Assessment of Arsenic Losses during Ashing: A Comparison of Two Methods Applied to Atmospheric Participates

A comparison was made of over 300 pairs of arsenic results from instrumental neutron activation and flameless atomic absorption analyses of atmospheric particulates collected on glass fiber filters. Atomic absorption analyses involved low temperature ashing of filters at high power levels. No matrix modification chemicals were added to the acid extract which was analyzed. Neutron activation results are on the average 9% higher than those obtained by atomic absorption and the difference is statistically significant. This small difference is probably due to the analytical techniques or acid extraction and not in any important way to losses during low temperature ashing. This conclusion is in sharp contrast to other recently reported situations where low temperature ashing losses in analyzing atmospheric particulate were sizable. Although the atmospheres sampled differed somewhat between these situations the most obvious difference was in the combustibility of the filters used in sampling.     

Modification of an Ambient Air Quality Model for Assessment of U. S. Naval Aviation Emittants

Previous studies have indicated that the EPA-HIWAY model significantly overestimates the pollutant concentrations for stable atmospheric conditions, especially under parallel wind-road orientation angles with low wind speed. This overestimation is due to the fact that the model's dispersion parameters do not properly account for the traffic-induced turbulence near roadways. In this paper, the Pasquill- Gifford dispersion curves used by the model are modified based on the recent studies that have quantified the nature of the trafficinduced turbulence and its influence on the pollutant dispersion in the near-field. The results show that the model performance is significantly improved when these new dispersion curves in conjunction with an aerodynamic drag factor, which in a rough way accounts for the change in the mean wind field due to the moving vehicles, are used in the HIWAY model.     

Evaluation of Continuous Performance Monitoring Techniques for Hazardous Waste Incinerators

This paper discusses monitoring the waste destruction efficiency of hazardous waste incinerators. The particular problem is to ensure that incinerators do not release, without detection, significant quantities of waste as a result of operating fluctuations or equipment degradation. To detect these conditions, continuous, automated, and real-time source monitoring is required. Detection of degraded performance by monitoring and measuring waste compounds directly is not presently possible on a continuous basis. An alternative is to use commercially available continuous monitors to measure combustion intermediates (e.g., CO or hydrocarbons) and thereby infer waste destruction efficiency. Required, however, is a correlation between the emission of intermediates and the emission of waste. In this paper, the response of a number of these continuous monitors is compared with waste destruction efficiency measurements from a laboratory scale, liquid-spray incinerator operated on fuel oil doped with model waste compounds: benzene, chlorobenzene, acrylonitrile, and chloroform. Total hydrocarbon and CH₄ measurements are found to vary with waste emission in a nearly linear manner; however, a substantial increase in CO emission occurs before a significant amount of waste is released. These results suggest that CO may serve as an indicator of the approach of waste release, while total hydrocarbons may provide an indicator of immediate waste release.     

Control of Fine Particulate (PM2.5) Emissions from Restaurant Operations

ABSTRACT

This paper describes efforts to reduce particulate matter (PM) emissions from restaurant operations, including application of an existing control method to a new equipment type. Commercial charbroiling in the South Coast Air Basin results in emissions of approximately 10 tons/day of fine particulate matter ₍PM_2.5) and 1.3 tons/day of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Over a seven-year period, the South Coast Air Quality Management District worked with industry to develop test methods for measuring emissions from various cooking operations, evaluate control technologies, and develop a rule to reduce these emissions.

Of the two basic types of charbroilers—chain-driven and underfired—underfired produce four times the emissions when equivalent amounts of product are cooked. Cost-effective control technology is currently available only for chain-driven charbroilers. The application of flameless catalytic oxidizers to chain-driven charbroilers was found to effectively reduce emissions by at least 83% and is cost-effective. The catalysts have been used worldwide at restaurants for several years. Research efforts are underway to identify control options for underfired charbroilers.

Implementation of Rule 1138, Control of Emissions from Restaurant Operations, adopted November 14, 1997, will result in reductions of 0.5 tons/day of PM_2.5 and 0.2 tons/day of VOCs. Future rules will result in reductions from underfired charbroilers and possibly other restaurant equipment when cost-effective solutions are available.     

Estimating Evapotranspiration for Dryland Cropping Systems in the Semiarid Texas High Plains Using SWAT

The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is one of the most widely used watershed models for simulating hydrology in response to agricultural management practices. However, limited studies have been performed to evaluate the SWAT model's ability to estimate daily and monthly evapotranspiration (ET) in semiarid regions. ET values were simulated using ArcSWAT 2012 for a lysimeter field managed under dryland conditions at the USDA‐ARS Conservation and Production Research Laboratory at Bushland, Texas, and compared with measured lysimeter values from 2000 to 2010. Two scenarios were performed to compare SWAT's performance: (1) use of default plant leaf area index (LAI) values in the embedded plant database and (2) adjusted LAI values. Scenario 1 resulted in an “unsatisfactory” Nash‐Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) of 0.42 and 0.38 for the calibration and validation periods, respectively. Scenario 2 resulted in a “satisfactory” NSE value for the calibration period while achieving a “good” NSE of 0.70 for the validation period. SWAT generally underestimated ET at both the daily and monthly levels. Overestimation during fallow years may be due to the limitations of the pothole function used to simulate furrow diking. Users should be aware of potential errors associated with using default LAI parameters. Inaccuracies in ET estimation may also stem from errors in the plant stress functions, particularly when evaluating water management practices for dryland watersheds.     

Establishing and using study criteria to ensure the rigor and robustness of survival compliance testing at hydroelectric dams

An elaborate set of criteria have been developed by fish managers and regulators to assure the accuracy, precision, representativeness, and robustness of survival compliance studies coordinated within the Federal Columbia River Power System in the northwestern USA. Dam passage survival, defined as survival from the dam face to the tailrace mixing zone, must be ≥96 % for spring out migrating juvenile salmonids [i.e., yearling Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and steelhead (O. mykiss)] and ≥93 % for summer outmigrants (i.e., subyearling Chinook salmon). Survival must be estimated with a standard error ≤1.5 %. However, these quantitative benchmarks are only part of a multifaceted set of criteria, including representative dam operations, river discharge levels, and fish selection, along with tests of model validity that must be satisfied. These criteria are illustrated using acoustic-tag survival compliance studies conducted at The Dalles Dam on the Columbia River, 2010–2012. The results suggest evaluation criteria for survival compliance tests must balance the needs for rigor and robustness with the ability to reasonably perform the tests in naturally varying riverine systems.     

Australian native plant species Carpobrotus rossii (Haw.) Schwantes shows the potential of cadmium phytoremediation

Many polluted sites are typically characterized by contamination with multiple heavy metals, drought, salinity, and nutrient deficiencies. Here, an Australian native succulent halophytic plant species, Carpobrotus rossii (Haw.) Schwantes (Aizoaceae) was investigated to assess its tolerance and phytoextraction potential of Cd, Zn, and the combination of Cd and Zn, when plants were grown in soils spiked with various concentrations of Cd (20–320 mg kg^?1 Cd), Zn (150–2,400 mg kg^?1 Zn) or Cd + Zn (20?+?150, 40?+?300, 80?+?600 mg kg^?1). The concentration of Cd in plant parts followed the order of roots > stems > leaves, resulting in Cd translocation factor (TF, concentration ratio of shoots to roots) less than one. In contrast, the concentration of Zn was in order of leaves > stems > roots, with a Zn TF greater than one. However, the amount of Cd and Zn were distributed more in leaves than in stems or roots, which was attributed to higher biomass of leaves than stems or roots. The critical value that causes 10 % shoot biomass reduction was 115 μg g^?1 for Cd and 1,300 μg g^?1 for Zn. The shoot Cd uptake per plant increased with increasing Cd addition while shoot Zn uptake peaked at 600 mg kg^?1 Zn addition. The combined addition of Cd and Zn reduced biomass production more than Cd or Zn alone and significantly increased Cd concentration, but did not affect Zn concentration in plant parts. The results suggest that C. rossii is able to hyperaccumulate Cd and can be a promising candidate for phytoextraction of Cd from polluted soils.     

Copper desorption in flooded agricultural soils and toxicity to the Florida apple snail (Pomacea paludosa): implications in Everglades restoration

Copper (Cu) desorption and toxicity to the Florida apple snail were investigated from soils obtained from agricultural sites acquired under the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. Copper concentrations in 11 flooded soils ranged from 5 to 234 mg/kg on day 0 and from 6.2 to 204 mg/kg on day 28 (steady-state). The steady-state Cu concentration in overlying water ranged from 9.1 to 308.2 microg/L. In a 28-d growth study, high mortality in snails occurred within 9 to 16 d in two of three soil treatments tested. Growth of apple snails over 28 d was affected by Cu in these two treatments. Tissue Cu concentrations by day 14 were 12-23-fold higher in snails exposed to the three soil treatments compared to controls. The endangered Florida snail kite and its main food source, the Florida apple snail, may be at risk from Cu exposure in these managed agricultural soil-water ecosystems.