Optical properties of aerosols of mixed composition

A model is developed which relates the reduction in visual air quality to the chemical and physical properties of airborne aerosol particles. The aerosols are considered to be inhomogeneous and to have a mixed chemical composition which varies with particle size. The water content of the aerosol particles is derived from a semi-empirical application of the thermodynamic equations for particle growth. The model is valid for all ranges of relative humidity.The light scattering and absorption coefficients are calculated using Mie theory extended to concentric sphere scatterers. The core of each particle, which is primarily taken to be nonvolatile carbon, is enclosed in a water-soluble exterior. The soluble layer responds to changes in the relative humidity by absorbing (or releasing) water. The model predictions are in excellent agreement with experimental measurements made in Denver in the fall of 1978.     

总量控制规划中允许排放量的平权分配

对总量控制规划中公平合理分配各污染源允许排放量的意义以及现有平权分配方法中存在的问题进行分析。阐明了允许排放量平权分配的原则,提出了平权分配污染源允许排放量的Ｂ值法。剖析了分析平权后剩余环境容量的必要性,并提出了相应的解决方法。     

废电池中氧化锰还原冶炼锰钢的实验研究

为促进我国锌锰废电池集中资源化处理,开发了一种高温回收废电池中锰的新工艺.废电池分选后,破碎和筛分,其中二氧化锰与还原剂碳制成球团,烧结后在感应炉中还原锰,制成锰钢.实验表明,球团中不加表面活性剂的二氧化锰还原率为34%,球团中加入硫化物表面活性剂促进二氧化锰在钢中的还原率,达到80%,钢液中锰含量可达3.97%,本实验条件下,还原最佳时间为20 min.在铸钢生产中可以直接应用该工艺处理废电池.     

沉淀法回收聚苯乙烯泡沫塑料的工艺研究

研究沉淀法回收聚苯乙烯泡沫塑料(EPS)的工艺,利用石油裂解副产物为溶剂回收废旧聚苯乙烯泡沫塑料,以废治废,回收利用。溶剂低毒,对聚苯乙烯泡沫塑料溶解速度快,溶解量大,价廉易得。采用转式间歇投料并附加溶剂挥发分回收装置的工艺,溶剂回收率高,无二次污染,可循环使用。聚苯乙烯塑料(PS)回收率可达99%。     

Microfibrous mesh coated with titanium dioxide: a self-sterilizing,self-cleaning filter

The utility of metal microfibrous mesh coated with titanium dioxide as a self-sterilizing, self-cleaning filter for air is explored. The low-cost mesh is produced via a roll-to-roll process similar to paper manufacturing. The titanium dioxide is applied by spraying an aqueous suspension of the photocatalyst on the surface of the mesh using an airbrush. Photocatalytic activity comparable to a powder layer is achieved at one quarter of the mass loading. The coating enhanced the separation of Escherichia coli (E. coli) from aqueous suspension, but also led to an increase in pressure drop in an air stream flowing through the mesh. The self-cleaning property of the coated mesh is established by recovery of pressure drop performance lost due to biofilm buildup. This is accomplished via a photocatalytic regeneration process involving exposing the mesh to ultraviolet light in air. Oxidation is confirmed by monitoring CO2 evolution during the regeneration. Scanning electron photomicrographs also provide visual evidence of successful regeneration via photocatalysis.     

Preliminary findings on the antimony levels of Quiroga river water in the vicinity of a long-abandoned stibnite mine

A UV-Vis spectrophotometric method was developed as a preliminary approach to the determination of antimony in water samples from a river that flows very close to an abandoned mining site. The analyte is complexed with ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate and absorbance of the complex is measured at 291.06 nm. The standard additions method is mandatory in view of the matrix effect observed, and the response is linear at least up to 9.3 microg/mL of antimony. The sensitivity of the method is 2.609 x 10(-2) mL/microg, whereas the limits of detection and quantification are, respectively, 0.2 and 0.6 microg/mL. The repeatability, expressed as mean relative standard deviation of the measurements within the calibration range, is 2.0%, whereas the repeatability of the entire procedure is 0.3%. The mean analytical recovery within the calibration range was 102.6%. The method was successfully applied to river water samples.     

Applied dispersion modelling based on meteorological scaling parameters

A method for calculating the dispersion of plumes in the atmospheric boundary layer is presented. The method is easy to use on a routine basis. The inputs to the method are fundamental meteorological parameters, which act as distinct scaling parameters for the turbulence. The atmospheric boundary layer is divided into a number of regimes. For each scaling regime we suggest models for the dispersion in the vertical direction. The models directly give the crosswind-integrated concentrations at the ground, x_y, for nonbuoyant releases from a continuous point source. Generally the vertical concentration profile is proposed to be other than Gaussian. The lateral concentration profile is always assumed to be Gaussian, and models for determining the lateral spread σ_y are proposed. The method is limited to horizontally homogeneous conditions and travel distances less than 10km. The method is evaluated against independent tracer experiments over land. The overall agreement between measurements and predictions is very good and better than that found with the traditional Gaussian plume model.     

Estimation of the exchange of sulphur pollution over the Balkan region in 1995–2000

The Bulgarian dispersion model 'Eulerian Model for Air Pollution' (EMAP) is used to estimate the sulphur pollution over the Balkan region for the period 1995–2000. A subdomain of the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) grid is chosen containing 12 countries. The computational grid in this domain has a space step of 25 km, twice as fine as the EMEP grid. The former operational DWD 'Europa-Model' is used as meteorological driver. The source input is the official EMEP emission data. Monthly calculations are made having the last moment fields from the previous month as initial conditions for the next one. The boundary conditions are set to zero, so the influence of other European sources is not accounted for in this study. According to the EMEP methodology, multiple runs are made setting every time the sources of various countries to zero. The impact of every country in the pollution of all others is estimated.     

Noncatalytic Auto Exhaust Combustor

Present methods for the determination of carbon monoxide are discussed including indicator tubes, the iodine pentoxide reaction and measurement by gas chromatography. In the gas chromatographic method an air sample is separated on a gas-solid chromatogra-phic column and the separated CO is converted to methane by hydrogenation at elevated temperature. The separated CO, in the form of methane, is passed into a hydrogen flame detector and measured. The conversion from CO to methane allows the use of a sensitive ionization detector in place of the thermal conductivity cell which is insufficiently sensitive for the measurement of trace amounts of CO. The optimum operating conditions are discussed. It is possible to determine one ppm CO in air. The iodine pentoxide reaction with CO has been combined with electrometric measurement. The iodine liberated is passed into a Ditte cell and the current generated is measured by an electrometerrecorder combination. This method is continuously direct reading with a permanent record. It is suitable for the continuous routine analysis of one ppm CO.     

On the scientific basis for global warming scenarios

The scientific basis for current projections of significant warming due to enhanced minor greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is reviewed. Care is taken to distinguish the issue of changes in radiative forcing at the earth's surface from the issue of the climatic response to this forcing. With respect to the former, it is noted that the predicted forcing is, in fact, small (2 W m(-2) at the surface for a doubling of CO(2), or less than 1% of the absorbed solar flux). With respect to the latter, it is noted that predictions of significant warming are dependent on the presence of large positive feedbacks serving to amplify the response. The largest of these feedbacks in current models involves water vapor at upper levels in the troposphere. This feedback appears to be largely a model artifact, and evidence is presented that models may even have the wrong sign for this feedback. The possibility is examined that the response of climate to major volcanic eruptions may provide a test of the climate system's amplification. The basis for this possibility is the fact that the response delay of the ocean-atmosphere system is proportional to the system gain.     

Analysis of the Trend and Seasonal Cycle of Carbon Monoxide Concentrations in an Urban Area (4 pp)

Background, Aim and Scope Air quality is an field of major concern in large cities. This problem has led administrations to introduce plans and regulations to reduce pollutant emissions. The analysis of variations in the concentration of pollutants is useful when evaluating the effectiveness of these plans. However, such an analysis cannot be undertaken using standard statistical techniques, due to the fact that concentrations of atmospheric pollutants often exhibit a lack of normality and are autocorrelated. On the other hand, if long-term trends of any pollutant’s emissions are to be detected, meteorological effects must be removed from the time series analysed, due to their strong masking effects. Materials and Methods The application of statistical methods to analyse temporal variations is illustrated using monthly carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations observed at an urban site. The sampling site is located at a street intersection in central Valencia (Spain) with a high traffic density. Valencia is the third largest city in Spain. It is a typical Mediterranean city in terms of its urban structure and climatology. The sampling site started operation in January 1994 and monitored CO ground level concentrations until February 2002. Its geographic coordinates are W0°22′52″ N39°28′05″ and its altitude is 11 m. Two nonparametric trend tests are applied. One of these is robust against serial correlation with regards to the false rejection rate, when observations have a strong persistence or when the sample size per month is small. A nonparametric analysis of the homogeneity of trends between seasons is also discussed. A multiple linear regression model is used with the transformed data, including the effect of meteorological variables. The method of generalized least squares is applied to estimate the model parameters to take into account the serial dependence of the residuals of this model. This study also assesses temporal changes using the Kolmogorov-Zurbenko (KZ) filter. The KZ filter has been shown to be an effective way to remove the influence of meteorological conditions on O₃ and PM to examine underlying trends. Results The nonparametric tests indicate a decreasing, significant trend in the sampled site. The application of the linear model yields a significant decrease every twelve months of 15.8% for the average monthly CO concentration. The 95% confidence interval for the trend ranges from 13.9% to 17.7%. The seasonal cycle also provides significant results. There are no differences in trends throughout the months. The percentage of CO variance explained by the linear model is 90.3%. The KZ filter separates out long, short-term and seasonal variations in the CO series. The estimated, significant, long-term trend every year results in 10.3% with this method. The 95% confidence interval ranges from 8.8% to 11.9%. This approach explains 89.9% of the CO temporal variations. Discussion The differences between the linear model and KZ filter trend estimations are due to the fact that the KZ filter performs the analysis on the smoothed data rather than the original data. In the KZ filter trend estimation, the effect of meteorological conditions has been removed. The CO short-term componentis attributable to weather and short-term fluctuations in emissions. There is a significant seasonal cycle. This component is a result of changes in the traffic, the yearly meteorological cycle and the interactions between these two factors. There are peaks during the autumn and winter months, which have more traffic density in the sampled site. There is a minimum during the month of August, reflecting the very low level of vehicle emissions which is a direct consequence of the holiday period. Conclusions The significant, decreasing trend implies to a certain extent that the urban environment in the area is improving. This trend results from changes in overall emissions, pollutant transport, climate, policy and economics. It is also due to the effect of introducing reformulated gasoline. The additives enable vehicles to burn fuel with a higher air/fuel ratio, thereby lowering the emission of CO. The KZ filter has been the most effective method to separate the CO series components and to obtain an estimate of the long-term trend due to changes in emissions, removing the effect of meteorological conditions. Recommendations and Perspectives Air quality managers and policy-makers must understand the link between climate and pollutants to select optimal pollutant reduction strategies and avoid exceeding emission directives. This paper analyses eight years of ambient CO data at a site with a high traffic density, and provides results that are useful for decision-making. The assessment of long-term changes in air pollutants to evaluate reduction strategies has to be done while taking into account meteorological variability     

Fractional calculus applied to the analysis of spectral electrical conductivity of clay-water system

The analysis of the low-frequency conductivity spectra of the clay-water mixtures is presented. The frequency dependence of the conductivity is shown to follow the power-law with the exponent n=0.67 before reaching the frequency-independent part. When scaled with the value of the frequency-independent part of the spectrum the conductivity spectra for samples at different water content values are shown to fit to a single master curve. It is argued that the observed conductivity dispersion is a consequence of the anomalously diffusing ions in the clay-water system. The fractional Langevin equation is then used to describe the stochastic dynamics of the single ion. The results indicate that the experimentally observed dielectric properties originate in anomalous ion transport in clay-water system characterized with time-dependent diffusion coefficient.     

Value of information analysis in remedial investigations

Site investigations of contaminated land are associated with high costs. From a societal perspective, just enough economic resources should be spent on investigations so that society's limited resources can be used optimally. The solution is to design investigation programs that are cost effective, which can be performed using value of information analysis (VOIA). The principle of VOIA is to compare the benefit at the present state of knowledge with the benefit that is expected after an investigation has been performed. A framework for VOIA of site investigations is presented based on Bayesian risk-cost-benefit decision analysis. The result is an estimate of the value of an investigation program and, for specific problems, the optimal number of samples. The main strength of the methodology is that it promotes clear thinking and compels the decision maker to reflect on issues that otherwise would be ignored. The main weakness is the complexity of VOIA models.     

Quantitative Determination of Formaldehyde in the Parts Per Hundred Million Concentration Level

A new method has been developed for the determination of trace quantities of formaldehyde and appears to be superior to existing methods. The procedure is based on a modification of Schiff’s test for aldehydes. A mixture of dichlorosulfitomercurate II complex and acid bleached pararosaniline hydrochloride is used as the reagent. In the presence of formaldehyde, a purple color is produced. The method is highly sensitive to formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, simple and does not require concentrated acids. When applied to air pollution studies, the method is virtually free of interferences from higher aldehydes. The paper describes the application of this method to spot sampling of the atmosphere and to continuous atmospheric analysis.     

The effect of acidification on the accumulation and toxicity of metals to freshwater invertebrates

This paper reviews the literature to determine if lowered water pH (a) affects metal bioaccumulation in freshwater invertebrates, (b) enhances the toxicity of a given metal, and (c) increases waterborne metal concentrations to levels toxic to invertebrates. The elements considered are mercury, lead, cadmium and aluminum. The available evidence suggests that of these elements only mercury is biomagnified in aquatic foodchains. The bioaccumulation of all these elements is influenced by water pH, but data concerning invertebrates is meagre for mercury and lead. The effect of pH on mercury and lead toxicity to invertebrates is unclear and may be largely species specific. Cadmium toxicity is reduced by lower pH, while aluminum toxicity to invertebrates is markedly higher due to changes in aluminum speciation at low pH.     

A hybrid micro-scale model for transport in connected macro-pores in porous media

This paper presents a hybrid model for transport in connected macro-pores in porous media. A pore-scale model is used to parameterize the hybrid model. The hybrid model explicitly models the advection and diffusion of species in the connected macro-pores and treats the porous media around the connected macro-pores as a continuum with effective transport properties. The pore-scale model is used to calculate the effective transport properties of the porous continuum. This approach negates the need to calibrate the hybrid model against experimental data, which is common for continuum-scale models of porous media, and allows an arbitrary microstructure to be considered. The paper presents the multi-scale modeling approach along with the details of the hybrid and pore-scale models. Validation of the model is also presented along with several case studies investigating the applicability of the multi-scale modeling approach to different geometries and transport conditions. The case studies show that the multi-scale modeling approach is accurate for various connected macro-pore geometries given that the porosity of the porous medium around the connected macro-pores is sufficiently small. The accuracy of the hybrid model decreases with increasing porosity of the matrix.     

Power generation by high head water in a building using micro hydro turbine—a greener approach

Demand for green energy production is arising all over the world. A lot of emphasis is laid in making the buildings green. Even a small amount of energy savings made contribute to saving the environment. In this study, an idea is proposed and studied to extract power from the high head water in the pipelines of a building. A building of height 15 m is considered for this study. Water flowing in the pipe has sufficient energy to run a micro hydro turbine. The feasibility of producing electrical energy from the energy of pipe water is found. The motivation is to find the feasibility of generating power using a low-cost turbine. The experimental setup consists of micro turbine of 135 mm diameter coupled to a 12-V DC generator; LEDs and resistors are employed to validate the results. The theoretical calculations were presented using the fundamental equations of fluid mechanics. The theoretical results are validated using experimental and numerical results using CFD simulation. In addition, exergy analysis has been carried out to quantify the irreversibilities during the process in the system.     

Concentration of atmospheric pollutants in the gaseous emissions of medical waste incinerators

The purpose of this paper is to quantify the production of medical waste from a general hospital and to evaluate the atmospheric pollutant concentrations in gaseous emissions associated with its incineration. A 3.8 kg (bed.day)-1 production of medical waste was estimated for 1998; its incineration is related with an ash production of 0.3-0.4 kg (bed.day)-1. The concentrations of atmospheric pollutants were estimated using emission factors, comparing the effluents with and without control of atmospheric pollutants. The calculated concentrations were compared with the emission limits established by Portuguese legislation. The results indicate that, if there is no control of atmospheric pollutants, their concentrations exceed the established limits. This is observed even if correct operation and maintenance procedures are used. The emission concentrations of dioxins are higher than the Portuguese emission limit, which is particularly worrying due to the high toxicity of some of these compounds. Generally, it is possible to reduce pollutant concentrations if appropriate control equipment is used. The conclusions obtained clearly justify the great concern regarding air pollution associated with medical waste incinerators currently operating in Portugal.     

Does tradeoff between financial and social indicators matters in environmental consideration: evidence from G7 region

The study tries to discover the impact of financial and social indicators’ growth towards environmental considerations to understand the drivers of economic growth and carbon dioxide emissions change in G7 countries. The DEA-like composite index has been used to examine the tradeoff between financial and social indicator matters in environmental consideration by using a multi-objective goal programming approach. The data from 2008 to 2018 is collected from G-7 countries. The results from the DEA-like composite index reveals that there is a mixed condition of environmental sustainability in G-7 countries where the USA is performing better and Japan is performing worse among the set of other countries. The further result shows that the energy and fiscal indicators help to decrease the dangerous gas emissions. Divergent to that, the human and financial index positively contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Fostering sustainable development is essential to successfully reduce emissions, meet established objectives, and ensure steady development. The study provides valuable information for policymakers.

     

A model for contaminant mass flux in capped sediment under consolidation

The paper presents a model for contaminant transport and flux through a consolidating subaqueous sediment and overlying cap. The formulation is based on the effect of consolidation and excess pore pressure dissipation on transient, nonlinear advective component of transport through sediment and the cap. The consolidation is induced by the buoyant weight of the cap when it is placed on the contaminated sediments. One equation is presented for advective-diffusive transport through the sediment that is dependent upon soil/contaminant properties and transient advective velocity, which is calculated from a second equation based on the Terzaghi consolidation theory. A third equation is provided to describe the transport of contaminants in the cap. The parameters, including advective velocity, and boundary conditions used for contaminant transport through the cap are derived from the solution of the first two equations. The finite difference method is used to solve the system of equations for consolidation and contaminant transport. A hypothetical case is analyzed to demonstrate the formulation, and the results show that advection due to consolidation can accelerate breakthrough of contaminant through the cap by orders of magnitude. The derivation and results show that consolidation should be included for cap design, and that reactive caps are essential for delaying and reducing dissolved contaminant flux.