Transformations of particles, metal elements and natural organic matter in different water treatment processes

Characterizing natural organic matter （NOM）, particles and elements in different water treatment processes can give a useful information to optimize water treatment operations. In this article, transformations of particles, metal elements and NOM in a pilot-scale water treatment plant were investigated by laser light granularity system, particle counter, glass-fiber membrane filtration, inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy, ultra filtration and resin absorbents fractionation. The results showed that particles, NOM and trihalomethane formation precursors were removed synergistically by sequential treatment of different processes. Preozonation markedly changed the polarity and molecular weight of NOM, and it could be conducive to the following coagulation process through destabilizing particles and colloids; mid-ozonation enhanced the subsequent granular activated carbon （GAC） filtration process by decreasing molecular weight of organic matters. Coagulation-flotation and GAC were more efficient in removing fixed suspended solids and larger particles; while sand-filtration was more efficient in removing volatile suspended solids and smaller particles. Flotation performed better than sedimentation in terms of particle and NOM removal. The type of coagulant could greatly affect the performance of coagulation-flotation. Pre-hydrolyzed composite coagulant （HPAC） was superior to FeCl3 concerning the removals of hydrophobic dissolved organic carbon and volatile suspended solids. The leakages of flocs from sand-filtration and microorganisms from GAC should be mitigated to ensure the reliability of the whole treatment system.     

Denitrification potential enhancement by addition of external carbon sources in a pre-denitrification process

The aim of this study is to investigate the denitrification potential enhancement by addition of external carbon sources and to estimate the denitrification potential for the predenitrification system using nitrate utilization rate （NUR） batch tests. It is shown that the denitrification potential can be substantially increased with the addition of three external carbon sources, i.e. methanol, ethanol, and acetate, and the denitrification rates of ethanol, acetate, and methanol reached up to 9.6, 12, and 3.2 mgN/（g VSS.h）, respectively, while that of starch wastewater was only 0.74 mgN/（g VSS,h）. By comparison, ethanol was found to be the best external carbon source. NUR batch tests with starch wastewater and waste ethanol were carried out. The denitfification potential increased from 5.6 to 16.5 mg NO3-N/L owing to waste ethanol addition. By means of NUR tests, the wastewater characteristics and kinetic parameters can be estimated, which are used to determine the denitrification potential of wastewater, to calculate the denitrification potential of the plant and to predict the nitrate effluent quality, as well as provide information for developing carbon dosage control strategy.     

Organic matter and concentrated nitrogen removal by shortcut nitrification and denitrification from mature municipal landfill leachate

An UASB＋Anoxic/Oxic （A/O） system was introduced to treat a mature landfill leachate with low carbon-to-nitrogen ratio and high ammonia concentration. To make the best use of the biodegradable COD in the leaehate, the denitrifieation of NOx^--N in the reeireulation effluent from the elarifier was carried out in the UASB. The results showed that most biodegradable organic matters were removed by the denitrifieation in the UASB. The NH4^＋-N loading rate （ALR） of A/O reactor and operational temperature was 0.28- 0.60 kg NH4^＋-N/（m^3-d） and 17-29℃ during experimental period, respectively. The short-cut nitrification with nitrite accumulation efficiency of 90%-99% was stabilized during the whole experiment. The NH4^＋-N removal efficiency varied between 90% and 100%. When ALR was less than 0.45 kg NH4^＋-N/（m^3.d）, the NH4^＋-N removal efficiency was more than 98%. With the influent NH4^＋-N of 1200-1800 mg/L, the effluent NH4^＋-N was less than 15 mg/L. The shortcut nitrification and denitrifieation can save 40% carbon source, with a highly efficient denitrifieation taking place in the UASB. When the ratio of the feed COD to feed NH4^＋-N was only 2-3, the total inorganic nitrogen （TIN） removal efficiency attained 67%-80%. Besides, the sludge samples from A/O reactor were analyzed using FISH. The FISH analysis revealed that ammonia oxidation bacteria （AOB） accounted for 4% of the total eubaeterial population, whereas nitrite oxidation bacteria （NOB） accounted only for 0.2% of the total eubaeterial population.     

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.     

Topsoil organic carbon mineralization and CO2 evolution of three paddy soils from South China and the temperature dependence

Carbon mineralization and its response to climatic warming have been receiving global attention for the last decade. Although the virtual influence of temperature effect is still in great debate, little is known on the mineralization of organic carbon （SOC） of paddy soils of China under warming. SOC mineralization of three major types of China＇s paddy soils is studied through laboratory incubation for 114 d under soil moisture regime of 70% water holding capacity at 20℃ and 25℃ respectively. The carbon that mineralized as CO2 evolved was measured every day in the first 32 d and every two days in the following days. Carbon mineralized during the 114 d incubation ranged from 3.51 to 9.22 mg CO2-C/gC at 20℃ and from 4.24 to 11.35 mg CO2-C/gC at 25℃ respectively; and a mineralizable C pool in the range of 0.24 to 0.59 gC/kg, varying with different soils. The whole course of C mineralization in the 114 d incubation could be divided into three stages of varying rates, representing the three subpools of the total mineralizable C： very actively mineralized C at 1-23 d, actively tnineralized C at 24--74 d and a slowly mineralized pool with low and more or less stabilized C mineralization rate at 75-114 d. The calculated Q10 values ranged from 1.0 to 2.4, varying with the soil types and N status. Neither the total SOC pool nor the labile C pool could account for the total mineralization potential of the soils studied, despite a well correlation of labile C with the shortly and actively mineralized C, which were shown in sensitive response to soil warming. However, the portion of microbial C pool and the soil C/N ratio controlled the C mineralization and the temperature dependence. Therefore, C sequestration may not result in an increase of C mineralization proportionally. The relative control of C bioavailability and microbial metabolic activity on C mineralization with respect to stabilization of sequestered C in the paddy soils of China is to be further studied.     

Variation of soil fertility and carbon sequestration by planting Hevea brasiliensis in Hainan Island, China

The development of rubber industry depends on the sustainable management of rubber plantation. To evaluate the environmental effects of planting Hevea brasiliensis on a subsystem of tropical forest ecosystem, the variation of soil fertility and carbon sequestration under rubber plantation within 30-year life period were investigated in Hainan Island. Results showed that （1） with the increase of stand age of rubber plantation, soil fertility decreased all along. From 1954 to 1995, soil organic matter, total N, available K and available P decreased by 48.2%, 54.1%, 56.7% and 64.1%, respectively. （2） If the complete return of litters was considered without additional fertilizer application to the soil of the rubber plantations, the consumption periods for P, N, K, Mg were only 825 years, 329 years, 94 years and 65 years, respectively~ To improve soil fertility is essential for rubber plantation development. （3） The C sequestration of rubber trees per hectare accounts for 272.08 t within 30-year life period and 57.91% of them was fixed in litters. In comparison with C sequestration by rain forest （234.305 t/hm^2） and by secondary rain forest （150.203 t/hm^2）, rubber forest has more potentials for C fixation. On the base of above results, the following measures would benefit the maintenance of soil fertility and the development of rubber industry, including applying fertilizer to maintain the balance of soil nutrients, intercropping leguminous plant to improve soil fertility, reducing the collection of litters, optimizing soil properties to improve element P availability such as applying CaCO3. The information gathered from the study can be used as baseline data for the sustainable management of rubber plantation elsewhere.     

Distribution characteristics of dissolved organic carbon in annular wetland soil-water solutions through soil profiles in the Sanjiang Plain, Northeast China

Overwhelming evidence reveals that concentrations of dissolved organic carbon （DOC） have increased in streams which brings negative environmental impacts. DOC in stream flow is mainly originated from soil-water solutions of watershed. Wetlands prove to be the most sensitive areas as an important DOC reserve between terrestrial and fluvial biogeosystems. This reported study was focused on the distribution characteristics and the controlling factors of DOC in soil-water solutions of annular wetland, i.e., a dishing wetland and a forest wetland together, in the Sanjiang Plain, Northeast China. The results indicate that DOC concentrations in soilwater solutions decreased and then increased with increasing soil depth in the annular wetland. In the upper soil layers of 0-10 cm and 10-20 cm, DOC concentrations in soil-water solutions linearly increased from edge to center of the annular wetland （R^2 = 0.3122 and R^2 = 0.443）. The distribution variations were intimately linked to DOC production and utilization and DOC transport processes in annular wetland soil-water solutions. The concentrations of total organic carbon （TOC）, total carbon （TC） and Fe（II）, DOC mobility and continuous vertical and lateral flow affectext the distribution variations of DOC in soil-water solutions. The correlation coefficients between DOC concentrations and TOC, TC and Fe（II） were 0.974, 0.813 and 0.753 respectively. These distribution characteristics suggested a systematic response of the distribution variations of DOC in annular wetland soil-water solutions to the geometry of closed depressions on a scale of small catchments. However, the DOC in soil pore water of the annular wetland may be the potential source of DOC to stream flow on watershed scale. These observations also implied the fragmentation of wetland landscape could bring the spatial-temporal variations of DOC distribution and exports, which would bring negative environmental impacts in watersheds of the Sanjiang Plain.     

Thermodynamics and kinetics of cadmium adsorption onto oxidized granular activated carbon

Cadmium sorption behavior of granular activated carbon oxidized with nitric acid was systematically studied by sets of the equilibrium and time-based experiments under various conditions.The cadmium adsorption capacity of oxidized granular activated carbon enlarged with an increase in pH,and reduced with an increase in ionic strength.Experimental data were evaluated to find out kinetic characteristics.Adsorption processes were found to follow pseudo-second order rate equation.Adsorption isotherms correlate well with the Langmuir isotherm model and the maximum sorption capacity of cadmium evaluated is 51.02μmol/g.Thermodynamic parameters were calculated based on Van't Hoff equation.Equilibrium constant Kd was evaluated from Freundlich isotherm model constants,Langmnir isotherm model constants,and isotherms,respectively.The average change of standard adsorption heatΔH~0 was -25.29 kJ/mol.NegativeΔH~0 andΔG~0 values indicate the adsorption process for cadmium onto the studied activated carbon is exothermic and spontaneous.The standard entropyΔS~0 was also negative,which suggests a decrease in the freedom of the system.     

UV-B辐射增强与秸秆施用对大豆田土壤呼吸的影响

利用LI-8100开路式土壤碳通量测量系统测定土壤呼吸,研究了UV-B辐射增强和秸秆施用对大豆田土壤呼吸的影响.结果表明,UV-B辐射增强20%使土壤呼吸速率降低了30.31%,秸秆施用使土壤呼吸速率提高了14.51%,UV-B辐射增强+秸秆施用复合处理对土壤呼吸速率没有显著影响.UV-B增强提高了施用秸秆的碳转化率.对照、UV-B增强、秸秆施用和UV-B增强+秸秆施用4种处理的土壤呼吸与土壤温度都存在极其显著的指数关系(p0.01),拟合方程的决定系数R2分别为0.434、0.563、0.451和0.513.土壤呼吸温度敏感系数Q10值分别为1.55、1.91、1.80和1.71.可见,UV-B辐射增强、秸秆施用和UV-B辐射增强+秸秆施用提高了大豆田土壤呼吸的Q10.     

2008年南黄海西部浒苔暴发区有机碳的分布特征及浮游植物的固碳强度

根据2008-08-09～2008-08-13在南黄海西部绿潮(浒苔)暴发区取得的溶解有机碳(DOC)、颗粒有机碳(POC)和颗粒氮(PN)的分析数据,结合同步获得的水文环境要素资料,研究了该区域有机碳的分布特征、来源、影响因素以及浮游植物的固碳强度.结果表明,DOC的浓度范围为1.55～3.22mg/L,平均值为2.44mg/L;POC的浓度范围为0.11～0.68mg/L,平均值为0.27mg/L.DOC与POC的分布特征基本一致,呈现近岸高,外海低;表层高,底层低的趋势.POC与TSS的相关分析表明,POC与TSS整体上呈显著正相关,表明TSS的浓度和来源是控制POC浓度高低的重要因素.通过建立POC与PN的一元线性回归模型,估算了样品中PIN的含量.扣除样品中PIN的影响后,沿岸大部分海域POC/PON的平均值8,结合POC/Chl-a比值,表明沿岸海域POC主要是海洋有机质来源,并且存在降解有机物,这可能是调查期间处于绿潮暴发后期,部分浒苔开始腐烂被降解所致.应用初级生产力估算的浮游植物固碳强度的结果表明,南黄海西部绿潮(浒苔)暴发区浮游植物的固碳强度变化范围为167～2017mg/(m2·d),平均为730mg/(m2·d),该区域日固碳量达到2.95×104t.换算至整个黄海,日固碳量为28.03×104t.