Effect of salt solution treatment on impurity removal: A case study on phosphogypsum

This study gives a brief demonstration of impurity removal efficiency upon salt solution treatment of phosphogypsum (PG). The experimental set up has been designed according to a multi-variable Box–Behnken Design (BBD) with stirring time, solid: liquid (PG:salt solution) ratio and temperature as the conducted in various salt solutions. PG sample has been treated with sea water, 5% NaCl and 10% NaCl solutions according to the BBD matrix. Fluoride (F), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), and nickel (Ni) amounts in the PG sample have been measured upon pre- and post-treatment with salt solutions. Among other operating conditions, temperature has been the dominant factor on fluoride removal efficiency, and responses for the factors determined in the experiment runs indicated that a significant correlation could be established between temperature and fluoride removal, sea water being the most efficient salt solution. Higher copper, manganese, and nickel removal efficiencies have been observed in single salt NaCl solution systems however no significant correlation could be established between factors. Results indicate that pre-treatment of PG located near coastal regions with sea water can be a cost-effective approach and applicable on industrial scale when fluoride removal is of importance.     

Turning wastewater into energy: challenges of reconfiguring regional infrastructures in the Berlin–Brandenburg region

Issues of connectivity between different infrastructure sectors have received surprisingly little attention in recent research. Despite huge interest in issues of sectoral integration surrounding the water–energy nexus, researchers have rarely considered what this might mean for the coupling of infrastructure systems for water/wastewater and energy services. Consequently, the implications of greater connectivity for the governance and socio-spatial constitution of infrastructures are largely unexplored. This paper addresses this research gap with a case study of an attempt to use treated wastewater to produce biomass for energy on degraded land in the Berlin–Brandenburg region of Germany. It takes water reuse for energy crop production as an exemplar of work at the water–energy nexus in order to explore the institutional, spatial and physical dimensions involved in connecting two infrastructure systems to this end. It argues that cross-sectoral integration reaches far beyond issues of technological compatibility, revealing often hidden but crucial differences in the institutional and spatial configuration of energy and wastewater systems. The paper draws conclusions on the broader implications of the case for understanding institutional challenges of cross-sectoral connectivity on the one hand and prospects for reconfiguring infrastructural relations between cities and rural areas on the other.     

Anaerobic co-digestion of food waste and landfill leachate in single-phase batch reactors

In order to investigate the effect of raw leachate on anaerobic digestion of food waste, co-digestions of food waste with raw leachate were carried out. A series of single-phase batch mesophilic (35 ± 1 °C) anaerobic digestions were performed at a food waste concentration of 41.8 g VS/L. The results showed that inhibition of biogas production by volatile fatty acids (VFA) occurred without raw leachate addition. A certain amount of raw leachate in the reactors effectively relieved acidic inhibition caused by VFA accumulation, and the system maintained stable with methane yield of 369–466 mL/g VS. Total ammonia nitrogen introduced into the digestion systems with initial 2000–3000 mgNH₄–N/L not only replenished nitrogen for bacterial growth, but also formed a buffer system with VFA to maintain a delicate biochemical balance between the acidogenic and methanogenic microorganisms. UV spectroscopy and fluorescence excitation–emission matrix spectroscopy data showed that food waste was completely degraded.We concluded that using raw leachate for supplement water addition and pH modifier on anaerobic digestion of food waste was effective. An appropriate fraction of leachate could stimulate methanogenic activity and enhance biogas production.     

耕作方式对太湖地区冬小麦生长季N_2O排放的影响

采用静态暗箱-气相色谱法对2009年11月至2010年6月冬小麦(Triticum aestivum L.)生长季N2O排放通量进行田间原位观测,研究不同耕作方式(免耕、少耕、传统耕作)对太湖地区稻麦轮作系统麦季土壤N2O排放的影响。结果表明:有植株参与下免耕、少耕和传统耕作的冬小麦生长季N2O平均排放通量分别为63.75μg·m-2·h-1、39.94μg·m-2.h-1和48.83μg·m-2·h-1,无植株参与下分别为73.48μg·m-2·h-1、52.97μg·m-2·h-1和63.60μg·m-2·h-1,麦季N2O排放通量的季节变化与5 cm、10 cm土壤温度呈显著或极显著线性正相关(r=0.400*～0.654**,n=28)。小麦种植对N2O的排放影响较大,无植株参与的N2O季节总排放量显著高于有植株参与的处理(P<0.05);耕作方式显著影响冬小麦农田N2O季节总排放量(P<0.05),有植株参与下麦季N2O总排放量少耕较免耕和传统耕作分别减少37.3%和17.9%,无植株参与下分别减少28.0%和16.7%。研究表明太湖地区冬小麦采用少耕措施可减少麦季N2O的排放。     

Optimizing the preparation parameters of mesoporous nanocrystalline titania and its photocatalytic activity in water: Physical properties and growth mechanisms

Titania nanomaterial with an anatase structure and 5.6 nm crystallite size and 280.7 m² g⁻¹ specific surface areas had been successfully prepared by sol–gel/hydrothermal route. The effect of pH as a type of autoclave and calcination was studied. Crystallite size and phase composition of the prepared samples were identified. X-ray diffraction analyses showed the presence of anatase with little or no rutile phases. The crystallite size of the prepared TiO₂ with acidic catalyst was both smaller than that prepared with basic catalyst, and was increasing after acidic calcinations by a factor 4–5. Basic calcinations produced a specific increase of 1.5. Rutile ratio and the particle size were increased after calcination at 500 °C. However, TiO₂ powder synthesized using a basic catalyst persisted the anatase phase and a loosely aggregation of particles. Anatase TiO₂ as prepared with acidic catalyst in Teflon lined stainless steel autoclave demonstrated the highest photocatalytic activity for degradation of 2,6-dichlorophenol-indophenol under ultraviolet irradiation with t_½ 0.8 min.     

Explosion behavior of n-alkane/nitrous oxide mixtures

The explosion properties of alkane/nitrous oxide mixtures were investigated and were compared with those of the corresponding alkane/oxygen and alkane/air mixtures. The explosion properties were characterized by three parameters: the explosion limit, explosion pressure, and deflagration index. For the same alkane, the order of the lower explosion limits (LELs) of the mixtures was found to be alkane/oxygen ≈ alkane/air > alkane/nitrous oxide. In addition, the mixtures containing nitrous oxide tended to exhibit higher explosion pressures than the corresponding mixtures containing oxygen under fuel-lean conditions. The Burgess–Wheeler law was also observed to hold for the mixtures containing nitrous oxide.     

Communication and use of climate scenarios for climate change adaptation in Finland,Sweden and Norway

This paper assesses the communication and the use of climate scenarios at the science–science and science–policy interface in Finland, Sweden and Norway. It is based on document analysis and stakeholder questionnaires. The questionnaires targeted three stakeholder groups, all engaged in the communication and the use of climate scenario information: climate scenario producers; impact, adaptation and vulnerability (IAV) experts; and policy-makers. The respondents were asked to identify issues associated with the communication of scenarios and other needs pertaining to the usefulness and availability of such information. Despite the relatively long history of climate change adaptation in the three countries, climate scenarios are not utilised to their full potential. Climate scenarios have been used in awareness raising, problem understanding and strategy development. However, far less examples can be found on adaptation actions, particularly on harnessing the benefits of climate change. The communication between climate scenario producers and IAV experts functions well; however, communication between climate researchers and policy-makers is less efficient. Each country has developed boundary services to enhance dissemination of the climate scenario information to policy-makers. They are cost-efficient but do not necessarily enhance the comprehension of the information and encourage the actual dialogue between scenario producers and the end-users. Further translation of scenario information to impact and vulnerability estimates together with established boundary work could improve the use of climate research information. As adaptation policy in these countries further progresses towards implementation, there are increasing expectations of support from research, further challenging the communication of climate scenarios.     

How effective are current household recycling policies? Results from a national survey of U.S. households

This paper analyzes a unique dataset collected during a 2006 national survey of U.S. households to explore the effectiveness of common household recycling policies for metals, glass, and plastics: curbside recycling, drop-off recycling, deposit–refund systems (bottle bills), and marginal pricing for household waste. After estimating either generalized ordered logit or multinomial logit models, we find that the most important determinants of household recycling are people's attitudes toward recycling. Our results also suggest that omitting internal variables (perceived recycling obstacles and benefits as well as moral considerations) may bias policy coefficients. Socio-economic variables are typically not statistically significant, with the exceptions of young adults and of African Americans who tend to recycle less than others. Policies with the largest odds ratios are curbside recycling (which is further strengthened if recycling is mandatory), followed by the presence of drop-off collection centers nearby. Bottle bills are also statistically significant but their odds ratios are smaller, possibly because refunds are relatively small and typically do not change for years. Finally, marginal pricing appears to have a limited impact on recycling. These results suggest avenues for improving household recycling at a time when recycling rates appear to be plateauing.     

An imprecise Fault Tree Analysis for the estimation of the Rate of OCcurrence Of Failure (ROCOF)

The paper proposes an imprecise Fault Tree Analysis in order to characterize systems affected by the lack of reliability data. Differently from other research works, the paper introduces a classification of basic events into two categories, namely Initiators and Enablers. Actually, in real industrial systems some events refer to component failures or process parameter deviations from normal operating conditions (Initiators), whereas others refer to the functioning of safety barriers to be activated on demand (Enablers). As a consequence, the output parameter of interest is not the classical probability of occurrence of the top event, but its Rate of OCcurrence (ROCOF) over a stated period of time. In order to characterize the basic events, interval-valued information supplied by experts are properly aggregated and propagated to the top. To this purpose, the Dempster–Shafer Theory of evidence is proposed as a more appropriate mathematical framework than the classical probabilistic one. The proposed methodology, applied to a real industrial scenario, can be considered a helpful tool to support risk managers working in industrial plants.     

Experimental investigation of fast flame propagation in stratified hydrogen–air mixtures in semi-confined flat layers

This paper presents results of an experimental investigation on fast flame propagation and the deflagration-to-detonation transition (DDT) and following detonation propagation in a semi-confined flat layer filled with stratified hydrogen–air mixtures. The experiments were performed in a transparent, rectangular channel open from below. The combustion channel has a width of 0.3 m and a length of 2.5 m. The effective layer thickness in the channel was varied by using different linear hydrogen concentration gradients. The method to create quasi-linear hydrogen concentration gradients that differ in the range and slope is also presented. The ignited mixtures were accelerated quickly to sonic flame speed in the first obstructed part of the channel. The interaction of the fast flame propagation with different obstacle set-ups was studied in the second part of the channel. The experimental results show an initiation of DDT by one additional metal grid in the obstructed semi-confined flat layer. Detonation propagation and failed detonation propagation were observed in obstructed and unobstructed parts of the channel.