Quantification of ultrasonic intensity based on the decomposition reaction of porphyrin

A simple method is proposed for quantification of the effective ultrasonic intensity in the reaction vessel based on the decomposition reaction of 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-sulfotophenyl) porphyrin (H₂TPPS⁴⁻). The change of concentration of porphyrin in solution irradiated by the ultrasound wave depends on the irradiation time and the output power of ultrasound generator. The decomposition ratio of porphyrin is defined as the ratio of the concentration of porphyrin after ultrasonic irradiation to that before ultrasonic irradiation. A linear relationship between the decomposition ratio of porphyrin and the concentration Fe³⁺ in the Fricke solution under sonication was obtained. The decomposition ratio was related to the absorption dose in radiation chemistry.     

Sonodegradation of halomethane mixtures in chlorinated drinking water

Ultrasonic degradation of halomethane mixtures, with very low initial concentration in chlorinated drinking water was investigated. It was observed that the removal efficiencies of four halomethanes after 1 h ultrasonic irradiation followed the increasing order: CHCl₃ < CHBr₂Cl < CHBrCl₂ < CCl₄ and the degradation reactions of the halomethanes were well described by the pseudo-first-order kinetics model. Molecular polarity was found to be an important factor controlling the sonodegradation of halomethane mixtures. Increasing acoustic intensity enhanced the removal of halomethanes in chlorinated drinking water. In addition, ultrasonic irradiation led to a slightly decrease of pH and TOC of chlorinated drinking water.     

强化生物除磷过程中聚β羟基烷酸酯的红外光谱分析

强化生物除磷是废水生物除磷的主要技术手段。在厌氧与好氧交替运行的反应过程中,污泥中聚β羟基烷酸酯(PHA)经历了厌氧储存和好氧降解的过程,其位于1 740 cm-1吸收峰亦呈现出先增强后减弱的变化。通过比较PHA标准品的红外光谱图,实现了活性污泥PHA的红外特征归属,1 740 cm-1红外吸收峰源于PHA羰基特征吸收。利用高斯分峰法将相互重叠的PHA峰、蛋白质Ⅰ峰和蛋白质Ⅱ峰进行了分离,PHA与蛋白质Ⅰ峰的峰面积比值与PHA测定值有较好相关性,相关系数可达0.873,峰面积比值可反映污泥中PHA的变化趋势。选取1 480~1 780 cm-1区域红外光谱,经过归一化处理并转化为吸光度数据后,结合污泥样品PHA含量的色谱分析结果,应用偏最小二乘法建立了污泥样品红外光谱与PHA含量的关系模型,模型预测值与测量值具有较好的一致性,结合未知浓度活性污泥样品的红外光谱以及该关系模型,可以迅速预测未知污泥样品中的PHA含量。该方法的研究为污泥胞内PHA的快速表征和定量分析提供了新的分析方法。     

Medium-high frequency ultrasound and ozone based advanced oxidation for amoxicillin removal in water

In this study, treatment of an antibiotic compound amoxicillin by medium-high frequency ultrasonic irradiation and/or ozonation has been studied. Ultrasonic irradiation process was carried out in a batch reactor for aqueous amoxicillin solutions at three different frequencies (575, 861 and 1141 kHz). The applied ultrasonic power was 75 W and the diffused power was calculated as 14.6 W/L. The highest removal was achieved at 575 kHz ultrasonic frequency (>99%) with the highest pseudo first order reaction rate constant 0.04 min⁻¹ at pH 10 but the mineralization achieved was around 10%. Presence of alkalinity and humic acid species had negative effect on the removal efficiency (50% decrease). To improve the poor outcomes, ozonation had been applied with or without ultrasound. Ozone removed the amoxicillin at a rate 50 times faster than ultrasound. Moreover, due to the synergistic effect, coupling of ozone and ultrasound gave rise to rate constant of 2.5 min⁻¹ (625 times higher than ultrasound). In the processes where ozone was used, humic acid did not show any significant effect because the rate constant was so high that ozone has easily overcome the scavenging effects of natural water constituents. Furthermore, the intermediate compounds, after the incomplete oxidation mechanisms, has been analyzed to reveal the possible degradation pathways of amoxicillin through ultrasonic irradiation and ozonation applications. The outcomes of the intermediate compounds experiments and the toxicity was investigated to give a clear explanation about the safety of the resulting solution. The relevance of all the results concluded that hybrid advanced oxidation system was the best option for amoxicillin removal.     

超声波强化一次污泥沉降与脱水性能的研究

本文就超声波处理对一次污泥强化沉降与脱水性能进行了研究。对污泥性质中的SV、滤饼含水率、比阻、粘度等进行了分析。分析表明短时间的超声作用可以提高污泥脱水和沉降性能,超声处理7s后滤饼含水率降低2.9%；超声10s时粘度和比阻值最小,比原污泥分别减小29.4%和24.2%；15s后污泥沉降速率是原污泥的3.7倍。如投加絮凝剂,投加量为0.054g/L时污泥沉降速率最快,最终污泥体积为84.5%,粘度值最低,为84.5mpa·s。加入超声10s作用后,最佳絮凝剂投加量为0.027g/L,且最终污泥体积比单独投加0.054g/L时减小4%,粘度值降低14.8%。超声波与絮凝剂的联用可以改善污泥脱水性能和沉降性能,减小絮凝剂的量达一半以上。     

Sonochemical removal of trihalomethanes from aqueous solutions

In this research, ultrasound irradiation was employed to degrade the trihalomethanes, THMs: CHCl₃, CHBrCl₂, CHBr₂Cl, CHBr₃, and CHI₃. The kinetics reaction rates and removal efficiencies of the THMs compounds, as a sole component in the aqueous solutions, were studied. Batch experiments were conducted at an ultrasonic frequency of 20 kHz and acoustic intensity of 3.75 W/cm². The first-order degradation rate constants and the sonolysis efficiencies followed the decreasing order of CHCl₃ > CHBrCl₂ > CHBr₂Cl > CHBr₃ > CHI₃. Up to 100% of the CHCl₃ was removed, while only 60% of the CHI₃ was sonodegraded, after 180 min sonication. The THMs vapor pressure was found to be the most important parameter affecting the sonodegradation kinetics and efficiency, while the bond dissociation energy and hydrophilic/hydrophobic characteristics of the THMs compounds were found to be of secondary importance.     

Effect of exposure parameters on cavitation induced by low-level dual-frequency ultrasound

In order to quantify the effects of exposure parameters under therapeutic conditions such as sonodynamic therapy, it is necessary initially to evaluate the inertial cavitation activity in vitro. In this study, the dependence of cavitation activity induced by the low-level dual-frequency ultrasound irradiation on exposure parameters has been studied. Experiments were performed in the near 150 kHz and 1 MHz fields in the progressive wave mode. It has been shown that at constant ultrasound energy the fluorescence intensity for continuous sonication is higher than for pulsed mode. With increasing the duty cycle of pulsed field, the inertial cavitation activity is increased. The activity of cavitation produced by simultaneous combined sonication by two ultrasound fields is remarkably higher than the algebraic sum of effects produced by fields separately (p-value < 0.05). This study shows that simultaneous combined dual-frequency ultrasound sonication in continuous mode is more effective in producing inertial cavitation activity at low-level intensity. Therefore, it is concluded that investigations in this combined ultrasound sonication can be useful in sonodynamic therapy for superficial tumors.     

Effect of ultrasound on the activity of alliinase from fresh garlic

Alliinase is a homodimeric glycoprotein found most often in genus Allium plants. In this study, alliinase was purified from fresh garlic by using ammonium sulfate precipitation and gel filtration on a Sephacryl S-200 column. Homogeneity of the purified protein with a molecular weight of 54,000 Da was confirmed by SDS-PAGE. The effect of ultrasound on the alliinase activity was further studied. The optimal parameters for stimulating the alliinase activity were as follows: ultrasonic intensity, 0.5 W/cm(2) and ultrasonic frequency, 40 kHz. Under the optimal conditions, ultrasonic irradiation did not affect the enzyme's optimal temperature and pH, and improved its thermal stability. The low frequency and mild intensity ultrasound could increase the alliinase activity about 47.1%. Under ultrasound, the alliinase activity was inhibited by exogenous pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) and K(+), and obviously enhanced by Fe(2+). However, PLP and both of the metal ions showed opposite effects in the absence of ultrasound. Ultrasound could retard or slow down the inhibitory effect of l-cysteine on the alliinase activity. These results indicated that the activity of alliinase from fresh garlic might be enhanced by the low frequency and mild intensity ultrasound.     

Enhancement of Anammox performances in an ABR at normal temperature by the low-intensity ultrasonic irradiation

A lab-scale ultrasound enhancing Anammox reactor (ABR_U) was established and irradiated once a week by ultrasound with the optimal parameter (frequency of 25.0 kHz, intensity of 1.00 W cm⁻² and exposure time of 36.0 s) obtained by response surface methodology (RSM). ABR_U and the controlled Anammox reactor (ABR_C) without ultrasonic treatment were operated in parallel. The start-up time of Anammox process in ABR_U (59 d) was shorter than that in ABR_C (69 d). At the end of the nitrogen load-enhancing period, NLR (0.500 kg N m⁻³ d⁻¹) and NRR (0.430 kg N m⁻³ d⁻¹) in ABR_U were both higher than NLR (0.400 kg N m⁻³ d⁻¹) and NRR (0.333 kg N m⁻³ d⁻¹) in ABR_C. The results of RTQ-PCR demonstrated that the specific low-intensity ultrasound irradiation improved the enrichment levels of AnAOB in mature sludge. SEM images and the observation of the macroscopic morphology of mature sludge showed that the ultrasound irradiation strengthened the formation of Anammox granular sludge, thereby improved the interception capacity and impact load resistance of the reactor, and enhanced the nitrogen removal performance in ABR_U. The ultrasonic enhanced Anammox reactor based on an ABR with the optimal parameters can promote the rapid start-up and efficient and stable operation of the Anammox process at normal temperature (around 25.0 °C).     

A fundamental study on the degradation of paracetamol under single- and dual-frequency ultrasound

The degradation of paracetamol, a widely found emerging pharmaceutical contaminant, was investigated under a wide range of single-frequency and dual-frequency ultrasonic irradiations. For single-frequency ultrasonic irradiation, plate transducers of 22, 98, 200, 300, 400, 500, 760, 850, 1000, and 2000 kHz were employed and for dual-frequency ultrasonic irradiation, the plate transducers were coupled with a 20 kHz ultrasonic horn in opposing configuration. The sonochemical activity was quantified using two dosimetry methods to measure the yield of HO• and H₂O₂ separately, as well as sonochemiluminescence measurement. Moreover, the severity of the bubble collapses as well as the spatial and size distribution of the cavitation bubbles were evaluated via sonoluminescence measurement. The paracetamol degradation rate was maximised at 850 kHz, in both single and dual-frequency ultrasonic irradiation. A synergistic index higher than 1 was observed for all degrading frequencies (200 – 1000 kHz) under dual-frequency ultrasound irradiation, showing the capability of dual-frequency system for enhancing pollutant degradation. A comparison of the results of degradation, dosimetry, and sonoluminescence intensity measurement revealed the stronger dependency of the degradation on the yield of HO• for both single and dual-frequency systems, which confirms degradation by HO• as the main removal mechanism. However, an enhanced degradation for frequencies higher than 500 kHz was observed despite a lower HO• yield, which could be attributed to the improved mass transfer of hydrophilic compounds at higher frequencies. The sonoluminescence intensity measurements showed that applying dual-frequency ultrasonic irradiation for 200 and 400 kHz made the bubbles larger and less uniform in size, with a portion of which not contributing to the yield of reactive oxidant species, whereas for the rest of the frequencies, dual-frequency ultrasound irradiation made the cavitation bubbles smaller and more uniform, resulting in a linear correlation between the overall sonoluminescence intensity and the yield of reactive oxidant species.     

Investigation of the effect of power ultrasound on the nucleation of water during freezing of agar gel samples in tubing vials

Nucleation, as an important stage of freezing process, can be induced by the irradiation of power ultrasound. In this study, the effect of irradiation temperature (−2 °C, −3 °C, −4 °C and −5 °C), irradiation duration (0 s, 1 s, 3 s, 5 s, 10 s or 15 s) and ultrasound intensity (0.07 W cm⁻², 0.14 W cm⁻², 0.25 W cm⁻², 0.35 W cm⁻² and 0.42 W cm⁻²) on the dynamic nucleation of ice in agar gel samples was studied. The samples were frozen in an ethylene glycol-water mixture (−20 °C) in an ultrasonic bath system after putting them into tubing vials. Results indicated that ultrasound irradiation is able to initiate nucleation at different supercooled temperatures (from −5 °C to −2 °C) in agar gel if optimum intensity and duration of ultrasound were chosen. Evaluation of the effect of 0.25 W cm⁻² ultrasound intensity and different durations of ultrasound application on agar gels showed that 1 s was not long enough to induce nucleation, 3 s induced the nucleation repeatedly but longer irradiation durations resulted in the generation of heat and therefore nucleation was postponed. Investigation of the effect of ultrasound intensity revealed that higher intensities of ultrasound were effective when a shorter period of irradiation was used, while lower intensities only resulted in nucleation when a longer irradiation time was applied. In addition to this, higher intensities were not effective at longer irradiation times due to the heat generated in the samples by the heating effect of ultrasound. In conclusion, the use of ultrasound as a means to control the crystallization process offers promising application in freezing of solid foods, however, optimum conditions should be selected.     

Ultrasonic frequency effects on the removal of Microcystis aeruginosa

Algae bloom in source water causes high chemical consumption and deteriorates water quality in waterworks. This paper studied the ultrasonic removal of Microcystis aeruginosa. The results showed that algae cells could be effectively removed by sonication and gas vesicle collapse was the main mechanism. The ultrasonic algae removal followed the first order reaction with a rate constant of 0.023 min(-1) (80 W, 80 kHz). Higher ultrasound frequency benefited algae removal; the algae removal rate constant was 0.114 min(-1) at 1320 kHz and 0.0224 min(-1) at 20 kHz (80 W). Higher ultrasound power also accelerated algae removal; the algae removal rate constant was 0.023 min(-1) at 80 W and 0.007 min(-1) at 32 W (80 kHz). However, high ultrasound power and long irradiation caused microcystins to increase. 80 W, 80 kHz sonication for 5 min increased the extracellular microcystins concentration from 0.87 microg/L to 3.11 microg/L. Sound frequency had little impact on the microcystins release. The chlorophyll a concentration initially decreased and then stabilized after 5 min of sonication.     

超声波作用下污泥水分扩散过程的数值模拟

建立了超声波作用下污泥内部水分扩散模型,利用分形理论对超声波(20 kHz)作用下污泥内部孔隙结构进行描述,探讨了超声波声能密度对污泥孔隙表面分形维数df及孔隙通道曲折度分形维数dw的影响,在此基础上建立了超声波作用下多孔介质中液体有效扩散系数的分形模型,对不同声能密度超声波辐照下污泥水分扩散过程进行了数值模拟.研究发...     

Synergistic bactericidal effects and mechanisms of low intensity ultrasound and antibiotics against bacteria: a review

Low intensity ultrasonic therapy is always an important research area of ultrasonic medicine. This review concentrates on low intensity ultrasound enhancing bactericidal action of antibiotics against bacteria in vitro and in vivo, including planktonic bacteria, bacterial biofilms, Chlamydia, and bacteria in implants. These literatures show that low intensity ultrasound alone is not effective in killing bacteria, while the combination of low intensity ultrasound and antibiotics is promising. Low intensity ultrasound facilitating antibiotic treatment is still in its infancy, and still requires a great deal of research in order to develop the technology on medical treatment scale.     

Precipitation of calcium carbonate by ultrasonic irradiation

Supersaturated solution of calcium carbonate ([Ca²⁺]=1.2 mmol/L, [HCO₃⁻]=3.2 mmol/L, pH=8.8, T=30±0.5 °C), a scale forming component, was irradiated by an ultrasonic homogenizer (24 kHz, 15–250 W/cm²) to study the factors that affect its precipitation rate. The factors of (1) depth of horn immersion, (2) ultrasonic intensity and horn tip size and (3) cavitation, which can affect the precipitation rate were investigated in this study. Ultrasonic irradiation was observed to accelerate the precipitation of calcium carbonate and it was found that there exists an optimum range of horn immersion depth for maximizing the precipitation rate. The experimental data also established that the precipitation rate was proportional to ultrasonic intensity and diameter of horn tip. These findings were correlated to the effects of physical mixing, that arises due to ultrasonic irradiation. However, the effect of cavitation in accelerating the precipitation rate was found to be small. Thus it is forwarded that the physical mixing effect, especially macrostreaming is the main factor that accelerates the precipitation rate of calcium carbonate during ultrasonic treatment. Further, neither the morphology nor the size of the calcium carbonate crystals formed were found to be affected by the ultrasonic irradiation.     

Sonodynamically induced antitumor effect of hematoporphyrin on Hepatoma 22

The ultrasonically induced cytotoxic effects of hematoporphyrin (Hp) on Hepatoma 22 (H22) cells in vitro and vivo were investigated. Tumor cells were suspended in saline and exposed to ultrasound at 1.43 MHz for up to 60s in the presence and absence of Hp. The viability of cells was evaluated by trypan blue exclusion test. The ultra-structure changes of H22 cells induced by ultrasonic irradiation were evaluated by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). Lipid peroxidation in cell was estimated by the thiobarbicturic acid (TBA) method. Our experiments indicated that the ultrasonic intensity of 2 W/cm(2), the Hp concentration of 100 microg/ml and the ultrasound exposure time of 60s were the best conditions for sonodynamic treatment in vitro. The tumor volume and weight after the combination of Hp with ultrasound were remarkably inhibited. SEM and TEM observation found the cell ultra-structure was significantly damaged, and lipid peroxidation level remarkably increased after sonodynamic treatment. This study suggested the ultra-structural changes may play a key role in cell destruction induced by sonodynamic treatment and the biological mechanism might be involved in mediating the killing effect on H22 cells in our experiment mode.     

Ultrasound assisted enzymatic depolymerization of aqueous guar gum solution

The present work investigates the effectiveness of application of low intensity ultrasonic irradiation for the intensification of enzymatic depolymerization of aqueous guar gum solution. The extent of depolymerization of guar gum has been analyzed in terms of intrinsic viscosity reduction. The effect of ultrasonic irradiation on the kinetic and thermodynamic parameters related to the enzyme activity as well as the intrinsic viscosity reduction of guar gum using enzymatic approach has been evaluated. The kinetic rate constant has been found to increase with an increase in the temperature and cellulase loading. It has been observed that application of ultrasound not only enhances the extent of depolymerization but also reduces the time of depolymerization as compared to conventional enzymatic degradation technique. In the presence of cellulase enzyme, the maximum extent of depolymerization of guar gum has been observed at 60 W of ultrasonic rated power and ultrasonic treatment time of 30 min. The effect of ultrasound on the kinetic and thermodynamic parameters as well as the molecular structure of cellulase enzyme was evaluated with the help of the chemical reaction kinetics model and fluorescence spectroscopy. Application of ultrasound resulted in a reduction in the thermodynamic parameters of activation energy (E_a), enthalpy (ΔH), entropy (ΔS) and free energy (ΔG) by 47%, 50%, 65% and 1.97%, respectively. The changes in the chemical structure of guar gum treated using ultrasound assisted enzymatic approach in comparison to the native guar gum were also characterized by FTIR. The results revealed that enzymatic depolymerization of guar gum resulted in a polysaccharide with low degree of polymerization, viscosity and consistency index without any change in the core chemical structure which could make it useful for incorporation in food products.     

三种肿瘤细胞对超声结合血卟啉敏感性的实验研究

实验采用频率为1．6MHz，强度为1W／cm^2、3W／cm^2、5W／cm^2、7W／cm^2的聚焦超声结合血卟啉分别对腹水型小鼠S180细胞（Sarcomal80，S180）、艾氏腹水瘤细胞（Ehrlich Ascites Tumor，EAT）及H-22肝癌细胞进行杀伤效应研究，利用台盼蓝拒染法检测处理后细胞存活率的变化。实验结果表明，不同类型的细胞对超声结合血卟啉的敏感性不同，声照条件相同时，三种细胞对1．6MHz频率超声的敏感性依次为：S18〉EAT〉H-22，且对超声结合血卟啉敏感性明显大于单纯超声。无论是单纯超声组还是超声结合血卟啉组，三种细胞的存活率均随超声强度的增加而下降。     

Ultrasound-assisted desalination of crude oil: The influence of mixing extent,crude oil species,chemical demulsifier and operation variables

Coalescence of water droplets in crude oil has been effectively promoted by chemical demulsifiers integrated with ultrasound. Temporary images of water droplets in W/O emulsions were directly monitored using a metallurgical microscope. Water droplets achieved expansion of 118% at 40 min ultrasonic irradiation time under well mixing conditions. However, water droplets in heavy crude oil undergo less aggregation than those in light crude oil, due to resistance of mobility in highly viscous fluid. In the absence of chemical demulsifiers, water droplets enveloped by native surfactants appeared to aggregate arduously because of occurrence of interfacial tension gradients. Influential significance analyses have been executed by a factorial design method on operation variables, including acoustic power intensity, operation temperature, ultrasonic irradiation time and chemical demulsifier dosages. In this work, the outcomes indicate that the optimal operating conditions for desalination of crude oil assisted by ultrasound were as follows: acoustic power intensity = 300 W, operation temperature = 90℃, ultrasonic irradiation time = 75 min and chemical demulsifier dosages = 54 mg/L. Besides, it was found that the most influential importance of operation parameter was temperature, followed with acoustic power intensity, ultrasonic irradiation time and chemical demulsifier dosages.     

Removal of carbamazepine from aqueous solution using sono-activated persulfate process

This study investigated systematically the removal of carbamazepine (CBZ) in solution using the combination of ultrasound and persulfate anions to identify the factors affecting the kinetics of the process. The effects of reaction time, initial persulfate anion concentration, initial CBZ concentration, ultrasonic power input, solution pH and temperature on CBZ removal efficiency were examined. The sulfate radical oxidation of CBZ in the presence of ultrasonic irradiation showed a significant synergistic effect on CBZ removal. It is found that up to 89.4% CBZ removal efficiency was achieved after 120 min reaction. The removal process of CBZ in solution could be described using pseudo-first-order kinetics. In this system, sulfate radicals (SO₄⁻) were considered to be the mainly oxidant to remove CBZ while ultrasound power input could affect CBZ removal efficiency significantly. Changing solution pH influenced the CBZ removal efficiency and the best performance would be achieved at pH 5.0.