Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Concentration in Straw Biochar with different Particle Size

AbstractBiochar, a carbon-rich material formed by a biomass pyrolyzed at relatively low temperatures (≤700°C), showed attractive sorption capacity on both organic pollutants and heavy metals and wildly used in various areas of environmental engineering. However, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) may also be assumed to be produced for the oxygen-limited pyrolysis condition in biochar production process. It is not well known about the affect of particle size in concentration and distributing characteristic of PAHs of biochar. In the current study, twenty-seven PAHs concentration in maize straw biochar produced with different powder particle size (9.31, 20.26, 60.77, 71.07, 101.9μm) were quantified, and the ∑27PAHs, total LMW PAHs, total MMW PAHs and total HMW PAHs concentration were analyzed. As the particle size increase, the ∑27PAHs concentrations show a trend of firstly increase and then decrease, and the maximum appears at 60.77μm (166.52 ng/g) and the minimum appears at 101.90μm (14.63 ng/g). LMW total PAHs and total MMW PAHs concentrations firstly increase and then decrease, with the particle size increasing from 9.31μm to 101.9μm. Meanwhile, the total HMW PAH concentrations decrease gradually when biochar particle size increasing. Compared to US, UK background soil concentrations and Canada standards, it is appropriate to conclude that PAHs in straw biochar have minimal effects after application to soil especially at 101.9μm

Infrared spectroscopy of small-molecule endofullerenes

Hydrogen is one of the few molecules which has been incarcerated in the molecular cage of C$_{60}$ and forms endohedral supramolecular complex H$_2$@C$_{60}$. In this confinement hydrogen acquires new properties. Its translational motion becomes quantized and is correlated with its rotations. We applied infrared spectroscopy to study the dynamics of hydrogen isotopologs H$_2$, D$_2$ and HD incarcerated in C$_{60}$. The translational and rotational modes appear as side bands to the hydrogen vibrational mode in the mid infrared part of the absorption spectrum. Because of the large mass difference of hydrogen and C$_{60}$ and the high symmetry of C$_{60}$ the problem is identical to a problem of a vibrating rotor moving in a three-dimensional spherical potential. The translational motion within the C$_{60}$ cavity breaks the inversion symmetry and induces optical activity of H$_2$. We derive potential, rotational, vibrational and dipole moment parameters from the analysis of the infrared absorption spectra. Our results were used to derive the parameters of a pairwise additive five-dimensional potential energy surface for H$_2$@C$_{60}$. The same parameters were used to predict H$_2$ energies inside C$_{70}$[Xu et al., J. Chem. Phys., {\bf 130}, 224306 (2009)]. We compare the predicted energies and the low temperature infrared absorption spectra of H$_2$@C$_{70}$.Comment: Updated author lis

The Association between Ambient Air Pollution and Allergic Rhinitis: Further Epidemiological Evidence from Changchun, Northeastern China

With the continuous rapid urbanization process over the last three decades, outdoors air pollution has become a progressively more serious public health hazard in China. To investigate the possible associations, lag effects and seasonal differences of urban air quality on respiratory health (allergic rhinitis) in Changchun, a city in Northeastern China, we carried out a time-series analysis of the incidents of allergic rhinitis (AR) from 2013 to 2015. Environmental monitoring showed that PM2.5 and PM10 were the major air pollutants in Changchun, followed by SO2, NO2 and O3. The results also demonstrated that the daily concentrations of air pollutants had obvious seasonal differences. PM10 had higher daily mean concentrations in spring (May, dust storms), autumn (October, straw burning) and winter (November to April, coal burning). The mean daily number of outpatient AR visits in the warm season was higher than in the cold season. The prevalence of allergic rhinitis was significantly associated with PM2.5, PM10, SO2 and NO2, and the increased mobility was 10.2% (95% CI, 5.5%–15.1%), 4.9% (95% CI, 0.8%–9.2%), 8.5% (95% CI, −1.8%–19.8%) and 11.1% (95% CI, 5.8%–16.5%) for exposure to each 1-Standard Deviation (1-SD) increase of pollutant, respectively. Weakly or no significant associations were observed for CO and O3. As for lag effects, the highest Relative Risks (RRs) of AR from SO2, NO2, PM10 and PM2.5 were on the same day, and the highest RR from CO was on day 4 (L4). The results also indicated that the concentration of air pollutants might contribute to the development of AR. To summarize, this study provides further evidence of the significant association between ambient particulate pollutants (PM2.5 and PM10, which are usually present in high concentrations) and the prevalence of respiratory effects (allergic rhinitis) in the city of Changchun, located in Northeastern China. Environmental control and public health strategies should be enforced to address this increasingly challenging problem

Confirming a predicted selection rule in inelastic neutron scattering spectroscopy: the quantum translator-rotator H2 entrapped inside C60

We report an inelastic neutron scattering (INS) study of H2 molecule encapsulated inside the fullerene C60 which confirms the recently predicted selection rule, the first to be established for the INS spectroscopy of aperiodic, discrete molecular compounds. Several transitions from the ground state of para-H2 to certain excited translation-rotation states, forbidden according to the selection rule, are systematically absent from the INS spectra, thus validating the selection rule with a high degree of confidence. Its confirmation sets a precedent, as it runs counter to the widely held view that the INS spectroscopy of molecular compounds is not subject to any selection rules

Association between polymorphisms in the coagulation factor VII gene and coronary heart disease risk in different ethnicities: a meta-analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Previous studies have examined the association between polymorphisms in the coagulation factor VII gene and the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), but those studies have been inconclusive. This study was conducted to assess the associations between these polymorphisms and CHD and evaluated the associations in different ethnicities.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Literature-based searching was conducted to collect data and two methods, namely fixed-effects and random-effects, were performed to pool the odds ratio (OR), together with the 95% confidence interval (CI). Publication bias and between-study heterogeneity were also examined.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Thirty-nine case-control studies of the three polymorphisms, R353Q (rs6046), HVR4 and -323Ins10 (rs36208070) in factor VII gene and CHD were enrolled in this meta-analysis, including 9,151 cases of CHD and 14,099 controls for R353Q, 2,863 cases and 2,727 controls for HVR4, and 2,862 cases and 4,240 controls for -323Ins10. Significant association was only found in Asian population for R353Q (Q vs R), with pooled OR of 0.70(95%CI: 0.55, 0.90). For the -323Ins10 polymorphism (10 vs 0), we found significant associations in both Asian and European populations, with pooled ORs of 0.74(95%CI: 0.61, 0.88) and 0.63(95%CI: 0.53, 0.74), respectively. Marginal significant association was found between HVR4 (H7 vs H5+H6) and CHD (OR = 0.88, 95% CI: 0.78, 1.00). There was no evidence of publication bias, but between-study heterogeneity was found in the analyses.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The -323Ins10 polymorphism in factor VII gene is significantly associated with CHD in both Asian and European populations, while R353Q polymorphism showed trend for association with CHD in Asians. Lack of association was found for HVR4 polymorphism. Further studies are needed to confirm the association, especially for -323Ins10 polymorphism.</p

Selective extraction of arsenic and antimony from gold-bearing sludge using two-stage alkaline leaching

In gold smelting industry, coexisting of arsenic (As) and antimony (Sb) in gold-bearing sludge is a serious issue for the smelting process. This study employed a two-stage leaching methods to selective extract arsenic and antimony from gold-bearing sludge. Arsenic was firstly removed through NaOH leaching, following by Na2S-NaOH leaching to remove antimony in the atmospheric conditions. The first step results show that more than 96% of arsenic can be removed under the conditions of 2 mol/L NaOH, the ratio of liquid to solid (L/S) of 5, 60 degrees C, 400 rpm, 3 h. Meanwhile, the antimony dissolved in the solution is converted into the residue as the state of NaSb(OH)(6) during this process. After Na2S-NaOH leaching, the antimony leaching extent is 97.2% during the condition of 2.5 mol/L Na2S, 0.125 mol/L NaOH, L/S = 5, 70 degrees C and 6 h. In addition, the vulcanization of copper was found in the Na2S-NaOH leaching process, and the CuS appeared in the leaching residue. The results prove that the NaOH leaching following by Na2S-NaOH leaching can selectively extract arsenic and antimony from gold-bearing sludge in the atmospheric conditions

Five-fold twinned pentagonal gold nanocrystal structure exclusively bounded by {110} facets

Monodispersed five-fold twinned gold (Au) nanocrystals (NCs) with a pentagon (Pg) morphology exclusively bounded by {110} facets have been prepared through a PVP-assisted seed-mediated growth in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF). Low water concentration, low reaction temperature and existence of DMF have been confirmed to play important roles in achieving the {110}-facet-bounded Au Pg NCs. A possible evolution process from Au decahedron (Dh), via {110}-facet-truncated decahedron (TD), {110}-facet-heavily-truncated decahedron (HTD) and pentagonal star (PS) to final Pg has been suggested to understand the formation of the Pg Au nanocrystals in the DMF reaction system

J. Mater. Cycles Waste Manag.

A new way to implement the simultaneous reutilization of solid waste, the desulfurization of coke oven gas (COG), and even the desulfurization of coke by the co-coking of coking coal (CC) and waste plastic (WP) blended with a sorbent is proposed; the evolution of H2S and the removal efficiency of H2S from COG during the co-coking process were investigated in a lab-scale cylindrical reactor. The experimental results indicated that for the coking of CC blended with ZnO, Fe2O3, or blast furnace dust (BFD) as a sorbent, the instantaneous concentration of H2S in COG was lower than 500 mg/m(3) (which meets the technical specification requirement of the Chinese Cleaner Production Standard-Coking Industry, HJ/T 126-2003) when the molar ratio between the key component of the sorbent and the volatile S in CC or the CC/WP blend, n(Zn+Fe)/nS, was about 1.2 for ZnO and Fe2O3, but not for BFD under the same conditions, suggesting that ZnO and Fe2O3 are promising sorbents, but that BFD must be treated chemical or thermally before being used as a sorbent because of the size and complicated nature of the influence of its phase/chemical composition on its desulfurization ability. However, for the co-coking of CC and WP blended with ZnO as a sorbent, n(Zn+ Fe)/nS must increase to 1.4 and 1.7 for 100/2 and 100/5 blends of CC/WP, respectively, to ensure a satisfactory efficiency for H2S removal from COG.A new way to implement the simultaneous reutilization of solid waste, the desulfurization of coke oven gas (COG), and even the desulfurization of coke by the co-coking of coking coal (CC) and waste plastic (WP) blended with a sorbent is proposed; the evolution of H2S and the removal efficiency of H2S from COG during the co-coking process were investigated in a lab-scale cylindrical reactor. The experimental results indicated that for the coking of CC blended with ZnO, Fe2O3, or blast furnace dust (BFD) as a sorbent, the instantaneous concentration of H2S in COG was lower than 500 mg/m(3) (which meets the technical specification requirement of the Chinese Cleaner Production Standard-Coking Industry, HJ/T 126-2003) when the molar ratio between the key component of the sorbent and the volatile S in CC or the CC/WP blend, n(Zn+Fe)/nS, was about 1.2 for ZnO and Fe2O3, but not for BFD under the same conditions, suggesting that ZnO and Fe2O3 are promising sorbents, but that BFD must be treated chemical or thermally before being used as a sorbent because of the size and complicated nature of the influence of its phase/chemical composition on its desulfurization ability. However, for the co-coking of CC and WP blended with ZnO as a sorbent, n(Zn+ Fe)/nS must increase to 1.4 and 1.7 for 100/2 and 100/5 blends of CC/WP, respectively, to ensure a satisfactory efficiency for H2S removal from COG

A glass-based protective coating on stainless steel for slab reheating application

A protective SiO(2)-Al(2)O(3)-Na(2)O glass-based coating for slab reheating application was deposited on AISI 304 stainless steel by air spraying, and its effect on high-temperature oxidation behavior of AISI 304 was investigated. Isothermal oxidation of bare and coated specimens was carried out at 1250A degrees C in air. The results showed that the glass coating could markedly decrease weight gain of AISI 304 by 91.7% after exposure of 9 h, minimize high-temperature scaling, and enhance steel surface quality. The protective effect is attributed to the formation of molten glass layer on steel surface at high temperature, which acts as an effective oxygen diffusion barrier. This glass-based protective coating by low-cost and easily handling method is potentially applicable in a slab reheating process

Protecting stainless steel by glass coating during slab reheating

A glass coating was prepared onto AISI 304 stainless steel by a slurry-spraying technique and its effects on oxidation behavior of this steel was investigated at 1250 degrees C in air. Results were compared with those for bare specimens. The glass coating decreased the weight gain by 98% after oxidation for 9 h, and oxidation kinetics of 304 stainless steel was changed to linear behavior due to the coating. Steel loss of the coated specimens was reduced by 1-2 orders of magnitude. Hot stage microscopic, optical, XRD and SEM-EDX analyses revealed that the as-received coating melted at high temperature, to form self-healing, homogeneous glass coating which acted as a perfect oxygen diffusion barrier and prevented the breakaway oxidation of 304 stainless steel. During cooling, the glass coating spalled because of CTE mismatch between coating and the steel. This glass coating by low-cost and easy handling method is potentially applicable during slab reheating of stainless steel. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved