Zengwei Yuan

A review of soil heavy metal pollution from mines in China: Pollution and health risk assessment

Heavy metal pollution has pervaded many parts of the world, especially developing countries such as China. This review summarizes available data in the literature (2005-2012) on heavy metal polluted soils originating from mining areas in China. Based on these obtained data, this paper then evaluates the soil pollution levels of these collected mines and quantifies the risks these pollutants pose to human health. To assess these potential threat levels, the geoaccumulation index was applied, along with the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) recommended method for health risk assessment. The results demonstrate not only the severity of heavy metal pollution from the examined mines, but also the high carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks that soil heavy metal pollution poses to the public, especially to children and those living in the vicinity of heavily polluted mining areas. In order to provide key management targets for relevant government agencies, based on the results of the pollution and health risk assessments, Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, Hg, As, and Ni are selected as the priority control heavy metals; tungsten, manganese, lead-zinc, and antimony mines are selected as the priority control mine categories; and southern provinces and Liaoning province are selected as the priority control provinces. This review, therefore, provides a comprehensive assessment of soil heavy metal pollution derived from mines in China, while identifying policy recommendations for pollution mitigation and environmental management of these mines.

The Circular Economy: A New Development Strategy in China

Activities over the past several years, however, clearly show that CE is emerging as an economic strategy rather than a purely environmental strategy. The major objective of the government is to promote the sustainable development of economy and society, while it also helps to achieve sustainable environmental protection. powers, increasing the wealth of the population and providing employment and business opportunities. The rapid economic growth, however, has engendered serious natural resource depletion and environmental pollution, and the continuing increase of population has exacerbated this situation greatly. Recent research has pointed out that growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) in China has significantly reduced the opportunities of future generations to enjoy natural and environmental resources.1 The central government promised in 2002 to build a prosperous society in a comprehensive way by 2020. By then, GDP per capita is anticipated to reach U.S.

Anthropogenic phosphorus flow analysis of Hefei City, China.

3,000 and the total GDP to quadruple. Obviously, it is unrealistic for China to expect to realize this ambitious objective in terms of natural resource use if it continues its current development pathway, with population increasing to 1.45 billion in 2020 (Qu 2004), low productivity, and the absence of eco-efficiency.

Understanding the anthropogenic phosphorus pathway with substance flow analysis at the city level

The substance flow analysis (SFA) method was employed to examine phosphorus flow and its connection to water pollution in the city of Hefei, China, in 2008. As human activity is the driving force of phosphorus flux from the environment to the economy, the study provides a conceptual framework for analyzing an anthropogenic phosphorus cycle that includes four stages: extraction, fabrication and manufacturing, use, and waste management. Estimates of phosphorus flow were based on existing data as well as field research, expert advice, local accounting systems, and literature. The total phosphorus input into Hefei in 2008 reached 7810 tons, mainly as phosphate ore, chemical fertilizer, pesticides, crops and animal products. Approximately 33% of the total phosphorus input left the area, and nearly 20% of that amount was discharged as waste to surface water. Effluent containing excessive fertilizer from farming operations plays an important role in phosphorus overloads onto surface water; the other major emission source is sewage discharge. We also provide suggestions for reducing phosphorus emissions, for example reducing fertilizer use, recycling farming residues, and changing human consumption patterns.

Ecological risk assessment of heavy metals in surface sediments of six major chinese freshwater lakes.

Excessive input of phosphorus into natural water bodies as a result of anthropogenic processes is an escalating factor that leads to eutrophication. Hence, quantifying the pathway of phosphorus throughout the socioeconomic system is essential for the selection of appropriate measures to mitigate phosphorus discharge. The study develops an analytical model of anthropogenic phosphorus flows within a socioeconomic system based on substance flow analysis. The model consists of five major subsystems: the phosphorous chemical industry, agriculture, animal feeding, human consumption, and waste management. The results show that the total input and output of phosphorus in Chaohu City over 2008 are 8517.70 ton (t) and 4682.76 t, respectively. The estimation of phosphorus discharged into local surface water is 544.22 t, which primarily comes from agriculture (391.99 t, 72.03%), followed by large-scale farming (55.70 t, 10.23%), rural consumption (56.81 t, 10.44%), urban consumption (30.42 t, 5.59%), and waste management (9.30 t, 1.71%). Intensive input of fertilizers in agricultural practices was identified as the most important source of phosphorus load on local surface water. Hence, we propose that the eutrophication of local water bodies could be addressed by optimizing local industrial structure, developing ecological and organic-based agriculture, and improving waste collection and disposal practices.

Intensification of phosphorus cycling in China since the 1600s

An overall and comparative ecological risk assessment of heavy metal pollution (including Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, Hg, Cr, As, and Ni) in surface sediments was conducted for six major shallow freshwater lakes (Taihu Lake, Chaohu Lake, Nansihu Lake, Dongting Lake, Poyang Lake, and Hongze Lake) in China. A spatial database with 339 sediment samples was created through an extensive literature survey. Consensus-based sediment quality guidelines (SQGs) were used as the effect thresholds due to the lack of local eco-toxicological information about heavy metals in the six lakes. The results show that the ecological risk of heavy metal pollution in surface sediments is highest in Dongting Lake, followed by Taihu Lake. Lakes Chaohu, Nansihu, Poyang, and Hongze are at a similar risk level, which is a little lower than that of Lake Taihu. High-risk areas that should be given more attention were identified by spatial analysis. The estuaries of the inlets and outlets of Dongting Lake and the Meiliang Bay in Taihu Lake were found to be such areas. Ineffective environmental supervision and management during the recent years of rapid economic and industrial development in China have led to the pollution of lake sediments by heavy metals. Rigid control and effective management measures to prevent heavy metal pollution are urgently needed in China. In addition, it is necessary for China to develop basic research on the local eco-toxicity and SQGs of freshwater sediments to provide a scientific basis for the management of lake sediment pollution.

Life cycle assessment of water reuse systems in an industrial park

Significance The biogeochemical cycle of phosphorus (P) has been massively altered in China, challenging its food security and causing eutrophication of freshwaters. This study shows, for the first time to our knowledge, how P cycling in China was intensified in the past four centuries to sustain the increasing population and its demand for animal protein. Our analysis also reveals the spatial disparity of its concomitant eutrophication impact. The findings advance the knowledge base needed for closing the P cycle to sustain future food production and maintain healthy rivers, lakes, and oceans. Phosphorus (P) is an essential nutrient for living systems with emerging sustainability challenges related to supply uncertainty and aquatic eutrophication. However, its long-term temporal dynamics and subsequent effects on freshwater ecosystems are still unclear. Here, we quantify the P pathways across China over the past four centuries with a life cycle process-balanced model and evaluate the concomitant potential for eutrophication with a spatial resolution of 5 arc-minutes in 2012. We find that P cycling in China has been artificially intensified during this period to sustain the increasing population and its demand for animal protein-based diets, with continuous accumulations in inland waters and lands. In the past decade, China’s international trade of P involves net exports of P chemicals and net imports of downstream crops, specifically soybeans from the United States, Brazil, and Argentina. The contribution of crop products to per capita food P demand, namely, the P directly consumed by humans, declined from over 98% before the 1950s to 76% in 2012, even though there was little change in per capita food P demand. Anthropogenic P losses to freshwater and their eutrophication potential clustered in wealthy coastal regions with dense populations. We estimate that Chinese P reserve depletion could be postponed for over 20 y by more efficient life cycle P management. Our results highlight the importance of closing the P cycle to achieve the cobenefits of P resource conservation and eutrophication mitigation in the world’s most rapidly developing economy.

Improving air pollution control policy in China—A perspective based on cost–benefit analysis

The rapid development of industrial parks in China has resulted in large resource consumption and pollutant emissions, especially freshwater use and wastewater discharge. Water reuse has attracted much attention from governments because of its potential to conserve freshwater and reduce pollutant emissions. However, water reuse usually means adding advanced treatment which consumes chemicals, materials and energy. Is the water reuse beneficial for the environment from a life cycle perspective? To answer this question, we quantified the environmental impacts of reusing treated wastewater at industrial parks under different scenarios through a comparative life-cycle assessment (LCA). Four scenarios are assessed: wastewater is treated and discharged, 20% and 99% of wastewater is treated and reused as industrial process water, and treated wastewater is used for horticulture. Inventory data were mainly obtained from a facility which manages the wastewater treatment and reuse system of an industrial park in Jiangsu Province. Environmental impacts were evaluated using the CML2001 method built into the GaBi version 4.3 database. The results show the water reuse is beneficial and the reuse rate significantly affects environmental performance of the system. It is also found that using the reclaimed water for higher value applications results in larger environmental credit. Decision makers in water management should consider both water quantity and quality and associated environmental impacts for different water reuse applications.

Estimating future generation of obsolete household appliances in China

To mitigate serious air pollution, the State Council of China promulgated the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan in 2013. To verify the feasibility and validity of industrial energy-saving and emission-reduction policies in the action plan, we conducted a cost-benefit analysis of implementing these policies in 31 provinces for the period of 2013 to 2017. We also completed a scenario analysis in this study to assess the cost-effectiveness of different measures within the energy-saving and the emission-reduction policies individually. The data were derived from field surveys, statistical yearbooks, government documents, and published literatures. The results show that total cost and total benefit are 118.39 and 748.15 billion Yuan, respectively, and the estimated benefit-cost ratio is 6.32 in the S3 scenario. For all the scenarios, these policies are cost-effective and the eastern region has higher satisfactory values. Furthermore, the end-of-pipe scenario has greater emission reduction potential than energy-saving scenario. We also found that gross domestic product and population are significantly correlated with the benefit-cost ratio value through the regression analysis of selected possible influencing factors. The sensitivity analysis demonstrates that benefit-cost ratio value is more sensitive to unit emission-reduction cost, unit subsidy, growth rate of gross domestic product, and discount rate among all the parameters. Compared with other provinces, the benefit-cost ratios of Beijing and Tianjin are more sensitive to changes of unit subsidy than unit emission-reduction cost. These findings may have significant implications for improving Chinas air pollution prevention policy.

Estimation of Copper In‐Use Stocks in Nanjing, China

The estimate of future obsolete streams is one of the crucial issues for the establishment of an efficient waste collection and recycling system in China. Due to low availability of reliable data, information on discarded household appliances (HAs) is deficient in China. This study adopts a stocks-based prediction model based on material flow analysis. The model firstly models the lifetime distribution of HAs, and then the future stocks of HAs are extrapolated. By determining the initial year of calculation, the model makes a prediction of future obsolete HAs in China in the time period from 2010–2030. The results show that the discarded amount of the five major kinds of HAs will increase from 130 million units in 2010 to 216 to 221 million units by 2020, and 259 to 282 million units by 2030. A total of 4370 to 4528 million units (149 to 155 million tonnes) of obsolete HAs will be generated in China over the next 20 years. Urban households will generate significantly more obsolete HAs (about 2619 to 2723 million units) than rural households, mainly due to the difference in their HAs possession levels. Thus recycling capacity must increase if the rising quantity of domestic obsolete HAs is to be handled properly. The results of this study can help to develop the collection and recycling systems and facilities needed for the obsolete HAs generated in the future. From a methodological perspective, the stock-based model provides a suitable tool to predict the generation of discarded HAs in the future