Utilization of coal fly ash in China: a mini-review on challenges and future directions

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The rapid economic development in China places a large demand for energy, and as a result, thermal power plants in China are producing an enormous...     

Migration and transformation of heavy metals in hyperaccumulators during the thermal treatment: a review

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The pollution of heavy metals (HMs) in the soil has become one of the important factors affecting the national environment and human health....     

Metal distribution characteristic of MSWI bottom ash in view of metal recovery

Bottom ash is the major by-product of municipal solid waste incineration(MSWI), and is often reused as an engineering material, such as road-base aggregate. However, some metals(especially aluminum) in bottom ash can react with water and generate gas that could cause expansion and failure of products containing the ash; these metals must be removed before the ash is utilized. The size distribution and the chemical speciation of metals in the bottom ash from two Chinese MSWI plants were examined in this study, and the recovery potential of metals from the ash was evaluated. The metal concentrations in these bottom ashes were lower than that generated in other developed countries. Specifically, the contents of Al,Fe, Cu and Zn were 18.9–29.2, 25.5–32.3, 0.7–1.0 and 1.6–2.5 g/kg, respectively. Moreover,44.9–57.0 wt.% of Al and 55.6–75.4 wt.% of Fe were distributed in bottom ash particles smaller than 5 mm. Similarly, 46.6–79.7 wt.% of Cu and 42.9–74.2 wt.% of Zn were concentrated in particles smaller than 3 mm. The Fe in the bottom ash mainly existed as hematite, and its chemical speciation was considered to limit the recovery efficiency of magnetic separation.     

Research on the degradation mechanism of pyridine in drinking water by dielectric barrier discharge

Pyridine, an important chemical raw material, is widely used in industry, for example in textiles,leather, printing, dyeing, etc. In this research, a dielectric barrier discharge(DBD) system was developed to remove pyridine, as a representative type of nitrogen heterocyclic compound in drinking water. First, the influence of the active species inhibitors tertiary butanol alcohol(TBA),HCO_3~-, and CO_3~(2-)on the degradation rate of pyridine was investigated to verify the existence of active species produced by the strong ionization discharge in the system. The intermediate and final products generated in the degradation process of pyridine were confirmed and analyzed through a series of analytical techniques, including liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry(LC–MS), high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC), ion chromatography(IC), total organic carbon(TOC) analysis, ultraviolet(UV) spectroscopy, etc. The results showed that the degradation of pyridine was mainly due to the strong oxidizing power of ozone and hydroxyl radical produced by the DBD system. Several intermediate products including 3-hydroxyl pyridine, fumaric acid, 2, 3-dihydroxypyridine, and oxalic acid were detected. Nitrogen was removed from the pyridine molecule to form nitrate. Through analysis of the degradation mechanism of pyridine, the oxidation pathway was deduced. The study provided a theoretical and experimental basis for the application of DBD strong ionization discharge in treatment of nitrogen heterocyclic compounds in drinking water.     

排污权有偿使用与交易制度若干问题探析——以浙江省温州市为例

排污权有偿使用与交易制度是我国一项重要的环境经济政策。文章以温州市为例,从水环境管理视角出发,探讨排污权有偿使用与交易的若干问题。着重分析温州市初始排污权核定与分配的成效、存在的问题和解决途径,利用平均治理成本等方法设计排污权有偿使用价格,研究排污权交易的实现途径。在此基础上,文章提出应探索利用地方立法权制定排污权相关法律法规、完善初始排污权核定与分配方法、优化排污权竞拍机制和实施市场化激励政策等建议。     

Ambient volatile organic compounds pollution in China

Owing to rapid economic and industrial development, China has been suffering from degraded air quality and visibility. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are important precursors to the formation of ground-level ozone and hence photochemical smog. Some VOCs adversely affect human health. Therefore, VOCs have recently elicited public concern and given new impetus to scientific interest. China is now implementing a series of polices to control VOCs pollution. The key to formulating policy is understanding the ambient VOCs pollution status. This paper mainly analyzes the species, levels, sources, and spatial distributions of VOCs in ambient air. The results show that the concentrations of ambient VOCs in China are much higher than those of developed countries such as the United States and Japan, especial benzene, which exceeds available standards. At the same time, the ozone formation potential (OFP) and secondary organic aerosol formation potential (SOAFP) of various VOCs are calculated. Aromatics and alkenes have much higher OFPs, while aromatics have higher SOAFP. The OFPs of ambient VOCs in the cities of Beijing, Guangzhou and Changchun are very high, and the SOAFP of ambient VOCs in the cities of Hangzhou, Guangzhou and Changchun are higher.     

Mesoporous carbon nanomaterials induced pulmonary surfactant inhibition, cytotoxicity, inflammation and lung fibrosis

Environmental exposure and health risk upon engineered nanomaterials are increasingly concerned. The family of mesoporous carbon nanomaterials(MCNs) is a rising star in nanotechnology for multidisciplinary research with versatile applications in electronics,energy and gas storage, and biomedicine. Meanwhile, there is mounting concern on their environmental health risks due to the growing production and usage of MCNs. The lung is the primary site for particle invasion under environmental exposure to nanomaterials. Here, we studied the comprehensive toxicological profile of MCNs in the lung under the scenario of moderate environmental exposure. It was found that at a low concentration of 10 μg/mL MCNs induced biophysical inhibition of natural pulmonary surfactant. Moreover, MCNs at similar concentrations reduced viability of J774 A.1 macrophages and lung epithelial A549 cells.Incubating with nature pulmonary surfactant effectively reduced the cytotoxicity of MCNs.Regarding the pro-inflammatory responses, MCNs activated macrophages in vitro, and stimulated lung inflammation in mice after inhalation exposure, associated with lung fibrosis.Moreover, we found that the size of MCNs played a significant role in regulating cytotoxicity and pro-inflammatory potential of this nanomaterial. In general, larger MCNs induced more pronounced cytotoxic and pro-inflammatory effects than their smaller counterparts. Our results provided valuable information on the toxicological profile and environmental health risks of MCNs, and suggested that fine-tuning the size of MCNs could be a practical precautionary design strategy to increase safety and biocompatibility of this nanomaterial.     

油品荧光特性的Logistic回归分析鉴别海上溢油的研究

用恒波长同步荧光法检测了280±2 nm、300±2 nm、332±2 nm 3个特征波长下的22种原油和12种燃料油的荧光强度,并以此作为变量,建立了快速定量鉴别海上溢油的原油和燃料油的Logistic回归模型。Hosmer-Lemeshow拟合优度检测值2.43小于15.51、其对应P值0.97大于0.05,说明建模数据的信息被充分提取和利用。风化前后油样的受试者工作特征曲线（ROC曲线）分析显示该鉴别方法准确性较高,曲线下边面积（AUC）大于0.9,灵敏度和特异性大于0.85。用15种非建模油样对所建立的模型进行验证,计算结果与实际情况吻合度较高,鉴别正确率达93%。此外,该模型也适用于油种风化后的鉴别。     

数显型电热板加热法在河流高锰酸盐指数应急监测中的应用研究

高锰酸盐指数常被作为地表水体受有机污染物和还原性无机物质污染程度的综合指标.采用数显型电热板加热法测定水中高锰酸盐指数,通过实验确定了加热时间和加热温度.并分别采用水浴法和电热板加热法对应急样品进行了高锰酸盐指数的测定,两种测定方法的比对研究结果表明,应急监测时采用数显型电热板加热法测定耗时更短,检测结果与国标法测定没有显著差异,是可行且有效的应急监测替代方法.     

酸性水储罐安全性研究

为预防酸性水储罐气相空间闪爆事故的发生,取样分析了某炼厂酸性水罐气相空间组成,根据气相组成配制了3种混合可燃气体,利用5 L爆炸极限测试仪测定了混合可燃气体在不同氧含量条件下的爆炸极限,根据爆炸极限数据计算出3种混合可燃气体的极限氧含量。结果表明:随着体系中氧含量增加,爆炸上限明显升高,爆炸下限无明显变化;烃类物质含量高时,混合可燃气体的爆炸上下限均降低,爆炸极限宽度变小;硫化氢和氢气含量高时,混合可燃气体爆炸上下限均升高,爆炸极限宽度变大;3种气相组成的极限氧含量分别为:8.1%、9.9%和10.3%,为防止罐顶气相组成发生闪爆,建议氧含量浓度控制在4%以内,当氧含量浓度到达5%时建议启动氮气联锁进行惰化和稀释。