Recovery efficiency of the hydrofluorocarbon (HFC‐134a) by activated carbons of different physicochemical properties

The adsorption characteristics of 1,1,1,2‐tetrafluoroethane (HFC‐134a) on activated carbon were investigated to evaluate the recovery efficiency of HFC‐134a by six activated carbons (two granular activated carbons (GAC1 and GAC2), one high‐surface area activated carbon (HAC), and three activated carbon fibers (ACF10, ACF15, and ACF20)). HFC‐134a adsorption on the activated carbons increased with increase in the specific surface area and pore volume of the activated carbon. The differential heat of the HFC‐134a adsorption decreased with increase in the percentage of the micropore volume to the total pore volume. The adsorption model of HFC‐134a on the activated carbon could be based on the Langmuir model. The constant a of the Langmuir plot of HAC and ACF20 is smaller than GAC1 or GAC2 and ACF10 or ACF15, respectively. The constant W_s of HAC has the largest value. The constant a was correlated to the heat of adsorption. It is concluded that the largest amount of HFC‐134a was adsorbed on HAC, and the least amount of interaction occurred between HFC‐134a and the HAC. The amount of HFC‐134a adsorbed on the activated carbons over time was applied to the Sameshima equation. The adsorption rate constant of HFC‐134a on HAC was the largest. The HAC could be suitable for the recovery of HFC‐134a.     

Preliminary Caesium Data From A Cooperative Us/Ussr Monitoring Survey for Chernobyl Radioactivity in the Black Sea

In June 1990, scientists from the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Radiation Programs (ORP), and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), travelled to Sevastopol in the Soviet Union to work with radioecologists and marine scientists from the USSR Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas (IBSS). the purpose of this cooperative programme was to conduct a monitoring survey for radioactivity in the northwestern Black Sea. Samples of sediment, surface and in-situ water, and biota were collected from fourteen stations for post-survey radionuclide analyses to determine levels of radioactivity in the Black Sea environment resulting from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion and subsequent transport of radioactivity via the Dnepr and Danube rivers. This paper presents the preliminary data for caesium-137 and caesium-134 in sediment samples analyzed by the EPA/ORP. Caesium-137 was measured at four shallow (20-114 m) stations on the shelf near the mouth of the Dnepr and Danube Rivers, but was not detected in sediments from comparable depths at stations further off shore or in slope sediments at depths of 510-1288 meters. Caesium-134 was detected only in sediments from the shallow-water station nearest to the Danube River.