Perfluorooctanoic acid(PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid(PFOS) concentrations in the South Korean agricultural environment: A national survey

Research on the occurrence of perfluorochemicals （PFCs） such as perfluorooctanesulfonic acid （PFOS） and perfluorooctanoic acid （PFOA） in the agricultural environment is lacking, in spite of their potential risk via food chain transfer from aquatic and soil-plant systems to animals and/or humans. In the present study, for the first time, soil and water samples collected from 243 different agricultural sites adjacent to waste water treatment plants （WWTPs） belonging to 81 cities and 5 provinces with different levels of industrialization in South Korea were monitored for concentrations of PFOS and PFOA by use of solid phase extraction and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectroscopy （LC-MS/MS）. Significant mean concentrations of PFOA （0.001-0.007 tJg L-1 water and 〈0.05-1.573 tJg kg-1 soil） and PFOS （0.001-0.22 tJg L-1 water and 〈0.05-0.741 pg kg-1 soil） were found in all samples. Concentrations of PFCs in soils were high, highlighting that soil is an important sink for PFCs in the agricultural environment. Samples from near WWTPs in Gyeongsang Province contained the highest concentrations of PFOS and PFOA, reflecting the concentration of heavy industry in the province. The concentrations of PFCs in agricultural water （most samples 〈0.05 pg L-~） and soils （most samples 〈1 IJg kg-~） from South Korea were less than acceptable guideline values, indicating that South Korea is not a hotspot of PFOS and PFOA contamination and that there is negligible risk to human and ecological health from these chemicals. However, further studies investigating the seasonal variation in PFOA, PFOS and other perfluorochemical concentrations in the agricultural environment are needed.

Assessment of composite failure and ultimate strength without experiment on composite

This paper attempts to estimate the ultimate strength of a laminated composite only based on its con- stituent properties measured independently. Three important issues involved have been systematically addressed, i.e., stress calculation for the constituent fiber and matrix materials, failure detection for the lamina and laminate upon the internal stresses in their constituents, and input data determination of the constituents from monolithic measurements. There are three important factors to influence the accuracy of the strength prediction. One is the stress concentration factor （SCF） in the matrix. Another is matrix plasticity. The third is thermal residual stresses in the constituents. It is these three factors, however, that have not been sufficiently well realized in the composite community. One can easily find out the elastic and strength parameters of a great many laminae and laminates in the current literature. Unfortunately, necessary information to determine the SCF, the matrix plasticity, and the thermal residual stresses of the composites is rare or incomplete. A useful design methodology is demonstrated in the paper.

Cleaner production for continuous digester processes based on hybrid Pareto genetic algorithm

Pulping production process produces a large amount of wastewater and pollutant emitted, which has become one of the main pollution sources in pulp and paper industry. To solve this problem, it is necessary to implement cleaner production by using modeling and optimization technology. This paper studies the modeling and multi\|objective genetic algorithms for continuous digester process. First, model is established, in which environmental pollution and saving energy factors are considered. Then hybrid genetic algorithm based on Pareto stratum\|niche count is designed for finding near\|Pareto or Pareto optimal solutions in the problem and a new genetic evaluation and selection mechanism is proposed. Finally using the real data from a pulp mill shows the results of computer simulation. Through comparing with the practical curve of digester,this method can reduce the pollutant effectively and increase the profit while keeping the pulp quality unchanged.

Effects of Earthworms and Ryegrass on the Removal of Fluoranthene from Soil

Earthworms can promote the bioremediation of contaminated soils through enhancing plant growth and microorganism development. The individual and combined effects of earthworms and ryegrass （Lolium multifloram Lain.） on the removM of fiuoranthene from a sandy-loam alluvial soil were investigated in a 70-d microcosm experiment. The experiment was set up in a complete factorial design with treatments in four replicates： without earthworms or ryegrass （control, CK）, with earthworms only （E）, with ryegrass only （P）, and with both earthworms and ryegrass （EP）. The residual fluoranthene, microbial biomass C, and polyphenol oxidase activity in the soil changed significantly （P 〈 0.01） with time. In general, the residual concentration of fluoranthene in the soil decreased sharply from 71.8-88.7 to 31.7-37.4 mg kg-1 in 14 d, and then decreased gradually to 19.7-30.5 mg kg-1 on the 70th d. The flu- oranthene concentration left in the soil was the least with both earthworms and ryegrass, compared to the other treatments at the end of the experiment. Half-life times of fluoranthene in the E, P, and EP treatments were 17.8%-36.3% smaller than that of CK. More fluoranthene was absorbed by earthworms than ryegrass. However, the total amounts of fluoranthene accumulated in both the ryegrass and earthworms were small, only accounting for 0.01%-1.20% of the lost fluoranthene. Therefore, we assumed that microbial degradation would play a dominant functional role in fluoranthene removal from soil. We found that earthworms significantly increased microbial biomass C and polyphenol oxidase activity （P 〈 0.01） in the presence of ryegrass at the end of the experiment. Furthermore, microbial biomass C and polyphenol oxidase activity were significantly （P 〈 0.05） and negatively related to the residual fluoranthene concentration. This implied that earthworms might promote the removal of fluoranthene from soil via stimulating microbial biomass C and polyphenol oxidase activity.

Quantifying the electron-donating and-accepting capacities of wastewater for evaluating and optimizing biological wastewater treatment processes

Biological processes have been widely used for the treatment of both domestic and industrial wastewaters.In such biological processes,pollutants are converted into pollution-free substances by microorganisms through oxidation-reduction reactions.Thus,how to quantify the internal oxidation-reduction properties wastewaters and seek out targeted countermeasures is essential to understand,operate,and optimize biological wastewater treatment systems.So far,no such approach is available yet.In this work,a novel concept of electron neutralization-based evaluation is proposed to describe the internal oxidation-reduction properties of wastewater.Pollutants in wastewater are defined as electron donor substances(EDSs)or electron acceptor substances(EASs),which could give or accept electrons,respectively.With such an electron neutralization concept,several parameters,i.e.,electron residual concentration(R),economy-related index(E and E r),and economical evaluation index(Y and Y r),are defined.Then,these parameters are used to evaluate the performance and economic aspects of currently applied wastewater treatment processes and even optimize systems.Three case studies demonstrate that the proposed concept could be effectively used to reduce wastewater treatment costs,assess energy recovery,and evaluate process performance.Therefore,a new,simple,and reliable methodology is established to describe the oxidation-reduction properties of wastewater and assess the biological wastewater treatment processes.