Trends in sediment metal concentrations in the River Avoca, South-East Ireland

Variation in sediment metal concentrations in the River Avoca, which is severely polluted by acid mine drainage (AMD) discharged from the abandoned sulphur and copper mines in Avoca, is reported. A survey of surface and subsurface sediments was repeated after seven years during exceptionally low flow conditions in 2001. The present study found that the reference (up-stream) site used in the original 1994 study was itself impacted by AMD, showing sediment metal enrichment by AMD to be greater than originally thought. The new reference site contained elevated Pb (570 µg g^–1) in the subsurface sediment due to abandoned Pb-Zn mines 25 km further upstream. Concentrations of Cu (43 µg g^–1), Zn (349 µg g^–1) and Fe (4.0%) were normal for uncontaminated rivers. All the downstream sites showed sediment metal enrichment arising from the AMD (Cu and Zn p < 0.001; Fe p < 0.01). Subsurface concentrations of metals immediately below the mixing zone were Cu 904 µg g–1 (sd 335), Zn 723 µg g–1 (sd 93), Fe 6.3% (sd 1.5) and Pb 463 µg g^–1 (sd 279). Monthly variation in metal concentrations at sites was not significantly different (p > 0.05). Although surface sediment metal concentrations were more variable, they followed similar trends to subsurface sediment. There were no significant differences in the subsurface sediment concentrations for either Cu or Zn over the period 1994 and 2001 immediately below the mines, although at the lowest site Zn had decreased by 35% over the period (p < 0.01). However there was a significant (p < 0.01) decrease over the period in the Fe concentration at all the impacted sites. This corresponds to a reduction in Fe concentration in the AMD and indicates that some remediation has occurred in the river since 1994.     

Advanced nitrogen removal by pulsed sequencing batch reactors (SBR) with real-time control

The feasibility of pH and oxidation reduction potential (ORP) as on-line control parameters to advance nitrogen removal in pulsed sequencing batch reactors (SBR) was evaluated. The pulsed SBR, a novel operational mode of SBR, was utilized to treat real municipal wastewater accompanied with adding ethanol as external carbon source. It was observed that the bending-point (apex and knee) of pH and ORP profiles can be used to control denitrification process at a low influent C/N ratio while dpH/dt can be used to control the nitrification and denitrification process at a high influent C/N ratio. The experimental results demonstrated that the effluent total nitrogen can be reduced to lower than 2 mg/L, and the average total nitrogen (TN) removal efficiency was higher than 98% by using real-time controll strategy. __________ Translated from Techniques and Equipment for Environmental Pollution Control, 2006, 7(12): 32–35 [译自: 环境污染治理技术与设备]     

COAL ASH BASIN EFFECTS (PARTICULATES,METALS, ACIDIC pH) UPON AQUATIC BIOTA: AN EIGHT-YEAR EVALUATION1

ABSTRACT Coal ash effluent effects including particulates, acidic pH excursions, elemental concentrations and bioconcentration in selected organisms have been studied as changes in water quality and densities of benthic macroinvertebrate and mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) populations in a swamp drainage system over an eight-year period. Three changes in the ash basin settling system were made between mid- 1973 and January 1982. Initial density of the aquatic biota was altered severely by heavy ash siltation, followed by acidic pH excursions and perhaps overall by elemental concentrations and bioaccumulation. Heavy ash siltation, followed by acidic Ph excursions (mean of 5.5, extreme of 3.5) after the addition of fly ash to the original settling basin system, had the most profound effect on biota. Dipterans (chironomids) and some odonates (Plathemis lydia and Libellula spp.) were resistant to heavy ash siltation, while mosquitofish, which showed no discernible responses to ash siltation, were absent at acidic pH, along with the few previously surviving invertebrate populations. Elemental concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, selenium, and zinc did not appear to limit aquatic flora and fauna on a short-term, acute basis. Long, chronic elemental exposures may have been instrumental in retarding the recovery of all forms of aquatic life in the receiving system. Elemental concentrations (except for arsenic and selenium) in the receiving system were generally one to two orders of magnitude higher than the Water Quality Criteria set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1980) for protection of aquatic life for the minimum and 24-hour mean values. From collective elemental exposures in the receiving system, bioconcentration factors in macrophytes, invertebrates and fish were generally lower than those reported in the literature for laboratory, single elemental concentrations. By 1978, when the new settling basin systems were operating effectively, invertebrate populations were largely recovered, and mosquitofish populations recovered within one year afterward.     

Consequences and Correctives Related to Lake Acidification, Liming and Mercury in Fish – A Case-Study for Lake Huljesjön, Sweden, Using the LakeWeb-model

This work exemplifies how a given lake (Lake Huljesjön, Sweden) would likely respond to changes in pH-values and to liming (a standard measure against anthropogenic acidification). The basic questions are: How would a liming influence pH? How long would the changes last? How would the changes influence the structure and function of lake ecosystems? The work uses a comprehensive lake ecosystem model, LakeWeb, which accounts for production, biomasses, predation, abiotic/biotic interactions of nine key functional groups of organisms, phytoplankton, bacterioplankton, two types of zooplankton (herbivorous and predatory), two types of fish (prey and predatory), zoobenthos, macrophytes and benthic algae. LakeWeb is a dynamic model and gives weekly variations. It has been critically tested using empirical data and regressions from many lakes. Those tests are not presented here but have shown that the model can capture typical functional and structural patterns in lakes very well. This gives credibility to the results presented in this work, which would be very costly to obtain in the traditional manner by extensive field studies in one or a few lakes. This work presents for the first time predictions at the ecosystem level of how functional groups of organisms (and not individual species) are likely to respond to acidification and liming. Two existing dynamic models, one for liming, the other for Hg-concentrations in fish, have been added to the LakeWeb-model. These two models have previously been tested and proven to yield good predictions. The results presented here indicate that there are several probable changes in the structure and function of the lake foodweb related to acidification and liming. The predicted changes in macrophyte cover will influence the predation pressure on fish, and thereby the fish biomass. Reductions in primary production at low pH-values will cause reductions in fish biomass. There are several interesting compensatory effects between factors that increase fish biomass and factors that tend to decrease the biomass. Such matters can be handled quantitatively by the LakeWeb-model.     

Impacts of ocean CO2 disposal on marine life: II. Probabilistic plume exposure model used with a time‐varying dose‐response analysis

A method to evaluate aquatic mortality given a pollutant distribution is presented and applied to several sample low pH plumes representing various ocean CO₂ disposal schemes. The method is an improvement over current analysis because it integrates the mortality due to timevarying exposure to low pH with the probabilistic experiences of passive organisms subject to turbulent lateral diffusion as they pass through the plume. For the examples presented, the plume was discretized laterally into lanes and longitudinally by time steps, and a random walk model accounting for the scaledependent nature of relative diffusion was used to simulate the organism pathways over one time step. From these simulations, the probability that an organism will be in a given lane, , one time step after it starts from an initial lane, , was determined for all combinations of and . These probabilities were used to find the number of organisms following each of the possible pathways, and the mortality to the organisms due to their time varying exposure to low pH was determined by using the toxicity model described in part I of this paper. The integrated method allows the impact of the plume to be described in terms of total organism mortality as well as spatial deficit of organisms.     

嗜酸性氧化亚铁硫杆菌介导的次生铁矿物形成的影响因素分析

酸性矿山废水(AMD)具有酸度高并含有大量可溶性Fe、硫酸根及重(类)金属的特点,采用生物矿化法促使AMD中Fe向羟基硫酸铁次生矿物转变,对AMD后期石灰中和减少氢氧化铁和废石膏的产生,提高中和效率具有实际意义.本研究模拟AMD,考察了初始pH、Fe~(2+)浓度、Fe/Na摩尔比对嗜酸性氧化亚铁硫杆菌(Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans)体系中Fe~(2+)氧化率、总Fe沉淀率、次生铁矿物矿相的影响.结果表明,高浓度Na~+会抑制A.ferrooxidans的氧化能力,当Na~+浓度在A.ferrooxidans耐受范围内时,其不影响Fe~(2+)氧化及总Fe沉淀去除效果,表现在160、80、20 mmol·L~(-1)的Fe~(2+)分别在72、48、48 h内被完全氧化,培养至终点时平均总Fe沉淀率分别为20.04%、16.43%、0.99%.此外,在Fe~(2+)浓度为160mmol·L~(-1)体系中,当Fe/Na摩尔比为1.0、2.0时,pH为2.0~2.6时获得次生铁矿物均为纯净施氏矿物.而当Fe/Na摩尔比降至0.5时,次生铁矿物的合成途径开始向黄钠铁矾转移,且其特征衍射峰随着Na~+浓度提高而愈加显著.本研究结果可为生物合成次生铁矿物工艺的优化及其在AMD治理领域的有效应用提供必要的参数支撑.     

腐植酸对重金属铅镉的吸附特征

为了揭示腐植酸对单一Pb、单一Cd和Pb、Cd复合污染物的吸附特征,笔者通过吸附模拟实验分析了pH、温度、反应时间和初始浓度等因素变化对风化煤腐植酸吸附重金属离子Pb~(2+)和Cd~(2+)的影响.结果表明,腐植酸对Pb~(2+)的吸附受pH值变化的影响很小,但对Cd~(2+)的吸附随着pH增加而增加;腐植酸对Pb~(2+)和Cd~(2+)吸附饱和的时间均为240 min;对Pb~(2+)和Cd~(2+)的吸附量均随温度的增加而增加;Langmuir吸附模型对腐植酸吸附单一Pb~(2+)、单一Cd~(2+)和铅镉复合态中Pb~(2+)的拟合较好,Freundlich吸附模型则对腐植酸吸附铅镉复合态中Cd~(2+)的拟合较好;准二级动力学模型能较好地拟合腐植酸吸附Pb~(2+)和Cd~(2+)的过程,说明腐植酸对铅镉的吸附为物理吸附和化学吸附的复合吸附过程;铅镉复合态下Pb~(2+)和Cd~(2+)存在竞争吸附,单一Pb~(2+)溶液中加入Cd~(2+)对腐植酸吸附Pb~(2+)基本无影响,但单一Cd~(2+)溶液中加入Pb~(2+)时,Pb~(2+)会与Cd~(2+)产生竞争吸附,从而降低Cd~(2+)的吸附量.本研究结果可为利用腐植酸稳定土壤中Pb~(2+)、Cd~(2+)等重金属离子的技术开发提供参考.     

基于灰度的生物炭pH值与N和K离子吸附研究

通过固定床石英管热解装置将稻壳、木薯秸秆及玉米秸秆在350、450、500、550、600℃进行充分热解制备生物炭,利用图像识别技术获得生物炭的RGB值（红、绿、蓝三个通道的颜色）及相应的灰度值,研究了生物炭灰度值与其水溶液中的pH值及阳离子（NH₄⁺-N及K⁺-K）吸附性能的关系.结果表明：3种生物炭的pH值随着灰度值的增加呈现“S”型增长趋势,并符合DoseResp模型,回归方程的决定系数（R²）分别为0.9766、0.9592和0.9219,残差平方和（RSS）均小于0.01;除玉米秸秆炭的K⁺-K吸附量与灰度值的关系为线性负相关外,3种生物炭的NH₄⁺-N和K⁺-K吸附量与灰度值之间满足一元高次非线性模型,R²范围在0.8595~0.9999.本研究为快速预测生物炭在水溶液中的pH值和阳离子吸附性能提供了理论基础.     

利用H+浓度变化控制含Cl-的氨氮废水的电解时间

采用电化学间接氧化法处理含Cl^-的中高浓度氨氮废水,针对不同浓度的氨氮废水的电解时间的控制,提出利用废水的H⁺浓度变化控制氨氮废水实际处理时间.从理论计算及对模拟和实际氨氮废水进行电解分析发现：当废水氨氮还没有完全降解时,每一个NH₄⁺降解的过程中会生成一个H⁺,c（H⁺）随着时间线性上升;当氨氮刚好完全降解时,c（H⁺）达到最大值;此后继续电解且废水pH＜7时,电解过程形成的OH^-会持续消耗H⁺,c（H⁺）随着时间线性下降.利用pH计实时监测废水的pH值,通过程控信号转换器进行c（H⁺）与pH值的换算,将pH值信号转化为c（H⁺）信号,可提高决策的准确性和灵敏度.     

Disinfection byproducts and halogen-specific total organic halogen speciation in chlorinated source waters – The impact of iopamidol and bromide

This study investigated the speciation of halogen-specific total organic halogen and disinfection byproducts(DBPs) upon chlorination of natural organic matter(NOM) in the presence of iopamidol and bromide(Br~-).Experiments were conducted with low bromide source waters with different NOM characteristics from Northeast Ohio,USA and varied spiked levels of bromide(2-30 μmol/L) and iopamidol(1-5 μmol/L).Iopamidol was found to be a direct precursor to trihalomethane(THM) and haloacetic acid formation,and in the presence of Br~-favored brominated analogs.The concentration and speciation of DBPs formed were impacted by iopamidol and bromide concentrations,as well as the presence of NOM.As iopamidol increased the concentration of iodinated DBPs(iodo-DBPs) and THMs increased.However,as Br~-concentrations increased,the concentrations of nonbrominated iodo-and chloro-DBPs decreased while brominated-DBPs increased.Regardless of the concentration of either iopamidol or bromide,bromochloroiodomethane(CHBrClI) was the most predominant iodo-DBP formed except at the lowest bromide concentration studied.At relevant concentrations of iopamidol(1 μmol/L) and bromide(2 μmol/L),significant quantities of highly toxic iodinated and brominated DBPs were formed.However,the rapid oxidation and incorporation of bromide appear to inhibit iodoDBP formation under conditions relevant to drinking water treatment.