Clean fuels from municipal solid waste for fuel cell buses in metropolitan areas

Increasing volumes of municipal solid waste (MSW) pose disposal problems for many cities. Costs are rising as landfilling becomes more difficult. The production of clean transportation fuels (methanol or hydrogen) from MSW is one economically and environmentally promising option for dealing with these problems. An attractive feature is that elimination of essentially all air pollutant emissions is inherent in the process. Current and future air emissions standards should be easily met. Methanol or hydrogen used in fuel cell vehicles (FCV) can help address problems of deteriorating urban air quality due to vehicle pollution and heavy dependence of the transport sector on imported petroleum. Buses are initial targets for commercial application of fuel cells. Coupled with FCVs, MSW could become a major transportation energy resource. For example, less than 25% of New York City's MSW supply would be sufficient to produce the methanol or hydrogen needed to fuel the entire city's bus fleet, if the buses were fuel cell powered. Estimated breakeven tipping fees required for hydrogen or methanol from MSW to compete with the cost of these fuels made from natural gas today are $52 to $89/raw tonne MSW for hydrogen and $64 to $104/raw tonne MSW for methanol (in 1991$), depending on the gasification technology considered. For comparison, the average tipping fee today in New York City is $74/tonne (1991$). Because of the high fuel economies expected for fuel cell buses, total lifecycle costs per bus-km could be lower than for conventional diesel-engine buses.     

镉对大鼠肾皮质结合反应的影响

通过体内和体外试验分别研究了镉对肾皮质微粒体谷胱甘肽转移酶(GST)及游离肾近曲小管细胞中葡萄糖醛酸(GA)结合反应的影响.结果表明:(1)体外试验中,在10~(-7)—10~(-3)mol/L浓度范围内,镉可抑制肾皮质微粒休GST活力;(2)体内腹腔注射CdCl_2(2.4mg/kg,连续3天)后,大鼠肾皮质GST活力无明显改变;(3)按同样方式腹腔注射CdCl_2后,可降低游离肾近曲小管细胞中GA和7-羟基香豆素(7-HC)的结合反应;(4)体外试验中,低浓度镉(10~(-7)mol/L)可使肾皮质细胞中GA和7-HC的结合反应增强,而在10~(-6)—10~(-2)mol/L浓度范围内,镉可降低GA和7-HC的结合反应.     

Phytoremediation of Selected Explosives

The phytoremediation of trinitrotoluene (TNT), nitroglycerine (NG) and pentaerytritoltetranitrate (PETN) using in vitrocultures of Rheum palmatum, Saponaria officinalisand Populus simonii were studied. All above mentioned explosives were degradated to less toxic products and finally probably bound to the cell wall or further involved in the metabolism. The formation of trinitrobenzene (TNB) during degradation of TNT which is a product of alternative degradation pathway was found too.     

磁处理水对蚕豆根尖细胞的遗传学效应

利用蚕豆根尖细胞微核测试技术研究了磁化水（4200GS）对蚕豆根尖细胞的微核率、有丝分裂指数、染色体桥率、不正常细胞率等遗传学指标的影响,目的是探讨磁处理水对生物体的遗传学效应,结果发现上述指标均有所上升,其中微核率和不正常细胞率上升显著,并且其大小与水在磁场中处理的时间长短有关,提示磁处理水（4200GS）有一定的遗传学毒性     

Genotoxic biomonitoring of agricultural workers exposed to pesticides in the north of Sinaloa State, Mexico

Genotoxic damage was evaluated in 70 agricultural workers, 25 women and 45 men, exposed to pesticides in Las Grullas, Ahome, Sinaloa, Mexico, with an average of 7 years of exposure. The effect was detected through the sister chromatid exchanges (SCE) in lymphocytes of peripheral blood and micronuclei (MN) and other nuclear anomalies (NA) in buccal exfoliated cells. Also, the influence on cellular proliferation kinetics (CPK) was studied by means of the replication index (RI) and the cytotoxic effect was examined with the mitotic index (MI). The non-exposed group consisted of 70 other persons, 21 women and 47 men from the city of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico. Significant differences between the exposed and the non-exposed groups were observed in SCE, CPK, MI, MN and NA. Analysis of variance revealed that age, gender, smoking and alcohol consumption did not have a significant effect on genetic damage. However, there was a correlation between exposure time to pesticides and SCE frequency. These results could have been due to the exposure of workers to pesticides containing different chemical compounds. This study afforded valuable data to estimate the possible risk to health associated with pesticide exposure.     

Degradation of MTBE and TBA by a new isolate from MTBE-contaminated soil

Methyl ten-butyl ether （MTBE）, a gasoline additive, possesses serious problems to the environmental health. In the present study, a bacterial culture named A-3 which could effectively degrade MTBE was isolated from the MTBE contaminated soil. The isolate was identified as Chryseobacterium sp., a new species capable of degrading MTBE. In order to enhance its degradation ability, selected environment factors were investigated. The results showed that the optimal temperature was in the range of 25-30℃, the pH was 7.0, the inoculum size was 2 × 10^8 CFU/ml and the optimal concentration of MTBE was from 50 to 100 mg/L. The maximum MTBE utilization rate （Vmax） was 102 nmol MTBE/（mg cell protein.h）. Furthermore, it was found that the isolate could also degrade tert-butyl alcohol （TBA）. The degradation rates of TBA were much faster than those of MTBE. The additional TBA would lead to the decrease of the initial MTBE degradation rate and the inhibitory effect of TBA increased with the increase of TBA concentration. Similar protein profiles at least seven peptides were demonstrated after SDS-PAGE analysis of crude extracts obtained from the cells growing in MTBE and TBA culture.     

石棉表面改性对石棉诱导人胚肺细胞产生羟基自由基的影响

为了研究用柠檬酸铝、混合稀土或亚硒酸钠预处理温石棉对石棉诱导人胚肺(HEL)细胞产生羟基自由基(·OH)的影响,笔者用不同浓度的柠檬酸铝、混合稀土或亚硒酸钠溶液浸泡温石棉1小时后,再将其与人胚肺细胞共同孵育,利用电子自旋捕获法测定反应体系中羟基自由基信号。结果显示,石棉可诱导人胚肺细胞产生羟基自由基,并且所产生的自由基信号(峰高)随石棉浓度升高而增强,呈一定的剂量依赖性。经3种化合物预处理的温石棉组人胚肺细胞所产生的自由基信号(峰高)均明显低于未处理温石棉组。上述结果表明,温石棉可诱导人胚肺细胞产生羟基自由基,但用3种化合物预处理温石棉,均可抑制温石棉诱导人胚肺细胞产生羟基自由基。     

几种化合物对温石棉诱导入胚肺细胞蛋白激酶C活性的影响

为了探讨几种化合物对温石棉诱导人胚肺（HEL）细胞蛋白激酶C（PKC）活性的影响，该研究用不同浓度的柠檬酸铝、混合稀土或亚硒酸钠溶液浸泡温石棉1小时后，再将其与HEL细胞共同孵育24小时，测定了HEL细胞胞浆和胞膜中PKC的活性。其结果显示：随着石棉剂量的增加，HEL细胞胞浆和胞膜中的PKC活性逐渐升高，均呈明显的剂量依赖性；经3种化合物预处理的石棉，其所诱导的HEL细胞胞浆和胞膜中的PKC活性均明显低于未处理温石棉组。笔者提示：温石棉可能通过改变细胞内PKC的活性进一步促进肿瘤的发生；用3种化合物预处理温石棉，均可抑制温石棉对HEL细胞PKC活性的诱导作用。