[Accounting Methods of VOCs Emission Associated with Production Processes in a Fine Chemical Industrial Park].

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are one of the key atmospheric pollutants associated with great impact on air quality. Industrial sources have become the most important source of VOCs emissions in China, of which the chemical industry accounts for a large part. At present, more than half of chemical manufacturers are clustered in chemical industrial parks (CIPs), thus the control of VOCs in CIPs is crucial. This study analyzed the production processes of the fine chemical industry and the principle of VOCs production, and then proposed an accounting model of VOCs emissions associated with production processes, based on a typical fine chemical industrial park:Hangzhou Bay Shangyu Economic and Technological Development Area (HSEDA). The quantity of VOCs generation in the main production processes, such as feeding, heating, chemical reaction gas take-off, cleaning, vacuum pumping, pressure release, and evaporating, were calculated. Meanwhile, the chemical process simulation software Aspen was also employed to simulate the VOCs generation in these processes. The methods were applied to 14 representative products in HSEDA and the feature of VOCs generation in the chemical processes mentioned above, and components were revealed. The results of the two methods were compared, and the difference between the two methods was within±22% except for the pressure release process. The model and accounting methods proposed in this study will have sound applicability in accounting for VOCs emissions in fine chemical industrial parks underpinned by quantitative chemical industry production parameters.

[Distribution and Removal of Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Two Sequential Wastewater Treatment Plants].

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have been regarded as important point-sources of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in aquatic environments. To investigate the distribution and removal of ARGs in WWTPs, a pharmaceutical wastewater treatment plant (PWWTP) and an integrated wastewater treatment plant (IWWTP) in a fine-chemical industrial park were chosen, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and real-time PCR techniques were used to determine the occurrence and abundances of ARGs along the treatment processes. Ten and fifteen ARGs were detected initially in the influents of PWWTP and IWWTP respectively, in which tetracycline and sulfonamide resistance genes were frequently reported, while dfrA13 was first reported in WWTPs. The most abundant ARGs in the influents were sul Ⅰ and sul Ⅱ, followed by dfrA13, tetQ, floR, tetO, and tetW. The total ARGs increased by 0.21 log after the treatment by PWWTP, whose effluent contributed 0.87% to the inflow yet 5.05% to the total ARGs of IWWTP. Finally the total ARGs removed by IWWTP was 1.03 log, with the remaining ARGs then transported within the final effluent to the nearby coastal area. The authors concluded that the environmental and other impacts from the spread of ARGs on the microbial communities of the coastal environment needed further study.

AOX contamination in Hangzhou Bay, China: Levels, distribution and point sources.

The parameter AOX (adsorbable organic halogens) indicates the total amount of organic halogens in an environment. Seawater and surface sediment samples from 12 sample sites in the Hangzhou Bay (HZB), China, were analyzed for AOX to investigate its contamination status. In this study, the AOX concentration ranged from 140.6 ±â€¯45.6 µg/L to 716.1 ±â€¯62.3 µg/L in seawater of the HZB, and from 11.3 ±â€¯2.4 mg/kg to 112.7 ±â€¯7.2 mg/kg in the sediment. Ocean currents, fluvial currents and the Yangtze River exerted profound influences on the distribution of AOX in the HZB. The point sources around the HZB, represented by wastewater treatment plants, discharged at least 645.4 t AOX into the HZB every year, most of which was generated by industrial activities rather than the human daily activities.

[Life Cycle Assessment of Traction Lead-acid Batteries for Electric Bikes in China].

This research undertook a life cycle assessment (LCA) for lead-acid batteries (LABs) used in electric bikes, the fastest growing LABs in China. A cradle-to-grave LCA model was established to identify the key materials or processes that contribute most to environmental impacts within the life cycle of LABs, including material production, battery manufacture, transportation, use, and end-of-life. A large amount of primary data obtained from enterprisers and a Chinese LCA database were used in this research to reflect the status of technology and environmental management for the related industries in China. The results indicate that material production and LAB use dominate in resource consumption and environmental impacts during the life cycle of LABs. Material production is the most important driver of such impacts as abiotic resources depletion (699%), eutrophication (89%), photochemical smog production (98%), ozone depletion (117%), total human toxicity (159%), and ecological toxicity (484%). Battery use is responsible for 83% of primary energy use and contributes the highest potentials to the impacts related to energy, including global warming potential (86%) and acidification potential (70%). Recovery of materials at the end-of-life stage will significantly mitigate the overall life cycle impacts by reducing virgin material consumption. Based on the findings, there are several substantial opportunities to reduce the overall environmental impacts of batteries, such as prolonging the lifetime of batteries, reducing the metal consumption in batteries, and improving the technology and management in recovery of end-of-life batteries.

[Study on strategies of pollution prevention in coastal city of Zhejiang Province based on scenario analysis].

Scenario analysis was used to study the environmental burden in a coastal city of Zhejiang province under different patterns of economic development. The aim of this research is to propose advices on decision making by illustrating how to make emissions reduced by transforming the pattern of economic development in a developed coastal area, which had acquired the level of 70 000 yuan GDP per cap. At first, 18 heavy pollution industries were screened out, by referencing total emissions of chemical oxygen demand, ammonia-nitrogen, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxide. Then, a model of scenario analysis and the back-up calculation program were designed to study the sustainable development of the heavy pollution industries. With 2008 and 2015 as the reference year and the target year respectively, emissions of four pollutants mentioned above in the 18 heavy pollution industries in the city were analyzed under six scenarios. The total emissions of 4 pollutants should be reduced to an expectant degree, which is set as the constraint prerequisite of the scenario analysis. At last, some suggestions for decision-making are put forward, which include maintaining a moderate increase rate of GDP around 7%, strengthening the adjustment of economic structure, controlling the increasing rate of industrial added value of the industries with heavy pollution, optimizing the structure of industries with heavy pollution, decreasing the intensity of waste emission by implementing cleaner production to reduce emission produce at the source, and strengthening regulations on the operation of waste treatment plants to further promote the efficiency of waste treatment. Only by implementing such measures mentioned above, can the total emissions of chemical oxygen demand, ammonia-nitrogen, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxide of the 18 industries with heavy pollution in the city be reduced by a 10%, 10%, 5%, and 15% respectively based on the reference year.

[Molluscicidal effect of LDS in field in marshland areas].

The molluscicidal effects of salt of quinoid-2', 5-dichloro-4'-nitrosalicylanilide (LDS) and 50% wettable powder of niclosamide ethanolamine salt (WPN) were observed by three methods of immersion, insufflations and powdering. The results showed that there was no statistic difference between the snail control effects of LDS and WPN, which suggested that LDS had a good molluscicidal effect in marshland areas.