Investigation of low-molecular weight organic acids and their spatiotemporal variation characteristics in Hongfeng Lake, China

The identities and concentrations of low-molecular-weight organic acids (LMWOAs) were determined by ion chromatography throughout a 20-m water column in Hongfeng Lake, China. The spatiotemporal variations of LMWOAs and their contributions to dissolved organic matter (DOM) in a research period of 24 hr were also investigated. The results demonstrated that five LMWOAs (lactic, acetic, pyruvic, sorbic, oxalic acid) were detected, and their total concentration and proportion in DOC were 6.55 μmol/L and 7.47%. Their average levels were 2.50, 0.65, 2.35, 0.96 and 0.09 μmol/L, respectively. LMWOAs were higher during daytime (10:00-18:00 on Jun 13, 2008) than nighttime (21:00-6:00 the next morning), in particular 4.99 μmol/L high in the epilimnion ( 1 m water depth), reflecting the fact that direct import from terrigenous sources and photochemical production from humic materials were dominant during LMWOAs’ origin and accumulation. The same factors caused LMWOAs to be 0.63 μmol/L in the epilimnion higher than in the hypolimnion. The rapid decrease of total organic acid (TOA) up until 18:00 mainly resulted from bio-uptake and mineralization in the hypolimnion (>1 m water depth). Pyruvic acid increased with time in the epilimnion and decreased in the hypolimnion, largely related to the two contrary processes of continuous degradation and synthesis of macromolecular organic matter during life materials’ cycle mediated by organisms. Simultaneously, plankton behavior and thermal stratification played a pivotal role in LMWOAs’ behavior in the water column, causing decreasing and increasing profiles. The distribution of LMWOAs represents an interesting resource for biogeochemical research of DOM in aquatic ecosystems.     

Numerical simulation of alga growth and control in Dalian Bay

WAHMO model was used to simulate the distribution of pollutants in Dalian Bay, China as to predict well as the growth and control of alga. The observed and predicted values of main pollutants showed a good trend at all study locations and the different between them can be ignored. Simulation results illustrated that phosphate was one of limited factors to control algal growth at the location near the sewage outfall, meanwhile, away from the sewage outfall, the synergy of ammonium nitrogen and phosphate was the limited factor.     

Homogeneous and heterogeneous reactions of anthracene with selected atmospheric oxidants

The reactions of gas-phase anthracene and suspended anthracene particles with O3 and O3-NO were conducted in a 200-L reaction chamber, respectively. The secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formations from gas-phase reactions of anthracene with O3 and O3-NO were observed. Meanwhile, the size distributions and mass concentrations of SOA were monitored with a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) during the formation processes. The rapid exponential growths of SOA reveal that the atmospheric lifetimes of gas-phase anthracene towards O3 and O3-NO are less than 20.5 and 4.34 hr, respectively. The particulate oxidation products from homogeneous and heterogeneous reactions were analyzed with a vacuum ultraviolet photoionization aerosol time-of-flight mass spectrometer (VUV-ATOFMS). Gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (GC/MS) analyses of oxidation products of anthracene were carried out for assigning the time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectra of products from homogeneous and heterogeneous reactions. Anthrone, anthraquinone, 9,10- dihydroxyanthracene, and 1,9,10-trihydroxyanthracene were the ozonation products of anthracene, while anthrone, anthraquinone, 9-nitroanthracene, and 1,8-dihydroxyanthraquinone were the main products of anthracene with O3-NO.     

Influence of dissolved organic matter character on mercury incorporation by planktonic organisms：An experimental study using oligotrophic water from Patagonian lakes

Ligands present in dissolved organic matter （DOM） form complexes with inorganic divalent mercury （Hg^2＋） affecting its bioavailability in pelagic food webs. This investigation addresses the influence of a natural gradient of DOM present in Patagonian lakes on the bioaccumulation of Hg^2＋ （the prevailing mercury species in the water column of these lakes） by the algae Cryptomonas erosa and the zooplankters Brachionus calyciflorus and Boeckella antiqua. Hg^2＋ accumulation was studied through laboratory experiments using natural water of four oligotrophic Patagonian lakes amended with^197Hg^2＋. The bioavailability of Hg^2＋ was affected by the concentration and character of DOM. The entrance of Hg^2＋ into pelagic food webs occurs mostly through passive and active accumulation. The incorporation of Hg^2＋ by Cryptomonas, up to 27% of the Hg^2＋ amended, was found to be rapid and dominated by passive adsorption, and was greatest when low molecular weight compounds with protein-like or small phenolic signatures prevailed in the DOM. Conversely, high molecular weight compounds with a humic or fulvic signature kept Hg^2＋ in the dissolved phase, resulting in the lowest Hg^2＋ accumulation in this algae. In Brachionus and Boeckella the direct incorporation of Hg from the aqueous phase was up to 3% of the Hg^2＋ amended. The dietary incorporation of Hg^2＋ by Boeckella exceeded the direct absorption of this metal in natural water, and was remarkably similar to the Hg^2＋ adsorbed in their prey. Overall, DOM concentration and character affected the adsorption of Hg^2＋ by algae through competitive binding, while the incorporation of Hg^2＋ into the zooplankton was dominated by trophic or dietary transfer.     

Electrochemical and spectroscopic characteristics of dissolved organic matter in a forest soil profile

Dissolved organic matter （DOM） represents one of the most mobile and reactive organic compounds in ecosystem and plays an important role in the fate and transport of soil organic pollutants, nutrient cycling and more importantly global climate change. Electrochemical methods were first employed to evaluate DOM redox properties, and spectroscopic approaches were utilized to obtain information concerning its composition and structure. DOM was extracted from a forest soil profile with five horizons. Differential pulse voltammetry indicated that there were more redox-active moieties in the DOM from upper horizons than in that from lower horizons. Cyclic voltammetry further showed that these moieties were reversible in electron transfer. Chronoamperometry was employed to quantify the electron transfer capacity of DOM, including electron acceptor capacity and electron donor capacity, both of which decreased sharply with increasing depth. FT-IR, UV-Vis and fluorescence spectra results suggested that DOM from the upper horizons was enriched with aromatic and humic structures while that from the lower horizons was rich in aliphatic carbon, which supported the findings obtained by electrochemical approaches. Electrochemical approaches combined with spectroscopic methods were applied to evaluate the characteristics of DOM extracted along a forest soil profile. The electrochemical properties of DOM, which can be rapidly and simply obtained, provide insight into the migration and transformation of DOM along a soil profile and will aid in better understanding of the biogeochemical role of DOM in natural environments.     

Speciation of organic phosphorus in a sediment profile of Lake Taihu II. Molecular species and their depth attenuation

The understanding of organic phosphorus(P) dynamics in sediments requires information on their species at the molecular level,but such information in sediment profiles is scarce.A sediment profile was selected from a large eutrophic lake,Lake Taihu(China),and organic P species in the sediments were detected using solution phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy(31 P NMR) following extraction of the sediments with a mixture of 0.25 mol/L NaOH and 50 mmol/L EDTA(NaOH-EDTA) solution.The results showed that P in the NaOH-EDTA extracts was mainly composed of orthophosphate,orthophosphate monoesters,phospholipids,DNA,and pyrophosphate.Concentrations of the major organic P compound groups and pyrophosphate showed a decreasing trend with the increase of depth.Their half-life times varied from 3 to 27 years,following the order of orthophosphate monoesters > phospholipids DNA > pyrophosphate.Principal component analysis revealed that the detected organic P species had binding phases similar to those of humic acid-associated organic P(NaOH-NRP HA),a labile organic P pool that tends to transform to recalcitrant organic P pools as the early diagenetic processes proceed.This demonstrated that the depth attenuation of the organic P species could be partly attributed to their increasing immobilization by the sediment solids,while their degradation rates should be significantly lower than what were suggested in previous studies.     

反硝化菌株DA-1的脱氮研究

菌株DA-1被发现能在好氧和厌氧环境中将硝酸盐转化为气态氮。在以NO3-为唯一氮源的条件下研究了碳源、C/N和pH值对菌株DA-1好氧和厌氧反硝化脱氮的影响。结果表明:同等条件下,48 h内菌株DA-1的厌氧脱氮效率高于好氧脱氮率;菌株DA-1能在好氧和厌氧条件下利用乙酸、柠檬酸以及葡萄糖进行细胞增殖和反硝化。在厌氧条件下,三者作为碳源时的反硝化效率分别为(34.04±0.15)%、(22.72±0.32)%和(11.32±0.06)%,均低于好氧条件下的(25.38±0.14)%、(17.52±0.11)%和(8.06±0.01)%。2种条件下均是乙酸为碳源时反硝化效率最高。而丁二酸仅能在厌氧环境中作为电子供体参与反硝化反应。C/N越高越有利于菌株DA-1的厌氧反硝化,当C/N为10时,反硝化效率最高为(35.06±0.19)%。而在好氧条件下,菌株反硝化效率随着C/N的升高,先升高再降低,当C/N为8时,反硝化效率最高;好氧和厌氧脱氮的最适pH值为7.0。体系偏酸或者偏碱都会造成菌株DA-1脱氮效率的降低并出现亚硝酸盐累积。厌氧环境中pH=5.0时累积的亚硝酸盐浓度高达(8.95±2.05)mg/mL。     

不同类型湖泊沉积物中氮释放规律研究

通过对武汉市东湖子湖郭郑湖、庙湖以及南湖这3个不同类型的湖泊进行释氮模拟实验,结果表明:(1)在厌氧条件下,不同污染程度的湖泊中沉积物释氮作用均比较明显。为了抑制沉积物向上覆水释氮,控制湖泊富营养化,保持湖泊较高的溶解氧水平是必要的。(2)在厌氧条件下,高温对不同类型湖泊总氮和氨氮的释放均能起到促进作用。(3)沉积物与上覆水间污染物的浓度梯度越大,总氮和氨氮的释放速率与释氮量也越大,此时温度的影响不明显。(4)通过比较3类湖泊沉积物上覆水中总氮和氨氮两者的释放浓度可知,氨氮的释放贡献十分显著,因此控制氨氮的释放量对于控制湖泊氮释放量具有显著效果。     

水中总氮空白的影响因素的探讨

本研究以水中总氮空白值为研究对象,不同厂家的过硫酸钾和不同试验用水条件下的总氮空白的变化规律。研究结果表明：无氨水和二次水蒸出来的总氮空白明显低于一次水蒸出来的总氮空白;这跟蒸馏水纯度有关系,一次水含有氨,所以消解时蒸馏水中的氨会被氧化,从而导致空白值偏高。同样有的厂家的过硫酸钾纯度不高,所以导致空白值高。     

城市污水生物脱氮除磷的新理论与技术

评述了近年来城市污水生物脱氮除磷理论和功能微生物的研究进展,重点介绍了生物处理的新方法：短程硝化反硝化处理法、厌氧氨氧化处理法、同步硝化反硝化处理法、同步反硝化除磷脱氮法,并总结了各处理工艺的应用状况。对生物脱氮除磷微生物学和新的理论技术发展趋势做出了展望。