The effects of aeration and irrigation regimes on soil CO_2 and N_2O emissions in a greenhouse tomato production system

Aerated irrigation has been proven to increase crop production and quality, but studies on its environmental impacts are sparse. The effects of aeration and irrigation regimes on soil CO2 and N2O emissions in two consecutive greenhouse tomato rotation cycles in Northwest China were studied via the static closed chamber and gas chromatography technique. Four treatments, aerated deficit irrigation（AI1）, non-aerated deficit irrigation（CK1）, aerated full irrigation（AI2） and non-aerated full irrigation（CK2）, were performed. The results showed that the tomato yield under aeration of each irrigation regime increased by 18.8% on average compared to non-aeration, and the difference was significant under full irrigation（P〈0.05）. Full irrigation significantly increased the tomato yield by 23.9% on average in comparison to deficit irrigation. Moreover, aeration increased the cumulative CO2 emissions compared to non-aeration, and treatment effects were significant in the autumn-winter season（P〈0.05）. A slight increase of CO2 emissions in the two seasons was observed under full irrigation（P〉0.05）. There was no significant difference between aeration and non-aeration in soil N2O emissions in the spring-summer season, whereas aeration enhanced N2O emissions significantly in the autumn-winter season. Furthermore, full irrigation over the two seasons greatly increased soil N2O emissions compared to the deficit irrigation treatment（P〈0.05）. Correlation analysis indicated that soil temperature was the primary factor influencing CO2 fluxes. Soil temperature, soil moisture and NO3^- were the primary factors influencing N2O fluxes. Irrigation coupled with particular soil aeration practices may allow for a balance between crop production yield and greenhouse gas mitigation in greenhouse vegetable fields.

Design and Experiment of Fluid Dynamic Ultrasonic Water Aerator

In order to improve the efficiency of water aerator,based on Venturi experimental principle in hydraulics and fluid dynamic ultrasonic generator,the inlet section,throat section,and outlet section of reed whistle ultrasonic generator were designed,and the effect of the water aerator on dissolved oxygen was preliminarily studied. Results indicate that using this water aerator,the dissolved oxygen was 7. 94 mg / L,exceeding the saturation value of dissolved oxygen( 7. 82 mg / L) at current water temperature,reaching the supersaturation. Therefore,the designed water aerator will have a bright application prospect in sewage treatment,aquaculture and aerated irrigation of plants.

Shenzhen Yinle Aerated Water Plant

The Shenzhen Yinle AeratedWater Plant,set up in 1981 jointly byPepsi Cola Inc.of the US and theShenbao Company of Shenzhen,wasPepsi Cola’s first bottling plant inChina's Mainland.Through the jointefforts of the two sides over a dozenyears,the plant’s production has beenconstantly expanded,with growingoutput and improved quality andefficiency.By the end of June,it hadretained an accumulative total of pre-tax profits of RMB233 million.Takinginto account the profits earned by theAmerican side from the sale of cola,the total profits earned by both sideshave exceeded the initial investmentover 20 times.

Preparation of New Cementitious System using Fly Ash and Dehydrated Autoclaved Aerated Concrete

We experimentally studied the interaction between pozzolanic material（fly ash） and dehydrated autoclaved aerated concrete（DAAC）. The DAAC powder was obtained by grinding aerated concrete waste to particles fi ner than 75μm and was then heated to temperatures up to 900 ℃. New cementitious material was prepared by proportioning fly ash and DAAC, named as AF. X-ray diffraction（XRD） was employed to identify the crystalline phases of DAAC before and after rehydration. The hydration process of AF was analyzed by the heat of hydration and non-evaporable water content（Wn）. The experimental results show that the highest reactivity of DAAC can be obtained by calcining the powder at 700 ℃ and the dehydrated products are mainly β-C2 S and CaO. The cumulative heat of hydration and Wn was found to be strongly dependent on the replacement level of fl y ash, increasing the replacement level of fl y ash lowered them in AF. The strength contribution rates on pozzolanic effect of fl y ash in AF are always negative, showing a contrary tendency of that of cement-fl y ash system.

A new method of inhibiting pollutant release from source water reservoir sediment by adding chemical stabilization agents combined with water-lifting aerator

Source water reservoirs easily become thermally and dynamically stratified. Internal pollution released from reservoir sediments is the main cause of water quality problems. To mitigate the internal pollution more effectively, a new method, which combined chemical stabilization with water lifting aerator （WLA） technology, was proposed and its effciency in inhibiting pollutant release was studied by controlled sediment-water interface experiments. The results showed that this new method can inhibit pollutant release from sediment effectively. The values of mean effciency （E） in different reactors 2#–5# （1# with no agent, 2# 10 mg/L polymeric aluminum chloride （PAC） was added, 3# 20 mg/L PAC was added, 4# 30 mg/L PAC was added, 5# 20 mg/L PAC and 0.2 mg/L palyacrylamide （PAM） were added） for PO43- were 35.0%, 43.9%, 50.4% and 63.6%, respectively. This showed that the higher the PAC concentration was, the better the inhibiting effciency was, and PAM addition strengthened the inhibiting effciency significantly. For Fe2＋, the corresponding values of E for the reactors 2#–5# were 22.9%, 47.2%, 34.3% and 46.2%, respectively. The inhibiting effect of PAC and PAM on Mn release remained positive for a relatively short time, about 10 days, and was not so effective as for PO43- and Fe2＋. The average effciencies in inhibiting the release of UV254 were 35.3%, 25.9%, 35.5%, 38.9% and 39.5% for reactors 2#–5#, respectively. The inhibiting mechanisms of the agents for different pollutants varied among the conditions and should be studied further.

Escherichia coli inactivation by pressurized CO_2 treatment methods at room temperature: Critical issues

This study aims to increase the inactivation efficiency of CO_2 against Escherichia coli under mild conditions to facilitate the application of pressurized CO_2 technology in water disinfection. Based on an aerating-cycling apparatus, three different treatment methods（continuous aeration, continuous reflux, and simultaneous aeration and reflux） were compared for the same temperature, pressure（0.3–0.7 MPa）, initial concentration, and exposure time（25 min）. The simultaneous aeration and reflux treatment（combined method） was shown to be the best method under optimum conditions, which were determined to be 0.7 MPa, room temperature, and an exposure time of 10 min. This treatment achieved 5.1-log reduction after 25 min of treatment at the pressure of 0.3 MPa and 5.73-log reduction after 10 min at 0.7 MPa. Log reductions of 4.4 and 5.0 occurred at the end of continuous aeration and continuous reflux treatments at 0.7 MPa, respectively.Scanning electron microscopy（SEM） images suggested that cells were ruptured after the simultaneous aeration and reflux treatment and the continuous reflux treatment. The increase of the solubilization rate of CO_2 due to intense hydraulic conditions led to a rapid inactivation effect. It was found that the reduction of intracellular p H caused by CO_2 led to a more lethal bactericidal effect.