CLEAN – Soil, Air, Water

The adsorption–reduction behavior of on activated carbon has been investigated to retrofit the wet ammonia desulfurization process to realize the combined sulfur dioxide and nitric oxide removal. In such catalytic reaction, activated carbon acts not only as a catalyst but also as a reactant.

Here, the emissions of PCE and other petroleum-based solvents from dry cleaning business in Taiwan were quantified. Based on the Emission Factors (AP-42) method, the emissions of the non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) from dry cleaning business had decreased from 5100 metric tons in 1997 to 2800 metric tons in 2007.

Reasonable cutting and rotational grazing are the methods of choice for the gradual increase of species diversity and thus, promotion of natural renewal and forward succession of grassland. The results described here, provide reliable information for the diversity dynamic change as better indictors of soil quality and sustainable utilization mode.

The fractionation procedure described here will be a useful tool for soil organic matter research, especially for characterizing SOM structures and functions, as well as for developing a better understanding of the mechanisms of C stabilization and sequestration in soils under diverse management scenarios.

This study takes soil seed banks and vegetation successions of the forests in Ziwuling Mountain as indicators to analyze the effects of ages, and litter layers and soil depths at growing locations. The results showed that soil seed banks and vegetation succession status are good indicators for soil quality, which can provide important reference for ecological restoration globally.

The soil water content of about 13.5 and 11.0% (relative water content: 64.0 and 52.0%) are called “high productivity and high efficiency water”, which provides the further evidence for Locust and Arborvitae to get both higher productivity and the highest water use efficiency and the adaptation to the local environment.

This study showed the necessity of a continuous water quality monitoring system as an approach for capturing and understanding relationships between solute concentrations and runoff formation for tracing and modelling catchment pollution sources and describing transport processes – although no definite pattern was found.

The aim of this study was to identify amendments which may be effective in reducing incidental dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP) losses in surface runoff from land applied pig slurry. The effectiveness of the amendments at reducing DRP in overlying water ranked in terms of feasibility, taking into account effectiveness, cost, and other potential impediments to use, is: alum, ferric chloride, PAC, fly ash, lime, and FGD.

Environmental impacts of collected data related to energy usage, land requirement, raw material consumption, and released emissions from the life phases were assessed by SimaPro 7.1 LCA. The results indicated that for small-scale communities vegetated land treatment and constructed wetlands are the most environmentally friendly wastewater treatment options.

It could be shown that heterogeneous catalytic ozonation processes (O₃/TiO₂/UV) is feasible for achieving complete decomposition of organophosphorus pesticides, such as malathion and parathion, and their toxic oxon intermediates.

A surface modified cashew nut shell adsorbent was studied for metal ions removal such as Cu(II), Cd(II), Zn(II), and Ni(II) from aqueous solution. The results show that the adsorption equilibrium follows the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model and the kinetics of metal ions adsorption onto the STCNS followed a pseudo-second-order kinetic model.

Here, the characterization of powdered waste shells of Rapana venosa gastropod and their use as adsorbent for removal of reactive dye Brilliant Red HE-3B from aqueous solutions is reported. The results showed that acid treatment of the seashell powder yields a rougher, more eroded, and richer in organic component, with a higher capacity to adsorb anionic reactive dye.

This paper demonstrates that limestone is very efficient in treating wastewater from tanneries. A >99% relative decrease in concentration was obtained when limestone solid content >5 g solid/100 mL, and when sufficient contact time was allowed (nearly 2 days).

The developed method, based on coprecipitation of Cu(II) and Ni(II) ions by the aid of Mo(VI)/BUMECTAC precipitate, offers a simple, rapid, and low cost separation and preconcentration technique for accurate and precise determination of Cu(II) and Ni(II) ions in environmental solid and liquid samples.