Nitrate removal to its fate in wetland mesocosm filled with sponge iron: Impact of influent COD/N ratio

• CW-Fe allowed a high-performance of NO₃^‒-N removal at the COD/N ratio of 0. • Higher COD/N resulted in lower chem-denitrification and higher bio-denitrification. • The application of s-Fe⁰ contributed to TIN removal in wetland mesocosm. • s-Fe⁰ changed the main denitrifiers in wetland mesocosm. Sponge iron (s-Fe⁰) is a porous metal with the potential to be an electron donor for denitrification. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of using s-Fe⁰ as the substrate of wetland mesocosms. Here, wetland mesocosms with the addition of s-Fe⁰ particles (CW-Fe) and a blank control group (CW-CK) were established. The NO₃^‒-N reduction property and water quality parameters (pH, DO, and ORP) were examined at three COD/N ratios (0, 5, and 10). Results showed that the NO₃^‒-N removal efficiencies were significantly increased by 6.6 to 58.9% in the presence of s-Fe⁰. NH₄⁺-N was mainly produced by chemical denitrification, and approximately 50% of the NO₃^‒-N was reduced to NH₄⁺-N, at the COD/ratio of 0. An increase of the influent COD/N ratio resulted in lower chemical denitrification and higher bio-denitrification. Although chemical denitrification mediated by s-Fe⁰ led to an accumulation of NH₄⁺-N at COD/N ratios of 0 and 5, the TIN removal efficiencies increased by 4.5%‒12.4%. Moreover, the effluent pH, DO, and ORP values showed a significant negative correlation with total Fe and Fe (II) (P<0.01). High-throughput sequencing analysis indicated that Trichococcus (77.2%) was the most abundant microorganism in the CW-Fe mesocosm, while Thauera, Zoogloea, and Herbaspirillum were the primary denitrifying bacteria. The denitrifiers, Simplicispira, Dechloromonas, and Denitratisoma, were the dominant bacteria for CW-CK. This study provides a valuable method and an improved understanding of NO₃^‒-N reduction characteristics of s-Fe⁰ in a wetland mesocosm.     

Effects of Inorganic Antiseptic on the Properties of Zein-Based Active Films

Zein, one of corn processing byproducts, has excellent film-forming ability. However, zein does not have intrinsic antibacterial or antioxidant activity which limits its direct applicability as active food packaging material. In the present study, the rod-shaped micro-sized ZnO crystals were incorporated into zein films to construct zein-based active films as active packaging material with antibacterial property. The morphologies, structural analysis and sizes of ZnO crystals were analyzed by field emission scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction. Prepared zein films were evaluated for ZnO loading and distribution. Furthermore, antibacterial activities on Gram-negative bacteria and Gram-positive bacteria were tested by using the disc diffusion method. Lastly, the stability of zein-based active films under the different storage temperature and humidity was investigated. The results showed that zein based-active films had well mechanical properties, stability and antibacterial activities, which were related to the sizes of ZnO crystals in films.     

Response of anaerobic membrane bioreactor to the presence of nano-Bi<Subscript>2</Subscript>WO<Subscript>6</Subscript>: reactor performance,supernatant characteristics,and microbial community

Considering the increasing incorporation of manufactured nano-material into consumer products, there is a concern about its potential impacts in biological wastewater treatment. In this study, the response of anaerobic sludge to the presence of Bi₂WO₆ nano-particles (NPs) was investigated in the anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR). As the concentration of Bi₂WO₆ in the reactor was controlled around 1 mg/L, there was no significant difference in effluent water quality or bacterial activities before and after NP exposure, partially due to the microbial-induced NP aggregation and stable complex formation. However, with the increasing dosage of Bi₂WO₆ from 5 to 40 mg/L, great influences on the AnMBR performance were observed, including the reduction of COD removal efficiency, inhibition of the mechanization step, increased production of soluble microbial products, and enhanced secretion of extracellular polymer substrates. Additional investigation with high-throughput sequencing was conducted, clearly demonstrating that Bi₂WO₆ NPs induced changes in the bacterial community.     

酸化碱渣对氨氮的吸附和解吸性能

研究了氨氮质量浓度、体系温度、时间、酸化碱渣溶液的pH等对酸化碱渣吸附氨氮性能的影响,比较了作为解吸剂的蒸馏水和NaCl溶液对氨氮的解吸效果。在选定的实验条件下,酸化碱渣对氨氮的最大吸附量可达13．9mg／g。氨氮吸附量随其质量浓度的增加而增大、随体系温度的升高而降低,酸化碱渣溶液的pH对吸附性能的影响可以忽略。酸化碱渣表面吸附作用力主要为偶极间力和氢键力,吸附过程可用一级动力学方程模拟。NaCl溶液对氨氮的解吸效果好于蒸馏水,最大解吸率为25．7％。     

Impact of land use and land cover changes on ecosystem services in Menglun, Xishuangbanna, Southwest China

Changing the landscape has serious environmental impacts affecting the ecosystem services, particularly in the tropics. In this paper, we report changes in ecosystem services in relation to land use and land cover over an 18-year period (1988--2006) in the Menglun Township, Xishuangbanna, Southwest China. We used Landsat TM/ETM and Quickbird data sets to estimate changes in ten land use and land cover categories, and generalized value coefficients to estimate changes in the ecosystem services provided by each land category. The results showed that over the 18-year period, the land use and land cover in the study area experienced significant changes. Rubber plantations increased from 12.10% of total land cover to 45.63%, while forested area and swidden field decreased from 48.73 and 13.14 to 27.57 and 0.46%, respectively. During this period, the estimated value of ecosystem services dropped by US $11.427 million (approximately 27.73%). Further analysis showed that there were significant changes in ecological functions such as nutrient cycling, erosion control, climate regulation and water treatment as well as recreation; the obvious increase in the ecological function is provision of raw material (natural rubber). Our findings conclude that an abrupt shift in land use from ecologically important tropical forests and traditionally managed swidden fields to large-scale rubber plantations result in a great loss of ecosystem services in this area. Further, the study suggests that provision of alternative economic opportunities would help in maintaining ecosystem services and for an appropriate compensation mechanisms need to be established based on rigorous valuation.     

The emergy analysis of loop circuit

Emergy analysis can analyze the resource utilization and environmental performance of a system. Loop circuit is a common structure in the process industry, but when emergy analysis is carried out to such structure, mistakes such as emergy double counting often occur. To avoid emergy double counting, two types of loop circuit-direct loop circuit and indirect loop circuit-are theoretically distinguished, and the methods to avoid such mistake are proposed. Finally, PVC production and vinyl acetate production are adopted to demonstrate the methods.     

Soil Quality Evolution After Land Use Change From Paddy Soil to Vegetable Land

A survey was done in 15 typical villages, 150 soil and 86 vegetable plant samples were taken in Jiaxin prefecture of the Taihu Lake region, northern Zhejian province. Results indicate that after 15–20 years land use changed from the paddy rice–wheat (or oilseed rape) double cropping system, to a continuous vegetable land has caused soil quality dramatic change. (1) Acidification: average soil pH was 5.4; about 61% of total samples were pH < 5.5. It was 0.9 units lower than 10 years ago with same upland vegetable cultivation and was 1.2 units lower than soil pH of paddy rice–wheat (or oilseed rape) rotation. (2) Fertilizer salt accumulation: the average salt content was 0.28%, among these about 36.2% of the total samples contained more than 0.3%. (3) Nitrate N and available phosphorus (P) over accumulation: on average it was 279 mg NO₃-N/kg, and 45–115 mg P/kg. Nitrate N four times higher and available P 4–10 times more than it is in present paddy rice–wheat rotation soils respectively. This has caused wide concern because of possible groundwater and well drinking water pollution by leached nitrate N and the P losses to water by runoff from vegetable lands induce surface water eutrophication.     

腐殖质含量对填料净化污水效能的影响

掺入与腐殖垃圾级配相同的砂配置腐殖质含量分别为1.09%、0.87%、0.65%、0.44%和0.01%的5种填料,装填0.5 m厚度的试验柱,构建人工快速渗滤系统处理生活污水,并测定饱和水力渗透系数,研究腐殖质含量对填料净化污水效能的影响。结果表明,在相同的水力负荷（1 m/d）和污染负荷下,5种腐殖质填料对COD和TP的平均去除率存在明显差异,腐殖质含量为1.09%、0.87%和0.65%的3种填料对COD的去除率较腐殖质含量为0.01%的填料均高出14%以上。腐殖质含量与TP去除率呈现正相关性。腐殖质含量最高的填料（1#）其初始K值最大达3.23×10^-2 cm/s,约为腐殖质含量最低的填料（5#）的5倍,其稳定运行时间最长。     

确立生态文明观逐步建立经济与环境融合机制

新世纪即将来临的时候,应当确立生态文明观并建立持续发展的技术体制。为了达到这个目的,必须探讨环境保护和经济发展相统一,还要重新审视我国环境政策框架。     

公害的演变与预防

在概述公害的发展与演变的基础上, 简要介绍了地方级应急意识与准备（ＡＰＥＬＬ） 计划的有关内容, 以及我国首家实施该计划的上海市的实施情况。