Advanced Materials Research Vols. 955-959

Abstract: In order to phytoremediation the soils contaminated by arsenical chemical weapons abandoned by Japan at some region of Jilin Province and ready for the estimate of the ecological safety, this paper analyzed organic species in soil with GC-MS, disscussed extraction and testing of inorganic arsenic in soil with hydrochloric acid, studied species of arsenic in soil such as available forms, valence state, and combined state, and inferred conversion process of arsenical chemical agent. The results indicate that after simple destroying and long time burial, almost all arsenical chemical agents in soil at this region are converted into inorganic arsenic due to explosion, burning, natural oxidation and microorganism, which primarily exists as As (V). Organic arsenic was only detected at where shells were buried (destroyed), in leaded shells and contaminated soil, with its content 3.65%~32.03%; Organic arsenic content of soil in other part is less than 10%. In contaminated soil of this region, water soluble arsenic and available arsenic extracted from disodium hydrogen phosphate take 0.81~2.58% and 7.49~15.96% of total arsenic respectively. Exchangeable As and binding As (Al-As, Fe-As, reducible As and Ca-As) take 40% of total arsenic, residual As takes 49.38~66.43%. The results may be used as basis for determining remedy methods and assessing ecological safety at this region.

Abstract: An efficient and reliable analytical method has been used for determination of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in atmospheric total suspended particles collected from the six state controlling air sampling sites and two self-selection sampling sites in Kunming, China. The results showed that the overall average concentrations of TSP collected from Kunming were in the range of 44.36 μg/m3 to 82.22 μg/m3. This pattern was lower than the average concentrations of Guiyu, Guangzhou and similar to Hong Kong. In TSP, the penta-BDEs and octa-BDEs were the dominant PBDEs and the PBDEs concentration ranged from 12.39 pg/m3 to 71.51 pg/m3, with a mean value of 46.82 pg/m3. This level was below the city of Guiyu, Örebro in Sweden and similar to Hong Kong, Guangzhou. The average concentrations of PBDEs had the trend of descent from the urban center to the outskirts of Kunming.

Abstract: The farmland soils around three typical livestock farms in Jilin province were studied to elucidate the impact of farms on heavy metal pollution in surrounding farmland soils. The results showed that the average content of Cd was maximal in the soils around cattle farm (0.29 mg kg^-1); the average value of Pb was highest in the soils around the pig farm; and Cu, Zn, Ni and Cr were all highest in the soils around the chicken farm. The distribution of heavy metals in the soils around different livestock farms varied greatly. The contents of Cu, Zn, Ni and Cr decreased in the same order: chicken farm> pig farm > cattle farm, but Pb was pig farm> chicken farm> cattle farm, and Cd was cattle farm> pig farm> chicken farm. These results indicated that the livestock farms did not cause significant heavy metal pollution in its surrounding agricultural soils, but the accumulation of heavy metals caused by farms should arouse the attention.

Abstract: Soil profiles from 0 to 80 cm depth were collected and a 14-day incubation experiment at three soil moisture levels (initial moisture, water holding capacity, and flooding) was carried out at 25°C in the dark to reveal the effects of soil moisture on nitrogen mineralization rates in a 10-yr floodplain wetland. Our results showed that nitrogen mineralization rates decreased with depth along soil profiles and the maximal nitrogen mineralization rates appeared at the 10-20cm soil layer. The nitrogen mineralization rates were higher under flooding treatment compared to another two soil moisture treatments. Nitrogen mineralization rates in the top 20cm soils exhibited an increasing tendency with increasing soil moisture. Additionally, nitrogen mineralization rates were significantly correlated with electrical conductivity, total soluble salt, and salinity under three soil moisture treatments.

Abstract: The inclusion complex formation between fluorescent sensor 3, 3’-benzidine/β-cyclodextrin derivative (BDCD) and pesticide carbaryl was studied and characterized by TEM, XRD and fluorescence spectroscopy. The stability constant and the stoichiometry of complex were determined. Based on the enhancement of the fluorescence intensity of carbaryl produced through complex formation, a new sensitive method for the determination of carbaryl was established. The linear relationship between the fluorescence intensity and carbaryl concentration was obtained in the range of 0.60-3.00 μmol/L with a correlation coefficient of 0.9946. The detection limit was 5.12 nmol/L. This method has been successfully applied to the determination of carbaryl pesticide residue in water, fruit and vegetable samples with satisfactory results, recoveries in the range of 94.12 % to 105.88 % were obtained. The method is rapid, simple, direct, economical, sensitive and useful for carbaryl analysis.

Abstract: In this research, the characterization and molecular weight of organic matter, adsorbed on both particle sizes from ambient air in the steel factory, was dissolved into adequate distilled water and analyzed by fluorescent spectrometry and high performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) equipped with Diode Array Detector (DAD). The components of water-soluble organic compounds (WSOC) attached on both particle sizes, including PM 2.5 μm and PM 2.5-10 μm, were elucidated by the integration of excitation-emission fluorescent matrix (EEFM) with Parallel Factor (PARAFAC) analysis. It reveals that total fluorescent intensity of PM 2.5 μm was higher than that of PM 2.5-10 μm. Similar fluorescent signature was found in WSOC from both particles at the whole sampling locations. High excitation wavelength (280-320 nm) belonging to humic-like substance (220-240 nm) and low excitation wavelength due to fulvic-like substance were found in both particle sizes with the proximity of emission wavelength of 400 nm. Three major components of WSCO for both particles had high explanatory power representing the content of organic matter. For the largest contribution of fluorescence, the wavelengths of Ex/Em for coarse particle were higher than those of fine particle. The phenomenon was coexisted in molecular weight.

Abstract: The environmental interests among subjects with different rights pose an imbalance, involving specifically of the imbalance in environmental rights sharing as well as responsibilities shouldering among different subjects. Using the method of game theory analysis, we concluded that the optimal alternatives turned out to be the public authorities’ positive regulation on the companies’ pollution, or the companies’ voluntary conduct of pollutants removing, thus achieving the overall improvement of environmental interests of the government, companies and residents. However, the co-existence of both market and government malfunction derived from the intrinsic feature of quasi-public goods, appears to be a formidable obstacle to the subjects’ environmental interests equilibrium. Consequently, the ultimate aim to achieving equilibrium in environmental interests is apparently in line with coordination among the abovementioned subjects, mutually requiring companies’ voluntary assumption of their responsibilities, government’s endeavor from the regulation level and residents’ awareness of their environmental rights.

Abstract: Riverbed substrate is important to many riverine organisms, however, it is normally difficult to study the substrate intensively especially in large and fast flowing rivers. The Chinese sturgeon Acipenser sinensis is a critically endangered fish species, it spawns on a specific riverbed substrate. In this paper, the hydroacoustic and underwater optical video technologies were integrated to study the riverbed substrate at the only remaining spawning area of the fish. Sixteen samples were firstly studied to verify the relationship between acoustic backscattering characteristics (hardness and roughness) and video observed characteristics (embeddedness and medium diameter of the grain). Then eight vertical mobile hydroacoustic surveys were conducted to acoustically map the 16 km spawning reach. The results revealed that the heterogeneous mix of boulder/cobble and sand was the dominant substrate at the spawning reach. However, the embeddedness and medium diameter of the grain varied within the area which tend to affect the spawning site selection of the fish. This study indicated that the combination of hydroacoustic and optical video technologies could be very useful to study the riverbed substrate in river ecological issues.

Abstract: The concentration of ammonia nitrogen in a slaughterhouse wastewater sample was determined using Nessler's reagent spectrophotometry with four different pretreatment approaches. Comparison of the results shows that the concentrations increased in the following order: coagulation sedimentation < boric acid absorption < filtration < acidifying filtration. Boric acid absorption method is more favorable, and standard curve method (SCM) should be considered superior to standard addition method (SAM) in the present research.

Abstract: A new Pb (II) ion-imprinted polymer (Pb (II)-IIP), which can be used for selective adsorption of Pb (II) from aqueous solutions, was successfully prepared based on silica gel particles with the help of surface molecular imprinting technology. The adsorption kinetic curve, adsorption isotherm and selective adsorption were measured by static method. The adsorption kinetics of IIPs for Pb (II) reached the equilibrium at about 20 min. The maximum adsorption capacity was 22.72 mg/g, and the IIPs had much higher adsorption quantity than NIPs. Competitive adsorption studies showed that Pb (II)-IIP offers the advantages of selectivity toward targeted Pb (II) compared with NIP in the presence other metal ions. The results showed that the IIPs possessed good specific adsorption capacity and selectivity for Pb (II).