Microbial community composition and electricity generation in cattle manure slurry treatment using microbial fuel cells: effects of inoculum addition

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a sustainable technology to treat cattle manure slurry (CMS) for converting chemical energy to bioelectricity. In this...     

Determination of secondhand smoke leakage from the smoking room of an Internet café

Although Internet cafes have been designated as nonsmoking areas in Korea, smoke-free legislation has allowed the installation of indoor smoking rooms. The purposes of this study were to determine secondhand smoke (SHS) leakage from an Internet café smoking room and to identify factors associated with SHS leakage. PM_2.5 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 μm) mass concentrations were measured simultaneously both inside and outside the door to the smoking room. During each measurement, a field technician observed how long the smoking room door was opened and closed, the direction of door opening, and the number of smokers. A multivariate linear regression model was used to identify the causality of SHS leakage from the smoking room. A time series of PM_2.5 concentrations both inside and outside the door to the smoking room showed a similar trend. SHS leakage was significantly increased because of factors associated with the direction of the smoking room door being opened, the duration of how long the smoking room door was opened until it was closed, and the average PM_2.5 concentration inside the smoking room when the door was opened. SHS leakage from inside the smoking room to outside the smoking room was evident especially when the smoking room door was opened. Since the smoking room is not effective in preventing SHS exposure, the smoking room should be removed from the facilities to protect citizens from SHS exposure through revision of the current legislation, which permits installation of a smoking room.

Implications: This paper concerns secondhand smoke (SHS) leakage from indoor smoking room. Unlike previous studies, the authors statistically analyzed the causality of PM_2.5 concentration leakage from a smoking room using time-series analysis. Since the authors selected the most common smoking room, the outcomes could be generalized. The study demonstrated that SHS leakage from smoking room and SHS leakage were clearly associated with door opening. The finding demonstrated ineffectiveness of smoking room to protect citizens and supports removal of indoor smoking room.     

The evolution of pollution profile and health risk assessment for three groups SVOCs pollutants along with Beijiang River,China

Three important groups of semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), organic chlorinated pesticides (OCPs) and phthalate esters (PAEs), were produced by various human activities and entered the water body. In this study, the pollution profiles of three species including 16 PAHs, 20 OCPs and 15 PAEs in water along the Beijiang River, China were investigated. The concentrations of Σ₁₆PAHs in the dissolved and particulate phases were obtained as 69–1.5 × 10² ng L^?1 and 2.3 × 10³–8.6 × 10⁴ ng g^?1, respectively. The levels of Σ₂₀OCPs were 23–66 ng L^?1 (dissolved phase) and 19–1.7 × 10³ ng g^?1 (particulate phase). Nevertheless, higher levels of PAEs were found both in the dissolved and particulate phases due to abuse use of plastic products. Furthermore, non-cancer and cancer risks caused by these SVOCs through the ingestion absorption and dermal absorption were also assessed. There was no non-cancer risk existed through two kinds of exposure of them at current levels, whereas certain cancer risk existed through dermal absorption of PAHs in the particulate phase in some sampling sites. The results will show scientific insights into the evaluation of the status of combined pollution in river basins, and the determination of strategies for incident control and pollutant remediation.     

The structure of the fire fighting foam surfactant Forafac®1157 and its biological and photolytic transformation products

For several decades, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) has widely been used as a fluorinated surfactant in aqueous film forming foams used as hydrocarbon fuel fire extinguishers. Due to concerns regarding its environmental persistence and toxicological effects, PFOS has recently been replaced by novel fluorinated surfactants such as Forafac®1157, developed by the DuPont company. The major component of Forafac®1157 is a 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonamide alkylbetaine (6:2 FTAB), and a link between the trade name and the exact chemical structure is presented here to the scientific community for the first time. In the present work, the structure of the 6:2 FTAB was elucidated by ¹H, ¹³C and ¹⁹F nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and high-resolution mass spectrometry. Moreover, its major metabolites from blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) and turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) and its photolytic transformation products were identified. Contrary to what has earlier been observed for PFOS, the 6:2 FTAB was extensively metabolized by blue mussel and turbot exposed to Forafac®1157. The major metabolite was a deacetylated betaine species, from which mono- and di-demethylated metabolites also were formed. Another abundant metabolite was the 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonamide. In another experiment, Forafac®1157 was subjected to UV-light induced photolysis. The experimental conditions aimed to simulate Arctic conditions and the deacetylated species was again the primary transformation product of 6:2 FTAB. A 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonamide was also formed along with a non-identified transformation product. The environmental presence of most of the metabolites and transformation products was qualitatively demonstrated by analysis of soil samples taken in close proximity to an airport fire training facility.     

Evidence for the inhibitory effects of silver nanoparticles on the activities of soil exoenzymes

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are well known to have antimicrobial ability, but very little is known about the effect of AgNPs on soil exoenzyme activities, which reflect the potential of a soil to support biochemical processes. This study provides evidence of the inhibitory effects of AgNPs on the activities of soil exoenzymes. Six exoenzymes related to nutrient cycles (urease, acid phosphatase, arylsulfatase, β-glucosidase) and the overall microbial activity (dehydrogenase, fluorescein diacetate hydrolase) were tested in soils treated with AgNPs (1, 10, 100 and 1000 μg g(-1)) and silver ion (0.035, 0.175, 0.525, 1 and 1.5 μg g(-1)). AgNPs were capable of inhibiting the activities of all the exoenzymes tested in this study. Especially, the urease and dehydrogenase activities were significantly related to the presence of AgNPs. The effects of silver ions dissolved from the AgNPs were not significant, indicating the adverse effects caused by AgNPs themselves. This study suggested that AgNPs negatively affect soil exoenzyme activities, with the urease activity especially sensitive to AgNPs.     

改进型波形潜流人工湿地处理猪场废水

提出了一种改进型波形潜流人工湿地(improved wavy subsurface flow constructed wetland,IW-SFCW)并研究了该湿地系统在5个水力停留时间(hydraulic retention time,HRT)(2、3、4、6和8 d)下对猪场废水的处理效果。结果表明,该湿地系统对猪场废水中各污染物有较好的去除效果。在水力停留时间为4 d,进水COD、TN、NH4+-N和TP浓度分别为511、120、110和10 mg/L左右时,该湿地系统对COD、TN、NH4+-N和TP的去除率分别为86.0%、54.4%、70.1%和91.6%。此外,该湿地系统对废水中COD、TP的去除效率随水力停留时间的延长逐渐提高,在HRT=8 d时去除效果最好,去除率分别达到92.7%和96.8%;但对TN、NH4+-N的去除率却随水力停留时间的延长出现先上升后下降的趋势,在HRT=4 d时去除率最高,分别为54.4%和70.1%。     

溶剂热法合成SnWO_4及其可见光催化活性

采用溶剂热法合成了新型的可见光催化剂SnWO4,以甲基橙为目标污染物,考察了合成温度、合成时间和煅烧工艺对催化剂可见光催化活性的影响。实验结果表明:煅烧工艺会明显降低催化剂的光催化活性;在合成温度为180℃、合成时间为8h、未煅烧的条件下,合成的催化剂的光催化效果最好,光照90min后,对甲基橙的降解率可达99.93%。     

油田作业废水处理技术研究进展

文章讨论了作业废水的组成与特点,并对近年来钻井废水处理工艺,酸化废水处理工艺,压裂废水处理工艺进行了总结与评述。根据作业废水的处理现状,对未来作业废水的处理技术进行了展望。油田废水处理主要向以下三个方面发展:开发新型处理药剂;建立高效处理工艺流程;从污水源头开始控制。     

Organochlorine pesticides and PCBs in fish from lakes of the Tibetan Plateau and the implications

High mountains may play significant roles in the global transport of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). This work aims to investigate the levels, patterns and distribution of semi-volatile organoclorine pollutants and to improve the understanding of the long-range atmospheric transport and fate of contaminants on the Tibetan Plateau. A total of 60 fish samples were collected from eight lakes located between 2813 and 4718 m above sea level across the Plateau. Concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) including dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and its metabolites (DDTs), hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) and hexachlorobenzene (HCB) were measured in fish muscle. The results showed that concentrations of DDT, HCH and HCB were comparable to or lower than those found in remote mountains of Europe, Canada and US, while PCB concentrations in fish were, on average, about 4-150 times lower on Tibet than at other mountain areas. The transport and fate of contaminants in the Plateau are significantly influenced by the unique climatological and meteorological conditions, particularly by the summer Indian monsoon and winter westerly jet stream.     

高锰酸钾预氧化-缺氧/好氧生物铁法处理乙酰嘧啶废水工艺研究

采用高锰酸钾预氧化-缺氧/好氧生物铁法处理维生素B1厂乙酰嘧啶生产段实际废水,实验结果表明该组合工艺对嘧啶生产废水具有良好的处理效果:预氧化将嘧啶废水中大分子难降解乙酰嘧啶几乎全部转化为具有饱和碳氢键的小分子有机物,使乙酰嘧啶去除率达90%以上,且COD去除率在40%以上,BOD5/COD由0.17~0.23提高至0.35~0.44。通过与后续A/O生物铁工艺相结合,使COD、TN和氨氮总去除率分别达到93.3%、81.7%和78.6%,出水pH为6.6~7.5。