Water quality characteristics along the course of the Huangpu River （China）

Huangpu River is about 114.5 km from upriver Dianfeng to downriver Wusong,near the estuary of the Yangtze River.It plays a key role in supplying water for production,life,shipment and irrigation.With the industrial development,the pollution of the Huangpu River has become serious recently.The biological oxygen demand (BOD),total nitrogen (TN),total phosphorus (TP),oil,phenol and suspended solids (SS) were lower in the upstream sites than in the downstream sites,indicating pollutants being input along its course. Water quality was the worst in the Yangpu site,near the center of Shanghai City.Dissolved oxygen (DO) content was less than 2 mg/L in the site of Yangpu in July.Among relations between thirteen characteristics,relations between BOD,DO,TN,TP,NH_4~ -N, NO_3~--N and the count of total bacteria or Escherichia coli were significant and interdependent.Inner relationships between these main characteristics in the Huangpu River were studied.High nutrient concentration led to growth of microorganisms,including E.coli. Degradation of organic matters and respiration of bacteria made oxygen concentration decreased in the water body,and DO was a key factor for nitrification-denitrification process of nitrogen.In the Yangpu site,DO was decreased to less than 3.0 mg/L with BOD higher than 7.5 mg/L in May and July.Low DO concentration will decrease nitrification rate.Nitrification need at higher DO value than other organic substrate oxidation.Consequently,river water contains low NO_3~--N values with high amounts of TN and NH_4~ -N there.This will block the self-purification of surface water,by decreasing the rate of nitrification-denitrification transformation process in the water body.     

Adsorption thermodynamics and kinetic investigation of aromatic amphoteric compounds onto different polymeric adsorbents

The adsorption behavior of p-aminobenzoic acid and o-aminobenzoic acid onto the different polymeric adsorbents was systematically investigated as a function of the solution concentration and temperature.Experimental results indicated that the equilibrium adsorption data of the four polymeric adsorbents fitted well in the Freundlich isotherm.The adsorption capacity of multi-functional polymeric adsorbent NJ-99 was the highest,which might be attributed to the strong hydrogen-bonding interaction between the amino groups on the resin and the carboxyl group of aminobenzoic acid.The adsorption capacity of o-aminobenzoic acid onto any adsorbent was higher than p-aminobenzoic acid.Thermodynamic studies suggested the exothermic,spontaneous physical adsorption process.Adsorption kinetics results showed that the adsorption followed the pseudo-second-order kinetics model and the intraparticle mass transfer process was the rate-controlling step.     

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.     

红壤稻田系统有机物循环再利用潜力及增产作用

10年田间试验结果表明：红墩妥田系统有机养分循环再利用潜力大，水稻收获，年均从稻田系统中输出NPK的总量最大可达到224.7,53.0和271.4kg/hm^2，有机物循环再利用，年均可归N，P，K量最大分别为115.1,35.8和231.5kg/hm^2，占系统输总量的51.2%,67.5%g和85.3%，保持稻田系统内有机物循环再利用可提高系统生产力，在不施化肥的情况下，增产3056kg/hm^2，增施N肥，增产2753kg/hm^2，增施N，P肥，增产1543kg/hm^2；NPK配合，增产984kg/hm^2；有机物循环再利用还可增强稻田系统的稳产性能，降低稻谷产量的年际变异系数；有机物循环再利用对水稻的增产有着明显的残效叠加作用，在施用N，P，K化肥基础上圾机物养分循环再利用水稻增产率在试验期间的前5年为7．2％，后5年平均为9．4％。     

Recent socio-economic changes in relation to environmental quality of the Pearl River delta

Due to the favorable weather, abundant water resources and fertile soil, the area has been known as the homeland for crops and fish. However, being one of the most developed regions in China, the environmental quality of the Pearl River delta has deteriorated due to recent socio-economic changes during the past two decades. The drivers are industrialization and economic growth, population growth and agricultural development; and the pressures are water pollution which include nutrients and suspended solids, pesticides, other persistent toxic substances (PAHs and PCBs) and oil. These have imposed various impacts such as eutrophication, formation of red tides and biomagnification of organic contaminants through food chains. In response to these, regulatory measures have been established by the Environmental Protection Bureau of Guangdong Province, joining forces with environmental protection authorities in all urban cities and most counties, in addition to the Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department, to control pollution in order to prevent further environmental deterioration and economic loss. The present paper is an attempt by following the DPSIR approach promoted by the OECD in the early 1990s and further developed by IGBP LOICZ to review the environmental quality of Pearl River with emphasis on water quality and the impact of rapid socio-economic changes.     

鄱阳湖生态区长期施肥对稻田土壤碳汇效应与固碳潜力的影响

在施肥条件下确定平衡状态时,土壤有机碳含量水平对于正确评价土壤的固碳潜力和制定合理的有机物质分配措施具有重要意义。分析了前人研究的江西省有机碳储量数据并采用Jenny模型对长期不同施肥下有机碳动态数据进行模拟。结果表明,鄱阳湖生态区有机碳储量占全省的46%,以鹰潭地区最高,九江地区最低。施肥明显增强了土壤的碳汇作用,单施有机肥或有机无机肥配施（70F+30M、50F+50M、30F+70M、NPKM、NPK+S、NPK+P和NPK+C）处理的土壤有机碳含量明显高于施化肥处理,以南昌县的30F+70M、进贤县的NPKM和余江县的NPK+P处理最高,其平衡时有机碳含量和固碳潜力分别较施化肥处理提高了3061%和6115%、3017%和5496%、3826%和7479%。因此,提高鄱阳湖生态区农田有机碳密度和固碳潜力最有效方法是有机无机肥配施,其配施方式以猪粪配施化肥相对最好,配施比例以70%有机肥配施30%化肥为宜     

The determination and matching analysis of pinch point temperature difference in evaporator and condenser of organic rankine cycle for mixed working fluid

Exergo-economic analysis of the pinch point temperature difference (PPTD) in both evaporator and condenser of sub-critical organic Rankine cycle system (ORCs) are performed based on the first and second laws of thermodynamics. Taking mixture R13I1/R601a as a working fluid and the annual total cost per net output power Z as exergo-economic performance evaluation criterion, the effects of PPTD in evaporator ΔT_e, and the PPTD ratio of condenser to evaporator y, on the exergo-economic performance of ORCs are analyzed. Moreover, how some other parameters influence the optimal PPTD in evaporator ΔT_e,opt and the optimal PPTD ratio of condenser to evaporator y_opt are also discussed. It has been found that the exergo-economic performance of ORCs is remarkably influenced by ΔT_e and y, and there exists ΔT_e,opt and y_opt. In addition, ΔT_e,opt and y_opt are affected by heat transfer coefficient ratio of condenser to evaporator ß, the temperature of working fluid at dew point in condenser T_1a, and composition of R13I1/R601a: larger ß and T_1a lead to lower ΔT_e,opt and y_opt; by contraries, larger mass fraction of R13I1 makes ΔT_e,opt and y_opt increase, and y_opt increases linearly. The effects of the temperature of working fluid at bubble point in evaporator T_3a, mass flow rate of exhaust flue gas m_g, and inlet temperature of exhaust flue gas T_gi on ΔT_e,opt and y_opt are very slight. For comparison, three additional working fluids, namely R601a, R245fa, and 0.32R245fa/0.68R601a, are also taken into account.     

Valuation of ecotoxicological impacts from tributyltin based on a quantitative environmental assessment framework

In the scientific literature, few valuations of biodiversity and ecosystem services following the impacts of toxicity are available, hampered by the lack of ecotoxicological documentation. Here, tributyltin is used to conduct a contingent valuation study as well as cost–benefit analysis (CBA) of measures for improving the environmental status in Swedish coastal waters of the Baltic Sea. Benefits considering different dimensions when assessing environmental status are highlighted and a quantitative environmental assessment framework based on available technology, ecological conditions, and economic valuation methodology is developed. Two scenarios are used in the valuation study: (a) achieving good environmental status by 2020 in accordance with EU legislation (USD 119 household⁻¹ year⁻¹) and (b) achieving visible improvements by 2100 due to natural degradation (USD 108 household⁻¹ year⁻¹) during 8 years. The later scenario was used to illustrate an application of the assessment framework. The CBA results indicate that both scenarios might generate a welfare improvement.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-015-0682-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Which compounds contribute most to elevated airborne exposure and corresponding health risks in the Western Balkans?

A majority of ongoing monitoring of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) is currently focused on chemicals emphasized in the Stockholm Convention. Quantitative detection of other substances (especially those with numerous anthropogenic sources such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)) is, however, also needed since their concentrations are usually several orders of magnitude higher. A goal of this study was to determine how various groups of compounds contribute to total human health risks at the variety of sampling sites in the region of Western Balkan. Distribution of the risks between the gas and particulate phases was also addressed. Results showed that inhalation exposure to organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) does not represent a significant risk to humans, while polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) re-volatilized to the atmosphere from contaminated soils and buildings can pose a problem. PCB evaporation from primary sources (currently used PCB-filled transformers or non-adequate storage facilities) generally resulted in much higher atmospheric concentrations than evaporation from the secondary sources (soils at the sites of war destructions). A majority of the human health risks at the urban sites were associated with PAHs. Between 83 and 94% of the cumulative risk at such sites was assigned to chemicals sorbed to particles, and out of it, PAHs were responsible for 99%.     

Organochlorine and heavy metals in newborns: Results from the Flemish Environment and Health Survey (FLEHS 2002–2006)

To collect regional information on internal levels of pollutants in humans in Flanders, 1196 mother–child pairs were systematically recruited in 2002–2003 via 25 maternities across Flanders. Cd, Pb, PCB congeners 118, 170, 138, 153 and 180, p,p′-DDE — a key metabolite of DDT- and hexachlorobenzene (HCB) were measured in cord blood or plasma. Cd was detected in 64% of the samples (geometric mean 0.21 µg/L cord blood). p,p′-DDE (110 ng/g plasma lipids) and Pb (14.7 µg/L blood), were measurable in nearly all samples. The individual PCB congeners could be detected in 40 to 81% of the newborns (138 + 153 + 180 = 64.4 ng/g plasma lipids). HCB (18.9 ng/g plasma lipids) and dioxin-like compounds measured by DR-CALUX® (23 pg CALUX-TEQ/g lipids) were above detection limit in more than 75% of the samples. Age and smoking habits of the mothers, did not influence the cord blood Pb and Cd levels. The organochlorines increased 4 to 9% per year of the mother's age (partial R² = 0.05 to 0.22). Mothers had 2.6% less PCBs in cord blood (partial R² = 0.02) for each unit increase in pre-pregnancy BMI. Season of delivery, breastfeeding previous children or consumption of local dairy products, were minor determinants. Up to 20% of the variability in organochlorine concentrations was explained by residence area. It was concluded that the place of birth in Flanders is an important determinant of the load of pollutants measured at the start of life. This underlines the validity of human biomonitoring on (relatively) small geographical scale.