Search

The effects of bio-charcoal acted as sludge-composting additive on soil characteristics and plant growth were studied. Compared with the treatment of composted sludge without bio-charcoal, soil cation exchange capacity in treatment of composted sludge with bio-charcoal increased over 5% and 10% respectively and soil nitrogen content increased 13% and 18% respectively for two kind soils. The composted sludge with bio-charcoal also resulted in 23% higher enhancement on ryegrass biomass and 8%-10% higher enhancement on ryegrass chlorophyll content. In addition, with the amendment of bio-charcoal, the bioavailability of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in composted sludge was decreased, which resulted in the lower absorption and accumulation of ryegrass to PAHs. Compared with the control, the PAHs concentration in ryegrass amended composted sludge with bio-charcoal decreased 27%-34%. The results indicated that composted sludge with bio-charcoal resulted in much more improvement on the plant growth as well as less negative effect on environment. Therefore, biocharcoal was in favor of the safe land application of sewage sludge.

A 2-month fumigation experiment was conducted with opened top chambers to study the effects of different concentration (0.1, 0.5, and 4.0 microl x L(-1)) NO2 on the growth and photosynthesis of 1-year Cinnamomum camphora seedlings. Fumigation with 0.1 and 0.5 microl NO2 x L(-1) promoted the growth of the seedlings, while with 4.0 microl NO2 x L(-1) was in adverse. The diurnal variation of net photosynthetic rate (P(n)) presented two-peaks, with an obvious depression in midday. 0.5 microl NO2 x L(-1) increased the P(n), the maximum of P(n) reached 8.542 micromol CO2 x m(-2) s(-1); 4.0 microl NO2 x L(-1) decreased the P(n) in most period of time; while the effect of 0.1 microl NO2 x L(-1) varied with time period. Fumigation with 0.5 and 4.0 microl NO2 x L(-1) increased the maximal and minimal values of stomatal conductance (G(s)) and intercellular CO2 concentration (C( i)), while 0.1 microl NO2 x L(-1) increased the maximal and minimal values of C(i) but decreased the maximal and minimal values of G(s). At the middle and late stages of fumigation, the mean P(n) of the seedlings treated with 0.5 microl NO2 x L(-1) was significantly higher than that treated with 0.1 and 4 microl NO2 x L(-1). At the early stage of fumigation, 0.5 and 4.0 micro NO2 x L(-1) significantly decreased the maximal PS II efficiency (F(v)/F(m)); and at the late stage, 4.0 microl NO2 x L(-1) still decreased the F(v)/F(m) significantly.

As a main life element, carbon plays important role in the matter cycling in soil-plant system. Stable carbon isotope 13C has been widely used in the study of carbon cycling in soil-plant system, due to its safe, no pollution, and easy to be handled. Through the analysis of both natural and labeled 13C organic matter in soil-plant system, a better understanding of the mechanisms of photosynthesis, the distribution of photosynthates in plant-soil system, the fate of plant litter, and the source of new carbon in soil could be achieved. In this paper, the applications of stable carbon isotope technique in the researches of photosynthesis, reconstruction of paleoclimate, turnover of soil organic matter, and interactions between plants and rhizosphere microorganisms were briefly summarized, and the perspectives of the application of stable carbon isotope technique were also discussed, based on the issues existed in current researches.

Objective: To investigate the feasibility of nitrogen and phosphorus recovery from swine waste biogas digester effluent and the effects of pH and NH4+: Mg2+: PO4(3-) molar ratio on its precipitation., Methods: Precipitation experiments with swine waste biogas digester effluent were conducted at pH 7.5, 8.0, 8.5, and 9.0 together with NH4+: Mg2+: PO4(3-) molar ratios 1: 0.2: 0.08, 1: 1: 1, and 1: 1.5: 1.5. Chemical and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis were done to determine the composition of the precipitate., Results: The highest removal and recovery of NH4+ and PO4(3-) were achieved at pH 9.0 in each experiment. The elevation of pH to 9.0 alone could decrease the initial PO4(3-) concentration from 42 mg L(-1) to 4.7 mg L(-1) and 89.2% PO4(3-) recovery was achieved. The pH-molar ratio combination 9.0-1: 1.5: 1.5 effected 76.5% NH4+ and 68.5% PO4(3-) recovery. The molar ratio of 1: 1: 1 together with pH elevation to 9.0 was determined to be the optimum combination for both NH4+ and PO4(3-) removal as it recovered over 70% and 97% of the initial NH4+ and PO4(3-), respectively., Conclusions: Nitrogen and phosphorus can be recovered from biogas digester effluent as struvite.

Waste gases biofiltration is an emerging technology, and has played important roles in air pollution control. In this paper, the structure of biofilter and biotrickling filter and their mechanisms in air pollution removal were introduced, with focus on the research advances in the isolation and identification of microbes in the filters, correlations between microbial abundance, activity and community diversity, influences of operation conditions on microbial community, spatiotemporal change patterns of microbial community structure during operation, development of biofilm, and biodegrading dynamic models. The research perspectives in microbial ecology during biofiltration of waste gases were discussed.

With the effective control of point source pollution, the non-point source pollution (NPSP) of water environment has been paid more and more attention, and NPSP models are thriving with the development of 3S technology. This paper made a brief introduction about the classification and evolution of NPSP models. Ten NPSP models commonly used abroad were selected and compared, with their software developers and providers, data input and output, pollutant- and sediment types, time scale, simulation progress and characteristics, and model types illustrated. Based on the model applications and related literature reports, a qualitative evaluation was made from the viewpoint of the suitability of NPSP models to different watershed situation. Finally, the existing research insufficiency was analyzed, and the future development trend of non-point research was discussed, which would be helpful to the development of NPSP models and their applications in water management in China.

Using a multi-layer soil column device, the effect of new nitrification inhibitor DMPP (3,4-dimethyl pyrazole phosphate) on nitrogen leaching was studied for understanding the nitrogen vertical transformation and lowering the nitrogen leaching losses. The results indicate that, within 60 days of experiment, the regular urea added with 1% of DMPP can effectively inhibit the ammonium oxidation in the soil, and improve the concentration of NH4(+) -N in soil solution over the 20 cm tilth profile, while decline the concentrations of NO3(-) -N and N2(-) -N. No obvious difference is found on NH4(+) -N concentrations collected from deep layer soil solution under 20 cm between regular urea and the urea added with 1% of DMPP. There is also no significant difference for the NH4(+) -N and NO3(-) -N in the soil solution of deep layer under 40 cm among the treatments of urea by adding with 1% of DMPP within 60 days. So DMPP could be used as an effective nitrification inhibitor to control ammonium oxidation, decline the nitrate leaching losses, minimize the underground water pollution risk and be beneficial for the ecological environment.

Methane is the second largest contributor after carbon dioxide to global warming, while landfill is considered as one of the major sources of methane emission, accounting for 1.5%-15% of the global methane sources. Methanotrophic microorganisms play an important role in regulating global methane content, and landfill cover soil is proved to have high capacity of methane oxidation. The study of methanotrophic microorganisms in landfill cover soil and their mechanisms in methane oxidation becomes one of the hot research fields in environmental science and applied microbiology. This review summarized the recent progress on the research of methanotrophic microorganisms, mechanisms and dynamics of microbial methane oxidation, co-metabolism of methane and trace landfill gases, and environmental factors affecting methane oxidation in landfill cover soil. Some perspectives for further research on methanotrophic microorganisms in landfill cover soil were discussed.

This research investigated the concentrations of microcystins and environmental factors in three freshwaters of Zhejiang such as Taihu Lake (Huzhou section), Tiesha River and a blooming lagoon. The relativities between microcystins and environmental factors were studied by the methods of correlation analysis, principal components analysis, cluster analysis and stepwise multiple linear regression. The results show that the concentrations of MCLR and MCRR range from 0.049 microg/L. to 12.30 microg/L and from 0.032 microg/L to 7.90 microg/L, respectively, and the concentrations of microcystins at the bottom of the waters are higher than the aquatic surface. Significant positive relationships (p < 0.01) were observed between MCLR and TN, NH4+ -N, NO21- -N and TP, and also between MCRR and NO3- -N, N:P ratio; Significant negative relationships (p < 0.01) were observed between MCLR and water temperature, DO and N: P ratio (p < 0.01), and between MCRR and pH, DOC, permanganate index and optical density. Our research indicated TP and NO2- -N possibly be the main factors for the biosynthesis of MCLR, while NO3- -N and N:P ratio would be important for MCRR. NO2- -N and NO3- -N are possible the mainnitrogen resources for the biosynthesis of MCLR and MCRR, respectively.

The effect of Cl- on photocatalytic degradation (PCD) of pollutants is an important factor since it is ubiquitous in nature. In general, Cl- showed an inhibition on photodegradation due to its scavenging HO* radicals. In this paper, experiments were carried out to examine the effects of Cl- on the PCD of Methylene Blue (MB) and Orange II (OII) in aqueous TiO2 suspensions under UV light illumination. It was found that low concentration of Cl- (< 0.01 mol/L) showed little influence on both dyes, however, high concentration of Cl (> 0.10 mol/L) had a very different influence on the decolorization of dyes: a significant inhibition for MB but a great promotion for OII. In the presence of 0.50 mol/L Cl-, the rate decreased by 70% for MB while increased 7.5-fold for OII. Furthermore, two bands in the ultraviolet region of OII were rapidly broken down. The proposed mechanism was discussed in detail.

Phytoremediation has long been recognized as a cost-effective method for the removal of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from soil. A study was conducted to investigate the uptake and accumulation of PAHs in root and shoot of Lolium perenne L. Pot experiments were conducted with series of concentrations of 3.31-378.37 mg/kg for phenanthrene and those of 4.22-365.38 mg/kg for pyrene in a greenhouse. The results showed that both ryegrass roots and shoots did take up PAHs from spiked soils, and generally increased with increasing concentrations of PAH in soil. Bioconcentration factors (BCFs) of phenanthrene by shoots and roots were 0.24--4.25 and 0.17-2.12 for the same treatment. BCFs of pyrene by shoots were 0.20--1.5, except for 4.06 in 4.32 mg/kg treatment, much lower than BCFs of pyrene by roots (0.58--2.28). BCFs of phenanthrene and pyrene tended to decrease with increasing concentrations of phenanthrene and pyrene in soil. Direct uptake and accumulation of these compounds by Lolium perenne L. was very low compared with the other loss pathways, which meant that plant-promoted microbial biodegradation might be the main contribution to plant-enhanced removal of phenanthrene and pyrene in soil. However, the presence of Lolium perenne L. significantly enhanced the removal of phenanthrene and pyrene in spiked soil. At the end of 60 d experiment, the extractable concentrations of phenanthrene and pyrene were lower in planted soil than in non-planted soil, about 83.24%--91.98% of phenanthrene and 68.53%-84.10% of pyrene were removed from soils, respectively. The results indicated that the removal of PAHs in contaminated soils was a feasible approach by using Lolium perenne L.

As a new DNA fingerprinting technique, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) can be used to analyze the microbial diversity in different environmental samples. Three biofilters treating air loaded with ammonia will be studied with respect to microbial diversity by applying cultivation-independent molecular methods DGGE. The principal objectives of this paper include the development and application of a suitable set of molecular tools to deliver information about the possible microbial community changes within carriers during treatment of ammonia-contaminated gas. Carriers were sampled at different time during operation of biofilters. After extraction and purification of the genomic DNA, the 16S rRNA genes (V3 region) were amplified by using the specific primers. These amplified DNA fragments were then separated by paralleled DGGE. The profile of DGGE showed that the same carrier at different time had the different bands' patterns. The structural diversity of the microbial community was examined by the Shannon index of general diversity H. Shannon indexes of three kinds of carriers all showed a decrease with time, which had a similar trend to NH3 removal efficiency.

TP-PCR,a method developed for fusion gene construction without the use of endonuclease and ligase, was performed to construct a fused fpg gene. The TP-PCR reaction system contained three primers and two templates and resulting PCR product, fused fpg gene, consisted of three sections: pheB gene, which was responsible for catechol 2,3-dioxygenase, gfp gene for GFP protein and the intermediate ligation segment which was designed for the correct expression of the fusion gene. The result in this paper showed that the TP-PCR method is one of rapid and convenient methods for fused gene construction.

Activities at a former Chemistry Triangle in Bitterfeld, Germany, resulted in contamination of groundwater with a mixture of trichloroethylene(TCE) and monochlorobenzene(MCB). The objective of this study was to develop a barrier system, which includes an ORC(oxygen release compounds) and GAC(granular activated carbon) layer for adsorption of MCB and bioregeneration of GAC, a Fe0 layer for chemical reductive dechlorination of TCE and other chlorinated hydrocarbon in situ. A laboratory-scale column experiment was conducted to evaluate the feasibility of this proposed system. This experiment was performed using a series of continuous flow Teflon columns including an ORC column, a GAC column, and a Fe0 column. Simulated MCB and TCE contaminated groundwater was pumped upflow into this system at a flow rate of 1.1 ml/min. Results showed that 17%-50% of TCE and 28%-50% of MCB were dissipated in ORC column. Chloride ion, however, was not released, which suggest the dechlorination do not happen in ORC column. In GAC column, the adsorption of contaminants on activated carbon and their induced degradation by adapted microorganisms attached to the carbon surface were observed. Due to competitive exchange processes, TCE can be desorbed by MCB in GAC column and further degraded in iron column. The completely dechlorination rate of TCE was 0.16-0.18 cm(-1), 1-4 magnitudes more than the formation rate of three dichloroethene isomers. Cis-DCE is the main chlorinated product, which can be cumulated in the system, not only depending on the formation rate and its decaying rate, but also the initial concentration of TCE.

The nuisance impact of air pollutant emissions from wastewater pumping stations is a major issue of concern to China. Hydrogen sulfide and ammonia are commonly the primary odor and are important targets for removal. An alternative control technology, biofiltration, was studied. The aim of this study is to investigate the potential of unit systems packed with compost in terms of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide emissions treatment, and to establish optimal operating conditions for a full-scale conceptual design. The laboratory scale biofilter packed with compost was continuously supplied with hydrogen sulfide and ammonia gas mixtures. A volumetric load of less than 150 gH2S/(m3 x d) and 230 gNH3/(m3 x d) was applied for about fifteen weeks. Hydrogen sulfide and ammonia elimination occurred in the biofilter simultaneously. The removal efficiency, removal capacity and removal kinetics in the biofilter were studied. The hydrogen sulfide removal efficiency reached was very high above 99%, and ammonia removal efficiency was about 80%. Hydrogen sulfide was oxidized into sulphate. The ammonia oxidation products were nitrite and nitrate. Ammonia in the biofilter was mainly removed by adsorption onto the carrier material and by absorption into the water fraction of the carrier material. High percentages of hydrogen sulfide or ammonia were oxidized in the first section of the column. Through kinetics analysis, the presence of ammonia did not hinder the hydrogen sulfide removal. According to the relationship between pressure drop and gas velocity for the biofilter and Reynolds number, non-Darcy flow can be assumed to represent the flow in the medium.

A systematic study on the transient behavior of odor treatment using biofilters is described. The biofilters were exposed to variations in contaminant loading and periods of nonuse. Two bench-scale biofilters with different filter media were used. Mixtures of compost/perlite (5:1) and dry sludge/granular active carbon (5:1) were used as filter media. Ammonia (NH3), one of the main malodorous gases, was used as the target compound. The response of each biofilter to variations in contaminant mass loading, periodic nonuse, water content, and inlet concentration pulse was studied. The nonuse period comprised of two stages: the "idle phase" when no air was passing through the biofilters, and the "no-contaminant-loading phase" when only humidified air was passing through the biofilters. Concentration spike was applied to study the effects of shock loading on the biofilter performance. Biofilters responded effectively to NH3 concentration variations and shock loading by rapidly recovering to the original removal rates within 6-12h. The results indicated re-acclimation times ranged from several hours to longer than a day. Longer idle phase produced longer re-acclimation periods than periods of no contaminant loading. When the media was dried during the biofiltration process, elimination capacity dropped accordingly for both biofilters. After 24 h of drying, the biofilter experiment could be restarted and run for a few days for recovering.

Spatial distribution of heavy metals, arsenic and organic matter in recent sediments in the Hangzhou section of the Grand Canal and their relationships were analyzed. The results showed that the concentrations of heavy metals and organic matters varied widely along the canal, and the average geological accumulation factors decreased in the following orders: organic carbon(2.6), zinc(2.1), cadmium (2.0), copper(1.5), lead(1.1), nitrogen(0.9), mercury (0.8), phosphorus(0.4), arsenic(0.2) and chromium(0). Content of heavy metals and organic carbon in the top 10 cm layer were lower than that of lower layers, except for mercury and organic carbon in the S9 section. Contents of organic carbon in the top 50 cm layer of the mud sediments are significantly higher than those underneath. In the bottom mud layer, there is a concentration peak of the pollutants. In the mud sediments of the canal, cadmium mainly occurred in the Fe and Mn oxide fraction, copper in the organic fraction, lead in the Fe and Mn oxide fraction, and zinc in the carbonate and the Fe and Mn oxide fraction.

Objective: To investigate the characteristic and biochemical mechanism about the phenol biodegradation by bacterial strains ZD 4-1 and ZD 4-3., Methods: Bacterial strains ZD 4-1 and ZD 4-3 were isolated by using phenol as the sole source of carbon and energy, and identified by 16S rDNA sequence analysis. The concentrations of phenol and total organic carbon (TOC) were monitored to explore the degradation mechanism. The biodegradation intermediates were scanned at 375 nm by using a uv-vis spectrophotometer. The enzyme assays were performed to detect the activities of dioxygenases., Results: Bacterial strains ZD 4-1 and ZD 4-3 were identified as Comamonas testosteroni and Pseudomonas aeruginosa by 16S rDNA sequence analysis, respectively. The growth of the two strains was observed on a variety of aromatic hydrocarbons. The strains ZD 4-1 and ZD 4-3 metabolized phenol via ortho-pathways and meta-pathways, respectively. In addition, the results of enzyme assays showed that the biodegradation efficiency of phenol by meta-pathways was higher than that by ortho-pathways. Finally, the results of induction experiment indicated that the catechol dioxygenases, both catechol 1,2-dioxygenase (C120) and catechol 2,3-dioxygenase (C230), were all inducible., Conclusion: The strains ZD 4-1 and ZD 4-3 metabolize phenol through ortho-pathways and meta-pathway, respectively. Furthermore, the biodegradation efficiency of phenol by meta-pathways is higher than that by ortho-pathways.