Performance and bacterial compositions of aged refuse reactors treating mature landfill leachate

Aged landfill leachates become more refractory over time and difficulty to treat. Recently, aged refuse bioreactors show great promise in treating leachates. In this study, aged refuse bioreactors were constructed to simulate landfill leachate degradation process. The characteristics of leachate were: COD_cr, ∼2200 mg/L; BOD₅, ∼280 mg/L; total nitrogen, ∼2030 mg/L; and ammonia, ∼1900 mg/L. Results showed that bioreactor could remove leachate pollutants effectively at hydraulic loading of 20 L/m³ d. The removal rate reduced when hydraulic loading doubled or temperature lowered. Effluent recirculation could alleviate the temperature effect. Combining aged refuse and slag biofilters could treat leachate more efficiently. Pyrosequencing analysis indicated that bacteria from Pseudomonas, Lysobacter, Bacillus and δ-proteobacter, Flexibacteraceae were more abundant in the samples. The Shannon index decreased at lower temperature, while evenness and equitability increased with recirculation. We suggest that filter medium and temperature may be the main factors for shaping bacterial community structure.     

填埋场陈垃圾对黄瓜种子发芽的影响

陈垃圾资源化利用是生态环保领域的一个重要问题。选择黄瓜作为试验对象,向培养基质中添加比例为20%～80%和100%的陈垃圾,与使用蒸馏水和土壤的处理进行对比,采用种子发芽的陆生生态毒理方法,研究陈垃圾对植物发芽的影响。结果表明:稳定后的陈垃圾有利于黄瓜种子发芽,而未产生毒性效应;陈垃圾在培养基质中的最佳比例为80%,与蒸馏水和土壤相比,此时发芽势分别提高了12.8%和7.6%,发芽率分别提高了11.3%和7.2%,根长-芽长和芽的鲜重分别比使用蒸馏水时增加了177.6%、44.9%和143.4%,比使用土壤时增加了49.0%～28.4%和72.4%。研究结果可为陈垃圾的资源化利用提供借鉴。     

Assessing the Eco-efficiency of End-of-Pipe Technologies with the Environmental Cost Efficiency Indicator

The concept of eco-efficiency is increasingly being applied to judge the combined environmental and economic performance of product systems, processes, and/or companies. Ecoefficiency is often defined as the ratio of economic value added to environmental impact added. This definition is not appropriate for end-of-pipe treatment technologies because these technologies aim at improving the environmental performance of technical processes at the cost of financial expense. Therefore, an indicator for the assessment of end-of-pipe technologies has been proposed. This indicator, called environmental cost efficiency (ECE), is defined as the ratio of net environmental benefits to the difference in costs. ECE is applied to four end-of-pipe technologies for the treatment of municipal solid waste: sanitary landfill, mechanical-biological treatment, modern grate incineration, and a staged thermal process (pyrolysis and gasification). A life-cycle assessment was performed on these processes to quantify the net environmental benefit. Moreover, the approximate net costs (costs minus benefits) were quantified. The results show that, relative to grate incineration, sanitary landfills and mechanical-biological treatment are less costly but environmentally more harmful. We calculated the ECE for all combinations of technologies. The results indicate that the staged thermal process may be the most environmentally cost-efficient alternative to all other treatment technologies in the long run, followed by mechanical-biological treatment and grate incineration.     

Bioremediation – prospects for the future application of innovative applied biological research

It has been estimated that there may be as much as 300 000 ha in the UK where contamination from previous industrial land use has occurred. The ‘Source‐Pathway‐Receptor’ model is used to evaluate these risks. Traditional engineering approaches have dominated remediation technology, but biological methods have become increasingly important in recent years. ‘Bioremediation’ has been defined as ‘the elimination, attenuation or transformation of polluting or contaminating substances by the use of biological processes’. Techniques to treat soil materials include biopiling, windrowing, landfarming and bioventing, all of which depend on microbiological degradation. However, increasingly it also includes the use of vegetation to take up and/or degrade contaminants (phytoremediation) or restrict contaminant movement (phytostabilisation). Phytoremediation can be encouraged by manipulation of the rhizosphere, using selected fungal isolates in a process now defined as phytobial remediation.     

Assessment of Landfill Leachate Volume and Concentrations of Cyanide and Fluoride during Phytoremediation

The potential for plants to minimize leachate volume and reduce cyanide and fluoride concentrations in groundwater was evaluated. High fluoride and soluble salts in the leachate induced chlorosis or necrosis in the leaf margins on green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica), yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), and bald cypress (Taxodium distichum). Hybrid willow (Salix Willow hybrid), sycamore (Platanus sp.), and black willow (Salix nigra) had high rates of transpiration and root growth during the study period. Cyanide in the leachate was removed by plant metabolic processes whereas fluoride accumulated in the leaves. Cyanide and fluoride in landfill leachate can be decreased through phytoremediation.     

Coexistence of nitrifiers, denitrifiers and Anammox bacteria in a sequencing batch biofilm reactor as revealed by PCR-DGGE

Aims:  The bacterial diversity in a sequencing batch biofilm reactor (SBBR) treating landfill leachate was studied to explain the mechanism of nitrogen removal.
Methods and Results:  The total microbial DNA was extracted from samples collected from landfill leachate and biofilm of the reactor with the removal efficiencies of NH₄⁺-N higher than 97% and that of chemical oxygen demand (determined by K₂Cr₂O₇, COD_Cr) higher than 86%. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) fingerprints based on total community 16S rRNA genes were analyzed with statistical methods, and excised DNA bands were sequenced. The results of phylogenetic analyses revealed high diversity within the SBBR biofilm community, and DGGE banding patterns showed that the community structure in the biofilm remained stable during the running period.
Conclusions:  A coexistence of nitrifiers, including ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, denitrifiers, including aerobic or anaerobic denitrifying bacteria and Anammox bacteria were detected, which might be the real matter of high removal efficiencies of NH₄⁺-N and COD_Cr in the reactor.
Significance and Impact of the Study:  The findings in this study indicated that PCR-DGGE analysis could be used for microbial community detection as prior method, and the SBBR technique could provide preferable growing environment for bacteria with N removal function.     

Carbon stored in human settlements: the conterminous United States

Urban areas are home to more than half of the world's people, responsible for >70% of anthropogenic release of carbon dioxide and 76% of wood used for industrial purposes. By 2050 the proportion of the urban population is expected to increase to 70% worldwide. Despite fast rates of change and potential value for mitigation of carbon dioxide emissions, the organic carbon storage in human settlements has not been well quantified. Here, we show that human settlements can store as much carbon per unit area (23–42 kg C m⁻² urban areas and 7–16 kg C m⁻²exurban areas) as tropical forests, which have the highest carbon density of natural ecosystems (4–25 kg C m⁻²). By the year 2000 carbon storage attributed to human settlements of the conterminous United States was 18 Pg of carbon or 10% of its total land carbon storage. Sixty-four percent of this carbon was attributed to soil, 20% to vegetation, 11% to landfills, and 5% to buildings. To offset rising urban emissions of carbon, regional and national governments should consider how to protect or even to increase carbon storage of human-dominated landscapes. Rigorous studies addressing carbon budgets of human settlements and vulnerability of their carbon storage are needed.     

渗滤液覆盖层灌溉处理对夹竹桃的生理生态效应

以夹竹桃（Nerium indicum Mill．）作为填埋场覆盖层封场植被材料,历时1a现场研究了有无渗滤液灌溉下夹竹桃生长及其生理生化反应。结果表明,10mm／d渗滤液灌溉下夹竹桃持续生长,生长的快慢呈季节性,且生长较对照组略快;渗滤液灌溉组和对照组夹竹桃丙二醛（MDA）、脯氨酸（Pro）含量的动态变化同气温变化规律相似,超氧化物岐化酶（SOD）、过氧化物酶（POD）活性和抗坏皿酸（AsA）、还原型谷胱甘肽（GSH）含量基本呈季节性波动。盛夏（6—8月份）和秋冬（10-4月份）SOD、POD活性明显提高,AsA、GSH积累显著;1a中渗滤液灌溉组各生理生化指标均较对照组变化辐度大,但两组间差异基本不显著;表明有无渗滤液灌溉下,夹竹桃生理生态反应主要受气候的季节性变化调控,渗滤液灌溉处理不会显著加大对夹竹桃胁迫。     

准好氧填埋场的温度空间变异性

利用半变异函数, 对准好氧填埋装置中温度的空间变异特性进行了研究,并对装置内部温度进行了Kriging（克里格法）插值,得到纵剖面的等温线图.对不同理论模型进行优化拟合结果表明,剖面上温度半变异函数用线性有基台值模型拟合, 效果最好.得到的理论模型参数为：变程3.5 m,基台值83.6.利用克里格法进行最优内插估值得到的温度等温线表明,高温区域一般位于填埋体中段4～16 m的3 m以上部分,低温区域一般位于填埋体两端及中段1 m以下部分.可在高温区加大通风散热效果, 以降低过高的温度; 在低温区改善好氧环境, 增大氧气含量, 从而提高温度.对剖面上温度进行加权平均后,得到的准好氧填埋堆体的温度为59.8 ℃.这一温度可作为准好氧填埋结构基本形成的参考值.