Influence of pore structure on biologically activated carbon performance and biofilm microbial characteristics

• Pore structure affects biologically activated carbon performance. • Pore structure determines organic matter (OM) removal mechanism. • Microbial community structure is related to pore structure and OM removal. Optimizing the characteristics of granular activated carbon (GAC) can improve the performance of biologically activated carbon (BAC) filters, and iodine value has always been the principal index for GAC selection. However, in this study, among three types of GAC treating the same humic acid-contaminated water, one had an iodine value 35% lower than the other two, but the dissolved organic carbon removal efficiency of its BAC was less than 5% away from the others. Iodine value was found to influence the removal of different organic fractions instead of the total removal efficiency. Based on the removal and biological characteristics, two possible mechanisms of organic matter removal during steady-state were suggested. For GAC with poor micropore volume and iodine value, high molecular weight substances (3500–9000 Da) were removed mainly through degradation by microorganisms, and the biodegraded organics (soluble microbial by-products,<3500 Da) were released because of the low adsorption capacity of activated carbon. For GAC with higher micropore volume and iodine value, organics with low molecular weight (<3500 Da) were more easily removed, first being adsorbed by micropores and then biodegraded by the biofilm. The biomass was determined by the pore volume with pore diameters greater than 100 μm, but did not correspond to the removal efficiency. Nevertheless, the microbial community structure was coordinate with both the pore structure and the organic removal characteristics. The findings provide a theoretical basis for selecting GAC for the BAC process based on its pore structure.     

铅锌尾矿废弃地的化学性质研究

凡口铅锌尾矿废弃地的不同区位及不同深度的尾矿中铅锌含量存在着较大的差异 ,总锌为 70 3～ 19657mg/ kg、总铅 10 4 13～ 94 988mg/ kg。正常尾矿中 ,有效态锌含量达到 151.6～ 84 1.7mg/ kg,有效态铅含量很低 ( 0 .75～ 2 .50 mg/ kg) ,有机质、总氮、有效磷及速效钾等营养物质缺乏。当尾矿酸化后 ,p H降低 ,有效态 Pb、Zn含量升高 ,有效锌达到 175.8～ 2 82 8.0 mg/ kg,有效铅含量最高为 10 0 .0 mg/kg,而有机质、总氮和有效磷为零 ,使尾矿更加贫瘠。在尾矿库的边缘区位和尾矿表面的覆盖土壤区位 ,基质中营养物质含量增加 ,但是营养状况的改善又引起了有效态的 Pb、Zn含量升高。     

炭素焙烧炉沥青烟净化处理

采用干式静电除尘技术,对炭素焙烧炉排放的含有烟尘、沥青烟的工业废气进行处理,达到既能高效净化有害气体,又能降低资金投入。处理后的各项指标为:烟尘排放浓度=20.0mg/m3,沥青烟排放浓度=14.2mg/m3,苯并(a)芘排放浓度=0.054×10-3mg/m3,所有污染物均达到排放标准。     

RuO2-IrO2/Ti阳极电催化降解偶氮染料甲基橙模拟废水

以自制Ti基RuO2-IrO2镀层形稳电极为阳极,采用电催化氧化处理偶氮染料甲基橙模拟废水。以硫酸钠为支持电解质,在自然pH条件下分别考察了电解时间、电极间距、电流密度和电解质浓度等因素对甲基橙去除率的影响,并分析其原因。实验结果表明,在自然pH、电极间距为1.0 cm、电流密度为30.0 mA/cm2、电解质硫酸钠浓度为20.0 g/L、电解1.0 h,甲基橙去除率高达90.0%以上。 因此,电催化氧化法作为一种高效、简便的染料废水处理技术,具有一定的应用潜力。     

Preliminary Evaluation of the Use of Phosphogypsum for Reef Substrate. I. A Laboratory Study of Bioaccumulation of Radium and Six Heavy Metals in an Aquatic Food Chain

Phosphogypsum (PG), a solid by-product of phosphoric acid production, contains radionuclides and trace metals in concentrations which may pose a potential hazard to human health and the environment. to investigate the possibility of bioaccumulation of radium and six heavy metals over time when aquatic organisms experience both trophic and environmental exposure to PG, we designed a laboratory experiment representing three levels of an aquatic food chain. During the 135 day experiment, a meiobenthic copepod species (Amphiascoides atopus) was cultured in the presence of PG. the copepods were subsequently fed to grass shrimp (Palaemonetes vulgaris and P. pugio) which were in turn fed to gulf killifish (Fundulus grandis); both the grass shrimp and the killifish also experienced an environmental PG exposure. Other than elevated radium levels in the experimental grass shrimp, the experiment demonstrated little effect of environmental or trophic exposure to PG on microinvertebrates, macroinvertebrates, or fishes that could be attributed to PG. in all cases where increased concentrations were indicated within the experimental group, roughly equivalent increases in metal concentrations also occurred in the control group.     

Biodegradability of organic substances by ATP test

The aerobic biodegradability of organic substances in water is characterized by determination of energy change ‐ ATP content in microbial cells during biodegradation. A satisfactory result is obtained under the following conditions: the initial concentration of tested substance is 100mg/l (as DOC), the amount of the inoculum in the biological medium is 500mg/l (as MLSS), and the duration of test time is 14 days. The evaluating system (peak time, peak height and IA index) is proposed to assess the biodegradability of 46 organic compounds and 7 wastewaters.     

Pesticide in the Mississippi River floodplain and its possible linkage to colon cancer risk in the US

Result of this study shows that elevated colorectal cancer risk in Mississippi River floodplain of the United States is likely linked to historically high pesticide application. Mississippi River basin produces about 80% of major US crops and has about two-thirds of US pesticides used for agriculture. Historically, heavy pesticide application and agricultural irrigation were reported to result in high pesticide residues in surface water, fish and wells of Mississippi embayment. Risk ratio of colorectal cancer incidence in 86 counties of Mississippi River floodplain was about 29% higher than that of other counties in the 48 contiguous states. Risk ratio of colon cancer mortality in 63 counties of Mississippi embayment was 33% higher than that of other counties in the 48 states between 1999 and 2016. Risk ratios of colorectal cancer incidence and colon cancer mortality in Mississippi River floodplain are higher after smoking and diabetes factors were filtered off. Previous studies have linked exposure to pesticide with type-II diabetes and the latter was linked to increasing colon cancer risk by about 27%. Result here suggests that pesticide may be an independent risk factor directly associated with elevated colon cancer risk in Mississippi River floodplain.     

Carbon sequestration of black locust forests in the Yellow River Delta region,China

The Yellow River Delta region in China is a land area of 1,200,000 ha with rich natural resources. Adverse environmental conditions, such as low rainfall and high salinity, promote the dominance of black locust trees for afforestation. With the increase of CO₂ in the atmosphere, this forest and others throughout the world have become valued for their ability to sequester and store carbon. Forests store carbon in aboveground biomass (i.e. trees), belowground biomass (i.e. roots), soils and standing litter crop (i.e. forest floor and coarse woody debris). There are well-developed methods to sample forest ecosystems, including tree inventories that are used to quantify carbon in aboveground tree biomass. Such inventories are used to estimate the types of roundwood products removed from the forest during harvesting. Based on standard plot inventories and stem analyses, carbon sequestration estimates of trees were 222.41 t ha^?1 for the Yellow River Delta region accounted for 67.12% of the whole forest. Similarly, carbon storage by herbaceous matter and soil was 0.50 and 50.34 t ha^?1, respectively. The results suggest that carbon sequestration in the forest ecosystem was performed by most of the forest, which plays an increasingly important role in sequestering carbon as the stand grows.     

酸胁迫对铜藻早期生长阶段的影响

为探究低pH胁迫对大型藻类早期生长的影响,以铜藻 Sargassum horneri 为研究对象,设置pH=3.5、4.5、5.5、6.5处理组和自然海水对照组,以不同处理时间分别对铜藻孢子和幼体进行胁迫实验。孢子实验中,于铜藻孢子附着前、后对其进行15、30、60、120 min的酸胁迫,以附着率和脱落率表征低pH对孢子附着的影响;幼体实验中,持续将铜藻幼体暴露于酸性条件下,以脱落死亡率表征pH对幼体的致死效应。结果显示,在短时间酸胁迫下,酸度对铜藻孢子附着的影响显著,附着率随pH值的下降而降低;胁迫时间对孢子的附着影响显著,附着率随胁迫时间的延长而降低,pH值与胁迫时间无交互作用;而当孢子已充分附着后,短期酸胁迫并没有显著影响孢子体的存活。在长时间酸胁迫下,与对照组相比,所有处理组铜藻幼体的存活率均显著降低。研究表明,低pH会对铜藻孢子、幼体的存活生长产生不利影响,并且这种影响在铜藻早期发育的不同阶段有所不同。     

Degradation of bisphenol A by microorganisms immobilized on polyvinyl alcohol microspheres

In this study, microorganisms （named B111） were immobilized on polyvinyl alcohol microspheres prepared by the inverse suspension crosslinked method. The biodegradation of bisphenol A （BPA） and 4-hydro- xybenzaldehyde, a degradation product of BPA, by free and immobilized B lll was investigated. The BPA degradation studies were carried out at initial BPA concentrations ranging from 25 to 150 mg·L^-1. The affinity constant Ks and maximum degradation rate Rmax were 98.3 mg·L^-1 and 19.7mg·mg^-1VSS·d^-1 for free B111, as well as 87.2mg·L^-1 and 21.1mg·mg^-1VSS·d^-1 for immobilized B 111, respectively. 16S rDNA gene sequence analyses confirmed that the dominant genera were Pseudomonas and Brevundimonas for BPA biodegradation in microorganisms B 111.