Exploitation of iron ore tailing for the development of ceramic tiles

India ranks as the sixth largest producer of iron ore in the world. The current practice of washing iron ore in India generates as high as 18 million tonnes of tailings per year. These tailings are stored in massive ponds and pose environmental hazards. Safe disposal or utilisation of these materials thus remains a challenging task for the iron ore industry in India. The present paper describes a new development in managing these tailings by converting them into value added products such as ceramic floor and wall tiles for building application. These tiles have high strength and hardness compared to conventional tiles and conform to most of the EN standards. Energy economy and lower production costs are some other benefits.     

Effects of Widespread Drought‐Induced Aspen Mortality on Understory Plants

Forest die‐off around the world is expected to increase in coming decades as temperature increases due to climate change. Forest die‐off will likely affect understory plant communities, which have substantial influence on regional biological diversity, ecosystem function, and land–atmosphere interactions, but how die‐off alters these plant communities is largely unknown. We examined changes in understory plant communities following a widespread, drought‐induced die‐off of trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) in the western United States. We assessed shrub and herbaceous cover and volume in quadrats in 55 plots located across a wide range of levels of aspen mortality. We measured species richness and composition of herbaceous plant communities by recording species presence and absence in 12 sets of paired (1 healthy, 1 dying) aspen plots. Although understory composition in healthy and dying stands was heterogeneous across the landscape, shrub abundance, cover, and volume were higher and abundance of herbaceous species, cover, and volume were lower in dying aspen stands. Shrub cover and volume increased from 2009 to 2011 in dying stands, which suggests that shrub growth and expansion is ongoing. Species richness of herbs declined by 23% in dying stands. Composition of herbs differed significantly between dying and healthy stands. Richness of non‐native species did not differ between stand types. The understory community in dying aspen stands was not similar to other shrub‐dominated plant communities in the region and may constitute a novel community. Our results suggest that changes in understory plant communities as forests die off could be a significant indirect effect of climate change on biological diversity and forest communities. Efectos de la Mortalidad Extensiva de Álamos Inducida por Sequía sobre Plantas del Sotobosque     

Toxicity and Repellency of Hot Pepper Extracts to Spider Mite,Tetranychus urticae Koch

Increasing concern about persistence and environmental impact of synthetic pesticide residues require development of biodegradable and environmentally safe alternatives. The potential of using fruit extracts of hot pepper as alternatives to synthetic acaricides for controlling the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch, is explored in this study. Twenty-four Capsicum accessions (Solanaceae) were screened for their toxicity and repellency to the spider mites. Crude extracts from fruits of C. chinense, C. frutescens, C. baccatum, C. annuum, and C. pubescens were prepared in methanol and tested for their acaricidal properties. Spider mite mortality was greatest (45%) when fruit extract of accession Grif-9169 (C. annuum) was used. Results from diving board bioassays indicated that mites avoided filter paper strips treated with hot pepper extracts from accessions PI-596057 (C. baccatum), PI-195299 (C. annuum), and Grif- 9270 (C. annuum). This investigation suggests that methanolic extracts of these three accessions may have a great potential for repelling spider mites and should be field-tested on a large-scale to assess their value in managing populations of spider mites, which could reduce reliance on synthetic acaricides. An attempt was made to correlate repellency with chemical constituents of fruit extracts of the most repellent accessions to identify chemical sources of repellency. Capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin, the pungent components of pepper fruit, were not correlated with toxicity or repellency, indicating that these are not likely related to the toxicity or repellency of the pepper fruit extracts. Other, unidentified chemicals are likely responsible for toxicity and repellency to the two-spotted spider mite     

Remediation of DDT-Contaminated Water and Soil by Using Pretreated Iron Byproducts from the Automotive Industry

The objective of this study was to quantify the effectiveness of different pretreated iron byproducts from the automotive industry to degrade DDT [(1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl) ethane] in aqueous solutions and soil slurry. Iron byproducts from automotive manufacturing were pretreated by three different methods (heating, solvent and 0.5N HCl acid washing) prior to experimentation. All pretreated irons were used at 5% (wt v^{? 1}) to treat 0.014 mM (5 mgL^{? 1}) of DDT in aqueous solution. Among the pretreated irons, acid pretreated iron results in the fastest destruction rates, with a pseudo first-order degradation rate of 0.364 d^{? 1}. By lowering the pH of the DDT aqueous solution from 9 to 3, destruction kinetic rates increase more than 20%. In addition, when DDT-contaminated soil slurry (3.54 mg kg^{? 1}) was incubated with 5% (wt v^{? 1}) acid-pretreated iron, more than 90% destruction of DDT was observed within 8 weeks. Moreover, DDT destruction kinetics were enhanced when Fe(II), Fe(III) or Al(III) sulfate salts were added to the soil slurry, with the following order of destruction kinetics: Al(III) sulfate > Fe(III) sulfate > Fe(II) sulfate. These results provide proof-of concept that inexpensive iron byproducts of the automotive industry can be used to remediate DDT-contaminated water and soil.     

常温下铁的硫化产物自燃性

含硫油品储运过程中H2S腐蚀产物是常温下硫铁化合物的主要来源,以H2S与铁粉反应制备的硫铁化合物来模拟设备内H2S的腐蚀产物,利用自然氧化的方法测定了硫化反应产物的一次氧化升温和二次氧化升温,考察了铁粉含水量对硫化反应及硫化反应产物自燃性的影响,采用XRD和SEM手段对硫化反应产物进行了表征。结果表明:H2S与铁粉的硫化反应产物为FeS,呈微小颗粒状,覆盖在铁粉表面;硫化反应产物具有自燃性,一次氧化升温最高达到87℃;未被完全氧化的硫化反应产物密封放置一段时间后自燃性明显增加,其二次氧化升温速率最高超过39℃/min;铁粉中含有适量的水可以增加硫化反应速率,提高硫化反应产物的自燃性。     

Thermal radiation from vapour cloud explosions

The current study estimates the radiation flux emitted from hot extended gas clouds characteristic of vapour cloud explosions along with the corresponding level of irradiance posed on particles suspended in the unburnt part of the cloud ahead of an advancing flame front. The data presented permits an assessment of the plausibility of combustion initiation by such particles due to forward thermal radiation. The thermal radiation will depend on the emissivity of the burned volume, which relates to the concentration of gaseous and particulate combustion products. A sensitivity analysis has been carried out to account for variations in the equivalence ratio, mixture pressure and radiative heat losses. The spatial distribution of irradiance ahead of the flame front has been computed by introducing appropriate geometrical factors to explore the impact of cloud size. Using fuel rich ethylene-air mixtures it has been shown that high flame emissivities can be achieved at path lengths of order 1 m even in the presence of very low soot volume fractions. The emissivity of gas-soot mixtures will hence be mainly determined by the soot concentration and to a lesser extent by the mixture temperature. Our analysis suggests that the role of forward thermal radiation as a contributing factor to flame propagation in large scale vapour cloud explosions can not currently be ruled out.     

Hg0 removal from flue gas over different zeolites modified by FeCl3

The elemental mercury removal abilities of three different zeolites(Na A, Na X, HZSM-5)impregnated with iron(Ⅲ) chloride were studied on a lab-scale fixed-bed reactor. X-ray diffraction, nitrogen adsorption porosimetry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy,X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and temperature programmed desorption(TPD) analyses were used to investigate the physicochemical properties. Results indicated that the pore structure and active chloride species on the surface of the samples are the key factors for physisorption and oxidation of Hg0, respectively. Relatively high surface area and micropore volume are beneficial to efficient mercury adsorption. The active Cl species generated on the surface of the samples were effective oxidants able to convert elemental mercury(Hg0)into oxidized mercury(Hg2+). The crystallization of Na Cl due to the ion exchange effect during the impregnation of Na A and Na X reduced the number of active Cl species on the surface, and restricted the physisorption of Hg0. Therefore, the Hg0 removal efficiencies of the samples were inhibited. The TPD analysis revealed that the species of mercury on the surface of Fe Cl3–HZSM-5 was mainly in the form of mercuric chloride(Hg Cl2), while on Fe Cl3–Na X and Fe Cl3–Na A it was mainly mercuric oxide(Hg O).     

Disruption of iron homeostasis and resultant health effects upon exposure to various environmental pollutants: A critical review

Environmental pollution has become one of the greatest problems in the world, and the concerns about environmental pollutants released by human activities from agriculture and industrial production have been continuously increasing. Although intense efforts have been made to understand the health effects of environmental pollutants, most studies have only focused on direct toxic effects and failed to simultaneously evaluate the long-term adaptive, compensatory and secondary impacts on health. Burgeoning evidence suggests that environmental pollutants may directly or indirectly give rise to disordered element homeostasis, such as for iron. It is crucially important to maintain concerted cellular and systemic iron metabolism. Otherwise, disordered iron metabolism would lead to cytotoxicity and increased risk for various diseases, including cancers. Thus, study on the effects of environmental pollutants upon iron homeostasis is urgently needed. In this review, we recapitulate the available findings on the direct or indirect impacts of environmental pollutants, including persistent organic pollutants (POPs), heavy metals and pesticides, on iron homeostasis and associated adverse health problems. In view of the unanswered questions, more efforts are warranted to investigate the disruptive effects of environmental pollutants on iron homeostasis and consequent toxicities.     

铁柱撑累托石的制备及其对活性艳蓝的降解

以天然粘土矿物累托石为载体、以铁盐作交联剂,利用水溶液插层方法制备了铁/累托石复合物。采用FT-IR和XRD两种表征方法对铁/累托石复合物进行了表征,分析了复合物的结构变化和层间间距变化,并探讨了复合物制备条件以及反应过程中溶液初始浓度、溶液初始pH、复合物投加量和H2O2浓度因素对催化降解活性艳蓝的影响。研究表明:铁聚合物插入到累托石的层间结构中,扩大了累托石的层间距;当Na+/Fe3+比值为0.5,Fe3+/累托石比值为10 mmol/g,p H为3左右,催化剂用量为0.5 g/L时,H2O2浓度为100 mg/L时,活性艳蓝的去除率达到90%以上。实验表明,铁柱撑累托石/UV/Fenton工艺对活性艳蓝具有良好的降解效果。