Mineralization of organic N originating in treated effluent used for irrigation

Reclaimed wastewater and, particularly, secondary effluent used for irrigation, may contain considerable amounts of mineral and organic N. The knowledge regarding N-transformations of effluent-originated organic N in soil is not well established. A method based on ion-exchangers (IE) was developed to remove the mineral N and other ionic species from the effluents, enabling a better follow-up of the reactions of effluent-originated organic N. Modifications of two incubation methods were used to evaluate net mineralization rates and the contributions of ammonification and nitrification of the effluent-originated organic N. A mixture of the ion-exchangers, IRN-77 (H⁺) and IRN-78 (OH^–), was found effective in removing mineral N and other ions from effluents without significantly affecting the content of organic N. In suspension-based experiments performed with a microbially active calcareous clay soil, the nitrification started after about a 1 to 4 d lag (higher lag associated with higher BOD), and the total mineral N reached plateau values after about 9 to 14 d. The time estimated for completion of ammonification of the organic N in the well-mixed and aerated suspensions was 3 to 6 d. Soil incubations were performed after adding the IE-treated effluents to small soil columns. Ammonification of both soil and effluent-originated organic N occurred concomitantly with the nitrification, making the evaluation of rates more complicated. Tracing the time differences in total mineral N between the soils irrigated with the IE-treated effluent and the blank (no added N) enabled the estimation of first order rate constants for the net mineralization of the effluent-originated organic N in: a sandy loam (0.3 wk^–1), a loess (0.4 wk^–1), and in the calcareous clay (1.1 wk^–1). About two thirds of the organic N added to the soils in the columns during the pre-incubation stage were not retained in the soils, whereas ammonium was practically not leached out. The relatively fast movement of the effluent-originated organic N in soil and its mineralization characteristics indicate that this fraction significantly affects the short (days) and middle (weeks) range transformations of N in effluent-irrigated soils.     

Mineralization of an azo dye Acid Red 14 by photoelectro-Fenton process using an activated carbon fiber cathode

The mineralization of an azo dye Acid Red 14 (AR14) by the photoelectro-Fenton (PEF) process was studied in an undivided electrochemical reactor with a RuO₂/Ti anode and an activated carbon fiber (ACF) cathode able to electrochemically generate H₂O₂. Anodic oxidation and UV irradiation of AR14 were also examined as comparative experiments. Results indicate that the electro-Fenton process yielded about 60–70% mineralization of AR14, while the photoelectro-Fenton could mineralize AR14 more effectively (more than 94% total organic carbon (TOC) removal) even at low current densities assisted with UV irradiation after 6 h electrolysis. The mineralization current efficiency (MCE) of the PEF process increased with the increasing AR14 concentrations. In addition, the initial solution pH ranging from 1.49 to 6.72 had little influence on the TOC removal probably due to the formation of organic carboxylic acids which balanced the pH increase caused by the cathodic generation of hydrogen gas. The ACF cathode showed a long-term stability during multiple experimental runs for degradation of AR14, indicating its good potential for practical application in treating refractory organic pollutants in aqueous solutions.     

Solar photocatalytic degradation of real textile effluents by associated titanium dioxide and hydrogen peroxide

The present work investigated the photodegradation of real textile effluents by advanced oxidative process (AOP) using TiO₂/H₂O₂/sunlight system. The procedures were carried out at ambient conditions in March 2005. The results were evaluated by COD reduction concomitant to the increase in inorganic ion concentration (mineralization) and the analysis of the effluent characteristic spectral wavelengths: 228, 254, and 284 nm (simple aromatic compounds), 310 nm (conjugated aromatic compounds), and 390, 450, and 530 (color). As this study is not restricted to the decolorization process, it allows a more reliable evaluation of effluent mineralization. The results indicate that solar radiation is as efficient as or even more efficient than artificial radiation was in previous studies and that it also allows a reduction in effluent treatment operational costs.     

Effect of management history and temperature on the mineralization of methylene urea in soil

A soil incubation and a greenhouse study on processing tomato were used to test the effects of soil temperature and the size and activity of the soil microbial biomass (SMB) on the degradation (mineralization) rate of a slow-release N fertilizer, methylene urea (MU), a condensation product of urea and formaldehyde. The mineralization rates of three MUs: Short (S), Medium (M), and Long (L) with different water solubilities were measured at two temperatures in a soil with low (fallow, F) and high (cover crop, CC) microbial activity. In the greenhouse study, the fate of fertilizer N was followed using ¹⁵N-urea and ¹⁵N-MU. The fertilizer N efficiency calculated for urea using the ¹⁵N mass balance approach was 93 and 85% compared with 65 and 67% for MU-S in F and CC soils, respectively. During six months of incubation, 52 and 63% of MU-S N was mineralized at 20 and 30 °C, respectively. The accumulated N data suggested that the degradation of all three MU types followed first-order reaction kinetics. The reaction rates were similar for all three MUs and increased with increasing temperature. However, fitting discrete, non-accumulated data revealed that MU mineralization is more complex and cannot be modeled with simple exponential decay equations. The size and activity of SMB did not affect the mineralization rate of MU-N under laboratory or greenhouse conditions. Interestingly, Activity Index (AI), defined as the slowly available pool of MU-N, was not a reliable indicator for the mineralization rate and plant availability of MU-N.     

金成矿作用的二重性及其指导意义

金成矿作用的二重性,突出表现在金的成矿作用中的活化、迁移和富集沉淀各个阶段,尤其金在富铁贫硫的条件下,表现出强烈的亲铁性,金主要和铁矿物伴生;金在贫铁富硫的条件下,表现出强烈的亲硫性,金主要和硫化物伴生;金在富铁富硫的条件下,又同时表现为亲铁亲硫性,金主要和黄铁矿(FeS2)伴生。在找矿过程中我们可以根据矿石中铁矿物、硫矿物的富集状况,对金矿进行成矿预测,指导区域性找矿,合理的圈定矿体;同时对金矿地质设计、矿山远景经济评价以及研究延长矿山使用年限都具有重要的技术经济价值。     

西藏丁青扎格拉金矿床地质特征及成矿机理

西藏扎格拉金矿床是河南省地质调查院在国土资源调查项目中发现的一个较大规模的岩体矿床。西藏扎格拉金矿床矿区位于青藏高原的东部的班公湖-怒江结合带北部,矿区主要出露早-中侏罗统希湖群(J1-2xh)地层,其中希湖群一段安山岩为赋矿岩层。矿区内发育一系列断裂构造,属导矿、容矿构造。结合矿区地质特征、矿体特征及矿石特征研究,分析丁青扎格拉金矿床的类型和成矿作用,初步认为该矿床属脉状-破碎蚀变型矿床。     

火山岩型铀矿中基性岩与铀成矿作用研究

传统地球化学理论认为火山岩型铀矿的热液铀矿床中的铀都是通过氧化溶液搬运的,并由六价还原成四价而沉淀成矿;或者是是碱交代作用形成的。但大量的文献表明,铀的成矿不仅与火山岩和次火山岩有关,还与深源的中基性岩有关。     

A comparison of the carbon balances of a natural lake (L. Orträsket) and a hydroelectric reservoir (L. Skinnmuddselet) in northern Sweden

Carbon balances were calculated for the summer stratification period of 2001 for the hydroelectric reservoir L. Skinnmuddselet (created in 1989) and the natural L. Ortr?sket, and estimated on annual basis for both lakes. The reservoir and the lake have similar chemical characteristics and are located in adjacent catchments in the northern part of Sweden. Our main hypothesis was that the CO(2) production and emissions from the reservoir, L. Skinnmuddselet, would be greater than in the natural L. Ortr?sket, due to the decomposition of flooded vegetation and peat. The carbon balances showed that the total production of CO(2) per unit lake surface area during the summer was very similar in the natural lake and the reservoir (31.3 g Cm(-2) in L. Ortr?sket and 25.3 g Cm(-2) in L. Skinnmuddselet). The sediments were the major CO(2) source in the reservoir, while most of the mineralization in the natural lake occurred in the water column. On annual basis the natural L. Ortr?sket produced and emitted more CO(2) per unit of lake surface area than the reservoir L. Skinnmuddselet since mineralization proceeded during winter when L. Skinnmuddselet was emptied for electricity production. Therefore, the potential for CO(2) emission was not greater in the reservoir than in the natural lake.     

Mechanical and tribological characterization of human tooth

In order to develop new dental restorative materials, it is imperative to evaluate and understand the structure–property relationships of the human tooth. Three major structural parts of human tooth i.e. enamel, dentin and dentin–enamel junction have been characterized in the present work in terms of microstructure, phase analysis and compositional gradient. It has been observed that microindentation hardness varies from enamel to dentin with the highest hardness observed for enamel at the outermost surface (around 3.5 GPa). Hardness values monotonically decrease with depth to less than 1 GPa, measured at the interior dentin. Furthermore, the measured hardness variation is found to have a noticeable correlation with the compositional variation.

In order to evaluate the tribological properties of the human tooth, fretting wear tests were carried out against sintered alumina under a load of 1 N for 2000 to 10,000 cycles. A variation in coefficient of friction (ranging from 0.12 to 0.55) was measured in our experiments. The wear mechanism is dominated by fretting fatigue and adhesive wear, involving the formation of oxidized calcium phosphate based compounds and its subsequent transfer from tooth to alumina surface. The experimental results also reveal that the human tooth is more susceptible to adhesion wear than abrasion or attrition at fretting contacts.     

Effect of compost age and composition on the atrazine removal from solution

Compost samples from two composting facilities, the Urbana (Illinois) Landscape Recycling Center (ULRC) and Illinois State University (ISU), were selected to examine the effect of compost age on atrazine removal from solution. The ULRC samples were made from yard waste without an additional nitrogen source. The ISU samples were made from yard waste or sawdust with the addition of manure. The 6-month-old ULRC compost had the greater capacity to remove atrazine from solution, which we attributed to its greater organic carbon content. The addition of nitrate into ULRC compost could influence the extent of atrazine removal, but did not have a significant impact on atrazine removal when applied to ISU compost, probably because manure was added to the yard waste to produce the compost. For both ULRC and ISU samples, the presence of sodium azide inhibited atrazine removal, suggesting that microbial activity contributed to the atrazine removal. Metabolic analysis demonstrated that hydroxyatrazine was the major identified metabolite that accumulated in solution before significant ring mineralization could occur. When compared with the ISU compost, the ULRC compost sample had a greater capacity to remove atrazine from solution during the 120 days of study because of the larger humic acid content. The experimental results suggested that less-mature compost may be better suited for environmental applications such as removing atrazine from tile-drainage waters.