Modelling transport dynamics of contaminated sediments in the headwater of a hydropower plant at the Upper Rhine River

Sediments are an essential habitat compartment in rivers, which is a subject to dynamic transport processes. In many rivers, the fine deposited sediments are contaminated with heavy metals and organic compounds. Contaminated deposits are considered as potential hot spots because of the risk of the mobilization under erosive hydraulic conditions. Numerical models for particulate contaminant transport are then necessary and can be applied to estimate and predict the potential impact of mobilized contaminants as an important contribution to sediment management. This paper focuses on the quantification of the amount of contaminated sediments resuspended during the extreme flood event in 1999 and the prediction of deposition one year after the flood event. To assess such erosive flood event, a 2D numerical transport model was developed to analyse the dynamics of erosion and sedimentation processes in the headwater of a cross dam at the Upper Rhine River. The dam consists of a weir, a hydropower plant, and a navigation lock. As the weir is operating only for flood management, a huge amount of sediment highly contaminated with the hexachlorobenzene (HCB) was deposited in the weir zone. Therefore, numerical simulations were performed to determine the spatial and temporal distribution of deposited contaminated sediments as depending on the river discharge and its distribution to the hydraulic structures. The numerical investigation presented here is taken as a retrospective analysis of the contaminated sediment dynamics in the headwater to improve future sediment management.     

典型城市河道氮、磷自净能力影响因素

以典型城市河道(苏州官渎花园内河)为研究对象,通过室内和室外模拟实验,研究不同污染物浓度、流速、曝气复氧、渗滤作用和温度对氮、磷自净能力的影响,结果表明:水体中氮、磷的自净作用受污染物浓度、流速、溶解氧浓度、温度和微生物等多种因素的影响.随着污染物浓度的增加,氨氮和硝态氮降解速率增加,而底泥中磷的总体吸附速率却增大.与静止水体相比,模拟河道通过增加流速、曝气复氧、渗滤作用能增强水体氮磷的自净能力,提高氮、磷降解速率.其中,改变流速后自净参数氨氮和总磷增量分别为17.05%和34.85%;曝气复氧后自净参数氨氮和总磷增量分别为8.35%和59.33%;增加微生物量(渗滤作用)后自净参数氨氮和总磷增量分别为50.00%和23.01%.自然条件下,随着温度的上升,氨氮和总氮的降解系数逐渐增大,总磷的降解系数逐渐减小.     

Responses of macrobenthic communities to patchy distributions of heavy metals and petroleum hydrocarbons in sediments:A study in China's Zhoushan Archipelago

This study conducted four cruises during 2014–2017 to investigate relationships between macrobenthic communities and sediment contaminations in sea area around the Zhoushan Archipelago. Fourteen sites were categorized into three groups: high total heavy metal contamination content(HHMC), high total petroleum hydrocarbon content(HTPH), and low content ratio of heavy metal contamination content to total petroleum hydrocarbon content(HMC/TPH) areas. Four main taxa of macrofauna(polychaetes, bivalves, gastropods, and crustaceans) were determined to respond to environmental factors differently. While tolerant polychaetes being the minimal impact by environmental factors, bivalves were threated by heavy metal pollutions in sediment.Additionally, body size distribution frequency demonstrated that macrofauna in the low HMC/TPH areas were less disturbed by contamination than those in the HHMC and HTPH areas. The result represented the presentation of sensitive species while tolerant species are usually considered as small size organisms. Overall,this study confirmed the hypothesis that the contamination levels of small-scale patches is indicated by the condition of macrobenthic communities.     

Contaminant transport with non‐equilibrium processes in unsaturated soils and implicit characteristic Galerkin scheme

A non‐equilibrium sorption—advection—diffusion model to simulate miscible pollutant transport in saturated–unsaturated soils is presented. The governing phenomena modelled in the present simulation are: convection, molecular diffusion, mechanical dispersion, sorption, immobile water effect and degradation, including both physical and chemical non‐equilibrium processes. A finite element procedure, based on the characteristic Galerkin method with an implicit algorithm is developed to numerically solve the model equations. The implicit algorithm is formulated by means of a combination of both the precise and the traditional numerical integration procedures. The stability analysis of the algorithm shows that the unconditional stability of the present implicit algorithm is enhanced as compared with that of the traditional implicit numerical integration procedure. The numerical results illustrate good performance of the present algorithm in stability and accuracy, and in simulating the effects of all the mentioned phenomena governing the contaminant transport and the concentration distribution. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

用于沉积物-海水界面污染通量监测的自动采样技术

研究海底沉积物一海水界面污染物迁移规律的最佳方法是通过原位无扰动采样技术获取该界面水样,经过实验室分析计算得出污染通量.文中介绍了用于沉积物-海水界面污染通量监测的自动采样技术,通过测量通量舱在海底沉积物上隔离海水中的污染物含量的变化,能实现痕量重金属等污染通量的实时、现场、自动采样和监测.     

A TIME-STEPPING FINITE ELEMENT METHOD FOR ANALYSIS OF CONTAMINANT TRANSPORT IN FRACTURED POROUS MEDIA

This paper describes the development of a finite element method for analysing contaminant transport in double-porosity geomaterials using a time-stepping approach. In many cases, double-porosity models may be used to represent fractured rock formations and fissured soils. A distinctive feature of utilizing this kind of model is that it is not necessary to have an intimate knowledge of the nature, distribution and properties of individual fractures and fracture arrangement since the fracture geometry and details are considered only in an averaged or equivalent continuum sense. The flux exchange that occurs between the fluid in the fractures and in the solid matrix is represented by a linear heriditary process. This has the consequence that in order to carry the solution forward from time t to t+Δt, it is necessary to know and to store the complete contaminant history up to time t. This paper shows that all the hereditary information necessary to carry the solution forward is contained in the values of certain hereditary variables at time t so that it is not necessary to store the complete time history and consequently a more efficient numerical process can be developed.     

大武水源地地下水生物降解烃污染物的机理

近几年的环境调查研究表明,山东省淄博市大武地下水水源地上游邻近石化厂区出现严重的地下管道石油污染物持续泄漏的现象。堠皋—柳杭地段地下水环境在成为集中污染区的同时,水化学环境也发生了迥然的变化：地下水中电子接受体溶解氧、ＮＯ－３几乎未检出,ＳＯ４２－呈低值分布。这是因为地下水中存在微生物降解烃污染物的作用所致,其作用机理包括需氧降解、脱硝降解、脱硫降解以及有Ｆｅ３＋参与的降解作用。然而由于该地段需氧降解、脱硝降解难以持续自行进行,导致生物降解污染物的速度降低。进一步研究生物降解速度,以提高地下水中电子接受体的浓度,增强微生物的活性,将有利于治理方案的制订与实施。     

Contaminant transport in fractured media: analytical solution and sensitivity study considering pulse,Dirac delta and sinusoid input sources

The analytical solution of one‐dimensional transport for a single species radioactive nuclide, considering the decay term in a single fracture for pulse, Dirac delta, and single sinusoid input sources, has been studied using the Laplace transform method. The dimensionless concentration of the radioactive nuclide in the fracture appears to be a function of space, elapsed time, dispersivity, retardation factor, half‐life of the nuclide, and release time. By comparing different values of groundwater velocity, retardation factor, dispersivity, and release time, the results show that the c/c₀ ratio agrees with the nature of the physical and chemical characteristics of the nuclide in fracture transportation. The dimensionless concentration peak value from a small retardation factor is found to be more sensitive, within a time frame ranging from 10 years to a few hundreds years, than the case with a larger retardation factor for H‐3. Except for a small variation in the peak value, the result is almost the same for pulse and sinusoid inputs when considering the H‐3 nuclide. Analytical solutions during the preliminary screening phase are suitable for performance assessment on radioactive waste disposal sites under a one‐dimensional single fracture condition. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Congratulation for Our Deputy Editor-in-Chief Chunmiao Zheng Receiving Two Prestigious International Awards

正Dr.Chunmiao Zheng,a deputy editor-in-chief for Acta Geologica Sinica(English Edition),received the 2013 O.E.Meinzer Award from the Geological Society of America.Dr.Zheng was also awarded the 2013 M.King Hubbert Award by the National Ground Water Association in the United States."It is quite an achievement to receive both of these awards     

Process Performance of a Biotrickling Filter Using a Flow‐Directional‐Switching Method

Non‐uniform distribution of biomass and the accumulation of excess biomass at the inlet of a unidirectional flow biotrickling filter (UF‐BTF) may lead to severe operating problems including increasing airflow resistance in packed bed, clogging, and low contaminant removal efficiencies, even performance loss. Therefore, a flow‐directional‐switching biotrickling filter (FDS‐BTF) was designed to improve performance such as the maximum elimination capacity and elimination efficiency. Toluene was chosen as the unique carbon source for microorganism. The results indicated that the purification performance of FDS‐BTF was superior to UF‐BTF. The maximum elimination capacity of FDS‐BTF was up to 480 g/(m³ h), which was 17.1% higher than that of UF‐BTF. After a 50‐day continuous operation, FDS‐BTF attained the stable purification performance and the outlet concentrations of toluene could meet the emission standard with inlet concentrations ranging from 720 to 1100 mg/m³ for an empty bed residence time (EBRT) of 23.9 s. The average well color development in FDS‐BTF was higher than that in UF‐BTF. It indicated that FDS‐BTF could improve the metabolic activity, which may improve the uniform distribution of biomass along the length of packed bed. When two systems were shut down, 24 and 48 h, respectively, the time that FDS‐BTF and UF‐BTF needed to restore the former elimination efficiency after a shut down of 48 h were 3–4 and 9–10 h. These data indicated that the purification performance of FDS‐BTF was superior to UF‐BTF.