[Natural attenuation of tetracycline in the water of Taihu Lake under different environmental conditions].

Tetracycline (TC) has been widely used in veterinary medicines and disease treatments, and has been discharged into nature system due to manure application. To know the harmfulness of TC residues, and to investigate the natural attenuation of TC under different environmental conditions, simulated attenuation experiments in the presence of light, sediment, Cd (NO3) 2 and Pb(NO3)2 were performed. Results showed that the natural attenuation of TC was not obvious under the sunlight, and the natural attenuation rate of TC in water with unsterilized sediment was greater than that with sterilized sediment. The natural attenuation of TC in water with Pb(NO3)2 was slow at the first stage of the experiment, and progressively speeded up as time went on. However, the natural attenuation of TC in water with Cd(NO3)2 was more rapid at the beginning, and significantly faster than that of Pb(NO3)2. The natural attenuation rates of 0.08 mmol x L(-1) TC under different conditions follow the sequence: unsterilized sediment (87.2%) > sterilized sediment (70.37%) > Cd(NO3)2 (64.2%) > Pb(NO3)2 (32.3%) > blank (6.6%), suggesting that all these factors can promote the natural attenuation of TC. Though the natural attenuation trend under different conditions in the dark is similar to that under the sunlight, the natural attenuation rate is less than that under the sunlight, which implicates that sunlight may promote the natural attenuation of TC.

[Adsorption characteristics of the antibiotic sulfanilamide onto rice husk ash].

Under different conditions of initial rice husk ash (RHA) dosage, oscillating temperature, oscillating frequency and solution pH, the adsorption characteristics of sulfanilamide on RHA with the change of time and its adsorption kinetics were investigated. RHA was characterized by SEM and FTIR before and after sulfanilamide adsorption. The results indicated that the adsorption characteristics of sulfanilamide on RHA was influenced by RHA dosage, oscillating temperature, oscillating frequency and solution pH. Within the RHA dosing range (0. 1-2.0 g.L-1) in this experiment, the optimal temperature for the adsorption was 25C , and with the increase of RHA dosage, the removal efficiency of sulfanilamide increased, the time required to reach adsorption equilibrium was shortened and the adsorptive quantity of sulfanilamide by per unit mass of RHA decreased. A high oscillating frequency was used to ensure the adsorption effect when the RHA concentration was high. Strong acidic and strong alkaline conditions were conducive to the adsorption of sulfanilamide. The analysis of adsorption dynamics showed that for the adsorption process with high RHA dosage ( >or= 1.0 g.L-1), the pseudo-second-order model fitted the adsorption behavior well, and the process was controlled by physical and chemical adsorption. Intraparticle diffusion model showed that the adsorption process was controlled by both membrane diffusion and internal diffusion, and the influence of the former became more obvious with the increase of the adsorbent concentration. Both the SEM and FTIR spectra proved the effective adsorption of sulfanilamide by RHA.

Synthesis of heavy metal chelating agent with four chelating groups of N1,N2,N4,N5-tetrakis(2-mercaptoethyl)benzene-1,2,4,5-tetracarboxamide (TMBTCA) and its application for Cu-containing wastewater.

A novel heavy metal chelating agent, N(1),N(2),N(4),N(5)-tetrakis(2-mercaptoethyl) benzene-1,2,4,5-tetracarboxamide (TMBTCA), was designed with four chelating groups, and a facile one-step synthetic procedure was developed with pyromellitic dianhydride (PMDA) and cysteamine hydrochloride (CHC) as raw materials by aqueous acylation. The effects of mole ratio of reactants (CHC/PMDA), reaction temperature, and reaction time on the yield of TMBTCA were studied. Its application for Cu-containing wastewater was investigated. The experimental results showed that the maximum yield of TMBTCA was 75.92%, as the mole ratio of CHC/PMDA reached 4.8, reaction temperature was 5°C, and reaction time was 6h. It was observed that TMBTCA could effectively remove Cu(2+) and CuEDTA to much lower than 0.5 mg/L (the discharge limit of copper ions in China). Furthermore, TMBTCA showed more affinity for cadmium and copper than some traditional commercial precipitants, such as DTC, TBA and TMT, via comparison of their ability for heavy metal removal, and the precipitates of Cu-TMBTCA and Cd-TMBTCA presented good stability in leaching tests. The results can provide a reference for design and further research on new kind of heavy metal chelating agent with more bonding sites, especially for heavy metal precipitation in PCB wastewater treatment.