Foamed lightweight materials made from mixed scrap metal waste powder and sewage sludge ash.

The porous properties and pozzolanic effects of sewage sludge ash (SSA) make it possible to produce lightweight materials. This study explored the effects of different metallic foaming agents, made from waste aluminium products, on the foaming behaviours and engineering characteristics, as well as the microstructure of sewage sludge ash foamed lightweight materials. The results indicated that aluminium powder and mixed scrap metal waste powder possessed similar chemical compositions. After proper pre-treatment, waste aluminium products proved to be ideal substitutes for metallic foaming agents. Increasing the amount of mixed scrap metal waste by 10-15% compared with aluminium powder would produce a similar foaming ratio and compressive strength. The reaction of the metallic foaming agents mainly produced pores larger than 10 microm, different from the hydration reaction of cement that produced pores smaller than 1 microm mostly. To meet the requirements of the lightweight materials characteristics and the compressive strength, the amount of SSA could be up to 60-80% of the total solids. An adequate amount of aluminium powder is 0.5-0.9% of the total solids. Increasing the fineness of the mixed scrap metal waste powder could effectively reduce the amount required and improve the foaming ratio.     

Photocatalytic degradation of phenol on different phases of TiO(2) particles in aqueous suspensions under UV irradiation

Photocatalytic degradation of phenol on different phases of TiO₂ particles was examined under 400-W UV irradiation. The effects of various operating parameters including TiO₂ dosage, solution pH (4–10), and initial phenol concentration (0.13–1.05 mM) on phenol degradation were investigated. Three forms of TiO₂ photocatalysts such as pure anatase phase, pure rutile phase, and the mixed phase were prepared by sol-gel method and followed annealing at different temperatures. The annealing temperature used were 500 °C, 700 °C and 900 °C for pure anatase phase, the mixed phase, and pure rutile phase, respectively. It was shown that pure anatase TiO₂ exhibited higher photocatalytic activity than the physical mixture of pure anatase and rutile TiO₂. Moreover, the TiO₂ particle with a specific fraction of mixed anatase and rutile phases exhibited better performance than pure anatase TiO₂. Finally, the degradation rate could be satisfactorily fitted by a pseudo-first-order kinetic model.     

Assessment of Control Strategies for Reducing Volatile Organic Compound Emissions from the Polyvinyl Chloride Wallpaper Production Industry in Taiwan

Abstract

This study attempts to assess the effectiveness of control strategies for reducing volatile organic compound (VOC) emission from the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) wallpaper production industry. In Taiwan, methyl ethyl ketone, TOL, and cyclohexanone have comprised the major content of solvents, accounting for ～113,000 t/yr to avoid excessive viscosity of plasticizer dioctyl phthalate (DOP) and to increase facility in working. Emissions of these VOCs from solvents have caused serious odor and worse air quality problems. In this study, 80 stacks in five factories were tested to evaluate emission characteristics at each VOC source. After examining the VOC concentrations in the flue gases and contents, the VOC emission rate before treatment and from fugitive sources was 93,000 and 800 t/yr, respectively. In this study, the semiwet electrostatic precipitator is recommended for use as cost-effective control equipment.     

Evaluating impact level of different factors in environmental impact assessment for incinerator plants using GM (1, N) model

In this study, the impact levels in environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports of 10 incinerator plants were quantified and discussed. The relationship between the quantified impact levels and the plant scale factors of BeiTou, LiZe, BaLi, LuTsao, RenWu, PingTung, SiJhou and HsinChu were constructed, and the impact levels of the GangShan (GS) and YongKong (YK) plants were predicted using grey model GM (1, N). Finally, the effects of plant scale factors on impact levels were evaluated using grey model GM (1, N) too. According to the predicted results of GM, the relative errors of topography/geology/soil, air quality, hydrology/water quality, solid waste, noise, terrestrial fauna/flora, aquatic fauna/flora and traffic in the GS plant were 17%, 14%, 15%, 17%, 75%, 16%, 13%, and 37%, respectively. The relative errors of the same environmental items in the YK plant were 1%, 18%, 10%, 40%, 37%, 3%, 25% and 33%, respectively. According to GM (1, N), design capacity (DC) and heat value (HV) were the plant scale factors that affected the impact levels significantly in each environmental item, and thus were the most significant plant scale factors. GM (1, N) was effective in predicting the environmental impact and analyzing the reasonableness of the impact. If there is an EIA for a new incinerator plant to be reviewed in the future, the official committee of the Taiwan EPA could review the reasonableness of impact levels in EIA reports quickly.     

Predictions of evaporative loss rates of solutes in stagnant and turbulent waters in relation to rates of reference materials

A previously published kinetic model for evaporative rates of substances into air leads to the estimation of the dependence of solute transfer coefficients on turbulence to the system. The ratios of the transfer coefficients of all solutes become insensitive to air turbulence and to water mixing either when they have comparable Henry's law constants or when their Henry's law constants are sufficiently low, but not otherwise. Confirming data are presented and methods for simplifying the estimation of transfer coefficients are discussed.     

Mineralization of Reactive Black 5 in aqueous solution by basic oxygen furnace slag in the presence of hydrogen peroxide

Basic oxygen furnace slag (BOF slag) is a solid waste arisen from the steel making process. FeO is one of the major components of BOF slag. The FeO-containing property of BOF slag makes it possible to catalyze the Fenton reaction. Reactive Black 5 (RB5) dye is chosen as the target compound in this study. This study has investigated the catalytic performance of BOF slag on the Fenton reaction to decompose RB5 in aqueous solution. A first-order kinetic model with respect to TOC was adopted to explain the mineralization of RB5 by the H(2)O(2)/BOF slag process. The experimental results in this study suggested that dosage with 1.49 x 10(-4)M min(-1) H(2)O(2) and 12.5 g l(-1) BOF slag in the solution at pH 2 provided the optimal operation conditions for the mineralization of RB5 yielding a 51.2% treatment efficiency at 100 min reaction time, and complete decoloration can be achieved within 30 min reaction time. The H(2)O(2)/Fe(2+) ratio was then determined to be 6.06:1.     

Competitive adsorption of dye metanil yellow and RB15 in acid solutions on chemically cross-linked chitosan beads

One kind of adsorbent with a high adsorption capacity for anionic dyes was prepared using ionically and chemically cross-linked chitosan beads. A batch system was applied to study the adsorption behavior of one acid dye (MY, metanil yellow) and one reactive dye (RB15, reactive blue 15) in aqueous solutions by the cross-linked chitosan beads. The adsorption capacities was 3.56 mmol g(-1) (1334 mg g(-1)) for dye MY and 0.56 mmol g(-1) (722 mg g(-1)) for dye RB15 at pH4, 30 degrees C. The Langmuir model agreed very well with the experimental data (R(2)>0.996). The kinetics of adsorption for a single dye and the kinetics of removal of ADMI color value in mixture solutions at different initial dye concentrations were evaluated by the nonlinear first-order and second-order models. The first-order kinetic model fits well with the dynamical adsorption behavior of a single dye for lower initial dye concentrations, while the second-order kinetic model fits well for higher initial dye concentrations. The competitive adsorption favored the dye RB15 in the mixture solution (initial conc. (mM): MY=1.34; RB15=1.36); while it favored the dye MY in the mixture solution (initial conc. (mM): MY=3.00; RB15=1.34) and the adsorption kinetics for dye RB15 has the tendency to shift to a slower first order model.     

The Ythan Project: A Case Study on Improving Catchment Management through Community Involvement

Increased participation in resource management decisions by a wide range of stakeholders has been widely advocated, and has recently been formally incorporated into the European Water Framework Directive. However, achieving such participation has generally proved to be problematical. In response to locally perceived needs, a project was set up in the Ythan catchment in northeast Scotland, to undertake catchment management actions with increased public involvement. This paper outlines the methods used to increase public participation in such actions, and some preliminary assessments of the effectiveness of these. The experience of the project and the lessons learnt, including some of the difficulties of ensuring fully representative stakeholder involvement, are discussed in relation to published criteria for public participation in resource management.