Weijie Guo

Removal of Organic Pollutants by a River Water Purification Demonstration Project

The efficiency of organic pollutants removed by an integrated river water purification demonstration project built in the Danshui River was investigated. Preferable remvoal results were obtained in the operation process of this project. More than 40% of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were removed from river water by the demonstration project, and the removal rates for five kinds of homologues for Naphthalene, fluorene, phenanthrene, pyrene and fluoranthene were 44.13%-59.23%, 44.1%-54.61%, 50.90%-54.70%, 61.88%-80.61% and 44.83%- 56.64%, respectively. Decabromodiphenyl ether(BDE-209) and bisphenol A(BPA) could be fully removed by this project.The results suggested that demonstration project could effectively remove the organic pollutants from river water and could be widely applicated in river water purification.

Capabilities of Seven Species of Aquatic Macrophytes for Phytoremediation of Pentachlorophenol Contaminated Sediment

Sediments are regarded as the ultimate sink of pentachlorophenol(PCP) in aquatic environment, and capabilities of seven species of aquatic macrophytes for remediating PCP contaminated sediment were investigated. Seven species of aquatic macrophytes could significantly accelerate the degradation of PCP in sediments. Among all, canna indica L., Acorus calamus L. and Iris tectorum Maxim. can be used as efficient alternative plants for remediation of PCP contaminated sediment, which attained 98%, 92% and 88% of PCP removal in sediments, respectively. PCP was detected only in root tissues and the uptake was closely related to the root lipid contents of seven plants. The presence of seven aquatic macrophytes significantly increased microbial populations and the activities of dehydrogenase compared with control sediments, indicating that rhizosphere microorganism played important role in the remediation process. In conclusion, seven species of aquatic macrophytes may act as promising tools for the PCP phytoremediation in aquatic environment, especially Canna indica L., Acorus calamus L. and Iris tectorum Maxim.

Effect of three kinds of surfactants and β-cyclodextrin on the phytoremediation of BDE-209 contaminated sediment

Plant-accelerated removal of BDE-209 from sediment by aquatic macrophyte Scirpus validus Vahl in the presence of a cationic-surfactant (CTAB), an anionic-surfactant (SDS), a nonionic-surfactant (Tween 80) and β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) at the concentrations ranged from 300 mg/kg to 1000 mg/kg were investigated. Significantly negative effect were not observed for the growth of S. validus in terms of plant height and stem diatemeter, which indicated that it is preferable for CTAB, SDS, Tween 80 and β-cyclodextrin to be utilized as the BDE-209 phytoremediation amendment. Furthermore, CTAB, SDS and Tween 80 in the certain concentrations significantly enhanced the phytoremediation efficiencies and 11.78-19.33% of increase in BDE-209 removal rates was obtained. Significantly enhance of BDE-209 phytoremediation efficiency was not observed in the added β-CD concentration ranges. Results obtained from this study provided some insight with regard to the feasibility of phytoremediation for BDE-209 contaminated sediments with addition of suitable solubilizers, especially Tween 80.