Assessment on the effectiveness of environmental regulation in China—evidence from a panel data analysis

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In the context of global warming and environmental deterioration, the environment impact assessment is a crucial institutional guaranty to assure less...     

A comparative study of vocational education and occupational safety and health training in China and the UK

In order to enhance Chinese workers’ occupational safety awareness, it is essential to learn from developed countries’ experiences. This article investigates thoroughly occupational safety and health (OSH) in China and the UK; moreover, the article performs a comparison of Chinese and British OSH training-related laws, regulations and education system. The following conclusions are drawn: China’s work safety continues to improve, but there is still a large gap compared with the UK. In China a relatively complete vocational education and training (VET) system has been established. However, there exist some defects in OSH. In the UK, the employer will not only pay attention to employees’ physiological health, but also to their mental health. The UK’s VET is characterized by classification and grading management, which helps integrate OSH into the whole education system. China can learn from the UK in the development of policies, VET and OSH training.     

Nutrients Availability Shapes Fungal Community Composition and Diversity in the Rare Earth Mine Tailings of Southern Jiangxi,China

Russian Journal of Ecology - The present study characterized the nutrients availability of three rare earth tailings deserted in different time stages in Southern Jiangxi of China, and revealed the...     

人工湿地系统微生物去除污染物的研究进展

人工湿地污水处理系统具有净化效果显著、建设和运行费用低廉、管理简便等优点,近年来越来越受到人们的重视。人工湿地是利用介质、植物和微生物构成的复合系统来处理污水。微生物在人工湿地系统净化污水过程中发挥着重要作用。介绍了人工湿地系统中微生物去除污染物的研究进展,重点讨论了人工湿地对污染物和特殊有机污染物的去除以及系统基质中微生物的种群和活性等内容,并结合我国研究现状展望了该领域的研究前景。人工湿地系统微生物对污染物去除将成为人工湿地生态系统服务功能评价、人工湿地生态系统健康与稳定的诊断的重要组成部分。     

共代谢条件下丁基黄药的生物降解实验研究

微生物共代谢是降解废水中难降解有机物的重要方式。通过实验研究,比较了以丁基黄药作为唯一碳源和能源以及有共代谢基质存在下丁基黄药的降解过程。结果表明,共代谢显著提高了丁基黄药的降解率。在25℃条件下,以丁基黄药为唯一碳源和能源时,其降解率仅为43.1%;而利用葡萄糖作为共代谢基质,当葡萄糖质量浓度为0.20g/L时,振荡培养72h后丁基黄药的降解率可达65.2%;再加入微量的蛋白胨作为氮源后,丁基黄药的降解率可提高到73.5%;加入共代谢基质后微生物的适应期由原来的36h缩短至24h。共代谢是提高丁基黄药生物降解性能的一条有效途径。     

Life cycle modelling of fossil fuel power generation with post-combustion CO2 capture

Due to its compatibility with the current energy infrastructures and the potential to reduce CO₂ emissions significantly, CO₂ capture and geological storage is recognised as one of the main options in the portfolio of greenhouse gas mitigation technologies being developed worldwide. The CO₂ capture technologies offer a number of alternatives, which involve different energy consumption rates and subsequent environmental impacts. While the main objective of this technology is to minimise the atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions, it is also important to ensure that CO₂ capture and storage does not aggravate other environmental concerns. This requires a holistic and system-wide environmental assessment rather than focusing on the greenhouse gases only. Life Cycle Assessment meets this criteria as it not only tracks energy and non-energy-related greenhouse gas releases but also tracks various other environmental releases, such as solid wastes, toxic substances and common air pollutants, as well as the consumption of other resources, such as water, minerals and land use. This paper presents the principles of the CO₂ capture and storage LCA model developed at Imperial College and uses the pulverised coal post-combustion capture example to demonstrate the methodology in detail. At first, the LCA models developed for the coal combustion system and the chemical absorption CO₂ capture system are presented together with examples of relevant model applications. Next, the two models are applied to a plant with post-combustion CO₂ capture, in order to compare the life cycle environmental performance of systems with and without CO₂ capture. The LCA results for the alternative post-combustion CO₂ capture methods (including MEA, K⁺/PZ, and KS-1) have shown that, compared to plants without capture, the alternative CO₂ capture methods can achieve approximately 80% reduction in global warming potential without a significant increase in other life cycle impact categories. The results have also shown that, of all the solvent options modelled, KS-1 performed the best in most impact categories.     

Concentrations,atmospheric partitioning,and air–water/soil surface exchange of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin and dibenzofuran along the upper reaches of the Haihe River basin,North China

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin and dibenzofuran (PCDD/PCDF) were overall measured and compared in ambient air, water, soils, and sediments along the upper reaches of the Haihe River of North China, so as to evaluate their concentrations, profiles, and to understand the processes of gas–particle partitioning and air–water/soil exchange. The following results were obtained: (1) The average concentrations (toxic equivalents, TEQs) of 2,3,7,8-PCDD/PCDF in air, water, sediment, and soil samples were 4,855 fg/m³, 9.5 pg/L, 99.2 pg/g dry weight (dw), and 56.4 pg/g (203 fg TEQ/m³, 0.46 pg TEQ/L, 2.2 pg TEQ/g dw, and 1.3 pg TEQ/g, respectively), respectively. (2) Although OCDF, 1,2,3,4,6,7,8-HpCDF, OCDD, and 1,2,3,4,6,7,8-HpCDD were the dominant congeners among four environmental sinks, obvious discrepancies of these congener and homologue patterns of PCDD/PCDF were observed still. (3) Significant linear correlations for PCDD/PCDF were observed between the gas–particle partition coefficient (K _p) and the subcooled liquid vapor pressure (P _L ⁰) and octanol–air partition coefficient (K _oa). (4) Fugacity fraction values of air–water exchange indicated that most of PCDD/PCDF homologues were dominated by net volatilization from water into air. The low-chlorinated PCDD/PCDF (tetra- to hexa-) presented a strong net volatilization from the soil into air, while high-chlorinated PCDD/PCDF (hepta- to octa-) were mainly close to equilibrium for air–soil exchange.     

改性膨润土联合混凝剂处理微污染水中有机物

采用十二烷基多糖苷季铵盐作为改性剂制备改性膨润土,研究了改性膨润土联合混凝剂去除有机物的效果,考察了有机改性剂用量、微波辐射功率、辐射时间、膨润土投加量、pH值对有机物去除效果的影响,探讨了改性膨润土的改性和去除机理。结果表明,经微波改性后,实现了十二烷基多糖苷季铵盐阳离子对膨润土的插层,增大了层间距,提高了膨润土的吸附性能。联合混凝剂投加改性膨润土能够改善絮凝性能,显著提高有机物的去除效果。在最佳条件下,改性膨润土与PAC联合后的强化混凝,对初始浓度15.3 mg/L的微污染水中有机物的去除率达到95%以上,吸附符合Freundlich吸附等温方程。     

Concentration and health risk evaluation of heavy metals in market-sold vegetables and fishes based on questionnaires in Beijing,China

Concentrations of heavy metals (As, Cd, Pb, Cu, Ni, Fe, Mn, and Zn) in market vegetables and fishes in Beijing, China, are investigated, and their health risk to local consumers is evaluated by calculating the target hazard quotient (THQ). The heavy metal concentrations in vegetables and fishes ranged from not detectable (ND) to 0.21 mg/kg fresh weight (f.w.) (As), ND to 0.10 mg/kg f.w. (Cd), and n.d to 0.57 mg/kg f.w. (Pb), with average concentrations of 0.17, 0.04, and 0.24 mg/kg f.w., respectively. The measured concentrations of As, Cd, Pb, Cu, Ni, Fe, Mn, and Zn are generally lower than the safety limits given by the Chinese regulation safety and quality standards of agriculture products (GB2762-2012). As, Cd, and Pb contaminations are found in vegetables and fishes. The exceeding standard rates are 19 % for As, 3 % for Cd, and 25 % for Pb. Pb contaminations are found quite focused on the fish samples from traditional agri-product markets. The paper further analyzed the health risk of heavy metals in vegetables and fishes respectively from supermarkets and traditional agri-product markets; the results showed that the fishes of traditional agri-product markets have higher health risk, while the supermarkets have vegetables of higher heavy metal risk, and the supervision should be strengthened in the fish supply channels in traditional agri-product markets.     

Effect of temperature and particle size on the thermal desorption of PCBs from contaminated soil

Thermal desorption is widely used for remediation of soil contaminated with volatiles, such as solvents and distillates. In this study, a soil contaminated with semivolatile polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) was sampled at an interim storage point for waste PCB transformers and heated to temperatures from 300 to 600 °C in a flow of nitrogen to investigate the effect of temperature and particle size on thermal desorption. Two size fractions were tested: coarse soil of 420–841 μm and fine soil with particles <250 μm. A PCB removal efficiency of 98.0 % was attained after 1 h of thermal treatment at 600 °C. The residual amount of PCBs in this soil decreased with rising thermal treatment temperature while the amount transferred to the gas phase increased up to 550 °C; at 600 °C, destruction of PCBs became more obvious. At low temperature, the thermally treated soil still had a similar PCB homologue distribution as raw soil, indicating thermal desorption as a main mechanism in removal. Dechlorination and decomposition increasingly occurred at high temperature, since shifts in average chlorination level were observed, from 3.34 in the raw soil to 2.75 in soil treated at 600 °C. Fine soil particles showed higher removal efficiency and destruction efficiency than coarse particles, suggesting that desorption from coarse particles is influenced by mass transfer.