A combined process coupling phytoremediation and in situ flushing for removal of arsenic in contaminated soil

Phytoremediation and soil washing are both potentially useful for remediating arsenic(As)-contaminated soils.We evaluated the effectiveness of a combined process coupling phytoremediation and in situ soil flushing for removal of As in contaminated soil through a pilot study.The results showed that growing Pteris vittata L.(P.v.) accompanied by soil flushing of phosphate(P.v./Flushing treatment) could significantly decrease the total As concentration of soil over a 37 day flushing period compared with the single flushing(Flushing treatment).The P.v./Flushing treatment removed 54.04% of soil As from contaminated soil compared to 47.16% in Flushing treatment,suggesting that the growth of P.vittata was beneficial for promoting the removal efficiency.We analyzed the As fractionation in soil and As concentration in soil solution to reveal the mechanism behind this combined process.Results showed that comparing with the control treatment,the percent of labile arsenate fraction significantly increased by 17% under P.v./Flushing treatment.As concentration in soil solution remained a high lever during the middle and later periods(51.26–56.22 mg/L),which was significantly higher than the Flushing treatment.Although soil flushing of phosphate for more than a month,P.vittata still had good accumulation and transfer capacity of As of the soil.The results of the research revealed that combination of phytoremediation and in situ soil flushing is available to remediate As-contaminated soils.     

Sustainable development principles for the disposal of mining and mineral processing wastes

This paper examines the minerals industry's response to sustainable development in the area of waste disposal and argues that leadership and guidance are still needed to forge collective agreement on norms and standards of practise. To encourage further debate, the paper develops a set of sustainable development principles for the disposal of mining and mineral processing wastes, and discusses the implications for current and future practise. In practise, the principles can guide waste disposal decisions through the consideration of what risk and magnitude, in any given local context, a particular management solution poses to their application. The sustainability challenge in the management of tailings and waste rock is to dispose of material, such that it is inert or, if not, stable and contained, to minimise water and energy inputs and the surface footprint of wastes and to move toward finding alternate uses. Future trends in mining and processing may compound the challenges of waste management, as lower ore grades increase the ratio of waste produced for a given unit of resource, and emphasise the urgency and need for the industry to adopt new approaches. New technologies and innovations, such as thickened tailings, dry stacking and paste backfill, have greatly increased the waste disposal methods available to meet the future challenges to sustainable development.     

盐生小藜对碱性土壤的修复作用研究

以碱性植物小藜为研究对象,在威海市高区玛珈山上提取实验组与对照组的土壤,分别测定能够描述土壤性质数据,通过比较实验组、对照组以及培养组中土壤颗粒关于空气体积、贮水能力、有机质含量、pH值之间的不同,分析得出盐生植物小藜对盐碱土具有修复作用.结合实际情况讨论在海边盐碱地上种植小藜的意义,为其他盐生植物的研究提供依据.     

入侵物种三裂叶蟛蜞菊挥发物对杂草叶绿素含量的影响

研究了华南地区外来入侵植物三裂叶蟛蜞菊(Wedelia trilobata L.)挥发物对本地区3种主要杂草的叶绿素含量的影响,以揭示其化感作用的机理。结果表明:三裂叶蟛蜞菊植株挥发物和挥发油对稗草(Echinochloa crusgalli(L.)Beauv.)、三叶鬼针草(Bidens pilosa L.)和青葙(Celosia argentea L.)叶绿素含量有明显的抑制作用。在同一实验条件下,250.0 g三裂叶蟛蜞菊新鲜茎叶及含有0.10 mL、0.25 mL和0.50 mL挥发油容器中生长的稗草、三叶鬼针草和青葙的叶绿素含量明显减少,稗草的叶绿素含量分别比对照减少56.5%、41.9%、49.6%和64.9%;三叶鬼针草的叶绿素含量分别比对照减少6.45%、4.35%、15.3%和24.8%;青葙的叶绿素含量分别比对照减少53.3%、17.6%、33.3%和71.5%。结论:三裂叶蟛蜞菊挥发物的化感作用可使受体植物的叶绿素含量减少。其作用机理值得深入研究。     

Quantifying the effect of strong ignition sources on particle preconditioning and distribution in the 20-L chamber

Computational fluid dynamics is used to investigate the preconditioning aspect of overdriving in dust explosion testing. The results show that preconditioning alters both the particle temperature and distribution prior to flame propagation in the 20-L chamber. A parametric study gives the fluid pressure and temperature, and particle temperature and concentration at an assumed flame kernel development time (10 ms) for varying ignitor size and particle diameter. For the 10 kJ ignitor with 50% efficiency, polyethylene particles under 50 μm reach 400 K and may melt prior to flame propagation. Gases from the ignitor detonation displace the dust from the center of the chamber and may increase local particle concentration up to two times the nominal value being tested. These effects have important implications for explosive testing of dusts in the 20-L chamber and comparing to larger 1-m³ testing, where these effects may be negligible.     

The terms of trade debate and the policy implications for primary product producers

The terms of trade debate initiated by Raul Prebisch and Hans Singer over 60 years ago continues to this day and is unlikely to be resolved soon. However, even if Prebisch and Singer are right and the terms of trade of countries exporting primary products are falling, to suggest that these countries should diversify away from the production of mineral commodities and other primary products, as many have done, may be poor policy advice, encouraging countries to abandon a promising source of wealth with which to foster economic development.     

Lithium availability in the EU27 for battery-driven vehicles: The impact of recycling and substitution on the confrontation between supply and demand until2050

The adverse impacts of climate change are widely recognized as well as the importance of the mitigation of carbon dioxide (CO₂). Battery driven vehicles are expected to have a bright future, since GHG emissions can be reduced. Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries appear to be the most promising, due to their high energy density. Recently, the discussion concerning adequate lithium carbonate (Li₂CO₃) resources is resolved. The current challenge is the needed increase in flow rate of Li₂CO₃ into society to foresee in forecasted demand. This research determines ten factors which influence the availability of Li-ion batteries for the EU27 in the coming decades. They are used in a system dynamics analysis. The results of this research show that undersupply can be expected in the EU27 until 2045 somewhere between 0.5 Mt and 2.8 Mt. Substitution of Li₂CO₃ in other end-use markets and recycling can relieve the strain on Li₂CO₃ supply to some extent. In 2050, 20% of the vehicle fleet in the EU27 can be battery electric vehicles (BEVs). The lack of resources in the EU27 and the geographical distribution of lithium in politically sensitive areas suggest that the shares of lithium available for the EU27 will be less than assumed in this research. The increase in flow rate shows to be the bottle-neck for a transition to (partly) battery driven vehicles in the EU27, at least when Li-ion batteries are used. Focusing on large-scale application of BEVs with Li-ion batteries in order to substantially mitigate CO₂ emissions in transport is a futile campaign.     

Dynamic relationship between precious metals

We use a relatively new approach to endogenously detect the volatility shifts in the returns of four major precious metals (gold, silver, platinum and palladium) from 1999 to 2013. We reveal that the turbulent year of 2008 has no significant effect on volatility levels of gold and silver however causes an upward shift in the volatility levels of palladium and platinum. Using the consistent dynamic conditional correlations, we show that precious metals get strongly correlated with each other in the last decade which reduces the diversification benefits across them and indicates a convergence to a single asset class. We endogenously detect the shifts in these dynamic correlation levels and reveal uni-directional volatility shift contagions among precious metals. The results show that gold has a uni-directional volatility shift contagion effect on all other precious metals and silver has a similar effect on platinum and palladium. However, the latter two do not matter in terms of volatility shift contagion. Thus, investors that hedge with precious metals should, in particular, monitor the volatility levels of gold and silver.     

用假单胞菌(PSEUDOMONAS SP.)E4-106生物转化苯丙酮酸生产L-苯丙氨酸研究

用从土壤中筛选的假单胞菌（Ｐｓｅｕｄｏｍｏｎａｓｓｐ．）Ｅ４１０６株细胞进行了转化苯丙酮酸生产Ｌ苯丙氨酸实验研究．结果表明,转氨反应最适温度３５～４０℃;该转氨酶可在ｐＨ７～１０范围内催化反应而活力变化不大;０．５％戊二醛处理细胞可降低其转氨酶活力;表面活性剂处理细胞或在反应液中加入Ｍｇ２＋能显著提高转氨反应速度;Ｌ天冬氨酸是转氨反应的最适氨基供体;底物转化率与底物浓度、氨基供体浓度有关．在此反应体系中,Ｅ４１０６菌株单位湿重细胞的转氨酶活力为１０３９Ｕ／ｇ;生成产物ＬＰｈｅ浓度为３２．２ｇ／Ｌ和５０．４ｇ／Ｌ时,苯丙酮酸摩尔转化率分别为９７．５％、８７．２％．生成产物用ＣＧＡ６８８大孔吸附树脂进行分离、纯化．目标产物经熔点、比旋光度、元素分析、红外光谱和纸层析分析,证实是ＬＰｈｅ．产物收率为８１．８％．     

Cd^2＋对玉米种子活力的影响及Ca^2＋的拮抗作用

用不同浓度（c）的Cd2＋和Cd2＋＋Ca2＋处理玉米种子，以研究Cd2＋对玉米种子活力的毒害及Ca2＋对Cd2＋的拮抗作用，结果表明：在0～0．5mmol／L的c（Cd2＋）范围内，种子的发芽率、幼苗生长量随c（Cd2＋）的增大而降低，Cd2＋能降低玉米幼苗中超氧物歧化酶（SOD）和过氧化氢酶（CAT）的活性，并能增加膜脂过氧化产物丙二醛（MDA）的含量．用Cd2＋＋Ca2＋处理玉米种子时，Ca2＋能减少以至消除Ca2＋对种子活力和幼苗生长的毒害作用，其中c（Cd2＋）为10mmol／L的拮抗作用明显大于5mmol／L．