Rapid Removal of Organics and Oil Spills from Waters Using Silicone Rubber “Sponges”

We have developed a simple, robust, and efficient technology utilizing cheap and recoverable materials based on commercially available silicone elastomer networks for removing organic solvents and crude oil from waters. Hydrophobic and oleophilic properties of silicone elastomers endow poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS) with the capacity to absorb a large variety of organics, including benzene (B), toluene (T), ethylbenzene (E), and xylene (X), commonly referred to as BTEX, and also crude oils, while at the same time enabling the organic “sponges” to float on waters, which facilitates straightforward handling. We developed a method for generating PDMS particles with variable sizes (ranging from hundreds nanometers to few millimeters) by drop-wise depositing siloxane/cross-linker mixtures into warm water, a process which leads to the cross-linking of the PDMS components. We have tested the capability of the PDMS particles to remove toluene and benzene from water. We also performed similar experiments by utilizing PDMS sheets. In both instances we observed a rapid sorption of the organic phase into PDMS; the amount of absorbed organic solvent depended on the concentration in water and the total mass (volume) of PDMS and did not depend on the geometry of the PDMS “sponge.” In addition, we have examined the uptake of toluene and benzene from toluene/benzene (T/B) mixtures dissolved in water. Our results indicate that the amount of benzene absorbed from the T/B mixtures into PDMS increases relative to the uptake from pure benzene/water solutions. This behavior is associated with toluene acting as a “surfactant” that effectively replaces the more unfavorable PDMS/B contacts with less costly T/B ones. Finally, a simple experiment demonstrates qualitatively that PDMS is also capable of removing crude oils from oil-contaminated waters.     

胜利褐煤Ca~(2+)负载量对其平衡复吸水含量的影响

以胜利褐煤为研究对象,利用XRF、FT-IR等手段,采用灰分、pH值、不同相对蒸气压下的复吸水含量等参数,研究了Ca2+的离子效应对褐煤在不同相对蒸气压下复吸水含量的影响。研究结果表明,煤中Ca2+的负载量随用于交换的钙离子溶液浓度的增大而增加。煤中Ca2+的负载量对煤样的平衡复吸水含量影响较大,Ca2+负载量越大,煤样的平衡复吸水含量越大。相对蒸气压高于92%平衡复吸水含量的主要控制因素为游离水分子与游离水分子之间的相互作用力。相对蒸气压在11%~92%平衡复吸水含量的主要控制因素为金属水簇Ca+(H2O)n与毛细管之间的毛细管作用力。     

超临界水中钾对甲醛降解过程影响的研究

为掌握生物质中钾对生物质超临界水降解过程的影响,选择生物质气化转化过程中生成的重要小分子中间产物甲醛作为研究对象,研究不同工艺条件下(反应温度400～650℃、压力23～29 MPa、停留时间4～12 s),单一钾成分(KHCO₃/K₂CO₃/KCl)或混合钾成分(KHCO₃、K₂CO₃、KCl)对甲醛超临界水降解气体产物的影响。结果表明,KHCO₃、K₂CO₃、KCl、混合钾均降低了气体产物中CO的体积分数,提高了CO₂的体积分数,但KCl的影响程度弱于其他三种钾成分。此外,由于不同钾成分均不利于气体产物中CO和H₂体积分数的提高,从而使得气体产物的热值降低。KHCO₃、K₂CO₃、KCl、混合钾均降低了H₂、CO、CO₂的产率以及气化率,其对H₂产率以及气化率的抑制程度从大到小依次为:混合钾、KHCO₃、K₂CO₃、KCl,且提高反应温度、延长反应停留时间时抑制气体生成的作用相对越明显。而当反应压力改变时,钾成分对H₂产率及气化率的影响程度变化较小。较高反应温度、较高反应压力、较长停留时间时,混合钾中各成分出现协同作用,明显抑制了气体产物的生成。     

KNO3体系中离子液体辅助水煤浆电解脱硫

在稳流条件下,考察了KNO₃体系中离子液体辅助煤浆电解脱硫效果.研究了煤浆电解过程中离子液体结构、浓度、温度和时间对脱硫率的影响.当咪唑类离子液体有机结构相同时,不同阴离子脱硫率由高到低顺序为:Br^- >BF₄^- >Cl^-;当阴离子同为Br^-时,咪唑脱硫效果优于吡啶.随着吡啶类离子液体([BPy]Br)浓度增加,脱硫率先增加,在0.3 mol/L处达到最大值,而后下降.此外,脱硫率随温度和时间增加而增大.最后,通过X射线光电子能谱(XPS)分析技术对实验前后煤中有机硫形态进行了分析.结果表明,噻吩主要通过萃取-氧化反应脱除,而其他形式有机硫(如硫醚、亚砜)则主要通过促进氧化及水解反应脱除.     

Determination of Anionic Surfactants in Water

The use of ternary complexes in the determination of anionic surfactants has been investigated and an analytical method using linear alkyl sulfonates as a test substance has been developed. The method involves the formation of the chloroform-extractable bisphenanthroline Cu(II)-linear alkyl sulfonate (LAS) complex and the subsequent equilibration of the extract with erythrosine to form the extractable bisphenanthroline Cu(II)-erythrosine complex. In the equilibration step erythrosine displaces LAS quantitatively, allowing the determination of the LAS originally present by measuring the absorbance of the extracted bisphenanthroline-Cu(II)-erythrosine complex. Results are reported of studies made to determine the optimum analytical conditions, the sensitivity, and the precision for the method described.     

Dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction followed by high-performance liquid chromatography for the determination of three carbamate pesticides in water samples

A simple, rapid and efficient method, dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME) in conjunction with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), has been developed for the determination of three carbamate pesticides (methomyl, carbofuran and carbaryl) in water samples. In this extraction process, a mixture of 35 µL chlorobenzene (extraction solvent) and 1.0 mL acetonitrile (disperser solvent) was rapidly injected into the 5.0 mL aqueous sample containing the analytes. After centrifuging (5 min at 4000 rpm), the fine droplets of chlorobenzene were sedimented in the bottom of the conical test tube. Sedimented phase (20 µL) was injected into the HPLC for analysis. Some important parameters, such as kind and volume of extraction and disperser solvent, extraction time and salt addition were investigated and optimised. Under the optimum extraction condition, the enrichment factors and extraction recoveries ranged from 148% to 189% and 74.2% to 94.4%, respectively. The methods yielded a linear range in the concentration from 1 to 1000 µg L^?1 for carbofuran and carbaryl, 5 to 1000 µg L^?1 for methomyl, and the limits of detection were 0.5, 0.9 and 0.1 µg L^?1, respectively. The relative standard deviations (RSD) for the extraction of 500 µg L^?1 carbamate pesticides were in the range of 1.8–4.6% (n = 6). This method could be successfully applied for the determination of carbamate pesticides in tap water, river water and rain water.     

Determination of Some Transition Metals by Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy after Extraction with Pyridine-2-aldehyde-2-quinolylhydrazone

The extraction of pyridine-2-aldehyde-2-quinolylhydrazone chelates of cadmium, cobalt, copper, nickel, and zinc into isoamyl alcohol (IAOL) and methylisobutyl ketone (MIBK) has been investigated as a basis for the determination of these metals. Below pH 6 the extraction is enhanced by the addition of perchlorate, suggesting that charged complexes are being extracted by ion-pair formation. Sensitivities (1% absorption) are reported for IAOL and MIBK solutions of the metals sprayed into an air-acetylene flame. A procedure for the determination of the above metals by atomic absorption spectroscopy after extraction is given. The procedure is applied to the analysis of tap water for cadmium, copper, and zinc.     

Determination of 13C/12C-ratios of anthropogenic organic contaminants in river water samples by GC-irmMS

This study describes the application of a common analytical procedure adapted for compound-specific stable carbon isotope analyses of riverine contaminants. To evaluate the sensitivity of the analytical method and the precision of the isotopic data obtained, a set of numerous substances at different concentration levels were measured. For most of the anthropogenic contaminants investigated (including chlorinated aliphatics and aromatics, musk fragrances, phthalate-based plasticizers and tetrabutyl tin) acceptable carbon isotope analyses could be obtained down to amounts of approximately 5?ng absolutely applied to the gas chromatograph. These amounts correspond to concentrations in water samples at a natural abundance level of approximately 50–200?ng?L^?1 (low to medium contaminated river systems). However, it has to be considered that the precision and the sensitivity of the analytical method depend partially on the chemical properties of the substances measured. Five recovery experiments were conducted to assess changes in carbon isotope ratios during sample preparation and measurement. The compounds selected for these experiments are known riverine contaminants. Isotopic shifts or higher variations of the isotope ratios as a result of the analytical procedures applied were observed only for a couple of contaminants. Furthermore, compound-specific carbon isotope analyses were performed on eight water extracts of the Rhine river. By comparing the variation of the data of several individual compounds with the deviations obtained from the recovery experiments, it was possible to differentiate contaminants with unaffected isotope ratios and substances with significant alterations of the δ¹³C-values.     

Analysis of Polar Thermally Labile Pesticides using Different Solid-Phase Extraction (SPE) Materials with GC and HPLC Techniques

Abstract

In the present study, an efficient method for extraction, separation and determination of a limited number (30) of polar pesticides in aqueous matrices has been developed. Pesticides were extracted with high recoveries (usually >85%) from 1 L water samples, using the solid-phase extraction (SPE) technique. Affinities to different SPE materials (C-18 and XAD resins) have been studied for all pesticides. Special attention has been paid to the following 5 pesticides (which have classified by the EC as compounds which are particularly difficult to analyse): benazolia, bromofenoxim, ethofumesate, fenamiphos and phenmediphain. Thermally labile compounds have been determined with high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) and UV detection in comparison to TSP-LC-MS. Absolute limits of detection (LODs) for the HPLC technique are usually below 1 ng at 220 nm. Thermospray LC-MS determination shows usually limits of detection of 1-10 ng (SCAN) and 60-800 pg (SIM). All pesticides, which are amenable to GC have been detected in a comparative study with the following detectors: flame ionization detector (FID), nitrogen-phosphorus detector (NPD), electron capture detector (ECD) and atomic emission detector (AED). Element-specific detection of various functional groups of these pesticides has been achieved using GC-AED. Thus, while the FID has the lowest specificity, the AED is the most specific detector. LODs are usually < 300 pg (FID < 20 pg, NPD < 1 pg, ECD < 1 pg, AED < 300 pg). Spiked river water samples (from the River Leine and River Weser in Lower Saxony, Germany) have been used to test the employed method. With the spiked surface water samples recoveries were usually >80%.     

Artificial Neural Networks in water analysis: Theory and applications

Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) have seen an explosion of interest over the last two decades and have been successfully applied in all fields of chemistry and particularly in analytical chemistry. Inspired from biological systems and originated from the perceptron, i.e. a program unit that learns concepts, ANNs are capable of gradual learning over time and modelling extremely complex functions. In addition to the traditional multivariate chemometric techniques, ANNs are often applied for prediction, clustering, classification, modelling of a property, process control, procedural optimisation and/or regression of the obtained data. This paper aims at presenting the most common network architectures such as Multi-layer Perceptrons (MLPs), Radial Basis Function (RBF) and Kohonen's self-organisations maps (SOM). Moreover, back-propagation (BP), the most widespread algorithm used today and its modifications, such as quick-propagation (QP) and Delta-bar-Delta, are also discussed. All architectures correlate input variables to output variables through non-linear, weighted, parameterised functions, called neurons. In addition, various training algorithms have been developed in order to minimise the prediction error made by the network. The applications of ANNs in water analysis and water quality assessment are also reviewed. Most of the ANNs works are focused on modelling and parameters prediction. In the case of water quality assessment, extended predictive models are constructed and optimised, while variables correlation and significance is usually estimated in the framework of the predictive or classifier models. On the contrary, ANNs models are not frequently used for clustering/classification purposes, although they seem to be an effective tool. ANNs proved to be a powerful, yet often complementary, tool for water quality assessment, prediction and classification.