Wastewater reclamation and reuse in China: Opportunities and challenges

The growing water stress both in terms of water scarcity and quality deterioration promotes the development of reclaimed water as a new water resource use. This paper reviewed wastewater reuse practices in China, and the opportunities and challenges of expanding reclaimed water use were analyzed. Rapid urbanization with the increasing of water demand and wastewater discharge provides an opportunity for wastewater reuse. The vast amount of wastewater discharge and low reclaimed water production mean that wastewater reuse still has a great potential in China. Many environmental and economic benefits and successful reclamation technologies also provide opportunities for wastewater reuse. In addition, the overall strategy in China is also encouraging for wastewater reuse. In the beginning stage of wastewater reclamation and reuse, there are many significant challenges to expand wastewater reuse in China including slow pace in adopting urban wastewater reuse programs, the establishment of integrated water resources management framework and guidelines for wastewater reuse programs, incoherent water quality requirements, the limited commercial development of reclaimed water and the strengthening of public awareness and cooperation among stakeholders.     

Fungal diversity in major oil-shale mines in China

As an insufficiently utilized energy resource,oil shale is conducive to the formation of characteristic microbial communities due to its special geological origins.However,little is known about fungal diversity in oil shale.Polymerase chain reaction cloning was used to construct the fungal ribosomal deoxyribonucleic acid internal transcribed spacer(r DNA ITS)clone libraries of Huadian Mine in Jilin Province,Maoming Mine in Guangdong Province,and Fushun Mine in Liaoning Province.Pure culture and molecular identification were applied for the isolation of cultivable fungi in fresh oil shale of each mine.Results of clone libraries indicated that each mine had over 50% Ascomycota(58.4%–98.9%)and 1.1%–13.5%unidentified fungi.Fushun Mine and Huadian Mine had 5.9% and 28.1% Basidiomycota,respectively.Huadian Mine showed the highest fungal diversity,followed by Fushun Mine and Maoming Mine.Jaccard indexes showed that the similarities between any two of three fungal communities at the genus level were very low,indicating that fungi in each mine developed independently during the long geological adaptation and formed a community composition fitting the environment.In the fresh oil-shale samples of the three mines,cultivable fungal phyla were consistent with the results of clone libraries.Fifteen genera and several unidentified fungi were identified as Ascomycota and Basidiomycota using pure culture.Penicillium was the only genus found in all three mines.These findings contributed to gaining a clear understanding of current fungal resources in major oil-shale mines in China and provided useful information for relevant studies on isolation of indigenous fungi carrying functional genes from oil shale.     

A novel approach to estimate and control denitrification performance in activated sludge systems with respirogram technology

Respirogram technology has been widely applied for aerobic process, however, the response of respirogram to anoxic denitrification is still unclear. To reveal such response may help to design a new method for the evaluation of the performance of denitrification. The size distribution of flocs measured at different denitrification moments demonstrated a clear expansion of flocs triggered by denitrification, during which higher specific endogenous and quasi-endogenous respiration rates (SOUR_e and SOUR_q) were also observed. Furthermore, SOUR_q increases exponentially with the specific denitrification rate (SDNR), suggesting that there should be a maximum SDNR in conventional activated sludge systems. Based on these findings, an index R_q/t, defined as the ratio of quasi-endogenous (OUR_q) to maximum respiration rate (OUR_t), is proposed to estimate the denitrification capacity that higher R_q/t indicates higher denitrification potential, which can be readily obtained without complex measurement or analysis, and it offers a novel and promising respirogram-based approach for denitrification estimation and control by taking measures to extend anoxic time to maintain its value at a high level within a certain range.     

Chemical characterization and source identification of PM2.5 in Luoyang after the clean air actions

Luoyang is a typical heavy industrial city in China, with a coal-dominated energy structure and serious air pollution. Following the implementation of the clean air actions, the physicochemical characteristics and sources of PM_2.5 have changed. A comprehensive study of PM_2.5 was conducted from October 16, 2019 to January 23, 2020 to evaluate the effectiveness of previous control measures and further to provide theory basis for more effective policies in the future. Results showed that the aerosol pollution in Luoyang in autumn and winter is still serious with the average concentration of 91.1 μg/m³, although a large reduction (46.9%) since 2014. With the contribution of nitrate increased from 12.5% to 25.1% and sulfate decreased from 16.7% to 11.2%, aerosol pollution has changed from sulfate-dominate to nitrate-dominate. High NO₃⁻/SO₄²⁻ ratio and the increasing of NO₃⁻/SO₄²⁻ ratio with the aggravation of pollution indicating vehicle exhaust playing an increasingly important role in PM_2.5 pollution in Luoyang, especially in the haze processes. Secondary inorganic ions contributed significantly to the enhancement of PM_2.5 during the pollution period. The high value of Cl⁻/Na⁺ and EC concentration indicate coal combustion in Luoyang is still serious. The top three contributor sources were secondary inorganic aerosols (33.3%), coal combustion (13.6%), and industrial emissions (13.4%). Close-range transport from the western and northeastern directions were more important factors in air pollution in Luoyang during the sampling period. It is necessary to strengthen the control of coal combustion and reduce vehicle emissions in future policies.     

Ozone episodes during and after the 2018 Chinese National Day holidays in Guangzhou: Implications for the control of precursor VOCs

The impact of reducing industrial emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) on ozone (O₃) pollution is of wide concern particularly in highly industrialized megacities. In this study, O₃, nitrogen oxides (NOx) and VOCs were measured at an urban site in the Pearl River Delta region during the 2018 Chinese National Day Holidays and two after-holiday periods (one with ozone pollution and another without). O₃ pollution occurred throughout the 7-day holidays even industrial emissions of VOCs were passively reduced due to temporary factory shutdowns, and the toluene to benzene ratios dropped from ∼10 during non-holidays to ∼5 during the holidays. Box model (AtChem2-MCM) simulations with the input of observation data revealed that O₃ formation was all VOC-limited, and alkenes had the highest relative incremental reactivity (RIR) during the holiday and non-holiday O₃ episodes while aromatics had the highest RIR during the non-pollution period. Box model also demonstrated that even aromatics decreased proportionally to levels with near-zero contributions of industrial aromatic solvents, O₃ concentrations would only decrease by less than 20% during the holiday and non-holiday O₃ episodes and ozone pollution in the periods could not be eliminated. The results imply that controlling emissions of industrial aromatic solvents might be not enough to eliminate O₃ pollution in the region, and more attention should be paid to anthropogenic reactive alkenes. Isoprene and formaldehyde were among the top 3 species by RIRs in all the three pollution and non-pollution periods, suggesting substantial contribution to O₃ formation from biogenic VOCs.     

Antibiotics along an alpine river and in the receiving lake with a catchment dominated by grazing husbandry

The livestock breeding industries face overuse of antibiotics, which has been intensively studied in recent years. However, the occurrence and fate of antibiotics as well as their potential threats to the aquatic environments in alpine and arid regions remain unclear. This study investigated the relationship of the occurrence and concentrations of antibiotics between the Kaidu River and Bosten Lake in a typical alpine basin in China. Hot spots with antibiotic pollution source were explored. The antibiotic concentrations in river water and suspended sediment (SPS) were 2.20-99.4 ng/L and 1.03-176 ng/g. The dominant antibiotics were tetracyclines, sulphacetamide, and ofloxacin in river water and sulfonamides, clarithromycin, roxithromycin, and ofloxacin in SPS. The apparent differences in pollution sources and landscapes in different reaches led to the obvious spatial patterns of antibiotics in the Kaidu River. Higher partition coefficient of antibiotic between SPS and water phases for sulfonamides than tetracyclines was because that tetracyclines strongly responded to clay contents while sulfonamides significantly responded to organic carbon contents in SPS. There were significant differences in detected antibiotic categories between the river and the lake. Fluoroquinolones (especially ciprofloxacin and enrofloxacin) were detected in the lake while sulphacetamide was only detected in the river. Therefore, the surrounding husbandry and aquaculture around the Bosten Lake was an important antibiotic pollution source in addition to inputs from the Kaidu River. This research suggested that alpine lakes could be an important sink of antibiotics in alpine dry regions, and thus impose greater threats to the aquatic ecosystem.     

Microbial bioavailability of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) in the sediments of Lake Shankou, Northeastern China

Dissolved organic nitrogen(DON)extracted from Lake Shankou sediments using KCl was isolated into hydrophobic and hydrophilic fractions.The bioavailabilities of the hydrophobic and hydrophilic fractions to three types of bacterial communities collected from sediments,activated sludge and compost products were examined.The DON recoveries obtained by DAX-8 and cation exchange resins treatment were 96.17% ± 1.58% and 98.14% ±0% for the samples obtained from N4 and N14 stations,respectively.After 25 days of incubation at 25°C,most DON(59% to 96%)was degraded.Hydrophilic DON exhibited a higher reduction rate than hydrophobic DON during the growth phase.Untreated wastewater from Changshuihe town was the main degradable DON source to station N4,and 93% of hydrophilic DON and 80% of hydrophobic DON were degraded.Station N14 received a large amount of refractory DON from forest soils and exhibited DON degradation rates of 82% and 71% for the hydrophilic and hydrophobic fractions,respectively.Amino acid contents and fluorescence intensities were also analyzed.Approximately 27% to 74% of amino acids were taken up by day 5,and their concentration gradually increased in the following days due to the decomposition of dissolved proteins.Parallel factor analysis resulted in identification of tryptophan-like proteins,tyrosine-like proteins and FA-like substances.During the growth phase,40%–51% of the tryptophan-like proteins were taken up by bacteria,and the accumulation of tyrosine-like proteins was attributed to the release of biotic substances.The concentration of the FA-like substances decreased due to microbial decomposition.     

Arsenic redox transformation by Pseudomonas sp. HN-2 isolated from arsenic-contaminated soil in Hunan, China

A mesophilic,Gram-negative,arsenite[As(Ⅲ)]-oxidizing and arsenate[As(V)]-reducing bacterial strain,Pseudomonas sp.HN-2,was isolated from an As-contaminated soil.Phylogenetic analysis based on 16 S r RNA gene sequencing indicated that the strain was closely related to Pseudomonas stutzeri.Under aerobic conditions,this strain oxidized 92.0%(61.4 μmol/L) of arsenite to arsenate within 3 hr of incubation.Reduction of As(V) to As(Ⅲ) occurred in anoxic conditions.Pseudomonas sp.HN-2 is among the first soil bacteria shown to be capable of both aerobic As(Ⅲ) oxidation and anoxic As(V) reduction.The strain,as an efficient As(Ⅲ) oxidizer and As(V) reducer in Pseudomonas,has the potential to impact arsenic mobility in both anoxic and aerobic environments,and has potential application in As remediation processes.     

保定市臭氧污染时空变化特征分析研究

为了解保定臭氧污染状况,利用2013年各环境空气自动监测点位监测数据,对臭氧污染状况及其时空变化特征进行分析.研究结果表明:①臭氧浓度的日变化呈单峰型结构,最高值与最低值分别出现在14点和6点,臭氧呈现明显的"周末效应".②臭氧浓度的月和季度变化具有典型的季节特征,春、夏季高,秋、冬季低,与太阳辐射强度呈正相关性.③各监测点位的臭氧浓度值差异明显,最高值与最低值分别出现在游泳馆点位和华电二校点位.