Browsing by Author "Hu, Qing"
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Item Open Access China's soil and groundwater management challenges: Lessons from the UK's experience and opportunities for China(Elseveir, 2016-03-10) Coulon, Frederic; Jones, Kevin; Li, Hong; Hu, Qing; Gao, Jingyang; Li, Fasheng; Chen, Mengfang; Zhu, Yong-Guan; Liu, Rongxia; Liu, Ming; Canning, Kate; Harries, Nicola; Bardos, Paul; Nathanail, C. Paul; Sweeney, Rob; Middleton, David; Charnley, Maggie; Randall, Jeremy; Richell, Martin; Howard, Trevor; Martin, Ian; Spooner, Simon; Weeks, Jason; Cave, Mark; Yu, Fang; Zhang, Fang; Jiang, Ying; Longhurst, Philip J.; Prpich, George; Bewley, Richard; Abra, Jonathan; Pollard, Simon J. T.There are a number of specific opportunities for UK and China to work together on contaminated land management issues as China lacks comprehensive and systematic planning for sustainable risk based land management, encompassing both contaminated soil and groundwater and recycling and reuse of soil. It also lacks comprehensive risk assessment systems, structures to support risk management decision making, processes for verification of remediation outcome, systems for record keeping and preservation and integration of contamination issues into land use planning, along with procedures for ensuring effective health and safety considerations during remediation projects, and effective evaluation of costs versus benefits and overall sustainability. A consequence of the absence of these overarching frameworks has been that remediation takes place on an ad hoc basis. At a specific site management level, China lacks capabilities in site investigation and consequent risk assessment systems, in particular related to conceptual modelling and risk evaluation. There is also a lack of shared experience of practical deployment of remediation technologies in China, analogous to the situation before the establishment of the independent, non-profit organisation CL:AIRE (Contaminated Land: Applications In Real Environments) in 1999 in the UK. Many local technology developments are at lab-scale or pilot-scale stage without being widely put into use. Therefore, a shared endeavour is needed to promote the development of technically and scientifically sound land management as well as soil and human health protection to improve the sustainability of the rapid urbanisation in China.Item Open Access Groundwater remediation using Magnesium–Aluminum alloys and in situ layered doubled hydroxides(Elsevier, 2021-10-22) Zhang, Jingqi; Hu, Hanjun; Chao, Jingbo; Tang, Yang; Wan, Pingyu; Yuan, Qipeng; Fisher, Adrian C.; Coulon, Frederic; Hu, Qing; Yang, Xiao JinIn situ remediation of groundwater by zerovalent iron (ZVI)-based technology faces the problems of rapid passivation, fast agglomeration, limited range of pollutants and secondary contamination. Here a new concept of Magnesium–Aluminum (Mg–Al) alloys and in situ layered double hydroxides on is proposed for the degradation and removal of a wide variety of inorganic and organic pollutants from groundwater. The Mg–Al alloy provides the electrons for the chemical reduction and/or the degradation of pollutants while released Mg2+, Al3+ and OH- ions react to generate in situ LDH precipitates, incorporating other divalent and trivalent metals and oxyanions pollutants and further adsorbing the micropollutants. The Mg–Al alloy outperforms ZVI for treating acidic, synthetic groundwater samples contaminated by complex chemical mixtures of heavy metals (Cd2+, Cr6+, Cu2+, Ni2+ and Zn2+), nitrate, AsO33-, methyl blue, trichloroacetic acid and glyphosate. Specifically, the Mg–Al alloy achieves removal efficiency ≥99.7% for these multiple pollutants at concentrations ranging between 10 and 50 mg L−1 without producing any secondary contaminants. In contrast, ZVI removal efficiency did not exceed 90% and secondary contamination up to 220 mg L−1 Fe was observed. Overall, this study provides a new alternative approach to develop efficient, cost-effective and green remediation for water and groundwater.Item Open Access Highly efficient capture of mercury from complex water matrices by AlZn alloy reduction-amalgamation and in situ layered double hydroxide(Taylor & Francis, 2023-02-13) Fang, Yetian; Li, Fangyuan; Chao, Jingbo; Tang, Yang; Coulon, Frederic; Krasucka, Patrycja; Oleszczuk, Patryk; Hu, Qing; Yang, Xiao JinMercury pollution is a critical, worldwide problem and the efficient, cost-effective removal of mercury from complex, contaminated water matrices in a wide pH range from strongly acidic to alkaline has been a challenge. Here, AlZn and AlFe alloys are investigated and a new process of synergistic reduction-amalgamation and in situ layered double hydroxide (SRA-iLDH) for highly efficient capture of aqueous Hg(Ⅱ) is developed using AlZn alloys. The parameters include the pH values of 1-12, the Hg(II) concentrations of 10-1000 mg L-1, and the alloy’s Zn concentrations of 20, 50 and 70% and Fe concentrations of 10, 20 and 50%. The initial rate of Hg(Ⅱ) uptake by AlZn alloys decreases with increasing Zn concentration while the overall rate is not affected. Specifically, AlZn50 alloy removes >99.5% Hg(Ⅱ) from 10 mg L-1 solutions at pH 1-12 in 5 min at a rate constant of 0.055 g mg-1 min-1 and achieves a capacity of 5000 mg g-1, being the highest value reported so far. The super-performance of AlZn alloy is attributed to multiple functions of chemical reduction, dual amalgamation, in situ LDH’s surface complexation and adsorption, isomorphous substitution and intercalation. This study provides a simple and highly efficient approach for removing Hg(Ⅱ) from complex water matrices.Item Open Access Improving the biodegradability of rice straw by electrochemical pretreatment(Elsevier, 2022-08-23) Sun, Shaohua; Zhang, Yuanyuan; Yang, Zhaoyang; Liu, Chunmei; Zuo, Xiaoyu; Tang, Yang; Wan, Pingyu; Liu, Yanping; Li, Xiujin; Coulon, Frederic; Hu, Qing; Yang, Xiao JinThe efficacy of NaOH, alkaline hydrogen peroxide (NaOH-H2O2), electrochemically produced NaOH-H2O2 (eNaOH-H2O2) and electrohydrolysis (EH) pretreatments was investigated for anaerobic digestion of rice straw. The cumulative biogas production was enhanced by 8%, 22% and 14% in the NaOH-H2O2, eNaOH-H2O2 and EH relative to conventional NaOH pretreatment. The chemical and electrochemical pretreatments decreased the crystallinity of cellulose and created a porous surface vein. Electrochemical NaOH-H2O2 pretreatment is efficient to promote microbial degradation of lignocellulose for biogas production while the risks associated with the transportation and storage of H2O2 are avoided. EH reduces the pretreatment time significantly and is a promising approach for utilizing rice straw biomass to produce renewable energy.Item Open Access Improving the efficiency of small-scale wastewater treatment by pneumatic agitation(Elsevier, 2021-12-23) Sun, Shaohua; Tong, Yanming; Hou, Aiying; Yin, Lijun; Zheng, Tong; Zheng, Jie; Liu, Jicheng; Cao, Bing; Hu, Qing; Coulon, Frederic; Yang, Xiao JinSmall-scale anaerobic and aerobic systems for wastewater treatment suffer relatively low efficiencies due primarily to a lack of mechanical agitation/mixing. Here, a pneumatic agitation system was designed by installing a U-tube between the anaerobic and anoxic units, pumping air to the closed headspace of the anaerobic unit and releasing the pressurized air through the U-tube to create turbulence of the fluid. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation and fluid tracer trial were used to describe the fluid status in a lab-scale system (13 L). The results demonstrated that a continuous 5-cycle pneumatic agitation achieved a complete mixing of the static fluid. The retention time factor () and short-circuiting flow coefficient (/HRT) were increased from 0.93 to 1.14 and 0.02 to 0.27, respectively, indicating that pneumatic agitation significantly reduced dead zone and short-circuiting flow. A prototype at a treatment capacity of 300 L/d was installed in the North-East suburb of Beijing (40.15° N, 116.95° E) to treat rural household wastewater consisting of 630–1200 mg/L chemical oxygen demand and 20–45 mg/L total nitrogen. The field test was monitored in a period of 75 days from September to November 2018. The average removal rate for COD and TN was 96% and 92%, respectively by 10 times/h pneumatic agitation as compared to 49% and 45% without pneumatic agitation. The pneumatic agitation provides a low cost, easy operation and maintenance and efficient means for small-scale domestic wastewater treatment.Item Open Access In situ nanoconfinement catalysis for highly efficient redox transformation(American Chemical Society (ACS), 2024-11-13) Chen, Yuhan; Tan, Jisheng; Chao, Jingbo; Zhang, Jingqi; Tang, Yang; Liu, Yanping; Hu, Qing; Coulon, Frederic; Yang, Xiao JinThe rapid reduction of Cr(VI) across a wide pH range, from acidic to alkaline pH conditions to stable Cr(III) species for efficient remediation of Cr(VI) pollution, has long been a challenge. Herein, we propose a new concept of in situ nanoconfinement catalysis (iNCC) for highly efficient remediation of Cr(VI) by growing nanosheets of in situ layered double hydroxide (iLDH) on the surface of Al-Mg-Fe alloy achieving chemical reduction rates of >99% in 1 min from pH 3 to 11 for 100 mg L-1 Cr(VI) with a rate constant of 201 h-1. In stark contrast, the reduction rate is less than 6% in 12 h with a rate constant of 0.77 h-1 for the pristine Al-Mg-Fe alloy. The ultrafast reduction of Cr(VI) is most likely attributed to the synergistic catalysis of Al12Mg17 and Al13Fe4 and nanoconfinement of MgAlFe-iLDH and superstable mineralization of Cr(III) by MgAlCrIII- and MgFeCrIII-iLDHs. This study demonstrates the potential of in situ nanoconfinement catalysis on redox transformation for environmental remediation.Item Open Access Land Contamination and Brownfield Management Policy Development in China: Learning from the UK Experience(2016-03) Coulon, Frederic; Bardos, Paul; Harries, Nicola; Canning, Kate; Chen, Mengfang; Hu, Qing; Jones, Kevin Christopher; Li, Fasheng; Li, Hong; Gomes, Diogo; Liu, Ming; Liu, Rongxia; Yang, XiaOver the last 30 years, China’s fast urbanisation along with huge expansion of its manufacturing industry has led to the emergence of significant soil and water contamination problems across China. In the meantime, a number of policies and regulatory agencies for the protection of the environment have been implemented to stop deliberate pollution and more recently to address pollution prevention at source on a wider scale. Soil protection and management have been featured in policy discussions since the late 1950s in China. However, the topic has recently been of greatly expanded interest in the development of emerging policies, particularly with regards to the role of soil as a resource, independent of the functions that it carries out. Soil provides multiple important functions such as provision of food and raw materials, a platform for urban development and human wellbeing and a filtering and transforming media for water, nutrients, and carbon. However as pointed out by Yuan Si, Deputy Director of the Environmental Protection and Resources Conservation Committee of the National People Congress (China Daily, 11 March 2016), the move toward integrated management that has been driving policies for air and water has proven to be a challenge for soil management, mainly due to the multiple functions that soils provide. This is also true internationally and explained by several drivers for soil protection including among others soil contamination, construction, agriculture and amenity value.Item Open Access Production of high‐purity hydrogen and layered doubled hydroxide by the hydrolysis of Mg‐Al alloys(Wiley, 2021-02-24) Zheng, Tong; Zhang, Jingqi; Tang, Yang; Wan, Pingyu; Yuan, Qipeng; Hu, Hanjun; Coulon, Frederic; Hu, Qing; Yang, Xiao JinHydrogen is becoming an important clean energy and layered doubled hydroxide (LDH) is of great interest for many applications, including water treatment, environmental remediation, and chemical catalysis. The production of high‐purity hydrogen and LDH by the hydrolysis of Mg‐Al alloys is reported. The effects of initial pH, reaction temperature, reaction time, and alloy's Mg/Al mass ratio on the rate of hydrogen generation and the purity of LDH are evaluated and the solid hydrolysis products are characterized by different techniques. The initial rate of hydrogen generation increases with decreasing initial pH and increasing reaction temperature and Mg/Al ratio while the purity of LDH increases with Mg/Al ratio, reaction temperature and time. This study may provide a new, green, and sustainable approach for storage of hydrogen and material for water treatment.Item Open Access Production of hydrogen, active zerovalent iron and ferroferric oxide octahedron by alkaline etching Al–Fe alloys(Elsevier, 2021-06-02) Zheng, Tong; Li, Mingcong; Chao, Jingbo; Zhang, Jingqi; Tang, Yang; Wan, Pingyu; Hu, Qing; Coulon, Frederic; Bardos, PaulHydrogen is becoming important clean energy while zerovalent iron (ZVI) and ferroferric oxide are of great interest to many applications including environmental remediation and chemical catalysis. Here, we report production of hydrogen, zerovalent iron and ferroferric oxide octahedron by etching Al–Fe alloys using NaOH solutions. The rate of hydrogen generation increased with increasing NaOH concentration and the alloy's particle size and decreasing the alloy's Fe concentration. Alkaline etching Al–Fe alloy particles of 425–850 μm produced 19–53 μm ZVI particles, which had paralleled ravines of 0.2–0.3 μm wide on the surface and possessed specific surface areas of 30–70 m2/g. The microscale ZVI was highly active for the removal of a model pollutant acid orange 7 from water. After 3–6 h ageing in the alkaline etching solution, the microscale ZVI particles were transformed to octahedral ferroferric oxide with saturation magnetization of 68.2 emu/g and residual magnetization of 13.2 emu/g and a coercive force of 330 Oe. This study provides a new approach for a facile synthesis of highly active ZVI and octahedral ferroferric oxide along with on-board generation of hydrogen from Al–Fe alloys.Item Open Access Promoting Sino-UK Collaboration on Developing Low Carbon and Sustainable Methodologies for Brownfields and Marginal Land Re-use in China(2017-01) Coulon, Frederic; Campo Moreno, Pablo; Jiang, Ying; Longhurst, Phil; Bardos, Paul; Li, Xiaonuo; Harries, Nicola; Jones, Kevin; Li, Hong; Li, Fasheng; Cao, Yunzhe; Hu, Qing; Gao, Jingyang; Chen, Mengfang; Zhu, Yong-Guan; Cai, ChaoRapid urbanisation and changes in land use resulting from industrial change has left a legacy of vast polluted industrial and commercial areas (also called brownfields) and marginal land areas. Recent evidence from the UK, EU and USA indicate that these land areas may have considerable potential for renewables production, for example from solar, wind or biomass. In parallel there are opportunities for carbon storage in rehabilitated soil, as well as substitution by the production of renewables. The UK is also leading the understanding in the wider parallel benefits that can be achieved from ecosystem services and public health benefits from improved provision of green space. These multiple services can be provided together, in synergy, from soft re-uses of post-industrial sites, and in this way the post-industrial regeneration areas in China should be seen as a major opportunity for new enterprise, society and the wider environment. The improving bankability of renewable energy projects, and the possibility of creating a voluntary carbon offset business, means that revenue streams may be sufficient to pay for ongoing land management over time as a profit generating activity. In terms of fastest benefit to UK PLC and China, the likelihood is that combination of renewable energies with “dual use” for habitat will provide both more readily commercial brownfield re-use opportunities for cities in China in the short term, and also create better carbon management opportunities, as well as a variety of wider sustainability benefits. Thus this type of re-uses will create a platform for rapid commercial exchange and development between Chinese and UK companies. Considering that China is preparing an action plan for managing soil pollution and remediation across the country estimated to be RMB 7tn which is equivalent to one-third of the national exchange reserves, this report on developing low carbon and sustainable methodologies for brownfields and marginal land re-use in China provides timely information that will support the decision making for sustainable remediation opportunities in China. The report is intended to serve as a tool and resource guide to stakeholders involved in land remediation willing to engage in sustainable remediation implementation for renewable energy and carbon management applications. It is intended to inform remediation stakeholders unfamiliar with sustainable remediation about the concept, practices, and available resources. The report capitalises on UK leadership positions on the sustainable rehabilitation of brownfields land (SURF-UK), the soft re-use of brownfields (e.g. for energy or amenity rather than buildings); effective end-use directed risk management for contaminated land, and sustainable remediation.Item Open Access Redevelopment of urban brownfield sites in China: motivation, history, policies and improved management(Elsevier, 2022-07-06) Sun, Yiming; Li, Hong; Lei, Shuo; Semple, Kirk T.; Coulon, Frederic; Hu, Qing; Gao, Jingyang; Guo, Guanlin; Gu, Qingbao; Jones, Kevin C.Rapid urbanisation in China has resulted in an increased demand for land in towns and cities. To upgrade and modernise, China has also moved many major industries from urban centres to less populated areas. With the high economic value of urban land, the transformation and utilisation of brownfield areas have become important economically and socially. The Chinese government has recognised the need for strong frameworks to safeguard soil and groundwater quality, with brownfield sites a key category for management. Strong scientific, regulatory and decision-making frameworks are needed and being adopted to ensure practical, careful and wise use of central and localised government resources, to manage the reuse and regeneration of these brownfield sites. This paper reviews the context, policies and management procedures of developing brownfield sites in countries with a history of brownfield management and discusses China’s current situation and priorities for brownfield governance and redevelopment. These include (1) clarification of brownfield site soil contamination risk control standards and risk assessment procedures, (2) the responsibilities of different national and local agencies, (3) the establishment of a national expert committee to advise on best practices, policy and process, (4) the use of registered brownfield databases at national, provincial, municipal and county levels, and (5) the set up of soil pollution prevention fund at the provincial level.