固相萃取-液相色谱/质谱法测定水中硝基苯酚类化合物

建立了固相萃取-液相色谱/质谱测定水中硝基苯酚类化合物的方法。在最优条件下,7种硝基苯酚类化合物的分离度较好,目标物在0.02~3.00 mg/L范围内线性良好,相关系数均0.998,检出限为0.007~0.026μg/L,加标回收率为71.1%~95.9%,精密度为7.36%~18.6%。该方法操作简便、准确,具有较好的实用性。     

高效液相色谱法测定地下水中洛克沙胂

地下水水样经磷酸二氢钾提取后,用MAX固相萃取小柱对其净化、浓缩,再用高效液相色谱仪测定样品中的洛克沙胂。对色谱条件进行优化,使该方法在0.500 mg/L~10.0 mg/L范围内线性良好,方法检出限为0.047μg/L。空白加标样6次测定结果的RSD为5.3%,空白水样的3个质量浓度水平的加标回收率为79.8%~88.8%。将该方法用于测定6个地下水实际样品中洛克沙胂,其中1个被检出,测定值为0.42μg/L。     

气相色谱/质谱法测定水中15种酞酸酯类化合物

采用固相萃取-气相色谱/质谱法测定水中15种酞酸酯类化合物,确定方法的最优条件为:依次用10 m L正己烷和丙酮混合溶剂(V/V=5∶1)、甲醇和空白试剂水活化C18固相萃取柱后,水样以5 m L/min过柱萃取,再以8 m L正己烷:丙酮(V/V=5∶1)混合溶剂洗脱后,浓缩至1 m L,进气相色谱/质谱测定。该法的检出限为0.18~0.38μg/L,在0.50~20.0 mg/L范围内线性良好,相关系数均0.996。空白水样的加标回收率为71.8%~120%,相对标准偏差为1.73%~12.7%;实际废水水样的加标回收率为64.8%~135%,相对标准偏差为2.75%~18.0%。     

固体吸附/热脱附-气相色谱法测定环境空气中苯系物的不确定度评定

建立固体吸附/热脱附-气相色谱法测定环境空气中苯系物的不确定度评定方法,分析测定过程中不确定度的来源,进行各不确定度分量的评估,并给出合成相对标准不确定度和扩展不确定度。     

Use of fungi for the bioconversion of rice straw into cellulase enzyme

Cellulase production was carried out by solid state bioconversion (SSB) method using rice straw, a lignocellulosic material and agricultural waste, as the substrate of three Trichoderma spp. and Phanerochaete chrysosporium in lab-scale experiments. The results were compared to select the best fungi among them for the production of cellulase. Phanerochaete chrysosporium was found to be the best among these species of fungi, which produced the highest cellulase enzyme of 1.43 IU/mL of filter paper activity (FPase) and 2.40 IU/mL of carboxymethylcellulose activity (CMCase). The “glucosamine” and “reducing sugar” parameters were observed to evaluate the growth and substrate utilization in the experiments. In the case of Phanerochaete Chrysosporium, the highest glucosamine concentration was 1.60 g/L and a high concentration of the release of reducing sugar was measured as 2.58 g/L obtained on the 4th day of fermentation. The pH values were also recorded. The range of the pH was about 5.15 to 5.56 in the case of Phanerochaete Chrysosporium.     

Financial sustainability in municipal solid waste management – Costs and revenues in Bahir Dar,Ethiopia

Providing good solid waste management (SWM) services while also ensuring financial sustainability of the system continues to be a major challenge in cities of developing countries. Bahir Dar in northwestern Ethiopia outsourced municipal waste services to a private waste company in 2008. While this institutional change has led to substantial improvement in the cleanliness of the city, its financial sustainability remains unclear. Is the private company able to generate sufficient revenues from their activities to offset the costs and generate some profit?This paper presents a cost-revenue analysis, based on data from July 2009 to June 2011. The analysis reveals that overall costs in Bahir Dar’s SWM system increased significantly during this period, mainly due to rising costs related to waste transportation. On the other hand, there is only one major revenue stream in place: the waste collection fee from households, commercial enterprises and institutions. As the efficiency of fee collection from households is only around 50%, the total amount of revenues are not sufficient to cover the running costs. This results in a substantial yearly deficit. The results of the research therefore show that a more detailed cost structure and cost-revenue analysis of this waste management service is important with appropriate measures, either by the privates sector itself or with the support of the local authorities, in order to enhance cost efficiency and balance the cost-revenues towards cost recovery. Delays in mitigating the evident financial deficit could else endanger the public-private partnership (PPP) and lead to failure of this setup in the medium to long term, thus also endangering the now existing improved and currently reliable service.We present four options on how financial sustainability of the SWM system in Bahir Dar might be enhanced: (i) improved fee collection efficiency by linking the fees of solid waste collection to water supply; (ii) increasing the value chain by sales of organic waste recycling products; (iii) diversifying revenue streams and financing mechanisms (polluter-pays-, cross-subsidy- and business-principles); and (iv) cost reduction and improved cost-effectiveness.We argue that in a PPP setup such as in Bahir Dar, a strong alliance between the municipality and private enterprise is important so that appropriate solutions for improved financial sustainability of a SWM system can be sought and implemented.     

Fluid bed gasification – Plasma converter process generating energy from solid waste: Experimental assessment of sulphur species

Often perceived as a Cinderella material, there is growing appreciation for solid waste as a renewable content thermal process feed. Nonetheless, research on solid waste gasification and sulphur mechanisms in particular is lacking. This paper presents results from two related experiments on a novel two stage gasification process, at demonstration scale, using a sulphur-enriched wood pellet feed.Notable SO₂ and relatively low COS levels (before gas cleaning) were interesting features of the trials, and not normally expected under reducing gasification conditions. Analysis suggests that localised oxygen rich regions within the fluid bed played a role in SO₂’s generation. The response of COS to sulphur in the feed was quite prompt, whereas SO₂ was more delayed. It is proposed that the bed material sequestered sulphur from the feed, later aiding SO₂ generation. The more reducing gas phase regions above the bed would have facilitated COS – hence its faster response. These results provide a useful insight, with further analysis on a suite of performed experiments underway, along with thermodynamic modelling.     

Interaction of bisphenol A with dissolved organic matter in extractive and adsorptive removal processes

The fate of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in natural and engineered systems is complicated due to their interactions with various water constituents. This study investigated the interaction of bisphenol A (BPA) with dissolved organic matter (DOM) and colloids present in surface water and secondary effluent as well as its adsorptive removal by powdered activated carbons. The solid phase micro-extraction (SPME) method followed by thermal desorption and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was utilized for determining the distribution of BPA molecules in water. The BPA removal by SPME decreased with the increased DOM content, where the formation of BPA-DOM complexes in an aqueous matrix was responsible for the reduced extraction of BPA. Colloidal particles in water samples sorbed BPA leading to the marked reduction of liquid phase BPA. BPA-DOM complexes had a negative impact on the adsorptive removal of BPA by powered activated carbons. The complex formation was characterized based on Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, along with the calculation of molecular interactions between BPA and functional groups in DOM. It was found that the hydrogen bonding between DOM and BPA would be preferred over aromatic interactions. A pseudo-equilibrium molecular coordination model for the complexation between a BPA molecule and a hydroxyl group of the DOM was developed, which enabled estimation of the maximum sorption site and complex formation constant as well as prediction of organic complexes at various DOM levels.     

SLFP: a stochastic linear fractional programming approach for sustainable waste management

A stochastic linear fractional programming (SLFP) approach is developed for supporting sustainable municipal solid waste management under uncertainty. The SLFP method can solve ratio optimization problems associated with random information, where chance-constrained programming is integrated into a linear fractional programming framework. It has advantages in: (1) comparing objectives of two aspects, (2) reflecting system efficiency, (3) dealing with uncertainty expressed as probability distributions, and (4) providing optimal-ratio solutions under different system-reliability conditions. The method is applied to a case study of waste flow allocation within a municipal solid waste (MSW) management system. The obtained solutions are useful for identifying sustainable MSW management schemes with maximized system efficiency under various constraint-violation risks. The results indicate that SLFP can support in-depth analysis of the interrelationships among system efficiency, system cost and system-failure risk.     

Agricultural reuse of the digestate from low-cost tubular digesters in rural Andean communities

This research aimed at assessing the properties of guinea pig manure digestate from low-cost tubular digesters for crops fertilization in rural Andean communities. To this end, field trials were carried out to evaluate the effect of the digestate on two common Andean crops: potato (Solanum tuberosum) and forage (Lolium multiflorum and Trifolium pratense L.). The potato yield (20-25 tha(-1)) increased by 27.5% with digestate, by 15.1% with pre-compost and by 10.3% with the mixture, compared to the control. The forage yield (20-21 tha(-1)) increased by 1.4% with digestate - 50% dose, and by 8.8% with digestate - 100% dose and digestate - 150% dose, compared to the control. The results suggest that the digestate is an appropriate substitute of manure pre-compost for potato fertilization. The results with forage indicate that it can be applied in a range of doses, according to the amount produced by the digester. Currently, manure is either used for cooking or as fertilizer. With low-cost tubular digesters implementation, it could be used to feed the digester, using the digestate for crops fertilization and biogas for cooking; improving household living conditions and protecting the environment. Since soil properties in rural Andean communities differ from experimental layouts, the effect of fertilizers should be re-evaluated in-situ in future research studies.