Efficacy of two chemical coagulants and three different filtration media on removal of Aspergillus flavus from surface water

Aquatic fungi are common in various aqueous environments and play potentially crucial roles in nutrient and carbon cycling as well as interacting with other organisms. Species of Aspergillus are the most common fungi that occur in water. The present study was undertaken to elucidate the efficacy of two coagulants, aluminum sulfate and ferric chloride, used at different concentrations to treat drinking water, in removing Aspergillusflavus, as well as testing three different filtration media： sand, activated carbon, and ceramic granules, for their removal of fungi from water. The results revealed that both coagulants were effective in removing fungi and decreasing the turbidity of drinking water, and turbidity decreased with increasing coagulant concentration. Also, at the highest concentration of the coagulants, A. flavus was decreased by 99.6% in the treated water. Among ceramic granules, activated carbon, and sand used as media for water filtration, the sand and activated carbon filters were more effective in removing A.flavus than ceramic granules while simultaneously decreasing the turbidity levels in the test water samples. Post-treatment total organic carbon （TOC） and total nitrogen （TN） concentrations in the experimental water did not decrease; on the contrary, TN concentrations increased with the increasing dosage of coagulants. The filtration process had no effect in reducing TOC and TN in tested water.     

Removal of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from aqueous solution by raw and modified plant residue materials as biosorbents

Removal of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons （PAHs）, e.g., naphthalene, acenaphthene, phenanthrene and pyrene, from aqueous solution by raw and modified plant residues was investigated to develop low cost biosorbents for organic pollutant abatement. Bamboo wood, pine wood, pine needles and pine bark were selected as plant residues, and acid hydrolysis was used as an easily modification method. The raw and modified biosorbents were characterized by elemental analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The sorption isotherms of PAHs to raw biosorbents were apparently linear, and were dominated by a partitioning process. In comparison, the isotherms of the hydrolyzed biosorbents displayed nonlinearity, which was controlled by partitioning and the specific interaction mechanism. The sorpfion kinetic curves of PAHs to the raw and modified plant residues fit well with the pseudo second-order kinetics model. The sorption rates were faster for the raw biosorbents than the corresponding hydrolyzed biosorbents, which was attributed to the latter having more condensed domains （i.e., exposed aromatic core）. By the consumption of the amorphous cellulose component under acid hydrolysis, the sorption capability of the hydrolyzed biosorbents was notably enhanced, i.e., 6-18 fold for phenanthrene, 6-8 fold for naphthalene and pyrene and 5-8 fold for acenaphthene. The sorpfion coefficients （Kd） were negatively correlated with the polarity index [（O＋N）/C], and positively correlated with the aromaticity of the biosorbents. For a given biosorbent, a positive linear correlation between logKoc and logKow for different PAHs was observed. Interestingly, the linear plots of logKoc-logKow were parallel for different biosorbents. These observations suggest that the raw and modified plant residues have great potential as biosorbents to remove PAHs from wastewater.     

Reduction and characterization of bioaerosols in a wastewater treatment station via ventilation

Bioaerosols from wastewater treatment processes are a significant subgroup of atmospheric aerosols. In the present study,airborne microorganisms generated from a wastewater treatment station(WWTS) that uses an oxidation ditch process were diminished by ventilation.Conventional sampling and detection methods combined with cloning/sequencing techniques were applied to determine the groups,concentrations,size distributions,and species diversity of airborne microorganisms before and after ventilation. There were 3021 ± 537 CFU/m3 of airborne bacteria and 926 ± 132 CFU/m3 of airborne fungi present in the WWTS bioaerosol.Results showed that the ventilation reduced airborne microorganisms significantly compared to the air in the WWTS. Over 60% of airborne bacteria and airborne fungi could be reduced after4 hr of air exchange. The highest removal(92.1% for airborne bacteria and 89.1% for fungi) was achieved for 0.65–1.1 μm sized particles. The bioaerosol particles over 4.7 μm were also reduced effectively. Large particles tended to be lost by gravitational settling and small particles were generally carried away,which led to the relatively easy reduction of bioaerosol particles0.65–1.1 μm and over 4.7 μm in size. An obvious variation occurred in the structure of the bacterial communities when ventilation was applied to control the airborne microorganisms in enclosed spaces.     

Experimental study on filtration and continuous regeneration of a particulate filter system for heavy-duty diesel engines

This study investigated the filtration and continuous regeneration of a particulate filter system on an engine test bench, consisting of a diesel oxidation catalyst（DOC） and a catalyzed diesel particulate filter（CDPF）. Both the DOC and the CDPF led to a high conversion of NO to NO2 for continuous regeneration. The filtration efficiency on solid particle number（SPN） was close to100%. The post-CDPF particles were mainly in accumulation mode. The downstream SPN was sensitively influenced by the variation of the soot loading. This phenomenon provides a method for determining the balance point temperature by measuring the trend of SPN concentration.     

Dyes adsorption using a synthetic carboxymethyl cellulose-acrylic acid adsorbent

Removal of noxious dyes is gaining public and technological attention. Herein grafting polymerization was employed to produce a novel adsorbent using acrylic acid and carboxymethyl cellulose for dye removal. Scanning electron microscopy and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy verified the adsorbent formed under optimized reaction conditions. The removal ratio of adsorbent to Methyl Orange, Disperse Blue 2BLN and malachite green chloride reached to 84.2%, 79.6% and 99.9%, respectively. The greater agreement between the calculated and experimental results suggested that pseudo second-order kinetic model better represents the kinetic adsorption data. Equilibrium adsorptions of dyes were better explained by the Temkin isotherm. The results implied that this new cellulose-based absorbent had the universaiity for removal of dyes through the chemical adsorption mechanism.     

Pd/activated carbon sorbents for mid-temperature capture of mercury from coal-derived fuel gas

Higher concentrations of Hg can be emitted from coal pyrolysis or gasification than from coal combustion, especially elemental Hg. Highly efficient Hg removal technology from coal-derived fuel gas is thus of great importance. Based on the very excellent Hg removal ability of Pd and the high adsorption abilities of activated carbon（AC） for H2 S and Hg, a series of Pd/AC sorbents was prepared by using pore volume impregnation, and their performance in capturing Hg and H2 S from coal-derived fuel gas was investigated using a laboratory-scale fixed-bed reactor. The effects of loading amount, reaction temperature and reaction atmosphere on Hg removal from coal-derived fuel gas were studied. The sorbents were characterized by N2 adsorption, X-ray diffraction（XRD） and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy（XPS）. The results indicated that the efficiency of Hg removal increased with the increasing of Pd loading amount, but the effective utilization rate of the active component Pd decreased significantly at the same time. High temperature had a negative influence on the Hg removal. The efficiency of Hg removal in the N2-H2S-H2-CO-Hg atmosphere（simulated coal gas） was higher than that in N2-H2S-Hg and N2-Hg atmospheres, which showed that H2 and CO, with their reducing capacity, could benefit promote the removal of Hg. The XPS results suggested that there were two different ways of capturing Hg over sorbents in N2-H2S-Hg and N2-Hg atmospheres.     

FBC-DPF在柴油机颗粒物控制中的应用研究

目前针对加装FBC-DPF(燃油添加剂-柴油机颗粒捕集器)后的柴油机放特性研究较少,并且缺乏FBC-DPF对颗粒物中PAHs排放量的影响效果研究.为全面评估加装FBC-DPF后柴油机颗粒物排放特性和FBC-DPF对柴油机尾气中的颗粒物排放污染控制效果,在发动机台架上对装有FBC-DPF的重型柴油机进行了颗粒物排放特性试验.利用电子低压撞击仪(ELPI)测量加装FBC-DPF前、后柴油机颗粒物的数浓度与粒径分布,用玻璃纤维滤膜采集加装FBC-DPF前、后尾气中的固相PAHs,利用色谱质谱联用仪对加装FBC-DPF前、后尾气中的固相PAHs进行定量分析.结果表明:①加装FBC-DPF后柴油机排放的颗粒物数浓度大幅降低,FBC-DPF对尾气中颗粒物的捕集效率平均值在95%左右;②加装FBC-DPF后柴油机固相PAHs总比排放量有所降低,在大负荷区域降幅在25.0%～88.0%之间;③加装FBC-DPF前的颗粒物中位直径为30～89 nm,而加装FBC-DPF后的颗粒物中位直径为41～98 nm,平均增幅为38.2%.对于国Ⅳ及未来国Ⅴ柴油机排放法规,FBC-DPF是解决柴油机颗粒物排放的有效手段;此外,FBC-DPF可以大幅降低柴油机尾气中的有毒成分,并且能够适应高含硫量的燃油环境.     

Aerobic granules cultivated and operated in continuous-flow bioreactor under particle-size selective pressure

A novel method based on the selective pressure of particle size （particle-size cultivation method, PSCM） was developed for the cultivation and operation of aerobic granular sludge in a continuous-flow reactor, and compared with the conventional method based on the selective pressure of settling velocity （settling-velocity cultivation method, SVCM）. Results indicated that aerobic granules could be cultivated in continuous operation mode by this developed method within 14 days. Although in the granulation process, under particle-size selective pressure, mixed liquor suspended solids （MLSS） in the reactor fluctuated greatly and filamentous bacteria dominated the sludge system during the initial operation days, no obvious difference in profile was found between the aerobic granules cultivated by PSCM and SVCM. Moreover, aerobic granules cultivated by PSCM presented larger diameter, lower water content and higher specific rates of nitrification, denitrifieation and phosphorus removal, but lower settling velocity. Under long term operation of more than 30 days, aerobic granules in the continuous-flow reactor could remain stable and obtain good chemical oxygen demand （COD）, NH4^＋-N, total nitrogen （TN） and total phosphorus （TP） removal. The results indicate that PSCM was dependent on the cultivation and maintenance of the stability of aerobic granules in continuous-flow bioreactors.     

UASB处理酒精废水耐冲击特性与颗粒污泥分析

针对UASB耐冲击能力低的问题,采用短暂冲击负荷的方法进行52 d中试研究,并考察接种絮状污泥的UASB对以污冷凝水为主要成分的酒精废水的处理效果,结果表明,UASB呈现较强耐冲击负荷能力;第49天产气速率最高,可达3.03 L/(L·d),反应器内形成了粒径0.5~1.5 mm的颗粒,电镜扫描的颗粒污泥结构致密,由多个杆状细菌形成网状结构。在夏季无保温措施、负荷冲击条件下培养颗粒污泥是可行的。     

颗粒活性炭改性同步去除水中铅、铬的研究

为提高颗粒活性炭同步去除水中铅、铬污染物的能力,分别使用氧化铁、氧化锰、十六烷基三甲基溴化铵(HTMAB)和氯化十六烷基吡啶(CPC)制作改性活性炭(Fe Cl3-AC,Mn O2-AC,HTMAB-AC,CPC-AC)。通过测定4种改性活性炭表面的等电点p H、酸碱官能团和扫描电子显微镜图像,研究4种改性活性炭吸附效果优异并分析其中原因。结果表明:Fe Cl3-AC同步去除铅、铬效果最佳,HTMAB-AC、CPC-AC与原炭效果持平,Mn O2-AC效果还不及原炭。从等电点p H来看,Fe Cl3-AC拥有较低的等电点p H,有利于静电吸附铬酸根阴离子团;从酸性基团数目来看,Fe Cl3-AC表面拥有较多酸性官能团,有利于离子交换作用,保证了对铅离子较高的吸附效率;从SEM来看,Fe Cl3-AC上Fe Cl3负载均匀,有效改善了活性炭表面特性,有利于吸附。