Research status,challenges and future prospects of renewable synthetic fuel catalysts for CO2 photocatalytic reduction conversion

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In recent years, with global climate change, the utilization of carbon dioxide as a resource has become an important goal of human society to achieve...     

Chemical and process mineralogical characterizations of spent lithium-ion batteries: An approach by multi-analytical techniques

Mineral processing operation is a critical step in any recycling process to realize liberation, separation and concentration of the target parts. Developing effective recycling methods to recover all the valuable parts from spent lithium-ion batteries is in great necessity. The aim of this study is to carefully undertake chemical and process mineralogical characterizations of spent lithium-ion batteries by coupling several analytical techniques to provide basic information for the researches on effective mechanical crushing and separation methods in recycling process. The results show that the grade of Co, Cu and Al is fairly high in spent lithium ion batteries and up to 17.62 wt.%, 7.17 wt.% and 21.60 wt.%. Spent lithium-ion batteries have good selective crushing property, the crushed products could be divided into three parts, they are Al-enriched fraction (+2 mm), Cu and Al-enriched fraction (?2 + 0.25 mm) and Co and graphite-enriched fraction (?0.25 mm). The mineral phase and chemical state analysis reveal the electrode materials recovered from ?0.25 mm size fraction keep the original crystal forms and chemical states in lithium-ion batteries, but the surface of the powders has been coated by a certain kind of hydrocarbon. Based on these results a flowsheet to recycle spent LiBs is proposed.     

Multivariate characterization of elements accumulated in Wolfiporia extensa mushroom from Yunnan province of China

ABSTRACT

Dried sclerotia of Wolfiporia extensa have been used as medicine in Asia from Eastern Han Dynasty, and also used as traditional snack called “fulingjiabing” in Beijing, China. In this paper, 18 macro and trace elements (Ag, As, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cs, Cu, Fe, Li, Mn, Ni, Pb, Rb, Se, Sr, V, and Zn) in both flesh and peel of Wolfiporia extensa from seven sites of Yunnan province in China were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer. The average recovery rates of certified reference materials for GBW10015 (spinach leaves) ranged from 90.5 to 113%, for GBW10028 (citrus leaves) from 92.8 to 106%, and for GBW07603 (bush branch and leaves) from 83.3 to 114.6%. Generally speaking, the concentration of all elements determined was at common level. The results of this survey indicate that mineral compositions in peel were higher than in flesh. In peel, the contents of investigated trace metals in mushroom samples were found to be in the range of 1,660–13,400 µg·g^?1 dry matter (dm) for Fe and 29.6–710 µg·g^?1 dm for Mn. The mean contents of Cr, Cu, Rb, V, and Zn in peel were between 10 and 20 µg·g^?1 dm, followed by As, Co, Li, Ni, Pb, Se, and Sr with mean contents between 1 and 10 µg·g^?1 dm, while Ag, Cd, and Cs had mean contents of <1 µg·g^?1 dm. In flesh, the concentration of Fe was in the range of 54–900 µg·g^?1 dm, and it was 1.5–49 µg·g^?1 dm for Mn, followed by Ba, Cu, Rb, and Zn in the range of 1 to 10 µg·g^?1 dm, while for Ag, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cs, Li, Ni, Pb, Se, Sr, and V it was <1 µg·g^?1 dm. The concentration of toxic elements, such as As, Cd, and Pb, in both flesh and peel was below the permissible limits of World Health Organization. However, As and Pb contents in peel were higher than the limits permitted in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. The results of principal component analysis showed that the flesh of Wolfiporia extensa from all the seven sites of the Yunnan province tend to cluster together, most probably because the origin of mineral elements in both flesh and peel is wood substrate (old and dead pine trees).     

Effects of organic matter on Leymus chinensis germination,growth, and urease activity and available nitrogen in coastal saline soil

ABSTRACT

The present study was carried out to investigate the effect of three organic matters (stalk powder, microbial fertilizer, and manure) on Leymus chinensis germination, growth, and urease activity and available nitrogen (N) in coastal saline soil. The study was conducted in a completely randomized design with eight treatments: J₀V₀Y₀, J₁V₀Y₀, J₀V₁Y₀, J₀V₀Y₁, J₁V₁Y₀, J₁V₀Y₁, J₀V₁Y₁, J₁V₁Y₁. The notations were based on the quantities of each agent added to 1 kg of coastal saline soil: J₀ – no straw powder, J₁ – 0.2 kg straw powder, Y₀ – no manure, Y₁ – 0.3 kg manure, V₀ – no microbial fertilizer, V₁ – 0.2 L microbial fertilizer, each in quantic repeat. L. chinensis was sown as 50 seeds per pot. Results indicated that addition of organic agents exerted a significantly enhanced germination, increase in fresh weight and elevated soil urease activity. Soil available N levels were significantly positively correlated with soil urease activity and fresh weight, but not with germination rate. It is noteworthy that the halophyte L. chinensis showed improved characteristics when grown in coastal saline soil with addition of organic amendments.     

Effects of law enforcement and community outreach on mammal diversity in a biodiversity hotspot

Management activities such as law enforcement and community outreach are thought to affect conservation outcomes in protected areas, but their importance relative to intrinsic environmental characteristics of the parks and extrinsic human pressures surrounding the parks have not been explored. Furthermore, it is not clear which is more related to conservation outcomes—the management itself or local people's perceptions of the management. We measured objective (reports by park staff) and subjective (reports by local people) levels of community outreach and law enforcement based on responses to 374 questionnaires. We estimated mammal abundance and diversity of 6 protected areas based on data from 115 camera traps in Xishuangbanna, southwest China, a biodiversity hotspot with high hunting and land-conversion pressures. We then examined correlations among them and found that local people's perception of law enforcement was positively related to the local abundance of 2 large, hunted species, wild boar (Sus scrofa) (β = 15.22) and muntjac (Muntiacus vaginalis) (β = 14.82), but not related to the abundance of smaller mammals or to objective levels of enforcement. The subjective frequency of outreach by park staff to local communities (β = 3.42) and park size (β = 3.28) were significantly and positively related to mammal species richness, whereas elevation, human population density, and subjective frequency of law enforcement were not. We could not conclude that community outreach and law enforcement were directly causing increased mammal abundance and diversity. Nevertheless, the patterns we detected are some of the first empirical evidence consistent with the idea that biodiversity in protected areas may be more positively and strongly related to local perceptions of the intensity of park management than to either intrinsic (e.g., elevation, park size) or extrinsic (e.g., human population density) environmental factors.     

Effect of multiple washing operations on the removal of potentially toxic metals from an alkaline farmland soil and the strategy for agricultural reuse

Few studies have carried out soil washing experiments using pot experiments to simulate in situ soil washing operations, particularly for alkaline soils. This study explored the effects of multiple washing operations using pot experiments on the removal efficiencies of potentially toxic metals (PTM) from alkaline farmland soil and the reuse strategy of washed soil for safe agricultural production. The results showed that the removal efficiencies of Cd, Pb, Cu, and Zn after seven washings with a mixed chelator (EDTA, GLDA, and citric acid) were 41.1%, 47.1%, 14.7%, and 26.5%, respectively, which was close to the results of the EDTA treatment. For the alkaline soil studied, the second washing with the mixed chelators most effectively removed PTM owing to the activation of them after the first washing operation. The mixed chelator more effectively increased the proportion of stable fraction of PTM and maintained soil nutrients (e.g., nitrogen content) than EDTA, indicating little disturbance of alkaline soil quality after washing with the mixed chelator. After the amendment of the washed soil, there was no visible difference in the biomass weight of crops from the soils washed with different agents, indicating that the inhibitory effect of both washing agents on plant growth was effectively alleviated. The Cd and Pb contents in Z. mays were below the threshold of Hygienical Standard for Feeds of China (GB 13078–2017) (1 and 30 mg·kg^?1). Moreover, after three cropping operations, the available concentrations of PTM in the soil washed with the mixed chelator were lower than those in the soil washed with EDTA, indicating the value and potential of agricultural reuse of alkaline farmland soil washed with the mixed chelator.

Graphical abstract

     

Toxicity of urban highway runoff in Shanghai to Zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos and luminous bacteria (Vibrio qinghaiensis.Q67)

Pollution from urban highway runoff has been identified as one of the major causes of the deterioration of receiving water quality. The purpose of this study is to assess the toxicity of urban storm water samples in Shanghai using the zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryo test and the bacterial luminescence (Vibrio qinghaiensis) assay. The toxicity of highway runoff from seventeen storm events was investigated in both grab and composite samples. Zebrafish embryos were exposed to the runoff samples and development parameters including lethality, spontaneous movements in 20 s, heart beat rate, hatching rate, and abnormality of zebrafish embryos were observed after 24, 48, 72, and 96 h of exposure. Inhibition rates of luminescence intensity were also recorded. The results showed that in the zebrafish embryo toxicity tests, both grab and composite samples increased the lethality, reduced the percentage with spontaneous movements and heart beats, inhibited the hatching of embryos, and induced morphological abnormalities. In the Vibrio qinghaiensis toxicity test, all the grab samples inhibited the luminescence, while some of the composite samples promoted it, which indicated that different types of toxicants might have been affecting the species. The multivariate statistics analysis indicated that heavy metal (zinc, manganese, and copper) and PAHs might mainly contribute to the toxicity of runoff samples.     

Study on the relationship between the incidence of influenza and climate indicators and the prediction of influenza incidence

In recent 2 years, the incidence of influenza showed a slight upward trend in Guangxi; therefore, some joint actions should be done to help preventing and controlling this disease. The factors analysis of affecting influenza and early prediction of influenza incidence may help policy-making so as to take effective measures to prevent and control influenza. In this study, we used the cross correlation function (CCF) to analyze the effect of climate indicators on influenza incidence, ARIMA and ARIMAX (autoregressive integrated moving average model with exogenous input variables) model methods to do predictive analysis of influenza incidence. The results of CCF analysis showed that climate indicators (PM2.5, PM10, SO₂, CO, NO2, O₃, average temperature, maximum temperature, minimum temperature, average relative humidity, and sunshine duration) had significant effects on the incidence of influenza. People need to take good precautions in the days of severe air pollution and keep warm in cold weather to prevent influenza. We found that the ARIMAX (1,0,1)(0,0,1)₁₂ with NO₂ model has good predictive performance, which can be used to predict the influenza incidence in Guangxi, and the predicted incidence may be useful in developing early warning systems and providing important evidence for influenza control policy-making and public health intervention.