A Summary of the A&WMA/EPA International Specialty Conference

“Visibility and Fine Particles“, the fourth in a series of international specialty conferences on atmospheric visibility, was sponsored by the Air and Waste Management Association and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The purpose of this conference was to provide a forum to disseminate the results of recent advances in visibility and fine particles. The 110 papers presented at the conference covered six topics: policy and regulatory issues, visibility and fine particle measurements, human perception of visibility, meteorological factors affecting visibility, economic valuation of visibility, and visibility and fine particle modeling and source apportionment. Eighty-five of those papers are included in the conference Transactions and are summarized in this article.     

A&WMA Honors Five Individuate and One Company In 1989 Awards Program

A repository of 39 and 34 gaseous organic compounds in compressed gas cylinders at PPM (5 to 700) and PPB levels (1 to 10,000) respectively has been established by EPA for use in performance audits. In this program, to ensure that the concentration of each gas standard has not changed, each standard is periodically analyzed for stability. The gas mixtures were initially analyzed once or twice by the manufacturer before shipment to Research Triangle Institute (RTI). The gas mixtures were then analyzed at RTI upon receipt from the gas manufacturer and then reanalyzed at 2, 6 and 12 months, and annually thereafter, to determine any change in concentration.

An examination of the stability data shows that concentrations for all the organics tested usually varied by less than 10 percent over a period of several years. Ethylene oxide and propylene oxide and trans 1, 4-dichloro-2-butene below the 10 ppb level have been found to be unstable. Six other compounds at the PPM level (aniline, cyclohexanone, p-dichlorobenzene, ethylamine 1, 2-dibromoethylene, and formaldehyde) have been found to be unstable in compressed gas cylinders.     

Summary of the 1989 EPA/A&WMA International Symposium: Measurement of Toxic and Related Air Pollutants

A joint conference, for the fourth straight year cosponsored by the Air & Waste Management Association’s TP-6, TP-7, and ITF-2 technical committees, and the Atmospheric Research and Exposure Assessment Laboratory of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, was held at Raleigh, North Carolina, May 2-5, 1989. The technical program consisted of 145 presentations, held in 14 separate technical sessions, on recent advances in the measurement and monitoring of toxic and related pollutants found in ambient and source atmospheres. Covering a wide range of measurement topics and superbly supported by 57 exhibitors of instrumentation and consulting services, the symposium was enthusiastically received by more than 700 attendees from the United States and other countries. This overview contains a selection of the highlights from the technical presentations. A synopsis of the keynote address to the symposium is also included.     

Summary of the 1991 EPA/A&WMA International Symposium: Measurement of Toxic and Related Air Pollutants

A joint conference cosponsored for the sixth year by the Atmospheric Research and Exposure Assessment Laboratory (AREAL) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Air & Waste Management Association was held in Durham, North Carolina, May 6–10, 1991. The technical program consisted of 220 presentations, held in 25 technical sessions, on recent advances in ambient and source atmospheres. Covering a wide range of measurement topics and supported by 78 exhibitors of instrumentation and consulting services, the symposium was attended by almost a thousand professionals from the United States and other countries. This overview highlights a selection of the technical presentations, and includes a synopsis of the keynote address.