Phosphorus fractions and its release in the sediments of Haihe River,China

The amounts and forms of phosphorus （P） in surface sediments of Haihe River, Tianjin, North China, were examined using a sequential chemical extraction procedure. Five fractions of sedimentary P, including loosely sorbed P （NH4Cl-P）, redox-sensitive P （BD-P）, metal oxide bound P （NaOH-P）, calcium bound P （HCI-P）, and residual P （Res-P） （organic and refractory P）, were separately quantified. The results indicated that the contents of different P fractions in the sediments varied greatly. The total P （TP） contents ranged from 968 to 2017 mg/kg. Phosphorus contents in NH4Cl-P, BD-P, NaOH-P, and HCl-P ranged from 6.7 to 26.6 mg/kg, 54.5 to 90.2 mg/kg, 185.2 to 382.5 mg/kg, and 252.3 to 425.5 mg/kg, respectively, which represented 1.2%-3.2%, 7.7%-13%, 33.3%-48.9%, and 36.2%-54.2% of the sedimentary inorganic P, respectively. For all the sediment samples, the rank order of P-fractions was Res-P 〉 HCl-P 〉 NaOH-P 〉 BD-P 〉 NH4Cl-P. The highly positive relationship between the amounts of P released from the sediments and those in the NH4Cl-P and BD-P fractions, indicated that NH4Cl-P and BD-P were the main fractions that can release P easily.

Experimental investigation of the effect of flow turbulence and sediment transport patterns on the adsorption of cadmium ions onto sediment particles

The mechanism of flow turbulence, sediment supply conditions, and sediment transport patterns that affect the adsorption of cadmium ions onto sediment particles in natural waters are experimentally simulated and studied both in batch reactors and in a turbulence simulation tank. By changing the agitation conditions, the sediment transport in batch reactors can be categorized into bottom sediment-dominated sediment and suspended sediment-dominated sediment. It is found that the adsorption rate of bottom sediment is much less than that of suspended sediment, but the sediment transport pattern does not affect the final （equilibrium） concentration of dissolved cadmium. This result indicates that the parameters of an adsorption isotherm are the same regardless of the sediment transport pattern. In the turbulence simulation tank, the turbulence is generated by harmonic grid-stirred motions, and the turbulence intensity is quantified in terms of eddy diffusivity, which is equal to 9.84F （F is the harmonic vibration frequency） and is comparable to natural surface water conditions. When the turbulence intensity of flow is low and sediment particles stay as bottom sediment, the adsorption rate is significantly low, and the adsorption quantity compared with that of suspended sediment is negligible in the 6 h duration of the experiment. This result greatly favors the simplification of the numerical modeling of heavy metal pollutant transformation in natural rivers. When the turbulence intensity is high but bottom sediment persists, the rate and extent of descent of the dissolved cadmium concentration in the tank noticeably increase, and the time that is required to reach adsorption equilibrium also increases considerably due to the continuous exchange that occurs between the suspended sediment and the bottom sediment. A comparison of the results of the experiments in the batch reactor and those in the turbulence simulation tank reveals that the adsorption ability of the sediment, and in particular the adsorption rate, is greatly over-estimated in the batch reactor.

NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PERFORMANCE OF HORIZONTAL AND WAVY SUBSURFACE FLOW CONSTRUCTED WETLANDS

A three-dimensional numerical model is proposed for modeling the TP transport in the Horizontal Subsurface Flow （HSSF） and Wavy subsurface Flow （WSSF） constructed wetland in this article. Both numerical simulations and physical experiments indicate that the removal efficiency of WSSF is higher than that of HSSF. The difference ofperforrnance in removing pollutants, e.g., Total Phosphorus （TP）, between HSSF and WSSF is numerically analyzed from three interactive aspects, that is, the hydraulic behavior, the substrate and the plant roots. It is shown that the dead zone volume in WSSF is smaller than in HSSF with less short circuiting. The soil in the top layer is more used in WSSF than in HSSF. The TP uptake by the plant roots in WSSF is higher than that in HSSF.

THREE-DIMENSIONAL NUMERICAL MODELING OF SECONDARY FLOWS IN A WIDE CURVED CHANNEL

Most natural rivers are curved channels, where the turbulent flows have a complex helical pattern, as has been extensively studied both numerically and experimentally. The helical flow structure in curved channels has an important bearing on sediment transport, riverbed evolution, and pollutant transport study. In this article, different turbulence closure schemes i.e., the mixing-length model and the k-ε model with different pressure solution techniques i. e., hydrostatic assumptions and dynamic pressure treatments are applied to study the helical secondary flows in an experiment curved channel. The agreements of vertically-averaged velocities between the simulated results obtained by using different turbulence models with different pressure solution techniques and the measured data are satisfactory. Their discrepancies with respect to surface elevations, superelevations and secondary flow patterns are discussed.

Restoration of hyper-eutrophic water with a modularized and air adjustable constructed submerged plant bed

A modularized and air adjustable constructed submerged plant bed(CSPB)which can be used to restore the eutrophic water is introduced in this paper.This plant bed helps hydrophyte grow under poor conditions such as frequently changed water depth,impaired water transparency,algae bloom and substantial duckweed in summer,which are not naturally suitable for growing hydrophyte.This pilot study in Waihuan River of Tianjin,China,revealed that reduction of Chemical Oxygen Demand(COD),Total Nitrogen(TN)and Total Phosphorus(TP)by the use of CSPB could be reached 30%-35%,35%-40%,30%-40%respectively in the growing season(from March to October)and 5%-10%,5%-15%,7%-20%respectively in the winter(from November to February)when the detention time was 6 d.The relationships between the concentration of COD,TN,TP and the detention time fit the first-order kinetic equation well and the coefficients of determination(R^(2))were all above 0.9.The attenuation coefficients k of the kinetic equation were a function of the water temperature.When the water temperature was quite low or quite high,k was not significantly changed with increasing or decreasing water temperature.While when the temperature was in a moderate range,an increase or decrease of water temperature would lead to a rapid increase or decrease in k.

Two-dimensional numerical and eco-toxicological modeling of chemical spills

The effects of chemical spills on aquatic nontarget organisms were evaluated in this study.Based on a review of three types of current eco-toxicological models of chemicals,i.e.,ACQUATOX model of the US-EPA,Hudson River Model of PCBs,and critical body residual(CBR)model and dynamic energy budget(DEBtox)model,this paper presents an uncoupled numerical ecotoxicological model.The transport and transformation of spilled chemicals were simulated by a chemical transport model(including flow and sediment transport),and the mortalities of an organism caused by the chemicals were simulated by the extended threshold damage model,separately.Due to extreme scarcity of data,this model was applied to two hypothetical cases of chemical spills happening upstream of a lake.Theoretical analysis and simulated results indicated that this model is capable of reasonably predicting the acute effects of chemical spills on aquatic ecosystems or organism killings.

Nutrient distribution within and release from the contaminated sediment of Haihe River

We assessed nutrient characteristics, distributions and fractions within the disturbed and undisturbed sediments at four sampling sites within the mainstream of Haihe River. The river sediments contained mostly sand （ 60%）. The fraction of clay was 3%. Total nitrogen （TN） and total phosphorus （TP） concentrations ranged from 729 to 1922 mg/kg and from 692 to 1388 mg/kg, respectively. Nutrient concentrations within the sediments usually decreased with increasing depth. The TN and TP concentrations within the fine sand were higher than for that within silt. Sediment phosphorus fractions were between 2.99% and 3.37% Ex-P （exchangeable phosphorus）, 7.89% and 13.71% Fe/Al-P （Fe, Al oxides bound phosphorus）, 61.32% and 70.14% Ca-P （calcium-bound phosphorus）, and 17.03% and 22.04% Org-P （organic phosphorus）. Nitrogen and phosphorus release from sediment could lead to the presence of 21.02 mg N/L and 3.10 mg P/L within the water column. A river restoration project should address the sediment nutrient stock.