Modelling the Removal of Gaseous Pollutants and Particulate Matters from the Atmosphere of a City by Rain: Effect of Cloud Density

In this paper, an original nonlinear mathematical model for the removal of gaseous pollutants and particulate matters from the atmosphere of an industrial city by rain is proposed and analyzed. It is assumed that five interacting phases in the atmosphere of the city exist, i.e., cloud droplets phase, raindrops phase, gaseous pollutants phase, particulate matters phase, and the phase of absorbed gaseous pollutants in raindrops. It is assumed further that these phases undergo nonlinear interactions in the atmosphere, while gaseous pollutant interacts with cloud droplets as well as with raindrops but particulate matters interact only with raindrops. The gravitational settling and reversible reaction processes have also been considered appropriately in the model. By analyzing the model, it is shown that both the gaseous pollutants and particulate matters may be removed from the atmosphere under certain conditions, provided the rates of formation of cloud droplets and raindrops are sufficiently large. It is noted that under unfavorable atmospheric conditions, rain does not occur and pollutants are not removed from the atmosphere.     

Some applications of Freon-22 in supercritical fluid chromatographic analysis of environmental pollutants

The applications of Freon-22 (R22) as a mobile phase and as a modifier in supercritical fluid chromatography were investigated. For the purpose of this investigation, the separation of eleven phenols listed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency as priority pollutants was studied. It was found that the use of neat R22 greatly reduced the retention times of the phenols compared with the use of neat carbon dioxide as mobile phase. Satisfactory separation of all the eleven phenols could be achieved using 5% R22 as modifier in carbon dioxide. The promising results obtained in this preliminary investigation indicate the potential for the use of R22 in supercritical fluid separation processes.     

Value functions for environmental pollutants: A technique for enhancing the assessment of expert judgements

This paper presents a new procedure to assess value functions for environmental pollutants. It has been particularly designed for eliciting expert-based value functions for pollutant substances. The main features of the model are the possibility to integrate direct and indirect assessment techniques, the possibility to make explicit assessment uncertainties and to avoid forcing quantitative judgements. The main aim of the procedure is to improve the reliability of the assessment but also to make the expert's task easier by using qualitative judgements more frequently. The procedure has been developed especially for soil pollutants, for which an application is described.     

Monitoring of organotin compounds in seawater using semipermeable membrane devices (SPMDs)--tentative results

The impact of anthropogenic pollutants on the marine ecosystem is related to the concentrations experienced by the biota in the seawater and the resulting concentration in the organism. Results from monitoring of pollutants in water samples provide snapshots that can be high or low depending on a wide range of variables. To provide more integrated information, semipermeable membrane devices, SPMDs, have been used to monitor different organic pollutants. In this survey, SPMDs were used to monitor organotin compounds in the marine environment. Time-integrated sampling using SPMDs and direct water sampling was carried out at six stations in the inner Oslofjord, Norway. The sample work-up procedure for both water and SPMDs was based on direct derivatisation using NaBEt4 and simultaneous extraction with an organic solvent. Analysis was performed using a gas chromatograph equipped with an atomic emission detector. The results show that SPMDs do accumulate organotin compounds from the water phase. Both tributyl- (TBT) and dibutyltin were detected in all of the analysed membranes while no monobutyltin was found. Levels found in SPMDs range from < 1 to 220 ng Sn SPMD(-1). Water concentrations range from 0.4 to 10 ng Sn L(-1). An investigation of relative levels of TBT showed a similar concentration gradient in the inner Oslofjord using either direct water sampling or passive sampling by SPMDs. As the membranes are able to accumulate the organotins from the water it will be possible to locate lower concentrations than with direct analyses of water samples.     

Dispersion of Pollutants in Street Canyon under Traffic Induced Flow and Turbulence

A 3-D Eulerian-Lagrangian approach to moving vehicles is presented that takes into account the traffic induced flow rate and turbulence. The method is applied to pollutants dispersion in a street canyon. The approach is based on CFD calculations using Eulerian approach to the continuous phase and Lagrangian approach to the "discrete phase" of moving objects - vehicles. A commercial CFD code StarCD was used into which the Lagrangian model was integrated. As an example a street canyon is taken into consideration. It has the length of 50 m and the aspect ratio of 1.27. The speed of wind was assigned values of 4, 7 and 12 m/s at the altitude of 300 m. The total height of the domain is 115 m. In the study different traffic situations are considered, namely one-way and two-way traffic with different traffic rates per lane. The predictions show that different traffic situations affect pollutants dispersion in the street canyon and that there are also differences in the pollutants dispersion in case of one- and two-way traffic.     

Air Quality Assessment in Delhi: Before and After CNG as Fuel

A number of policy measures have been activated in India in order to control the levels of air pollutants such as particulate matter, sulphur dioxide (SO₂) and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂). Delhi, which is one of the most polluted cities in the world, is also going through the implementation phase of the control policies. Ambient air quality data monitored during 2000 to 2003, at 10 sites in Delhi, were analyzed to assess the impact of implementation of these measures, specifically fuel change in vehicles. This paper presents the impact of policy measures on ambient air quality levels and also the source apportionment. CO and NO₂ concentration levels in ambient air are found to be associated with the mobile sources. The temporal variation of air quality data shows the significant effect of shift to CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) in vehicles.     

A complex investigation of the extent of pollution in sediments of the Sava River. Part 1: Selected elements

The Sava River is the biggest tributary to the Danube River. As a part of the 6th FW EU project, Sava River Basin: Sustainable Use, Management and Protection of Resources (SARIB), ecological status of sediments was investigated. In order to assess the geographical distribution in sediment contamination of the Sava River, inorganic and persistent organic pollutants were analyzed in sediments at 20 selected sampling sites along the Sava River from its spring to its outfall into the Danube River. For comparability of data to other river basins the sediment fraction below 63 μm was studied. Due to complexity of the work performed, the results are published separately (“Part I: Selected elements” and “Part II: Persistent organic pollutants”). In the present study, the extent of pollution was estimated by determination of the total element concentrations and by the identification of the most hazardous highly mobile element fractions and anthropogenic inputs of elements to sediments. To assess the mobile metal fraction extraction in 0.11 mol L^???1, acetic acid was performed (first step of the Community Bureau of Reference extraction procedure), while anthropogenic inputs of elements were estimated on the basis of normalization to aluminum (Al) concentration. According to the Water Framework Directive, the following elements were investigated in sediments: cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), and mercury (Hg). Furthermore, copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), chromium (Cr), arsenic (As), and phosphorous (P) were determined. The analyses of sediments demonstrated slightly elevated values for Hg, Cr, and Ni in industrially exposed sites (concentrations up to 0.6, 380, and 210 mg kg^???1, respectively). However, the latter two elements exist in sparingly soluble forms and therefore do not represent an environmental burden. P concentrations were found in elevated concentrations at agricultural areas and big cities (up to 1,000 mg kg^???1).     

Sources of volatile organic compounds in Cairo’s ambient air

The greater Cairo area suffers from extreme levels of gas and particulate phase air pollutants. In order to reduce the levels of ambient pollution, the USAID and the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) have supported the Cairo Air Improvement Project (CAIP). As part of this project, two intensive ambient monitoring studies were carried out during the period of February 22 to March 4 and October 27 to November 27, 1999. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were measured on a 24-h basis at six sampling stations during each of the intensive periods. During the February/March study, samples were collected daily, while in the October/November study samples were collected every other day. The six intensive measurement sites represented background levels, mobile source impacts, industrial impacts, and residential exposure. High levels of NMHC were observed at all locations. NMHC concentrations ranged from 365 ppb C at Helwan to 1,848 ppb C at El Qualaly during winter, 1999 and from 461 ppb C at Kaha to 2,037 ppb C at El Qualaly during fall, 1999. El Qualaly, the site chosen to represent mobile emissions, displayed the highest average NMHC concentrations of any site, by a factor of 2 or more. The highest mobile source contributions were estimated at this site. The major contributors to NMHC at all sites were mobile emissions, lead smelting, and compressed natural gas.     

由石油类应急监测现状探寻水中石油类监测的突破

突发环境事件发生后,对污染物质、污染物浓度、污染范围及其动态变化情况进行监测是环境应急监测的基本工作要求。在不能利用管理手段有效获取污染来源等信息的情况下,开展溯源应急监测成为突发环境事件处理处置的重要需求。然而通过资料调研及应急监测案例分析发现,石油类水体突发环境事件应急监测大多存在采样代表性不够、溯源手段不健全、特征污染物监测不全面,以及现行石油类监测方法不能完整说清污染状况等问题或不足。因此,建议通过优化整合水中石油类指标监测标准,构建与石油类污染特征相适应的技术规范及配套监测分析方法,以达到精准、全面反映石油类水体污染状况的目的。     

Holistic approach for quantification and identification of pollutant sources of a river basin by analyzing the open drains using an advanced multivariate clustering

Global scarcity of freshwater has been gearing towards an unsustainable river basin management and corresponding services to the humans. It needs a holistic approach, which exclusively focuses on effective river water quality monitoring and quantification and identification of pollutant sources, in order to address the issue of sustainability. These days, rivers are heavily contaminated due to the presence of organic and metallic pollutants released from several anthropogenic sources, such as industrial effluents, domestic sewage, and agricultural runoff. It is astonishing to note that even in many developing countries, most of these contaminants are carried through open drains, which enter river premises without proper treatment. Such practice not only devastates riverine ecosystem but also gives rise to deadly diseases, such as minimata and cancer in humans. Considering these issues, the present study develops a novel approach towards simultaneous identification of major sources of pollution in the rivers, along with critical pollutants and locations using an advanced hierarchical cluster and multivariate statistical analysis. A systematic approach has been developed by agglomerating both R-mode and Q-mode analysis, which develops monoplots, two-dimensional biplots, rotated component matrices, and dendrograms (using “SPSS” and “Analyse It” software) to reveal relationships among various quality parameters to identify the pollutant sources along with clustering of critical sampling sites and pollutants. A case study of the Ganges River Basin of India has been considered to demonstrate the efficacy and usefulness of the model by analyzing 85 open drains. Both organic and metallic pollutants are analyzed simultaneously as well as separately to get a holistic understanding of all the relationships and to broaden the perspective of water characterization. Results provide a comprehensive guidance to the policy makers and water managers to optimize corrective efforts, minimize further damage, and improve the water quality condition to ensure sustainable development of the river basin.     

Surfer软件和AutoCAD在污染场地调查及风险评估中的应用

在场地调查和风险评估报告中需要描述污染物分布和确定土壤修复区域和范围，目前对此无统一的技术要求，不同案例使用的技术方法不同。今提出将 Surfer软件和 AutoCAD结合使用生成等值线图件，以及据此确定污染土壤修复范围的方法，并基于某搬迁化工厂初步土壤调查及风险评估的案例介绍了操作步骤。旨在介绍2个专业软件联用的新功能的开发和使用技巧，为编制场地调查和风险评估报告提供一种便捷、易操作的工作方法。     

Nanocomposites (conducting polymer and nanoparticles) based electrochemical biosensor for the detection of environment pollutant: Its issues and challenges

Currently, there is an urgent need to develop an electro-analytical technique that can detect and monitor environmental pollutants in a sensitive, specific, and selective manner. Traditional environment pollutant detection techniques suffer from different drawbacks like calibration, sample preparation, blank determination, skilled operator, lengthy time-consuming procedure, costly and no universal approach. The objective of this review article is to provide details regarding the fabrication of conducting polymer-nanoparticles (nanocomposites) based electrochemical biosensors for continuous environmental monitoring. Emphasis has been placed on the principles, development, classification, and use of electrochemical biosensors comprising of nanocomposites of conducting polymer (CP) and metal oxide nanoparticles for the estimation of environmental pollutants present in the air, water, food, and soil.     

Use of multivariate indicator kriging methods for assessing groundwater contamination extents for irrigation

Multivariate geostatistical approaches have been applied extensively in characterizing risks and uncertainty of pollutant concentrations exceeding anthropogenic regulatory limits. Spatially delineating an extent of contamination potential is considerably critical for regional groundwater resources protection and utilization. This study used multivariate indicator kriging (MVIK) to determine spatial patterns of contamination extents in groundwater for irrigation and made a predicted comparison between two types of MVIK, including MVIK of multiplying indicator variables (MVIK-M) and of averaging indicator variables (MVIK-A). A cross-validation procedure was adopted to examine the performance of predicted errors, and various probability thresholds used to calculate ratios of declared pollution area to total area were explored for the two MVIK methods. The assessed results reveal that the northern and central aquifers have excellent groundwater quality for irrigation use. Results obtained through a cross-validation procedure indicate that MVIK-M is more robust than MVIK-A. Furthermore, a low ratio of declared pollution area to total area in MVIK-A may result in an unrealistic and unreliable probability used to determine extents of pollutants. Therefore, this study suggests using MVIK-M to probabilistically determine extents of pollutants in groundwater.     

Evaluating the level of coordinated development of fisheries economic growth and environmental quality in selected Chinese regions

In recent years, China's fisheries economy has expanded dramatically. As a result, environmental pollution caused at least partially by such an expansion has endangered human health and the sustainable development of fisheries in some coastal regions. This paper establishes an indicator system for fisheries economic growth and environmental quality and evaluates the coordinated level of the two systems in 12 regions in China. Results show that i) it is necessary to expand the relative scale of fisheries economy, optimize the structure of fisheries industry, and improve the utilization capacity of pollutants; ii) the selected regions are evaluated as half each the fisheries economic lagging type and the environmental lagging type; iii) most of the selected regions exhibit a high coupling coordination degree, and the highest of those is Shandong. In the last section, the policy implications and further research directions are discussed.     

Development of an integrative passive sampler for the monitoring of organic water pollutants

The development of convenient and competitive devices and methods for monitoring of organic pollutants in the aquatic environment is of increasing interest. An integrative passive sampling system has been developed which consists of a solid poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) material (tube or rod), acting as hydrophobic organic receiving phase, enclosed in a water-filled or an air-filled low-density polyethylene (LDPE) membrane tubing. These samplers enable the direct analysis of the pollutants accumulated during exposure in the receiving phase by thermodesorption-GC/MS, avoiding expensive sample preparation and cleanups. The capabilities of these sampling devices were studied for the sampling of 20 persistent organic pollutants (chlorobenzenes, hexachlorocyclohexanes, p,p'-DDE, PAHs, and PCBs) in laboratory exposure experiments. For the three sampler designs investigated the uptake of all target analytes was integrative over exposure periods up to 9 days (except PCB 101). The determined sampling rates range from 4 to 1340 microl h(-1) for the water-filled samplers and from 20 to 6360 microl h(-1) for the air-filled ones, respectively. The sampling rate of the analytes is dependent on their molecular weight, partition between water and sampler media (PDMS, polyethylene, water, air) and also of the sampler design. The passive samplers enable the estimation of time-weighted average (TWA) concentration of water pollutants in the lower ng l(-1) to pg l(-1) range.     

用水氵蚤监测水质

介绍了利用水Sao监测水质的优势及常用方法，探讨了水Sao的实验室培养技术，并了水Sao对污染物的形态、生殖和行为反应，提出利用水Sao监视污水安全排放和生产用水水质的设想。在分析水Sao毒性试验误差来源的基础上，建议对试验生物材料和测试环境进行限定，最终形成操作性强的标准方法。     

Distribution and speciation of selected metals in surface sediments, from the tropical Zuari estuary, central west coast of India

Estuarine sediments are major reservoirs for the metals. Distribution and mobility of metals within estuaries depends strongly on their specific chemical form. In the present study, surface sediments from Zuari estuary, Goa were analysed by a sequential procedure for Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Cr and Co to determine their distribution in five geochemical phases (Exchangeable, carbonate, Fe-Mn oxide (reducible) organic bound (oxidisable) and residual). The total metal content, sand, silt, clay and organic carbon were also determined of the surface sediments. The total metal contents were found to be greater than the background concentrations of average shale values as well as to that of earlier studies indicating enrichment probably due to the anthropogenic origin of metals. The results obtained from sequential procedure showed that among the studied elements, Mn and Co are potentially available in the bioavailable fractions (exchangeable, carbonate and Fe-Mn oxide bound fractions) indicating their importance in toxicity whereas rest of the metals viz. Fe, Cu, Zn and to some extent Cr are largely available in residual phase although they are available in other fractions. The main source of metals to the estuary is mining and its associated activities in the study area. Chemical speciation by sequential extraction procedure has helped in assessing the mobility, bioavailability, diagenesis and toxicity of metals and hence giving a better insight into the ultimate fate of pollutants, which are introduced into the estuarine environment. To understand the risk of the metals to the sediment dwelling organisms the data were compared with the Sediment Quality Values (SQV) using SQUIRT. Also, correlation and Factor analysis were carried out to understand the associations of metals in the different fractions with sand, silt, clay, organic carbon and with other metals.     

Simultaneous determination of selected endocrine disrupter compounds in wastewater samples in ultra trace levels using HPLC-ES-MS/MS

An analytical procedure for the simultaneous determination of six selected endocrine disrupter compounds (EDCs: diltiazem, progesterone, benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), estrone, carbamazepine (Cbz), acetaminophen) was developed by liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-ES-MS/MS). All of the parameters for HPLC and ES-MS/MS systems including mobile phase composition, flow rate, and sample injection volume were optimized to obtain not only the best separation of species interested but also low detection limits. Reverse phase chromatography coupled to ES-MS/MS was used for the separation and detection of EDCs. Formic acid (0.10% ) and 5.0 mM ammonium formate were selected as mobile phase composition in gradient elution. Detection limits for diltiazem, progesterone, BBP, estrone, Cbz, and acetaminophen were found to be 0.13, 0.12, 0.04, 0.13, 0.12, and 0.05 ng/mL, respectively. Influent and effluents from three different wastewater treatment plants located in Ankara, i.e., rotating flat-sheet membrane unit, pilot type flat-sheet membrane unit located at METU Campus and samples from Ankara central wastewater treatment plant were analyzed for their EDCs contents under the optimum conditions.     

Air quality monitoring for multiple pollutants: Optimization of a network around a hypothetical potash plant and two thermal power stations in open countryside

A method is presented for the design of multi-pollutant air quality monitoring networks (AQMN). This technique leads to an optimal network, i.e. a network providing a maximum of information with a minimum of measurement devices. The spatial correlation analysis technique is used to compare the information given by the potential sites that may form the network. The concept of potential of violation is defined to take into account the number of times that the maximum emission values tolerated by law are exceeded. Both objectives are weighted automatically through an adjustable parameter, b, for which an estimation procedure has been developed in this study, depending on the purpose of the network. Several methods are described, allowing simultaneous consideration of different pollutants. As an illustration of these methods, a number of air quality monitoring networks is designed to perform an analysis of the environmental impact due to a hypothetical potash processing plant and two thermal power stations.     

精细化工固定源废气采样时机的选择探讨

以某医药企业某产品生产过程为实例,综合各工段生产步骤、时间、废气产生情况及估算的污染物浓度等因素,绘制各污染因子排放规律图,从而确定各污染因子排放浓度(排放量)最大的1 h为最佳采样时机。