Effects of long-term soil amendment with sewage sludges on soil humic acid thermal and molecular properties

Sewage sludges are frequently used as soil amendments due to their high contents of organic matter and nutrients, particularly N and P. However, their effects upon the chemistry of soil humic acids, one of the main components of the soil organic matter, need to be more deeply studied in order to understand the relation between organic matter structure and beneficial soil properties. Two sewage sludges subjected to different types of pre-treatment (composted and thermally dried) with very different chemical compositions were applied for three consecutive years to an agricultural soil under long-term field study. Thermal analysis (TG–DTG–DTA) and solid-state ¹³C NMR spectroscopy were used to compare molecular and structural properties of humic acids isolated from sewage sludges, and to determine changes in amended soils. Thermally dried sewage sludge humic acids showed an important presence of alkyl and O/N-alkyl compounds (70%) while composted sludge humic acids comprised 50% aromatic and carbonyl carbon. In spite of important differences in the initial chemical and thermal properties of the two types of sewage sludges, the chemical and thermal properties of the soil humic acids were quite similar to one another after 3 years of amendment. Long-term application of both sewage sludges resulted in 80–90% enrichment in alkyl carbon and organic nitrogen contents of the soil humic acid fraction.     

蒸发过程早期渗滤液中有机酸挥发规律研究

对早期填埋场渗滤液进行了常规和载气蒸发实验,通过定时分批截留冷凝液并测定其TOC和挥发性脂肪酸（volatile fatty acids, VFAs）浓度,研究了不同pH条件下早期渗滤液中有机污染物的挥发规律.结果表明,pH=4时蒸发冷凝液中TOC呈由高而低的变化趋势,pH=7时TOC变化趋势截然相反.冷凝液中VFAs（乙酸除外）浓度变化规律与TOC相似,并且结构越复杂相对挥发速率越大.分析表明,早期渗滤液蒸发冷凝液中有机物主要由VFAs组成.是否具有载气及载气量多少对早期渗滤液有机物蒸发的影响不明显.     

Thermal Solid State Reactions of Potato Starch with α-Hydroxy Acids

The numerous applications of dextrins resulting from the heating of potato starch with α-amino acids prompted me to check the thermal reactions of starch with hydroxy acids and their lactones, such as citric acid, lactic acid, tartaric acid, and coumarine. The course of reactions was observed by means of Simultaneous TG/DSC Thermal Analyser. The thermal reactions were carried out on convectional and microwave heating. The course of reactions under such conditions was compared and properties of resulting dextrins were recognized. The structure and properties of products were obtained from FTIR spectra, water solubility tests, and pH measurements. It was found, that hydroxy acids and/or products of their thermal transformations reacted with starch and/or resulting dextrins producing esters or crosslinking esterification of dextrins took place. The properties of new dextrins were presented in order to check, in further studies, their application for selective flotation of complex metal ores and their suitability as prebiotics.     

Changes in Extractability of Cr and Pb in a Polycontaminated Soil After Bioaugmentation With Microbial Producers of Biosurfactants, Organic Acids and Siderophores

Partly because of the low bioavailability of metals, the soil cleaning-up using phytoremediation is usually time-consuming. In order to enhance the amount of metals at the plant's disposal, the soil bioaugmentation coupled together with phytoextraction is an emerging technology. In this preliminary work, two agricultural soils which mainly differed in their Cr, Hg and Pb contents (LC, low-contaminated soil; HC, high-contaminated soil) were bioaugmented in laboratory conditions by either bacterial (Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas fluorescens or Ralstonia metallidurans) or fungal inocula (Aspergillus niger or Penicillium simplicissimum) and incubated during three weeks. The LC soil pots bioaugmented with A. niger and P. aeruginosa contained higher concentrations of Cr (0.08 and 0.25 mg.kg⁻¹ dw soil) and Pb (0.25 and 0.3 mg.kg⁻¹ dw soil) in the exchangeable fraction F1 (extraction with MgCl₂) by comparison with the non-bioaugmented soil where neither Cr nor Pb was detected. Conversely, immobilization of Cr and Pb in the soil were observed with the other microorganisms. The soil bioaugmentation not only modified the metal speciation for the most easily extractable fractions but also modified the distribution of metals in the other fractions, to a lesser extent nevertheless. The difference in microbial concentrations between the bioaugmented or not HC soils reached up to 1.8 log units. Thus the microorganisms that we chose for the soil bioaugmentation were competitive towards the indigenous microflora. The PCA analysis showed close positive relationships between the microorganisms which potentially produced siderophores in the soil and the amount of Cr and Pb in the fraction F1.     

微氧水解酸化工艺处理高浓度抗生素废水

试验研究了高浓度难生物降解抗生素废水微氧水解酸化效果.结果表明,微氧环境提高了兼性水解酸化菌的生理代谢功能,曝气搅拌改善了水力条件,在最短HRT为10h ,最大OLR为20kg/(m³·d)条件下,酸化率为58.64%,出水VFA为4825mg/L ,极大地改善了废水的生物降解性能,BOD₅/COD升高了17%左右,为后续好氧生物处理提供了良好的基质准备.在进水水质波动较大的情况下,出水水质相对稳定,出水COD和SS浓度分别为7000～8000mg/L和150～300mg/L ,COD和SS去除率分别为15%～30%和90%～95%.出水VFA的变化滞后于酸化率的变化,酸化率能更好地表征水解酸化系统的效果.反应器底部的污泥床层是VFA生成的主要反应区,随着OLR的升高,达到稳定VFA浓度的反应器高度逐渐增加.填料区功能主要在于截留出水中的SS.污泥以粒径为0.5～1.0mm之间的小颗粒污泥和絮状污泥为主.     

南京市大气气溶胶中二元羧酸昼夜变化研究

2002年3月14-19日在南京大学校园内进行了为期1周的采样,用以研究大气气溶胶PM_2.5中的低分子量(C₂～C₁₀)二元羧酸的昼夜变化规律.结果表明,南京市大气气溶胶中二元羧酸的夜间质量浓度(平均为460ng/m3)普遍高于相应的白天质量浓度(平均为350 ng/m3).草酸是含量最高的二元羧酸,其次是丁二酸与丙二酸,这3种二元羧酸占所检测到的水溶性有机酸总量的89%.由C3/C4(ρ(丙二酸)/ρ(丁二酸))(平均为1.00)可以判断采样期间气溶胶中有机酸主要来源于大气的光化学氧化反应,从C6/C9(ρ(己二酸)/ρ(壬二酸))(平均为0.88)可以认为生物源是有机酸的一个重要来源.      

Sucrose-derived catalytic biodiesel synthesis from low cost palm fatty acid distillate

The current homogeneous acid catalyst for biodiesel product however, would lead to formation of many undesirable by-products that make the post treatment of the biodiesel to be difficult and costly. Thus, sucrose-derived solid acid catalyst was developed in the present study which aims to improve the esterification process and reduce the generation of waste. The physicochemical properties of the synthesized catalysts were studied by various techniques such as, BET surface area, X-ray diffraction (XRD), temperature programmed desorption of NH₃ (TPD-NH₃), scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Response surface methodology (RSM) with central composite design (CCD) is used to determine the optimum parameters for the catalytic reaction. The experimental results showed that the catalyst exhibited good catalytic activity in the transesterification of PFAD, providing maximum biodiesel yield of 94% at optimum parameters. The better catalytic activity of the aforementioned catalyst in the biodiesel reaction could be attributed to the presence of optimal number of catalytically active acid site density on its surface.