Recovery of biomass wastes by hydrolysis in sub-critical water

The recovery of waste substances is important not only for the prevention of environmental issues, but also for the rational utilization of natural resources. Hydrolysis reaction in sub-critical water is a promising method for the treatment of organic wastes and has been attracting worldwide attention. In this paper, sub-critical water hydrolysis was employed as a method for producing amino acids, reducing sugars, bio-oil and gas fuels from biomass wastes. The current statuses of these useful chemicals production from biomass wastes by hydrolysis in sub-critical water were reviewed. The review indicates that sub-critical water hydrolysis can be an efficient process for recovering useful chemicals from biomass wastes. This method is renewable, sustainable, efficient, and safe for the environment.     

CO2 capture and storage from a bioethanol plant: Carbon and energy footprint and economic assessment

Biomass energy and carbon capture and storage (BECCS) can lead to a net removal of atmospheric CO₂. This paper investigates environmental and economic performances of CCS retrofit applied to two mid-sized refineries producing ethanol from sugar beets. Located in the Region Centre France, each refinery has two major CO₂ sources: fermentation and cogeneration units. “carbon and energy footprint” (CEF) and “discounted cash flow” (DCF) analyses show that such a project could be a good opportunity for CCS early deployment. CCS retrofit on fermentation only with natural gas fired cogeneration improves CEF of ethanol production and consumption by 60% without increasing much the non renewable energy consumption. CCS retrofit on fermentation and natural gas fired cogeneration is even more appealing by decreasing of 115% CO₂ emissions, while increasing non renewable energy consumption by 40%. DCF shows that significant project rates of return can be achieved for such small sources if both a stringent carbon policy and direct subsidies corresponding to 25% of necessary investment are assumed. We also underlined that transport and storage cost dilution can be realistically achieved by clustering emissions from various plants located in the same area. On a single plant basis, increasing ethanol production can also produce strong economies of scale.     

Spatially distributed modeling of the long-term carbon balance of a boreal landscape

Spatially and temporally distributed information on the sizes of biomass carbon (C) pools (BCPs) and soil C pools (SCPs) is vital for improving our understanding of biosphere-atmosphere C fluxes. Because the sizes of C pools result from the integrated effects of primary production, age-effects, changes in climate, atmospheric CO₂ concentration, N deposition, and disturbances, a modeling scheme that interactively considers these processes is important. We used the InTEC model, driven by various spatio-temporal datasets to simulate the long-term C-balance in a boreal landscape in eastern Canada. Our results suggested that in this boreal landscape, mature coniferous stands had stabilized their productivity and fluctuated as a weak C-sink or C-source depending on the interannual variations in hydrometeorological factors. Disturbed deciduous stands were larger C-sinks (NEP₂₀₀₄ = 150 gC m⁻² yr⁻¹) than undisturbed coniferous stands (e.g. NEP₂₀₀₄ = 8 gC m⁻² yr⁻¹). Wetlands had lower NPP but showed temporally consistent C accumulation patterns. The simulated spatio-temporal patterns of BCPs and SCPs were unique and reflected the integrated effects of climate, plant growth and atmospheric chemistry besides the inherent properties of the C pool themselves. The simulated BCPs and SCPs generally compared well with the biometric estimates (BCPs: r = 0.86, SCPs: r = 0.84). The largest BCP biases were found in recently disturbed stands and the largest SCP biases were seen in locations where moss necro-masses were abundant. Reconstructing C pools and C fluxes in the ecosystem in such a spatio-temporal manner could help reduce the uncertainties in our understanding of terrestrial C-cycle.     

常绿-半常绿杨树对磷素的利用特性

缺磷是限制农林业产量的一个重要因子,传统的农林业生产主要通过施肥和土壤改良来满足植物对磷的需求,近年来人们开始发掘磷高效利用植物来替代传统方法提高磷的利用效率.A-65/27、A-65/31及A-61/186是目前世界上仅有的3个常绿杨树无性系,共同特点是容易扦插繁殖,造林成活率高,生长快,材质好.3个无性系的推广将极大地丰富南方用材林树种资源.为揭示磷素胁迫条件下常绿杨无性系对土壤中磷素的利用特性,通过沙培试验,设计5个磷素处理水平(磷的质量浓度依次是0.00、0.0310、0.0619、0.1239、0.1858 g·L~(-1)),进行不同磷素处理水平下常绿杨生长及生理生态特性的研究.结果表明:当磷的质量浓度为0.0619 g·L~(-1)时已经能满足常绿杨生长对磷的基本需求;磷素不足会明显的影响到常绿杨的生长.低磷胁迫下常绿杨高度、地径及生物量明显降低;低磷胁迫下光合速率也明显下降,通过对气孔导度及胞间二氧化碳浓度的变化趋势分析,导致光合速率下降的主要原因是非气孔限制因素,同步叶绿素荧光的测定表明光系统Ⅱ受到了一定的影响,这是非气孔限制因素之一.     

EcoTroph: Modelling marine ecosystem functioning and impact of fishing

EcoTroph (ET) is a model articulated around the idea that the functioning of aquatic ecosystems may be viewed as a biomass flow moving from lower to higher trophic levels, due to predation and ontogenetic processes. Thus, we show that the ecosystem biomass present at a given trophic level may be estimated from two simple equations, one describing biomass flow, the other their kinetics (which quantifies the velocity of biomass transfers towards top predators). The flow kinetic of prey partly depends on the abundance of their predators, and a top-down equation expressing this is included in the model. Based on these relationships, we simulated the impact on a virtual ecosystem of various exploitation patterns. Specifically, we show that the EcoTroph approach is able to mimic the effects of increased fishing effort on ecosystem biomass expected from theory. Particularly, the model exhibits complex patterns observed in field data, notably cascading effects and ‘fishing down the food web’. EcoTroph also provides diagnostic tools for examining the relationships between catch and fishing effort at the ecosystem scale and the effects of strong top-down controls and fast-flow kinetics on ecosystems resilience. Finally, a dynamic version of the model is derived from the steady-state version, thus allowing simulations of time series of ecosystem biomass and catches. Using this dynamic model, we explore the propagation of environmental variability in the food web, and illustrated how exploitation can induce a decrease of ecosystem stability. The potential for applying EcoTroph to specific ecosystems, based on field data, and similarities between EcoTroph and Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) are finally discussed.     

复合式生物膜反应器中生物膜的特性

传统的活性污泥工艺中加入废弃轮胎颗粒作为生物膜载体形成的复合式生物膜反应器。在颗粒浓度为４０ｇ／Ｌ时,稳定运行条件下在轮胎颗粒表面可形成约５０ｍｇ／ｇ的生物膜量,即在传统曝气池的２０００－３０００ｍｇ／Ｌ悬浮生长污泥的基础上,可增加２０００ｍｇ／Ｌ的附着生物膜量。     

Optimal biomass allocation in heterogeneous environments in a clonal plant—Spatial division of labor

When interconnected ramets of clonal plants are growing in heterogeneous environments, ramets may specialize to uptake locally abundant resources rather than scarce resources. This biomass allocation pattern may result in more efficient sharing of resources through physiological integration and an overall benefit to the plants (spatial division of labor; DoL).     

Differences in the growth response of three bryophyte species to nitrogen

The effect of nitrogen on biomass production, shoot elongation and relative density of the mosses Pleurozium schreberi, Hylocomium splendens and Dicranum polysetum was studied in a chamber experiment. Monocultures were exposed to 10 N levels ranging from 0.02 to 7.35 g N m⁻² during a 90-day period. All the growth responses were unimodal, but the species showed differences in the shape parameters of the curves. Hylocomium and Pleurozium achieved optimum biomass production at a lower N level than Dicranum. Pleurozium had the highest biomass production per tissue N concentration. Tolerance to N was the widest in Dicranum, whereas Hylocomium had the narrowest tolerance. Dicranum retained N less efficiently from precipitation than the other two species, which explained its deviating response. All species translocated some N from parent to new shoots. The results emphasize that the individual responses of bryophytes to N should be known when species are used as bioindicators.     

渗透胁迫下两种生物质能源植物的抗渗透胁迫能力及稳定碳同位素组成

本研究以麻疯树(Jatropha curcas L.)和油桐(Vernicia fordii H.)幼苗为材料,考察了麻疯树和油桐幼苗的生理指标和稳定碳同位素组成对渗透胁迫的响应情况。结果表明,麻疯树比油桐更具有抗渗透胁迫能力,主要体现在:随着渗透胁迫程度的加剧,麻疯树叶片相对含水量与叶绿素含量的下降幅度均小于油桐,脯氨酸含量和可溶性糖含量的增加幅度高于油桐,相对电导率的上升幅度小于油桐;随着渗透胁迫程度的加剧,两种植物幼苗叶片的δ13 C值也都显著升高,但是在同一渗透胁迫水平下,麻疯树幼苗叶片的δ13 C值较油桐高,表明其拥有较高的水分利用效率,能够在干旱胁迫下更好地生长,暗示着植物叶片的δ13 C值在一定情况下可以表征植物的抗旱性。     

生物质材料在重金属废水处理中的应用

可再生、低成本、有效且易从环境获取的生物质材料越来越多地用于去除废水中的重金属离子。本文着重介绍三大类生物质材料：Ⅰ、动物类（主要是甲壳素和壳聚糖衍生物）;Ⅱ、植物类（包括木质素、活性炭、竹炭、富含单宁的物质、农林废弃物等）;Ⅲ、微生物类（各种茵类等）,及其改性产物在处理有毒重金属废水方面的应用研究进展。