Thallium in the Environment and Health Effects

Thallium is present in the natural environment in low concentration, being found most frequently in the sulphide ores of a number of heavy metals. Atmospheric emission and deposition from industrial sources has resulted in raised levels in the vicinity of mineral smelters, coal burning power plants, brick works and cement plants. In contaminated areas, raised levels are found in vegetables, fruit and in farm animals. Thallium is used industrially in small quantities, with uses in electronics, in the production of certain glasses and crystals and in medical diagnostics. It has in the past been commonly used as a rodenticide, but its use has now been banned in many countries. Thallium salts are now considered to be amongst the most toxic compounds known. With regard to population exposure, an epidemiological study in an area with high thallium concentrations in soil and garden vegetables centred on a cement plant, has found evidence of a dose response relationship between thallium concentration in urine and a number of non-specific subjective symptoms. Much further research is required to investigate the possible adverse health effects of thallium following population exposure.     

粘土矿物修复重金属污染土壤

简要介绍了我国土壤重金属污染的现状与危害.通过粘土矿物在重金属污染土壤中净化功能的阐述,提出利用粘土矿物修复土壤重金属污染的观点.继而从天然和改性粘土矿物特性,叙述了粘土矿物修复土壤重金属污染的机制与应用进展及其影响因素.最后讨论了粘土矿物在修复土壤重金属污染过程中值得注意的几个问题,并展望了粘土矿物在该领域应用中的发展方向.     

平原河网河道结构与水体自净能力关系实验研究

文章利用模拟实验开展了平原地区缓流河道中的水质变化对河道水流速度与来水水质的响应规律研究。结果显示,当流速<0.5m/h时,河道中的各种污染物主要以沉积过程为主。当流速在0.5～1.5m/h时,水体最易受外界有机物输入的影响,容易引起局部水质的恶化。当流速>1.5m/h时,水动力条件有利于河道中的有机物的降解,但促进了底泥磷的释放,并会导致下游河道营养盐的升高。所以在河道改造、城市生态河网建设与管理中,应从区域河网整体着手,也应注意缓流河道中来水水质的管理。     

高粱修复柴油污染土壤过程中植物生物量及土壤微生物总量的变化

通过温室盆栽试验,研究了高粱修复柴油污染土壤过程中植物生物量及土壤微生物总量的变化情况.通过定量分析土壤中柴油含量对高粱生物量和土壤微生物总量的影响,揭示柴油对土壤环境的生物学效应.结果表明,柴油污染胁迫下高粱的发芽率、存活率以及生物量受到不同程度的影响,在w(柴油)为0.1%的土壤中高粱的发芽率、存活率以及生物量与空白相比约有10%的增加,而在w(柴油)高于3.0%的污染土壤中高粱无法生长.土壤中微生物量随着土壤中柴油含量的增大而减小,但是随着修复过程的进行,土壤环境得到改善,土壤中微生物量有了明显的提高.      

引水调控改善太湖湖湾水环境及其效果预测

在总结太湖水污染问题的基础上,分析得出水流缓慢、动力掺混能力弱、水流交换不畅、水体自净能力差、纳污能力小、入湖污染负荷量大且远超过湖湾的纳污能力是梅梁湖湾水污染严重的主要原因,提出区域水污染综合治理、入湖污染物总量控制、引水调控等水污染防治策略及其关键控制技术,利用数值模拟技术给出了太湖梅梁湖湾入湖污染物排放总量控制定额,并结合引江济太调水试验,采用平面二维水流水质数学模型模拟预测引水调控对梅梁湖湾的水环境改善效果及大流量集中调水和小流量维持性调水的水环境     

Phytoremediation of Nickel-Contaminated Soils by Brassica Species

Two Brassica species Brassica juncea and Brassica carinata of the Indian mustard, were grown in an artificially Ni-contaminated soil to study the tolerance and Ni accumulation. Chelating agent, EDTA was applied at the rosette stage for enhancing the metal uptake. Nickel concentration over almost double that in control was observed in both the species with Ni contamination along with EDTA application. Specie B. juncea appeared to be slightly more tolerant and higher accumulator of Ni. In agreement with the earlier reports, the translocation of the pollutant metal to the shoot from the root seemed to be restricted in both of Brassica species at higher rate of Ni application plus EDTA. The results of the present study indicated that B. juncea has the potential to be hyperaccumulator of Ni.     

重庆市汞污染的观测研究

为研究重庆市区汞污染状况,2004年9~11月,同步观测了重庆市近郊铁山坪小流域（TSP）和观音桥(GYQ)两个区域的全沉降、穿透水、地表径流和土壤中的总汞含量,估算了小流域中汞的输入输出通量,分析了城区和郊区的大气汞沉降和分布特征。结果表明,重庆已在一定程度上受到汞污染。在TSP,湿沉降是汞输入的主要方式,也就是说,在TSP,细颗粒是大气汞的主要来源,表层土则是大气汞的一个主要的汇。GYQ区域的汞污染比TSP相对严重。在GYQ,除了湿沉降以外,干沉降是汞来源的重要形式,表明在GYQ,粗颗粒可能对大气汞有很大的贡献。因此,本地源的排放对城区的影响比对郊区的影响大,尤其是城区火电站附近的土壤样品比郊区土壤的汞含量高很多,说明火电站是大气汞的重要来源之一。     

Bacterial diversity in soils around a lead and zinc mine

Five samples of soil collected from a lead and zinc mine were used to assess the effect of combined contamination of heavy metals on soil bacterial communities using a polyphasic approach including characterization of isolates by culture method, community level catabolic profiling in BIOLOG GN microplates, and genetic community fingerprinting by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of 16S rDNA fragments amplified by PCR from community DNA （PCR-DGGE）. The structure of the bacterial community was affected to a certain extent by heavy metals. The PCR-DGGE analysis of 16S rRNA genes showed that there were significant differences in the structure of the microbial community among the soil samples, which were related to the contamination levels. The number of bacteria and the number of denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis （DGGE） bands in the soils increased with increasing distance from the lead and zinc mine tailing, whereas the concentration of lead （Pb） and cadmium （Cd） was decreased. Heavily polluted soils could be characterized by a community that differs from those of lightly polluted soils in richness and structure of dominating bacterial populations. The clustering analysis of the DGGE profiles showed that the bacteria in all the five samples of soil belonged to three clusters. The data from the BIOLOG analysis also showed the same result. This study showed that heavy metal contamination decreased both the biomass and diversity of the bacterial community in soil.     

Transformation of mercury speciation through the SCR system in power plants

Coal-fired utility boilers are now identified as the largest source of mercury in the United States. There is speculation that the installation of selective catalytic reduction （SCR） system for reduction of NOx can also prompt the oxidation and removal of mercury. In this paper, tests at six full-scale power plants with similar type of the SCR systems are conducted to investigate the effect of the SCR on the transformation of mercury speciation. The results show that the SCR system can achieve more than 70%-80% oxidation of elemental mercury and enhance the mercury removal ability in these units. The oxidation of elemental mercury in the SCR system strongly depends on the coal properties and the operation conditions of the SCR systems. The content of chloride in the coal is the key factor for the oxidization process and the maximum oxidation of elemental mercury is found when chloride content changes from 400 to 600 ppm. The sulfur content is no significant impact on oxidation of elemental mercury.     

Effect of organic matter and pH on mercury release from soils

An investigation was conducted on the effect of organic matter(OM)and pH on mercury(Hg)release from soils.Hg release flux was measured using the dynamic flux chamber(DFC)combined with the Lumex multifunctional mercury analyzer in both laboratory experiment and field monitoring.The results showed that Hg emission from the OM-added soils was apparently low because of the high affinity of OM to Hg,resulting in the reverse order as the amount of OM addition.Meanwhile,Hg release flux from different pH value soils exhibited the same trend for both Hg~(2 )and Hg_2~(2 )treatment,increasing the Hg flux with pH value of soils increasing.The trend of Hg release in the pH dependence experiment has been well in agreement with that from the field test.In addition,Hg release seemed to be related to its species in the soil,the flux from Hg~(2 )-added soil was obviously higher than that of Hg_2~(2 )-added soil by the laboratory experiment.