editorial earth materials and environmental...

EditorialEarth Materials and Environmental Applications

Zhaohui Li,1,2 Hanlie Hong,3 and Guocheng Lv1

1Beijing Key Laboratory of Materials Utilization of Nonmetallic Minerals and SolidWastes, National Laboratory of Mineral Materials,School of Materials Science and Technology, China University of Geosciences, 29 Xueyuan Road, Beijing 100083, China2Geosciences Department, University of Wisconsin–Parkside, Kenosha, WI 53144, USA3Faculty of Earth Science, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 436400, China

Correspondence should be addressed to Zhaohui Li; [email protected]

Received 22 January 2015; Accepted 22 January 2015

Copyright © 2015 Zhaohui Li et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Earth materials refer to the naturally occurring materialsincluding rocks, minerals, and soils. Traditionally, the studiesof Earth materials including mineralogy (the study of miner-als), petrology (the study of rocks), and pedology (the studyof soil) were limited to their occurrence, characterization,and resource utilization. The interactions between Earthmaterials and anthropogenic compounds (most of them arecontaminants) only attracted recent attentions. This is thearea that has experienced accelerated research since 1990.Still, due to the use and misuse of emerging compounds(ECs), many are on the targeted watch list and more studiesare in great need to explore their fate and transport in thenatural environment. In addition to the interactions betweenof the ECs and Earth materials, development of cost-efficientor energy efficient materials from raw Earth materials forenvironmental application also picked up recently due toadvancement of modern technology. Moreover, studies onmechanical responses of Earth materials to natural andanthropogenic-induced hazards may guide for better struc-tural design and hazard prevention.

In this special issue, we have a collection of 23 papers cov-ering the topics of the following general areas: (1) materials(13 papers), including materials, resources, innovation, andutilization for environmental application, and (2) engineeringapplications (10 papers), including soils and foundationstabilization and and rhyology improvements.

In the area of materials, the materials innovation studiesaddressed either new preparation methods of current Earthmaterials for new environmental applications in contami-nant removal and water treatment or new applications in

energy transfer processes. A unique method for the synthesisof BaLa

2ZnO5:Er3+/Yb3+ was developed and the tunable

up-conversion luminescence and energy transfer processbetween Yb3+ and Er3+ was demonstrated. A TiO

2-ZrO2

composite film with the grain size of 50 nm was synthesizedby electric field and heat treatments and then doped withnitrogen atoms. Photocatalytic experiments using this com-posite film resulted in significant increase in methylene bluedegradation under visible light irradiation.

Simulation using first principle on the structural andelectronic properties of nitrogen doped rutile TiO

2of oxygen

vacancies showed that the impurity elements do not affectthe migration of Fermi level while the conduction bandof metal atoms move to the Fermi level, forming the N-type semiconductor material. A TiO

2/diatomite composite

prepared by loading TiO2on the surface of diatomite resulted

in a good photocatalytic enhancement through absorbingorganic compounds with diatomite and degrading themby TiO

2and the composite was more active than nano-

TiO2for the degradation of methylene blue. For the heavy

metal removal side composite cementations materials wereprepared with lead-zinc tailings and lead-zinc smelting slagmixed with cement clinker with low lead leaching potentialover a large pH range. To make full use of barite mineraland obtain composite material bearing, the property of bothbarite and TiO

2was developed by coating barite surface

with TiO2via a solution method and hydrolysis process.

The hiding power and oil absorption value of the compositepowder were similar to TiO

2alone. In addition to these

new solid materials, a new enhanced flocculent based on

Hindawi Publishing CorporationAdvances in Materials Science and EngineeringVolume 2015, Article ID 404561, 2 pageshttp://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/404561

2 Advances in Materials Science and Engineering

bentonite and formulated with addition of polymeric chlo-ride aluminum, cationic polyacrylamide, ferrous sulfate, andaluminum sulfate was developed for potential application indrinking water in Karamay City, Xinjiang. The treated waterreached or exceeded the drinking water standard of Chinain decolorization and deodorization as well as heavy metalremoval.

From materials utilizations studies, several Earth mate-rials were utilized for the removal of contaminants. Uptakeof ciprofloxacin on synthesized birnessite was mainly viasurface adsorption, instead of cation exchange and quan-tum mechanics simulation showed that the final energy ofthe interactions between ciprofloxacin and birnessite wasdecreased under the condition when the average oxidationstates ofMnwere lower. Studies on the effect of sintering tem-perature on membranes performance showed that increasesin sintering temperature of themembranes raised the averagepores diameter from 0.116 to 0.179 𝜇m but decreased theporosity of the membrane from 40.30 to 25.16%, whichreduced the water permeated flux for temperatures from 900to 1100∘C. Studies on interactions between phosphoric/tannicacid and different forms of FeOOH showed that 3% tannicacid +10% phosphoric acid +FeOOH was the most suitableformula for rust stabilizer and its reaction products weremade upof iron phosphate and chelate of iron and tannin.Theresults provided optimal combinations for the preservationof iron, especially iron cultural relics. The experimental andsimulated breakthrough curves showed that classical colloidfiltration theory is able to predict the transport and fate ofiron oxide nanoparticles stabilized with PAA up to 500 ppmin a porous media.

As an Earth material or resource, groundwater wasevaluated based on Energy theory for Beijing area. In termsof monetary value of groundwater in Beijing, it was 7.64,6.00, and 3.25 billion Yuan, accounting for 45.24%, 35.52%,and 19.24% of the total value, respectively. Based on the datafrom 2007 input-output tables for each province in China,energy embodied in China’s interprovincial trade throughinput-output analysis was estimated. The results showed thata sizable transfer of energy from the central and westernprovinces to the eastern and coastal provinces is embodiedin China’s interprovincial trade.

In the area of environmental application on stabilitiesof soil and foundations, the rock-soil aggregate sampledfrom the deep layer of sliding mass at Jinpingzi area ofWudongde hydropower plant on Yangtze River was investi-gated for its mechanical behavior. Results from large-scalelaboratory triaxial tests show that variation of stone contentand gradation affected themechanical characteristics of rock-soil aggregate considerably. Results of studies on hydraulicfracture propagation characteristics in glutenite formationby a series of servocontrolled triaxial large-scale fracturingexperiments showed that the fractures extended along thegravel and sandstone cementing face, the extension pressurewas fluctuating, and the degree of fluctuation was moredrastic with the gravel diameter increase in the process ofthe fracture extension. An orthogonal study on low-strengthsimilarmaterials comprising sand, fly ash, and plaster and thesensitivity analyses suggested that their compression strength

and elastic modulus decreased as the sand-binder ratio orcement ratio increases. Numerical experiments of biaxialcompression using the granular discrete element methodwere performed in the macro- and microparametric analysesto study the influences of strength of the cementation asaffected by the sizes of stone blocks and the content of stoneblocks on the peak compressive and shear strength. Theseismic response of retaining wall in the Wenchuan earth-quake was tested on large shaking table and an accelerationrecord was acted in 3 directions. The results showed thatthe dynamic earth pressure increases with the increase ofground shaking from 0.1 g to 0.9 g and the relationship isnonlinear. A glass-like casing was developed to mend theinstable borehole due to its great similarities in compositionsand structure. Different wt% aluminum and quartz sandwereadded into the composition, in order to boost the casing’smechanical properties and lower its cost. Investigation ofcoal/rock intermixing, cracking and crushing of WC grains,and adhesion of rock particles suggested that coal/rockmaterials penetrate the cracks of the coal cutting tools to enterinside the base material and degrade it. An introduction ofa modifier OTAC-KCl at a combination of ameliorant 0.3%STAC and 3%KCl improved the wetting and drying cycles onengineering properties of expansive soil after 14-day curingtime, while the untreated soil specimens collapsed when theywere immersed in water.

Finally, studies on coagulation behavior showed thatcationic polymer, hydroxy aluminum, and clay minerals arethree flocculants with different action mechanisms and amore cost-efficient multiple flocculent could be preparedby compositing them through appropriate technology. Theviscosity of an aqueous palygorskite suspension could beincreased via physical and chemical processing and thecontribution of MgO to viscosity caused the reinforcing offlocculation and, in drilling applications, the higher viscosityvalue would provide better cutting suspension and carryingcapacity.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all the authors who have submittedtheir papers to this special issue and also to all the reviewersfor their invaluable contributions to the reviewing process.

Zhaohui LiHanlie HongGuocheng Lv

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