Co-treatment of fruit and vegetable waste in sludge digesters. An analysis of the relationship among bio-methane generation,process stability and digestate phytotoxicity

The co-digestion of a variable amount of fruit and vegetable waste in a waste mixed sludge digester was investigated using a pilot scale apparatus. The organic loading rate (OLR) was increased from 1.46 kg VS/m³ day to 2.8 kg VS/m³ day. The hydraulic retention time was reduced from 14 days to about 10 days. Specific bio-methane production increased from about 90 NL/kg VS to the maximum value of about 430 NL/kg VS when OLR was increased from 1.46 kg VS/m³ day to 2.1 kg VS/m³ day. A higher OLR caused an excessive reduction in the hydraulic retention time, enhancing microorganism wash out. Process stability evaluated by the total volatile fatty acids concentration (mg/l) to the alkalinity buffer capacity (eq. mg/l CaCO₃) ratio (i.e. FOS/TAC) criterion was <0.1 indicating high stability for OLR <2.46 kg VS/m³ day. For higher OLR, FOS/TAC increased rapidly. Residual phytotoxicty of the digestate evaluated by the germination index (GI) (%) was quite constant for OLR < 2.46 kg VS/m³ day, which is lower than the 60% limit, indicating an acceptable toxicity level for crops. For OLR > 2.46 kg VS/m³ day, GI decreased rapidly. This corresponding trend between FOS/TAC and GI was further investigated by the definition of the GI ratio (GIR) parameter. Comparison between GIR and FOS/TAC suggests that GI could be a suitable criterion for evaluating process stability.     

Full-scale blending treatment of fresh MSWI leachate with municipal wastewater in a wastewater treatment plant

Fresh leachate, generated in municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) plants, contains various pollutants with extremely high strength organics, which usually requires expensive and complex treatment processes. This study investigated the feasibility of blending treatment of MSWI leachate with municipal wastewater. Fresh MSWI leachate was pretreated by coagulation–flocculation with FeCl₃ 2 g/L and CaO 25 g/L, plate-and-frame filter press, followed by ammonia stripping at pH above 12. After that, blending treatment was carried out in a full-scale municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) for approximately 3 months. Different operational modes consisting of different pretreated leachate and methanol addition levels were tested, and their performances were evaluated. Results showed that throughout the experimental period, monitored parameters in the WWTP effluent, including COD (<60 mg/L), BOD₅ (<20 mg/L), ammonium (<8 mg/L), phosphorus (<1.5 mg/L) and heavy metals, generally complied with the Chinese sewage discharged standard. Under the experimental conditions, a certain amount of methanol was needed to fulfill TN removal. An estimation of the operation cost revealed that the expenditure of blending treatment was much lower than the total costs of respective treatment of MSWI leachate and municipal wastewater. The outcomes indicated that blending treatment could not only improve the treatability of the MSWI leachate, but also reduce the treatment cost of the two different wastewaters.     

Production costs and operative margins in electric energy generation from biogas. Full-scale case studies in Italy

The purpose of this study was to observe the economic sustainability of three different biogas full scale plants, fed with different organic matrices: energy crops (EC), manure, agro-industrial (Plants B and C) and organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) (Plant A). The plants were observed for one year and total annual biomass feeding, biomass composition and biomass cost (€ Mg^?1), initial investment cost and plant electric power production were registered. The unit costs of biogas and electric energy (€ Sm^?3_biogas, € kW h^?1_EE) were differently distributed, depending on the type of feed and plant. Plant A showed high management/maintenance cost for OFMSW treatment (0.155 € Sm^?3_biogas, 45% of total cost), Plant B suffered high cost for EC supply (0.130 € Sm^?3_biogas, 49% of total cost) and Plant C showed higher impact on the total costs because of the depreciation charge (0.146 € Sm^?3_biogas, 41% of total costs). The breakeven point for the tariff of electric energy, calculated for the different cases, resulted in the range 120–170 € MW h^?1_EE, depending on fed materials and plant scale. EC had great impact on biomass supply costs and should be reduced, in favor of organic waste and residues; plant scale still heavily influences the production costs. The EU States should drive incentives in dependence of these factors, to further develop this still promising sector.     

Exploring the risks and benefits of flexibility in biodiversity offset location in a case study of migratory shorebirds

Biodiversity offsets aim to counterbalance the residual impacts of development on species and ecosystems. Guidance documents explicitly recommend that biodiversity offset actions be located close to the location of impact because of higher potential for similar ecological conditions, but allowing greater spatial flexibility has been proposed. We examined the circumstances under which offsets distant from the impact location could be more likely to achieve no net loss or provide better ecological outcomes than offsets close to the impact area. We applied a graphical model for migratory shorebirds in the East Asian–Australasian Flyway as a case study to explore the problems that arise when incorporating spatial flexibility into offset planning. Spatially flexible offsets may alleviate impacts more effectively than local offsets; however, the risks involved can be substantial. For our case study, there were inadequate data to make robust conclusions about the effectiveness and equivalence of distant habitat-based offsets for migratory shorebirds. Decisions around offset placement should be driven by the potential to achieve equivalent ecological outcomes; however, when considering more distant offsets, there is a need to evaluate the likely increased risks alongside the potential benefits. Although spatially flexible offsets have the potential to provide more cost-effective biodiversity outcomes and more cobenefits, our case study showed the difficulty of demonstrating these benefits in practice and the potential risks that need to be considered to ensure effective offset placement.     

The Role of Disaggregation of Asset Values in Flood Loss Estimation: A Comparison of Different Modeling Approaches at the Mulde River,Germany

In loss estimation there is a spatial mismatch of hazard data that are commonly modeled on an explicit raster level and exposure data that are often available only for aggregated administrative units. Usually disaggregation methods that use ancillary information to distribute lumped exposure data in a finer spatial resolution help to bridge this gap. However, the actual influence of different mapping techniques and ancillary data on the final loss estimation has not been analyzed yet. In this paper three methods are applied to disaggregate residential building assets using two kinds of land use/land cover (LULC) data. The resulting disaggregated assets are validated and compared using census data of the residential building number on the community and constituency level. In addition, the disaggregated assets are taken to estimate residential building losses due to the flood in August 2002 in 21 municipalities on the River Mulde in Saxony, Germany. Losses are calculated with the help of four loss models. In general, disaggregation helps to decrease the error variance within the loss estimation. It must, however, be stated that the application of sophisticated disaggregation methods does not lead to significant improvements compared to the straightforward binary method. Therefore more effort should instead be put into the provision of high-resolution LULC data. Finally, the remaining uncertainties in loss estimation are high and demand further improvements in all modeling aspects.     

Nitrogen fixation estimates for the Baltic Sea indicate high rates for the previously overlooked Bothnian Sea

Dense blooms of diazotrophic filamentous cyanobacteria are formed every summer in the Baltic Sea. We estimated their contribution to nitrogen fixation by combining two decades of cyanobacterial biovolume monitoring data with recently measured genera-specific nitrogen fixation rates. In the Bothnian Sea, estimated nitrogen fixation rates were 80 kt N year⁻¹, which has doubled during recent decades and now exceeds external loading from rivers and atmospheric deposition of 69 kt year⁻¹. The estimated contribution to the Baltic Proper was 399 kt N year⁻¹, which agrees well with previous estimates using other approaches and is greater than the external input of 374 kt N year⁻¹. Our approach can potentially be applied to continuously estimate nitrogen loads via nitrogen fixation. Those estimates are crucial for ecosystem adaptive management since internal nitrogen loading may counteract the positive effects of decreased external nutrient loading.     

常规施肥条件下农田不同途径氮素损失的原位研究:以长江中下游地区夏玉米季为例

为了解农田常规施肥条件下的不同途径氮素损失特征,本文通过田间原位试验同步研究了长江中下游地区夏玉米生长季氮肥施用后的农田N2O排放、NH3挥发、氮渗漏和地表径流的变化.结果表明,在复合肥为基肥,尿素为追肥,基追肥氮素水平均为150 kg·hm-2的条件下,整个玉米生长季N2O排放系数为3.3%,NH3挥发损失率为10.2%,氮渗漏和地表径流损失率分别为11.2%和5.1%.此外,基肥施用以氮素渗漏损失为主,而追肥氮素损失以氨挥发和渗漏为主,表明不同途径化肥氮素损失主要受氮肥品种影响,玉米季追肥可改用低氨挥发氮肥品种以减少氮素损失.     

城市分散式粪便颗粒化有机肥用作叶菜肥的肥力及环境影响

城市分散式粪便的处理已经成为现代化城市管理的一个难题.本研究在将城市分散式粪便经收集、除渣、絮凝脱水后制成颗粒肥;通过盆栽小青菜试验,评价了不同施肥量对小青菜的增产效果以及对土壤、淋溶水性质的影响,探讨了颗粒肥用于叶菜施肥的可行性.结果表明,施用颗粒肥可显著提高小青菜产量,试验条件下未对小青菜叶片造成大肠杆菌、大肠菌群等病原菌污染;在适当比例的施肥水平下,颗粒肥施用后淋溶水中的病原菌浓度低于对照组.施用颗粒肥能显著提高土壤氮、磷、钾、有机质等营养物质含量,提高土壤孔隙度水平,降低土壤容重,改善土壤理化性质;同时颗粒肥施用不会对土壤和淋溶水造成重金属离子污染,且能有效降低土壤氮、钾的淋溶.     

添加动物源氨基酸水解液研制生物有机肥

为改善生物有机肥性质,提高生物有机肥质量,采取在生物有机肥中添加外源氨基酸水解液以提升生物有机肥中功能微生物的数量.以病死猪酸解制得氨基酸水解液为生物有机肥外加原料,研究了氨基酸水解液添加量、有机肥种类（鸡粪、牛粪、中药渣）、发酵时间对功能菌株SQR9数量的影响.结果表明:当氨基酸水解液添加量为20%时固体发酵效果优于其他接种量,预发酵3 d后接种SQR9的功能菌数量明显高于未预发酵直接接菌,预发酵中肥料（以干质量计,下同）的最高功能菌数量可达4×108 CFU/g,而第0天接菌时肥料的最高功能菌数量仅为1.2×108 CFU/g.以腐熟鸡粪、牛粪、中药渣堆肥为载体,添加酸解氨基酸研制生物有机肥的最优接菌量分别为10.0%、7.5%、10.0%;SQR9菌株生长的最佳含水量为40%.此外,氨基酸水解液的添加可提高生物有机肥的w（TN）.研究显示,氨基酸水解液的添加能有效促进固态发酵过程中功能菌株数量的增加.      

On the effect of Fe(III) on proliferation of Microcystis aeruginosa at high nitrate and low chlorophyll condition

The impact of Fe concentrations on the growth of Microcystisaeruginosa in aquatic systems under high nitrate and low chlorophyll conditions was studied. The responses of cell density, total and cell chlorophyll-a intracellular Fe content and organic elemental composition of M. aeruginosa to different concentration gradients of Fe(III) in the solutions were analysed. The results showed that the proliferation speeds of M. aeruginosa were: (1) decelerated when the Fe(III) concentration was lower than 50 μg/L in the solutions, (2) promoted and positively related to the increase of Fe(III) concentration from 100 to 500 μg/L in the solutions over the experimental period, and (3) promoted in the early stage but decelerated in later stages by excess adsorption of Fe by cells when the Fe(III) concentration was higher than 500 μg/L in the solutions. The maximum cell density, total and cell chlorophyll-a were all observed at 500 μg Fe(III)/L concentration. The organic elemental composition of M. aeruginosa was also affected by the concentration of Fe(III) in the solutions, and the molecular formula of M. aeruginosa should be expressed as C_7–7.5H₁₄O_0.8–1.3N_3.5–5 according to the functions for different Fe(III) concentrations. Cell carbon and oxygen content appeared to increase slightly, while cell nitrogen content appeared to decrease as Fe(III) concentrations increased from 100 to 500 μg/L in the solutions. This was attributed to the competition of photosynthesis and nitrogen adsorption under varying cell Fe content.