Nitrogen cycling of atmosphere-plant-soil system in the typical Calamagrostis angustifolia wetland in the Sanjiang Plain, Northeast China

The nitrogen (N) distribution and cycling of atmosphere-plant-soil system in the typical meadow Calamagrostis angustifolia wetland (TMCW) and marsh meadow Calamagrostis angustifolia wetland (MMCW) in the Sanjiang plain were studied by a compartment model. The results showed that the N wet deposition amount was 0.757 gN/(m2·a), and total inorganic N (TIN) was the main body (0.640 gN/(m2·a)). The ammonia volatilization amounts of TMCW and MMCW soils in growing season were 0.635 and 0.687 gN/m2, and the denitrification gaseous lost amounts were 0.617 and 0.405 gN/m2, respectively. In plant subsystem, the N was mainly stored in root and litter. Soil organic N was the main N storage of the two plant-soil systems and the proportions of it were 93.98% and 92.16%, respectively. The calculation results of N turnovers among compartments of TMCW and MMCW showed that the uptake amounts of root were 23.02 and 28.18 gN/(m2·a) and the values of aboveground were 11.31 and 6.08 gN/(m2·a), the re-translocation amounts from aboveground to root were 5.96 and 2.70 gN/(m2·a), the translocation amounts from aboveground living body to litter were 5.35 and 3.38 gN/(m2·a), the translocation amounts from litter to soil were larger than 1.55 and 3.01 gN/(m2·a), the translocation amounts from root to soil were 14.90 and 13.17 gN/(m2·a), and the soil (0-15cm) N net mineralization amounts were 1.94 and 0.55 gN/(m2·a), respectively. The study of N balance indicated that the two plant-soil systems might be situated in the status of lacking N, and the status might induce the degradation of C. angustifolia wetland.     

Effect of sulfate on the methanogenic activity of a bacterial culture from a brewery wastewater during glucose degradation

The maximum specific methanogenic activity （SMA） of a sludge originating from a brewery wastewater treatment plant on the degradation of glucose was investigated at various levels of sulfate on a specific loading basis. Batch experiments were conducted in serum bottles at pH 7 and 35℃. A comparison of the values indicates that the SMA of this mixed culture was increased and reached its highest level of 0.128 g CH4 gas COD/（g VSS.d） when biomass was in contact with sulfate at a ratio of 1：0.114 by weight.     

Treated wastewater irrigation effect on soil, crop and environment： Wastewater recycling in the loess area of China

A study was carried out at the Loess Plateau in Dongzhi,China,to test the feasibility of using secondary treatment sewage effluent and to determine whether the water quality would then meet the recommended irrigation norm.Seven crops,including celery,wheat, maize,millet,apples,rapeseed and yellow beans,were tested in the study.Physical and chemical properties of the soil,crop yield and quality and leachate at different soil depths were measured.In most cases,the quality of the crops that made use of treated sewage was not distinctively different from those that did not use treated sewage.However,yields for the former were much higher than they were for the latter.Leachates at different soil depths were analyzed and the results did not show alarming levels of constituents.For a period of approximately 14 months,the treated sewage irrigation had no significant effect on the loess soil and no cases of illness resulting from contact with the treated sewage were reported.With treated sewage irrigation,a slight increase in the organic content of the soil was observed.     

Imazaquin degradation and metabolism in a sandy loam soil amended with farm litters

Irnazaquin applied in legume crops has a long residual time in soil, which often impacts safety of the susceptible crops. To increase safety of imazaquin application, two composted litters, bovine manure （BM） and chicken manure （CM）, were used to determine their effects on imazaquin environmental behavior by incorporating each kind of manure into the tested sandy loam soil at 10% （w/w）. The degradation of imazaquin in BM- and CM-amended soil was about 2.4 and 1.5 times, respectively, faster than that in unamended soil. The half-lives of imazaquin in BM-amended soil varied between 6.7 and 15.4 d over the temperature range of 20 to 40℃, and the degradation rate constant （k） increased by a factor of about 1.5 for every 10℃ change. Higher mix ratio did not significantly increase the degradation, and the optimal active degradation of imazaquin was observed approximately at the mix ratio of 10：1 of soil to BM. The different moisture levels had negligible effect on imazaquin degradation. In both unamended and BM-amended treatments, two metabolites were observed at 5, 10 and 30 d after treatment. One metabolite at retention time （RT） of 8.4 rain was identified as 2-（4- hydroxyl-5-oxo-2-imidazolin-2-yl） quinoline acid, originating from the loss of isopropyl group and hydroxylation at the 4-position of imidazolinone ring. The other at RT of 12.9 rain was identified as quinoline-2,3-dicarboxylic anhydride, resulting from detachment of imidazolinone ring and the forming of dicarboxylic anhydride. This finding suggested that the addition of farm litters into soil might be a good management option since it can not only increase soil fertility but also contribute to increase safety of imazaquin application to the following susceptible crops.     

Anaerobic tapered fluidized bed reactor for starch wastewater treatment and modeling using multilayer perceptron neural network

Anaerobic treatability of synthetic sago wastewater was investigated in a laboratory anaerobic tapered fluidized bed reactor(ATFBR) with a mesoporous granular activated carbon(GAC)as a support material.The experimental protocol was defined to examine the effect of the maximum organic loading rate(OLR),hydraulic retention time(HRT),the efficiency of the reactor and to report on its steady- state performance.The reactor was subjected to a steady-state operation over a range of OLR up to 85.44 kg COD/(m~3.d).The COD removal efficiency was found to be 92% in the reactor while the biogas produced in the digester reached 25.38 m~3/(m~3·d) of the reactor. With the increase of OLR from 83.7 kg COD/(m~3.d),the COD removal efficiency decreased.Also an artificial neural network(ANN) model using multilayer perceptron(MLP)has been developed for a system of two input variable and five output dependent variables. For the training of the input-output data,the experimental values obtained have been used.The output parameters predicted have been found to be much closer to the corresponding experimental ones and the model was validated for 30% of the untrained data.The mean square error(MSE)was found to be only 0.0146.     

Improvement of the antifouling characteristics in a bioreactor of polypropylene microporous membrane by the adsorption of Tween 20

Surface modification by physical adsorption of Tween 20 was accomplished on polypropylene microporous membranes (PPMMs). Attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR/FT-IR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were used to characterize the chemical and morphological changes on the membrane surfaces. Water contact angles and relative pure water fluxes were measured. The data showed that the hydrophilic performance for the modified membranes increased with the increase in the adsorption amount of Tween 20 onto the surface or into the pores of polypropylene microporous membranes. To test the antifouling property of the membranes by the adsorption of Tween 20 in a membrane bioreactor (MBR), filtration for active sludge was performed using synthetic wastewater. With the help of the data of water fluxes and the FE-SEM photos of the modified PPMMs before or after operating in a MBR for about 12 d, the PPMMs with monolayer adsorption of Tween 20 showed higher remained flux and stronger antifouling ability than unmodified membrane and other modification membranes studied.     

Effects of nitrate concentration in interstitial water on the bioremediation of simulated oil-polluted shorelines

Nutrient addition has been proved to be an effective strategy to enhance oil biodegradation in marine shorelines.To determine the optimal range of nutrient concentrations in the bioremediation of oil-polluted beaches,nitrate was added to the simulated shoreline models in the initial concentration of 1,5 and 10 mg/L.Whenever the NO3-N concentration declined to 70% of its original value, additional nutrients were supplemented to maintain a certain range.Results showed adding nutrients increased the oil biodegradation level,the counts of petroleum degrading bacteria(PDB)and heterotrophic bacteria (HB),and the promoted efficiency varied depending on the concentration of nitrate.Oil degradation level in 5 mg/L(NO_3-N)group reached as much as 84.3% accompanied with the consistently highest counts of PDB;while in 1 mg/L group oil removal efficiency was only 35.2%,and the numbers of PDB and HB were relatively low compared to the other groups supplemented with nutrients.Although counts of HB in the 10 mg/L group were remarkable,lower counts of PDB resulted in poorer oil removal efficiency (70.5%) compared to 5 mg/L group.Furthermore,it would need more NO_3-N(0.371 mg)to degrade 1 mg diesel oil in the 10 mg/L group than in the 5 mg/L group(0.197 mg).In conclusion, Nitrate concentration in 5 mg/L is superior to 1 and 10 mg/L in the enhancement of diesel oil biodegradation in simulated shorelines.     

南京市经济发展与环境污染关系的实证研究

根据南京市1991～2003年经济与环境数据,分析经济发展与环境污染的相互关系,建立了南京市经济增长与环境污染水平的计量模型,进而评价了南京市的环境保护政策。研究表明：作为一个重化工业城市,南京市自20世纪90年代以来,在经济高速发展的情况下,其环境恶化程度逐步得到遏制,部分环境指标与人均GDP演替轨迹呈现显著的环境库兹涅茨曲线特征。这主要归功于南京市政府近年来有效的环境政策和巨额的环境投资。     

Recent Changes in Stream Flashiness and Flooding,and Effects of Flood Management in North Carolina and Virginia

The southeastern United States has undergone anthropogenic changes in landscape structure, with the potential to increase (e.g., urbanization) and decrease (e.g., reservoir construction) stream flashiness and flooding. Assessment of the outcome of such change can provide insight into the efficacy of current strategies and policies to manage water resources. We (1) examined trends in precipitation, floods, and stream flashiness and (2) assessed the relative influence of land cover and flow‐regulating features (e.g., best management practices and artificial water bodies) on stream flashiness from 1991 to 2013. We found mean annual precipitation decreased, which coincided with decreasing trends in floods. In contrast, stream flashiness, overall, showed an increasing trend during the period of study. However, upon closer examination, 20 watersheds showed stable stream flashiness, whereas 5 increased and 6 decreased in flashiness. Urban watersheds were among those that increased or decreased in flashiness. Watersheds that increased in stream flashiness gained more urban cover, lost more forested cover and had fewer best management practices installed than urban watersheds that decreased in stream flashiness. We found best management practices are more effective than artificial water bodies in regulating flashy floods. Flashiness index is a valuable and straightforward metric to characterize changes in streamflow and help to assess the efficacy of management interventions.     

A study on oxidative degradation of polyacrylamide in wastewater with UV/FENTON/C4H4O62−

The degradation of polyacrylamide (PAM) in simulate wastewater was studied in UV/Fenton/C₄H₄O₆^2? system. The factors such as molecular ratio of H₂O₂/Fe²⁺/C₄H₄O₆^2?, pH, and the dosage of Fenton reagent that could affect the PAM degradation in the UV/Fenton/C₄H₄O₆^2? system were investigated. The experimental results showed that adding C₄H₄O₆^2? to UV/Fenton system could form photosensitive ferrous complexes, which led to higher degradation efficiency of PAM. The degradation rate of PAM could be up to 95.2% under the following conditions: the concentration of H₂O₂, Fe²⁺, and C₄H₄O₆^2? were 22.5, 2.25, and 2.25 mmol/L, respectively (i.e., molecular ratio of H₂O₂/Fe²⁺/C₄H₄O₆^2? was 10:1:1), the pH value was 3.0.