ALBERT

Description: Aging poses a big challenge in all aspects of social governance in China. A coherent and focused aging policy response that spans multiple sectors of government has been undertaken to achieve the goal of “Healthy Aging”. From an historical perspective, this paper uses a bibliometric analysis method to probe into the evolution of Chinese aging policies from 1978 to 2019, and the roles of core government agencies in policy-making. We obtained 226 Chinese aging policies from the PKULaw Database and the websites of the government departments. Co-word analyses and network analyses were applied in mapping the topics of aging policies and collaboration among the agencies. Gephi software was used to visualize the most frequently used keywords and their network graphs. Findings are as follows. Firstly, the development of the aging policy system in China has undergone two phases, from focusing on basic security to emphasizing the rights and health of the elderly. Secondly, the network structure of aging policy-making departments presents a distinct edge-core layer. More and more government agencies have become involved in the formulation of aging policies. But collaboration among the agencies is insufficient. Thirdly, pilot promotion is the main tool for implementing aging policies.

Description: Waste black tea powder was used as a potential adsorbent to remove methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution. Several operating factors in adsorption of MB onto waste black tea powder were investigated, including contact time, initial MB concentration, solution pH, adsorption temperature, and dosage of waste black tea powder. Experimental results revealed that the adsorption efficiency increased with contact time and solution pH values and decreased with initial MB concentration and adsorption temperature. The equilibrium time was estimated to be around 60 min. The maximum adsorption capacity and the highest adsorption efficiency were 302.63 mg·g−1 and 100%, respectively. In kinetic study, pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetic models, intraparticle diffusion model, and Boyd and Elovich models were employed to analyze the adsorption behavior and the adsorption mechanism. It was found that the pseudo-second-order kinetic model was suitable to describe the adsorption process, and the calculated equilibrium adsorption capacity was well close to the experimental data for different initial MB concentrations. The internal diffusion was not the only rate-controlling step, and the existence of boundary effect was observed in this study. From isotherm analysis, the equilibrium data were well represented by the Langmuir model, rather than Freundlich, Dubinin–Redushckevich, or Temkin models. The nonlinear fitting for various isotherm models implied that the adsorption behavior between MB and waste black tea powder was complication. Thermodynamic parameters including changes in Gibb’s free energy, enthalpy, and entropy suggested that adsorption of MB onto waste black tea powder was a spontaneous and exothermic process. The multiple regeneration/adsorption experiments indicated that the used black tea powder efficiently remained more than 75% after five cycles using NaOH as a regenerative reagent and thus be used for many times. Therefore, as a low-cost and easily available material, waste black tea powder could be applied in wastewater treatment.

Description: Tea powder, a biosorbent prepared from wasted oolong tea, was collected as a prospective adsorbent for the adsorption of methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution. The effect of factors on adsorption efficiency, isotherms, kinetics, and potential mechanism was carried out. Adsorption capacity of MB onto wasted tea powder increased with the MB concentration and contact time, whereas the increase in pH value and ion strength appeared to have a negative effect for the adsorption process. The adsorption efficiency increased rapidly and reached a stable state within 120 min. The optimal tea powder loading weight is suggested to be at 0.1 to 0.2 g, and the highest efficiency of 94.8% is achieved at 333 K. There were no significant changes in adsorption efficiency when the effect of temperature is considered. The Langmuir isotherm model was found to be the best isotherm models to elucidate the adsorption mechanism in this study. The maximum adsorption capacities calculated at different temperatures by the Langmuir model ranging from 312.5 to 333.3 mg·g−1 were much close to the experimental results. From the kinetic analysis, the pseudo--second-order model was found to be the best model to describe the adsorption behavior. The calculated adsorption capacities at different initial MB concentrations by the pseudo-second-order model ranging from 92.34 to 400 mg·g−1 were well close to the experimental data. The fitting results obtained from the intraparticle diffusion model suggested that the intraparticle diffusion was not the only rate-controlling step and some other mechanisms along with the intraparticle diffusion were probably involved. The intraparticle diffusion of MB molecules into pore structures of wasted tea powder is the rate-limiting step for the adsorption process in this study. The repetitive cycle experiments indicated that the wasted oolong tea powder was efficiently regenerated using NaOH and thus be used for many times.