Influence of pollutants' control facilities on PM2.5 profiles emitted from an iron and steel plant.

A typical long process in an iron and steel plant has been investigated with four main manufacturing processes, and nine sample sites were selected, in order to provide a comprehensive understanding of the PM2.5 profile changes caused by the pollutants' control facilities. The result shows pollutants' control facilities have not only affected PM2.5 concentrations, but also the PM2.5 profiles. PM2.5 concentration was increased 1.89 times after Flue gas desulfurization (FGD) in the sintering process, the Ca content in PM2.5 increased to 21.1% caused by the desulfurizing agent; compared with electrostatic precipitator (ESP), bag filter (BF) is more effective for removal of fine particles, especially the condensable particles. The chemical compositions of Cl, K, Pb and Sb decreased after ESP in the sintering process, Fe decreased to 38.0% after ESP in the pelletizing process, and [Formula: see text] and Organic carbon (OC) increased in both processes. Different from ESP, Fe content increased obviously after BF in both blast furnace and converter processes, while S, K, [Formula: see text], and OC are all decreased after BF. The coefficient of divergence (CD) values has been calculated at 0.42∼0.60, showing giant influences of pollutants' control facilities on PM2.5 chemical profiles. Sixteen Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in PM2.5 have been analysed, the result shows that de-dusting facilities (ESP and BF) are quite effective for PAHs removal, and the PAHs' concentration significantly increased after FGD. More efforts are still needed to complete the accurate profile data with the rapid development of pollutants' control technologies.

Effect of carboxylation cellulose nanocrystal and grape peel extracts on the physical, mechanical and antioxidant properties of konjac glucomannan films.

Active bionanocomposite films were prepared by incorporating konjac glucomannan (KGM) as a matrix, with carboxylation cellulose nanocrystal (C-CNC) as a reinforcement agent and grape peel extracts (GPE) as a natural antioxidation agent. The effects of C-CNC and/or GPE addition on the structural, morphological, barrier, thermal, mechanical and antioxidant properties of the bionanocomposite films were investigated. The rheological results of film forming solutions revealed that C-CNC and GPE were well dispersed in the KGM matrix. Scanning electron micrographs observed the addition of C-CNC had little effect on the microstructure, while more roughness and unevenness were observed on the film surface and cross-section with the C-CNC and GPE. Furthermore, the water vapor barrier property and transparency of the films improved by the addition of the C-CNC and GPE. Notably, the incorporating of C-CNC or GPE significantly alter the mechanical of the KGM/C-CNC/GPE bionanocomposite films. The highest tensile strength was achieved for the KGM/GPE bionanocomposite film with 10 wt% C-CNC, indicating C-CNC and GPE had synergistic effect on enhancing the TS of KGM film. Moreover, the KGM/C-CNC/GPE films exhibited strong antioxidant activity. These results suggested that KGM/C-CNC/GPE bionanocomposite films can be used as an active food packaging for increasing shelf life of packaged foods.

Optimization and evaluation of astragalus polysaccharide injectable thermoresponsive in-situ gels.

The objective of this study was to develop an injectable in situ forming gel system based on Poloxamer for sustained release of Astragalus polysaccharide (APS), thus achieved once or twice administration instead of frequent dosing during long-term treatment. The optimal formulation is 10 g APS, 18 g poloxamer 407, 2 g poloxamer 188, 0.15 g CMC-Na, 0.85 g sodium chloride in 100 ml gel in situ which had a preferable sol-gel transition temperature(T sol-gel) (34.1 ± 0.4°C), and good stability. In vitro release studies, all formulations containing polymer additives had prolonged release time and decreased initial burst to some extent. The optimal formulation containing 0.15% CMC-Na showed a best sustained release profile for about 132 h with the lowest initial burst in vitro about 16.30% in 12 h). In vivo, Male BALB/c mice (18-20 g) were administrated with APS in-situ gel just once, the values of immune organ indices, spleen lymphocyte proliferation, and serum IgM, IgG, IL-2 and IL-6 had significant increase, which was consistent with the mice given daily APS injections (7 times), while the above indices were increased more significantly in which administrated with APS in-situ gel twice. Based on these results, it can be concluded that the Poloxamer depot is a promising carrier for the sustained release of APS with an ideal release behavior.