Flow and geochemical modeling of drainage from Tomitaka mine, Miyazaki, Japan

The chemistry and flow of water in the abandoned Tomitaka mine of Miyazaki, western Japan were investigated. This mine is located in a non-ferrous metal deposit and acid mine drainage issues from it. The study was undertaken to estimate the quantities of mine drainage that needs to be treated in order to avoid acidification of local rivers, taking into account seasonal variations in rainfall. Numerical models aimed to reproduce observed water levels and fluxes and chemical variations of groundwater and mine drainage. Rock–water interactions that may explain the observed variations in water chemistry are proposed. The results show that: (1) rain water infiltrates into the deeper bedrock through a highly permeable zone formed largely by stopes that are partially filled with spoil from excavations (ore minerals and host rocks); (2) the water becomes acidic (pH from 3 to 4) as dissolved oxygen oxidizes pyrite; (3) along the flow path through the rocks, the redox potential of the water becomes reducing, such that pyrite becomes stable and pH of the mine drainage becomes neutral; and (4) upon leaving the mine, the drainage becomes acidic again due to oxidation of pyrite in the rocks. The present numerical model with considering of the geochemical characteristics can simulate the main variations in groundwater flow and water levels in and around the Tomitaka mine, and apply to the future treatment of the mine drainage.     

Electrostatic ignition of sensitive flammable mixtures: Is charge generation due to bubble bursting in aqueous solutions a credible hazard?

Experiments have been conducted to gain insight into the credibility of sparging aqueous solutions as an electrostatic ignition hazard for sensitive hydrogen/air or fuel/oxygen mixtures (Minimum Ignition Energies of ∼0.017 mJ and ∼0.002 mJ, respectively, compared to ∼0.25 mJ for hydrocarbon/air mixtures). Tests performed in a 0.5 m³ ullage produced electric field strengths between 125 and 560 V m⁻¹ for air flows of 5–60 l min⁻¹, respectively, comprised of 2–4 mm diameter bubbles. Field strength can be related to the space charge and fitting to an exponential accumulation curve enabled the charge generation rate from the air flows to be estimated. This was observed to be directly proportional to the air flow and its magnitude was consistent with literature data for bubble bursts. The charge accumulation observed at laboratory scale would not be a cause for concern. On the basis of a simple model, the charge accumulation in a 27 m³ ullage was predicted for a range of air flows. It is apparent from such calculations that ignition of hydrocarbon/air mixtures would not be expected. However, it would seem possible that field strengths might be sufficient to cause a risk of incendive spark or corona discharges in moderately sized vessels with sensitive flammable mixtures.     

有机废水处理生物制氢技术

研究了利用有机废水发酵作用制取廉价氢气技术,并研制出厌氧活性污泥高效生物制氢反应器。以白脱糖、糖蜜和淀粉为供氢体,最大产氢能力达10.4m³H₂/m³反应器·d,发酵气中仅含48％H2和52％CO₂。该项技术已具有进一步开发价值。     

毛细管低温吸附气相色谱法同时测定空气中痕量甲硫醇和硫化氢

建立了毛细管低温吸附气相色谱同时测定空气中痕量甲硫醇和硫化氢的方法,介绍了冷冻吸附装置的制备方法和样品冷凝吸附流程。甲硫醇和硫化氢分别在0.467ng～5.16ng和0.327ng～3.60ng范围内线性良好,当进样体积为1L时,检出限为0．205μg/m^3和0．213μg／m^3,空白加标平均回收率为88．6％和90．2％,RSD为6.0％和6．5％。     

Hydrogen inhibition in wet dust removal systems by using L-aspartic: A feasible way of hydrogen explosion control measures

Alloy dust generated from automobile wheel hub grinding, after entering the wet dust collector, will react with water to produce hydrogen, thus exposing the entire ventilation and dust removal system to potential hydrogen explosion. In this paper, the inhibition mechanism and kinetic characteristics of different concentrations of L-Aspartic acid (L-Asp) on the reaction of Al_0.9Mg_0.1 alloy with water were studied with respect to adsorption morphology, chemical kinetic modeling and molecular dynamics (MD), using L-Asp as the environmentally-safe hydrogen inhibitor. The results show that within a given temperature interval, the hydrogen production rate of Al_0.9Mg_0.1 alloy dust decreases with increasing L-Asp concentration. When the L-Asp concentration exceeds 1.0g/L, the hydrogen evolution rate is almost zero. The calculated results of chemical kinetics agree with the Langmuir adsorption model, confirming that L-Asp is an ideal monolayer physical adsorption system on the surface of alloy particles. The FTIR and MD simulation results show that –NH₂ and –COOH groups in L-Asp molecules contribute greatly to the adsorption. The research results of this paper can help fundamentally avoid hydrogen generation in wet dust collectors and guarantee intrinsic safety.     

Conversion of calcium sulphide to calcium carbonate during the process of recovery of elemental sulphur from gypsum waste

The production of elemental sulphur and calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) from gypsum waste can be achieved by thermally reducing the waste into calcium sulphide (CaS), which is then subjected to a direct aqueous carbonation step for the generation of hydrogen sulphide (H₂S) and CaCO₃. H₂S can subsequently be converted to elemental sulphur via the commercially available chemical catalytic Claus process. This study investigated the carbonation of CaS by examining both the solution chemistry of the process and the properties of the formed carbonated product. CaS was successfully converted into CaCO₃; however, the reaction yielded low-grade carbonate products (i.e. <90 mass% as CaCO₃) which comprised a mixture of two CaCO₃ polymorphs (calcite and vaterite), as well as trace minerals originating from the starting material. These products could replace the Sappi Enstra CaCO₃ (69 mass% CaCO₃), a by-product from the paper industry which is used in many full-scale AMD neutralisation plants but is becoming insufficient. The insight gained is now also being used to develop and optimize an indirect aqueous CaS carbonation process for the production of high-grade CaCO₃ (i.e. >99 mass% as CaCO₃) or precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC).     

An experimental study for H2S and CO2 removal via caustic scrubbing system

In this study, removal of hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) from simulated syngas has been studied on one column scrubbing system. Gas flow rate as a measure of gas residence time and superficial gas velocity, gas composition, inlet H₂S load, flow modes (countercurrent and cocurrent) and packing geometry were the parameters in the design and/or operation of an acid gas scrubber system. Better H₂S scrubbing efficiencies have been obtained in countercurrent flow mode than that of cocurrent flow mode. When accordingly designed, static mixer with its superior performance on H₂S removal overweighed to structured packings. The coexistence of CO₂ and H₂S has been shown to increase the sodium hydroxide (NaOH) consumption along the scrubber column thereby decreasing the H₂S removal efficiency at higher H₂S loads. The gas residence time as changing with the gas velocity was found to be more dominant on acid gas removal efficiency than the effect of superficial gas velocity within the experimented range. A gas residence times of equal or above 3 s were seemed to be closer to the optimum point.     

Biohydrogen production through fermentation using liquid swine manure as substrate

In this paper, continuous production of hydrogen through fermentation with liquid swine manure as substrate was researched using a semi-continuously fed fermenter (8 L in total volume and 4 L in working volume). The pH and temperature for the fermenter were controlled at 5.3 ± 0.1 and 35 ± 1°C, respectively, throughout the experiment. Three hydraulic retention times (16, 20, and 24 h) were investigated for their impact on the efficiency and performance of the fermenter in terms of hydrogen yields. The results indicate that hydraulic retention time (HRT) has a strong influence on the fermenter performance. An increasing HRT would increase the variation in hydrogen concentration in the offgas. To produce hydrogen with a fairly consistent concentration, the HRT of the fermenter should not exceed 16 h, which, however, did not appear to be short enough to control methanogenesis because the offgas still contained about 5% methane. When methane content in the offgas exceeded 2%, an inverse linear relationship between hydrogen and methane was observed with a correlation coefficient of 0.9699. To increase hydrogen content in the offgas, methane production has to be limited to below 2%. Also, keeping oxygen content in the fermenter below 1.5% would increase the hydrogen concentration to over 15%. The product to substrate ratio was found to be around 50% for the fermenter system studied, evidenced by the observation that for every 6 liters of manure fermented, 3 liters of pure hydrogen were produced, which was significant and encouraging.     

Effect of crystalline structure on terbuthylazine degradation by H2O2-assisted TiO2 photocatalysis under visible irradiation

Various methods for shifting the optical response of TiO₂ into the visible (Vis) range have been reported. Herein, we reported the application of a TiO₂/H₂O₂/Vis process and the effects of TiO2 crystalline structure on the degradation of terbuthylazine. The results indicated that TiO₂ crystalline structure and H₂O₂ addition had significant effects on terbuthylazine degradation: its degradation rate could be increased from 7% to 70% with H₂O₂ addition after 180?min of reaction, the synergistic degradation of terbuthylazine by TiO₂-Fe^{3 +} was substantially accelerated, with the degradation rate reaching up to 100% after 20?min of reaction, and rutile TiO₂ showed better photocatalytic activity and a more obvious synergistic effect than anatase TiO₂. The addition of free-radical scavengers (tert-butyl alcohol or methanol) inhibited the degradation efficiency of rutile TiO₂, but had a relatively minor effect on anatase TiO₂. Fluorescence spectrophotometry analysis indicated that hydroxyl free radicals could be continuously produced when using rutile TiO₂ as the photocatalyst. Degradation of terbuthylazine catalyzed by rutile TiO₂ occurred mainly in solution, but occurred on the particle surface of the photocatalyst when catalyzed by anatase TiO₂. This study provides new insight into the role of TiO₂ crystalline structure on the degradation of terbuthylazine and its photocatalytic degradation mechanism.     

沈阳市污泥堆存处置过程恶臭预警集成技术研究

为解决沈阳市污泥堆存处置过程恶臭污染管理与预警方面存在的问题,文章研究了污泥恶臭产生条件、污泥堆存处置过程恶臭污染特征,明确了污泥堆存处置过程的恶臭风险因素。应用层次分析法构建了恶臭风险评估与分级预警指标体系,并通过案例分析对指标体系进行了优化,在此基础上开发了恶臭风险评估与分级预警系统软件,为企业恶臭风险管理提供了技术支撑,为环境管理部门提供了科学的监管方法。