Sorbents for the removal of airborne heavy metals from incinerator effluent

The effectiveness of inorganic alumino-silicate sorbents (alumina and kaolinite) to adsorb airborne lead and cadmium from the effluent stream of a simulated waste incinerator was studied. A 20 kW (68,000 BTU/h) flow reactor was used to achieve the temperature and residence times typical of a waste incinerator. Solutions containing lead or cadmium were introduced yielding airborne metals concentrations between 15 and 150 ppm. Gas samples were drawn into a particle impactor that collected the airborne particles and condensed phase metal aerosols, separating them into ten size ranges from 0.2 μm to greater than 10 μm. Metals to sorbent mass ratios between 0.03 and 1.56 were investigated. Scavenging efficiency increased as the ratio of sorbent to injected metal mass was increased. The scavenging efficiencies were as high as 76% for lead scavenged by kaolinite to as low as 14% for cadmium scavenged by alumina.     

Effect of combined addition amount of nano zero-valent iron and biochar on methane production by anaerobic digestion of corn straw

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Anaerobic digestion (AD) is an attractive straw resource treatment technology as it can improve the utilization efficiency of straw resource. Raw straw...     

Ecosystem engineering by leaf-rolling mites enhances arthropod diversity

Bombardier beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Brachininae) possess a remarkable defense mechanism where a hot chemical spray is released from the tip of their abdomen, with an audible explosive sound. To date, the repellent properties of these chemicals have been tested against a limited number of taxa, such as amphibians and insects. To investigate the impact of bombardier beetle defenses on avian predators, feeding trials were conducted using the bombardier beetle (Pheropsophus jessoensis) and the Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica), a sympatric and generalist predator. All naïve, hand-reared quail attacked live beetles, indicating the absence of an innate aversion to them. However, most of the quail rejected consuming the beetles whether or not the beetles sprayed them with chemicals. Naïve quail also rejected dead P. jessoensis individuals. These results support the recent hypothesis that it is not essential for P. jessoensis to spray noxious chemicals to deter predators. We also found that some of the quail exposed to live P. jessoensis remembered to avoid them for up to 5 weeks. Our results provide the first evidence of the repelling effects of bombardier beetle defense mechanisms on avian predators.

     

生物质炭强化FeOOH类芬顿催化性能及其机制

采用醇助水热法制备了新型生物质炭修饰的α-FeOOH类芬顿催化剂（BC-FeOOH）,并通过扫描电子显微镜（SEM）、透射电子显微镜（TEM）、X射线衍射（XRD）、傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）对催化剂进行了表征,证明生物质炭（BC）成功引入到α-FeOOH中.以罗丹明B（RhB）为目标污染物,考察了BC修饰量、催化剂及H₂O₂投加量对其催化效率的影响.结果表明,BC的引入可以极大地提高FeOOH的类芬顿催化性能.在pH中性、催化剂投加量0.6 g·L^-1、H₂O₂初始浓度10 mmol·L^-1的条件下,BC-FeOOH（22.2% BC）对RhB的降解率可达到90%,重复利用5次活性仍可保持在80%左右,且铁离子溶出浓度仅为0.08 mg·L^-1.进一步通过ESR在不同体系中的测试结果表明,BC的引入不仅可促进H₂O₂有效还原分解产生更多的羟基自由基（·OH）,而且增强了催化剂与污染物RhB的相互作用,促使污染物失电子氧化降解,从而提高了FeOOH的催化活性及催化稳定性.     

太湖北部小流域沉积物重金属污染特征与评价

近几十年来重金属的沉积记录、来源及污染水平受到了广泛关注.为探明太湖北部小流域重金属的污染来源和环境质量状况,本研究分析了柱状沉积物中8种重金属（Mn、Cr、Zn、Cu、As、Pb、Ni和Co）含量.运用主成分分析法判定污染源,富集因子法表征重金属富集特征,通过熵权模糊模型对沉积物中重金属污染状况进行评价.结果显示,所有重金属含量均较高,高低依次为Mn > Cr > Zn > Cu > As > Pb > Ni > Co.其中Mn含量最高,为380.06~767.69μg/g.沉积物重金属污染的主要贡献因子为交通排放、农业污染和煤炭燃烧.As的富集指数最大（2.89~15.61）.其中77.59%的沉积层属于显著富集,受人类活动影响最为显著.熵权模糊综合评价结果表明,Cu（0.483）和As（0.352）的权重值最大,是沉积物中的首要污染物,且65.52%的沉积层重金属含量处于中度污染水平.     

德州市采暖季环境空气含氮/硫物质的污染及气-粒分配特征

为探究德州市采暖季环境空气中含氮/硫物质的污染特征、气-粒分配规律及影响因素,对2017年11月10日—2018年3月15日德州市市区环境空气监测站在线离子色谱分析仪监测的水溶性离子及气态前体物质量浓度的小时数据进行了分析.结果表明:①德州市环境空气监测站ρ（NO₃-）、ρ（SO₄2-）和ρ（NH₄+）平均值分别为（18.36±18.55）（12.74±10.92）（9.60±8.75）μg/m3,在2018年1月三者均达到最高值;对比PM_2.5及气态含氮/硫物质的质量浓度发现,ρ（PM_2.5）和ρ（SO₂）在2017年12月、2018年1月和2018年2月的月均值均较高,而ρ（SO₂）与ρ（SO₄2-）、ρ（NH₃）与ρ（NH₄+）均在日间（08:00—17:00）出现波峰.②对颗粒态和气态含氮/硫物质质量浓度日均值进行双变量相关分析发现,ρ（SO₄2-）、ρ（NO₃-）、ρ（NH₄+）两两之间的相关系数均高于0.75,表明二次离子的形成机制相似;而ρ（NH₃）、ρ（NO₂）、ρ（NO）、ρ（SO₂）两两之间均不存在显著相关,说明这些气态前体物来自不同的局部排放源.③过剩NH₃指数（F_N）平均值为0.49±0.16,说明采样时段大气处于富氨环境,过剩的NH₃会与气态HNO₃生成NH₄NO₃,因此NO₃-气溶胶的形成主要受HNO₃的影响或限制.④相对湿度是影响ρ（PM_2.5）最重要的气象因素,高湿环境会促进二次离子的转化.研究显示,冬季采暖排放会增加环境空气中含氮/硫物质的质量浓度,气象因素（尤其是相对湿度）对含氮/硫物质的气-粒分配也有一定影响.      

关于在长江经济带布局以水质改善为目标的流域生态缓冲体系的思考

生态缓冲带能够有效减缓流域内的人类活动或自然过程对水环境和水生态系统的影响.在长江经济带构建流域生态缓冲体系,对长江生态保护修复具有十分重要的意义.讨论了构建流域生态缓冲体系涉及的生态缓冲带位置选择、缓冲体系所占最低面积比率、宽度划定等一些基本的原则要求;利用卫星遥感影像数据,提取各汇水单元的地形特征、土地利用类型特征、土壤类型、土壤侵蚀强度、水文水系等数据,对长江经济带流域生态缓冲体系进行布局.结果表明:①长江经济带内林草地是主要土地利用类型,占区域总面积的62.46%,但是分布很不均匀,主要集中在西部高地和中下游的丘陵地带,在人口密集、农田密集的区域分布偏少;城镇用地主要集中在长江中下游地区.②土壤类型空间差异显著,浙江省、江苏省、湖南省、江西省及安徽省大部分区域的土壤多是黏性比较大,污染物迁移能力较低;而污染物迁移能力较强的砂质土或者土层较薄的山地草甸土主要分布在四川省北部、西北部.水力侵蚀、风力侵蚀和冻融侵蚀均有分布,且以水力侵蚀为主,建议在中度及以上侵蚀强度区域尽量减少污染源,重点布置缓冲带,增加该区域的缓冲力度.③长江经济带范围内可以利用的中小型湿地、小型河流支浜的面积至少有1.4×104 km2,再结合林草缓冲带,就可以形成一个生态缓冲体系.④在土地利用类型分布结果基础上,叠加土壤侵蚀强度和水系分布,将污染源区、中度及以上侵蚀强度区、水体区作为缓冲对象,建立缓冲体系的重点区域,总面积约14.26×104 km2,占长江经济带总面积的6.95%.对照欧美地区的研究,6.95%的缓冲体系面积占比是偏低的,需要在长江经济带开展深入研究来确定适宜的缓冲体系面积比,推进长江经济带流域生态缓冲体系的构建.      

Impact of repeated application on the binding and persistence of [14C]-DDT and [14C]-HCH in a tropical soil

An Indian sandy loam soil was initially treated with 1 kg a.i. ha(-1) of either [(14)C]-p,p'-DDT or [(14)C]-gamma-HCH during winter. DDT concentration after 30 days declined to 75.3%, which included 2.1% soil-bound residues. After 150 days, DDT levels further decreased to 42.4% with a concomitant increase in bound residues amounting to 5.9%. Identical treatment with HCH caused the residue levels to be reduced to 67.4 and 23.6%, after 30 and 150 days, respectively. During this period, the soil-bound residues of HCH increased from 5.2 to 12.8%. Repeat application to pre-treated soils in summer and subsequent field exposure for 30 days reduced the concentration of DDT to 52.1% and that of HCH to 42.4% of the total concentration following the second treatment. In parallel control experiments, which received only a single treatment, DDT levels declined to 61.3%, while HCH slumped to 45.3%, indicating a slower dissipation rate than in the corresponding repeated treatments. In repeat experiments, the soil-bound residues of DDT and HCH showed only a 1.07 to 1.08-fold increase in 30 days, as compared to three to ten-times increase in the control experiments. The results amply demonstrate that pre-treatment of tropical soils with DDT or HCH enhances their rate of dissipation and significantly reduce the formation of their soil-bound residues.     

新疆生态功能区划初探

“新疆生态功能区划”参考了“中国综合生态环境区划方案”，以《生态功能区划暂行规程》为依据，充分考虑新疆独特的地理分布格局，将新疆分为5个生态区，18个生态亚区，79个生态功能区。“新疆生态功能区划”对科学有效地管理新疆生态环境，因地制宜地实施保护和治理策略，保证社会经济可持续发展具有重要意义。