Recovery and Upgrading of Phosphorus from Digested Sewage Sludge as MAP by Physical Separation Techniques

Physical separation apparatuses;a vibrating screen, a 4-inch hydrocyclone and a Multi-Gravity Separator (MGS) were used to recover phosphorus as MAP (magnesium ammonium phosphate, MgNH4PO4.6H2O) from anaerobic digested sludge of two sewage-treatment plants A and B. For plant A, the MAP grade increased from 0.08% to 88.9% with 90.4% recovery and for plant B, the grade increased from 0.11% to 73.8 with 93.2% recovery. The collected MAP products containing impurities such as organic materials and heavy metals were further upgraded through dry and wet magnetic separation tests at different magnetic flux densities. A dry magnetic separator was tested on both MAP products (MAP-A and MAP-B), while the wet magnetic separation process was exclusively experimented for the removal of impurities from MAP-B. Feed samples, as well as magnetic and nonmagnetic products were analyzed by absorption spectroscopy, XRD, ICP-AES, polarizing microscope observation, and SEM-EDX. The grade of MAP products could be improved by about 4% - 9% after magnetic separation (the most appropriate magnetic force being 15,000 Gauss). During both dry and wet magnetic separation processes, not only heavy metals have been removed, but also nonmagnetic constituents like Al, Ba, and Ca. This may be attributed to the attachment of fine magnetic particles on the nonmagnetic surfaces, rendering them magnetic properties.

Recent developments in asphalt-aggregate separation technology for reclaimed asphalt pavement

Reclaimed asphalt pavement(RAP)has significant recycling value because it contains nonrenewable resources including asphalt and aggregate.However,thus far,only a small part of RAP materials can be used in the con-struction of recycled asphalt pavement,and the usage is regarded as a low-value utilization in the underlying layers.One of the most important reasons for this shortcoming is the problem of false particle size and pseudo gradation of RAP materials.Therefore,identifying suitable asphalt-aggregate separation technology is essential for improving the utilization of RAP materials in recycled asphalt mixture and enhancing the construction quality of recycled asphalt pavement.To address this,the paper performed a systematic review of asphalt-aggregate separation technologies for processing RAP materials and their prospects.Firstly,based on the composition of the asphalt mixture and the characteristics of RAP materials after aging,the key RAP separation technologies were proposed.Then,the concept,principle,and implementation methods of physical,chemical,and biological sep-aration methods of RAP materials were comprehensively analyzed.Moreover,the advantages and disadvantages of various separation technologies were discussed by comparing them with the related technologies in the petrochemical industry.The application prospects of various asphalt-aggregate separation methods for RAP materials can provide a reference for upgrading and expanding solid waste recycling technology for asphalt pavement.

Microfluidic methods for cell separation and subsequent analysis

Cell is the most basic unit of the morphological structure and life activity of an organism. Learning the composition, structure and function of cells, exploring the life activities of cells and studying the interaction between cells are of great significance for human cognition and control of the life activities of organisms. Therefore, rapid, convenient, inexpensive, high-precision and reliable methods of cell separation and analysis are being developed to obtain accurate information for the study of cytology and pathology.Microfluidic chip is a new emerging technology in recent years. It has a micromanufacturing structure,which can not only realize the precise space-time control of fluid and cells, but also reproduces the threedimensional dynamic microenvironment of cell growth in the body. In addition, the microfluidic chip has unique microphysical properties and facilitates the integration of microdevices, which provides the possibility of real-time monitoring, continuous culture, separation and enrichment, and even in situ analysis of cells. In this review, we summarized recent advances in the development of different techniques for cell isolation and analysis on microfluidic platforms. Focus was put on biochemical and physical methods for cell separation on microfluidic chips. Subsequent cell analysis depending on fluorescence, Raman, cytomicroscopic imaging, mass spectrometry and electrochemical methods also was remarked. Through analyzing and learning the advantages and disadvantages of different technologies, we hope that microfluidic chips will continue to be improved and expanded for medical and clinical applications.

Cleaning of Marine Sediment Samples for Large Diatom Stable Isotope Analysis

Diatom stable isotope analysis offers considerable potential in palaeoceanography, par-ticularly where carbonate material is scarce or absent. However, extracting pure diatom frustules free of external labile organic matter from marine sediments is an essential requirement for their applica-tions as paleoenvironmental proxies. Here, based largely on previous work, we developed a method in-cluding physical separation and chemical oxidation steps to concentrate and clean pure large diatoms from laminated diatom mat and diatomaceous clay sediment samples for their stable isotope analysis. Using the physical separation techniques consisting of the removal of carbonate and excess organic matter, sieving, differential settling, and heavy liquid floatation, pure diatoms can be successfully iso-lated from the sediment samples with opal concentration more than 10%. Subsequent time oxidation experiment shows that labile organic matter coating pure diatom valves can be effectively removed with 30% H2O2 at 65 ℃ for 2 h. Measurements of δ13C after every step of physical separation demonstrate that contaminants and lost diatoms can influence the original diatom stable isotope signal, highlighting the importance of a visual check for dominant diatom size in the initial sample and purity in the final sample. Although the protocol described here was only applied to diatom mats or diatom oozes con-taining large diatoms （Ethmodiscus rex）, we believe that this method can be adapted to common dia-toms of general marine sediment samples.