Medical waste management in China: A case study of Nanjing

Medical waste management is of great importance due to its infectious and hazardous nature that can cause undesirable effects on humans and the environment. The objective of this study was to analyze and evaluate the present status of medical waste management in the light of medical waste control regulations in Nanjing. A comprehensive inspection survey was conducted for 15 hospitals, 3 disposal companies and 200 patients. Field visits and a questionnaire survey method were implemented to collect information regarding different medical waste management aspects, including medical waste generation, segregation and collection, storage, training and education, transportation, disposal, and public awareness.The results indicated that the medical waste generation rate ranges from 0.5 to 0.8 kg/bed day with a weighted average of 0.68 kg/bed day. The segregated collection of various types of medical waste has been conducted in 73% of the hospitals, but 20% of the hospitals still use unqualified staff for medical waste collection, and 93.3% of the hospitals have temporary storage areas. Additionally, 93.3% of the hospitals have provided training for staff; however, only 20% of the hospitals have ongoing training and education. It was found that the centralized disposal system has been constructed based on incineration technology, and the disposal cost of medical waste is about 580 US$/ton. The results also suggested that there is not sufficient public understanding of medical waste management, and 77% of respondents think medical waste management is an important factor in selecting hospital services.The problematic areas of medical waste management in Nanjing are addressed by proposing some recommendations that will ensure that potential health and environmental risks of medical waste are minimized.     

Enhanced anaerobic treatment of CSTR-digested effluent from chicken manure: The effect of ammonia inhibition

The effect of ammonia inhibition was evaluated during the enhanced anaerobic treatment of digested effluent from a 700 m³ chicken-manure continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR). A 12.3 L internal circulation (IC) reactor inoculated with an anaerobic granular sludge and operated at 35 ± 1 °C was employed for the investigation. With a corresponding organic loading rate of 1.5-3.5 kg-COD/m³ d over a hydraulic retention time of 1.5 d, a maximum volumetric biogas production rate of 1.2 m³/m³ d and TCOD (total COD) removal efficiency ranging from 70% to 80% was achieved. However, the continual increase in the influent TAN content led to ammonia inhibition in the methanogenesis system. The SCOD/TAN (soluble COD/total ammonia nitrogen) ratio was presented to be the key controlling factor for the anaerobic treatment of semi-digested chicken manure, and further validation through shock loading and ammonia inhibition experiments was conducted. The threshold value of the SCOD/TAN ratio was determined to be 2.4 (corresponding to a TAN of 1250 mg/L) at an influent pH of 8.5-9.     

CFD simulation of MSW combustion and SNCR in a commercial incinerator

A CFD scheme was presented for modeling municipal solid waste (MSW) combustion in a moving-grate incinerator, including the in-bed burning of solid wastes, the out-of-bed burnout of gaseous volatiles, and the selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) process between urea (CO(NH₂)₂) and NO_x. The in-bed calculations provided 2-D profiles of the gas–solid temperatures and the gas species concentrations along the bed length, which were then used as inlet conditions for the out-of-bed computations. The over-bed simulations provided the profiles of incident radiation heat flux on the top of bed. A 3-dimensional benchmark simulation was conducted with a 750 t/day commercial incinerator using the present coupling scheme incorporating with a reduced SNCR reduction mechanism. Numerical tests were performed to investigate the effects of operating parameters such as injection position, injection speed and the normalized stoichiometric ratio (NSR) on the SNCR performance. The simulation results showed that the distributions of gas velocity, temperature and NO_x concentration were highly non-uniform, which made the injection position one of the most sensitive operating parameters influencing the SNCR performance of moving grate incinerators. The simulation results also showed that multi-layer injections were needed to meet the EU2000 standard, and a NSR 1.5 was suggested as a compromise of a satisfactory NO_x reduction and reasonable NH₃ slip rates. This work provided useful guides to the design and operation of SNCR process in moving-grate incinerators.     

流化床富氧焚烧含油污泥技术经济性分析

介绍了流化床富氧焚烧含油污泥技术的流程和优势,计算了富氧焚烧含油污泥系统主要设备的电耗和技术经济指标。流化床富氧焚烧含油污泥技术可实现烟气及其他污染物零排放,产生的蒸汽可直接供应油田生产和生活使用,产生的液态CO2可直接用于油井驱油,烟气中的SO2和NOx可转化为硫酸和硝酸。采用日处理200 t含油污泥的流化床锅炉年处理含油污泥量约73 kt,每年减少排污费7 300万元;锅炉年产蒸汽量约177 kt,每年节约蒸汽费用1 380.6万元,合计每年节约成本8 680.6万元。回收得到质量分数为40%的稀硫酸5.56 t/d,质量分数为37%的硝酸0.708 t/d,年回收CO2约99 kt。     

羟胺强化Fenton反应降解水中氯酚

针对传统Fenton体系Fe（Ⅲ）累积和pH适用范围过窄等缺点,采用羟胺（HA）强化的HA-Fenton体系,以对氯苯酚（4-CP）为目标污染物进行降解实验,考察了Fe（Ⅱ）投加量、H2O2投加量、HA投加量和溶液pH等工艺条件对4-CP去除率的影响。实验结果表明：HA-Fenton体系适用于酸性和弱酸性条件,最佳pH范围为3.0~4.0;在溶液pH为3.0、Fe（Ⅱ）投加量为5.0 μmol/L、H2O2投加量为0.4 mmol/L、HA投加量为0.20 mmol/L的最适条件下,反应10 min, 4-CP去除率达64.25 %。     

超声强化高级氧化技术降解水中有机污染物的研究进展

介绍了用于降解水中有机污染物的超声强化技术,分析了超声与臭氧氧化、Fenton试剂氧化和光催化氧化等高级氧化技术联用的机理,综述了这些联用技术在降解有机污染物方面的研究进展,并展望了超声强化高级氧化技术的发展前景。     

表面活性剂异位淋洗法修复石油污染土壤

综述了表面活性剂在石油污染土壤修复中的应用情况,介绍了表面活性剂的卷缩和增溶作用机理,分析了在异位淋洗修复中的表面活性剂浓度、复配等影响因素,并对表面活性剂在石油污染土壤修复领域的研究和应用前景进行了展望。     

Sb release characteristics of the solid waste produced in antimony mining smelting process

Sb release characteristics of blast furnace slag, mining waste rock and tailing sand were investigated in static immersion and dynamic leaching test. These three kinds of waste samples were collected from the antimony mine in Lengshuijiang, China, produced in mining smelting process. Effects of solid/liquid ratio, sample size and pH of leaching solution on Sb release characteristics were inspected based on the analysis of scanning electron microscope, pH and EC of leachate. The optimal parameters for Sb leaching of each sample were analyzed. For blast furnace slag and mining waste rock, Sb release contents increased along with the decline of solid/liquid ratio. The maximum accumulative release contents were 42.13, 34.26 mg/kg at the solid/liquid ratio of 1:20. While Sb release content for tailing sand decreased first and then increased with the reduction of solid/liquid ratio. When the solid/liquid ratio was 1:5, the accumulative Sb release content reached the most (24.30 mg/kg). Sb release content of mining waste rock increased with the drop of leaching solution pH, with the highest accumulative release content of 26.01 mg/kg at pH 2.0. Sb release contents of blast furnace slag and tailing sand showed positive correlation with the variation of leaching solution pH. The maximum accumulative release contents of these two samples were 215.91 and 147.83 mg/kg, respectively, when leaching solution pH was 7.0. In summary, Sb release capacity of the three samples in descending order was tailing sand, blast furnace slag and mining waste rock. pH and EC of the leachate in dynamic test varied independently with the initial pH of leaching solution while showing close relationship with mineral hydrolysis in the waste.     

清洁过程环境影响评估模块的开发

在过程开发早期阶段考虑环境问题是实现污染预防的有效手段。将环境影响评估功能集成于过程模拟软件是一项重要的工作。以通用模拟软件ECSS—ChStar为平台,开发出环境影响评估模块。该模块可以对物质流、过程单元和总流程提供环境模拟分析,并计算过程方案的环境影响指数。