Effect of F,Cl, Br and I substitution on the BphB enzyme for the degradation of halogenated biphenyls,revealed by quantum and molecular mechanics

Halogenated biphenyls are worldwide persistent pollutants of great environmental concern. In particular, polychlorinated biphenyls and polybrominated biphenyls have been globally used for industrial purposes until they were found highly toxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic to humans. Therefore, ecological strategies to remove halogenated biphenyls, such as enzyme-catalyzed degradation, are needed. Here, we studied the effect of substitution of F, Cl, Br or I at the 4,4′-positions of 2,3-dihydro-2,3-dihydroxybiphenyl-2,3-dehydrogenase (BphB) on the degradation of halogenated biphenyls by quantum and molecular mechanics. Results show that Boltzmann-weighted average degradation barriers of substituted BphB are all lower than the unsubstituted biphenyl, except for chlorinated biphenyl. The roles of residues nearby the active site, e.g., isoleucine89, asparagine115, serine142, asparagine143, proline184, methionine187 and threonine189, were also investigated.

     

Recovery of Ni(II) from real electroplating wastewater using fixed-bed resin adsorption and subsequent electrodeposition

Resin adsorption and subsequent electrodeposition were used for nickel recovery. Treated wastewater can meet the Electroplating Pollutant Discharge Standard. The spent resin is completely regenerated by 3 BV of 4% HCl solution. 95.6% of nickel in concentrated eluent was recovered by electrodeposition. Effective recovery of high-value heavy metals from electroplating wastewater is of great significance, but recovering nickel ions from real electroplating wastewater as nickel sheet has not been reported. In this study, the pilot-scale fixed-bed resin adsorption was conducted to recover Ni(II) ions from real nickel plating wastewater, and then the concentrated Ni(II) ions in the regenerated solution were reduced to nickel sheet via electrodeposition. A commercial cation-exchange resin was selected and the optimal resin adsorption and regeneration conditions were investigated. The resin exhibited an adsorption capacity of 63 mg/g for Ni(II) ions, and the average amount of treated water was 84.6 bed volumes (BV) in the pilot-scale experiments. After the adsorption by two ion-exchange resin columns in series and one chelating resin column, the concentrations of Ni(II) in the treated wastewater were below 0.1 mg/L. After the regeneration of the spent resin using 3 BV of 4% (w/w) HCl solution, 1.5 BV of concentrated neutral nickel solution (>30 g/L) was obtained and used in the subsequent electrodeposition process. Using the aeration method, alkali and water required in resin activation process were greatly reduced to 2 BV and 3 BV, respectively. Under the optimal electrodeposition conditions, 95.6% of Ni(II) in desorption eluent could be recovered as the elemental nickel on the cathode. The total treatment cost for the resin adsorption and regeneration as well as the electrodeposition was calculated.     

Boosting freshwater fish conservation with high-resolution distribution mapping across a large territory

The lack of high-resolution distribution maps for freshwater species across large extents fundamentally challenges biodiversity conservation worldwide. We devised a simple framework to delineate the distributions of freshwater fishes in a high-resolution drainage map based on stacked species distribution models and expert information. We applied this framework to the entire Chinese freshwater fish fauna (>1600 species) to examine high-resolution biodiversity patterns and reveal potential conflicts between freshwater biodiversity and anthropogenic disturbances. The correlations between spatial patterns of biodiversity facets (species richness, endemicity, and phylogenetic diversity) were all significant (r = 0.43–0.98, p < 0.001). Areas with high values of different biodiversity facets overlapped with anthropogenic disturbances. Existing protected areas (PAs), covering 22% of China's territory, protected 25–29% of fish habitats, 16–23% of species, and 30–31% of priority conservation areas. Moreover, 6–21% of the species were completely unprotected. These results suggest the need for extending the network of PAs to ensure the conservation of China's freshwater fishes and the goods and services they provide. Specifically, middle to low reaches of large rivers and their associated lakes from northeast to southwest China hosted the most diverse species assemblages and thus should be the target of future expansions of the network of PAs. More generally, our framework, which can be used to draw high-resolution freshwater biodiversity maps combining species occurrence data and expert knowledge on species distribution, provides an efficient way to design PAs regardless of the ecosystem, taxonomic group, or region considered.     

公路隧道火灾发生位置与人群疏散通道仿真研究

利用EXODUS建立隧道的仿真场景,确定疏散人群仿真参数,并将出口工效OPS作为评价疏散效率的指标,分析不同火灾发生位置对疏散时间的影响。采用K-means算法分别对火灾发生位置和人群疏散通道位置进行聚类,并建立基于两者影响下的出口工效模型,通过对该模型求偏导,得出隧道火灾发生位置和人群疏散通道选择之间的关系。研究结果表明:火灾发生位置越接近人行横通道,疏散时间波动越大,人行横通道和隧道入口的疏散时间随人群疏散区域分界线变化,当火灾发生距人行横通道20~110 m时,变化明显,当距140~350 m时,变化平稳;出口工效OPS总体呈现不稳定的阶梯状变化趋势;火灾发生位置和人群疏散通道的最优位置呈线性递减关系。研究结果可应用于隧道应急指挥中心管理人员制定有效疏散路径和采取诱导分流人群措施。     

空间阻塞对室内燃气泄漏爆炸影响研究

以餐饮企业的熟食操作间为例建立物理模型,通过CFD方法模拟不同空间阻塞度下天然气泄漏爆炸情形。研究结果表明:阻塞率在99.95%~100%时,燃气浓度呈现反抛物线式上升。空间阻塞率在99.982%时（开敞面积1 m2）,泄漏1 200 s,熟食操作间燃气浓度值可达6%;空间阻塞率在99.955%（开敞面积2.5 m2）~100%时,燃气爆炸后熟食操作间内产生的超压最大值均大于30 kPa;当空间阻塞率在99.991%（开敞面积0.5 m2）~100%时,设定工况下爆炸超压随空间阻塞率呈指数式增加。研究认为,空间阻塞率在99.95%以上,燃气泄漏极易形成可燃蒸汽云,发生爆炸产生冲击波超压能够毁坏建筑物,在生产和生活中,对于有燃气使用的空间,应尽可能降低空间阻塞率,以避免可能的燃气泄漏形成危险域和爆炸形成过高冲击波超压。     

金属负载活性炭催化氧化法处理ZPT生产废水

研究了金属负载活性炭催化剂在常温常压下催化氧化处理吡啶硫酮锌(ZPT)废水的技术，在探讨影响催化氧化效果诸因素的基础上，确定出中和预处理、后接两级催化氧化处理该废水的工艺流程，该流程的COD的去除率最高可达92％，处理出水达到国家污水综合排放标准二级指标。     

温度对填埋垃圾渗滤液特征的影响

温度对填埋场有机垃圾的厌氧降解具有十分重要的影响,因而对填埋场渗滤液特征也产生重要的影响。文章通过在常温及29~45℃范围内设置的6个不同温度下的模拟垃圾柱降解对照试验,分析研究了温度对填埋有机垃圾渗滤液特征的影响。结果表明,在垃圾降解适宜的温度范围(29~45℃)内,较高的温度对渗滤液COD衰减具有较大的促进作用,而保持恒定的温度比升高温度对渗滤液COD衰减的影响更加显著,但温度对垃圾降解渗滤液中氨氮影响并不明显。     

黑河流域土地退化分类研究

黑河流域位于我国的西北内陆干旱区。人类不合理利用水资源造成的土地退化，已成为黑河流域一个非常严重的生态问题。土地荒漠化是该流域最典型和最严重的土地退化形式。对该流域土地退化的空间分布、特点、退化面积等方面还没有较为详细的研究，因此探讨这个问题就显得非常重要。文章通过最新的遥感影像资料(2000年)，在分析已有的研究成果的基础上，结合野外调查，利用遥感和地理信息系统(GIS)技术，初步分析了黑河流域土地退化的情况。研究结果表明，黑河流域土地退化主要有5种类型，即：水土流失、干旱化、植被退化、盐渍化和沙漠化。土地退化面积达29971．91km^2，占整个流域面积的23．06％；其中，水土流失主要分布在祁连山的南部山区，面积为5747．68km^2，占整个流域土地退化面积的19．18％，主要是由于过度开垦和放牧造成的；由于人类活动的影响，造成水资源在时空上的重新分配而导致的干旱化土地主要分布在山前部分冲、洪积平原的河流沿岸附近，其面积为1369.96km^2，占整个流域土地退化面积的4．57％；盐渍化土地是该流域土地退化的主要类型之一，面积为10591．82km^2，占整个流域土地退化面积的35．34％，分布在流域的低地、冲积扇的边缘等位置，主要是由于干旱的气候条件造成的；沙化土地，包括流动沙丘(地)，是研究区土地退化面积最大的类型，为10771．97km^2，占整个流域土地退化面积的35.94％，这其中也包括历史时期形成的沙漠和现代形成的大部分沙地；植被退化土地面积为1490．48km^2，只占整个流域土地退化面积的4．97％。通过分析可知，黑河流域土地退化严重，特别是在下游地区。人类不合理的经济活动，尤其是对该流域内有限水资源的不合理利用，是导致该地区土地生态系统脆弱的主要因素。