Feasibility of honeycomb monolith supported sugar catalyst to produce biodiesel from palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD)

Carbon coated monolith was prepared by sucrose solution 65 wt.% via dip-coating method. Sulfonation of incomplete carbonized carbon coated monolith was carried out in order to synthesize solid acid catalyst. The textural structure characteristics of the solid acid catalyst demonstrated a low surface area and pore volume. Palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD), a by-product of palm oil refineries, was utilized as oil source in biodiesel production. The esterification reaction subjected to different reaction conditions was performed by using the sulfonated carbon coated monolith as heterogeneous catalyst. The sulfonation process had been performed by using vapour of concentrated H₂SO₄ that was much easier and efficient than liquid phase sulfonation. Total acidity value of carbon coated monolith was measured for unsulfonated sample (0.5 mmol/g) and sulfonated sample (4.2 mmol/g). The effect of methanol/oil ratio, catalyst amount and reaction time were examined. The maximum methyl ester content was 89% at the optimum condition, i.e. methanol/oil molar ratio (15:1), catalyst amount (2.5 wt.% with respect to PFAD), reaction time (240 min) and temperature 80 °C. The sugar catalyst supported on the honeycomb monolith showed comparable reactivity compared with the sugar catalyst powder. However, the catalyst reusability studies showed decrease in FFA% conversion from 95.3% to 68.8% after four cycles as well as the total acidity of catalyst dropped from the value 4.2 to 3.1 mmol/g during these cycles. This might be likely due to the leaching out of SO₃H group from the sulfonated carbon coated monolith surface. The leaching of active species reached a plateau state after fourth cycle.     

Analysis of the Trend and Seasonal Cycle of Carbon Monoxide Concentrations in an Urban Area (4 pp)

Background, Aim and Scope Air quality is an field of major concern in large cities. This problem has led administrations to introduce plans and regulations to reduce pollutant emissions. The analysis of variations in the concentration of pollutants is useful when evaluating the effectiveness of these plans. However, such an analysis cannot be undertaken using standard statistical techniques, due to the fact that concentrations of atmospheric pollutants often exhibit a lack of normality and are autocorrelated. On the other hand, if long-term trends of any pollutant’s emissions are to be detected, meteorological effects must be removed from the time series analysed, due to their strong masking effects. Materials and Methods The application of statistical methods to analyse temporal variations is illustrated using monthly carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations observed at an urban site. The sampling site is located at a street intersection in central Valencia (Spain) with a high traffic density. Valencia is the third largest city in Spain. It is a typical Mediterranean city in terms of its urban structure and climatology. The sampling site started operation in January 1994 and monitored CO ground level concentrations until February 2002. Its geographic coordinates are W0°22′52″ N39°28′05″ and its altitude is 11 m. Two nonparametric trend tests are applied. One of these is robust against serial correlation with regards to the false rejection rate, when observations have a strong persistence or when the sample size per month is small. A nonparametric analysis of the homogeneity of trends between seasons is also discussed. A multiple linear regression model is used with the transformed data, including the effect of meteorological variables. The method of generalized least squares is applied to estimate the model parameters to take into account the serial dependence of the residuals of this model. This study also assesses temporal changes using the Kolmogorov-Zurbenko (KZ) filter. The KZ filter has been shown to be an effective way to remove the influence of meteorological conditions on O₃ and PM to examine underlying trends. Results The nonparametric tests indicate a decreasing, significant trend in the sampled site. The application of the linear model yields a significant decrease every twelve months of 15.8% for the average monthly CO concentration. The 95% confidence interval for the trend ranges from 13.9% to 17.7%. The seasonal cycle also provides significant results. There are no differences in trends throughout the months. The percentage of CO variance explained by the linear model is 90.3%. The KZ filter separates out long, short-term and seasonal variations in the CO series. The estimated, significant, long-term trend every year results in 10.3% with this method. The 95% confidence interval ranges from 8.8% to 11.9%. This approach explains 89.9% of the CO temporal variations. Discussion The differences between the linear model and KZ filter trend estimations are due to the fact that the KZ filter performs the analysis on the smoothed data rather than the original data. In the KZ filter trend estimation, the effect of meteorological conditions has been removed. The CO short-term componentis attributable to weather and short-term fluctuations in emissions. There is a significant seasonal cycle. This component is a result of changes in the traffic, the yearly meteorological cycle and the interactions between these two factors. There are peaks during the autumn and winter months, which have more traffic density in the sampled site. There is a minimum during the month of August, reflecting the very low level of vehicle emissions which is a direct consequence of the holiday period. Conclusions The significant, decreasing trend implies to a certain extent that the urban environment in the area is improving. This trend results from changes in overall emissions, pollutant transport, climate, policy and economics. It is also due to the effect of introducing reformulated gasoline. The additives enable vehicles to burn fuel with a higher air/fuel ratio, thereby lowering the emission of CO. The KZ filter has been the most effective method to separate the CO series components and to obtain an estimate of the long-term trend due to changes in emissions, removing the effect of meteorological conditions. Recommendations and Perspectives Air quality managers and policy-makers must understand the link between climate and pollutants to select optimal pollutant reduction strategies and avoid exceeding emission directives. This paper analyses eight years of ambient CO data at a site with a high traffic density, and provides results that are useful for decision-making. The assessment of long-term changes in air pollutants to evaluate reduction strategies has to be done while taking into account meteorological variability     

煤烟型大气污染解决方法

重点介绍了新型燃煤工艺——水平火焰无烟工业炉及其特点，并提出排烟尾气处理的资源化方案。     

Monitoring and economic factors affecting the economic viability of afforestation for carbon sequestration projects

The Kyoto Protocol is the first step towards achieving the objectives of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and aims among others to promote ‘the protection and enhancement of carbon sinks and reservoirs’. To encourage afforestation for carbon sequestration a project must be economically viable. This study uses a model to analyse the impact on project viability of a range of carbon monitoring options, international carbon credit value and discount rate, applied to a Pinus radiata afforestation project in New Zealand. Monitoring carbon in conjunction with conventional forest inventory shows the highest return. Long-term average carbon accounting has lower accounting costs, compared to annual and 5 yearly accounting, as monitoring is only required every 5–10 years until the long-term average is attained. In this study we conclude that monitoring soil carbon stocks is not economically feasible using any of the accounting methods, when carbon is valued at US$ 10/t. This conclusion may be relevant to forest carbon sequestration projects elsewhere in the world and suggests care is needed in selecting the appropriate carbon monitoring options to avoid the risk that costs could be higher than any monetary benefits from terrestrial carbon sequestration. This would remove any commercial incentive to afforest for carbon sequestration reasons and severely limit the use of forest sinks as part of any package of measures addressing the ultimate objective of the UNFCCC.     

萃取分光光度法测定工业废气中的游离溴

用萃取分光光度法测定工业废气中的游离溴，并对样品的采集与保存，萃取条件的选择进行了研究。结果表明，当溴的含量在１８．０－４５０．０μｇ／ｍＬ范围同时，吸光度与浓度具有良好的线性关系，方法的采样效率大于９９％，精密度和准确度较好当采集气体为１００Ｌ时，最低检出肖度为０．１４ｍｇ／ｍ＾３。     

Shell渣油造气工艺的环境保护

介绍了Shell渣油造气工艺过程中的碳黑，石脑油污染，微口废水池导致硫化氮，一氧化碳，碳黑的污染及渣油泵检修带来的渣油污染，以及为保护环境消除污染而采取的技术改造措施。     

上海市大气中非甲烷烃与机动车尾气排放研究

采用特征性化合物法和统计法相结合的方法,对上海市大气中非甲烷烃(NMHC)与作为机动车尾气特征性化合物的CO与Pb进行了相关性分析。结果发现,NMHC与Pb在显著性水平0.01下显著性相关,相关系数达到0.593(n=18);NMHC与CO小时均值相关系数达到0.495(n=2329),日均值相关系数达到0.581(n=114)。从而判断机动车尾气排放已经逐渐成为上海市大气中NMHC的主要贡献者。     

不同前处理方法对活性炭吸附一氧化碳的影响

本文采用颗粒状活性炭（GH-A)作吸附剂，通过不同的前处理方法，以一氧化碳CO与空气的混合物为分离测定对象，用气固色谱法测定被活性炭充分吸附前、后的混合气体中CO的含量，对比评价几种前处理方法。结果表明，对CO的吸附量显著提高的前处理方法分别是研磨筛分至32—38目、酸洗、添加改性剂So而水洗则降低了活性炭吸附CO的能力。     

低浓度二氧化碳检测管的研制

应用活性氧铝—百里香酚酞吸附ＣＯ２线性比长法研制出低浓度ＣＯ２检测管。测定范围０．０５～０．９０％;灵敏度为０．０５％;检测管变色长度与ＣＯ２浓度的相关系数γ＝０．９９８１,精密度与准确度符合国家标准８３ＧＢ７２２０～７２８０。其可靠性与经典的何氏气体分析器比较,结果基本一致。低浓度的ＳＯ２、Ｈ２Ｓ和ＮＨ３对测定无明显干扰,现场监测应用效果可靠,值得推广应用。     

污水管道危害性气体浓度分布模型扩展与验证

污水管道危害气体分布模型的建立对管道的维护管理具有重要意义。以SewerX模型为基础,将硫酸盐还原作为产生CO的主要生化过程,并入污水管道总生化反应体系,扩展SewerX模型,建立了污水管道内CO、H2S、CH4的浓度分布应用模型。将其应用到某市长度为4 100 m污水管道,管道危害气体浓度模拟结果与实测结果比对发现,浓度变化趋势一致,相关系数达到0.99以上,表明扩展模型具有实际应用价值。在一定设计流量下,可选择不同污水管道水力参数,应用扩展模型分析表明,合理选择参数可降低污水管道危害气体浓度。研究为污水管道内危害性气体浓度的预测提供参考。