Impact assessment of waste management options in Singapore

This paper describes the application of life cycle assessment for evaluating various waste management options in Singapore, a small-island city state. The impact assessment method by SimaPro is carried out for comparing the potential environmental impacts of waste treatment options including landfilling, incineration, recycling, and composting. The inventory data include gases and leachate from landfills, air emissions and energy recovery from incinerators, energy (and emission) savings from recycling, composting gases, and transport pollution. The impact assessment results for climate change, acidification, and ecotoxicity show that the incineration of materials imposes considerable harm to both human health and the environment, especially for the burning of plastics, paper/cardboard, and ferrous metals. The results also show that, although some amount of energy can be derived from the incineration of wastes, these benefits are outweighed by the air pollution (heavy metals and dioxins/furans) that incinerators produce. For Singapore, landfill gases and leachate generate minimal environmental damage because of the nation's policy to landfill only 10% of the total disposed wastes. Land transportation and separation of waste materials also pose minimal environmental damage. However, sea transportation to the landfill could contribute significantly to acidification because of the emissions of sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides from barges. The composting of horticultural wastes hardly imposes any environmental damage. Out of all the waste strategies, the recycling of wastes offers the best solution for environmental protection and improved human health for the nation. Significant emission savings can be realized through recycling.     

Application of surface molecular imprinting adsorbent in expanded bed for the adsorption of Ni(2+) and adsorption model

A new surface molecular imprinting adsorbent (SMIA) was used in an expanded bed. The expansion ratio and adsorption performance were studied at different volumetric rates, inlet concentrations, and pH values. A model based on the Adams-Bohart adsorption model of breakthrough curves was established. The predicted curves had good agreement with the experimental curves. The breakthrough time (T(1/2)) decreased with increasing inlet concentration when the outlet concentration was half the initial concentration (C/C(0)=0.5). The inlet concentration had little effect on the adsorption rate constant (k(1)) value when the initial concentration (C(0)) was above 150 mg/L. However, T(1/2) values increased with increasing initial pH of the inlet solution, and the k(1) value decreased due to the competition between H(+) and Ni(2+).     

Empirical analysis on contribution share of safety investment to economic growth: A case study of Chinese mining industry

Insufficient investment in safety is one of the most important reasons which lead to frequent accidents in Chinese mining industry. Safety input has long been regarded as a ‘sunk cost’, lacking output, and little attention from mining companies was focused on increasing safety input according to technical codes or technical requirements due to the narrow understanding on safety input. So, the empirical analysis on the contribution share of safety investment to economic growth is very important. In this paper, a new set of production safety indexes including six 1-level indexes for describing the safety level of mining production in China was constructed on the basis of Granger causality test. Meanwhile, a mining economic growth model was constructed on the basis of the new production safety indexes with co-integration theory and dynamic modeling system. The empirical results show that the production safety factor in the short term indeed drives the GDP growth in the mining industry although labor and capital input remain the major factors impacting mining economic growth, and its long term contribution share is 7.7%. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of production safety indexes, shows that the safety level of mining production increased more than 21-fold during 1991–2009, and the investment in mining technology development capability, mining safety production environment and mechanized level of mining should be the direction to focus for improving the safety level of mining production.     

Screening and identification of cellulose degrading bacterium Bacillus siamensis BREC-11 with tolerance to furfural北大核心CSCD

Furfural is a toxic metabolic inhibitor that is created during the conversion of lignocellulose to produce fuel, which can retard fermentation and increase production costs. thus, it is important for lignocellulosic conversion that the ability of the strain to resist furfural stress be improved. A cellulose-degrading bacterium BREC-11 with tolerance to furfural was isolated from the intestinal tract of Omphisa fuscidentalis hampson larvae via the addition of furfural in the medium. Based on analyses of morphological observations, physiological and biochemical characterizations, and 16S rDNA sequences, strain BREC-11 was shown to represent a member of the genus Bacillus and was named B. siamensis BREC-11. to study the tolerance concentration of strain BREC-11, a wide range of furfural formaldehyde concentrations were tested and strain BREC-11 was shown to grow in the mineral medium containing furfural up to 3.5 g/L. Cellulase activity of strain BREC-11 was determined at the tolerable concentration of 3.5 g/L furfural after incubation at 30 ℃ and 150 r/min for 2 days. Results indicated that filter paper enzyme, CMC-Na enzyme, and β-glucosidase activity was 0.1 U/mL, 0.21 U/mL, and 0.07 U/mL, respectively. BREC-11 is a cellulose-degrading bacterium with resistance to furfural, which has potential application in future bio-refinery processes. © 2018 Science Press. All rights reserved.     

汽车碰撞模拟装置加速度测试

在安全气囊的关键部件——气体发生器的产气性能测试试验中,加速度是一个重要的被测参数.采用1套台架冲击实验装置模拟汽车碰撞过程.通过调节提升高度和弹性缓冲物来使碰撞加速度峰值和碰撞持续时间满足气体发生器产气性能测试试验的要求.     

Accumulation of perchlorate in aquatic and terrestrial plants at a field scale

Previous laboratory-scale studies have documented perchlorate ClO(-)(4) uptake by different plant species, but less information is available at field scale, where ClO(-)(4) uptake may be affected by environmental conditions, such as distance to streams or shallow water tables, exposure duration, and species. This study examined uptake of ClO(-)(4) in smartweed (Polygonum spp.) and watercress (Nasturtium spp.) as well as more than forty trees, including ash (Fraxinus greggii A. Gray), chinaberry (Melia azedarach L.), elm (Ulmus parvifolia Jacq.), willow (Salix nigra Marshall), mulberry [Broussonetia papyrifera (L.) Vent.], and hackberry (Celtis laevigata Willd.) from multiple streams surrounding a perchlorate-contaminated site. Results indicate a large potential for ClO(-)(4) accumulation in aquatic and terrestrial plants, with ClO(-)(4) concentration in plant tissues approximately 100 times higher than that in bulk water. Perchlorate accumulation in leaves of terrestrial plants was also dependent on species, with hackberry, willow, and elm having a strong potential to accumulate ClO(-)(4). Generally, trees located closer to the stream had a higher ClO(-)(4) accumulation than trees located farther away from the stream. Seasonal leaf sampling of terrestrial plants indicated that ClO(-)(4) accumulation also was affected by exposure duration, with highest accumulation observed in the late growing cycle, although leaf concentrations for a given tree were highly variable. Perchlorate may be re-released into the environment via leaching and rainfall as indicated by lower perchlorate concentrations in collected leaf litter. Information obtained from this study will be helpful to understand the fate of ClO(-)(4) in macrophytes and natural systems.     

Allozyme polymorphisms and heavy metal levels in the green-lipped mussel Perna viridis (Linnaeus) collected from contaminated and uncontaminated sites in Malaysia

It has been widely reported that heavy metal contamination in coastal waters can modify the allozyme profiles of marine organisms. Previous studies have recorded elevated metal concentrations in sediments and mussel tissues off Peninsular Malaysia. In the present study, horizontal starch gel electrophoresis was carried out to estimate the levels of allelic variation of the green-lipped mussel, Perna viridis, collected from one contaminated and three relatively uncontaminated sites off Peninsular Malaysia. Fourteen polymorphic loci were observed. In addition, the concentrations of cadmium, copper, lead, mercury and zinc were determined in the sediments and in the soft tissues of the mussels. Mussels from contaminated site, evidenced by high metal pollution indices (MPI) of the sediment and the mussel tissues, showed the highest percentage of polymorphic loci (78.6%), while those collected from the uncontaminated sites had lower MPI of the sediment and mussel tissue, and exhibited lower percentages of polymorphic loci (35.7-57.1%). The population from the contaminated site showed the highest excess of heterozygosity (0.289) when compared to that of the populations from the three uncontaminated sites (0.108-0.149). Allozyme frequencies at the phosphoglucomutase (PGM; E.C. 2.7.5.1) locus also differed between the contaminated and uncontaminated populations. Previous studies have shown that exposure to heavy metals can select or counter-select for particular alleles at this locus. The present results suggest that allozyme polymorphism in P. viridis is a potential biomonitoring tool for heavy metal contamination but further validation is required.     

建设生态文明的重要举措——《让不堪重负的江河休养生息》述评

让江河湖泊休养生息，就是要实行最为严格的污染物排放总量控制制度，以水环境容量确定发展方式和发展规模；就是要尊重自然规律，充分发挥水生态系统的自我修复能力，逐步改变环境恶化状况；就是要综合运用工程的、技术的、生态的方法，加大治理水环境的力度，促进水生态系统尽快步入良性循环的轨道；就是要充分运用法律、经济和必要的行政手段，既要形成严格排放、合理开发的强大压力，又要形成主动治理水环境的积极动力，用高效的办法解决长期积累的环境问题。     

Comparison between urban Toronto PM and selected materials: aerosol characterization using laser ablation/ionization mass spectrometry (LAMS)

Laser ablation/ionization mass spectrometry (LAMS) of particulate matter (PM) was undertaken on-line in order to extend and contrast PM characterization. Qualitative on-line LAMS results for certified materials and Toronto source materials demonstrated the versatility and limitations of the technique. The observation of organic and inorganic components of certified materials verified the proper working condition of the in-house on-line LAMS. Organic and inorganic components of Toronto source materials were also observed with the on-line LAMS. Common components identified from both types of materials were Na, Al, Ca, Fe, and K. Other recognized components were compared with marker elements reported for some common PM emission sources. An in-house off-line LAMS was used to analyze urban Toronto PM deposited on glass substrates, while the on-line LAMS analyzed individual urban Toronto PM particles that were introduced directly into the instrument. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) were used for confirmatory purposes. Organic and inorganic components of urban Toronto PM at their typical ng/m3 concentrations were successfully observed in mass spectra using both off-line LAMS and on-line LAMS. Identified ions unique to each analyzed material were compared to identified ions of urban Toronto PM. The ability of LAMS to analyze individual respirable PM particles (viz. < 2 microns), both for inorganic trace elements and for organic components, greatly extended our capability to characterize PM and also to achieve estimates of concentration contributions of each material.     

凝聚炸药的冲击起爆

分析了飞片在炸药内产生高压区的行为，导出高压区中热点发生热爆炸的临界条件；讨论了高压区中侧向能量分配对热点传播的影响，得到了适应性更加广泛的凝聚炸药冲击起爆判据；利用这一判据，对实验结果给予了理论解释。