Feasibility of honeycomb monolith supported sugar catalyst to produce biodiesel from palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD)

Carbon coated monolith was prepared by sucrose solution 65 wt.% via dip-coating method. Sulfonation of incomplete carbonized carbon coated monolith was carried out in order to synthesize solid acid catalyst. The textural structure characteristics of the solid acid catalyst demonstrated a low surface area and pore volume. Palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD), a by-product of palm oil refineries, was utilized as oil source in biodiesel production. The esterification reaction subjected to different reaction conditions was performed by using the sulfonated carbon coated monolith as heterogeneous catalyst. The sulfonation process had been performed by using vapour of concentrated H₂SO₄ that was much easier and efficient than liquid phase sulfonation. Total acidity value of carbon coated monolith was measured for unsulfonated sample (0.5 mmol/g) and sulfonated sample (4.2 mmol/g). The effect of methanol/oil ratio, catalyst amount and reaction time were examined. The maximum methyl ester content was 89% at the optimum condition, i.e. methanol/oil molar ratio (15:1), catalyst amount (2.5 wt.% with respect to PFAD), reaction time (240 min) and temperature 80 °C. The sugar catalyst supported on the honeycomb monolith showed comparable reactivity compared with the sugar catalyst powder. However, the catalyst reusability studies showed decrease in FFA% conversion from 95.3% to 68.8% after four cycles as well as the total acidity of catalyst dropped from the value 4.2 to 3.1 mmol/g during these cycles. This might be likely due to the leaching out of SO₃H group from the sulfonated carbon coated monolith surface. The leaching of active species reached a plateau state after fourth cycle.     

Modeling of a sequencing batch reactor treating municipal wastewater using multi-layer perceptron and radial basis function artificial neural networks

A sequencing batch reactor was modeled using multi-layer perceptron and radial basis function artificial neural networks (MLPANN and RBFANN). Then, the effects of influent concentration (IC), filling time (FT), reaction time (RT), aeration intensity (AI), SRT and MLVSS concentration were examined on the effluent concentrations of TSS, TP, COD and NH₄⁺-N. The results showed that the optimal removal efficiencies would be obtained at FT of 1 h, RT of 6 h, aeration intensity of 0.88 m³/min and SRT of 30 days. In addition, COD and TSS removal efficiencies decreased and TP and NH₄⁺-N removal efficiencies did not change significantly with increases of influent concentration. The TSS, TP, COD and NH₄⁺-N removal efficiencies were 86%, 79%, 94% and 93%, respectively. The training procedures of all contaminants were highly collaborated for both RBFANN and MLPANN models. The results of training and testing data sets showed an almost perfect match between the experimental and the simulated effluent of TSS, TP, COD and NH₄⁺-N. The results indicated that with low experimental values of input data to train ANNs the MLPANN models compared to RBFANN models are more precise due to their higher coefficient of determination (R²) and lower root mean squared errors (RMSE) values.     

Spatial cost efficiency in waste paper handling: the case of corrugated board in Sweden

This paper analyzes the spatial cost efficiency of the Swedish legislation regarding waste disposal handling. We focus on the case of corrugated board and recognize that the different counties in Sweden possess different economic prerequisites in terms of waste paper recovery and utilization potential. We employ data for six corrugated board mills and 20 counties and a non-linear programming model to identify the least cost strategy for reaching the politically specified recycling target of a 65% recovery rate for corrugated board. That is, the total costs of recovering a minimum of 65% in each county are calculated and compared with the case when the country as a whole recovers 65% of all old corrugated board is collected but there exist no uniform target for each county. The conclusion is that from an efficiency point of view the recovery efforts should be concentrated to the highly populated and urbanized counties, and not be uniformly divided throughout the country. In the base case, the results suggest that the cost efficient county-specific recovery rates should range from 51 to 72%.     

Acceleration of floc-water separation and floc reduction with magnetic nanoparticles during demulsification of complex waste cutting emulsions

Waste cutting emulsions are difficult to treat efficiently owing to their complex composition and stable emulsified structure. As an important treatment method for emulsions, chemical demulsification is faced with challenges such as low flocs–water separation rates and high sludge production. Hence, in this study, Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were used to enhance chemical demulsification performance for treating waste cutting emulsions under a magnetic field. The addition of MNPs significantly decreased the time required to attain sludge–water separation and sludge compression equilibrium, from 210 to 20 min. In addition, the volume percentage of sludge produced at the equilibrium state was reduced from 45% to 10%. This excellent flocculation–separation performance was stable over a pH range of 3–11. The magnetization of the flocculants and oil droplets to form a flocculant–MNP–oil droplet composite, and the magnetic transfer of the composite were two key processes that enhanced the separation of cutting emulsions. Specifically, the interactions among MNPs, flocculants, and oil droplets were important in the magnetization process, which was controlled by the structures and properties of the three components. Under the magnetic field, the magnetized flocculant–MNP–oil droplet composites were considerably accelerated and separated from water, and the sludge was simultaneously compressed. Thus, this study expands the applicability of magnetic separation techniques in the treatment of complex waste cutting emulsions.     

低温等离子体协同催化降解废气污染物的研究进展

阐述了低温等离子体协同催化工艺流程与反应机理,探讨了反应温度、废气进口组分、废气中水蒸气含量、气体流速、气溶胶等因素对降解效果的影响。分析认为:一段式低温等离子体协同催化可改变低温等离子体特征及催化剂催化特性,但尚未解决尾气臭氧逃逸、副产物产生及放电稳定性等问题;两段式低温等离子体协同催化可提高污染物分子降解效率并减少尾气臭氧逃逸,但未能有效利用等离子体的能量,气体中的水蒸气、粉尘及反应过程中产生的气溶胶均能影响后置催化剂的催化性能;两段式低温等离子体协同催化已具备工程应用条件,还需配套高效预处理单元以降低废气中水蒸气、粉尘等对催化剂的影响。     

Nanoencapsulation of hexavalent chromium with nanoscale zero-valent iron: High resolution chemical mapping of the passivation layer

Solid phase reactions of Cr(Ⅵ) with Fe(0) were investigated with spherical-aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy(Cs-STEM) integrated with X-ray energy-dispersive spectroscopy(XEDS). Near-atomic resolution elemental mappings of Cr(Ⅵ)–Fe(0) reactions were acquired. Experimental results show that rate and extent of Cr(Ⅵ) encapsulation are strongly dependent on the initial concentration of Cr(Ⅵ) in solution. Low Cr loading in nZⅥ(1.0 wt%) promotes the electrochemical oxidation and continuous corrosion of n ZⅥ while high Cr loading(1.0 wt%) can quickly shut down the Cr uptake. With the progress of iron oxidation and dissolution, elements of Cr and O counter-diffuse into the nanoparticles and accumulate in the core region at low levels of Cr(Ⅵ)(e.g., 10 mg/L). Whereas the reacted n ZⅥ is quickly coated with a newly-formed layer of 2–4 nm in the presence of concentrated Cr(Ⅵ)(e.g., 100 mg/L). The passivation structure is stable over a wide range of pH unless pH is low enough to dissolve the passivation layer. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS) depth profiling reconfirms that the composition of the newly-formed surface layer consists of Fe(Ⅲ)–Cr(Ⅲ)(oxy)hydroxides with Cr(Ⅵ) adsorbed on the outside surface. The insoluble and insulating Fe(Ⅲ)–Cr(Ⅲ)(oxy)hydroxide layer can completely cover the n ZⅥ surface above the critical Cr loading and shield the electron transfer. Thus, the fast passivation of nZⅥ in high Cr(Ⅵ) solution is detrimental to the performance of nZⅥ for Cr(Ⅵ) treatment and remediation.     

Prediction of Leachate Level in Kimpo Metropolitan Landfill Site by Total Water Balance

Kimpo metropolitan landfill has received various kinds of wastessince January 1992. The leachate level was measured to be 10.3 m in May 1995 and the level increased to 12.2 m in August 1996. Therefore, to prove the reason for the increasing leachate level, we calibrated hydraulic conductivity of each waste andintermediate layer using the HELP (Hydrologic Evaluation ofLandfill Performance) model. The leachate generation data measured from February 1993 to October 1995 was used in the model calibration. As a result of a model calibration, we obtained anaverage infiltration ratio and used this in analysis of the total water balance to predict elevation of leachate level. Main causes of the elevation of the leachate level were the high water content of the waste and the degradation of the leachate-drainage system caused by the subsidence of a naturalbarrier layer.     

消泡剂硅油I在工业废水氨氮测定中的应用

对色泽较深，含杂质量较高的废水加硅油I以抑制测定中蒸馏产生的泡沫．结果表明，在250ml水样中加硅油IO．10～1．25ml，即可收到理想效果．硅油I性质稳定，不随水蒸汽蒸出，对测定无干扰．     

泰州市环境空气中挥发性有机物分布特征

于2018年4—9月对泰州市环境空气中挥发性有机物(VOCs)组分开展现场观测,结合观测数据分析该市大气中VOCs的时空分布特征。结果表明:观测期间泰州市环境空气中VOCs平均摩尔比为45.1 nmol/mol,其中含氧挥发性有机物占比为57.8%;受周边排放源和地理位置影响,下风向点位的VOCs测定值高于其他点位;VOCs月均最高值出现在6月,与臭氧月均最高值出现时间一致,7—9月气团出现老化,导致臭氧生成能力减弱;观测期间VOCs中甲苯/苯(T/B)比值范围为0.201 9～5.130 3,且大部分T/B比值2,说明溶剂、油气和液化石油气挥发等排放源对泰州市环境空气中VOCs的影响较为显著。     

HNO_3─KI─MIBK萃取／原子吸收光谱法测定固体废物浸提液中的微量银

采用选择性较好的ＨＮＯ３—ＫＩ—ＭＩＢＫ萃取体系对铋渣和尾矿渣浸出液中的痕量银进行预分离富集后，用火焰原子吸收法（ＡＡＳ）进行测定。此法不仅变异系数小（约为３．１％），而且检出限比直接火焰ＡＡＳ法降低两个数量级，达０．５ｎｇ／ｍｌ．另外，还就作品细度对银测定结果的影响原因做了初步探讨。