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS), creating a TOA-QMS. This approach produces spectra similar to those obtained by the Aerodyne aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS), but the ratios of the mass to charge (m/z) signals differ and must be remeasured using laboratory-generated standards. Linear relationships are found between TOA-QMS signals and ammonium (NH₄⁺), nitrate (NO₃^?), and sulfate (SO₄^2-) standards. For ambient samples, however, positive deviations are found for SO₄^2-, compensated by negative deviations for NO₃^?, at higher concentrations. This indicates the utility of mixed-compound standards for calibration or separate calibration curves for low and high ion concentrations. The sum of the QMS signals across all m/z after removal of the NH₄⁺, NO₃^?, and SO₄^2- signals was highly correlated with the carbon content of oxalic acid (C?H?O?) standards. For ambient samples, the OC derived from the TOA-QMS method was the same as the OC derived from the standard IMPROVE_A TOA method. This method has the potential to reduce complexity and costs for speciation networks, especially for highly polluted urban areas such as those in Asia and Africa.

Implications: Ammonium, nitrate, and sulfate can be quantified by the same thermal evolution analysis applied to organic and elemental carbon. This holds the potential to replace multiple parallel filter samples and separate laboratory analyses with a single filter and a single analysis to account for a large portion of the PM_2.5 mass concentration.     

Pond bank access as an approach for managing toxic cyanobacteria in beef cattle pasture drinking water ponds

Forty-one livestock drinking water ponds in Alabama beef cattle pastures during were surveyed during the late summer to generally understand water quality patterns in these important water resources. Since livestock drinking water ponds are prone to excess nutrients that typically lead to eutrophication, which can promote blooms of toxigenic phytoplankton such as cyanobacteria, we also assessed the threat of exposure to the hepatotoxin, microcystin. Eighty percent of the ponds studied contained measurable microcystin, while three of these ponds had concentrations above human drinking water thresholds set by the US Environmental Protection Agency (i.e., 0.3 μg/L). Water quality patterns in the livestock drinking water ponds contrasted sharply with patterns typically observed for temperate freshwater lakes and reservoirs. Namely, we found several non-linear relationships between phytoplankton abundance (measured as chlorophyll) and nutrients or total suspended solids. Livestock had direct access to all the study ponds. Consequently, the proportion of inorganic suspended solids (e.g., sediment) increased with higher concentrations of total suspended solids, which underlies these patterns. Unimodal relationships were also observed between microcystin and phytoplankton abundance or nutrients. Euglenoids were abundant in the four ponds with chlorophyll concentrations >?250 μg/L (and dominated three of these ponds), which could explain why ponds with high chlorophyll concentrations would have low microcystin concentrations. Based on observations made during sampling events and available water quality data, livestock-mediated bioturbation is causing elevated total suspended solids that lead to reduced phytoplankton abundance and microcystin despite high concentrations of nutrients, such as phosphorus and nitrogen. Thus, livestock could be used to manage algal blooms, including toxic secondary metabolites, in their drinking water ponds by allowing them to walk in the ponds to increase turbidity.     

Identifying key areas of ecosystem services potential to improve ecological management in Chongqing City,southwest China

Because natural ecosystems and ecosystem services (ES) are both critical to the well-being of humankind, it is important to understand their relationships and congruence for conservation planning. Spatial conservation planning is required to set focused preservation priorities and to assess future ecological implications. This study uses the combined measures of ES models and ES potential to estimate and analyze all four groups of ecosystem services to generate opportunities to maximize ecosystem services. Subsequently, we identify the key areas of conservation priorities as future forestation and conservation hotspot zones to improve the ecological management in Chongqing City, located in the upper reaches of the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, China. Results show that ecosystem services potential is extremely obvious. Compared to ecosystem services from 2000, we determined that soil conservation could be increased by 59.11%, carbon sequestration by 129.51%, water flow regulation by 83.42%, and water purification by 84.42%. According to our prioritization results, approximately 48% of area converted to forests exhibited high improvements in all ecosystem services (categorized as hotspot-1, hotspot-2, and hotspot-3). The hotspots identified in this study can be used as an excellent surrogate for evaluation ecological engineering benefits and can be effectively applied in improving ecological management planning.     

Soil surface Hg emission flux in coalfield in Wuda,Inner Mongolia,China

Hg emission flux from various land covers, such as forests, wetlands, and urban areas, have been investigated. China has the largest area of coalfield in the world, but data of Hg flux of coalfields, especially, those with coal fires, are seriously limited. In this study, Hg fluxes of a coalfield were measured using the dynamic flux chamber (DFC) method, coupled with a Lumex multifunctional Hg analyzer RA-915+ (Lumex Ltd., Russia). The results show that the Hg flux in Wuda coalfield ranged from 4 to 318 ng m^?2 h^?1, and the average value for different areas varied, e.g., coal-fire area 99 and 177 ng m^?2 h^?1; no coal-fire area 19 and 32 ng m^?2 h^?1; and backfilling area 53 ng m^?2 h^?1. Hg continued to be emitted from an underground coal seam, even if there were no phenomena, such as vents, cracks, and smog, of coal fire on the soil surface. This phenomenon occurred in all area types, i.e., coal-fire area, no coal-fire area, and backfilling area, which is universal in Wuda coalfield. Considering that many coalfields in northern China are similar to Wuda coalfield, they may be large sources of atmospheric Hg. The correlations of Hg emission flux with influence factors, such as sunlight intensity, soil surface temperature, and atmospheric Hg content, were also investigated for Wuda coalfield.

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Comparisons of three plant species in accumulating polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from the atmosphere: a review

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Plant leaves play a key role in the accumulation of PAHs, as they are able to capture PAHs from the air. In this paper, the mechanism, including...     

液液萃取-气相色谱法测定水质可萃取性石油烃C10~C40

建立了以环己烷为萃取剂、气相色谱法(氢火焰离子化检测器,FID)测定水质样品中可萃取性石油烃(C_(10)～C_(40))的分析方法。以正构烷烃混合标准溶液为定性和定量校准标准,以色谱峰面积总和与混合标准溶液总浓度建立校准曲线进行外标法定量。方法检出限为0.01 mg/L,经验证方法精密度和准确度良好。同时,分别以气相色谱法和红外光度法测定了地表水、污水处理厂出水、海水和化工废水等实际样品,对比实验结果表明,在可萃取性石油烃C_(10)～C_(40)的碳数范围内,气相色谱法的测试结果与红外光度法无明显差异,有较好的可比性。     

流域绿水管理博弈建模及应用分析

绿水资源表示水循环通过降水渗透入土壤非饱和层并由植物蒸腾或土壤蒸发返回大气层的水汽,是农业作物生产的重要基础,但是通常被传统流域水资源管理所忽视。基于流域水量平衡和蓝水绿水综合思维,将绿水资源纳入流域水资源管理体系。在绿水信贷理念和博弈建模分析框架下,结合SWAT分布式水文模型、多目标优化及情景比较分析,利用绿水管理措施合理优化配置流域蓝水绿水资源,采用绿水生态补偿协调处理上下游利益冲突的博弈问题,探索性地提出了流域绿水管理博弈框架。该框架通过博弈建模可以识别分析流域绿水管理问题的博弈空间、博弈结构和纳什均衡等博弈特征;通过合作博弈约束条件改进的多目标优化,可以计算流域绿水管理情景的绿水补偿标准和帕累托最优收益。将建立的绿水管理博弈框架应用于涟水流域实例研究,NSE、R2、PBIAS、p-factor与r-factor等模拟效果评价和不确定性分析结果表明,涟水流域SWAT分布式水文模型的蓝水绿水模拟均达到可信程度。上下游收益变化、绿水补偿标准与帕累托最优解集等博弈分析结果显示,涟水流域整体社会经济与生态环境收益明显改善,其帕累托最优收益平均增长2.72亿元/a,年均绿水补偿标准折合1.94、1 253.7元/hm²。实例分析表明提出的绿水管理博弈框架在涟水流域具有较好的适用性和可行性。因此,该方法可以为流域蓝水绿水管理试点研究及其绿水补偿标准核定提供相关理论依据和技术参考,具有一定程度的的应用价值和现实意义。     

近53 a来长江流域极端降水指数特征

利用1963~2015年长江流域115个气象站点逐日降水数据,分析了不同极端降水指标的空间变化特点和时间变化趋势。结果表明,近53 a来,长江流域多年平均年极端降水量与年降水量从下游到上游逐渐递减,两者变化趋势大致呈现“增-减-增”的空间分布格局。年极端降水量对年降水量贡献（PEP）存在明显的空间分布差异,但贡献比例在流域内普遍呈现增加的趋势。持续1 d的极端降水事件的降水量分布及其变化趋势与年极端降水量的分布特征类似,其对年极端降水量的贡献比例高达65%以上,说明长江流域极端降水以持续1 d的极端降水事件为主。持续2 d及以上的极端降水事件主要集在中皖苏赣局部地区和四川中部地区,但其降水量对年极端降水量的贡献比例较小。从上游到下游,年最大日降水量（MDP）逐渐增大。其中,上游源头地区的沱沱河、曲麻莱和玉树3个站点MDP主要集中在0~25 mm之间,其他站点均以25~50 mm量级为主;长江流域中部地区的MDP大部分以50~100 mm的量级为主,处于100~150 mm之间的次之;长江流域东部地区主要以100~150 mm量级的MDP为主。 关键词： 极端降水;降水贡献;不同历时;长江流域     

长江三角洲城市群工业用水效率评价及时空差异研究

在水资源约束趋紧的背景下,选取长江三角洲城市群中26个城市2005~2014年的面板数据,运用SBM模型对工业用水效率进行测算,并基于可分解的泰尔指数分析长江三角洲城市群内部工业用水效率的空间差异。结果显示：（1）长江三角洲城市群工业用水效率水平整体偏低,在不考虑与考虑非期望产出的情况下,工业用水效率10a平均值分别为 0.591 8.和 0.519 7;（2）工业用水效率的地区内部差异是造成总差异的主要部分,并且有随时间递增的趋势,其中安徽省对于地区内部差异的贡献率最大,其次为浙江省,江苏省贡献率最低;（3）江苏省各城市工业用水效率虽然差异不大但整体水平较低,而上海市工业用水效率较高并处于稳步上升状态。因此,缩小地区内部差异是实现长江三角洲城市群工业用水效率整体上升的重要途径。