Exploring the lay/expert divide: the attribution of responsibilities for coal ash pollution in Tuzla,Bosnia and Herzegovina

Invoking expert knowledge is a common strategy in attempts to settle environmental disputes. However, the validity of expertise is contingent upon the context in which an actor is recognised as an expert. In complex environmental conflicts the distinction between lay and expert knowledge is not always fixed a priori. However, as conflicts unfold, intervening parties tend to present their cases in ways that reinforce this distinction. This is apparent in the attribution of environmental responsibilities. This paper presents an empirical case of an environmental conflict related to land contamination due to coal ash disposal in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The analysis revealed two polar positions in the conflict: the first one, mainly held by scientists and industry representatives, invoked expert knowledge and presented a distributed approach to the attribution of responsibilities; the second one, mainly held by local residents and municipal officials, presented an experiential understanding of pollution, as lay knowledge, and attributed direct responsibilities to the local energy industry. The paper concludes that the persistence of the distinction between expert and lay knowledge is a manifestation of the social structures that underlie the conflict.     

Glass buildings on river banks as “polarized light traps” for mass-swarming polarotactic caddis flies

The caddis flies Hydropsyche pellucidula emerge at dusk from the river Danube and swarm around trees and bushes on the river bank. We document here that these aquatic insects can also be attracted en masse to the vertical glass surfaces of buildings on the river bank. The individuals lured to dark, vertical glass panes land, copulate, and remain on the glass for hours. Many of them are trapped by the partly open, tiltable windows. In laboratory choice experiments, we showed that ovipositing H. pellucidula are attracted to highly and horizontally polarized light stimulating their ventral eye region and, thus, have positive polarotaxis. In the field, we documented that highly polarizing vertical black glass surfaces are significantly more attractive to both female and male H. pellucidula than weakly polarizing white ones. Using video polarimetry, we measured the reflection-polarization characteristics of vertical glass surfaces of buildings where caddis flies swarmed. We propose that after its emergence from the river, H. pellucidula is attracted to buildings by their dark silhouettes and the glass-reflected, horizontally polarized light. After sunset, this attraction may be strengthened by positive phototaxis elicited by the buildings' lights. The novelty of this visual-ecological phenomenon is that the attraction of caddis flies to vertical glass surfaces has not been expected because vertical glass panes do not resemble the horizontal surface of waters from which these insects emerge and to which they must return to oviposit.     

从粉煤灰中提取多种微细氧化物的研究

将粉煤灰与Na2CO3按一定的比例混合后焙烧,采用酸碱联合法提取粉煤灰中氧化硅、氧化铝和氧化铁,分析了工艺条件对粉煤灰中氧化物提取率的影响。实验结果表明,从粉煤灰中提取氧化物的最佳条件是:碳酸钠与粉煤灰的比例0.6∶1.0,焙烧温度850℃、盐酸浓度4 mol/L,氢氧化钠浓度2.6 mol/L,浸取时间约6 h。在此条件下得出微细氧化硅、氧化铝、氧化铁的晶体,其平均粒度分别为氧化硅1.107μm,氧化铝1.334μm,氧化铁0.783μm。     

从垃圾焚烧飞灰中回收金属研究进展

焚烧处理已成为我国大城市生活垃圾处理的主要方式之一,焚烧飞灰属于危险废物,其处理处置与利用已成为焚烧厂面临的主要问题。飞灰中含有大量的金属,如将其回收利用不仅可以缓解我国金属资源短缺的问题,而且可使飞灰由危险废物转化为惰性固体废物而加以利用。介绍从飞灰中回收金属国内外研究现状并分析了现有工艺存在的问题,建议采用水洗预处理结合酸碱两步浸取,辅之以溶剂选择萃取的方法从一次飞灰中选择性回收Pb、Cu和Zn。     

制药废水采用微生物絮凝剂和粉煤灰过滤预处理的初步试验研究

初步研究一种用于高浓度制药废水的预处理工艺方法。采用微生物絮凝剂和粉煤灰过滤相结合的预处理工艺,其综合的效果可以将高浓度制药废水中的COD去除80%,基本脱色澄清,且可以将对生化处理有抑制作用的抗生素效价予以降低。并初步讨论了该工艺在实际生产中的可行性。     

HDTMA改性粉煤灰沸石对水中铬酸盐的吸附

以自制HDTMA-粉煤灰沸石为吸附剂,对铬酸盐的吸附进行了实验研究。讨论了吸附剂的投入量、废水pH值、吸附温度和吸附时间等各因素对Cr（VI）去除率的影响。研究表明：pH值对Cr（VI）的吸附效率无显著影响,且在HDTMA-粉煤灰沸石的投加量为20 g/L、吸附温度为30℃、吸附时间为60 min的条件下,Cr（VI）的去除率可达90%左右。     

贮灰场源强的确定及污染防治措施

灰场评价是电厂环境影响评价中非常重要的部分,粉煤灰的性质,决定了空气环境影响评价在贮灰场的评价中具有重要的地位和作用。而贮灰场源强的计算,则是贮灰场空气评价的关键。本文结合实际工作,从贮灰场空气污染源产生环节分析入手,结合已有资料,分别讨论了干式贮灰场空气污染源中表层起尘量和自卸汽车卸料起尘量的影响因素及源强计算,并根据其影响因素,总结了贮灰场空气污染防治措施的一些要点,希望对广大环评工作者有所裨益。     

Mechanical performance and capillary water absorption of sewage sludge ash concrete (SSAC)

Disposal of sewage sludge from waste water treatment plants is a serious environmental problem of increasing magnitude. Waste water treatment generates as much as 70 g of dry solids per capita per day. Although one of the disposal solutions for this waste is through incineration, still almost 30% of sludge solids remain as ash. This paper presents results related to reuse of sewage sludge ash in concrete. The sludge was characterised for chemical composition (X-ray flourescence analysis), crystalline phases (X-ray diffraction analysis) and pozzolanic activity. The effects of incineration on crystal phases of the dry sludge were investigated. Two water/cement (W/C) ratios (0.55 and 0.45) and three sludge ash percentages (5%, 10% and 20%) per cement mass were used as filler. The mechanical performance of sewage sludge ash concrete (SSAC) at different curing ages (3, 7, 28 and 90 days) was assessed by means of mechanical tests and capillary water absorption. Results show that sewage sludge ash leads to a reduction in density and mechanical strength and to an increase in capillary water absorption. Results also show that SSAC with 20% of sewage sludge ash and W/C = 0.45 has a 28 day compressive strength of almost 30 MPa. SSAC with a sludge ash contents of 5% and 10% has the same capillary water absorption coefficient as the control concrete; as for the concrete mixtures with 20% sludge ash content, the capillary water absorption is higher but in line with C20/25 strength class concretes performance.     

Characterization of MSWI fly ash through mineralogy and water extraction

This paper investigates the mineralogical characteristics of fresh, aged and hot water extracted MSWI fly ash for providing the baseline information of minerals stability which controls the released heavy metals into the environment. Quantitative determination of bulk phase abundance in the fresh fly ash by the XRD Rietveld refinement method provided composition levels for amorphous and crystalline phases such as potassium tetrachlorozincate (K₂ZnCl₄), gehlenite, halite, quartz, anhydrite, and feldspar. The minerals association in the fly ash is clearly unstable and subject to mineralogical reactions. The phases of K₂ZnCl₄, halite and anhydrite in the fresh fly ash were involved in hydration and dissolution/precipitation processes to form new minerals such as the Zn-bearing mineral gordaite, syngenite, gypsum and hydrocalumite. The solubility-controlling phases and extractability of heavy metals were examined in a Soxhlet hot water-extractor. Here the soluble salts were simply removed from fly ash while Ca-, Al-, Si- and SO₄²⁻-bearing hydrate minerals were precipitated from the extraction solution. Furthermore, a low release of heavy metals Zn, Pb and Cd in hot water was noticed, indicating a strong retention of the trace metals in the mineral phases remaining in the insoluble fly ash residues.     

A quantitative estimate of potential aluminium recovery from incineration bottom ashes

The recovery of ferrous and non ferrous metals from the bottom ashes is a common practice in the most part of Europe, both for the environmental advantages of their recycle and to avoid problems of swelling and expansion that metals can cause when bottom ashes are reused in concrete production or in road construction. This paper focuses on metal recovery from bottom ashes produced in Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) incinerators, with a particular focus on aluminium. A forecasting model was developed in order to evaluate the quantity of aluminium scraps recoverable from the bottom ashes. The model was applied to the Italian situation but its validity can be extended to other countries. Focusing on Italy, by applying conventional technologies for the separation of non-ferrous metals, the amount of aluminium potentially recoverable from bottom ashes is estimated in the range from 16,500 to 21,000 tonnes at the year 2015, and from 19,000 to 28,500 tonnes at 2020.