Exploratory Analysis of the Winter Chemistry of Five Lakes on the North Slope of Alaska1

Abstract: Lakes are important water resources on the North Slope of Alaska. Freshwater is required for oilfield production as well as exploration, which occurs largely on ice roads and pads. Since most North Slope lakes are shallow, the quantity and quality of the water under ice at the end of winter are important environmental management issues. Currently, water‐use permits are a function of the presence of overwintering fish populations, and their sensitivity to low oxygen concentrations. Sampling of five North Slope lakes during the winter of 2004‐2005 shed some light on the winter chemistry of four lakes that were used as water supplies and one undisturbed lake. Field analysis was conducted for oxygen, conductivity, pH, and temperature throughout the lake depth, as well as ice thickness and water depth. Water samples were retrieved from the lakes and analyzed for Na, Ca, K, Mg, Fe, dissolved‐organic carbon, and alkalinity in the laboratory. Lake properties, rather than pumping, were the best predictors of oxygen depletion, with the highest dissolved‐oxygen levels maintained in the lake with the lowest concentration of constituents. Volume weighted mean dissolved‐oxygen concentrations ranged from 4 to 94% of saturation in March. Dissolved oxygen and specific conductance data suggested that the lakes began to refresh in May.     

Wastewater management in small- and medium-size enterprises: case studies

Wastewater management in small and medium-sized enterprises representing the chemical and food industries was investigated. The results showed that wastewater discharged from an ink-production factory was highly contaminated with organic pollutants. Anaerobic biological treatment followed by chemical coagulation using ferric chloride aided with lime proved to be very effective and produced an effluent that complied with national regulatory standard for wastewater discharge into public sewage network. Also, management of wastewater from a confectionery factory representing the food sector was carried out. Aerobic biological treatment using plastic-packed trickling filter proved to be an effective treatment method. However, application of in-plant control measures alleviated the requirement for the construction of a wastewater treatment plant. The applied pollution prevention and cleaner production measures involved good housekeeping, recovery of spent chocolate, modification of floor cleaning and installation of suction devices for the removal of sugar and starch powders. All improvement measures were documented by cost/benefit analysis.     

Subcellular distribution and toxicity of cadmium in Potamogeton crispus L

The submerged macrophyte Potamogeton crispus L. was subjected to varying doses of cadmium (0, 20, 40, 60 and 80 μM) for 7 d, and the plants were analyzed for subcellular distribution of Cd, accumulation of mineral nutrients, photosynthesis, oxidative stress, protein content, and ultrastructural distribution of calcium (Ca). Leaf fractionation by differential centrifugation indicated that 48-69% of Cd was accumulated in the cell wall. At all doses of Cd, the levels of Ca and B rose and the level of Mn fell; the levels of Fe, Mg, Zn, Cu, Mo, and P rose initially only to decline later. Exposure to Cd caused oxidative stress as evident by increased content of malondialdehyde and decreased contents of chlorophyll and protein. Photosynthetic efficiency, as indicated by the quenching of chlorophyll a fluorescence (Fv/Fm, Fo and Fm), decreased significantly, the extent of decrease being directly proportional to the concentration of Cd. Increased amounts of precipitates of calcium were noticed in the treated plants, located either outside the cell membrane or in chloroplasts, mitochondria, the nucleus, and the cytoplasm whereas control plants showed small deposits of the precipitates around surface of the vacuole membrane and in the intercellular space but rarely in the cytoplasm. Photosynthetic efficiency and oxidative stress could be used as indicators of physiological end-points in determining the extent of Cd phytotoxicity.     

Ozonation as an advanced oxidant in treatment of bamboo industry wastewater

The present study employed ozonation process to treat the bamboo industry wastewater (BIWW). The impact of ozone dosage and initial organic concentration on color, COD and TOC removal rates were studied along with characterization of the major organics in raw and treated wastewater. The results suggested the ozone dosage of 3.15 g h⁻¹ (concentration 52.5 mg L⁻¹) was suitable for the treatment. After 25 min ozonation of 1 L raw wastewater, the color, COD and TOC removal efficiencies were 95%, 56% and 40%, respectively, with an influent COD concentration of 835 mg L⁻¹. The ratio of kg O₃ kg⁻¹ COD at 3.15 g h⁻¹ was 2.8 (<3), revealing that ozonation was a cost effective process for tertiary treatment of BIWW. Longer oxidization time was required to achieve similar results for raw wastewater with higher COD concentration. The chromatogram from gel permeation chromatography revealed that ozonation resulted in the breakdown of high molecular weight compounds into lower molecular weight components but could not completely mineralize the organic matter. The majority of these compounds were identified in both raw and ozonated samples via GC-MS analysis. In addition to ester derivatives as the main intermediates of ozonation, 1-chloroctadecane, methyl stearate, benzophenone and α-cyperone were identified as the by-products of ozonation.     

Gas/particle partitioning of atmospheric PCDD/Fs in a satellite town in Eastern China

Gas/particle partitioning of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) in ambient air was investigated in a satellite town in Eastern China from April 2007 to January 2008 comprehending large temperature variations (from 3 to 34 °C, daily average). Molecular weight, molecular structure and ambient temperatures are the three major factors that govern the gas/particle partitioning of atmospheric PCDD/Fs throughout the year. Generally, good agreements were obtained (except for winter) between measured particulate fractions and theoretical estimates of both the Junge–Pankow adsorption model and Harner Bidleman absorption model using different sets of subcooled liquid vapor pressure and octanol–air partition coefficient (K_oa), respectively. Models utilizing estimates, derived from gas chromatographic retention indices (GC-RIs), are more accurate than that of entropy-based. Moreover, during winter, the K_oa-based model using the GC-RIs approach performs better on lower chlorinated PCDD/Fs than that of -based. Furthermore, possible sources of mismatch between measured and predicted values in winter (3–7 °C) were discussed. Gas adsorption artifact was demonstrated to be of minor importance for the phenomena observed. On the other hand, large deviations of slopes (m_r) and intercepts (b_r) in logK_p vs. plots from theoretical values are observed in the literature data and these are found to be linearly correlated with ambient temperatures (P<0.001) in this study. This indicates that the non-equilibrium partitioning of PCDD/Fs in winter may be significantly influenced by the colder temperatures that may have slowed down the exchange between gaseous and particulate fractions.     

Energy,food, and land — The ecological traps of humankind

Humans’ superiority over all other organisms on earth rests on five main foundations: command of fire requiring fuel; controlled production of food and other biotic substances; utilization of metals and other non-living materials for construction and appliances; technically determined, urban-oriented living standard; economically and culturally regulated societal organization. The young discipline of ecology has revealed that the progress of civilization and technology attained, and being further pursued by humankind, and generally taken for granted and permanent, is leading into ecological traps. This metaphor circumscribes ecological situations where finite resources are being exhausted or rendered non-utilizable without a realistic prospect of restitution. Energy, food and land are the principal, closely interrelated traps; but the absolutely decisive resource in question is land whose increasing scarcity is totally underrated. Land is needed for fulfilling growing food demands, for producing renewable energy in the post-fossil and post-nuclear era, for maintaining other ecosystem services, for urban-industrial uses, transport, material extraction, refuse deposition, but also for leisure, recreation, and nature conservation. All these needs compete for land, food and non-food biomass production moreover for good soils that are scarcer than ever. We are preoccupied with fighting climate change and loss of biodiversity; but these are minor problems we could adapt to, albeit painfully, and their solution will fail if we are caught in the interrelated traps of energy, food, and land scarcity. Land and soils, finite and irreproducible resources, are the key issues we have to devote our work to, based on careful ecological information, planning and design for proper uses and purposes. The article concludes with a short reflection on economy and competition as general driving forces, and on the role and reputation of today’s ecology. Updated version of the keynote lecture presented at the EcoSummit 2007 in Beijing, China, May 24. The article is gratefully dedicated to the memory of my late colleague and friend Frank B. Golley.     

某生活垃圾卫生填埋场渗滤液的梯度分离与表征

目前,渗滤液中污染物的粒度分布及其在渗滤液污染控制中的作用日益受到关注。通过系列微滤膜(1.2μm及0.45μm)对某生活垃圾卫生填埋场渗滤液各处理单元的渗滤液进行梯度分离,发现悬浮物对COD、浊度的影响较大;COD主要在胶体态和可溶解态间分配,不同渗滤液中的分配情况不同;磷主要与胶体、悬浮物以各种形式结合而存在;细胶粒和溶解态等小分子对TN的贡献大;不同粒度物质对pH的影响不明显;总残渣在可溶态组分中所占比例较大。膜微滤处理渗滤液可以有效的去除一部分物质,使COD、TP、TN、浊度、电导率都有不同程度的降低,pH逐渐升高,但对总N、残渣的去除效果不好。     

土地资源人口承载量的预测及其在人地关系研究中的意义——以江苏省滨海、苏州为例

几百年的人地关系研究历史证明,许多思想家和地理学家往往都以粮食这一特殊物质入手,并以粮食为诊断因素来反映人与自然之间错综复杂的联系。80年代中期兴起的土地资源人口承载量的研究,乃是这一传统研究思路的延续。因而,在我国深入开展这一项研究的过程中,有必要在吸收国外研究方法和经验的同时,注意总结历史的教训。①土地资源人口承载量的研究,其目的并不在于获取土地资源到底能养活多少人这一精确的人口数据,而在于揭示人口、粮食、土地三者之间的复杂关系及其地域差异。②土地资源的生产潜力是土地的自然属性与人类管理水平的综合反映,人类对土地的反作用以及科学技术的影响是使土地资源人口承载量发生阶段性跃迁的主要因素,在进行长周期预测时应予以足够的重视。③在引进国外方法和模式时,应根据不同的研究精度、不同的研究目的、不同的区域性质以及研究条件等加以科学订正。作者从人地关系研究出发,以滨海县和苏州市2个不同类型地区为实例,采用机助多要素图叠置分析的方法,进行了土地资源人口承载量的预测和分析。     

云南安宁工业区工业经济-水资源-水污染系统仿真模型及策略分析

水资源短缺和水污染是安宁工业区经济发展的重要限制因素。本文将该工业区分解为3个子区,应用系统动态学方法,建立多区相关的工业经济-水资源-水污染系统仿真模型,分别对各子区1985至2000年的工业产值、工业用水差距和水质进行多方案预测。在子区域综合的基础上,结合多级决策树法,筛选出安宁工业区协调工业经济、水资源和水质之间关系的最佳方案。