Partitioning of organochlorine pesticides from water to polyethylene passive samplers

The mass transfer rates and equilibrium partitioning behaviour of 14 diverse organochlorine pesticides (OCP) between water and polyethylene (PE) passive samplers, cut from custom made PE sheets and commercial polyethylene plastic bags, were quantified. Overall mass transfer coefficients, k_O, estimated PE membrane diffusion coefficients, D_PE, and PE-water partitioning coefficients, K_PE-water, are reported. In addition, the partitioning of three polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from water to PE is quantified and compared with literature values. K_PE-water values agreed mostly within a factor of two for both passive samplers and also with literature values for the reference PAHs. As PE is expected to exhibit similar sorption behaviour to long-chain alkanes, PE-water partitioning coefficients were compared to hexadecane-water partitioning coefficients estimated with the SPARC online calculator, COSMOtherm and a polyparameter linear free energy relationship based on the Abraham approach. The best correlation for all compounds tested was with COSMOtherm estimated hexadecane-water partitioning coefficients.     

The arrival and discharge of conjugated estrogens from a range of different sewage treatment plants in the UK

The occurrence of free and conjugated estrogens was examined in a survey of eleven sewage treatment plants (STPs) and their discharge water in the United Kingdom using grab sampling. The STPs included trickling filter with and without tertiary treatment, and activated sludge with tertiary treatment. For three activated sludge plants both influent and effluent samples were compared. For a further 8 STPs only the effluent was examined. The estrone-3-sulphate, estradiol-3-sulphate and estriol-3-sulphate concentrations (up to 20 ng L⁻¹) were typically 5-fold that of the respective free estrogen concentration in the effluents. This represents a substantial additional ‘potential’ estrogen load arriving in the receiving waters. Estrone-3-glucuronide was found at 9 ng L⁻¹, estradiol-3-glucuronide at 7 ng L⁻¹, and estriol-3-glucuronide at 32 ng L⁻¹ in sewage influent. Except on one occasion, no glucuronide conjugates could be found in the effluent. The results suggest in most cases glucuronide conjugates will be completely transformed in sewage treatment whilst sulphate conjugates will only be partially removed.     

The use of oxyhalogen in photocatalytic reaction to remove o-chloroaniline in TiO2 dispersion

Photodecay of o-chloroaniline (o-ClA) in various combinations of UV sources, TiO2, and oxyhalogens was investigated. To improve the conventional photocatalytic process by using UV/TiO2, the addition of oxyhalogens (ClO3(-), BrO3(-) and IO3(-)) into UV/TiO2 system was studied and the effect in such addition is very encouraging for all the selected additives. Oxyhalogens are capable of deferring the electron-hole recombination of TiO2 which significantly improved its catalytic performance. The presence of IO3(-) in UV/TiO2 resulted in the fastest o-ClA decay among three oxhalogens at the same dosage. The decay of o-ClA in UV/TiO2/oxyhalogen process is characterized by a two-stage pseudo-kinetics, where a faster initial decay was followed by a retardation state. A mathematics model was successfully established for the prediction of the two-stage decay of o-ClA in UV/TiO2/IO3(-) with any designed [IO3(-)] concentration.     

表面流人工湿地硝化和反硝化强度研究

通过对表面流人工湿地不同土壤层硝化反硝化强度的研究,探讨了表面流人工湿地脱氮过程中沿程硝化和反硝化作用的变化,以及不同C∶N对系统反硝化强度的影响.研究结果表明,系统可同时进行硝化和反硝化作用,硝化强度具有较明显的分层现象,表层土壤高于深层土壤.系统中沿程硝化强度呈递减趋势,硝化强度反映了氨氮去除率的大小,其去除率为68%.反硝化强度研究结果表明:深层土壤的反硝化强度略高于表层土壤;沿程1/3至1/2段最大;5倍碳源时反硝化强度最高,3倍碳源次之,不加碳源最低;但系统的反硝化强度普遍较高,保持了良好的脱氮效果.     

Ion activity and distribution of heavy metals in acid mine drainage polluted subtropical soils

The oxidative dissolution of mine wastes gives rise to acidic, metal-enriched mine drainage (AMD) and has typically posed an additional risk to the environment. The poly-metallic mine Dabaoshan in South China is an excellent test site to understand the processes affecting the surrounding polluted agricultural fields. Our objectives were firstly to investigate metal ion activity in soil solution, distribution in solid constituents, and spatial distribution in samples, secondly to determine dominant environment factors controlling metal activity in the long-term AMD-polluted subtropical soils. Soil Column Donnan Membrane Technology (SC-DMT) combined with sequential extraction shows that unusually large proportion of the metal ions are present as free ion in the soil solutions. The narrow range of low pH values prevents any pH effects during the binding onto oxides or organic matter. The differences in speciation of the soil solutions may explain the different soil degradation observed between paddy and non-paddy soils.     

Seasonal variation characteristics of hydroxyl radical pollution and its potential formation mechanism during the daytime in Lanzhou

Hydroxyl free radicals (OH radicals) play the main role in atmospheric chemistry and their involving reactions are the dominant rate determining step in the formation of secondary fine particulate matter and in the removal of air pollutants from the atmosphere. In this paper, we studied the seasonal variation characteristics of OH radicals during the daytime in Lanzhou and explored the potential formation mechanism of high concentration OH radicals. We found that the OH radicals in four seasons was 2.7 × 10⁶, 2.6 × 10⁶, 3.1 × 10⁶, and 2.2 × 10⁶ cm^?3, respectively. Since the rainfall was concentrated in summer, the wet deposition had a significant effect on removing OH radicals. Among the four pollutants (including ozone (O₃), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and fine particulate matter (PM_2.5)), the variation of OH radicals were closely related to ozone concentration especially in spring and summer. In autumn, the correlation between PM_2.5 and OH radicals were the closest among the observing pollutants and its formation mechanism was different conventional regeneration pathway. In Event 1, high concentration of ozone was the main source of OH radicals; under the high humidity condition, except for ozone, the multiple factors including VOCs, NO₂ and PM_2.5 interplayed and leaded to the Event 2.     

Selected dark sides of biomass-derived biochars as environmental amendments

With the rapid increase in the application of biochars as amendments, studies are needed to clarify the possible environmental risks derived from biochars to use safely the biomass resources. This work reported selected dark sides of maize straw-and swine manurederived biochars pyrolyzed at 300 and 500°C. During the pyrolysis processes, total heavy metals in the biochars were enriched greatly accompanying with considerable emission of the heavy metals into atmosphere and the trends became increasingly obvious with pyrolysis temperature. Meanwhile, the biochars showed distinctly decreased available heavy metals compared with raw feedstocks, which could be mainly attributed to the sorption by the inorganics in the biochars. The water-and acid-washing treatments significantly increased the releasing risks of heavy metals from biochars into the environments. Electron paramagnetic resonance analysis indicated that persistent free radicals, emerged strongly in the biochars as a function of the aromatization of biomass feedstocks, were free from the influence of water-, acid-, or organic-washing of the biochars and could remain stable even after aged in soils for 30 days. Dissolved biochars, highly produced during pyrolysis processes, showed distinct properties including lower molecular weight distribution while higher aromaticity compared with soil dissolved organic carbon.The results of this study provide important perspectives on the safe usage of biochars as agricultural/environmental amendments.     

Inhibition factors and Kinetic model for ammonium inhibition on the anammox process of the SNAD biofilm

The aim of the present work was to evaluate the anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) activity of simultaneous partial nitrification, anammox and denitrification (SNAD) biofilm with different substrate concentrations and pH values. Kaldnes rings taken from the SNAD biofilm reactor were incubated in batch tests to determine the anammox activity. Haldane model was applied to investigate the ammonium inhibition on anammox process. As for nitrite inhibition, the NH₄⁺-N removal rate of anammox process remained 87.4% of the maximum rate with the NO₂⁻-N concentration of 100 mg/L. Based on the results of Haldane model, no obvious difference in kinetic coefficients was observed under high or low free ammonia (FA) conditions, indicating that ammonium rather than FA was the true inhibitor for anammox process of SNAD biofilm. With the pH value of 7.0, the r_max, Ks and K_I of ammonium were 0.209 kg NO₂⁻-N/kg VSS/day, 9.5 mg/L and 422 mg/L, respectively. The suitable pH ranges for anammox process were 5.0 to 9.0. These results indicate that the SNAD biofilm performs excellent tolerance to adverse conditions.     

关于弹性地基上圆环形薄板振动问题的解答

对弹性地基上圆环形薄板的振动问题进行了分析和求解,给出了计算固有频率的计算公式和必要的数据,所考虑的边界条件是内外周边固支和内外周边简支两种情况,外径与内径的比值是2.5,3.0,3.5,4.0,4.5,5.0六种情况.     

多氯联苯对离体人红细胞的毒性机理

本实验研究了多氯联苯(PCB_s)对人离体红细胞自由基生成和脂质过氧化作用的影响。红细胞悬液在含有不同剂量Aroclorl254的培养液中37℃温育一定时间,然后测定超氧阴离子自由基(O_2~-)、丙二醛(MDA)、超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)和还原型谷胱甘肽(GSH)的含量。测定结果表明,红细胞脂质过氧化作用与PCB_s存在着剂量——效应及时间——效应关系,Aroclorl254可以直接诱导离体人红细胞的脂质过氧化作用。其中O_2~-、MDA、GSH 3项指标均有良好的剂量——效应及时间——效应关系,SOD活力在温育后迅速增加,之后基本稳定,9h后活力出现下降。