100-year simulation of mercury emissions from landfilled stabilized mercury waste

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - Owing to Minamata Convention on mercury, the final disposal of mercury in environmentally safe manners will be required. Mercury disposal in...     

A DFT study on the carbamates formation through the absorption of CO2 by AMP

DFT calculations in gas and aqueous solution phases have been performed to study the mechanism of carbamate formation by the absorption of CO₂ in 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP). The results reveal the importance of considering the effect of water as solvent for the reaction to proceed. Furthermore water molecules play an important role as a basic reactant leading to stable intermediates formation. These results point at a single-step, third order reaction as the most probable mechanism for the formation of carbamate by the absorption process.     

The effect of the increase in urban temperature on the concentration of photochemical oxidants

An atmospheric dispersion model, where the inputs of meteorological field were calculated using a meteorological model, was used to reproduce the observed air pollution conditions for the typical fine day in summer period, especially the concentration of the photochemical oxidants. As well, the effects of an increase in the urban temperature and VOC emissions on the concentration of photochemical oxidants were also considered. The following conclusions were drawn.The observed air pollution levels were well modeled by the atmospheric dispersion model using in this study, although modeled NO levels were slightly lower than the observed levels. An analysis of the temperature data showed that a 1 °C increase in temperature leads to a maximal photochemical oxidant concentration of 5.3 ppb, which is an increase of 11%. Additionally, the effect on the photochemical oxidant concentration due to an increase in the vegetation-derived VOCs was more than double the effect due to an increase in the photochemical reactions. It was found that the temperature and photochemical oxidant concentration were linearly related up to a temperature increase of 3 °C. When the temperature increases up to 3 °C, the concentration of photochemical oxidants increases by 19 ppb. An analysis of the effect of vegetation-derived VOCs on photochemical oxidant concentrations showed that, the concentration of photochemical oxidants was 30 ppb higher in the afternoon by the effect of vegetation-derived VOCs, so even in metropolitan areas with relatively little vegetation, vegetation-derived VOCs have a strong impact on photochemical oxidant concentrations.     

Effect of limited aeration on the anaerobic treatment of evaporator condensate from a sulfite pulp mill

Serious inhibition was found in the regular up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor in treating the evaporator condensate from a sulfite pulp mill, which contained high strength sulfur compounds. After applying the direct limited aeration in the UASB, the inhibition was alleviated gradually and the activity of the microorganisms was recovered. The COD removal rate increased from 40% to 80% at the organic loading rate of 8kgCODm(-3)d(-1) and a hydraulic retention time of 12h. Limited aeration caused no oxygen inhibition to the anaerobic microorganisms but instigated sulfide oxidization and H(2)S removal, which was beneficial to the methanogens. The experiment confirmed the feasibility of applying limited aeration in the anaerobic reactor to alleviate the sulfide inhibition. It also proved that the anaerobic system was actually aerotolerant. SEM observation showed that the predominant microorganisms partly changed from rod-shaped methanogens to cocci after the UASB reactor was aerated.     

EMF effects on microcirculatory system

Authors review the importance of studying the effects of electromagnetic fields (EMF) on microcirculatory system, especially in respect of possibility that vasculature may have direct and indirect role in interaction of static magnetic fields (SMF). We outline the physiological importance of microcirculation and relatively new methods of evaluation technique in vivo and explain in details the local and/or whole body exposure effects of SMF with␣range of 0.3–180 mT, power frequency EMF with range of 0.1–30 mT and microwaves at 1.5 GHz with range 0.08–8 W/kg brain average specific absorption rate (SAR) on microcirculatory systems in different tissues in experimental animals.     

Analyses of incinerated ash of paper sludge: comparison with incinerated ash of municipal solid waste

Fourteen paper sludge samples were collected at seven representative pulp and paper mills in Japan, and were analyzed to obtain fundamental data on the reuse of paper sludge-incinerated ash as papermaking material. For comparison, incinerated ashes of municipal solid waste (MSW) were collected at MSW incineration plants in Tokyo, and analyzed by similar methods. Elementary and X-ray diffraction analyses revealed that the predominant elements in paper sludge samples are calcium, silicon, aluminum, and magnesium, which are derived from paper fillers, coating pigments, and coagulants used in papermaking and process effluent treatments. Similar results were also obtained for the MSW-incinerated ashes, indicating that major components in the collected MSW are paper-related materials. Incineration of paper sludge around 800°C is recommended in terms of high brightness of the incinerated ash, which has about 60% brightness. Calcium, silicon, and aluminum components in the paper sludge are fused or sintered by heating. Although paper-sludge-incinerated ashes have irregular shape and large particle size distributions, they may be used as papermaking materials after pulverization using a ball mill. The MSW-incinerated ashes have 5%–30% water-soluble fractions and low brightness, and thus incineration conditions must be changed to reuse the MSW-incinerated ash as a papermaking material.Part of this paper was presented at the 68th Research Conference of Japan Tappi, Tokyo, 2001     

Changes in peak flow with decreased forestry practices: analysis using watershed runoff data

The prevalence of forestry practices such as thinning and pruning have gradually decreased since the 1980s. Researchers have noted an increased flood risk with decreased forestry practices for coniferous plantations in Japan on the basis of infiltration and overland flow measurements at a plot scale (typically several square meters). However, no studies have examined changes in peak flow with decreased forestry practices at a watershed scale (typically several tens or hundreds of square kilometers) even though flood disasters generally occur at this scale in Japan. We examined changes in frequency distributions of daily precipitation (P) and runoff (Q) during the period 1979-2007 at the Terauchi watershed, where forestry practices are known to have decreased. For this purpose, we divided P and Q data into 14 and 15 classes according to the magnitude, respectively, and examined changes in the frequency for each class during the period. We observed no significant increasing trend for any P or Q class. Even when taking into account the effect of interannual variations in precipitation on the frequency for each Q class, there was no significant increasing trend in the frequencies except for two Q classes with moderate Q values. These results suggest that the increase in flood risk due to decreased forestry practices might be less than expected.     

复合菌群产絮凝剂MAC37的特征及其在黏合剂废水中的应用

以利用复活促进因子(Rpf)从土壤和污水处理系统中分离得到的菌种作为筛选絮凝剂产生菌的菌源,采用高岭土悬浊液为活性评价体系,筛选出4株絮凝率高于50%的菌株.经两两菌株复配,构建出产高效絮凝剂的复合菌群M3+M7,该菌群经优化培养后,絮凝率达96.27%.将其产生的絮凝剂进行提纯固化得絮凝剂粗品MAC37,对其主要成分进行定性和定量分析,并将复合菌群的发酵液应用于黏合剂废水的处理.结果表明:MAC37的主要成分为多糖和蛋白质,含量分别为74.5%和20.4%;黏合剂废水经复合菌群发酵液絮凝处理后,浊度、色度及CODCr的去除率分别为92.57%、94.73%和92.12%.