Estimation of the daily soil/dust (SD) ingestion rate of children from Gansu Province,China via hand-to-mouth contact using tracer elements

A total of 60 children (31 males and 29 females) between the ages of 3 and 12 years were randomly selected from Lanzhou City in Gansu Province, northwest China. Hand (soil/dust) SD samples from these children were collected using hand wipes. We determined the approximate amounts of hand SD and the concentrations of three tracer soil elements (Ce, Y, and V) in these samples. The approximate amounts of hand SD ranged from 42.28 to 173.76 mg, with a median value of 85.42 mg. In addition, the mean amounts of hand SD estimated using the concentrations of Ce, Y, and V in the samples were 4.63, 3.43, and 3.42 mg, respectively. The amount of hand SD varied greatly among the age groups: primary school children had more hand SD than kindergarten children, males had more hand SD than females, and children from rural areas had more hand SD than those from urban areas. The rates of daily ingestion of hand SD for kindergarten and primary school children were estimated to be 7.73 and 6.61 mg/day, respectively.     

Impacts of Dung Combustion on the Carbon Cycle of Alpine Grassland of the North Tibetan Plateau

Alpine grassland of Tibet is a frangible ecosystem in terms of carbon (C) emission. Yak dung is an important resident energy with about 80 % of yak dung combusted for energy in the north Tibetan plateau. This paper investigated the impact of dung combustion on the C cycle of the alpine grassland ecosystem in north Tibet, China. During the growing season of 2011, from a field survey and household questionnaires, the main impacts of dung collection for fuel on the C cycle of the ecosystem were identified. (1) The C sequestration and storage capacity, including the dung-derived C stored in soil and C captured by vegetation, decreased. The net primary production decreased remarkably because of the reduction of dung returned to soil. (2) In a given period, more C was emitted to the atmosphere in the dung combustion situation than that in the dung returned to soil situation. (3) The energy grazing alpine meadow ecosystem changed into a net C source, and the net biome production of the ecosystem dropped to ?15.18 g C/m² year in the dung combustion situation, 42.95 g C/m² year less than that in the dung returned situation. To reduce the CO₂ emission derived from dung use, the proportion of dung combustion should be reduced and alternative renewable energy such as solar, wind, or hydro energy should be advocated, which is suitable for, and accessible to, the north Tibetan plateau.     

天然气集配气站综合防雷技术改造

随着天然气生产向自动化、网络化、智能化方向的迅猛发展,大部分天然气集配气站都建立和完善了自动计量、视频监控、生产数据传输、无线通讯等系统。但是随着电气仪表设备和数据线的增多,系统受雷击或因雷电影响受损的概率陡然增加,特别是近几年,天然气集配气站内计量、控制系统设备频繁出现雷击损坏现象。因此,对天然气集配气站实施综合防雷技术改造十分必要。     

Biotoxicity and bioavailability of hydrophobic organic compounds solubilized in nonionic surfactant micelle phase and cloud point system

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - A recent work has shown that hydrophobic organic compounds solubilized in the micelle phase of some nonionic surfactants present substrate toxicity to...     

Experimental study of the bio-oil production from sewage sludge by supercritical conversion process

Environment-friendly treatment of sewage sludge has become tremendously important. Conversion of sewage sludge into energy products by environment-friendly conversion process, with its energy recovery and environmental benefits, is being paid significant attention. Direct liquefaction of sewage sludge into bio-oils with supercritical water (SCW) was therefore put forward in this study, as de-water usually requiring intensive energy input is not necessary in this direct liquefaction. Supercritical water may act as a strong solvent and also a reactant, as well as catalyst promoting reaction process. Experiments were carried out in a self designed high-pressure reaction system with varying operating conditions. Through orthogonal experiments, it was found that temperature and residence time dominated on bio-oil yield compared with other operating parameters. Temperature from 350 to 500 °C and reaction residence time of 0, 30, 60 min were accordingly investigated in details, respectively. Under supercritical conversion, the maximum bio-oil yield could achieve 39.73%, which was performed at 375 °C and 0 min reaction residence time. Meanwhile, function of supercritical water was concluded. Fuel property analysis showed the potential of bio-oil application as crude fuel.     

Hydrothermal solidification behavior of municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash without any additives

Municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) bottom ash could be solidified with and without slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) addition by a hydrothermal method under steam pressure of 1.56 MPa at 200 °C for up to 72 h. Experimental results showed that CSH gel or tobermorite exerted a main influence on strength development, and without any additives CSH gel was easy to form, while slaked lime addition favored to form tobermorite. Tobermorite seemed to exert a larger effect on the strength development than CSH gel. Leaching results showed that the concentrations of heavy metals dissolved from the solidified specimens were effectively reduced after hydrothermal processing. The immobilization was mainly due to the tobermorite or CSH gel formation, and Pb²⁺ and Zn²⁺ seemed to be fixed more readily than Cr⁶⁺, which might be the reason that the structural Ca²⁺ within tobermorite or CSH gel was exchanged by Pb²⁺ and Zn²⁺ more easily than Cr⁶⁺. In addition, there existed a close relationship between leaching concentration and strength enhancement, and a higher strength seemed to exert a larger effect on immobilization of heavy metals.     

成都市区夏季大气污染物浓度时空变化特征分析

为了解成都市区大气污染物浓度水平及其变化规律,统计分析了2013年6月1日—8月31日3个市区站点(十里店、梁家巷和草堂寺)SO2、NO2、O3、PM2.5、PM10和CO逐时观测资料.结果表明,观测期间O3污染严重,上述3个站点小时均值超标率分别达22%、37%和42%.大气颗粒物污染也较为严重,上述3个站点PM10日均浓度超标率分别为13%、8%和3%,而PM2.5日均值超标率分别高达34%、27%和26%.NO2和CO早晚的浓度高峰主要与机动车流量增加和混合层高度降低有关.由于紫外辐射影响,O3浓度在正午出现峰值.受机动车流量高峰和气象条件的影响,PM2.5和PM10最大值和最小值分别出现在上午和下午.通过对污染物"周末效应"的分析,发现周末O3、PM2.5和PM10的浓度显著高于工作日,SO2、NO2和CO反之.成都市区大气污染受局地排放和外源输送共同影响,其中PM10和NO2主要受局地源控制,而PM2.5、SO2和O3受外输送影响较大.     

In_2TiO_5纳米带的静电纺丝法制备及光催化性能

以酞酸丁酯(Ti(OC_4H_9)_4)、硝酸铟(In(NO3)3)和聚乙烯吡咯烷酮(PVP-K30)为原料,采用静电纺丝技术制备了In_2TiO_5纳米带.利用X射线衍射(XRD)、扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、紫外-可见漫反射光谱(UV-vis DRS)和氮气吸附-脱附等温线(BET)等技术对样品进行了表征.考察了In_2TiO_5纳米带在光催化降解罗丹明B(RhB)、甲基橙(MO)、亚甲基蓝(MB)和左氧氟沙星(LEV)过程中的应用性能,研究了不同离子型物质、溶液的pH和MB起始浓度对In_2TiO_5纳米带光催化活性的影响.结果表明:In_2TiO_5纳米带具有正交晶系结构,禁带宽度为3.47 eV,比表面积为20.71 m~2·g~(-1),可应用于4种不同离子型物质的光催化降解,发现光催化效果与被降解物质的表面带电性质有关.在紫外光照射下,90 min,对MB的降解率达98.1%,其降解过程服从一级动力学模型.