Drought-tolerant <Emphasis Type="Italic">Streptomyces pactum</Emphasis> Act12 assist phytoremediation of cadmium-contaminated soil by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Amaranthus hypochondriacus</Emphasis>: great potential application in arid/semi-arid areas

Microbe-assisted phytoremediation provides an effective approach to clean up heavy metal-contaminated soils. However, severe drought may affect the function of microbes in arid/semi-arid areas. Streptomyces pactum Act12 is a drought-tolerant soil actinomycete strain isolated from an extreme environment on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China. In this study, pot experiments were conducted to assess the effect of Act12 on Cd tolerance, uptake, and accumulation in amaranth (Amaranthus hypochondriacus) under water deficit. Inoculated plants had higher Cd concentrations (root 8.7–33.9 %; shoot 53.2–102.1 %) and uptake (root 19.9–95.3 %; shoot 110.6–170.1 %) than non-inoculated controls in Cd-treated soil. The translocation factor of Cd from roots to shoots was increased by 14.2–75 % in inoculated plants, while the bioconcentration factor of Cd in roots and shoots was increased by 10.2–64.4 and 53.9–114.8 %, respectively. Moreover, inoculation with Act12 increased plant height, root length, and shoot biomass of amaranth in Cd-treated soil compared to non-inoculated controls. Physiochemical analysis revealed that Act12 enhanced Cd tolerance in the plants by increasing glutathione, elevating superoxide dismutase and catalase activities, as well as reducing malondialdehyde content in the leaves. The drought-tolerant actinomycete strain Act12 can enhance the phytoremediation efficiency of amaranth for Cd-contaminated soils under water deficit, exhibiting potential for application in arid and semi-arid areas.     

Trends and variations of pH and hardness in a typical semi-arid river in a monsoon climate region during 1985–2009

The rapid growth of urbanization and industrialization, along with dramatic climate change, has strongly influenced hydrochemical characteristics in recent decades in China and thus could cause the variation of pH and general total hardness of a river. To explore such variations and their potential influencing factors in a river of the monsoon climate region, we analyzed a long-term monitoring dataset of pH, SO₄ ^2?, NO_x, general total hardness (GH), Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺, and Cl^? in surface water and groundwater in the Luan River basin from 1985 to 2009. The nonparametric Seasonal Kendall trend test was used to test the long-term trends of pH and GH. Relationship between the affecting factors, pH and GH were discussed. Results showed that pH showed a decreasing trend and that GH had an increasing trend in the long-term. Seasonal variation of pH and GH was mainly due to the typical monsoon climate. Results of correlation analysis showed that the unit area usage amounts of chemical fertilizer, NO₃ ^?, and SO₄ ^2? were negatively correlated with pH in groundwater. In addition, mining activity affected GH spatial variation. Acid deposition, drought, and increasing the use of chemical fertilizers would contribute to the acidification trend, and mining activities would affect the spatial variation of GH. Variations of precipitation and runoff in semi-arid monsoon climate areas had significant influences on the pH and GH. Our findings implied that human activities played a critical role in river acidification in the semi-arid monsoon climate region of northern China.     

Simultaneous determination of estrogenic odorant alkylphenols,chlorophenols, and their derivatives in water using online headspace solid phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

A simple online headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) coupled with the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method was developed for simultaneous determination of trace amounts of nine estrogenic odorant alkylphenols and chlorophenols and their derivatives in water samples. The extraction conditions of HS-SPME were optimized including fiber selection, extraction temperature, extraction time, and salt concentration. Results showed that divinylbenzene/Carboxen/polydimethylsiloxane (DVB/CAR/PDMS) fiber was the most appropriate one among the three selected commercial fibers, and the optimal extraction temperature, time, and salt concentration were 70 °C, 30 min, and 0.25 g/mL, respectively. The developed method was validated and showed good linearity (R ²?>?0.989), low limit of detection (LOD, 0.002–0.5 μg/L), and excellent recoveries (76–126 %) with low relative standard deviation (RSD, 0.7–12.9 %). The developed method was finally applied to two surface water samples and some of these target compounds were detected. All these detected compounds were below their odor thresholds, except for 2,4,6-TCAS and 2,4,6-TBAS wherein their concentrations were near their odor thresholds. However, in the two surface water samples, these detected compounds contributed to a certain amount of estrogenicity, which seemed to suggest that more attention should be paid to the issue of estrogenicity rather than to the odor problem.     

Research and application of method of oxygen isotope of inorganic phosphate in Beijing agricultural soils

Phosphorus (P) in agricultural ecosystems is an essential and limited element for plants and microorganisms. However, environmental problems caused by P accumulation as well as by P loss have become more and more serious. Oxygen isotopes of phosphate can trace the sources, migration, and transformation of P in agricultural soils. In order to use the isotopes of phosphate oxygen, appropriate extraction and purification methods for inorganic phosphate from soils are necessary. Here, we combined two different methods to analyze the oxygen isotopic composition of inorganic phosphate (δ¹⁸O_P) from chemical fertilizers and different fractions (Milli-Q water, 0.5 mol L^?1 NaHCO₃ (pH = 8.5), 0.1 mol L^?1 NaOH and 1 mol L^?1 HCl) of agricultural soils from the Beijing area. The δ¹⁸O_P results of the water extracts and NaHCO₃ extracts in most samples were close to the calculated equilibrium value. These phenomena can be explained by rapid P cycling in soils and the influence of chemical fertilizers. The δ¹⁸O_P value of the water extracts and NaHCO₃ extracts in some soil samples below the equilibrium value may be caused by the hydrolysis of organic P fractions mediated by extracellular enzymes. The δ¹⁸O_P values of the NaOH extracts were above the calculated equilibrium value reflecting the balance state between microbial uptake of phosphate and the release of intracellular phosphate back to the soil. The HCl extracts with the lowest δ¹⁸O_P values and highest phosphate concentrations indicated that the HCl fraction was affected by microbial activity. Hence, these δ¹⁸O_p values likely reflected the oxygen isotopic values of the parent materials. The results suggested that phosphate oxygen isotope analyses could be an effective tool in order to trace phosphate sources, transformation processes, and its utilization by microorganisms in agricultural soils.     

基于多元统计分析的渭河西咸段水质评价

基于2012年旱季和雨季的水质监测数据,采用主成分分析(PCA)和绝对主成分多元线性回归分析(APCS-MLR)方法对渭河西咸段水体的污染特征进行了综合评价。结果表明,2012年渭河西咸段水体主要以有机污染和富营养化污染为主,同时存在一定的As污染。总体上,研究水体旱季比雨季污染严重,旱季和雨季提取的主成分及大部分断面综合排名不同,说明降雨对水质产生一定的影响。渭河西咸段水体在皂河入渭之前的上游污染相对较轻,污染贡献以干流排污为主;对应的下游水质较差,皂河是其最大的污染源。     

臭氧活性炭-后置砂滤工艺对水中农药的控制效能

选择我国饮用水水质标准中有相关规定,以及部分用量较大或虽被禁用但仍有残留的农药共25种,对黄浦江水源水以及采用臭氧活性炭-后置砂滤工艺的某水厂工艺段出水中的浓度分布进行了调查,评估了砂滤后置工艺条件下相应农药的实际处理效果。结果表明:原水中有包括莠去津、乐果、六氯苯、敌敌畏、乙草胺、丁草胺、仲丁威和p,p'-DDT的8种农药检出,且总浓度较高达到760 ng/L,其中莠去津和乙草胺含量较高,最高浓度分别达到531 ng/L和277 ng/L;从季节性分布来看,春季总农药浓度最高达760 ng/L,秋季最低为175 ng/L。从工艺去除效果来看,臭氧活性炭砂滤后置工艺对农药的总体去除率为62%~78%,与冬春季相比,夏秋季节的农药的去除率提高约10%左右,这可能与高温期微生物活性较高有关。值得关注的是,砂滤后置工艺与同期常规臭氧活性炭工艺相比农药的总去除率要低10%左右,应结合总体出水水质情况对其进一步评估。     

电絮凝-超滤除氟工艺参数优化研究

电絮凝-超滤(electrocoagulation-ultrafiltration,EC-UF)工艺在饮用水除氟方面具有良好的应用前景。研究了EC-UF除氟效果和膜污染过程,考察了电流密度、水力停留时间、初始pH、初始氟浓度对除氟效果和膜污染的影响。结果表明,在连续流下EC-UF工艺除氟效果良好,在电流密度30 A/m2、水力停留时间20 min、初始pH在6.0~7.0的最佳工艺条件下,氟的去除率达到80%以上。膜污染主要是由电解过程产生的铝絮凝剂与氟离子形成的颗粒物质导致。上述结果为EC-UF除氟工艺改进提供了参考和依据。     

常温还原铁氧体法处理含铬废水

实验探究了常温还原铁氧体法处理含铬废水的最优工艺条件,研究了不同亚铁盐及氨氮和COD对处理效果的影响,对沉淀进行了化学分析与材料表征。实验表明,在n(Fe2+):n(Cr6+)=6,共沉淀pH=10.0,还原时间为2 min,共沉淀时间为15 min条件下,处理含铬废水可达最好效果,总铬浓度从1 600 mg/L降至1.5 mg/L以下,符合国家《污水综合排放标准》(GB 8978-1996)的要求,实现了常温条件下铁氧体法对含铬废水的处理。对于不同亚铁盐,氯化亚铁处理废水的性能要强于硫酸亚铁,沉降速率快且沉淀致密。一般浓度的氨氮(50 mg/L)与COD(500 mg/L)对处理效果没有明显影响。对沉淀进行酸稳定性分析和XRD表征,确定生成了稳定的含铬复合铁氧体。     

提高硅钙渣胶凝活性的热活化实验

硅钙渣作为高铝粉煤灰碱-石灰烧结法提取氧化铝后产生的二次固废,为了使其能够大量地应用于建材领域,研究了热活化温度对硅钙渣水化胶凝性活性的影响,并采用TG-DSC和XRD对机理进行了分析。 结果表明,硅钙渣中方解石的分解是硅钙渣活性得以提高的主要因素,在煅烧温度在600~700℃时,其胶凝活性最佳。