Book Reviews

Books reviewed:
Tim Dyson, Population and Food: Global Trends and Future Prospects
R. S. J. Sparks, M. I. Bursik, S. N. Carey, J. S. Gilbert, L. S. Glaze, H. Sigurdsson and A. W. Woods, Volcanic Plumes
Jasper Becker, Hungry Ghosts: Mao's Secret Famine
Dali L. Yang, Calamity and Reform in China: State, Rural Society and Institutional Change Since the Great Leap Forward     

Pyrolysis of waste animal fats in a fixed-bed reactor: Production and characterization of bio-oil and bio-char

Several animal (lamb, poultry and swine) fatty wastes were pyrolyzed under nitrogen, in a laboratory scale fixed-bed reactor and the main products (liquid bio-oil, solid bio-char and syngas) were obtained. The purpose of this study is to produce and characterize bio-oil and bio-char obtained from pyrolysis of animal fatty wastes. The maximum production of bio-oil was achieved at a pyrolysis temperature of 500 °C and a heating rate of 5 °C/min. The chemical (GC–MS analyses) and spectroscopic analyses (FTIR analyses) of bio-oil showed that it is a complex mixture consisting of different classes of organic compounds, i.e., hydrocarbons (alkanes, alkenes, cyclic compounds…etc.), carboxylic acids, aldehydes, ketones, esters,…etc. According to fuel properties, produced bio-oils showed good properties, suitable for its use as an engine fuel or as a potential source for synthetic fuels and chemical feedstock. Obtained bio-chars had low carbon content and high ash content which make them unattractive for as renewable source energy.     

Cost‐effectiveness of conservation payment schemes for species with different range sizes

Payments to compensate landowners for carrying out costly land‐use measures that benefit endangered biodiversity have become an important policy instrument. When designing such payments, it is important to take into account that spatially connected habitats are more valuable for many species than isolated ones. One way to incentivize provision of connected habitats is to offer landowners an agglomeration bonus, that is, a bonus on top of payments they are receiving to conserve land if the land is spatially connected. Researchers have compared the cost‐effectiveness of the agglomeration bonus with 2 alternatives: an all‐or‐nothing, agglomeration payment, where landowners receive a payment only if the conserved land parcels have a certain level of spatial connectivity, and a spatially homogeneous payment, where landowners receive a payment for conserved land parcels irrespective of their location. Their results show the agglomeration bonus is rarely the most cost‐effective option, and when it is, it is only slightly better than one of the alternatives. This suggests that the agglomeration bonus should not be given priority as a policy design option. However, this finding is based on consideration of only 1 species. We examined whether the same applied to 2 species, one for which the homogeneous payment is best and the other for which the agglomeration payment is most cost‐effective. We modified a published conceptual model so that we were able to assess the cost‐effectiveness of payment schemes for 2 species and applied it to a grassland bird and a grassland butterfly in Germany that require the same habitat but have different spatial‐connectivity needs. When conserving both species, the agglomeration bonus was more cost‐effective than the agglomeration and the homogeneous payment; thus, we showed that as a policy the agglomeration bonus is a useful conservation‐payment option.     

Evaluation of thermal reaction for two azo compounds by using 20-L apparatus and calorimetry

Azo compounds are widely involved in the industrial processes of dyes, pigments, initiators, and blowing agents. Unfortunately, these compounds have a bivalent unstable –NN– composition, which can be readily broken when the ambient temperature is elevated. Self-accelerating decomposition might cause a runaway reaction and lead to a fire, explosion, or leakage when the cooling system fails or other events occur. This study investigated the explosion properties, thermal stability parameters, and thermal hazard and mechanism of 2,2′–azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) and 2,2′–azobis–2–methylbutyronitrile (AMBN). We used a 20-L apparatus, vent sizing package 2, synchronous thermal analysis, and differential scanning calorimetry under explosive, adiabatic, and dynamic conditions to acquire the explosive curves, thermal curves, and thermodynamic parameters of the substances. Moreover, the differential isoconversional method (Friedman method) and ASTM E698 equation were employed to obtain the apparent activation energy E_a. All the experimental results revealed that AIBN is more dangerous than AMBN. The E_a of AIBN was lower than that of AMBN. The results can be used to construct an azo compound thermal hazard database for use for searches and reference examples by industry and related research areas.     

Fault detection and diagnostics of a three-phase separator

A high demand of oil products on daily basis requires oil processing plants to work with maximum efficiency. Oil, water and gas separation in a three-phase separator is one of the first operations that are performed after crude oil is extracted from an oil well. Failure of the components of the separator introduces the potential hazard of flammable materials being released into the environment. This can escalate to a fire or explosion. Such failures can also cause downtime for the oil processing plant since the separation process is essential to oil production. Fault detection and diagnostics techniques used in the oil and gas industry are typically threshold based alarm techniques. Observing the sensor readings solely allows only a late detection of faults on the separator which is a big deficiency of such a technique, since it causes the oil and gas processing plants to shut down.A fault detection and diagnostics methodology for three-phase separators based on Bayesian Belief Networks (BBN) is presented in this paper. The BBN models the propagation of oil, water and gas through the different sections of the separator and the interactions between component failure modes and process variables, such as level or flow monitored by sensors installed on the separator. The paper will report on the results of the study, when the BBNs are used to detect single and multiple failures, using sensor readings from a simulation model. The results indicated that the fault detection and diagnostics model was able to detect inconsistencies in sensor readings and link them to corresponding failure modes when single or multiple failures were present in the separator.     

Solar energy for electricity and fuels

Solar energy conversion into electricity by photovoltaic modules is now a mature technology. We discuss the need for materials and device developments using conventional silicon and other materials, pointing to the need to use scalable materials and to reduce the energy payback time. Storage of solar energy can be achieved using the energy of light to produce a fuel. We discuss how this can be achieved in a direct process mimicking the photosynthetic processes, using synthetic organic, inorganic, or hybrid materials for light collection and catalysis. We also briefly discuss challenges and needs for large-scale implementation of direct solar fuel technologies.     

热活化镁砂的表征、吸附性能及其对含油废水的处理效果研究

通过对镁砂进行改性试图提高其吸附性能,并用于处理含油废水。对镁砂进行热活化处理,并对处理前后的镁砂进行了X射线衍射分析、TG-DSC热分析及扫描电镜分析。再将热活化后的镁砂用于处理模拟含油废水,考察了焙烧温度、吸附剂用量、pH、温度等因素对模拟含油废水中COD去除效果的影响。根据实验结果,确定镁砂的热活化温度为500℃,利用热活化后的镁砂吸附去除模拟含油废水中的COD,处理后出水COD浓度可满足GB 8978—1996《污水综合排放标准》一级标准。     

氮氟掺杂二氧化钛(N,F-TiO2)的制备及可见光催化活性的研究

以氨水为氮源,氢氟酸为氟源,采用溶胶-凝胶法制备了氮氟掺杂二氧化钛(N,F-TiO2)光催化剂,并通过X-射线衍射(XRD)和扫描电镜(SEM)技术对其晶型和形态进行表征.最后以酸性红B为模型污染物,探讨了N和F加入量、焙烧温度、焙烧时间、照射时间、催化剂用量、溶液初始浓度和照射功率等因素对N,F-TiO2可见光催化活性的影响.结果表明,制备的N,F-TiO2以锐钛型为主,N和F的掺杂对TiO2的晶相没有明显改变,但可以扩大TiO2的可见光响应范围.当N和F的加入量均为2.0%,且在500℃下焙烧40 min时,得到的N,F-TiO2的可见光催化活性明显高于单N或单F掺杂的TiO2(N-TiO2或F-TiO2).对于50 mL浓度为10.0 mg·L-1的酸性红B溶液,当催化剂加入量为1.5 g·L-1,128W光照3.0 h,溶液pH=5.6时,去除率为85.40%.适当延长光照时间至4.0 h,降解率几乎可达100%.另外,研究还证明了N,F-TiO2催化可见光降解过程中有.OH自由基生成.     

秸秆与生物炭还田对土壤团聚体及固碳特征的影响

揭示秸秆与生物炭还田对团聚体有机碳含量、分布、稳定性以及相对贡献率的影响,有利于明确秸秆与生物炭还田下土壤碳库的稳定性及其保护机制.采用田间试验方法研究了油菜/玉米轮作模式下,秸秆与生物炭还田对土壤团聚体及固碳特征的影响.结果表明:(1)秸秆与生物炭还田各处理均能提高土壤有机碳含量,其中生物炭还田(BC、16.88 g·kg~(-1))、秸秆+生物炭还田(CSBC、17.37 g·kg~(-1))效果优于秸秆还田(CS、13.76 g·kg~(-1))和秸秆+速腐剂还田(CSD、14.68 g·kg~(-1)).(2)与对照(CK)处理相比,CS、CSD处理能显著地提高大团聚体(2 mm)含量,增加率为94.00%~117.78%,同时显著提高了水稳性团聚体的平均重量直径(MWD)、几何平均直径(GMD)、R0.25,降低了分形维数(D),提高了团聚体稳定性(P0.05).(3)随着团聚体粒径的增大,团聚体有机碳含量呈现先降低再增高然后再降低,且粉黏粒(0.053 mm)对土壤有机碳贡献率最高(29.61%~42.18%),大团聚体有机碳贡献率最低(9.19%~17.81%).除CSD处理外,CS、BC、CSBC处理降低了较大团聚体(2~0.25 mm)和微团聚体(0.25~0.053 mm)有机碳贡献率.秸秆还田促进土壤团聚作用效果优于生物炭还田,而生物炭还田提高团聚体有机碳含量效果优于秸秆还田,秸秆新碳主要向大团聚体内分配,秸秆+速腐剂还田还能促进较大团聚体内不同组分结合新碳,生物炭、秸秆+生物炭还田主要向微团聚体中富集.     

芬顿氧化试验中残余双氧水对CODcr测定的影响研究

在采用Fenton高级氧化技术对垃圾压滤液进行处理时,作为氧化剂的双氧水经常不能完全消耗。而使用重铬酸钾法进行CODcr测定时,待测水体中残余的双氧水会表现出还原性而消耗重铬酸钾,对最终CODcr测定结果产生影响。本文分析了在垃圾压滤液中不同浓度双氧水对CODcr测定的影响大小,得出双氧水浓度对CODcr影响曲线,同时为消除双氧水对CODcr测定结果影响,在试验中投加过量硫酸亚铁与双氧水反应,当投加量达到理论反应量的1.0～1.2倍时,对双氧水去除效果最好,使后续的CODcr测定试验更加准确。