Bio-ceramic filter(BF) and moving-bed biofilm reactor(MBBR) were used for biological pretreatment of Yellow River water in this study. The BF only had slight advantage over MBBR for TOC and ammonia removal. However, like UV254 the average removal rate of THMFP in the BF was much higher than that in the MBBR. UV254 removal did not show obvious correlation with trihalomethane formation potential (THMFP) removal. Hexachlorocyclohexane could be effectively removed in both BF and MBBR. As for diatom and cyanobateria removal the MBBR had better performance than the BF, which was contrary to the average chlorophyll- a(Chl- a) removal rate. The proposal was made in this study that biological flocculation and sedimentation of sloughed biofilm should play a more important role on algae removal in the MBBR than in the BF. The BF and MBBR could effectively remove microcystins. Moreover, MBBR could be a promising technology for biological pretreatment.
Forest ecosystems in the Northern Hemisphere function as carbon (C) sinks for atmospheric carbon dioxide; however, the magnitude, location, and cause of the sinks remain uncertain. A number of field measurements of forest biomass and systematic national forest inventories in Japan make it possible to quantify the C sinks and their distribution. Allometric relationships between forest biomass and stem volume were obtained for the major forest types in Japan from 945 sets of direct field measurements across the country. These relationships were used to estimate the changes in C accumulations of aboveground biomass and total living biomass from 1947 to 1995 from the national forest inventories of 1947, 1956, 1961, 1965, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, and 1995. The results showed that the C accumulations have significantly increased during the last 50 years. The C density (C stock per hectare) and total C stock of aboveground biomass increased from 27.6 Mg C/ha and 611.7 Tg C in 1947 to 43.2 Mg C/ha and 1027.7 Tg C in 1995, respectively, and those of total living biomass increased from 33.9 Mg C/ha and 751.8 Tg C in 1947 to 53.6 Mg C/ha and 1274.8 Tg C in 1995. These increases were remarkable during 1976–1995, with a net increase of 5.6 Mg C/ha and 369 Tg C for the C density and total living biomass. These results suggest that Japan's forest vegetation is a significant C sink. In the past 20 years, living vegetation has sequestered 18.5 Tg C annually, 14.6 Tg C of which was accumulated in aboveground biomass. The total C sink for the whole forest sector (including nonliving biomass) of Japan was estimated as 36 Tg C/yr if using the net change ratio of nonliving biomass C to living biomass C derived from the United States and Europe. On the basis of average C sink per hectare, Japan's forests have a higher sequestration rate (0.77 Mg C ha−1 yr−1) than the average of the other northern countries (0.14–0.19 Mg C ha−1 yr−1). The expansion and regrowth of planted forests are two major causes for this increased C uptake; planted forests contribute ∼80% of the total C sink in Japan. The suitable oceanic climate for fast forest growth and effective forest management practice may be the principal factors for such a large sink.