The oil removal and the characteristics of changes in the composition of bacteria based on the oily sludge bioelectrochemical system.

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology is a simple way to accelerate the treatment of the oily sludge which is a major problem affecting the quality of oil fields and surrounding environment while generating electricity. To investigate the oil removal and the characteristics of changes in the composition of bacteria, sediment microbial fuel cells (SMFCs) supplemented with oily sludge was constructed. The results showed that the degradation efficiency of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) of SMFC treatment was 10.1 times higher than the common anaerobic degradation. In addition, the degradation rate of n-alkanes followed the order of high carbon number > low carbon number > medium carbon number. The odd-even alkane predominance (OEP) increased, indicating that a high contribution of even alkanes whose degradation predominates. The OUT number, Shannon index, AEC index, and Chao1 index of the sludge treated with SMFC (YN2) are greater than those of the original sludge (YN1), showing that the microbial diversity of sludge increased after SMFC treatment. After SMFC treatment the relative abundance of Chloroflexi, Bacteroidia and Pseudomonadales which are essential for the degradation of the organic matter and electricity production increased significantly in YN2. These results will play a crucial role in improving the performance of oily sludge MFC.

Mesoporous Layered Graphene Oxide/Fe3O4/C3N3S3 Polymer Hybrids for Rapid Removal of Pb2+ and Cd2+ from Water.

Mesoporous layered magnetic hybrid GFP2 composed of C3N3S3 polymers, Fe3O4 nanoparticles (Fe3O4 NPs), and graphene oxide with a mesoporous layered "sandwich"-like structure was successfully explored by in situ simple polymerization tactic for rapid removal of Pb2+ and Cd2+ from water. It shows good selectivity and high adsorption capacity (277.78 and 49.75 mg/g) for Pb2+ and Cd2+, respectively. It exhibits the fast adsorption kinetics (>80% elimination efficiency in less than 30 min). The Langmuir isotherm model based on typical monomolecular layer adsorption fits better with the data of adsorption than the Freundlich isotherm model. The adsorption process of GFP2 for Pb2+ and Cd2+ can be explained well with the pseudo-second-order kinetics model. GFP2 is a kind of recyclable solid absorbent, which is an excellent candidate in the heavy metal wastewater treatment. More importantly, GFP2 was set with Fe3O4 NPs which makes it easily separable from wastewater with an extra magnet.

Low-concentration tailing and subsequent quicklime-enhanced remediation of volatile chlorinated hydrocarbon-contaminated soils by mechanical soil aeration.

Mechanical soil aeration has long been regarded as an effective ex-situ remediation technique and as suitable for remediation of large-scale sites contaminated by volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at low cost. However, it has been reported that the removal efficiency of VOCs from soil is relatively low in the late stages of remediation, in association with tailing. Tailing may extend the remediation time required; moreover, it typically results in the presence of contaminants residues at levels far exceeding regulations. In this context, the present study aimed to discuss the tailing that occurs during the process of remediation of soils contaminated artificially with volatile chlorinated hydrocarbons (VCHs) and to assess possible quicklime-enhanced removal mechanisms. The results revealed the following conclusions. First, temperature and aeration rate can be important controls on both the timing of appearance of tailing and the levels of residual contaminants. Furthermore, the addition of quicklime to soil during tailing can reduce the residual concentrations rapidly to below the remedial target values required for site remediation. Finally, mechanical soil aeration can be enhanced using quicklime, which can improve the volatilization of VCHs via increasing soil temperature, reducing soil moisture, and enhancing soil permeability. Our findings give a basic understanding to the elimination of the tailing in the application of mechanical soil aeration, particularly for VOCs-contaminated soils.

Source characterization of sedimentary organic matter using molecular and stable carbon isotopic composition of n-alkanes and fatty acids in sediment core from Lake Dianchi, China.

The distribution and compound-specific carbon isotope ratios of n-alkanes and fatty acids in a sediment core (63 cm) collected from Lake Dianchi were examined to investigate organic matter sources in the eutrophic lake. Fatty acids included free and bound fatty acids. The carbon isotope compositions of individual n-alkanes and fatty acids from Lake Dianchi sediments were determined using gas chromatography/isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-IRMS). The δ(13)C values of individual n-alkanes (C16-C31) varied between -24.1‰ and -35.6‰, suggesting a dominance of (13)C-depleted n-alkanes that originated from C3 plants and lacustrine algae. Fatty acids from the sediment extracts were analyzed for their abundances and carbon isotopic compositions. Molecular and isotopic evidence indicates that most of the short-chain fatty acids from Lake Dianchi sediment extracts are sourced from intense microbial recycling and resynthesis of organic matter. Long-chain free fatty acids are mainly derived from terrestrial sources. However, long-chain bound fatty acids are sourced from a combination of terrestrial organic matter, bacteria and algae, with the contribution from algal sources higher in the hypereutrophic stage.

[Fractal characteristics of capillary finger flow for NAPLs infiltrated in porous media].

Non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) like petroleum hydrocarbons and chlorinated solvents have resulted in contamination of soils and ground water, which aroused widespread concern. It's quite important to delineate pollution area for remediation according to different soil types with pollutants properties in consideration. In this paper, a two-dimension visual sand box apparatus was constructed, with four typical NAPLs selected for infiltration experiments conducted in initially dry porous media. The main driving force was identified and fingering patterns were compared. The fractal dimension was used to give quantitative description. The present work indicates that the main driving force was capillary forces and the mechanism was the capillary fingering. The fingers varied from skeletal patterns to fleshy patterns and the infiltration area increased when the capillary number and the bond number decreased for NAPLs with the same level of viscosity. The high viscous force resulted in larger finger width and infiltration area. The same change between fluids happened in finer media. Fractal dimensions were positively correlated with the finger width and infiltration area, which is helpful in the pollution area characterization.

Origin and vertical variation of the bound fatty acids in core sediments of Lake Dianchi in Southwest China.

Based on the molecular distribution of bound fatty acid (BFA) compound classes in core sediments of Lake Dianchi combined with the compound-specific δ(13)C values of the straight-chain BFAs, origin and vertical changes of organic matters in the sediments were investigated. The results indicated a significant change of BFA sources over the past 700 years. Contrast to the low concentrations of the terrestrial BFAs, the abundance of BFAs derived from the plankton/bacteria in the top sections (1944-recent) was more than 80%. The increasing proportions of the branched and unsaturated BFAs in total fatty acids were closely correlated with the heavy eutrophication and the frequent algal blooms in the decades. Furthermore, the positive shift of δ (13)C of C16 and C18 (~2‰) in the upper section might be an indicator of the excess phytoplankton productivity. However, it was found that the plankton/bacteria-derived BFAs were more easily degraded during the early diagenetic process. The special compound carbon isotopic compositions of the long straight-chain BFAs (C24 and C26) in the sediments showed a depletion of heavier δ (13)C values (ca. -30‰) in the midsections (1559-1787), reflecting a relatively growing contribution of C3 plants to C4 plants or that C4 plant growth was inhibited in cold and arid climates during the period.

[Influence of image process on fractal morphology characterization of NAPLs vertical fingering flow].

Dyes are frequently used to visualize fingering flow pathways, where the image process has an important role in the result analysis. The theory of fractal geometry is applied to give quantitative description of the stain patterns via image analysis, which is helpful for finger characterization and prediction. This description typically involves two parameters, a mass fractal dimension (D(m)) relative to the area, and a surface fractal dimension (D(s)) relative to the perimeter. This work detailed analyzes the influence of various choices during the thresholding step that transformed the origin color images to binary ones which are needed in the fractal analysis. One hundred and thirty images were obtained from laboratory two-dimension sand box infiltration experiments of four dyed non-aqueous phase liquids. Detailed comparisons of D(m) and D(s) were made respectively, considering a set of threshold algorithms and the filling of lakes. Results indicate that adjustments of the saturation threshold influence are less on both D(m) and D(s) in the laboratory experiments. The brightness threshold adjustments decrease the D(m) by 0.02 and increase the D(s) by 0.05. Filling lakes influence the D(m) less while the D(s) decrease by 0.10. Therefore the D(m) was recommended for further analysis to avoid subjective choices' influence in the image process.

[Factors affecting benzene diffusion from contaminated soils to the atmosphere and flux characteristics].

The influencing factors of benzene diffusion fluxes from sand and black soil to atmosphere were investigated using a flux chamber (30.0 cm x 17.5 cm x 29.0 cm). In this study, the benzene diffusion fluxes were estimated by measuring the benzene concentrations both in the headspace of the chamber and in the soils of different layers. The results indicated that the soil water content played an important role in benzene diffusion fluxes. The diffusion flux showed positive correlation with the initial benzene concentration and the benzene dissolution concentration for both soil types. The changes of air flow rate from 300 to 900 mL x min(-1) and temperature from 20 degrees C to 40 degrees C resulted in increases of the benzene diffusion flux. Our study of benzene diffusion fluxes from contaminated soils will be beneficial for the predicting model, and emergency management and precautions.

Application of hollow fiber liquid-phase microextraction in identification of oil spill sources.

In this study, hollow fiber based liquid-phase microextraction (HF-LPME), coupled with GC, GC-MS and GC-IRMS detections, was employed to determine petroleum hydrocarbons in spilled oils. According to the results, the HF-LPME method collected more low-molecular weight components, such as C(7)-C(11)n-alkanes, naphthalene, and phenanthrene, than those collected in conventional liquid-liquid extraction (LLE). The results also showed that this method had no remarkable effect on the distributions of high-molecular weight compounds such as >C(18)n-alkanes, C(1)-C(3) phenanthrene, and hopanes. Also, the carbon isotopic compositions of individual n-alkanes in the two preparation processes were identical. Accordingly, HF-LPME, as a simple, fast, and inexpensive sample preparation technique, could become a promising method for the identification of oil spill sources.