Nitrogen-retaining property of compost in an aerobic thermophilic composting reactor for the sanitary disposal of human feces

Aerobic composting is a method for the sanitary disposal of human feces as is used in bio-toilet systems. As the products of composting can be utilized as a fertilizer, it would be beneficial if the composting conditions could be more precisely controlled for the retention of fecal nitrogen as long as possible in the compost. In this study, batch experiments were conducted using a closed aerobic thermophilic composting reactor with sawdust as the bulk matrix to simulate the condition of a bio-toilet for the sanitary disposal of human feces. Attention was paid to the characteristics of nitrogen transformation. Under the controlled conditions of temperature at 60°C, moisture content at 60%,anda continuous air supply, more than 70% fecal organic removal was obtained, while merely 17% fecal nitrogen loss was observed over a two-week composting period. The nitrogen loss was found to occur mainly in the first 24 h with the rapid depletion of inorganic nitrogen but with an almost unchanged organic nitrogen content. The fecal NH₄-N which was the main component of the inorganic nitrogen ( > 90%) decreased rapidly in the first day, decreased at a slower rate over the following days, and finally disappeared entirely. The depletion of NH₄-N was accompanied by the accumulation of NH₃ gas in the ammonia absorber connected to the reactor. A mass balance between the exhausted NH₃ gas and the fecal NH₄-N content in the first 24 hours indicated that the conversion of ammonium into gaseous ammonia was the main reason for nitrogen loss. Thermophilic composting could be considered as a way to keep a high organic nitrogen content in the compost for better utilization as a fertilizer.     

Enhancement of anaerobic biodegradability of flower stem wastes with vegetable wastes by co-hydrolysis

The vegetable wastes and flower stems were co-digested to evaluate the anaerobic hydrolysis performance of difficultly biodegradable organic wastes by introducing readily biodegradable organic wastes. The experiments were carried out in batches. When the vegetable wastes were mixed with the flower stems at the dry weight ratio of 1 to 13, the overall hydrolysis rate increased by 8%, 12%, and 2% according to the carbon, nitrogen, and total solid （TS） conversion rate, respectively. While the dry weight ratio was designed as 1 to 3, there was a respective rise of 5%, 15%, and 4% in the conversion rate of carbon, nitrogen, and TS. The enhancement of anaerobic hydrolysis from the mixed vegetable wastes and flower stems can be attributed to the formation of volatile fatty acids （VFA） and nutrient supplement like nitrogen content. The maximum VFA concentration can achieve 1.7 g/L owing to the rapid acidification of vegetable wastes, loosing the structure of lignocellulose materials. The statistic bivariate analysis revealed that the hydrolysis performance was significantly related to the physical and biochemical compositions of the feeding substrate. Especially, the soluble carbon concentration in the liquid was significantly positively correlated to the concentration of nitrogen and hemicellulose, and negatively correlated to the concentration of carbon and lignocellulose in the feeding substrate, suggesting that the regulation and control of feedstock can have an important influence on the anaerobic hydrolysis of organic wastes.     

Assessment of heavy metals in some wild edible mushrooms collected from Yunnan Province, China

Eight heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Fe, Mn, Cd, Cr, Ni, and Pb) in 14 different wild-growing edible mushroom species (Coprinus comatus, Voluariella volvacea, Pleurotus nebrodensis, Hypsizigus marmoreus, Hericium erinaceus, Agrocybe aegerita, Lenfinus edodes, Collybia velutipes, Agaricus bisporus, Russula albida, Clitocybe conglobata, Pleurotus eryngii, Lepista sordida, and Pleurotus ostreatus) collected from Yunnan province, China, were determined by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry after microwave digestion. All element concentrations were determined on a dry weight basis. The ranges of element concentrations for copper, zinc, iron, manganese, cadmium, chromium, nickel, and lead were 6.8-31.9, 42.9-94.3, 67.5-843, 13.5-113, 0.06-0.58, 10.7-42.7, 0.76-5.1, and 0.67-12.9 mg/kg, respectively. In general, iron content was higher than other metals in all mushroom species. The levels of zinc, cadmium, and lead in some edible mushroom samples were found to be higher than legal limits. The relative standard deviations were found below 10%. The accuracy of procedure was confirmed by certified reference material.     

Flow analysis of major and trace elements in residues from large-scale sewage sludge incineration

Increase of sewage sludge (SS) has led to the construction of more incineration plants, exacerbating to the production of SS incineration residues. However, few studies have considered the mass balance of elements in large-scale SS incineration plants, affecting the residues treatment and utilization. In this study, flow analysis was conducted for major and trace elements in the SS, the fly ash (sewage sludge ash, SSA) and bottom ash from two large-scale SS incineration plants. The elemental characteristics were compared with those of coal fly ash (CFA), and air pollution control residues from municipal solid waste incineration (MSWIA), as well as related criteria. The results showed that the most abundant major element in SSA was Si, ranging from 120 to 240 g/kg, followed by Al (76–348 g/kg), Ca (26–113 g/kg), Fe (35–80 g/kg), and P (26–104 g/kg), and the trace elements were mainly Zn, Ba, Cu, and Mn. Not all the major elements were derived from SS. Most trace elements in the SS incineration residues accounted for 82.4%–127% of those from SS, indicating that SS was the main source of trace elements. The partitioning of heavy metals in the SS incineration residues showed that electrostatic precipitator ash or cyclone ash with high production rates were the major pollutant sinks. The differences in some major and trace elements could be indicators to differentiate SSA from CFA and MSWIA. Compared with related land criteria, the pollutants in SSA should not be ignored during disposal and utilization.     

Adsorption of Pb, Cd to Fe, Mn oxides in natural freshwater surface coatings developed in different seasons

Metal oxides( Fe, Mn oxides) in natural surface coatings(biofilms and associated minerals) are believed to play a significant role n the fate and transport of trace metal in aquatic environments. Seasonal variation of Fe, Mn oxides and organic materials in surface oatings, which were developed periodically on glass slides in Nanhu Lake, Jilin Province, China over the time frame of three seasons,was investigated in order to understand the influence of metal oxides on Pb and Cd adsorption to heterogeneous surface coating materials(biofilm). Pb and Cd adsorption was measured under controlled laboratory conditions( mineral salts solution with defined speciation, ionic trength 0.05 mol/L, 25~C and pH 6.0). The classical Langmuir adsorption isotherm was applied to estimate equilibrium coefficients of Pb nd Cd adsorption to the surface coatings. In general, components in the surface coatings varied greatly with seasons altering and btained higher concentrations in summer while the content of iron oxides always exceeded that of manganese oxides. Correlation nalyses between the maximum adsorption of Pb and Cd and components in the surface coatings developed periodically indicated that Pb hase association with Mn oxides and Cd phase association with Fe oxides as well as Mn oxides were statistically significant. Effect of Mn xides on Cd adsorption was confirmed in view of its higher content in the surface coatings. The importance of ferromanganese oxides for b and Cd adsorption to the natural surface coatings developed in different seasons was evidenced.     

Sulfur-containing amino acid methionine as the precursor of volatile organic sulfur compounds in algea-induced black bloom

After the application of methionine, a progressive and significant increase occurred in five volatile organic sulfur compounds (VOSCs): methanethiol (MeSH), dimethyl sulfide (DMS), dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), dimethyl trisulfide (DMTS) and dimethyl tetrasulfide (DMTeS). Even in the untreated control without a methionine addition, methionine and its catabolites (VOSCs, mainly DMDS) were found in considerable amounts that were high enough to account for the water’s offensive odor. However, blackening only occurred in two methionine-amended treatments. The VOSCs production was observed to precede black color development, and the reaching of a peak value for total VOSCs was often followed by water blackening. The presence of glucose stimulated the degradation of methionine while postponing the occurrence of the black color and inhibiting the production of VOSCs. In addition, DMDS was found to be the most abundant species produced after the addition of methionine alone, and DMTeS appeared to be the most important compound produced after the addition of methionine+glucose. These results suggest that methionine acted as an important precursor of the VOSCs in lakes suffering from algea-induced black bloom. The existence of glucose may change the transformation pathway of methionine into VOSCs to form larger molecular weight compounds, such as DMTS and DMTeS.     

Roles of manganese oxides in degradation of phenol under UV-Vis irradiation: Adsorption, oxidation, and photocatalysis

The effect of crystal structure on photocatalytic activities of manganese oxides and underlying reaction mechanism were investigated.     

Interactions of copper,cadmium and molybdenum in buffalo calves:the levels of trace element in blood,urine and tissues

Ten male buffalo calves were randomly allotted into five groups of two each. Four groups were fed with cadmium, molybdenum, cadmium-molybdenum, and copper-cadmium-molybdenum respectively for 130 days to determine the elements' metabolic interactions in calves. These results indicated that cadmium and molybdenum could increase the accumulation of molybdenum and cadmium in liver and kidneys in buffalo calves, but copper could not. reduce to normal the levels of molybdenum and cadmium in liver and kidneys caused by cadmium-molybdenum. In addition, we found the copper concentrations in liver and kindeys was significantly greater in treatment calves than in controls.     

生态环境污染对水产业的影响及防治对策

近年来,我国水产养殖业扩大,密放精养程度也大大提高,而水体不仅受到水产自身污染,还因工农业废水、废渣直接排入水域,造成严重污染,使养殖水域老化,有机淤泥增厚,鱼、虾、贝、藻类等出现大面积的病害,给水产业尤其是对虾生产造成严重危害;同时还对饲料生产、产品加工、冷藏运销、外贸出口等有关行业带来重大的损失。 大规模、持续多年暴发鱼、虾等病害的病因、病原是多方面的,然而生态环境遭受污染却是发生其病害的根本原因。本文着重对虾、鱼类方面危害予以讨论分析,供同行参考。1 生态环境污染的影响 据统计,目前全国废水排放总量每年约为366.5亿吨以上,其中沿海仅43个城市入海废     

Enhancement of photocatalytic oxidation of humic acid in TiO2 suspensions by increasing cation strength

This study aimed at improving the photocatalytic (PC) oxidation of humic acids (HA) in TiO2 suspensions by adding cationic ion such as calcium or magnesium. A set of tests was first conducted in the dark to study the adsorption of HA onto TiO2 in suspensions at different pH and calcium concentrations. The experiment demonstrated that the adsorption of HA onto the TiO2 particles was either pH-dependent or calcium strength-dependent due to electrostatic interaction and calcium ion bridging. The photodegradation of HA in the presence of UV irradiation was investigated as a function of pH and the concentration of calcium and magnesium ions. The results showed that the adsorption behavior between HA and TiO2 played a very important role during the PC oxidation process. The PC oxidation could be enhanced at neutral pH by increasing the cation strength. The kinetics of HA PC degradation in TiO2 suspensions with different initial concentrations was also studied using the Langmuir-Hinshelwood model.