Floc structure and membrane fouling affected by sodium alginate interaction with Al species as model organic pollutants

Membrane filtration combined with pre-coagulation has advantages in advanced wastewater treatment. As a model of a microbial polysaccharide, research on the effect of sodium alginate(SA) on alum hydrolysis has been rare; therefore, it is necessary to gain insight into the interface interaction between SA molecules and Al species, and the role SA plays during floc formation. In this study, the interaction mechanism between SA and Al species has been investigated, by evaluating the effect of SA on floc characteristics and membrane fouling during coagulation–ultrafiltration with different Al species coagulants(AlCl3 and preformed Al13). Al 2 p X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS) confirmed that the complexation of ligands and Al species strongly affects the reaction pathways for Al hydrolysis and the final nature of the flocs, as Al13 can be decomposed into octahedral precipitates when SA is added. The presence of SA can affect floc properties, which have important impacts on the characteristics of the cake layer and membrane fouling. Due to the bridging ability of SA, the floc strength increased by about 50% using Ala, which was much better than preformed Al13, with a percentage increase of only about 6%. Moreover,the recovery factor of HA-flocs was decreased from 96% to 43% with SA addition of 0.5 mg/L.It was concluded that SA can affect the characteristics of the cake layer and membrane fouling through participating in the formation of primary flocs and altering the Al hydrolysis pathway.     

硫酸铵细粒子对苯二次有机气溶胶光学特性的影响

苯系物光氧化产生的二次有机气溶胶（SOA）能够散射、吸收大气辐射,扰动区域气候变化.硫酸铵（（NH₄）₂SO₄）是大气中常见的无机细粒子,其大的比表面积可作为半挥发性化合物凝结和反应中心,进而影响SOA的化学组分和光学特性.本文采用烟雾箱研究（NH₄）₂SO₄细粒子对苯SOA在200~600 nm范围内的平均质量吸收系数（mass absorption coefficient,MAC）的影响情况.实验结果表明,低浓度（小于100 μg·m^-3）（NH₄）₂SO₄细粒子仅作为凝结核心,不会影响苯SOA的光学性质.高浓度（大于100 μg·m^-3）（NH₄）₂SO₄细粒子对咪唑类吸光产物的形成有促进作用.苯SOA的MAC值随着（NH₄）₂SO₄细粒子浓度的增加而逐渐增大,却随着细粒子酸度的增大而逐渐减小.水分子的增加会产生更多的NH₄⁺,从而有利于咪唑类化合物的产生,苯SOA的MAC值则随着相对湿度的增加而逐渐增大.而当相对湿度高于70%时,乙二醛水合反应增强,四醇产物脱水、聚合形成的高分子量产物增多,从而导致MAC值减小.这为研究高浓度（NH₄）₂SO₄细粒子背景下,人为源SOA的光学特性提供了实验依据.     

从协调到协同：跨区域环境治理中的监管体制改革与路径——基于万达开川渝统筹发展示范区视角

区域环境协同治理理论可为跨区域环境监管体制改革提供重要理论支撑。在政策和法律法规的推动下,近年来我国跨区域环境治理取得了一定成效,但是仍存在中央与地方权责划分不明,跨区域环境监管缺乏权威性,环境监管垂管制度改革不彻底等问题。现有机制无法有效支撑地方政府开展跨区域环境监管和深层次的环境协同高效治理。为进一步突破现有的制约障碍,提高跨区域环境协同治理效率,应当进一步加快中央层面的跨区域统一立法和地方层面的跨区域协同立法,以法律保障跨区域环境监管体制改革向纵深推进,将中央与地方政府环境保护的权责在法律中进行明确和细化,中央政府成立专门的跨区域环境治理机构,地方层面成立跨区域环境治理协同机构,理顺跨区域环境治理中的纵向和横向关系,进而推进我国生态文明体制建设。     

Occurrence,transport, and toxicity of nanomaterials in soil ecosystems: a review

Environmental Chemistry Letters - The recent and widespread use of engineered nanomaterials in many industrial sectors is a rising health issue for living organisms and ecosystems, yet there is...     

Cumulative risk assessment of dietary exposure to phthalates in pregnant women in Beijing,China

Diet is an important exposure route for phthalates, such as di-iso-butyl phthalate (DiBP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), and benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP). In this study, we aimed to estimate phthalate exposure in the diet of pregnant women and assess the health risk. A total of 517 pregnant women in the first trimester were recruited, and food frequency questionnaires were collected. A simple distribution assessment method was used to estimate daily exposure, and the hazard index (HI) method was used to assess cumulative risk. The maximum daily dietary exposure to DEHP, DBP, DiBP, and BBP was 5.25, 3.17, 2.59, and 0.58 μg/kg bw/day, respectively, and did not exceed the safety limit values. Cereals and vegetables were the main sources of the estimated daily intake (EDI) of phthalates in the diet. The cumulative risk assessment, based on the European Food Safety Authority tolerable daily intake (TDI) and the US Environmental Protection Agency reference dose (RfD), did not exceed the threshold of 1. DiBP, DBP, and DEHP had higher hazard quotient (HQ) values for cumulative health risk than BBP. In conclusion, a low health risk was posed by the cumulative dietary exposure to phthalates for pregnant women in Beijing.

Graphical abstract

     

Environmental factors and spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of the global outbreaks of the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1

The spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 has posed a major threat to global public health. Understanding the spatiotemporal outbreak characteristics and environmental factors of H5N1 outbreaks is of great significance for the establishment of effective prevention and control systems. The time and location of H5N1 outbreaks in poultry and wild birds officially confirmed by the World Organization for Animal Health from 2005 to 2019 were collected. Spatial autocorrelation analysis and multidistance spatial agglomeration analysis methods were used to analyze the global outbreak sites of H5N1. Combined with remote sensing data, the correlation between H5N1 outbreaks and environmental factors was analyzed using binary logistic regression methods. We analyzed the correlation between the H5N1 outbreak and environmental factors and finally made a risk prediction for the global H5N1 outbreaks. The results show that the peak of the H5N1 outbreaks occurs in winter and spring. H5N1 outbreaks exhibit aggregation, and a weak aggregation phenomenon is noted on the scale close to 5000 km. Water distance, road distance, railway distance, wind speed, leaf area index (LAI), and specific humidity were protective factors for the outbreak of H5N1, and the odds ratio (OR) were 0.985, 0.989, 0.995, 0.717, 0.832, and 0.935, respectively. Temperature was a risk factor with an OR of 1.073. The significance of these ORs was greater than 95%. The global risk prediction map was obtained. Given that the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is spreading globally, the methods and results of this study can provide a reference for studying the spread of COVID-19.

     

Spatiotemporal development of land use systems,influences and climate variability in Southwestern Ghana (1970–2020)

Environment, Development and Sustainability - This study assesses the spatiotemporal development of land use systems and climate variability in Southwestern Ghana over the past five decades using...     

椅式桩板结构地震响应分析与简化计算方法研究

椅式桩板结构在高陡边坡路基工程中应用广泛,研究其高烈度地震下的响应特征对抗震分析具有重要意义.以拟建川藏铁路某斜坡椅式桩板结构路基支挡工程为背景,建立有限差分三维数值计算模型,研究了结构的静、动力学响应特性,分析了结构最不利状态响应物理量的取值方法,探讨了结构传力分担机制及重要受力部位,提出了结构地震响应简化计算方法....     

High-expression and characterization of a novel serine protease from Ornithinibacillus caprae L9T with eco-friendly applications

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In the current work, a novel thermophilic serine protease gene (P3862) from Ornithinibacillus caprae L9T was functionally expressed in Bacillus...     

Arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization increases plant above-belowground feedback in a northwest Chinese coal mining–degraded soil by increasing photosynthetic carbon assimilation and allocation to maize

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - A three-compartment culture system was used to study the mechanism by which the AM fungus Funneliformis mosseae influences host plant growth and soil...