Combining a finite mixture distribution model with indicator kriging to delineate and map the spatial patterns of soil heavy metal pollution in Chunghua County, central Taiwan

This study identifies the natural background, anthropogenic background and distribution of contamination caused by heavy metal pollutants in soil in Chunghua County of central Taiwan by using a finite mixture distribution model (FMDM). The probabilities of contaminated area distribution are mapped using single-variable indicator kriging and multiple-variable indicator kriging (MVIK) with the FMDM cut-off values and regulation thresholds for heavy metals. FMDM results indicate that Cr, Cu, Ni and Zn can be individually fitted by a mixture model representing the background and contamination distributions of the four metals in soil. The FMDM cut-off values for contamination caused by the metals are close to the regulation thresholds, except for the cut-off value of Zn. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve validates that indicator kriging and MVIK with FMDM cut-off values can reliably delineate heavy metals contamination, particularly for areas lacking background information and high heavy metal concentrations in soil.     

Determination of antibiotics in sewage from hospitals, nursery and slaughter house, wastewater treatment plant and source water in Chongqing region of Three Gorge Reservoir in China

Sewage samples from 4 hospitals, 1 nursery, 1 slaughter house, 1 wastewater treatment plant and 5 source water samples of Chongqing region of Three Gorge Reservoir were analyzed for macrolide, lincosamide, trimethoprim, fluorouinolone, sulfonamide and tetracycline antibiotics by online solid-phase extraction and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Results showed that the concentration of ofloxacin (OFX) in hospital was the highest among all water environments ranged from 1.660 μg/L to 4.240 μg/L and norfloxacin (NOR, 0.136-1.620 μg/L), ciproflaxacin (CIP, ranged from 0.011 μg/L to 0.136 μg/L), trimethoprim (TMP, 0.061-0.174 μg/L) were commonly detected. Removal range of antibiotics in the wastewater treatment plant was 18-100% and the removal ratio of tylosin, oxytetracycline and tetracycline were 100%. Relatively higher removal efficiencies were observed for tylosin (TYL), oxytetracycline (OXY) and tetracycline (TET)(100%), while lower removal efficiencies were observed for Trimethoprim (TMP, 1%), Epi-iso-chlorotetracycline (EICIC, 18%) and Erythromycin-H₂O (ERY-H₂O, 24%). Antibiotics were removed more efficiently in primary treatment compared with those in secondary treatment.     

Characteristics of springtime profiles and sources of ozone in the low troposphere over northern Taiwan

To quantify the possible sources of the high ambient ozone concentration in the low troposphere over Taiwan, ozone sounding data from a two-year intensive field measurement program conducted in April and early May of 2004 and 2005 in northern Taiwan has been examined. We found that the vertical ozone distributions and occurrence of enhanced ozone in the lower troposphere (below 6 km) mainly resulted from (1)Type NE: the long-range transport of ozone controlled by the prevailing northeasterly winds below 2 km, (2)Type LO: the local photochemical ozone production process, and (3)Type SW: the strong southwest/westerly winds aloft (2–6 km). In the boundary layer (BL), where Asian continental outflow prevails, the average profile for type NE is characterized by a peak ozone concentration of nearly 65 ppb at about 1500 m altitude. For type LO, high ozone concentration with an average ozone concentration greater than 80 ppb was also found in the BL in the case of stagnant atmospheric and sunny weather conditions dominated. For type SW, significant ozone enhancement with average ozone concentration of 70–85 ppb was found at around 4 km altitude. It is about 10 ppb greater than that of the types NE and LO at the same troposphere layer owing to the contribution of the biomass burning over Indochina. Due to Taiwan's unique geographic location, the complex interaction of these ozone features in the BL and aloft, especially features associated with northeasterly and south/southwesterly winds, have resulted in complex characteristics of ozone distributions in the lower troposphere over northern Taiwan.     

Chemical speciation,transport and contribution of biomass burning smoke to ambient aerosol in Guangzhou,a mega city of China

Intensive measurements of aerosol (PM₁₀) and associated water-soluble ionic and carbonaceous species were conducted in Guangzhou, a mega city of China, during summer 2006. Elevated levels of most chemical species were observed especially at nighttime during two episodes, characterized by dramatic build-up of the biomass burning tracers levoglucosan and non-sea-salt potassium, when the prevailing wind direction had changed due to two approaching tropical cyclones. High-resolution air mass back trajectories based on the MM5 model revealed that air masses with high concentrations of levoglucosan (43–473 ng m^?3) and non-sea-salt potassium (0.83–3.2 μg m^?3) had passed over rural regions of the Pearl River Delta and Guangdong Province, where agricultural activities and field burning of crop residues are common practices. The relative contributions of biomass burning smoke to organic carbon in PM₁₀ were estimated from levoglucosan data to be on average 7.0 and 14% at daytime and nighttime, respectively, with maxima of 9.7 and 32% during the episodic transport events, indicating that biomass and biofuel burning activities in the rural parts of the Pearl River Delta and neighboring regions could have a significant impact on ambient urban aerosol levels.     

聚合物驱采出水中聚丙烯酰胺的微生物联合降解作用研究

通过对2株细菌的培养降解实验研究聚丙烯酰胺(hydrolyzed polyacrylamide,HPAM)降解菌对水环境下聚丙烯酰胺的降解作用,讨论协同降解机理。2株降解聚丙烯酰胺的菌株假单胞菌CJ419、枯草芽孢杆菌FA16在初始30℃废水样品上培养,定期测量细菌生物量和HPAM降解率。培养30 d后CJ419和FA16对聚合物的降解率最大值分别达到30.4%和25%,而以1∶1比例的混合菌降解率最大值达到80.3%。对2株菌胞外各组分研究表明:混合菌降解HPAM的机理主要由胞外降解酶系水解聚合物侧链基团导致HPAM降解为小分子物质,同时生长过程中降解菌还会释放非蛋白还原性物质引发氧化反应共同参与HPAM降解。     

Size mass distribution of water-soluble ionic species and gas conversion to sulfate and nitrate in particulate matter in southern Taiwan

A Micro-Orifice Uniform Deposition Impactor (MOUDI) and a Nano-MOUDI were employed to determine the size-segregated mass distributions of ambient particulate matter (PM) and water-soluble ionic species for particulate constituents. In addition, gas precursors, including HCl, HONO, HNO₃, SO₂, and NH₃ gases, were analyzed by an annular denuder system. PM size mass distribution, mass concentration, and ionic species concentration were measured during the day and at night during episode and non-episode periods in winter and summer. Average total suspended particle (TSP) concentrations during episode days in winter were as high as 153?±?33 μg/m³, and PM mass concentrations in summer were as low as one-third of that in winter. Generally, PM concentration at night was higher than that in the daytime in southern Taiwan during the sampling periods. In winter during the episode periods, the size-segregated mass distribution of PM mass concentration was mostly in the 0.32–3.2-μm range, and the PM concentration increased significantly in the range of 0.32–3.2 μm at night. Ammonium, nitrate, and sulfate were the dominant water-soluble ionic species in PM, contributing 34–48 % of TSP mass. High concentrations of ammonia (12.9–49 μg/m³) and SO₂ (2.6–27 μg/m³) were observed in the gas precursors. The conversion ratio was high in the PM size range of 0.18–3.2 μm both during the day and at night in winter, and the conversion ratio of episode days was 20 % higher than that of non-episode days. The conversion factor was high for both nitrogen and sulfur species at nighttime, especially on episode days.     

Transmissometer Measurement of Participate Emissions from a Jet Engine Test Facility

The body of information presented in this paper is directed toward those individuals involved with handling hazardous materials, whether in actual use of such chemicals, or in monitoring atmospheric emissions. Although specifically relating experience in the design and testing of phosgene emission control equipment, it attempts to establish general guidelines for effectively dealing with emissions of hazardous materials. An approach for handling chemical pollutants having no established air quality emission standards is developed. The paper presents a technique for establishing process emissions at acceptably low levels to insure the health and safety of the general population as well as that of the process workers themselves. Methods, suitable for measuring phosgene at these low levels, have been investigated, and problems associated with such an investigation are discussed. While complete theoretical scrubber design criteria are beyond the scope of this paper, many of the "real world" problems which affected scrubber performance are presented. Finally, the practical aspects of process emissions control are illustrated by actual results from the system test.     

Testing and Commercialization of Byproduct Dibasic cids as Buffer Additives for Limestone Flue Gas esulfurization Systems

Pilot plant (0.1 MW) tests and utility boiler full scale demonstration (194 MW) of byproduct organic dibasic acids (DBA) as buffer additives to limestone scrubbers have shown performance improvements equivalent to those achieved by the addition of pure adipic acid. Both SO₂ removal efficiency and limestone utilization increased, and no significant operating problems were observed with three of the four DBA tested. Chemical and biological evaluations of scrubber samples taken during the DBA testing indicated no detectable tOxicity or mutagenicity, and no significant environmental impact is expected as a result of DBA addition. Economic estimates indicate that substitution of DBA for pure adipic acid as a buffer additive will result in additive cost savings of 30 % or greater.     

Trends and Relationships of O3, NOx and HC in the South Coast Air Basin of California

A basin-wide air quality trend analysis for the South Coast Air Basin of California is conducted for hydrocarbons (HC), NO_x, O₃ and CO using multi-station composite daily maximum-hour average ambient concentrations for the third quarter (July, August and September) from 1968 to 1985. Emissions and air quality trends are compared for the period 1968-1984. Ambient HC and NOX trends are somewhat different from estimated emission trends of HC and NO_x, while a definite, downward trend of ambient CO is consistent with vehicular emission control measures. Basin-wide ambient HC, NO_x and O₃ appear to show downward trends for the period 1970-1985, but because of high fluctuations it is difficult to delineate trends for shorter periods. The meteorology (850 mb temperature)-adjusted O₃ shows a more consistent downward trend than does unadjusted O₃. Polynomial and multiplicative regression models for basin-wide empirical O₃-HC-NO_x relationships Indicate that the O₃ variation is explained largely by the meteorological variable (850 mb temperature) although model estimations are improved by adding HC and NO_x concentration terms.