Filterability of oil sands tailings

In Canadian oil sands mining operations, bitumen is extracted from oil sands using the hot water extraction process, which produces tremendous amounts of tailings. Currently, these tailings are disposed of in large ponds, in which coarse particles settle out relatively quickly and fine particles remain suspended in water and settle very slowly. After years of settling, the fine particles form a stable suspension in water known as mature fine tailings (MFTs). Long-term storage of the MFT is costly and poses a major environmental liability.Oil sands companies are now actively investigating different approaches to replace or reduce the use of oil sands tailings ponds. Filtration of the tailings to produce “dry tailings” for stacking is now being investigated as an alternative by a number of companies. Fast water drainage is a critical step for the filtration process. In this paper, we use simple laboratory-scale filtration tests to evaluate the filterability of the oil sands tailings and to generate a parameter that can be used in filtration scale-up. It was found that the filterability of the original coarse oil sands tailings was relatively low. However, after the fines are flocculated with the coarse particles to form uniform flocs the filterability was improved by several orders of magnitude. The results demonstrate that filtration of the flocculated coarse tailings to produce the “dry” stackable tailings may be viable.     

Book reviews

Abstract

The basic aim of this article is to briefly explore the links between socio-economic dynamics and desertification in western Lesvos, Greece. The area is characterised by certain socio-economic and development disadvantages, dependence on few productive sectors (mainly on livestock breeding) and by severe problems of land degradation and desertification. The linkages between socio-economic profile, characteristics and development trajectory with the state of environment in the area are identified through a series of in-depth qualitative interviews with local producers (livestock breeders). Research findings reveal the major socio-economic driving forces towards unsustainable productive practices, which contribute to the persistence of the problems of land degradation and desertification.     

城市防震减灾能力评估研究

首先论述了目前国内外关于城市地震灾害风险评估的研究,分析了这些研究取得的成果和存在的不足。然后,提出了城市防震减灾能力的概念,采用人员伤亡,经济损失和震后恢复时间作为衡量城市防震减灾能力强弱的3个最基本的要素。围绕这3个基本要素,列举出影响城市防震减灾能力的6大因素,在此基础上,提出了城市防震减灾能力评价指标体系的具体内容。     

六安流动地磁测量异常的映震能力探讨

将安徽省六安地区流动地磁测线 12个流动地磁测点的∑ |δfi|异常与安徽中西部地震活动性作对比分析 ,初步结果为 :12个流动地磁测点的∑ |δfi|值较大 (∑ |δfi|≥Fu) ,一年内安徽中西部地区的地震活动性增强 ;反之 ,则安徽中西部地区的地震活动性较弱。此方法在地震的中短期预报中有一定的实用意义。     

内乡-镇平4.7级地震及震后应急

内乡 -镇平 4 7级地震 ,是河南省解放以来唯一一次造成人员伤亡的地震事件。本文对这次地震的震害及烈度进行了考察评定 ,总结了有关部门的震后应急措施 ,讨论了从这次地震中应吸取的经验教训。     

Assessing health impacts in complex eco-epidemiological settings in the humid tropics: Modular baseline health surveys

The quantitative assessment of health impacts has been identified as a crucial feature for realising the full potential of health impact assessment (HIA). In settings where demographic and health data are notoriously scarce, but there is a broad range of ascertainable ecological, environmental, epidemiological and socioeconomic information, a diverse toolkit of data collection strategies becomes relevant for the mainly small-area impacts of interest. We present a modular, cross-sectional baseline health survey study design, which has been developed for HIA of industrial development projects in the humid tropics. The modular nature of our toolkit allows our methodology to be readily adapted to the prevailing eco-epidemiological characteristics of a given project setting. Central to our design is a broad set of key performance indicators, covering a multiplicity of health outcomes and determinants at different levels and scales. We present experience and key findings from our modular baseline health survey methodology employed in 14 selected sentinel sites within an iron ore mining project in the Republic of Guinea. We argue that our methodology is a generic example of rapid evidence assembly in difficult-to-reach localities, where improvement of the predictive validity of the assessment and establishment of a benchmark for longitudinal monitoring of project impacts and mitigation efforts is needed.     

高效液相色谱法测定稻米和稻田水土中多菌灵残留

采用高效液相色谱法测定稻米和稻田水土中的多菌灵残留,用稀盐酸溶液提取,经液液分配净化,外标法定量。多菌灵的峰面积与进样质量在0．15ng-220ng范围内呈线性相关,在稻田水、土壤和稻米中的最低检出质量比分别为0．01mg／kg、0．01mg／kg和0．02mg／kg。3个质量水平的加标回收试验结果表明,多菌灵在稻田水样中的平均回收率为87．1％～93．0％,RSD为3．3％～3．8％;在土壤中的平均回收率为84．8％-91．9％,RSD为1．4％～4．1％;在稻米中的平均回收率为83．9％～89．6％,RSD为1．8％-5．5％。     

高效液相色谱-电喷雾离子源-串联三重四极杆质谱法分析地表水中高氯酸盐

建立了高效液相色谱-电喷雾离子源-串联三重四极杆质谱(HPLC-ESI-MS/MS)测定地表水中高氯酸盐的方法。以Dionex IonPac AG20阴离子交换柱为分析柱,弱碱性的0.056%氨水/5 mmol/L乙酸氨为流动相,1.0 mL/min的流速,电喷雾负离子模式电离,MS/MS串联质谱为检测器,多反应监测(MRM)模式检测高氯酸盐。方法检出限达0.043μg/L,线性范围为0.2~50μg/L,线性相关系数为0.999 4,含量分别约为2、6、30μg/L的实际样品进样10次得到的相对标准偏差分别为2.47%、4.55%、0.49%,样品加标回收率在80%~109%,将该法与US EPA method314.0进行比对,结果基本吻合。     

高效液相色谱-电感耦合等离子体质谱法测水中不同形态砷

采用高效液相色谱(HPLC)分离水中两种常见的砷形态As(III)、As(V),电感耦合等离子体质谱系统进行检测鉴定,利用C8色谱柱,探讨了甲醇含量、磷酸二氢钾浓度、四丁基氢氧化铵浓度、p H等测试条件,由此建立了水中砷形态的分析方法。结果表明,以1.5 mmol/L磷酸二氢钾、2 mmol/L四丁基氢氧化铵(TBAOH)、5%甲醇作为流动相,调节流动相为p H 5.5,流速为1.4 m L/min,上述两种不同形态的砷可在5.5 min内得以有效分离,As(III)、As(V)检出限分别为0.001、0.01μg/L,定量下限分别为0.005、0.03μg/L。该方法实现了对水中常见的不同形态砷(As(III)、As(V))的同时分析,具有灵敏度高、选择性好、检测速度快的特点,在水质分析领域具有重要意义与应用价值。     

Fecal source tracking by antibiotic resistance analysis on a watershed exhibiting low resistance

The ongoing development of microbial source tracking has made it possible to identify contamination sources with varying accuracy, depending on the method used. The purpose of this study was to test the efficiency of the antibiotic resistance analysis (ARA) method under low resistance by tracking the fecal sources at Turkey Creek, Oklahoma exhibiting this condition. The resistance patterns of 772 water-isolates, tested with nine antibiotics, were analyzed by discriminant analysis (DA) utilizing a five-source library containing 2250 isolates. The library passed various representativeness tests; however, two of the pulled-sample tests suggested insufficient sampling. The resubstitution test of the library individual sources showed significant isolate misclassification with an average rate of correct classification (ARCC) of 58%. These misclassifications were explained by low antibiotic resistance (Wilcoxon test P < 0.0001). Seasonal DA of stream E. coli isolates for the pooled sources human/livestock/deer indicated that in fall, the human source dominated (P < 0.0001) at a rate of 56%, and that human and livestock respective contributions in winter (35 and 39%), spring (43 and 40%), and summer (37 and 35%) were similar. Deer scored lower (17–28%) than human and livestock at every season. The DA was revised using results from a misclassification analysis to provide a perspective of the effect caused by low antibiotic resistance and a more realistic determination of the fecal source rates at Turkey Creek. The revision increased livestock rates by 13–14% (0.04 ≤ P ≤ 0.06), and decreased human and deer by 6–7%. Negative misclassification into livestock was significant (0.04 ≤ P ≤ 0.06). Low antibiotic resistance showed the greatest effect in this category.