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Date submitted2024-03-30
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Date accepted2024-06-13
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Date published2024-07-04
Organotin pollutants in emerging coastal-marine sediments of the Kaliningrad shelf, Baltic Sea
Based on two years of monitoring of modern bottom sediments of two sections of the Kaliningrad shelf of the Baltic Sea – “Curonian Spit” and “Northern Sambian” – an assessment of the sources of pollution with organotin compounds (OTs) and heavy metals was carried out. The content of individual organotin compounds and OTCs spectra obtained by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry of relatively coarse-grained bottom sediments indicate the presence of organotins in significant quantities – the total OTs content (ΣOTs) is from 0.6 to 8.3 ng/g. However, the content of tributyltin (TBT), the main component of anti-fouling systems for marine vessels and the most dangerous endocrine-disrupting compound among the hazardous substances for marine ecosystems, is at a low level (0-2.3 ng/g) in all studied samples and has not increased over the two-year observation period (biodegradation index 1.7-12.4). At the same time, the presence of abnormally high concentrations of mono-, triphenyl- and tricyclohexyltin in the sediments of the ”Northern Sambian” site (up to 30, 7 and 6.4 ng/g, respectively) indicates an additional source of pollution of coastal waters and shelf sediments (for example, plastic litter and agricultural runoff). The absence of significant shipping in the study areas ensures a consistently low level of pollution with tributyltin and its derivatives (less than 0.3 and 2.3 ng/g of TBT in 2017 and less than 0.1 and 1.3 ng/g in 2018 for the sites “Curonian Spit” and “Northern Sambian”, respectively), which indicates the activity of the processes of TBT transformation and self-cleaning of sandy sediments. However, the identified trends and their predictive accuracy require long-term observation and monitoring of the sediment environment using data on the deep-water part of the shelf, enriched in clay and humus components.
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Date submitted2023-03-20
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Date accepted2023-09-20
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Date published2023-10-27
Experimental simulation of a system of swamp biogeocenoses to improve the efficiency of quarry water treatment
Mining activities were producing large quantities of wastewater contaminated with nitrogen compounds and metals. With insufficient treatment, these pollutants are released into the environment and have a toxic effect on living organisms. Constructed wetlands are now widely adopted as wastewater treatment systems because of the combination of physical, chemical and biological processes for the removal of contaminants. In this study, an experimental system was modeled to improve the efficiency of the quarry wastewater treatment of a mining enterprise by sharing the higher aquatic vegetation: broad-leaved cattail (Typha latifolia L.), common water-plantain (Alisma plantago-aquatica L.), jointed rush (Juncus articulatus L.) and lower aquatic vegetation (Chlorella sp.). Concentrations of nitrogen compounds and metal were analyzed both in the model and in the treated solution of quarry wastewater for calculation of treatment efficiency. Concentrations of the pollutants in the tissues of the higher aquatic vegetation were analyzed to assess the accumulation capacity and efficiency of translocation of the pollutants. The results of the experimental study showed the practical applicability of the constructed integrated treatment system to reduce the concentration of pollutants in quarry wastewater, as well as increasing the efficiency of treatment by introducing lower aquatic vegetation into the system
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Date submitted2022-09-30
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Date accepted2023-02-13
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Date published2024-02-29
Improving the efficiency of oil vapor recovery units in the commodity transport operations at oil terminals
- Authors:
- Vladimir V. Pshenin
- Gulnur S. Zakirova
In this paper the problem of losses from evaporation of light fractions of hydrocarbons during loading operations of tanker fleets vessels is considered. It was found that there is no unified approach to modeling the system “tanker – gas phase pipeline – vapor recovery units” in open sources. The absence of a generally recognized model makes it impossible to scientifically justify the application of instruments to reducing losses and the development of corresponding measures. In work it is showed that the dynamics of growth of pressure in the inner tanker capacity is described by a differential equation, considering for non-stationary essence of the process. This equation is converted to a non-dimensional form and investigated in relation to the similarity criteria of this system. This research has allowed to establish unambiguously the general character of pressure changes in the inner tanker capacity, and to predict the peak values of its growth at the initial stage of the loading operation. The obtained equations were tested on real tanker loading data and showed satisfactory convergence with the experimental data. At different stages of the loading opera-tion the component composition of vapor changes, which is shown by chromatographic analysis of the gas mixture. With the availability of a model of hydrocarbon vapor displacement from the inner of tanker, it is possible to propose measures to minimize the negative impact on the environment and return valuable vapors of the product to the technological chain of transportation.
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Date submitted2017-10-31
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Date accepted2018-01-01
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Date published2018-04-24
Peculiarities of formation and growth of nanodispersed intermetallic strengthening inclusions in rapidly-solidified alloys of Al–Mg–Zr–X-system
- Authors:
- D. I. Budelovskii
- S. Yu. Petrovich
- V. A. Lipin
The paper is devoted to the influence of the fourth element on the microstructure of the rapidly-solidified alloys of the Al–Mg–Zr-system. Alloys were additionally doped with high-melting-point metals Ti, Hf, W, and Nb. In the structure of all samples in the immediate area of the cooled surface, uniformly distributed intermetallic inclusions of several nanometers in size were detected. Such a structure can be represented as a dispersion-strengthened composite. A quantitative metallographic analysis was carried out to quantitatively describe the structure of the obtained particles of the cooled melt. The obtained rapidly-solidified alloys can be described as dispersion-strengthened composite materials with the aluminum-magnesium alloy matrix and the intermetallic particles strengthener. Depending on the alloying component, these particles differ in shape (spheres, plates, agglomerates) and in size (from 200 nm when alloying with Hf and W up to 1.2-1.5 μm with Ti and Nb alloying). The X-ray phase analysis (XPA) showed that in the studied alloys of the Al–5Mg–1.2Zr–(0.5÷2.0)X-system, high cooling rates of melts lead to the formation of new intermetallic compounds that are absent in equilibrium systems. The example of an alloy with hafnium additive shows that an increase in the content of the alloying component (from 0.5 to 2 % by mass) leads to an increase in the volume ratio of intermetallic inclusions (from 5 to 12.8 %). At the same time, their shape and average size remain unchanged. The additional alloying component will improve the mechanical characteristics of aluminum alloys by increasing the recrystallization threshold of a rapidly-solidified alloy.