Typhoon Fung-wong (2008) induced heavy metals secondary pollution in Quanzhou Bay, southeast of China.

The concentrations of Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Pb, and Al in suspended particles were measured, and temperature, salinity, flow velocity and direction during a tidal cycle were observed before and after Typhoon Fung-wong at six stations in Quanzhou Bay, respectively. The comparison results show that, after the typhoon, the salinity in Quanzhou Bay decreased, whereas the concentrations of heavy metals increased by a factor of between 2 and 10, and the high heavy metal concentration corresponded to the low value of ratio between heavy metals and Al (HMs/Al), suggesting that these increased heavy metals were mainly from natural sources. Instantaneous unit width flux calculations for heavy metals at different stations indicate that sediments are an important source of heavy metals in suspended particles under the influence of typhoon, which has significantly contribution to understanding the impact of typhoons on the heavy metal pollution in the coastal area.

Facile and highly efficient removal of trace Gd(III) by adsorption of colloidal graphene oxide suspensions sealed in dialysis bag.

A facile, highly efficient and second-pollution-free strategy to remove trace Gd(III) from aqueous solutions by adsorption of colloidal graphene oxide (GO) suspensions in dialysis bag has been developed. The effects of pH, ionic strength and temperature on Gd(III) adsorption, and the pH-dependent desorption were investigated. The maximum adsorption capacity of Gd(III)on GO at pH=5.9±0.1 and T=303K was 286.86mgg(-1), higher than any other currently reported. The Gd(III)-saturated GO suspension could resume colloidal state in 0.1M HNO3 with desorption rate of 85.00% in the fifth adsorption-desorption cycle. Gd(III) adsorption rate on GO was dependent more on pH and ionic strength than on temperature. The abundant oxygen-containing functional groups such as carboxyl and hydroxyl played a vital role on adsorption. The thermodynamics and kinetics investigations revealed that the adsorption of Gd(III) on GO was an endothermic, spontaneous and monolayer absorption process, which well fitted the pseudo-second-order model. GO could be a promising adsorbent applied in the enrichment and removal of lanthanides from aqueous solutions. More significantly, the combination of colloidal GO suspension with dialysis membrane facilely solves the re-pollution of the treated solutions due to the great difficulties in separation and recovery of GO.