载体内微孔孔径对生物膜特性及废水处理效果的影响

为解决载体內部微孔孔径在废水生物膜法中缺乏选型依据的问题,采用5种孔径(0.6~4 mm)聚氨酯海绵生物载体构建了SBBR,考察了载体内微孔孔径对生物膜特性(MLSS、EPS、DHA)及废水处理效果的影响,分析了载体内部微孔孔径与生物膜特性的相关性。结果表明：载体内微孔孔径与MLVSS、MLSS呈显著负相关,而与PN、PS、EPS和f呈显著正相关;高生物量使小孔径载体(0.6 mm,1 mm)在反应器运行前中期拥有最佳的废水处理效果,同时过多的生物膜在微孔环境中会堵塞内部的通道和空穴,进而抑制传质,使生物膜活性(DHA、f )降低;而大孔径载体(4 mm)内部传质快、水力剪切作用强,加速生物膜解吸脱落速率,促进了生物膜活性的提高与EPS(主要是TB-EPS)的释放,但同样限制了生物膜量的增长。相较而言,中等孔径载体(2 mm,3 mm)适宜的微孔不仅能维持适量的微生物量,还能保持良好的生物膜结构和活性,为生物膜反应器提供良好的长期运行条件和处理效果。     

剩余污泥发酵液对黏性膨胀污泥特性的影响

为了解决剩余污泥碱性发酵液作为低碳氮比生活污水外加碳源时引发的黏性污泥膨胀问题,采用序批式反应器(SBR),以剩余污泥碱性发酵液为进水碳源,对黏性膨胀污泥的沉降性能及其影响因素之间的相关性进行了系统研究。结果表明：当进水COD值为300~350 mg·L⁻¹时,随着运行时间的推移,污泥容积指数(SVI)逐渐升高,最终达到540 mL·g⁻¹,此时发生污泥黏性膨胀现象;黏性膨胀污泥表面负电荷由0.62 mV累积到29.49 mV,相对疏水性(RH)从44%下降至19%,污泥容积指数(SVI)与Zeta电位、相对疏水性(RH)呈负相关(R²分别为0.837 71和0.678 54),与污泥粒径不相关;胞外聚合物总量从31 mg·g⁻¹提高至39 mg·g⁻¹,但LB-EPS/TB-EPS的比例从0.92增加至2.92;与TB-EPS相比较,LB-EPS与污泥容积指数(SVI)、Zeta电位、相对疏水性(RH)具有显著相关性(R²分别为0.892 88、0.885 29和0.776 68)。以上结果揭示了以发酵液为碳源引发的黏性膨胀污泥特性的变化规律,可为实际工程中以发酵液为碳源的黏性污泥膨胀问题提供借鉴。     

GO-TiO2改性中空纤维膜的制备条件及抗污染性能研究

以氧化石墨烯(GO)与纳米二氧化钛(TiO_2)为改性剂,采用界面聚合法与抽滤吸附结合,对聚偏氟乙烯中空纤维超滤膜(简称原膜)进行表面改性,得到新型纳米改性膜(简称GO-TiO_2改性膜).研究改性膜的制备工艺条件及其对腐殖酸(HA)的吸附截留性能与抗污染特性.结果表明:(1)最佳制备工艺条件为:钛酸丁酯2 m L、GO 1 mg、间苯二胺1%(质量分数)、间苯二胺浸泡时间8 min、均苯三甲酰氯0.2%(质量分数)、均苯三甲酰氯浸泡时间10 min;(2)亲水性提高显著,亲水性表面为GO-聚酰胺-TiO_2复合结构,改性膜接触角由80.6°±1.8°下降到38.6°±1.2°;(3)抗污染性能提高明显.改性膜通量总衰减率由改性前的51.2%下降到35.6%,过滤周期约为原膜的2.5倍;反冲洗后膜通量恢复率由69%提高到96%.     

Rapid liquid chromatographic analysis of Metoclopramide in pharmaceutical preparations

A sensitive, accurate and reproducible method for the analysis of metoclopramide, a gastrointestinal drug, has been described. An isocratic HPLC elution method was employed which requires about 10 minutes to be performed. The concentration of metoclopramide hydrochloride preparations was found to be 95.1 ±0.3% and 94.21 ±0.25% in tablet and injection formulations, respectively.     

Book reviews and notices

The aim of sustainable development is to balance social, economic, and environmental needs. In order to justify the decisions they make, stakeholders must quantify the different impacts found in the operations and developments of companies and/or projects throughout their life cycle. However, as some areas are subjective in nature, the quantification process of the different impacts and the assessment of sustainable development performance become arduous tasks of development, validation, and application of scientific and empirical methods with the intrinsic objective of finding an agreement among the involved parties (i.e., stakeholders). Several environmental and sustainability assessment tools, instruments, processes, and methodologies have been developed; rating systems stand out and have gained attention and credibility, as demonstrated by the vast number of certified projects around the world and the widely-known usefulness and advantages of their application. The Wa-Pa-Su project sustainability rating system presents an integrated approach to sustainability assessment by integrating three distinctive areas of knowledge: (1) sustainable development theory and fundamentals supports the ultimate goal of the rating system, which is to contribute to sustainability, with the aim of finding a path to balance social, economic, and environmental needs; (2) continual performance improvement becomes essential due to the duration of the projects, as it is critical to allow organizations or projects to improve performance over time; and (3) multi-criteria decision analysis assists with the assessment process through stakeholder engagement and participation, and the design and implementation of a criteria weighting system.     

Does the stock market value the inclusion in a sustainability stock index? An event study analysis for German firms

This paper empirically analyzes the effect of the inclusion of German corporations in the Dow Jones STOXX Sustainability Index (DJSI STOXX) and the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World) on stock performance. In order to receive robust estimation results, we apply an (short-term) event study approach that is based on both a modern asset pricing model, namely the three-factor model according to Fama and French [24], and additionally a t-GARCH(1,1) model. Our empirical results suggest that stock markets may penalize the inclusion of a firm in sustainability stock indexes. This finding is mainly driven by a strongly negative effect of the inclusion in the DJSI World. In contrast, we do not find significant average cumulative abnormal returns for the inclusion in the DJSI STOXX. This suggests that the inclusion in a more visible sustainability stock index may have larger negative impacts.     

Cracking the Achilles’ heel of energy performance contracting projects: the credit risk identification method for clients

ABSTRACT

A credit risk identification model is established to examine the credit status of Energy performance contracting (EPC) project clients (i.e., energy-using companies) in China based on rough set theory. The model is verified with data from 120 listed companies at different times. Study shows that lack of credit is one of the main obstacles to the implementation of EPC projects, and information asymmetry is the main reason for this lack of credit among potential clients in China. The credit risk identification method based on rough set theory can make up for the shortcomings of existing EPC projects in terms of credit risk identification, including redundant information and indicators, and unclear decision rules. Credit risk identification indicators of clients are dynamic. The research results can help energy service companies (ESCOs) determine the credit status of clients, facilitate cooperation between ESCOs and clients, and help explain the various dynamics of clients’ credit risk identification indicators over time.     

Investigation the effect of adding graphene oxide into diesel/higher alcohols blends on a diesel engine performance

ABSTRACT

This article aims to study the influence of the addition of graphene oxide nanoparticles (GO) to diesel/higher alcohols blends on the combustion, emission, and exergy parameters of a CI engine under various engine loads. The higher alcohols mainly n-butanol, n-heptanol, and n-octanol are blended with diesel at a volume fraction of 50%. Then, the 25 and 50 mg/L concentrations of GO are dispersed into diesel/higher alcohols blends using an ultrasonicator. The GO structures are examined using TEM, TGA, XRD and FTIR. The findings show that there is a reduction in p_max. and HRR when adding higher alcohols with diesel fuel. Regarding engine emission, there is a significant improvement in emissions formation with adding higher alcohols. The addition of GO into diesel/higher alcohols blends improves the brake thermal efficiency by 15%. Moreover, the p_max. and HRR are both enhanced by 4%. The CO, UHC and smoke formation are reduced considerably by 40%, 50 and 20%, respectively, while NO_x level is increased by 30% with adding GO. Finally, adding high percentages of n-butanol, n-heptanol, and n-octanol with diesel fuel with the presence of GO has the potential to achieve ultra-low CO, UHC, and smoke formation meanwhile keeping high thermal efficiency level.     

The impact of coal and non-coal consumption on China's energy performance improvement

China is the world's largest energy consumer, and coal accounts for a higher proportion of the country's total energy consumption, yet during its 12th five-year plan (2011–2015), the coal share among total energy consumption significantly decreased. Previous studies exploring energy performance typically used energy consumption as an input, but this lacks the analytical capacity for the structure of energy consumption. Thus, this study splits energy input into two different inputs, coal consumption and non-coal energy consumption, and based on their differences with other variables, uses the hybrid dynamic data envelopment analysis model to assess the energy performance of China's provincial industrial sector during the period 2011 to 2015. We then compare coal consumption's and non-coal consumption's rooms for improvement and conclude that provinces in eastern and central China should reduce the amount of coal consumption, thereby improving energy performance. Conversely, provinces in the western region should target a balance between energy utilization efficiency and coal consumption.     

On the search for mimetic patterns in environmental disclosure: an international perspective

In this paper, we assert and test the proposition that environmental disclosure (ED) is structured by institutionalised myths and that is why ED is decoupled from environmental performance and media pressures. Focusing on firms from Canada, France and Germany, findings show that ED mimetic isomorphism for different topics varies among countries and by industry sensitiveness to the environment. The results corroborate the institutional presumption that institutionalised myths vary among different contexts. Our findings also suggest that institutionalised ED structures may not reflect environmental performance, mimetic patterns being affected by environmental performance. However, the decoupling between ED mimetic isomorphism and environmental performance decrease when firms’ ED credibility is questioned by the media.