Distribution, Source and Potential Risk Assessment of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) in Sediments from the Liaohe River Protected Area, China

This study aimed to assess the occurrence, distribution, toxicity equivalency and health risks of dl-PCBs (dioxin-like PCBs) from nine sites collected in surface sediments from Liaohe River Protected Area. ∑dl-PCBs concentrations in sediments range from 79.2 to 365.1 pg/g. Sediment profiles showed that pentachlorobiphenyl is the most abundant congener among all sampling sites. The results of principal component analysis and cluster analysis indicated that PCBs were mainly derived from electronic waste and paint additives in the sediments of Liaohe River Protected Area. Toxic equivalent quantity (TEQ) values of the PCBs in the Liaohe River Protected Area sediments are at comparatively lower levels compared with the previously reported data. Hazardous ratio (HR) for human health risk assessment allied to cancer was found to be lower than the non-carcinogenic risk assessment within an acceptable range.

Unmanned Transportation Applications at First Level Air Infrastructure (FLAI)

Increasing complexity of infrastructure has growing need for maintenance that is accumulating cost in the long run. This report compares the simulation of traditional transportation to an aviation alternative. The focus is on the cost effectiveness and power efficiency of Vertical/Short Take-Off and Landing (V/STOL) vehicles. Author’s motivation in this topic is from the project of designing a VTOL vehicle for multimodal transportation. The simulation of 100.000 people demonstrates efficiency of aviation infrastructure. Counting 11 billion for traditional infrastructure and 4 billion for equivalent VTOL vehicle carrying capacity. Affecting factors are energy, transportation modes, infrastructure and operation average the results. The simulation is simplistic model of infrastructure with normally distributed traffic, neglecting the effect of transition between vehicles, and the effect of wind magnitude and direction. The aviation method reduced distance up to 82% made travel time 92%, consumed 88% of the energy, when emissions show relatively equivalent quantity on both applications. The results of FLAI imply economic advantages over traditional infrastructure and suggest further research into the safe adoption of aviation infrastructure.

Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons in the Snow Cover of the Northern City Agglomeration

The 13 priority PAHs were qualitatively and quantitatively assessed in snow samples collected at 46 the crossroads of a large city in northern Europe - Arkhangelsk. The HPLC analysis revealed that the range of Σ13PAH concentrations detected in snow. The average, maximum and minimum values were respectively 167.7; 664.5 and 16.0 ng / kg snow. The average toxic equivalent quantity varied is 3.6 ng / kg, which is three times less than the established maximum permissible concentration. The sources of pollution origin were assessed using PAHs markers. The urban agglomeration of Arkhangelsk is not contaminated with anthropogenic PAHs. The markers identified pyrogenic sources of emission. Regression analysis was carried out to find correlations between the presence of benzo(a)pyrene and other PAHs in snow samples. We found that benzo(a)pyrene has a very high correlation with high molecular weight PAHs and has no correlation with low molecular weight PAHs. The quality of the snow polluted is satisfactory.

Comprehensive diagnosis of PCDD/F emission from three hazardous waste incinerators

Comprehensive diagnosis of polychlorinated dibenzo- p -dioxin and dibenzofuran (PCDD/F) emissions was systematically conducted on three hazardous waste incinerators (HWIs). Results indicated that PCDD/F mainly existed in the solid phase before the bag filter. This was especially true for higher chlorinated dioxin and furan congeners (hexa-, hepta- and octa-). The aged bag filters tended to increase the gas-phase PCDD/F. Emissions also increased due to PCDD/F desorption from circulated scrubbing solution and plastic packing media used in the wet scrubber. The PCDD/F concentrations were elevated during the start-up process, reaching up to 5.4 times higher than those measured during the normal operating period. The ratios of PCDFs/PCDDs revealed that the surface-catalysed de novo synthesis was the dominant pathway of PCDD/F formation. Installation of more efficient fabric filters, intermittent replacement of circulated scrubbing solution will result in reduced PCDD/F emission. Additionally, 2,3,4,7,8-PeCDF correlated well with the international toxic equivalent quantity (I-TEQ) value, which suggests that 2,3,4,7,8-PeCDF could act as an I-TEQ indicator.

Gas Antisolvent Fractionation: a New Method to Obtain Enantiopure Compounds, a Case Study on Mandelic Acid

Micronization processes involving supercritical carbon dioxide are rapid methods to produce fine particles. They also might offer the possibility of using less organic solvent than conventional crystallization methods leading to an environmentally friendlier processing. The separation capabilities of such processes are now demonstrated on the diastereomeric resolution of mandelic acid using (R)-1-phenylethanamine as a resolving agent, utilizing the batch type gas antisolvent fractionation as the separation method. A detailed study was conducted on the effects of the operational parameters pressure (12-20 MPa), temperature (35-55 °C) and co-solvent concentration (33-99 mg/ml). At 12 MPa, 35 °C and 99 mg/ml methanol concentration, a selectivity of 0.52 and a diastereomeric excess of 62% was reached. The same operational parameters were applied during the investigation of the recrystallization-based further purification of the diastereomeric salts, applying the resolving agent in molar equivalent quantity to a non-racemic mixture of mandelic acid. It has been found that the more stable (R)-1-phenylethylammonium-(R)-mandelate salt can be purified to de>98% through four additional recrystallization steps following the initial, half-molar equivalent resolution step.

In vitrocolonic metabolism of coffee and chlorogenic acid results in selective changes in human faecal microbiota growth

Coffee is a relatively rich source of chlorogenic acids (CGA), which, as other polyphenols, have been postulated to exert preventive effects against CVD and type 2 diabetes. As a considerable proportion of ingested CGA reaches the large intestine, CGA may be capable of exerting beneficial effects in the large gut. Here, we utilise a stirred, anaerobic, pH-controlled, batch culture fermentation model of the distal region of the colon in order to investigate the impact of coffee and CGA on the growth of the human faecal microbiota. Incubation of coffee samples with the human faecal microbiota led to the rapid metabolism of CGA (4 h) and the production of dihydrocaffeic acid and dihydroferulic acid, while caffeine remained unmetabolised. The coffee with the highest levels of CGA (P< 0·05, relative to the other coffees) induced a significant increase in the growth ofBifidobacteriumspp. relative to the control vessel at 10 h after exposure (P< 0·05). Similarly, an equivalent quantity of CGA (80·8 mg, matched with that in high-CGA coffee) induced a significant increase in the growth ofBifidobacteriumspp. (P< 0·05). CGA alone also induced a significant increase in the growth of theClostridium coccoides–Eubacteriumrectalegroup (P< 0·05). This selective metabolism and subsequent amplification of specific bacterial populations could be beneficial to host health.

Research on Collaborative Operation System of Wind Power and Electric Vehicle

With the increasing of wind power capacity, the peak regulation has become a bottleneck in wind power consumption. This paper introduces electric vehicle as a distributed energy storage device. Based on the probabilistic model, it puts forward equivalent quantity model of electric vehicle charging. It uses the quantitative relationship to represent power. Hence the collaborative operation with wind power is realized. The simulation result shows that the relationship between electric vehicle’s equivalent number and wind power can be described by this model. It also analyzes the feasibility of wind power consumption by electric vehicle.

A Logistics Model of Total Life Cycle of Mechanical Products

A kind of processing strategy of total life cycle of mechanical products was designed. A logistics model of total life cycle of mechanical products was established based on eight typical states of life cycle of mechanical products. The logistics analysis of total life cycle of a sort of aero-engine was carried out by using the model. The dynamic equivalent quantity of the aero-engines in different states of life cycle was obtained when times changed from the products were first put into production to the time when stable production capacity was reached. The model can also be used to predict logistics of other products rapidly. The results give references for production departments or enterprises which use life cycle methods to configure their production resources effectively and optimize production processes, and also provide a basis for further analysis of total life cycle analysis such as economic and environmental assessment.