An Ozone Event in Indianapolis

There are doubts concerning the sources of the pollutant ozone in an urban location. Current control regulations,¹ for example, are based on local sources. Many studies suggest that plumes of pollutants released by upwind areas are the cause. For example, New York City has been associated with high O₃ in New England,² Chicago with O₃ in Milwaukee,³ and St. Louis with O₃ in rural Illinois.⁴ Others^5,6 have suggested the problem must be treated on a synoptic scale. In an effort to understand the problem at Indianapolis better, a series of experiments involving aircraft flights were conducted in the Indianapolis area and their results are herein reported. Specifically, a cross country flight of over 100 mi both to the northeast and southwest of Indianapolis, a vertical spiral to 28,000 ft, low level data associated with takeoff and landing of the aircraft, and ground data at four sites, are available for the afternoon of June 9,1976.     

Economics and Alternatives for Sulfur Removal from Coke Oven Gas

Two processes are currently being employed in North America for the desulfurization of coke oven gas, the Vacuum Carbonate System, and the Stretford System. A third, the Sulfi-ban Process, which was recently announced, now has several plants scheduled for construction. Overall operating requirements for each of these processes are considered in detail. Emphasis is placed on an identification of power and steam requirements, the types and amounts of solid and/or liquid waste streams produced together with methods for their treatment, and the net desulfurization efficiencies achieved by each process. Detailed estimates of capital and operating costs for desulfurization are considered, and equipment needs for environmental control requirements are discussed.     

The Change of Concentration Standard Deviations with Distance

Calculations of pollutant concentrations at various downwind and crosswind distances from an elevated point source are frequently based on diffusion models and parameter values contained in Turner’s Workbook of Atmospheric Dispersion Estimates.1 These calculations can be made much more speedily on a computer or on a currentgeneration, programmable desk calculator, if the values of the horizontal and vertical standard deviations of plume concentrations distributions are stated explicitly as a mathematical function of downwind distance. The alternative is to read the values from Turner’s Figures 3-2 and 3-3 and input them into the calculation for each individual value of downwind distance.     

A Microprocessor-Based Air Quality Monitoring System

Portable air quality monitoring systems may be required to supplement fixed installations or to provide for quick response to a transient situation, possibly at a remote location. A microprocessor-based monitoring unit has been developed for use with existing sensors. The unit is portable and its operational sequence can be programmed to adapt it to any unique requirements existing at the deployment site. Selectable on-site calculations are performed on raw data, and a hard copy or tape record of results can be produced.     

The Nationwide Program for Maintenance of Air Quality

The initial state implementation plans concentrated on attainment of the ambient air quality standards in the relatively polluted areas of the country. Many of these plans must now be modified to ensure that the ambient standards will be maintained for the foreseeable future, and to ensure that significant deterioration of air quality in clean areas of the country is prevented.

The existing implementation plans currently contain many measures which are applicable to the maintenance and deterioration efforts, but additional measures must also be developed. Many of these additional measures will involve future planning activities—most common of which will be land use planning activities.

The point is made that, after existing sources have reduced their emissions to the lowest practical level, further air pollution control can only be accomplished by implementing rational planning procedures for management of any new sources of air pollution. This will require extensive cooperation among the air pollution control community; regional, state, and local planning agencies; state and local governments; and the general public in order to ensure that future land use plans include appropriate air quality considerations.     

Estimate of Contribution of Jet Aircraft Operations To Trace Element Concentration at or near Airports

Samples of ASTM type A jet fuel were analyzed for trace element content by instrumental neutron activation techniques. Forty-nine elements were sought. Only ten, aluminum, gold, indium, lanthanum, titanium, vanadium, barium, dysprosium, tellurium, and uranium, were observed at levels above the detection limits encountered; of these only aluminum, titanium, and barium were present at concentrations greater than 0.1 ppm. Estimates of exhaust gas. concentrations are made, and the ambient contribution at or near airports is calculated by using the Los Angeles International Airport dispersion model. It is shown that the ambient contribution is about an order of magnitude below typical urban levels for virtually all elements sought.     

Status and Problems of Regenerable Flue Gas Desulfurization Processes

Fourteen sulfur and/or sulfuric acid producing regenerate FGD processes were discussed at the 1974 FGD Symposium in Atlanta. During the period elapsed since then, considerable status change has occurred on many of these regenerable processes. Other regenerable processes which were not as well known during 1974 have surfaced in 1975. The problems of obtaining reducing gases (hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen) for the reduction of sulfur dioxide product streams to elemental sulfur have become severe due to shortages of natural gas or other petroleum based feedstock. A new sulfur producing process which employs CO and H₂ directly (rather than the H₂S required for liquid and vapor base Claus reactions) is gaining attention. This paper discusses briefly: (1) the announced status of the many regenerable FGD processes, (2) the problem of reductant gas supply, and (3) the effect on FGD processes of using coal based reducing gas instead of reformed natural gas.     

An Overview of EPA’s Quality Assurance Program

Quality Assurance has been defined in many different ways to express concern for the “quality” of the output of some operation or function. For the purpose of this presentation, quality assurance is defined as the sum of those activities within an environmental monitoring or measurement program which are primarily for the purpose of documenting the precision, accuracy, representativeness, and completeness of the data that are produced. Further, we view quality assurance as a management tool which encompasses both administrative and technical functions which generally fall into three categories: (1) Prevention which includes those activities carried out prior to the proper placement and operation of the measurement system; (2) Evaluation which includes the continuous overview and checks on the performance of the systems and operators; and (3) Correction which includes changes made to improve or stabilize the capability and performance of the system.     

AISI-EPA-Battelle Coke Oven Door Sealing Program

The problem of coke oven door leakage is generally recognized as one for which no proven solution exists. In 1974 the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the American Iron and Steel Institute entered into a jointly funded research project with Battelle Columbus Laboratories. The initial project was to define the problem by literature search, operator interviews and profile measurements of jambs and doors.

Numerous concepts of seal designs were developed and then rated by industry and Battelle reviews. It was determined that a metal-to-metal seal offered the greatest probability of success. It was felt that jamb warpage was the most serious problem to be solved.

In the fall of 1976 another contract was signed by EPA and AISI assigning Battelle the task of developing to the point of fabrication a system to eliminate or significantly reduce leakage from coke oven end closures. This program included mathematical modeling, physical modeling, field data collecting, analysis, and full scale unit design.

A retrofittable door seal design has been developed and preparations are underway for operating evaluation at eight steel plants. The design is retrofittable to the two principal coke oven doors in service and should accommodate the worst jamb warpage usually found.