Development of Emission Factors for Polyamide Processing

ABSTRACT

Emission factors for selected volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulate material were developed during processing of commercial grades of polyamide 6, polyamide 66, and polyamide 66/6 resins. A small commercial-type extruder was used, and melt temperatures ranged from 475 to 550 °F. An emission factor was calculated for each substance measured and is reported as pounds released to the atmosphere per million pounds of polymer resin processed. Scaled to production volumes, these emission factors can be used by processors to estimate emission quantities from similar polyamide extrusion operations.     

automated data handling for small authorities

The body of information presented in this paper is directed to administrators of smaller authorities—defined, arbitrarily, as those with small staff and not embracing large metropolitan areas. As their activities increase, viable programs are likely to produce prodigious quantities of data, necessitating the use of modern computers for most efficient analysis.

Remote links with high-speed time sharing computers provide a means for smaller authorities to satisfy this need. The capabilities of a large computer can be brought into the local office to handle (a) administrative and enforcement problems, (b) technical data analysis, and (c) instructional needs.

A data handling system being developed for use by the Northwest Air Pollution Authority is described, together with an examination of its potential utility to the Authority as its activities increase.     

Mercury stress on juvenile bay scallops,Argopecten irradians,under various salinity-temperature regimes

Survival of juvenile bay scallops, Argopecten irradians, after 96 h of exposure to mercury at various salinity and temperature regimes was studied. Scallop survival was significantly affected by mercury concentration and by salinity, as well as by the interaction between temperature and concentration and between temperature and salinity. Toxicity of mercury at low concentrations was enhanced by high temperature and low salinity, whereas at high mercury concentrations this effect diminished.     

Duplex auditory distance assessment in a small passerine bird (Pipilo erythrophthalmus)

Eastern towhees, Pipilo erythrophthalmus, (Emberizidae, Passeriformes) in Florida estimate source sound-pressure level (SPL; i.e., sound amplitude) and often misjudge speaker distance in the field when vocalization source SPL is varied experimentally. Sound frequencies below ~3.5 kHz attenuate reliably with distance in comparison with higher sound frequencies in Florida scrub habitat. As a result, I predicted that towhees should use SPL as an auditory distance cue when they hear stimuli produced with sound frequencies below ~3.5 kHz but use another cue when they hear stimuli produced with sound frequencies above ~3.5 kHz. Subjects often misjudged speaker distance when approaching playbacks of SPL-altered stimuli produced with sound frequencies below ~3.5 kHz but rarely misjudged speaker distance when played SPL-altered stimuli produced with sound frequencies above ~3.5 kHz. I discuss the possibility that towhees employ a duplex sound localization strategy.     

Perceptions of Species Abundance,Distribution, and Diversity: Lessons from Four Decades of Sampling on a Government-Managed Reserve

/ We examined data relative to species abundance, distribution, anddiversity patterns of reptiles and amphibians to determine how perceptionschange over time and with level of sampling effort. Location data werecompiled on more than one million individual captures or observations of 98species during a 44-year study period on the US Department of Energy's(DOE) Savannah River Site National Environmental Research Park (SRS-NERP) inSouth Carolina. We suggest that perceptions of herpetofaunal speciesdiversity are strongly dependent on level of effort and that land managementdecisions based on short-term data bases for some faunal groups could resultin serious errors in environmental management. We provide evidence thatacquiring information on biodiversity distribution patterns is compatiblewith multiyear spatially extensive research programs and also provide aperspective of what might be achieved if long-term, coordinated researchefforts were instituted nationwide.To conduct biotic surveys on government-managed lands, we recommend revisionsin the methods used by government agencies to acquire and report biodiversitydata. We suggest that government and industry employees engaged inbiodiversity survey efforts develop proficiency in field identification forone or more major taxonomic groups and be encouraged to measure the status ofpopulations quantitatively with consistent and reliable methodologies. Wealso suggest that widespread academic cooperation in the dissemination ofinformation on regional patterns of biodiversity could result byestablishment of a peer-reviewed, scientifically rigorous journal concernedwith status and trends of the biota of the United States. KEY WORDS: Abundance; Amphibian; Biodiversity; Distribution; Landmanagement; Reptile     

An evaluation of the tapered element oscillating microbalance method for measuring diesel particulate emissions

We determined the usefulness of tapered element oscillating microbalances (TEOMs) for researchers and engineers involved with measuring diesel particulate mass. Two different test facilities were used for generating diesel particulates and comparing the TEOM to the commonly used U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) manual filter method. The EPA method is very labor-intensive and requires long periods of time to complete. The TEOM is an attractive approach because it has the potential to reduce the amount of time and labor required in diesel testing, as well as to provide real-time particulate-mass data that are not obtainable with the EPA method. It was found that the TEOM was a precise and easy-to-operate instrument that could measure the mass concentration (MC) of diesel particulate emissions in real time. Although the TEOM diesel particulate MC measurements were highly correlated with the manual filter measurements, the two techniques were not equivalent because the TEOM consistently reported MC results that were 20-25% lower than those obtained using the manual filter technique. In conclusion, the TEOM can be used to increase test-cell throughput and to measure transient values of diesel particulate emissions at sites performing diesel-engine testing. However, unless EPA is able to certify the TEOM as an equivalent method, it cannot replace the manual filter method for diesel certification work.     

Development of emission factors for polycarbonate processing

Emission factors for selected volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulate emissions were developed while processing eight commercial grades of polycarbonate (PC) and one grade of a PC/acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) blend. A small commercial-type extruder was used, and the extrusion temperature was held constant at 304 degrees C. An emission factor was calculated for each substance measured and is reported as pounds released to the atmosphere/million pounds of polymer resin processed [ppm (wt/wt)]. Scaled to production volumes, these emission factors can be used by processors to estimate emission quantities from similar PC processing operations.     

Transformation products distribution of atrazine in corn plants treated with radiolabelled herbicide

Roots of whole plants at four leaf stage grown in specialized soil treatment vessels were treated with ¹⁴C-atrazine. Plant tissues were exhaustively extracted with methanol and extracts were separated by preparative thin layer chromatography (TLC). The extracted material was separated in two TLC bands at Rf0.00 and Rf0.18 containing 33% and 67% of plant ¹⁴C-residues, respectively. Methanol extracts of these bands subjected to derivatization, hydrolysis and analysis by TLC, revealed the presence of a number of transformation products consisting of hydroxy analogues of atrazine and their dealkylated metabolites. The transformation products had variable distribution patterns amongst leaf, stalk and root tissues. Diaminohydroxyatrazine, hydroxyatrazine, and deethylhydroxyatrazine were the main ¹⁴C-residues. Stalk tissue contained more ¹⁴C-residues which were largely located at and just below the ligule. The significance of ¹⁴C-residue accumulation at the ligule and the transformation product compartmentalization are discussed.     

Genetic distances among fishes of the genus Siganus (Siganidae) from the Western Pacific Ocean

Frequencies of electromorphs encoded by 14 polymorphic loci were used to estimate genetic distances among samples of the rabbitfishes Siganus argenteus, S. doliatus, S. fuscescens, S. guttatus, S. javus, S. punctatus, S. randalli, S. spinus, S. vermiculatus, and S. (Lo) vulpinus. Samples of the surgeonfish Naso lituratus (Acanthuridae) were included in the electrophoretic survey for the purpose of outgroup comparison. A matrix of genetic-distance estimates was used for construction of dendrograms by neighbor-joining, complete-linkage and single-linkage procedures, and the unweighted pair-group method of arithmetic averages (UPGMA). Cluster analysis revealed interspecific relationships that are concordant with several predictions intimated in the most recent taxonomic revision of this assemblage of fishes. S. randalli and S. vermiculatus, the pair postulated to be sibling species on the basis of strikingly similar external morphology, were found to exhibit the lowest levels of genetic divergence relative to all other pairs of study species. S. randalli, S. guttatus, and S. vermiculatus comprised one of three clusters discerned in all resultant topologies (i.e., ball clusters). S. argenteus, S. fuscescens, and S. spinus, three fusiform-bodied species, formed a second ball cluster that was clearly separable from the remainder of the siganids studied (which are all relatively deep-bodied). A third ball cluster contained S. punctatus and S. vulpinus: S. doliatus was depicted as being allied with S. punctatus and S. vulpinus in the neighbor-joining and complete-linkage topologies but not in topologies generated by UPGMA and single linkage. It is noteworthy that S. punctatus, S. vulpinus, and S. doliatus are the only three species included in the present study which purportedly school when young but form pair-bonds as adults. In all topologies, S. javus occupied branches stemming from furcation points between fusiform-bodied and deep-bodied species. Of all the siganids studied, S. argenteus was found to be least divergent genetically from N. lituratus. S. argenteus is the only siganid known to spawn pelagic eggs and undergo a specialized pelagic stage (features typical within the Acanthuridae). Hence, genetic relationships within the Siganidae and among the Siganidae and a representative acanthurid coincide with a host of predictions stemming from morphologic and life-history studies of the Acanthuroidei.