Exploring co-investments in sustainable land management in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, not only farmers but also the public and private sector partners are still hesitant to invest in sustainable land management (SLM). This study focuses on the Central Rift Valley and explores the potential for co-investments in SLM, where public and private sector partners support farmers with material, capital, knowledge, etc. A survey revealed current bottlenecks for co-investments and requirements needed to collaboratively invest in SLM. It covered 165 public sector partners (micro-, meso- and macro-level institutions) and 42 private sector partners (banks, exporters and local traders). Results for the public sector show a gap between macro- and micro-/meso-level actors concerning co-investments in SLM. Macro-level institutions do not acknowledge the bottlenecks identified by micro- and meso-level institutions (e.g. lack of accountability, top-down approaches and lack of good leadership). Similarly, opinions on requirements for co-investments in SLM differ considerably, showing that bridging the institutional micro–macro gap is crucial to co-investments. Most factors are related to the wider governance context and to different perceptions among micro- and macro-level actors as to the critical pre-conditions to co-investment in SLM. Improving governance at all institutional levels, capacity building and enhancing a common understanding on barriers to SLM is required. Results for the private sector reveal that economic bottlenecks limit possibilities to co-invest in SLM, and that enabling policies in the public sphere are required to trigger private investments. Hence, the potential for co-investments in SLM is available in Ethiopia at micro- and meso-level and within the private sector, but profound commitment and fundamental policy changes at the macro-level are required to exploit this potential.     

淀山湖蓝藻碎屑的好氧降解和营养盐释放规律研究

收集淀山湖的水华蓝藻,经超声波处理后,研究死亡蓝藻的好氧降解及营养盐释放规律.结果表明,蓝藻细胞有机碳的矿化速率为9.415mg/(L×d),有机氮的氨化速率为0.441mg/(L×d),有机磷的降解速率为0.044mg/(L×d),好氧降解将会造成溶解态营养盐的大量释放,降解后硝态氮和正磷酸盐分别比初始值高4.22倍和4.20倍.     

屠宰废水处理工程实践与工艺探讨

屠宰废水具有有机物浓度高、杂质和悬浮物多、油脂浓度高等特点,采用隔油沉淀-气浮-UASB-接触氧化的主体处理工艺对屠宰废水进行处理,取得了较好的处理效果,出水达到GB 13457—92《肉类加工工业水污染物排放标准》的二级排放标准。     

过硫酸盐缓释材料释放性能及机理

采用过硫酸钾、水泥、砂和水按照一定配比均匀混和后,于立方体模具中成型制备过硫酸盐缓释材料(A₁、A₂、A₃、A₄),参照欧盟标准化组织制定的NEN 7375水槽试验方法,分8个阶段更换浸取液连续浸泡缓释材料,考察过硫酸盐缓释材料的释放性能,并初步探讨其缓释机理. 结果表明:过硫酸盐缓释材料在浸泡初期释放速率较大,短时间内释放速率迅速降低,之后缓慢降低;4种配比缓释材料的过硫酸盐释放特性均满足二级动力学方程;砂的含量水平是影响过硫酸盐释放特性的主要因素之一,砂含量较高的A₄材料的传质阻力小,传质系数(K)为58.11mg/(d·g),释放过硫酸钾的速率较快;砂含量低的A₁、A₂材料传质阻力大,传质系数分别为14.59、17.11mg/(d·g),过硫酸钾释放速率较慢. 该研究中过硫酸盐缓释材料最长释放时间可达159.08~501.44d,能够有效实现有效组分过硫酸盐的缓慢释放. 总体上,浸泡初期释放机理表现为标准扩散过程,后期为损耗扩散过程.      

Assessment of the seismic effect of insulation on extra-large cryogenic liquid natural gas storage tanks

Insulation is typically used in extra-large double-walled cryogenic storage tanks that are used to store liquid natural gas (LNG). These vessels have been designed with the assumption that the insulation offers negligible structural resistance that might cause structural damage. Observation of the deformation of the insulation in such tanks leads to concern that the insulation may become sufficiently compacted to cause significant load transfer between the inner and outer tank. The inner tank, though protected from most external events by the outer tank, is only designed to contain the liquid gas. It is therefore much more sensitive to seismic effects. In this investigation, simplified and 3D finite element models are used to simulate the interaction effects of the fluid, inner tank, insulation and outer tank. This paper presents an initial analysis of the potential effects of LNG tank insulation under earthquake conditions and assesses the potential for structural damage by comparison of models that do or do not consider the insulation layer. The data reported and statistically sorted include the overturning moment, the base shear, the tank wall stress, and the wave height in the tank. The results show that the insulation layer has certain influence on seismic design of LNG tanks.     

Development of a theoretical framework for the evaluation of risk connected to accidental oxygen releases

A short-cut methodology for a fast estimation of hazards from oxygen releases and the evaluation of safety distances is presented. Starting from a historical survey on accidents involving oxygen releases and consequent scenarios, the approach includes analytical models for the quantification of incremental hazards due to oxygen releases, in non-obstructed areas, both for continuous and nearly instantaneous scenarios, adopting a simple Gaussian dispersion model. An example of the application of the model in a real case-study and relevant quantitative results are presented.     

A design method of a plant alarm system for first alarm alternative signals using a modularized CE model

Management of a plant alarm system has been identified as one of the key safety issues because of disasters caused by alarm floods. When a chemical plant is at abnormal state, an alarm system must provide useful information to operators as the third layer of an independent protection layer (IPL). Therefore, a method of designing a plant alarm system is important for plant safety. Because the plant is maintained in the plant lifecycle, the alarm system for the plant should be properly managed through the plant lifecycle. To manage changes, the design rationales of the alarm system should be explained explicitly. This paper investigates a logical and systematic alarm system design method that explicitly explains the design rationales from know-why information for proper management of changes through the plant lifecycle. In the method, the module structure proposed by Hamaguchi et al. (2011) to assign a fault origin to be distinguished is extended. Using modules to investigate the sets of alarm sensors and the alarm limits setting for first alarm alternative signals to distinguish the fault origin, an alarm system design method is proposed. Also, the completeness of fault propagation for a branch of the cause–effect model as the plant model is explained. Using the modules and the set of fault origins to be distinguished by the alarm system, we try to explicitly explain the design rationales of the alarm system.     

The photocatalytic degradation of carbamazepine and prediction by artificial neural networks

The three layer artificial neural network model was applied to predict the degradation efficiency for carbamazepine in photocatalytic oxidation under UV radiation. Titania–zirconia was employed as a catalyst for the photooxidation. The catalyst was prepared using titanium isopropoxide and zirconium oxychloride by sol–gel method and characterized by transmission electron microscopy and BET analysis. Different process parameters such as, initial concentration of carbamazepine, pH of the solution, catalyst concentration and time of UV irradiation were employed as the input to the artificial neural network model and the output of the network was degradation efficiency of carbamazepine. The multilayer feed-forward networks with the Levenberg–Marquardt (trainlm) backpropagation training algorithm was used for the network training. The smallest mean square error was obtained for three-layer network with ‘logsig’ transfer function and five neurons in the hidden layer gave optimal results. A comparison between the predicted values and selective experimental data of degradation efficiency showed a high correlation coefficient (R²) of 0.997.     

镧改性沸石对太湖底泥-水系统中磷的固定作用

考察了不同反应时间、pH值、硅酸根离子浓度、DO浓度、老化时间以及初始磷浓度等条件下一种新型底泥改良剂-镧改性沸石对太湖底泥-水系统中磷的固定作用.当水中磷浓度很低时,太湖底泥和镧改性沸石改良太湖底泥均释放出磷.镧改性沸石改良太湖底泥的释磷量少于太湖底泥.镧改性沸石改良太湖底泥中金属氧化物结合态磷(NaOH-P)和钙结合态磷(HCl-P)等较为稳定形态磷含量多于太湖底泥,而镧改性沸石改良太湖底泥中氧化还原敏感态磷(BD-P)这种不稳定形态磷含量少于太湖底泥.太湖底泥和镧改性沸石改良太湖底泥对水中较高浓度磷酸盐的吸附平衡数据均可以采用Langmuir等温吸附模型加以描述.镧改性沸石改良太湖底泥对水中磷酸盐的吸附能力明显高于太湖底泥,且吸附能力随老化时间的增加而降低.被镧改性沸石所吸附的磷酸盐主要以NaOH-P和HCl-P等较为稳定形态磷存在,不容易被重新释放出来.上述结果表明,采用镧改性沸石对太湖底泥进行原位改良可以增强太湖底泥对磷的固定能力,减少太湖底泥磷的释放.     

紊流作用下泥沙释放磷的试验及数值模拟

为研究水体紊动对泥沙释放污染物的影响,引入近似均匀紊流模拟装置,开展不同强度紊动作用下泥沙运动释放磷动态过程及基本规律的试验,研究表明:紊动扩散作用对泥沙解吸释放磷有着十分重要的影响,紊动较弱时,泥沙尚未起动,床面泥沙颗粒吸附的磷元素解吸至孔隙水中,在垂向紊动扩散作用下输送至上覆水中,将使得上覆水中溶解态磷浓度增大;紊动作用较强时,泥沙逐渐悬扬至水体中,悬浮泥沙颗粒吸附的磷元素直接解吸至上覆水中,泥沙浓度越高,溶解态磷含量增长速率越大,达到平衡的时间越短.通过耦合紊流模型、水流泥沙数学模型、污染物对流扩散模型和Langmuir吸附动力学方程建立了紊动作用下泥沙释放磷的垂向一维数学模型,针对试验条件进行数值模拟,模拟结果与试验数据吻合较好,平均相对误差低于10%,可为模拟天然水体中泥沙悬浮释放磷的时空演化提供参考.