• Duelund Porterfield posted an update 10 hours, 29 minutes ago

    In soils amended with biochars pyrolyzed at high temperatures (i.e. 500-700 ℃; HT-biochars), two possible reasons contribute to increasing phenanthrene degradation with pyrolysis temperature (1) high sorbed-phenanthrene concentration due to large specific surface area and high aromaticity of the biochars, and (2) the increased dominant PAH-degrader abundance for the removal of sorbed-phenanthrene due to the impact of HT-biochars on soil properties (mainly on DOC content).Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) have been frequently detected in the environment around the world. Algae play a significant role in aquatic ecosystem, thus the influence on algae may affect the life of higher trophic organisms. This review provides a state-of-the-art overview of current research on the toxicity of PPCPs to algae. Nanoparticles, contained in personal care products, also have been considered as the ingredients of PPCPs. PPCPs could cause unexpected effects on algae and their communities. Chlorophyta and diatoms are more accessible and sensitive to PPCPs. Multiple algal endpoints should be considered to provide a complete evaluation on PPCPs toxicity. The toxicity of organic ingredients in PPCPs could be predicted through quantitative structure-activity relationship model, whereas the toxicity of nanoparticles could be predicted with limitations. Light irradiation can change the toxicity through affecting algae and PPCPs. pH and natural organic matter can affect the toxicity through changing the existence of PPCPs. For joint and tertiary toxicity, experiments could be conducted to reveal the toxic mechanism. For multiple compound mixture toxicity, concentration addition and independent addition models are preferred. However, there has no empirical models to study nanoparticle-contained mixture toxicity. Algae-based remediation is an emerging technology to prevent the release of PPCPs from water treatment plants. Although many individual algal species are identified for removing a few compounds from PPCPs, algal-bacterial photobioreactor is a preferable alternative, with higher chances for industrial applications.Novel nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes encapsulating Fe3C nanocrystals coated paper-like sintered stainless steel fibers (PSSF) structured catalyst (Fe3C@NCNT/PSSF) was designed for continuous catalytic wet peroxide oxidation of phenol. Firstly, Fe3C@NCNT/PSSF was fabricated by directly growing the Fe3C encapsulated NCNTs onto the three-dimensional PSSF substrate through CVD method using melamine as precursor, the monolithic PSSF substrate served as a self-catalyzing agent for catalyst preparation. Secondly, the surface morphology and structure of Fe3C@NCNT/PSSF were investigated to optimize the synthesis condition. Then Fe3C@NCNT/PSSF was employed as a structured catalyst for continuous CWPO of phenol, effect of operating conditions was studied. Selleckchem SBC-115076 Catalytic results showed that the encapsulated Fe3C nanoparticles significantly enhanced the degradation efficiency of phenol, and catalytic performance was improved with the increase of temperature. However, catalytic performance appeared unusual when residence time was considered, due to the effect of strongly polar surface of NCNTs on the contact efficiency between pollutants and hydroxyl radicals. Reusability experiments showed that catalytic performance of catalyst was improved with the increase of reusability cycles although the iron leaching concentration decreased, attributing to enhanced reaction within internal channel of Fe3C@NCNT. The fourth reaction run achieved a stable phenol conversion of 90%, TOC conversion around 41% under optimized conditions.Cu is one of the dominant heavy metals toxic to human health and environmental ecosystems. Understanding its fate and chemical speciation is of great importance for hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of Cu-rich hazardous streams. Herein, we investigated its evolution during the HTL of wastewater algae through ICP-MS, XRD, XANES, and EXAFS. Cu-cysteine complexes (51.5%) and Cu2S (40.4%) were the main components of Cu in algae, whereas the predominant form was CuS (70.9%) in 220 °C-hydrochar. Model compound experiments indicated that Cu-cysteine could be converted into CuS, while Cu2S was stable during HTL. However, Cu2S was partially converted into CuS in the hydrochar. Subsequently, the positive Gibbs free energy (36.8 KJ/mol) indicates that the oxidation from Cu+ to Cu2+ can’t occur spontaneously. Furthermore, cyclic voltammograms demonstrated that hydrochar facilitated the oxidation of Cu2S due to its higher capability of electron acceptance. All these results prove that hydrochar serves as a catalyst for the conversion of Cu2S to CuS during HTL. This study firstly elucidated that Cu2S was oxidized into CuS in the presence of hydrochar, and Cu-cysteine was converted into CuS under HTL. This study provides a critical insight into the transformation mechanism of Cu during the HTL of hazardous streams.A novel electrothermal swing (ETS) system with gold-electrodeposited activated carbon fiber cloth (GE-ACFC) was developed to adsorb and sustainably recover low-concentration Hg0. GE-ACFC with an Au growth time of 1200 s displayed the largest Hg0 adsorption capacity and >90% removal efficiency. The Hg0 adsorption of GE-ACFC was dominated by physisorption via Au amalgamation. In contrast, Hg adsorption of untreated ACFC (RAW-ACFC) was mainly controlled by physisorption and chemisorption related to carbonyl groups. Nevertheless, both ACFCs could reach 100% ETS Hg0 regeneration. The Hg re-adsorption of GE-ACFC was stable, with efficiency >90% at different regeneration temperatures in three-cycle ETS experiments, but the Hg re-adsorption efficiencies of RAW-ACFC greatly decreased to only 60% after 250 ℃ regeneration, due to the formation of electrothermal hot spots in the ACFC. Because the thermal and electrical conductivity of GE-ACFC increased due to Au electrodeposition, the presence of electrothermal hot spots in GE-ACFC-1200s was minor. Simulation results showed that both pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models fitted well to the desorption patterns of the GE-ACFC. Mass transfer model further suggested that intraparticle diffusion control was the rate-limiting step, with diffusion coefficients increased from the first to the third cycle for GE-ACFC.