Application of slipstreamed air pollution control devices on waste-as-fuel processes

The recovery of energy from the combustion of municipal solid wastes is becoming an attractive alternative as landfill space becomes scarce and the availability of fossil fuels decreases. Particulate emissions from “waste-as-fuel” processes, however, may differ significantly in chemical and physical properties from particulate emissions produced by firing only coal. Such differences can affect the design and operation of air pollution control equipment. Presented in this paper are the results of a 2-month test program at Ames, Iowa, with a mobile electrostatic precipitator (ESP) and a mobile scrubber supplied by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Industrial Environmental Research Laboratory (IERL), Research Triangle Park. PEDCo Environmental, Inc., and Acurex Corporation jointly conducted the test program to examine the effect of burning refuse-derived fuel (RDF) on particulate and heavy metal control efficiencies. The mobile ESP was used only as a primary control device, whereas the mobile scrubber was tested both upstream and downstream of the existing full-scale ESP. This paper also presents a status report on a PEDCo test program with a pilot fabric filter at Ames.     

In-situ electrochemical measurements of total concentration and speciation of heavy metals in acid mine drainage (AMD): assessment of the use of anodic stripping voltammetry

We assessed the use of anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV) for in-situ determinations of both total concentration and speciation of dissolved heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn) in acid mine drainage (AMD). In the Kwangyang Au–Ag mine area of South Korea, different sites with varying water chemistry within an AMD were studied with a field portable anodic stripping voltammeter. Anodic stripping voltammetry after wet oxidation (acidification) was very sensitive enough to determine total concentration of dissolved Cd because Cd was dominantly present as ‘labile’ species, whilst the technique was not so effective for determining total Cu especially in the downstream sites from the retention pond, due to its complexation with organic matter. For dissolved Pb, the concentrations determined by ASV after wet oxidation generally agreed with those by ICP-AES. In the downstream samples (pH>5), however, ASV data after wet oxidation were lower than ICP-AES data because a significant fraction of dissolved Pb was present in those samples as ‘inert’ species associated with colloidal iron oxide particles. The determination of total dissolved Zn by ASV after wet oxidation appeared to be unsatisfactory for the samples with high Cu content, possibly due to the interference by the formation of Zn–Cu intermetallic compounds on the mercury coated electrode. In AMD samples with high dissolved iron, use of ultraviolet irradiation was not effective for determining total concentrations because humate destruction by UV irradiation possibly resulted in the removal of a part of dissolved heavy metals from waters through the precipitation of iron hydroxides.     

Real-world vehicle emissions: A summary of the 15th coordinating research council on-road vehicle emissions workshop

The Coordinating Research Council held its 15th workshop in April 2005, with nearly 90 presentations describing the most recent mobile source-related emissions research. In this paper, the authors summarize the presentations from researchers who are engaged in improving our understanding of the contribution of mobile sources to air quality. Participants in the workshop discussed emission models and emission inventories, results from gas- and particle-phase emissions studies from spark-ignition and diesel-powered vehicles (with an emphasis in this workshop on particle emissions), effects of fuels on emissions, evaluation of in-use emissions control programs, and efforts to improve our capabilities in performing on-board emissions measurements, as well as topics for future research.     

Measuring implicit psychological constructs in organizational behavior: An example using psychological capital

Implicit psychological constructs are effective predictors of behavioral outcomes but are rarely used in organizational settings because of real or imagined problems with measurement validity and administration. To address these concerns, we present a means of assessing implicit constructs quickly and easily by using psychological capital as an example. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.