Methyl Tertiary Hexyl Ether and Methyl Tertiary Octyl Ether as Gasoline Oxygenates: Assessing Risks from Atmospheric Dispersion and Deposition

Abstract

Methyl tertiary hexyl ether (MtHxE) and methyl tertiary octyl ether (MtOcE) are currently being developed as replacement oxygenates for methyl tertiary butyl ether (MtBE) in gasoline. As was the case with MtBE, the introduction of these ethers into fuel supplies guarantees their introduction into the environment as well. In this study, a screening-level risk assessment was performed by comparing predicted environmental concentrations (PEC) of these ethers to concentrations that might cause adverse effects to humans or ecosystems. A simple box model that has successfully estimated urban air concentrations of MtBE was adapted to predict atmospheric concentrations of MtHxE and MtOcE. Expected atmospheric concentrations of these ethers were also estimated using the European Union System for the Evaluation of Substances (EUSES) multimedia fate model, which simultaneously calculates PECs in the various environmental compartments of air, water, soil, and sediment. Because little or no data are available on the physicochemical, environmental, and toxicological properties of MtHxE and MtOcE, estimation methods were used in conjunction with EUSES to predict both the PECs and the concentrations at which these ethers might pose a threat. The results suggest that these ethers would contaminate the air of a moderately sized U.S. city (Boston, MA) at levels similar to those found previously for MtBE. The risk assessment module in EUSES predicted risk characterization ratios of 10^?3 and 10^?2 for MtHxE and MtOcE, respectively, in Boston, and 10^?2 and 10^?1 in very large urban centers, suggesting that these ethers pose only a minimal threat to ecosystems at the anticipated environmental concentrations. The assessment also indicates that these compounds are possible human carcinogens and that they may be present in urban air at concentrations that pose an unacceptable cancer risk. Therefore, testing of the toxicological properties of these compounds is recommended before they replace MtBE in gasoline.     

火焰原子吸收光度法测定水中铝的方法改进

研究了在盐酸介质中，壬基酚聚氧乙烯-7醚（NP-7）活化下，火焰原子吸收光度法测定环境水体中铝的方法改进。在25mL容量瓶中，加入5．0mL体积分数为50％的盐酸、2．0mL质量浓度为0．01g／mL NP-7和4．0mL质量浓度为75．0μg/mL的铝标准溶液，在原子吸收分光光度计的最佳测定条件下测定吸光度。根据吸光度与铝质量浓度绘制了工作曲线，线性范围3．0～24．0μg/mL，检出限1．32μg/mL。该法用于环境水体中铝含量的测定，加标回收率为94．4％～101．4％，最大相对标准偏差5．8％，方法对比最大相对误差4．1％。     

Effects of plant density on the photosynthetic and chloroplast characteristics of maize under high-yielding conditions

The Science of Nature - Knowledge on animal personality has provided new insights into evolutionary biology and animal ecology, as behavioural types have been shown to affect fitness. Animal...     

Analysis and Modeling on the Spatial Structure of Urban Land Use: A Case of Jinan, China

Based on the data of urban land use obtained by remote sensing interpretation from aero images in 1986 and 2004, the spatial structure of Jinan is studied in this paper with the method of Geographic Information System (GIS). According to the proportion of land for residence, industry and commerce, the urban district can be distinguished into three rings. Compared with the traditional theory of the ring structure in Western coun- tries, they have many distinctive characteristics. The main func- tions of the inner ring include residence, business and banking, but the proportion of residential land (more than 50%) is considerably higher than that of the cities in Western countries. The land proportion for residence and industry in the intermediate ring is equal on the whole. The main land of the outside ring is for industrial use. From 1986 to 2004, great changes have taken place on the land proportion of different types of use. In the inner ring, the land for residential and industrial use has shrunk much while the land for commercial use has increased. In the intermediate ring, the changes of the three types of land use were not very much and the temporal variation was relatively stable. On the contrary, the structure in the outside ring varies acutely. Though most of it is also for industrial use, the proportion of residential land has in- creased much. The three rings can also be divided into several sectors respectively, according to the function of land use clusters. New trends and mechanisms of the changes of land use impacting the urban structure were proposed in the end of the paper.     

从山东省部分行业看工业节水潜力

本文采用万元产值取水量和水重复利用率作为节水指标,通过对山东省主要工业行业用水节水现状进行调查研究,阐述了各行业节水水平和节水经验,分析并预测了节水潜力,总结提出了各行业应采取的主要节水措施和建议。     

湖北省近40年旱涝轻重程度的次序确定

本文用旱涝指标(即H=P/E)式计算了湖北省解放以来各年月的旱涝指数,它对给定的时间和空间上的旱涝轻重程度具有明显的分辨能力,由此确定了历年各自然季节的旱涝轻重年份的次序。     

14C and 125I Labelling of Humic Material for Use in Environmental Studies

Humic and fulvic acids are present in nearly all natural waters. These acids are known to affect the transport of environmental contaminants such as metals and hydrophobic organics through the terrestrial environment. an understanding of their role in the transport of contaminants is therefore essential and is facilitated if the acid is labelled with a suitable radioactive label. This paper reports the use of ¹⁴C-methylamine and ¹²⁵I to label humic acid with either ¹⁴C or ¹²⁵I and investigates factors which affect the yield of these reactions. the stability and mobility of the labelled humic material through sand is also reported.     

重大工业危险源(罐区)监控预警系统

系统建立了管理软件和硬件监控相结合的安全生产监控预警系统，在安全管理的基 础上，把罐区诸多的危险参数给予实时监测、报警和控制。本系统实现了生产过程控制与安全监控 相结合，安全监测报警与事故预案相结合，既满足了生产控制又实现了动态的安全管理，对安全生产 具有较大意义。