Plastic materials and water sources actively select and shape wastewater plastispheres over time

● Wastewater MPs exhibited resistomes and therefore health threats. ● High density of alkB gene indicates both HDPE and PET can be utilized by microbes. ● Plastics and waters actively selected and shaped the plastispheres over time. ● A broader phylogenetic spectrum of MHET-degrading microorganisms was annotated. The daily use of plastics presents a serious pollution issue due to their extremely slow degradation. Microplastics and the biofilm that grows on plastics (i.e., the plastisphere) are important subsets of plastic wastes. Many studies have been conducted to reveal the structures of the plastispheres, the driving factors for the formation of the plastisphere, and the ability of the plastispheres to degrade plastics in a variety of water bodies. However, the plastispheres related to wastewater are understudied. In this study, we used a microcosmic strategy to study the evolution of the plastispheres associated with microplastics (MPs) over time in wastewater. We found that plastic materials and water sources did not actively select and shape the plastispheres at an early stage, but the active selection for a unique niche of the plastisphere occurred after 14 d of growth. In addition, we confirmed that the alkB gene was densely present, and metagenomics showed some additional chemical reactions, which suggests that MPs are consumed by the microbes in the plastispheres. Additionally, metagenomics identified some metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) associated with high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The identification of HDPE-associated MAGs and PET-associated MAGs further supports the notion that the selection for a unique niche of the plastisphere is driven by plastic materials and water sources (in this study, after 14 d of growth). Our discoveries bring new views on the behavior of the wastewater-associated plastisphere, especially how long it takes a wastewater plastisphere to form.     

Design of nanofibre interlayer supported forward osmosis composite membranes and its evaluation in fouling study with cleaning

• A fine fibre (40–60 nm diameter) interlayer (~1 µm thickness) was electrospun. • Fine fibre interlayer promoted formation of defect-free dense polyamide layer. • FO membrane with dual-layer substrate had less organic fouling potential. • High reverse salt flux accelerated organic fouling on FO membrane. Nanofibre-supported forward osmosis (FO) membranes have gained popularity owing to their low structural parameters and high water flux. However, the nanofibrous membranes are less stable in long-term use, and their fouling behaviours with foulants in both feed solution (FS) and draw solution (DS) is less studied. This study developed a nanofibrous thin-film composite (TFC) FO membrane by designing a tiered dual-layer nanofibrous substrate to enhance membrane stability during long-term usage and cleaning. Various characterisation methods were used to study the effect of the electrospun nanofibre interlayer and drying time, which is the interval after removing the M-phenylenediamine (MPD) solution and before reacting with trimesoyl chloride (TMC) solution, on the intrinsic separation FO performance. The separation performance of the dual-layer nanofibrous FO membranes was examined using model foulants (sodium alginate and bovine serum albumin) in both the FS and DS. The dual-layer nanofibrous substrate was superior to the single-layer nanofibrous substrate and showed a flux of 30.2 L/m²/h (LMH) when using 1.5 mol/L NaCl against deionised (DI) water in the active layer facing draw solution (AL-DS) mode. In the fouling test, the water flux was effectively improved without sacrificing the water/solute selectivity under the condition that foulants existed in both the FS and DS. In addition, the dual-layer nanofibrous TFC FO membrane was more robust during the fouling test and cleaning.     

Achieving air pollutant emission reduction targets with minimum abatement costs: An enterprise-level allocation method with constraints of fairness and feasibility

• Quantification of efficiency and fairness of abatement allocation are optimized. • Allocation results are refined to the different abatement measures of enterprises. • Optimized allocation results reduce abatement costs and tap the abatement space. • Abatement suggestions are given to enterprises with different abatement quotas. For achieving air pollutant emission reduction targets, total pollutant amount control is being continuously promoted in China. However, the traditional pattern of pollutant emission reduction allocation regardless of economic cost often results in unreasonable emission reduction pathways, and industrial enterprises as the main implementers have to pay excessively high costs. Therefore, this study adopted economic efficiency as its main consideration, used specific emission reduction measures (ERMs) of industrial enterprises as minimum allocation units, and constructed an enterprise-level pollutant emission reduction allocation (EPERA) model with minimization of the total abatement cost (TAC) as the objective function, and fairness and feasibility as constraints for emission reduction allocation. Taking City M in China as an example, the EPERA model was used to construct a Pareto optimal frontier and obtain the optimal trade-off result. Results showed that under basic and strict emission reduction regulations, the TAC of the optimal trade-off point was reduced by 46.40% and 45.77%, respectively, in comparison with that achieved when only considering fairness, and the Gini coefficient was 0.26 and 0.31, respectively. The abatement target was attained with controllable cost and relatively fair and reasonable allocation. In addition, enterprises allocated different emission reduction quotas under different ERMs had specific characteristics that required targeted optimization of technology and equipment to enable them to achieve optimal emission reduction effects for the same abatement cost.     

Study on carbon dioxide emission from reservoirs with different regulation types and its empirical prediction model

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The construction of artificial reservoirs with various regulation types on river is currently an important form of comprehensive utilization of water...     

Removal of sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim from reclaimed water and the biodegradation mechanism

Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) and trimethoprim (TMP) are two critical sulfonamide antibiotics with enhanced persistency that are commonly found in wastewater treatment plants. Recently, more scholars have showed interests in how SMX and TMP antibiotics are biodegraded, which is seldom reported previously. Novel artificial composite soil treatment systems were designed to allow biodegradation to effectively remove adsorbed SMX and TMP from the surface of clay ceramsites. A synergy between sorption and biodegradation improves the removal of SMX and TMP. One highly efficient SMX and TMP degrading bacteria strain, Bacillus subtilis, was isolated from column reactors. In the removal process, this bacteria degrade SMX and TMP to NH ₄ ⁺ , and then further convert NH ₄ ⁺ to NO ₃ ^– in a continuous process. Microbial adaptation time was longer for SMX degradation than for TMP, and SMX was also able to be degraded in aerobic conditions. Importantly, the artificial composite soil treatment system is suitable for application in practical engineering.

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改性生物炭对水体中抗生素的去除研究进展

随着社会经济的不断发展,抗生素造成的水体环境污染问题已不容忽视.利用生物炭去除水体中的抗生素是解决这一问题的有效手段之一.然而,原始生物炭对水体中抗生素等有机污染物的去除存在一定局限性,因此对生物炭进行改性以提升其吸附能力尤为必要.生物炭的吸附性能受生物质类型、碳化条件和改性方法等因素影响较大,导致目前虽然开展了许多相关研究,但结论不一,尤其是在不同改性生物炭对不同抗生素吸附机理的解释方面还不是很清楚,因此有必要对现有研究进行系统地归纳和总结.本文首先对用于抗生素吸附的改性生物炭制备方法及理化性质表征方法进行了介绍,综述了改性生物炭对不同种类抗生素(磺胺类、喹诺酮类、四环素类、大环内酯类、氯霉素类)的吸附效果、吸附机理及其影响因素(如溶液pH值、热解温度、改性材料等),对比分析了生物炭改性前后吸附效果的差异,对目前改性生物炭用于去除水体中抗生素存在的问题进行了分析和总结,在此基础上,对今后该领域的研究和发展方向进行了展望,以期为将来开展相关的研究工作提供一定的参考.     

巢湖流域丰水期可溶态重金属空间分布及污染评价

探究了巢湖流域丰水期湖区及10条环湖河流水体中重金属元素V、Cr、Mn、Ni、Cu、Zn、Pb、Cd、Fe和Sb空间分布特征.结果表明,丰水期巢湖西部和西北部4条环湖河流中的重金属元素平均质量浓度高于中部和东部地区;金属元素浓度相关性分析结果显示,Cu、Ni、Zn、Pb和Cd元素质量浓度之间呈显著正相关,这说明5种元素间存在相似的空间规律.单因子污染指数评价结果表明,10条环湖河流中Cr各点位均符合地表水Ⅰ类水标准;Pb符合Ⅰ~Ⅱ类水标准;Cu和Zn符合Ⅰ~Ⅴ类水标准;Fe、V和Sb均远低于水标准限值;Ni在南淝河的部分点位轻微超标;Mn在十五里河和派河的部分点位轻微超标;Cd在南淝河的部分点位严重超标;塘西河一个点位中Mn除外,V、Cr、Ni、Cu、Zn、Pb和Fe均小于1,为清洁和无污染水平;综合污染指数评价结果发现,西北部环湖河流的综合污染指数相比西南部、中部与东部是最高的.     

水库型与河流型水源地保护区土壤重金属污染评价与研究——以广安市为例

为摸清广安市城市集中式饮用水水源地一、二级保护区周边土壤环境状况,采用单项污染指数评价法和内梅罗综合污染指数法,对广安市河流型、水库型两种典型饮用水水源地保护区土壤污染状况进行评估,并简要分析周边环境敏感点.结果表明:水库型水源地29个、河流型水源地44个土壤检测样品均未检出镉,铜、锌、铅、镍、总铬、汞、砷均检出,变异...     

贵州龙里煤矿开采的独木河流域稻田重金属地球化学基线厘定

为了厘定贵州省煤矿开采流域稻田土壤地球化学基线.以龙里县独木河煤矿开采流域稻田为对象,采集稻田土壤和水稻各47个,测定了土壤中的As、Cd、Cr、Cu、Pb、Ni、V、Li和Ti共9种重金属含量,测定了稻米中的As、Cd、Cr、Cu、Pb和Ni共6种重金属含量.分别采用标准化方法和相对累积频率曲线法厘定As、Cd、Cr...