Our previous study found that a salt marsh in eastern China can act as a large CH₃Cl sink. One striking finding of this previous study was a strong relationship between high-ambient CH₃Cl concentrations and fluxes during the growing season. Moreover, the high-ambient CH₃Cl concentration was likely to be related to local biomass burning. However, implementation of biomass burning prohibition policies has effectively reduced biomass burning. Therefore, we predicted that the prohibition of biomass burning would alter CH₃Cl concentration and flux within the eastern Chinese coastal salt marsh. In this study, we used static flux chambers to measure CH₃Cl fluxes in the early (July of 2004 and January of 2005) and middle-late stages (August and December of 2013) of biomass burning prohibition of along a creek and vegetation transects of the salt marsh. After implementation of the biomass burning prohibition, the concentration and flux of CH₃Cl directly related to biomass burning changed remarkably. During the middle-late stage of prohibition, the initial CH₃Cl concentration was significantly reduced compared to during the early stage of prohibition. Reductions in atmospheric CH₃Cl concentration were especially apparent during the growing season, when biomass burning was prohibited and atmospheric CH₃Cl concentration dropped to levels nearly as low as the Northern Hemisphere background concentration. Atmospheric CH₃Cl concentration significantly varied throughout the salt marsh, with the highest concentrations appearing over the inland areas and mudflat and lower values occurring over the middle locations. This spatial distribution of CH₃Cl may have been directly related to the existence and distribution of potential CH₃Cl sources, such as coastal seawater, terrestrial biomass burning, and senescent and decaying aboveground biomass. These changes in initial CH₃Cl concentration caused by the biomass burning prohibition may eventually lead to shift in the salt marsh from the tendency to act as a CH₃Cl sink to the tendency to act as a CH₃Cl source. When the initial atmospheric CH₃Cl concentration was high, the vegetation stands acted as CH₃Cl sinks. Conversely, they became CH₃Cl sources. Therefore, we conclude that the biomass burning prohibition altered the ecosystem–atmosphere exchange of CH₃Cl within the studied eastern Chinese coastal salt marsh.

Produced water originated from oil and gas production wells was treated by a pilot-scale system including pre-treatment (chemical precipitation), pre-filtration, and post-filtration units. Pre-filtration unit consisted of sand filter, granulated activated carbon (GAC) filter, and ultrafiltration (UF) membrane. Post-filtration unit included reverse osmosis (RO) membrane unit. In this study, two different RO membranes including sea water (SW) and brackish water (BW) membranes were comparatively evaluated in terms of treatment and filtration performance. Besides, a cost analysis was conducted for a real scale RO membrane unit by using the data obtained from the pilot plant study. Average fluxes of 12.7 and 9.4 L/m² h were obtained by SW and BW membrane units, respectively. Higher COD and conductivity removal efficiencies were obtained by SW membrane in comparison to BW membrane. Total cost of 0.88 €/m³ was estimated for a RO plant treating produced water with a flowrate capacity of 300 m³/d.

Ambient air pollution had been shown strongly associated with cardiovascular diseases. However, the association between air pollution and myocardial infarction (MI) is inconsistent. In the present study, we conducted a time-series study to investigate the association between air pollution and MI. Daily air pollutants, weather data, and MI data were collected from January 2015 to December 2016 in Changzhou, China. Generalized linear model (GLM) was used to assess the immediate effects of air pollutants (PM₂.₅, PM₁₀, NO₂, SO₂, and O₃) on MI. We identified a total of 5545 cases for MI, and a 10-μg/m³ increment in concentrations of PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀ was associated with respective increases of 1.636% (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.537–2.740%) and 0.805% (95% CI 0.037–1.574%) for daily MI with 2-day cumulative effects. The associations were more robust among males and in the warm season versus the cold one. No significant effect was found in SO₂, NO₂, or O₃. This study suggested that short-term exposure to PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀ was associated with the increased MI risks. Our results might be useful for the primary prevention of MI exacerbated by air pollutants.

This paper summarizes research work on the seasonal and profile dynamics of phosphorus content and the activity of phosphatase in soil next to the nitrogen industry. The results are presented of the total phosphorus (TP) and available phosphorus (AP) content and the alkaline phosphatase (AlP) and acid phosphatase (AcP) against the basic physicochemical properties (clay, pH, total organic carbon, total nitrogen). Three soil profiles were sampled from Brunic Arenosols 0.8, 2.0, and 2.5 km away from the nitrogen plant. The control profile was taken from the Tuchola Forest. The soil was collected in both spring and autumn. The results showed that the total phosphorus content was higher in spring than in autumn (the value of index of changes in time TI < 0) contrary to available phosphorus (TI > 0) and in both seasons in surface soils, the lowest, in profile I. Both total and available phosphorus decreased with depth along the soil profiles. The distribution index (DI) calculated for total phosphorus in surface soils demonstrated a rather moderate accumulation, while DI value for available phosphorus for profile III, a considerable accumulation. The availability factor (AF) for all the soil samples was above the threshold of phosphorus load (2%) in the two seasons in this study (from 2.00 to 10.13% for spring and from 3.92 to 21.19% for autumn), suggesting that the transformation rate from TP to AP was high, and AP supply for plant growth was sufficient. The correlation analysis showed a significant and positive correlation of available phosphorus with soil properties such as total organic carbon (r = 0.577), total nitrogen (r = 0.512), and clay (r = 0.493); however, there was no correlation with the activity of phosphatases.

Reusing treated effluents in industries is a great option to conserve freshwater resources. For example, car wash centres all over Australia are estimated to use 17.5 billion litres of water and discharge it as wastewater and spend $75 million a year for both purchasing fresh water and for treating and/or discharging the wastewater. Therefore, it is important to develop simple but reliable systems that can help to treat and reuse car wash wastewater. Significant savings could also be associated with the implementation of such systems. This study evaluates the performance of granular and membrane filtration systems with coagulation/flocculation and sedimentation in treating car wash wastewater for the purpose of reuse. Overall, 99.9% of turbidity, 100% of suspended solids and 96% of COD were removed from the car wash wastewater after treating by coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, sand filtration, ceramic ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis and the treated water meets the standards required for class A recycled water in Australia and standards imposed in Belgium and China. The treated water can be reused. However, optimisation is required to reduce the sludge produced by this system.

Floating catalytic chemical vapor deposition technique was used for synthesizing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) using ferrocene in benzene as the hydrocarbon source. The functionalization of CNTs was carried out by oxidation followed by grafting of potassium iodide (KI) and mercaptoethanol (HS(CH₂)₂OH) ligands to produce iodide-grafted CNTs (CNT-I) and thiol-functionalized CNTs (CNT-SH), respectively. The resulting adsorbents have been thoroughly characterized by various techniques. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) studies revealed the efficient grafting of the ligands. Further, their adsorption capacities towards antimonite have been assessed. The adsorption kinetics fitted the pseudo-second-order model for both the adsorbents. Moreover, the adsorption of Sb(III) followed Langmuir and Freundlich’s model. The maximum adsorption capacity of CNT-I and CNT-SH for Sb(III) at pH 7 was found to be 200 and 140.85 mg/g, respectively. The interference effect of various ions on the adsorption of antimonite was studied. A suitable mechanism for Sb(III) adsorption has been postulated using TEM, XRD, XPS, and FTIR. The adaptability of the adsorbents was demonstrated by the removal capacity of Sb(III) at parts per billion levels from nuclear decontamination formulation (NAC) and tap water matrix as well.

Six traffic-emitted metals (Cr, Zn, Cu, Cd, Pb, and Ni) were determined in soil and plants for below- and aboveground parts along different distances from highway to evaluate their behavior and uptake by Carex meyeriana Kunth and Thelypteris palustris var. pubescens Fernald growing in turfy swamps. The results indicated that the different plant tissues showed significantly different levels of metal content. Nonlinear regression analysis indicated that metal contents leveled off at constant values before they decreased as the distance from the roadside increased. The high R² values of the regression model indicated good fit of the exponential function applied to depict the distribution pattern of the metal elements. It was deduced that Cr, Cu, and Cd in Thelypteris palustris var. pubescens Fernald were mainly derived from the soil; Carex meyeriana Kunth and Thelypteris palustris var. pubescens Fernald absorbed Pb mainly through the stomata from atmospheric depositions; Cr, Cu, and Cd in Carex meyeriana Kunth and Zn in Thelypteris palustris var. pubescens Fernald were mainly affected by soil and atmospheric depositions. After excluding the effects of traffic, only the bioaccumulation factor of Cd (1.34) in Carex meyeriana Kunth and the translocation factor of Zn (1.13) in Thelypteris palustris var. pubescens Fernald were greater than 1, suggesting that Carex meyeriana Kunth could be a good candidate for assimilating Cd from soils and Thelypteris palustris var. pubescens Fernald could be suitable for the phytoextraction of Zn.

The utilization of geothermal energy is clean and has great potential worldwide, and it is important to utilize geothermal energy in a sustainable manner. Mathematical modeling studies of geothermal reservoirs are important as they evaluate and quantify the complex multi-physical effects in geothermal reservoirs. However, previous modeling efforts lack the study focusing on the emission reduction efficiency and the deformation at geothermal wellbores caused by geothermal water extraction/circulation. Emission efficiency is rather relevant in geothermal projects introduced in areas characterized by elevated air pollution where the utilization of geothermal energy is as an alternative to burning fossil fuels. Deformation at geothermal wellbores is also relevant as significant deformation caused by water extraction can lead to geothermal wellbore instability and can consequently decrease the effectiveness of the heat extraction process in geothermal wells. In this study, the efficiency of emission reduction and heat extraction in a sedimentary geothermal reservoir in Daming County, China, are numerically investigated based on a coupled multi-physical model. Relationships between the efficiency of emission reduction and heat extraction, deformation at geothermal well locations, and geothermal field parameters including well spacing, heat production rate, re-injection temperature, rock stiffness, and geothermal well placement patterns are analyzed. Results show that, although large heat production rates and low re-injection temperatures can lead to decreased heat production in the last 8 years of heat extraction, they still improve the overall heat production capacity and emission reduction capacity. Also, the emission reduction capacity is positively correlated with the heat production capacity. Deformation at geothermal wellbore locations is alleviated by smaller well spacing, lower heat production rates, and smaller numbers of injectors in the well pattern, and by placing wells at locations with higher rock stiffness. Compared with the reference case with coal burning for heating purposes, the yearly emission reduction capacity can reach 1 × 10⁷ kg by switching to the direct utilization of geothermal energy in Daming field.

The soils around the world’s largest antimony mine have been contaminated by high concentrations of Sb and As, which might influence microbial diversity in the surrounding soils. The ecological effects of bioavailable Sb and As on the composition and diversity of microbial community in soils remain unknown. In this study, the relative abundance, taxonomic diversity and composition of bacterial community in soils from a typical Sb mine area, and the relationship between the bacterial community and bioavailable concentrations as well as environmental factors have been investigated comprehensively using high-throughput sequencing (HTS) and diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT). The results indicated that Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, and Cyanobacteria were the dominant bacterial populations at phylum level in all soil samples, accounting for more than 80% of the bacteria sequenced. The abundance and diversity of bacterial community vary along a metal contamination gradient. Redundancy discriminate analysis (RDA) revealed that 74.74% of bacterial community variation in the contaminated soils was explained by six environmental factors (pH, SbDGT, AsDGT, potential ecological risk index (RI), TC, TN), among which pH, SbDGT, and AsDGT were dominant factors influencing the composition and diversity of bacteria. This study contributes to our understanding of microbial diversity in a local ecosystem and introduces the option of studying bioavailable Sb and As using DGT.

Indoor airborne culturable fungi exposure has been closely linked to occupants’ health. However, conventional measurement of indoor airborne fungal concentration is complicated and usually requires around one week for fungi incubation in laboratory. To provide an ultra-fast solution, here, for the first time, a knowledge-based machine learning model is developed with the inputs of indoor air quality data for estimating the concentration of indoor airborne culturable fungi. To construct a database for statistical analysis and model training, 249 data groups of air quality indicators (concentration of indoor airborne culturable fungi, indoor/outdoor PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀ concentrations, indoor temperature, indoor relative humidity, and indoor CO₂ concentration) were measured from 85 residential buildings of Baoding (China) during the period of 2016.11.15–2017.03.15. Our results show that artificial neural network (ANN) with one hidden layer has good prediction performances, compared to a support vector machine (SVM). With the tolerance of ± 30%, the prediction accuracy of the ANN model with ten hidden nodes can at highest reach 83.33% in the testing set. Most importantly, we here provide a quick method for estimating the concentration of indoor airborne fungi that can be applied to real-time evaluation.