Review: recent advances in biogas purifying technologies

Biomethane production through biogas upgrading is a promising renewable energy for some industries which could be part of the equilibrium needed with fossil fuels consumption to achieve a sustainable society. This paper presents a comprehensive list of biogas upgrading technologies focused on carbon dioxide removal as well as recent advances reported by researcher with wide expertise in this topic. Additionally, an extensive costs–performance comparison among the technologies studied is discussed. Among the different alternatives, chemical scrubbing stood out to achieve high biomethane purities while cryogenic technologies proved to be effective against methane losses. Regarding the different costs, water scrubbing and membrane separation seem to be the most affordable techniques.     

Introduced and cryptogenic species in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, Australia

Port Phillip Bay (PPB) is a large (1,930 km²), temperate embayment in southern Victoria, Australia. Extensive bay-wide surveys of PPB have occurred since 1840. In 1995/1996 the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) Centre for Research on Introduced Marine Pests (CRIMP) undertook an intensive evaluation of the region with the aims of developing a comprehensive species list of native and introduced biota and contrasting previous bay-wide assessments with a current field survey in order to detect new incursions and discern alterations to native communities. Two methods were used to meet these aims: a re-evaluation of regional museum collections and published research in PPB to identify and determine the timing of introductions; and field surveys for benthic (infauna, epifauna and encrusting) organisms between September 1995 to March 1996. One hundred and sixty introduced (99) and cryptogenic (61) species were identified representing over 13% of the recorded species of PPB. As expected, the majority of these are concentrated around the shipping ports of Geelong and Melbourne. Invasions within PPB appear to be increasing, possibly due to an increase in modern shipping traffic and an increase in aquaculture (historically associated with incidental introductions); however the records of extensive biological surveys suggest that this may, in part, be an artefact of sampling effort. In contrast to Northern Hemisphere studies, PPB (and Southern Hemisphere introductions in general) have significantly different suites of successfully invading taxa. PPB is presented as one of the most invaded marine ecosystems in the Southern Hemisphere.Communicated by M.S. Johnson, Crawley     

Effect of deuterium-depleted water on reproduction of rainbow trout

During the artificial reproduction of salmonides, the fecundity can be increased either by improving the viability of spermatozoa, or by extending the time period during which a roe micropile remains open, thus allowing its fecundation. Practically, this can be achieved by the use of some fertilising techniques suitable for fish species. Here, we show that the reproduction of rainbow trout in a 1:1 solution of deuterium-depleted water and distilled water led to a significant increase in survival of roes during their embryonic development. Moreover, the addition of glucose and fructose into the deuterium-depleted fertilising solutions led to a further increase in roe survival during embryonic development. The increase in survival is mainly explained by an increase in the motility of spermatozoa.     

Effects of two organophosphorus insecticides on some biochemical constituents in the nervous system and liver of rabbits

Male Baladi rabbits were acutely and sub-chronically intoxicated with cyanofenphos and profenophos. The levels of cholesterol, triglycerides, B-lipoproteins and total proteins were determined in the serum, brain, spinal cord and sciatic nerve of rabbits. Moreover, the activities of alkaline phosphatase, acid phosphatase and glutamic-pyruvic transaminase were determined in the liver of the animals. The whole studies revealed that the biochemical constituents were highly affected by the tested insecticides. Also, the liver function suffered from adverse effects of the tested insecticides.     

公民对全球环境变化的响应——以上海、香港地区为例

工业革命以来，全球环境发生了前所未有的变化，将可能给地球系统带来灾难性后果，究其原因主要是由于人类活动造成的。人的行为深受意识的影响和制约,环境意识对于环境问题的产生和解决至关重要。本文选取上海、香港两个地区来分析公民对环境的关注度、公民的环保意识、环保行为以及公民对政府环境工作的看法和评价，研究公民对全球环境变化反应的区域差异，为政府制定相关环境保护政策提供理论依据。调查结果显示，上海、香港两地公民在很多环境闷题上具有共识。但是。在对手环境状况好转的期待值、参与环境保护活动的积极性、对人为因素主导力量的认识、环境保护与日常生活的切实关系、为环境保护的支付意愿、对于环境教育内容的认可度等方面存在着一定的差异。     

Municipal anaerobic digesters for codigestion, energy recovery, and greenhouse gas reductions.

Codigestion of five wastes and municipal wastewater sludge was evaluated using full-scale testing. Synergistic, antagonistic, and neutral outcomes were observed depending on codigestate identity and concentration, highlighting the value of careful blending. Yeast waste resulted in notable synergism, increasing biogas production by over 50%, whereas aircraft deicing waste resulted in antagonism at high loadings and neutral outcomes at lower loadings. Restaurant waste codigestion resulted in neutral outcomes. The synergisim with yeast codigestates may have resulted from trace nutrients (i.e., iron, nickel, and cobalt) in the wastes that increased microbiological activity. Antagonist outcomes with deicing waste may have been the result of organic overload or inhibitory deicer constituents. Codigestion of wastes at the feed rates investigated was estimated to produce 0.50 ML/d of methane having an energy equivalent of 17 500 MJ/d. This was estimated to reduce net carbon dioxide emissions by 560 tonnes/y.     

Lateral migration and offsite surface emission of landfill gas at City of Montreal Landfill Site

An evaluation of lateral landfill gas migration was carried out at the Saint-Michel Environmental Complex in Montreal, City of Montreal Landfill Site, Canada, between 2003 and 2005. Biogas concentration measurements and gas-pumping tests were conducted in multilevel wells installed in the backfilled overburden beside the landfill site. A migration event recorded in autumn 2004 during the maintenance shutdown of the extraction system was simulated using TOUGH-LGM software. Eleven high-density instantaneous surface monitoring (ISM) surveys of methane were conducted on the test site. Gas fluxes were calculated by geostatistical analyses of ISM data correlated to dynamic flux chamber measurements. Variograms using normal transformed data showed good structure, and kriged estimates were much better than inverse distance weighting, due to highly skewed data. Measurement-based estimates of yearly off-site surface emissions were two orders of magnitude higher than modelled advective lateral methane flux. Nucleodensimeter measurements of the porosity were abnormally high, indicating that the backfill was poorly compacted. Kriged porosity maps correlated well with emission maps and areas with vegetation damage. Pumping tests analysis revealed that vertical permeability was higher than radial permeability. All results suggest that most of the lateral migration and consequent emissions to the atmosphere were due to the existence of preferential flow paths through macropores. In December 2006, two passively vented trenches were constructed on the test site. They were successful in countering lateral migration.