Persistent organic pollutant emissions from medical waste incinerators in China

The huge amount of medical waste (MW) has caused a tough challenge to environmental protection in China because of its serious infectious potential. At present, incineration is the most common technology for MW disposal. Unfortunately, the medical waste incinerator (MWI) is considered one of the major sources of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs). This study was conducted to investigate the generation and the components of MW; the fingerprint of PCDD/Fs in MWI; and PCDD/F, polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) and hexachlorobenzene concentrations in residue ash. The estimated annual production of MW was estimated to be 0.97 million tons in China in 2008; in addition, plastic and rubber accounted for 24.5% of MW contents. PCDD/F emissions from MWI could be divided into two main groups according their fingerprints, and the ratio of PCDFs/PCDDs was mostly over 1.5, with a mean value of 3.43. The toxic equivalent of PCDD/Fs was over 30 times that of the value of PCBs in the residue ash, and PCDD/F contents in fly ash accounted for approximately 67% of the total output of PCDD/Fs, which was in line with the UNEP default emission factors for MWI (class 3, 63.7%).     

环境污染对农业生产的影响

农业和农村环境是人类生存、经济发展和社会安定的基础和根本保证。但是,随着经济的发展和人口的增长,各种工业废弃物和农用化学物质不断地涌入农业环境,使得农业环境的污染负荷增加,农业本身产生的污染问题也日益严重,农业环境正面临一系列严重的环境污染和生态破坏的问题。环境各个要素的污染都会影响正常的农业生产,主要介绍了大气污染、水污染、土壤污染的基本特征及其对农业生产的影响。     

水环境中有机污染物对藻类毒理性的探讨

近年来,环境中的有机污染物对生态环境的破坏日益加剧,并严重威胁到了人类的生存和发展。藻类作为初级生产者,是整个生态系统物质循环和能量流动的基础,因此研究水环境中有机污染物对藻类的毒理性,对于环境污染的监测具有深远的意义。就有机污染物对藻类的毒性机理、藻类对有机污染物的敏感度等问题的研究现状进行综述,并对藻类在环境监测方面的应用前景进行展望。     

危险化学品道路运输安全评价体系的建立

近年来,危险化学品道路运输事故呈不断上升趋势,其危害性极强,社会影响极坏,危险化学品道路运输安全问题正成为人们普遍关注的问题。本文分析了国内外危险化学品道路运输安全现状,从我国危险化学品道路运输事故的影响因素、危险化学品事故原因等方面分析了我国危险化学品道路运输的特点。在此基础上,建立了我国危险化学品道路运输安全评价体系,对减少危险化学品道路运输事故具有一定的实践指导意义。     

隐患排查分析及治理对策

通过对北京经济技术开发区重点代表企业隐患排查实施的研究,将医药、印刷等不同行业存在的隐患加以分析,对分析出的突出问题进行剖析并提出相应的对策。     

高职高专环境类基础化学教学改革初探

基础化学是环境类高职高专院校开设的一门重要的基础理论课程.针对我院基础化学教学中存在的教材、教学、实验、考核等方面的一些问题,从不同角度提出了改革措施,包括改革教学手段,编写适用教材,创新实验方法,更新考核方式等,希望对高职高专教学起到一些推动作用.     

Levels and distribution of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in plant, shellfish and sediment samples from Laizhou Bay in China

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are potentially harmful and persistent environmental pollutants. PBDEs concentrations are reported in plant, shellfish and sediment samples collected from Chinese Laizhou Bay. The summation operator(11)PBDE concentrations in plant and shellfish samples from Laizhou Bay were in the range of 70-5900ngg(-1) and 230-720ngg(-1) lipid, respectively. The summation operator(11)PBDEs concentrations in river sediment intervals samples ranged from 1.3 to 1800ng g(-1) dry weight. Pearson correlation analyses were performed on concentrations of PBDEs congeners of different sediment sample intervals. There were significant positive correlations for BDE 28 and BDE 100 (r=0.945, p<0.01), BDE 47 and BDE 99 (r=0.879, p<0.01), BDE 153 and BDE 154 (r=0.934, p<0.01), nona-BDEs and BDE 209 (r>0.934, p<0.01). BDE 209 was the predominant congener in all analyzed samples, consistent with the fact that deca-BDE technical mixtures are the dominant PBDEs product in Laizhou Bay. Data showed that PBDEs should be considered as an increasing pollution problem in the Laizhou Bay region.     

Pedological characteristics of Mn mine tailings and metal accumulation by native plants

In southern China revegetation and ecological restoration of many abandoned Mn tailings has become a major concern. To determine the major constraints for plant establishment and evaluate the feasibility of remediation, a comparative study was conducted on Mn tailings and rhizosphere soils at the boundary of the tailings pond. Both tailings and rhizosphere soils had neutral to slightly alkaline pH and normal electrical conductivity. They were both enriched with organic matter (6.8-9.2%), total N (1.77-5.94 g kg(-1)), available P (41.78-73.83 mg kg(-1)) and K (146.7-906.9 mg kg(-1)), suggesting the tailings were a nutrient rich substrate for revegetation. Mn tailings were clay textured, while rhizosphere soils were silty loam or clay loam. The compaction and anoxic nature of Mn tailings were considered to be the major constraints for plant establishment. Total Mn (31903 mg kg(-1)), Cd (119 mg kg(-1)), Cu (126 mg kg(-1)) and Zn (2490 mg kg(-1)) in tailings were all at phytotoxic levels, but did not differ significantly from those in rhizosphere soils. In both tailings and rhizosphere soils, percentages of water- and DTPA-extractable metals were less than 1% and 2% of the total metal pools, respectively. Sequential extraction revealed that the majority of Mn, Cu and Zn were associated with the residual fraction, while the majority of Cd occurred as Fe-Mn oxides. The natural succession of plants around Mn tailings formed a distinctive metal-tolerant plant community, mainly comprising nine species such as Cynodon dactylon and Humulus scandens and so on. All species studied could be good candidates for revegetation of Mn tailings.     

Atmospheric transport of urban-derived NH(x): Evidence from nitrogen concentration and delta(15)N in epilithic mosses at Guiyang, SW China

Nitrogen concentration and δ¹⁵N in 175 epilithic moss samples were investigated along four directions from urban to rural sites in Guiyang, SW China. The spatial variations of moss N concentration and δ¹⁵N revealed that atmospheric N deposition is dominated by NH_x-N from two major sources (urban sewage NH₃ and agricultural NH₃), the deposition of urban-derived NH_x followed a point source pattern characterized by an exponential decline with distance from the urban center, while the agricultural-derived NH_x was shown to be a non-point source. The relationship between moss N concentration and distance (y = 1.5e^−0.13x + 1.26) indicated that the maximum transporting distance of urban-derived NH_x averaged 41 km from the urban center, and it could be determined from the relationship between moss δ¹⁵N and distance [y = 2.54 ln(x) − 12.227] that urban-derived NH_x was proportionally lower than agricultural-derived NH_x in N deposition at sites beyond 17.2 km from the urban center. Consequently, the variation of urban-derived NH_x with distance from the urban center could be modeled as y = 56.272e^−0.116x − 0.481 in the Guiyang area.     

Predicted distributed state effects on enhanced biological phosphorus removal in a 5-stage Bardenpho wastewater treatment configuration.

Conventional wastewater treatment simulation programs use a "lumped" approach, where process rates are calculated using bulk concentrations of biomass and microbial storage products. A recently developed distributed, or agent-based, approach, where individual bacteria are modeled to account for their potentially variable hydraulic experiences, was applied to the 5-stage Bardenpho process, a type of enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) that includes internal recycle flows, which were hypothesized to affect distributed state development. Consistent with previous results, the EBPR predicted performance was worse according to the distributed approach than the lumped approach. In addition, increasing the internal recycle rate increased the anoxic reactor nitrate concentrations, tending to decrease EBPR performance. However, in the distributed approach, differences in the state distributions in internal recycle-linked reactors decreased with increasing recycle flow, tending to improve EBPR. These phenomena tend to have simultaneous and opposite effects on EBPR. The net effect will depend largely on the specific systems and the nitrate concentration in anoxic reactors.