Influence of concentration distribution of hydrogen in air on measured flammability limits

There is a clear difference between exiting data on the measured flammability limits of hydrogen-air mixture. The non-uniformity of concentration distribution of hydrogen in air is a contributor to deviations of the upper flammability limit (UFL) and the lower flammability limit (LFL) measured in different experiments. This paper presents a numerical model to simulate the gas mixing process from start to stability, to predict the concentration distribution, and to research the influence of concentration distribution of hydrogen in air on measured UFLs and LFLs. The commercial software package Fluent was used to carry out the numerical simulation for the concentration distribution of hydrogen in air in the vessels with length-to-diameter ratios (L: D) of 1:1, 3:1, 5:1 and 7:1 respectively. Based on the numerical simulation and analysis, the influence of concentration distribution on measured flammability limits was demonstrated for hydrogen in air in the vessel. It is found that the deviations of measured flammability limits of hydrogen in air are the minimum in the vessel with length-to-diameter ratio of 1:1, and augment with the augmentation of vessel length-to-diameter ratio. Moreover, it is presented that the deviations of measured flammability limits of hydrogen in the center of the vessel are lower than that in the top and the bottom.     

Numerical simulation of premixed methane–air deflagration in a semi-confined obstructed chamber

In this paper, large eddy simulation coupled with a turbulent flame speed cloure (TFC) subgrid combustion model has been utilized to simulate premixed methane–air deflagration in a semi-confined chamber with three obstacles mounted inside.The computational results are in good agreement with published experimental data, including flame structures, pressure time history and flame speed. The attention is focused on the flame flow field interaction, pressure dynamics, as well as the mechanism of obstacle-induced deflagration. It is found that there is a positive feedback mechanism established between the flame propagation and the flow field. The pressure time history can be divided into four stages and the pseudo-combustion concept is proposed to explain the pressure oscillation phenomenon. The obstacle-induction mechanism includes direct effect and indirect effect, but do not always occur at the same time.     

Kinetics characteristics of coal low-temperature oxidation in oxygen-depleted air

The longwall gob (mined-out) area is one of the main places that are prone to coal spontaneous combustion and most of the residual coal in it is in oxygen-depleted air as it is a semi-enclosed space. A DSC (Differential scanning calorimetry) test system was designed to accurately test the heat generation of coal oxidation in different oxygen concentration atmosphere, based on which the kinetics parameters (activation energy and pre-exponential factor) of coal low-temperature oxidation in oxygen-depleted air were solved out. The results show that the kinetics parameters present obvious stage features and the lower the oxygen concentration is, the smaller is the difference of the kinetics parameters that in different oxidation stages. When the oxygen concentration is lower than 5% and 3% for jet coal and meagre coal respectively, the kinetics parameters of slow oxidation start to be greater than that of rapid oxidation. Both in the slow oxidation and rapid oxidation stage, with the decrease of oxygen concentration, kinetics parameters present significant decline on the whole while in different oxygen concentration range, the decline rate is different. It's concluded that when assessing the residual coal's self-heating risk, we need to use the corresponding kinetics parameters of coal oxidation in the oxygen concentration of the location where the residual coal is and the safety factor will be greater to only use the kinetics parameters of coal oxidation in slow oxidation stage. This study is of great significance for the assessment and control of the self-heating risk of coal that in different oxygen concentration atmospheres of the longwall gob areas.     

Streamside Management Zones Compromised by Stream Crossings,Legacy Gullies,and Over‐Harvest in the Piedmont

Streamside management zone (SMZ) breakthroughs were identified and characterized to determine frequency and potential causes, in order to provide enhanced guidance for future water quality protection. Ten kilometers of SMZs were carefully examined for partial or complete breakthroughs. With partial breakthroughs the SMZ trapped sediment before it reached the stream, while complete breakthroughs appeared to have allowed sediment to have passed through with minimal restriction. A total of 41 breakthroughs occurred (33 complete, 8 partial) across 16 sites, averaging 1 complete breakthrough per 0.3 km of SMZ length. The most common complete breakthroughs were caused by stream crossings (42%), reactivation of legacy agricultural gullies (27%), and harvest related soil disturbances near/within SMZs (24%). Pearson correlations of site characteristics at breakthroughs indicated no strong relationships between breakthrough sites, representing the variable nature of these unique circumstances. Stream crossings are an intentional breakthrough for access purposes, but resulting environmental impacts can be reduced with best management practice implementation. Current recommendations for SMZs tend to work in most situations, yet further research is needed to identify causal factors and quantify breakthrough severity.     

Auto-adaptive Air Distribution and Structure Optimization of Ejector Burner for Biomass Alcohol Fuels

A plenty of studies on the utilization of biomass alcohol fuels have been conducted, but combustion efficiency and stability of this fuels still need to be improved. Based on biomass alcohol fuels (bio-methanol and bio-ethanol), this paper studied auto-adaptive air distribution characteristics and optimum structure parameters of an ejector burner by numerical simulation method. Also, an experiment was conducted to verify the numerical results. The results show that the mole air entrainment ratio (MAER) keeps almost constant when the ejector fuel nozzle exit locates at the segment between the ejector throat and the suction chamber entrance, but a bigger ratio α would lead to a higher MAER till the α is bigger than 8.5 for bio-methanol and 11.5 for bio-ethanol. The bio-ethanol fuel is more beneficial for air carrying role because of its big molecular weight. Operation pressure (P_w) has a little impact on MAER of the two fuels, but the rise of back pressure (P_b) would lead to rapid decrease of MAER for the two fuels. For the optimum structure burners, the MAER can be maintained at the value of theoretical complete combustion. Its changing rate is less than 2.3% for bio-methanol and 2.5% for bio-ethanol when the burner load changes from 30% to 120%, which is highly consistent with the experimental results. The optimum burner can distribute air supply automatically with the changing of burner load.     

2014年春节期间北京市空气质量分析

对2014年1月30日(除夕)13时到1月31日(初一)12时期间北京市官园、怀柔和良乡监测站的CO、SO2、NOx、PM10、PM2.5浓度及PM2.5化学组分和能见度等监测数据进行分析,探讨了污染源减排和烟花爆竹燃放对北京市空气质量的叠加影响.研究发现,烟花爆竹的集中燃放会在短时间内造成严重的大气污染,其中,对PM10、PM2.5和SO2的影响最为显著.官园、怀柔和良乡监测站在1月31日凌晨1时的PM10浓度值分别为377.8、253.2和627.0μg·m-3,分别为1、2月份平均值的2.4、2.0和3.6倍;PM2.5浓度值分别为292.0、184.7和522.4μg·m-3,分别为1、2月份平均值的2.1、1.5和3.2倍.烟花爆竹的燃放对PM2.5化学组分中的K+、SO2-4、Cl-、Mg2+和Na+等影响最大,1月31日凌晨1时这5种离子在PM2.5浓度中占的比例高达92.1%.烟花爆竹的燃放造成1月31日凌晨1时监测中心和良乡的能见度分别降至2422 m和3591 m,是1、2月份能见度均值的22.9%和32.8%.2010—2014年"春节半月"期间官园、怀柔和良乡PM10平均浓度大多低于冬季均值和年均值,2014年"春节半月"这3个监测站的PM2.5浓度相比于冬季均值分别下降了33.3%、20.6%和39.2%,表明污染源减排对空气质量的正影响非常明显.     

Trace elements in particulate matter of ambient air at petroleum filling stations

Size segregated suspended particulate matter (PM_2.5 and PM_10-2.5) in air at four major petroleum-filling stations in Ile-Ife, Nigeria, were monitored using double staged “Gent” stacked samplers to assess variations in mass loads and elemental concentrations of 25 elements. Na, Mg, Al, Si, P, S, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Br, Rb, Sr, Zr, Cs, Ta, W, and Pb were determined in both fractions by external ion beam proton-induced X-ray emission technique. Enrichment factors and pollution indices were calculated and results revealed that most elements were anthropogenic in both fractions with concentrations exceeding the World Health Organization guideline standards.     

表观遗传学机制与空气污染的健康效应

空气污染是一个全球性的问题,并且具有深远的环境影响。暴露于空气污染会对人体健康产生许多不同的影响,理解空气污染的健康效应又是一个复杂命题,既要考虑不同类型的污染物同时也要考虑相关疾病的复杂性。然而越来越多的研究表明,表观遗传学在空气污染相关疾病的发生、发展中发挥着重要的作用。空气污染物可引起DNA甲基化、组蛋白修饰和miRNA表达等表观遗传学改变,这种改变往往发生在疾病产生的早期,因此相关研究不仅可以了解疾病的发病机制,而且还为疾病早期诊断和预防筛选可能的标志物。本文综述了表观遗传学的几种修饰方式和空气污染物造成不良健康损伤机制的一些研究进展。     

应用概率物种敏感度分布法研究太湖重金属水生生物水质基准

目前广泛使用的水质基准推导方法—物种敏感度分布法存在曲线拟合模型不确定、曲线拟合效果不佳、种内差异欠考虑、基准值不准确等诸多问题,概率物种敏感度分布法可有效解决上述问题。应用概率物种敏感度分布法构建了太湖水体中5种重金属Ag、Pb、Cd、Hg和Zn的概率物种敏感度分布曲线,在此基础上得到了保护水生生物的急性水质基准分别为1.079μg·L~(-1)、637.973μg·L~(-1)、19.465μg·L~(-1)、8.729μg·L~(-1)和105.506μg·L~(-1),慢性水质基准分别为0.108μg·L~(-1)、63.797μg·L~(-1)、1.947μg·L~(-1)、2.340μg·L~(-1)和52.753μg·L~(-1);不同类群间生物对重金属的敏感度存在差异,不同重金属对同一类群生物的毒性也存在差异;通过与国内外已有的重金属水质基准值比较,发现水质基准具有明显的区域性,目前基于国外水质基准或我国整体水域特点来制定的太湖水质标准,往往造成对太湖水生生物欠保护或过保护的状况。     

Pollution levels and characteristics of phthalate esters in indoor air of offices

The pollution status and characteristics of PAEs (phthalate esters) were investigated in indoor air of offices, and PAEs of both gas-phase and particulate-phase were detected in all the samples. The concentration (sum of the gas phase and the particulate phase) was 4748.24 ng/m³, ranging between 3070.09 and 6700.14 ng/m³. Diethyl phthalate, dibutyl phthalate, and di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate were the most abundant compounds, together accounting for 70% of the Σ6PAEs. Dividing the particulate-phase PAEs into four size ranges (<2.5, 2.5-5, 5-10, >10 μm), the result indicated that PAEs in PM_2.5 were the most abundant, with the proportion of 72.64%. In addition, the PAE concentration in PM_2.5 correlated significantly with the total particulate-phase PAEs (R² = 0.85). Thus, the amount of PAEs in PM_2.5 can be estimated from the total amount of particulate-phase PAEs using this proportion. In a comparison between the offices and a newly decorated study room, it was found that pollution characteristics were similar between these two places. Thus, it is implied that the PAE concentration decreased by 50% 2 yr after decorating.