The Future Programming of Acid Rain and SO_2 Control in China

This paper describes a programme for controlling acld rain and SO2 pollutions in the coming years in China. It embraces the control targets in some respects, such as precipitation acidity, urban SO2 pollution, SO2 emission sources and its total emission, and various control measures, such as limiting the exploitation of high sulfur coal, promoting steam coal washing, strengthening SO2 emission sources control and readjusting their special layout, enhancing total SO2 emission control, implementing the licence system of pollution discharge and the exchange system of SO2 emission and revising the SO2 emission standards.

Preliminary Study on the Control of Kiwifruit Canker by 6%Ascorbic Acid Water Aqua

[Objectives]This study was conducted to investigate the control efficacy of 6% ascorbic acid water aqua on kiwifruit bacterial canker. [Methods]The ascorbic acid water aqua was sprayed onto annual potted kiwifruit seedlings once every 5 d,for three times in total,and Pseudomonas syringae pv. Actinidiae was inoculated by needle punching 7 d later. Scab diameter and number of newly infected scab were investigated to analyze the control efficacy. [Results] Kiwifruit plants were treated with 6% ascorbic acid water aqua,and after 30 d,the 20 mg/L treatment showed an incidence rate of 25. 5%,and the 60 mg/L treatment exhibited an incidence rate only of 12. 1%; and after 60 d,the relative control efficacy reached 90. 7% at the mass concentration of 60 mg/L. [Conclusions] The6% ascorbic acid water aqua weakened the destruction and expansion of the pathogen in plants,effectively improved the resistance in kiwifruit plants,and had certain control efficacy on kiwifruit canker.

Bile acids control inflammation and metabolic disorder through inhibition of NLRP3 inflammasome

With the support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China,the research team led by Prof.Wang Di(王迪)at the Immuno metabolism Lab,Institute of Immunology,Zhejiang University School of Medicine,uncovered the mystery of Bile Acids control inflammation and metabolic disorder,which was published in Immunity(2016,45:802—816)).

Controlled synthesis of CO_2-diol from renewable starter by reducing acid value through preactivation approach

Synthesis of polyols from carbon dioxide（CO2） is attractive from the viewpoint of sustainable development of polyurethane industry;it is also interesting to adjust the structure of the CO2-polyols for versatile requirement of polyurethane.However,when renewable malonic acid was used as a starter,the copolymerization reaction of CO2 and propylene oxide（PO） was uncontrollable,since it proceeded slowly（13 h） and produced 40.4 wt%of byproduct propylene carbonate（PC） with a low productivity of 0.34kg/g.A careful analysis disclosed that the acid value of the copolymerization medium was the key factor for controlling the copolymerization reaction.Therefore,a preactivation approach was developed to dramatically reduce the acid value to 0.6mg（KOH）/gby homopolymerization of PO into oligo-ether-diol under the initiation of malonic acid,which ensured the controllable copolymerization,where the copolymerization time could be shortened by 77%from 13 to 3 h,the PC content was reduced by 76%from 40.4 wt%to 9.4 wt%,and the productivity increased by 61%from 0.34 to 0.55 kg/g.Moreover,by means of preactivation approach,the molecular weight as well as the carbonate unit content in the CO2-diol was also controllable.

Putative Nitrogen Sensing Systems in Higher Plants

Nitrogen （N） metabolism is essential for the biosynthesis of vital biomolecules. N status thus exerts profound effects on plant growth and development, and must be closely monitored. In bacteria and fungi, a few sophisticated N sensing systems have been extensively studied. In animals, the ability to receive amino acid signals has evolved to become an integral part of the nervous coordination system. In this review, we will summarize recent developments in the search for putative N sensing systems in higher plants based on homologous systems in bacteria, fungi, and animals. Apparently, although plants have separated and diversified from other organisms during the evolution process, striking similarities can be found in their N sensing systems compared with those of their counterparts; however, our understanding of these systems is still incomplete. Significant modifications of the N sensing systems （including cross-talk with other signal transduction pathways） in higher plants may be a strategy of adaptation to their unique mode of life.

Removing ammonia from air with a constant pH, slightly acidic water spray wet scrubber using recycled scrubbing solution

Previous research on wet scrubbers has only studied highly acidic scrubbing solutions because of their high ammonia capture efficiencies; however, the high acidity created practical problems. Lower acidity solutions would reduce corrosion, maintenance, and cost; however, designers may need to use strategies for increasing scrubber effectiveness, such as using lower air velocities. The objective of this studywas to determine if a spray scrubber with slightly acidic and higher p H scrubbing solution （pH from 2 to 8） could effectively remove NH3 from NH3 laden air （such as animal building exhaust air）, and also collect this valuable resource for rater use as a fertilizer. A bench-scale spray wet scrubber treated 20 ppmv NH3/air mixture in a countercurrent contact chamber. First, the solution pH was varied from 2 to 8while maintaining constant air velocity at 1.3 m. s-1. Next, air velocity was increased （2and 3 m.s-1） while solution pH remained constant at pH6. At 1.3 m.s -1, NH3 removal efficiencies ranged between 49.0% （pH8） and 84.3% （pH2）. This study has shown that slightly acidic scrubbing solutions are a practical means of removing ammonia from air especially if the scrubber is designed to increase collisions between solution droplets and NH3 molecules. The NH3 removed from the air was held in solution as NH4＋ and accumulates over time so the solution should be an excellent fertilizer.

Converting industrial waste contact masses into effective multicomponent copper-based catalysts for the Rochow process

In this work, we report a simple and inexpensive approach to synthesize effective multicomponent Cu-Cu2O-CuO catalysts for the Rochow process from industrial waste contact masses （WCMs）. WCMs from the organosilane industry were treated with acid followed by reduction with metallic iron powder. The obtained copper powder was then subjected to controlled oxidation in air at different temperatures, followed by ball milling. The orthogonal array approach was applied to optimize this process, and the stirring speed and pH were found to significantly affect the leaching ratio and copper yield, respectively. When used for the Rochow process, the optimized ternary Cu-Cu2O-CuO catalyst greatly enhanced the dimethyldichlorosilane selectivity and Si conversion compared with Cu-Cu2O-CuO catalysts prepared without ball milling, bare Cu catalysts, and Cu-Cu2O-CuO catalysts with different compositions. This could be attributed to their small particle size and the strong synergistic effect among the multiple components in the catalyst with the optimized composition.