Photocatalytic degradation of lignin using Pt/TiO2 as the catalyst

Photocatalytic degradation of lignin was studied with the use of catalysts TiO(2) and Pt/TiO(2). The influence of several experimental parameters, i.e. pH, catalyst dosage and illumination on lignin degradation was investigated. The results showed that application of UV irradiation alone has almost no effect on the reduction of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and American Dye Manufacture Institute value (ADMI). However, the addition of TiO(2) and Pt/TiO(2) reduced the original DOC (251 mg l(-1)) by more than 40% within 30 min of treatment and the reaction can be simulated with pseudo-first order kinetics. Rapid degradation of lignin was observed in acidic solution using either TiO(2) or Pt/TiO(2) as the catalyst compared to high pH cases. The content of Pt in the Pt/TiO(2) catalyst is 1%. In addition, too much catalyst addition has not increased the DOC and ADMI reduction proportionally. The investigation also indicated that the photocatalytic degradation rates could be enhanced 1-6 times faster after doping TiO(2) with Pt in different pH cases. A modified Nernst type model was adopted to simulate the decoloring process using TiO(2) and Pt/TiO(2) based on the profiles of oxidation reduction potential during the photocatalytic reaction. The developed equation can be used to predict the color removal efficiency of lignin wastewater by the photocatalytic process.     

Ozonation of oxytetracycline and toxicological assessment of its oxidation by-products

Antibiotic formulation effluents are well known for their difficult elimination by traditional bio-treatment methods and their important contribution to environmental pollution due to its fluctuating and recalcitrant nature. In the present study the effect of ozonation on the degradation of oxytetracycline (OTC) aqueous solution (100mgl(-1)) at different pH values (3, 7 and 11) was investigated. Ozone (11mgl(-1) corresponds the concentration of ozone in gas phase) was chosen considering its rapid reaction and decomposition rate. The concentration of oxytetracycline, chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and BOD5/COD ratio were the parameters to evaluate the efficiency of the ozonation process. In addition, the toxic potential of the OTC degradation was investigated by the bioluminescence test using the LUMIStox 300 instrument and results were expressed as the percentage inhibition of the luminescence of the marine bacteria Vibrio fischeri. The results demonstrate that ozonation as a partial step of a combined treatment concept is a potential technique for biodegradability enhancement of effluents from pharmaceutical industries containing high concentration of oxytetracycline provided that the appropriate ozonation period is selected. At pH 11 and after 60min of ozonation of oxytetracycline aqueous solutions (100 and 200mgl(-1)) the BOD5/COD ratios were 0.69 and 0.52, respectively. It was also shown that COD removal rates increase with increasing pH as a consequence of enhanced ozone decomposition rates at elevated pH values. The results of bioluminescence data indicate that first by-products after partial ozonation (5-30min) of OTC were more toxic than the parent compound.     

A novel sustainable decision making model for municipal solid waste management

This paper reviews several models developed to support decision making in municipal solid waste management (MSWM). The concepts underlying sustainable MSWM models can be divided into two categories: one incorporates social factors into decision making methods, and the other includes public participation in the decision-making process. The public is only apprised or takes part in discussion, and has little effect on decision making in most research efforts. Few studies have considered public participation in the decision-making process, and the methods have sought to strike a compromise between concerned criteria, not between stakeholders. However, the source of the conflict arises from the stakeholders' complex web of value. Such conflict affects the feasibility of implementing any decision. The purpose of this study is to develop a sustainable decision making model for MSWM to overcome these shortcomings. The proposed model combines multicriteria decision making (MCDM) and a consensus analysis model (CAM). The CAM is built up to aid in decision-making when MCDM methods are utilized and, subsequently, a novel sustainable decision making model for MSWM is developed. The main feature of CAM is the assessment of the degree of consensus between stakeholders for particular alternatives. A case study for food waste management in Taiwan is presented to demonstrate the practicality of this model.     

天津市空气污染预报方法

文章论述了空气污染预报几种理论和方法,特别详细介绍了天津市空气质量预报方法及其应用效果。     

Identification of Pollution Source of Cadmium in Soil. Application of Material Flow Analysis and A Case Study in Taiwan (11 pp)

Background Since the 1970s, at least 200 hectares (ha) of farmland has been polluted by the heavy metal cadmium (Cd).Consequently, the Cd pollution has led to contaminate the rice production and caused acute social panic. According to the recent investigation results performed by the Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (TEPA), it is indicated that most of the Cd pollution incidents in Taiwan resulted from the wastewater discharge of stearate Cd factories. To prevent the Cd pollution incidents from spreading, the TEPA has either forced these factories to close down or assisted them in improving their production processes since the 1980s. Unfortunately, accidental incidents of Cd pollution still emerge in an endless stream, despite the strict governmental controls placed on these questionable factories. Whether this pollution has resulted from undetected or hidden pollution sources stemming from two decades ago or comes from some new source, will be an outstanding issue. Therefore, this study attempts to identify the pollution sources of Cd in soil in Taiwan as well as to find the solution to the above-mentioned, outstanding issue by way of a methodology termed Material Flow Analysis (MFA). Method logy. The MFA has proved to be a useful tool on providing quantitative information of the flow of substances through an economic to an environmental system. Based upon the supply-and-demand theory of MFA, researchers have successfully conducted an overview of the use of materials in many industries, the construction industry being one of these. Therefore, this study tries to establish a set of analytical processes by way of MFA for identifying the pollution source of Cd in soil in Taiwan. In addition, the spirit of Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) technique was also employed to identify the materials, and products should be ignored as a crucial pollution source in this study. Results and Discussion According to the MFA methodology applied in this study and on the basis of related studies performed by Taiwanese governmental authorities, we arrive at the following analysis results: (1) the total amount of Cd from the economic perspective of material and product flow was approximately 441.2 tons; (2) the wastewater directly discharged into irrigation water can be concluded to be the major pollution route of Cd in farmland soil in Taiwan; (3) material plastic stabilizer (cadmium oxide, CdO), Zn-Pd compounds and Cu compounds should be the crucial pollution sources to contaminate environment through the route of wastewater in Cd flow analysis; (4) the crucial pollution sources to contaminate environment through the route of wastewater in Cd flow analysis were five factories, Coin, Jili, Taiwan Dye, Guangzheng and Mingguan, and they were all categorized as stearate Cd industries; (5) the typical source of the Cd pollution in soil in Changhua County through the pollution route of wastewater should be the metal surfacing process industries. Conclusions This study proved that MFA can be a good tool for identifying Cd flow as well as for recognizing the crux of the problem concerning incidents of Cd pollution. This study led to the conclusion that the causal relationship between farmland pollution caused by Cd and stearate Cd factories in Taiwan seemed quite close by way of MFA methodology. In addition, this study also found that the wastewater discharged from a single metal surfacing process factory will not cause remarkable farmland pollution. However, the wastewater simultaneously discharged from a group of pollution factories can result in a significant pollution incident. Recommendations and Outlook This case study is only a small contribution to the understanding of the toxic material flow related to Cd in the environment. This study recommends that Taiwanese governmental authorities should not deal with problems on an ad hoc basis, but should instead deal with Cd pollution problems overall employing control measures. Finally, the more accurate information or data we can collect, the more reliable results we can identify. Therefore, the quality and quantity of related data used in this MFA model should be closely scrutinized in order to ensure the most correct and comprehensive investigation on the toxic material flow.     

Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) Tests on Wastewater Treatment Plants with Daphnia magna and Selenastrum capricornutum

Whole effluent toxicity (WET) tests, with Daphnia magna and Selenastrum capricornutum, were introduced to evaluate the biological toxicities of effluents from the wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Korea. In WET tests of WWTPs effluents, 33.3% (33/99) for D. magna and 92.6% (75/81) for S. capricornutum revealed greater than 1 toxic unit (TU), even though all the treatment plants investigated were operating in compliance with the regulations, as assessed using conventional monitoring methods (i.e., BOD and total concentration of N or P, etc). There were only minor differences in toxicities according to the types of influents (municipal and agro-industrial) in all treatment plants. However, the effluents treated by an activated sludge treatment process were found to exhibit significantly lower toxicity than those treated by rotating biological contactor (RBC) and extended aeration processes. The seasonal variations in the toxicity were lower in the summer compared to winter, which may have been due to the rainfall received to the sewage intake system during the former period. The impact of WET on river water was also investigated based on the discharge volume. At sites A and B, the total impact of toxicity to stream and river waters was observed to be 70.9% and 90.4% for D. magna and S. capricornutum, respectively. The other four small treatment plants (sites F, G, H and I), with relative discharging volumes between 0.001 and 0.002, contribute less than 1% to the total toxicity.     

The contents and forms of solid-phase species of radioactive strontium and cesium in Taiwan soils

This study was to investigate the activities and contents of ¹³⁷Cs in the profiles of selected arable and forest soils in Taiwan and various solid-phase species of ⁸⁵Sr and ¹³⁷Cs in selected arable soils in Taiwan. The gamma (γ) ray spectra of the collected soil samples and some of the soils amended with ⁸⁵Sr and ¹³⁷Cs were measured. The data indicate that the arable soils from Sanhsing series, Sanhsing Township and Chuangwei series, Chuangwei Township, Ilan County, and from Tunglochuan series, Pinglin Township, Taipei County shows significantly higher radioactivity of ¹³⁷Cs (ND − 11.0 ± 0.2 Bq kg⁻¹). Furthermore, the radioactivity of ¹³⁷Cs in the mountain soils (1.24 ± 0.07 − 42 ± 1 Bq kg⁻¹) from Yuanyang Lake Nature Preserve among Ilan, Taoyuan, and Hsinchu Counties is the highest among the investigated mountain forest soils. This may be mainly attributed to the fact that Ilan County is located in the northeastern part of Taiwan and faces the northeastern and northern seasonal winds with lots of precipitation annually from mid-autumn through mid-spring next year and is receiving greater amount of fallouts yearly. Due to longer reaction period (≥3 y) of ¹³⁷Cs with soil components, ¹³⁷Cs was mainly in the forms bound to oxides and to organic matter in the soil amended with ¹³⁷Cs and in the soil contaminated with ¹³⁷Cs. On the contrary, due to shorter reaction period (<60 d) of ⁸⁵Sr with soil components, ⁸⁵Sr was mainly in exchangeable form and partially in the forms bound to carbonates and oxides in the soils amended with ⁸⁵Sr.     

Influence of Meteorological Parameters on Particulates and Atmospheric Pollutants at Taichung Harbor Sampling Site

Atmospheric aerosol particles and metallic concentrations, ionic species were monitored at the Experimental harbor of Taichung sampling site in this study. This work attempted to characterize metallic elements and ionic species associated with meteorological conditions variation on atmospheric particulate matter in TSP, PM_2.5, PM_2.5–10. The concentration distribution trend between TSP, PM_2.5, PM_2.5–10 particle concentration at the TH (Taichung harbor) sampling site were also displayed in this study. Besides, the meteorological conditions variation of metallic elements (Fe, Mg, Cr, Cu, Zn, Mn and Pb) and ions species (Cl⁻, NO₃ ⁻, SO₄ ²⁻, NH₄ ⁺, Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺ and Na⁺) concentrations attached with those particulate were also analyzed in this study. On non-parametric (Spearman) correlation analysis, the results indicated that the meteorological conditions have high correlation at largest particulate concentrations for TSP at TH sampling site in this study. In addition, the temperature and relative humidity of meteorological conditions that played a key role to affect particulate matter (PM) and have higher correlations then other meteorological conditions such as wind speed and atmospheric pressure. The parameter temperature and relative humidity also have high correlations with atmospheric pollutants compared with those of the other meteorological variables (wind speed, atmospheric pressure and prevalent wind direction). In addition, relative statistical equations between pollutants and meteorological variables were also characterized in this study.     

Zinc and cobalt phytoextraction by different plant species

Plant species sorghum (Sorghum vulgar L.), clover (Trifolium pratense L.), panikum (Panicum antidotal), and canola (Brassica napus) were tested to determine their phytoremediation potential. After a period of about 90 days, plant samples (shoots and roots) and soil samples (before and after cultivation) were collected for zinc and cobalt analyses using atomic absorption spectrometry. The highest zinc uptake was observed in canola, while panikum grass showed a high zinc accumulation affinity compared to sorghum and clover. Calculation of the recovery percentage, based on the amount of zinc removed from the soil after cultivation, ranged between 12.8 and 36.3 percent of the total initial zinc. Canola shoots exhibited the highest cobalt uptake compared to the other plant species. Calculation of the recovery percentage based on cobalt removed from the soil after cultivation ranged between 10.1 and 40.7 percent of the total initial cobalt concentration. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. *

1 This article is a U.S. Government work and, as such, is in the public domain of the United States of America.

     

Decomposition of phorate in aqueous solution by ozonation

Phorate (O,O-diethyl S-ethylthiomethyl phosphorodithioate) dissolved in aqueous solution was almost completely decomposed by ozonation to form various species within 10 minutes of reaction time for the experimental conditions examined in this research. The generation rate of sulfate was found to be fairly independent of solution pH value. However, the formation of phosphate and carbonate was more favorable for alkaline solutions where hydroxyl free radical is the primary oxidative species. The reaction rates increased with initial gaseous ozone concentrations, indicating the reaction was mass transfer-controlled within the experimental range of this research. Combining the analytical results by various instruments, including gas chromatograph equipped with an electron ionization detector (GC-EID), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), ion chromatography (IC), and total organic carbon (TOC), the temporal sequence of phorate ozonation was proposed in this study. The oxidation of sulfur atoms on the phosphorus-sulfur double bond or carbon-sulfur-carbon bond by ozonation was found to occur at first to form sulfate and various intermediates.