Fluid bed gasification – Plasma converter process generating energy from solid waste: Experimental assessment of sulphur species

Often perceived as a Cinderella material, there is growing appreciation for solid waste as a renewable content thermal process feed. Nonetheless, research on solid waste gasification and sulphur mechanisms in particular is lacking. This paper presents results from two related experiments on a novel two stage gasification process, at demonstration scale, using a sulphur-enriched wood pellet feed.Notable SO₂ and relatively low COS levels (before gas cleaning) were interesting features of the trials, and not normally expected under reducing gasification conditions. Analysis suggests that localised oxygen rich regions within the fluid bed played a role in SO₂’s generation. The response of COS to sulphur in the feed was quite prompt, whereas SO₂ was more delayed. It is proposed that the bed material sequestered sulphur from the feed, later aiding SO₂ generation. The more reducing gas phase regions above the bed would have facilitated COS – hence its faster response. These results provide a useful insight, with further analysis on a suite of performed experiments underway, along with thermodynamic modelling.     

Controls on coarse wood decay in temperate tree species: birth of the LOGLIFE experiment

Dead wood provides a huge terrestrial carbon stock and a habitat to wide-ranging organisms during its decay. Our brief review highlights that, in order to understand environmental change impacts on these functions, we need to quantify the contributions of different interacting biotic and abiotic drivers to wood decomposition. LOGLIFE is a new long-term 'common-garden' experiment to disentangle the effects of species' wood traits and site-related environmental drivers on wood decomposition dynamics and its associated diversity of microbial and invertebrate communities. This experiment is firmly rooted in pioneering experiments under the directorship of Terry Callaghan at Abisko Research Station, Sweden. LOGLIFE features two contrasting forest sites in the Netherlands, each hosting a similar set of coarse logs and branches of 10 tree species. LOGLIFE welcomes other researchers to test further questions concerning coarse wood decay that will also help to optimise forest management in view of carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation.     

What’s the Problem? River Management,Education, and Public Beliefs

This paper invokes the theory of planned behavior (TPB) as a diagnostic tool to explain an existing public education program's limited success at improving river water quality in the City of Perth, Western Australia. A reflective, client-driven research approach was used. A facilitated expert workshop defined an environmental problem (excess nutrients leaving gardens and entering waterways) and a desired behavior (residents purchasing environmentally sensitive fertilizer) to address the problem. A TPB-based belief elicitation survey captured respondents' beliefs regarding the desired behavior. The findings suggest respondents were aware of the links between purchasing environmentally sensitive fertilizer and river water quality. However, this behavior is compromised by the challenges in identifying appropriate products, product quality concerns, and cost. Viewing the content of a public education program through the lens of the TPB reveals insights into how and why the program fell short in achieving one of its key behavioral change goals.     

Ecosystem Impacts of Geoengineering: A Review for Developing a Science Plan

Geoengineering methods are intended to reduce climate change, which is already having demonstrable effects on ecosystem structure and functioning in some regions. Two types of geoengineering activities that have been proposed are: carbon dioxide (CO(2)) removal (CDR), which removes CO(2) from the atmosphere, and solar radiation management (SRM, or sunlight reflection methods), which reflects a small percentage of sunlight back into space to offset warming from greenhouse gases (GHGs). Current research suggests that SRM or CDR might diminish the impacts of climate change on ecosystems by reducing changes in temperature and precipitation. However, sudden cessation of SRM would exacerbate the climate effects on ecosystems, and some CDR might interfere with oceanic and terrestrial ecosystem processes. The many risks and uncertainties associated with these new kinds of purposeful perturbations to the Earth system are not well understood and require cautious and comprehensive research.     

Controls on Coarse Wood Decay in Temperate Tree Species: Birth of the LOGLIFE Experiment

Dead wood provides a huge terrestrial carbon stock and a habitat to wide-ranging organisms during its decay. Our brief review highlights that, in order to understand environmental change impacts on these functions, we need to quantify the contributions of different interacting biotic and abiotic drivers to wood decomposition. LOGLIFE is a new long-term ‘common-garden’ experiment to disentangle the effects of species’ wood traits and site-related environmental drivers on wood decomposition dynamics and its associated diversity of microbial and invertebrate communities. This experiment is firmly rooted in pioneering experiments under the directorship of Terry Callaghan at Abisko Research Station, Sweden. LOGLIFE features two contrasting forest sites in the Netherlands, each hosting a similar set of coarse logs and branches of 10 tree species. LOGLIFE welcomes other researchers to test further questions concerning coarse wood decay that will also help to optimise forest management in view of carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation.     

Tundra in the Rain: Differential Vegetation Responses to Three Years of Experimentally Doubled Summer Precipitation in Siberian Shrub and Swedish Bog Tundra

Precipitation amounts and patterns at high latitude sites have been predicted to change as a result of global climatic changes. We addressed vegetation responses to three years of experimentally increased summer precipitation in two previously unaddressed tundra types: Betula nana-dominated shrub tundra (northeast Siberia) and a dry Sphagnum fuscum-dominated bog (northern Sweden). Positive responses to approximately doubled ambient precipitation (an increase of 200 mm year^?1) were observed at the Siberian site, for B. nana (30 % larger length increments), Salix pulchra (leaf size and length increments) and Arctagrostis latifolia (leaf size and specific leaf area), but none were observed at the Swedish site. Total biomass production did not increase at either of the study sites. This study corroborates studies in other tundra vegetation types and shows that despite regional differences at the plant level, total tundra plant productivity is, at least at the short or medium term, largely irresponsive to experimentally increased summer precipitation.     

Extractability of water-soluble soil organic matter as monitored by spectroscopic and chromatographic analyses

Purpose

Cold and hot water processes have been intensively used to recover soil organic matter, but the effect of extraction conditions on the composition of the extracts were not well investigated. Our objective was to optimize the extraction conditions (time and temperature) to increase the extracted carbon efficiency while minimizing the possible alteration of water extractable organic matter of soil (WEOM).

Method

WEOM were extracted at 20°C, 60°C, or 80°C for 24?h, 10?C60?min, and 20?min, respectively. The different processes were compared in terms of pH of suspensions, yield of organic carbon, spectroscopic properties (ultraviolet?Cvisible absorption and fluorescence), and by chromatographic analyses.

Results

For extraction at 60°C, the time 30?min was optimal in terms of yield of organic carbon extracted and concentration of absorbing and fluorescent species. The comparison of WEOM 20°C, 24?h; 60°C, 30?min; and 80°C, 20?min highlighted significant differences. The content of total organic carbon, the value of specific ultraviolet absorbance (SUVA₂₅₄), the absorbance ratio at 254 and 365?nm (E ₂/E ₃), and the humification index varied in the order: WEOM (20°C, 24?h)?Conclusions For the soil chosen, extraction at 60°C for 30?min is the best procedure for enrichment in organic chemicals and minimal alteration of the organic matter.     

Biosorption of thorium on the external shell surface of bivalve mollusks: the role of shell surface microtopography

External shell surface (ESS) of bivalve mollusks is known to adsorb various metals dissolved in ambient water in high concentration. It is hypothesized here that the surface microtopography of the thin organic coating layer, periostracum, or calcareous shell (if periostracum was destroyed) plays a major role in the adsorption of actinides on ESS. Thorium (natural alpha-emitter) was used in short-term biosorption experiment with shell fragments of five bivalve mollusks. After a 72 h exposure to Th (∼6 kBq L⁻¹), thorium concentration was measured on ESS using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry; the distribution and density of alpha tracks were subsequently visualized by α-track autoradiography. A trend in reduced Th concentrations on the ESS was observed depending upon the species tested: (group 1 ∼4000 μg g⁻¹) Chlamys islandica (M.), Mercenaria mercenaria (L.), Dreissena polymorpha (P.) > (group 2 ∼1200 μg g⁻¹) Crassostrea virginica (G.) ? (group 3 ∼150 μg g⁻¹) Mytilus edulis L. The microtopography of ESS was characterized by scanning electron microscopy revealing the high porosity of the calcareous surface of C. islandica and M. mercenaria, lamellate surface of periostracum in D. polymorpha, uneven but a weakly porous surface of periostracum of C. virginica, and a nearly smooth surface of the periostracum of M. edulis. This work has demonstrated, for the first time, the presence of a strong correlation between concentration of adsorbed Th and ESS microtopography, and the role of the periostracum in this process is discussed.