Maintaining high-volume, low-pressure surface-coating regulatory compliance using the U.s. Environmental Protection Agency's data quality objectives process

To effectively reduce the environmental compliance costs associated with meeting specific requirements under the Aerospace Manufacturing and Rework Facility's National Emission Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants rule, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Data Quality Objective (DQO) process has been proposed as a suitable framework for developing a scientifically defensible surface compliance monitoring program. By estimating the variability associated with the air cap pressure of high- volume, low-pressure (HVLP) surface-coating spray equipment, the number of monitoring samples necessary for an affected facility to claim compliance with a desired statistical confidence level was established. Using data taken from the pilot test facility, the DQO process indicated that the mean of at least 21 HVLP air cap pressure samples taken over the compliance period must be < or = 10 pounds per square inch (psig) gauge for the facility to claim regulatory compliance with 99.99% statistical confidence. Fewer compliance samples could be taken, but that decision would lead to a commensurate reduction in the compliance confidence level. Implementation of the DQO-based compliance sampling plan eliminates the need for an affected facility to sample all regulated HVLP surface-coating processes while still maintaining a high level of compliance assurance.     

Challenge of materials substitution

The impacts of materials substitution in the automobile industry were examined in a symposium at the 99th Winter Annual Meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Papers were contributed by W.D. Compton of the Ford Motor Company, R.B. Gavert of the Office of Technology Assessment, US Congress, J.T. Herridge and R.W. Hale of Battelle Columbus Laboratories, A.H. Purcell of Technical Information Project Incorporated, and M.B. Bever of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Symposium on Measurements of the Impacts of Material Substitution – A Case Study in the Automobile Industry, San Francisco, 10–15 December 1978.     

Replacement of a multiple hearth by a fluid bed incinerator the Greensboro case history

The incinerator at the T.Z. Osborne Plant in Greensboro, North Carolina burns sludge from its own waste water treatment plant and sludge pumped from the nearby North Buffalo plant. The two plants have a combined capacity of 36 million gallons per day of wastewater. Because of the age of and increasing high maintenance on the existing multiple hearth incinerator, and the need to increase treatment capacity, the Osborne plant concluded a study in 1992 evaluating its options for future municipal sewage sludge disposal. Options which were evaluated during the study included; (i) rehabilitation of the existing eight-year old multiple hearth unit; (ii) addition of a new multiple hearth; (iii) addition of a new fluid bed system; (iv) drying, composting, or land application. The chosen option, based on both economic and environmental considerations, was a new fluid bed system with a capacity of 2.55 tons per hour, approximately double that of the existing multiple hearth. Design of the new fluid bed system began in December 1994 and equipment delivery for the incineration system was begun in April 1995. Initial operation occurred in August 1996. Primary and secondary sludge, dewatered to 28% dry solids by centrifuge, is delivered by piston pumps to the twenty-foot freeboard ID incinerator. A shell and tube heat exchanger recuperates heat from the exhaust gas and preheats the combustion air to 1250°F, resulting in minimal auxiliary fuel use. The air pollution control device is a high-energy Tandem Nozzle® scrubber. Greensboro was the initial installation of this scrubber design on a fluid bed incinerator and its characteristics and performance are discussed. Ash is dewatered in an ash thickener/belt press system prior to disposal to landfill. The system includes a state of the art Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) system for computer control of the operation. The unit was commissioned in August 1996 and has been in continuous operation since that time except for a one week inspection and maintenance shutdown in February 1999. The plant operates 24 h/day, 7 days per week. The initial performance test showed the system to readily meet federal and state air emission standards. Particulate released was 0.002 grains per dry standard cubic foot, carbon monoxide was 22.5 parts per million volumetric (ppmv) and opacity was 0.4%. These results show a significant emission reduction with the fluid bed when compared to the multiple hearth. Annual tests conducted since then and continuous emission monitoring have shown the unit to be in consistent compliance. Since the fluid bed system became operational, the old multiple hearth system has been maintained on standby as a backup, but its use has not been required. Operational experience is discussed, the most interesting of which is the relatively trouble-free operation. The minor problems which occurred and their solutions are detailed. Also included is a comparison of operation and maintenance experience of the fluid bed and the multiple hearth. Current sludge disposal actual cost data are also provided including the average cost per ton of dry solids treated. The almost three years of operational experience to date has shown that the decision to install a new fluid bed system was the correct one on both an environmental and economic basis. It has provided benefits to all interested parties — the wastewater treatment plant, the regulators, the taxpayers, and the surrounding community.     

Implication of two in-stream processes in the fate of nutrients discharged by sewage system into a temporary river

The aim of this study was to better understand the fate of nutrients discharged by sewage treatment plants into an intermittent Mediterranean river, during a low-flow period. Many pollutants stored in the riverbed during the low-flow period can be transferred to the downstream environments during flood events. The study focused on two processes that affect the fate and the transport of nutrients, a physical process (retention in the riverbed sediments) and a biological process (denitrification). A spatial campaign was carried out during a low-flow period to characterize the nutrient contents of both water and sediments in the Vène River. The results showed high nutrient concentrations in the water column downstream of the treated wastewater disposal (up to 13,315 μg N/L for ammonium and 2,901 μg P/L for total phosphorus). Nutrient concentrations decreased rapidly downstream of the disposal whereas nutrient contents in the sediments increased (up to 1,898 and 784 μg/g for total phosphorus and Kjeldahl nitrogen, respectively). According to an in situ experiment using sediment boxes placed in the riverbed for 85 days, we estimated that the proportion of nutrients trapped in the sediments represents 25% (respectively 10%) of phosphorus (respectively nitrogen) loads lost from the water column. In parallel, laboratory tests indicated that denitrification occurred in the Vène River, and we estimated that denitrification likely coupled to nitrification processes during the 85 days of the experiment was significantly involved in the removal of nitrogen loads (up to 38%) from the water column and was greater than accumulation processes.     

Letting Wet Spots be Wet: Restoring Natural Bioreactors in the Dissected Glacial Landscape

In this paper, we argue that there is tremendous potential for nitrate-N reductions to occur throughout the Corn Belt region of the USA if we simply let naturally occurring wet spots on the landscape be wet. Geologic and hydrologic data gathered in the Walnut Creek watershed located in south-central Iowa provides compelling evidence that substantial nutrient-processing capacity exists in this dissected glacial landscape. Self-similarity of stratigraphy, sedimentology and hydrology observed at all spatial scales in the watershed suggests that Holocene alluvial fill deposits provide a natural bioreactor for denitrification of upland groundwater nitrate-N; the occurrence of such deposits can be mapped to identify potential nitrogen sinks across the landscape. This approach to identifying potential nitrogen sinks is geology focused and extends potential locations for nutrient processing upstream into the headwater catchments of individual fields.     

Validation of Ucides cordatus as a bioindicator of oil contamination and bioavailability in mangroves by evaluating sediment and crab PAH records

This study is aimed at verifying the relevance of Ucides cordatus as a bioindicator of oil contamination and PAH bioavailability in mangrove sediments. For this, crabs and sediment cores were sampled from five mangroves, including an area suspected of contamination derived from an MF380 oil spillage, and analyzed for the 16 PAH in the USEPA priority list as well as for the five series of alkylated homologues. Concentrations in sediments varied from 35 microg kg-1 in the lower core layer of the control area to 33,000 microg kg-1 in the upper layer of the most contaminated area. Total PAH contents in crabs varied from 206 to 62,000 microg kg-1 and were closely correlated to that in sediments. In general, individual PAH profiles in both matrices were in good agreement. Phenanthrenes, however, were more predominant in crabs making up to 30-46% of the Total PAH. Accumulation factors found in the range of 0.7 to 35 were highly variable even after normalizing concentrations for organic carbon and lipid content. Survival in highly contaminated environment and reliable record of environmental contamination in the tissue provide evidence that U. cordatus is an excellent bioindicator for oil in mangroves.     

Pesticide use practices among smallholder vegetable farmers in Ethiopian Central Rift Valley

Pesticide use is a common practice to control pests and diseases in vegetable cultivation, but often at the expense of the environment and human health. This article studies pesticide-buying and use practices among smallholder vegetable farmers in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia, using a practice perspective. Through in-depth interviews and observations, data were collected from a sample of farmers, suppliers and key governmental actors. The results reveal that farmers apply pesticides in violation of the recommendations: they use unsafe storage facilities, ignore risks and safety instructions, do not use protective devices when applying pesticides, and dispose containers unsafely. By applying a social practice approach, we show that these pesticide-handling practices are steered by the combination of the system of provision, the farmers’ lifestyle and the everyday context in which pesticides are being bought and used. Bringing in new actors such as environmental authorities, suppliers, NGOs and private actors, as well as social and technological innovations, may contribute to changes in the actual performance of these pesticides buying and using practices. This article argues that a practice approach represents a promising perspective to analyse pesticide handling and use and to systematically identify ways to change these.