Potential of secondary aerosol formation from Chinese gasoline engine exhaust

Light-duty gasoline vehicles have drawn public attention in China due to their significant primary emissions of particulate matter and volatile organic compounds(VOCs). However,little information on secondary aerosol formation from exhaust for Chinese vehicles and fuel conditions is available. In this study, chamber experiments were conducted to quantify the potential of secondary aerosol formation from the exhaust of a port fuel injection gasoline engine. The engine and fuel used are common in the Chinese market, and the fuel satisfies the China V gasoline fuel standard. Substantial secondary aerosol formation was observed during a 4–5 hr simulation, which was estimated to represent more than 10 days of equivalent atmospheric photo-oxidation in Beijing. As a consequence, the extreme case secondary organic aerosol(SOA) production was 426 ± 85 mg/kg-fuel, with high levels of precursors and OH exposure. The low hygroscopicity of the aerosols formed inside the chamber suggests that SOA was the dominant chemical composition. Fourteen percent of SOA measured in the chamber experiments could be explained through the oxidation of speciated single-ring aromatics. Unspeciated precursors, such as intermediate-volatility organic compounds and semi-volatile organic compounds, might be significant for SOA formation from gasoline VOCs. We concluded that reductions of emissions of aerosol precursor gases from vehicles are essential to mediate pollution in China.     

The effects of autophagy on vascular endothelial cells induced by airborne PM2.5

The purpose of this study was to examine the direct toxicity of PM2.5 collected from Beijing on human umbilical vein endothelial cells(HUVEC). A Cell Counting Kit 8(CCK8) assay demonstrated that PM2.5 exposure decreased the proliferation of HUVECs in a dosedependent manner. We also found that PM2.5 exposure induced autophagy in HUVECs, as evidenced by:(1) an increased number of double-membrane vesicles;(2) enhanced conversion and punctuation of the microtubule-associated protein light chain 3(LC3); and(3) decreased levels of the selective autophagy substrate p62 in a time-dependent manner.Furthermore, promoting autophagy in PM2.5-exposed HUVECs with rapamycin increased the cell survival rate, whereas inhibiting autophagy via 3-methyladenine significantly decreased cell survival. These results demonstrate that PM2.5 exposure can induce cytotoxicity and autophagy in HUVECs and that autophagy play a protective role against PM2.5-induced cytotoxicity. The findings of the present study imply a direct toxic effect of PM2.5 on HUVECs and provide novel insight into the mechanism of cardiovascular diseases caused by PM2.5 exposure.     

Mercury flows in large-scale gold production and implications for Hg pollution control

Large-scale gold production(LSGP) is one of the five convention-related atmospheric mercury(Hg) emission sources in the Minamata Convention on Mercury. However, field experiments on Hg flows of the whole process of LSGP are limited. To identify the atmospheric Hg emission points and understand Hg emission characteristics of LSGP, Hg flows in two gold smelters were studied. Overall atmospheric Hg emissions accounted for 10%–17% of total Hg outputs and the Hg emission factors for all processes were 7.6–9.6 kg/ton. There were three dominant atmospheric Hg emission points in the studied gold smelters, including the exhaust gas of the roasting process, exhaust gas from the environmental fog collection stack and exhaust gas from the converter of the refining process. Atmospheric Hg emissions from the roasting process only accounted for 16%–29% of total emissions and the rest were emitted from the refining process. The overall Hg speciation profile(gaseous elemental Hg/gaseous oxidized Hg/particulate-bound Hg) for LSGP was 34.1/57.1/8.8. The dominant Hg output byproducts included waste acid, sulfuric acid and cyanide leaching residue. Total Hg outputs from these three byproducts were 80% in smelter A and 84% in smelter B. Our study indicated that previous atmospheric Hg emissions from large-scale gold production might have been overestimated.Hg emission control in LSGP is not especially urgent in China compared to other significant emission sources(e.g., cement plants). Instead, LSGP is a potential Hg release source due to the high Hg output proportions to acid and sludge.     

Relationship between physicochemical properties and dewaterability of hydrothermal sludge derived from different source

Sewage sludge (SS) and deinking sludge (DS) were used to comparatively study the hydrothermal dewatering of sludge with different components. For a better overview, an insight into the relationship between physicochemical properties and dewaterability of hydrothermal sludge was provided. Results found that not all kinds of sludge were suitably conditioned by hydrothermal treatment (HT) in term of the elevation of dewaterability. Higher hydrothermal temperature tended to enhance the dewaterability of SS rather than DS, which was supported by the variation of their physicochemical properties (including water distribution, bonding energy, extracellular polymeric substance (EPS), particles size, acid functional groups and zeta potential in this study). In addition, the changes in surface morphology suggested that the reverse effect of HT on sludge dewaterability was mainly due to their dewatering behavior. For SS, the destruction of EPS structure leaded to the release of bound water, thereby strengthening sludge dewatering. Conversely, “Bridging effect” generated by lignocellulose in DS was beneficial for sludge dewatering; however, the increasing hydrothermal temperature degraded part of lignocellulose and weakened “bridging effect”, finally resulting in worse dewaterability of DS.     

Seasonal variation and size distribution of biogenic secondary organic aerosols at urban and continental background sites of China

Size-resolved biogenic secondary organic aerosols(BSOA) derived from isoprene and monoterpene photooxidation in Qinghai Lake, Tibetan Plateau(a continental background site) and five cities of China were measured using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry(GC/MS). Concentrations of the determined BSOA are higher in the cities than in the background and are also higher in summer than in winter. Moreover, strong positive correlations(R2= 0.44–0.90) between BSOA and sulfate were found at the six sites,suggesting that anthropogenic pollution(i.e., sulfate) could enhance SOA formation,because sulfate provides a surface favorable for acid-catalyzed formation of BSOA. Size distribution measurements showed that most of the determined SOA tracers are enriched in the fine mode( 3.3 μm) except for cis-pinic and cis-pinonic acids, both presented a comparable mass in the fine and coarse( 3.3 μm) modes, respectively. Mass ratio of oxidation products derived from isoprene to those from monoterpene in the five urban regions during summer are much less than those in Qinghai Lake region. In addition, in the five urban regions relative abundances of monoterpene oxidation products to SOA are much higher than those of isoprene. Such phenomena suggest that BSOA derived from monoterpenes are more abundant than those from isoprene in Chinese urban areas.     

重庆九龙坡城区和城郊大气污染物浓度特征研究

为了解重庆市九龙坡区城区和城郊大气污染物浓度特征,分析了城区和城郊国控空气站点2014年3月~2015年2月典型污染物的浓度变化。结果表明,除O_3表现出夏高冬低的季节变化趋势外,其它污染物均表现出冬高夏低的季节变化趋势。PM_(2.5)污染最严重,城区和郊区日均值超标率分别为31.4%和33.4%。城区和城郊的PM_(2.5)浓度之间没有显著性差异(p0.05),城郊O_3浓度显著高于城区(p0.01),NO_2、SO_2、CO和PM_(10)则是城区显著高于城郊(p0.01)。     

水稻土中五氯酚的降解转化动态及其对微生物群落的影响

采用室内培养实验,研究厌氧条件下水稻土中五氯酚(Pentachlorophenol,PCP)的还原转化与微生物群落组成变化。结果表明,室内培养实验条件下,PCP在水稻土样品中降解比较迅速,在反应17 d时,实验添加的PCP能够完全被还原转化。高通量测序结果显示PCP的添加明显改变了水稻土壤的微生物群落结构,其微生物多样性显著下降,在PCP降解完之后逐渐恢复。原始土壤以及添加PCP的土壤样品中其优势微生物主要分布在变形菌门(Proteobacteria)。PCP添加刺激了水稻土中伯克氏菌科(Burkholderiaceae)、丛毛单胞菌科(Comamonadaceae)、地杆菌科(Geobacteraceae)、红环菌科(Rhodocyclaceae)和假单胞菌科(Pseudomonadaceae)等脱氯相关的微生物菌群繁殖,成为PCP降解过程中的优势菌群,有利于PCP还原降解。本研究结果可为水稻土中有机氯农药污染物的微生物降解脱毒提供理论依据。     

典型铅锌矿化区不同土地利用类型土壤重金属污染特征与评价

选取云南者海典型铅锌矿区周边冶炼区（A）、粮食主产区（B）、保护区（C）三个区域土壤为研究对象,分析三个区域内林地（LD）和耕地（GD）土壤pH、总碳（TC）、总氮（TN）、总磷（TP）和5种重金属（Hg、Cd、Pb、Zn、Cu）含量,利用典范对应分析（CCA）研究不同土地利用类型下它们之间的关系,基于系统熵值与重金属生物毒性改进灰色聚类评价法对研究区重金属污染程度进行评价。结果表明,A、B、C三区土壤的5种重金属均超过云南省土壤背景值,且含量A区 > B区 > C区,所有土壤样品Hg、Cd、Pb、Zn、Cu平均含量分别为7.24、1.53、1 794、2 892、210 mg/kg;LD土壤重金属含量普遍高于GD。研究区土壤pH总体呈弱酸性,但A区土壤受矿业活动影响呈弱碱性。TC、TN含量和C/N值均表现出LD大于GD,但TP含量表现为GD显著大于LD （P<0.05）。CCA分析表明LD和GD土壤pH与Cd和Cu呈负相关,与Zn和Pb呈正相关,且pH对重金属含量的影响最大;TC、TP与重金属Cd和Cu在LD土壤中呈正相关,在GD土壤中呈负相关。改进灰色聚类评价结果表明重金属污染程度均表现为LD大于GD;A区污染最严重且均呈重度污染,B区次之,C区污染程度最轻。经比较本文改进的灰色聚类评价法在准确性和灵敏度方面优于传统方法。     

天津市滨海新区PM_(2.5)污染时空分布及影响因素研究

为了降低天津市滨海新区中PM_(2.5)的污染,需要对天津市滨海新区PM_(2.5)污染的时空分布和影响因素进行研究。研究天津市滨海新区近年来PM_(2.5)的时空分布特征,并选取PM_(2.5)的相关指标,对天津市滨海新区PM_(2.5)污染影响因素进行分析。结果表明,在天津市滨海新区的冬季时,PM_(2.5)的质量浓度值最高,在滨海新区的夏季时,PM_(2.5)的质量浓度值最低。PM_(2.5)在天津市滨海新区昼间大气中的质量浓度低于夜间大气中的质量浓度。     

使用热处理污泥吸附剂去除废水中重金属铜的研究

基于重金属铜的高度危害性和污泥的高效重复利用的考虑,研究了在污泥吸附剂上去除合成废水中重金属铜的实例。将污泥干燥,研磨并在各种温度下进行热处理,使用SEM和FTIR技术分析了污泥的表面形貌和化学结构。实验所研究的参数是铜离子的初始浓度、反应时间、污泥用量以及污泥的热处理温度。实验数据显示随着污泥用量的增加,Cu+2的去除率增加,并根据使用的浓度范围,研究了Cu+2的初始浓度对重金属铜去除率的影响。对实验数据使用不同等温线进行模拟,获得线性拟合性能较好的等温模型。