Considerations on Research of Environmental Risk Prevention and Control in “12th Five-Year Plan” Period

Along with the environmental pollution causes complexity and diversity increases ceaselessly, “national environmental protection” Twelfth Five “planning” (hereinafter referred to as “planning”) will be the environmental risk prevention as the “12th Five-Year Plan” one of the important tasks, including advancing environmental risk management in the whole process, key areas the environmental risk prevention measures. The whole process environmental risk management covers a risk source recognition, receptor vulnerability assessment, environmental risk characterization, risk decision and risk assessment of accident loss. This article from the environmental risk source classification, environmental risk classification management, environmental emergency response and environmental risk and insurance environment four aspects put forward the “12th Five-Year Plan” whole process environmental risk management content, to further reduce our country environmental pollution accident risk and policy makers to provide some decision support.

CH_4 emission and conversion from A^2O and SBR processes in full-scale wastewater treatment plants

Wastewater treatment systems are important anthropogenic sources of CH4 emission. A full-scale experiment was carried out to monitor the CH4 emission from anoxic/anaerobic/oxic process （A2O） and sequencing batch reactor （SBR） wastewater treatment plants （WWTPs） for one year from May 2011 to April 2012. The main emission unit of the A2O process was an oxic tank, accounting for 76.2% of CH4 emissions; the main emission unit of the SBR process was the feeding and aeration phase, accounting for 99.5% of CH4 emissions. CH4 can be produced in the anaerobic condition, such as in the primary settling tank and anaerobic tank of the A2O process. While CH4 can be consumed in anoxic denitrification or the aeration condition, such as in the anoxic tank and oxic tank of the A2O process and the feeding and aeration phase of the SBR process. The CH4 emission flux and the dissolved CH4 concentration rapidly decreased in the oxic tank of the A2O process. These metrics increased during the first half of the phase and then decreased during the latter half of the phase in the feeding and aeration phase of the SBR process. The CH4 oxidation rate ranged from 32.47% to 89.52% （mean： 67.96%） in the A2O process and from 12.65% to 88.31% （mean： 47.62%） in the SBR process. The mean CH4 emission factors were 0.182 g/ton of wastewater and 24.75 g CH4/（person.year） for the A2O process, and 0.457 g/ton of wastewater and 36.55 g CH4/（person.year） for the SBR process.

Estimation of PM_(10) in the trafc-related atmosphere for three road types in Beijing and Guangzhou, China

The levels of roadside PM10 in Beijing, China, were investigated in 2011 and 2012 on a seasonal basis to estimate the population exposure to particulates for three road types. The measurements of PM10 were also conducted in the southern Chinese megacity of Guangzhou for comparison purposes. The results showed that roadside PMlo in Beijing correlated strongly with the PM10 background in the urban atmosphere. The levels of PM10 in street canyons were markedly higher than those along the open roads and in crossroad areas because of limited ventilation. An elevation of PM10 was observed in April, which was possibly due to the sand storms that frequently occur in the spring. Based on these observations, roadside PM10 in Beijing could have multiple origins and was to some extent dispersion- governed. In Guangzhou, the roadside PM10 did not closely relate to the background values. The PM10 pollution was greatly affected by local traffic conditions. The simulation of PM10 for different road types was completed during the study period using the Motor Vehicle Emissions Factor Model （MOBILE6.2） as an emission model and the California Line Source Dispersion Model （CALINE4） and Operational Street Pollution Model （OSPM） as dispersion models. The MOBILE6.2/CALINE4 software package was demonstrated to be sufficient for the simulation of PM10 in the open roads and crossroad areas in both Beijing and Guangzhou, and the simulation results of roadside PM10 in the street canyons by the MOBILE6.2/OSPM package were in close agreement with those of the measurements.

Comparative study on the efficiency and environmental impact of two methods of utilizing polyvinyl chloride waste based on life cycle assessments

Two processes of utilizing polyvinyl chloride （PVC） waste, an incineration process and a vacuum pyrolysis process, for energy conversion were compared to determine their efficiency and environmental perfor- mance. We carried out a life cycle assessment with each of the two processes to evaluate their environmental impact and defined the goals and limits of our remit. As well, we established an inventory of PVC waste from incineration and vacuum pyrolysis based on process analysis, data collection and calculations. The results show that electrical power output per unit mass of PVC waste in the incineration process was twice as high as that of the vacuum pyrolysis process. Incineration had a larger total environmental impact potential than vacuum pyrolysis. The total environmental impact potential of PVC waste from incineration was three times higher than that from vacuum pyrolysis. Incineration of PVC disposed 300 ng. 100 kgI of dioxins and vacuum pyrolysis 98.19 ng- 100 kgI of dioxins. As well, we analyzed the data for their uncertainty with results quantified in terms of three uncertainties： basic uncertainty, additional uncertainty, and computational uncertainty. The coefficients of variation of the data were less than 25% and the quality of the inventory data was acceptable with low uncertainty. Both PVC waste disposal processes were of similar quality and their results comparable. The results of our life cycle impact assessment （LCIA） showed considerable reliability of our methodology. Overall, the vacuum pyrolysis process has a number advantages and greater potential for development of PVC disposal than the incineration process.

Development of a whole-cell biosensor based on an ArsR-Pars regulatory circuit from Geobacter sulfurreducens

In this study,an Escherichia coli(E.coli)whole-cell biosensor for the specific detection of bioavailable arsenic was developed by placing a green fluorescent protein(GFP)reporter gene under the control of the ArsR1(GSU2952)regulatory circuit from Geobacter sulfurreducens.E.coli cells only emitted green fluorescence in the presence of arsenite and were more sensitive to arsenite when they were grown in M9 supplemented medium compared to LB medium.Under optimal test conditions,the Geobacter arsR1 promoter had a detection limit of 0.01 mM arsenite and the GFP expression was linear within a range of 0.03-0.1 mM(2.25-7.5 mg/l).These values were well below World Health Organization’s drinking water quality standard,which is 10 mg/l.The feasibility of using this whole-cell biosensor to detect arsenic in water samples,such as arsenic polluted tap water and landfill leachate was verified.The biosensor was determined to be just as sensitive as atomic fluorescence spectrometry.This study examines the potential applications of biosensors constructed with Geobacter ArsR-Pars regulatory circuits and provides a rapid and cost-effective tool that can be used for arsenic detection in water samples.