Captive Insurance Companies and the Management of Environmental Risks

Recent publicity has focused on the crisis in the market for commercial liability insurance. Industries and professionals concerned with air pollution are among those facing an acute shortage of insurance coverage. Captive insurance companies are gaining popularity as a means of securing comprehensive pollution liability coverage. Captives are separate corporations established by companies with similar risk management problems to write policies covering pollution emissions. Federal tax law requires that captives be set up properly, with transfer and distribution of risk, before premiums paid by the member companies are deductible. Financial responsibility requirements of the EPA are being redesigned, and may be favorable to the use of captives. Six states and several off-shore countries have statutes allowing captive insurance companies. Attention to practical details can lead to success in using captives to secure business advantages as well as protection from the risk of environmental impairment. Several of such considerations are discussed in light of the tax, environmental, and state regulatory issues relevant to the question, with an eye toward giving practical legal advice for structuring captives.     

Contributions of Acid Deposition and Natural Processes to Cation Leaching from Forest Soils: A Review

Methods of quantifying the roles of atmospheric acid inputs and internal acid generation by carbonic, organic, and nitric acids are illustrated by reviewing data sets from several intensively studied sites in North America. Some of the sites (tropical, temperate deciduous, and temperate coniferous) received acid precipitation whereas others (northern and subalpine) did not. Natural leaching by carbonic acid dominated soil leaching in the tropical and temperate coniferous sites, nitric acid (caused by nitrification) dominated leaching In an N-fixing temperate deciduous site, and organic acids dominated surface soil leaching in the subalpine site and contributed to leaching of surface soils in several other sites. Only at the temperate deciduous sites did atmospheric acid input play a major role in soil leaching. In no case, however, are the annual net losses of cations regarded as alarming as compared to soil exchangeable cation capital.

These results were used to illustrate the methods of quantifying the effects of atmospheric inputs and internal processes on soil leaching rates, not to draw broad generalizations as to acid rain effects on soils. However, there are predictable patterns in natural soil leaching processes which relate to climate, soil properties, and vegetation that may help in predicting the relative importances of natural vs. atmospheric acid inputs to soil leaching.     

An Equilibrium Analysis of Some Chlorinated Hydrocarbons in Stoichiometric to Fuel-rich Post-flame Combustion Environments

The equilibrium composition of product gases from the combustion of chlorinated hydrocarbons (CHC) has been studied for varying ratios of C, H, Cl, and O under stoichiometric to fuel-rich conditions. An interactive, PC-compatible FORTRAN program, STANJAN, was utilized in conjunction with thermochemical data sources to calculate equilibrium compositions of gas mixtures as a function of temperature. The predicted results, when judiciously Interpreted, assist in the understanding of the potential for formation of residual organic substance emissions (ROSEs) in post-flame environments of an incinerator.

Arguments are presented for the potential formation of chlorinated species, which are stable at ambient temperature, if locally fuel-rich mixtures penetrate into the lower temperature zones of an incinerator. ROSEs that have been observed in field tests of incinerators burning chlorinated compounds are predicted to form under the fuel-rich condition. Furthermore, when the equivalence ratio is greater than unity by even a slight amount, the degree of chlorination of product gases increases markedly when the Cl/H ratio also exceeds unity. In that case, time, temperature, turbulence and an overall fuel-lean stoichiometry may not be sufficient to guarantee elimination of measurable levels of chlorinated products. Possible implications of the equilibrium calculations are discussed. Further systematic studies with additional CHCs, nitrogen?, sulfur?, and heavy metal-bearing compounds are recommended as well as continued efforts to carry out kinetic studies.     

Detection Limits for Hazardous and Radioactive Elements in Airborne Aerosols Using Inductively Coupled Air Plasma – Atomic Emission Spectrometry

Abstract

This research presents investigations into the use of inductively coupled air plasma – atomic emission spectrometry (air-plasma ICPAES) to determine the presence of inorganic contaminants in airborne aerosols. Limits of detection (LOD) in the ppm to ppb range for 19 hazardous metals and radionuclides were determined for aerosols of solutions nebulized into the air plasma. For many elements, the determined LOD surpass the threshold limit values established by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists by one to three orders of magnitude. The potential of air-plasma ICPAES for continuous on-line monitoring of airborne contaminants is discussed.     

Nutrient Limitation in a Compost Biofilter Degrading Hexane

Abstract

A laboratory-scale compost-based biofilter was operated over a six-month period to study the requirements for removal of n-hexane from air. Hexane is a relatively short chain aliphatic hydrocarbon with a high Henry's coefficient and a low water solubility. Acclimation of the biofilter was slow, but removal efficiencies around 80% were achieved after one month of operation. However, performance decreased during the next two months of operation to 50% removal efficiency. Nutrient limitation was proposed as a reason for the decrease in reactor performance. After the addition of a concentrated nitrogen solution, reactor performance increased almost immediately to >99%. Removal efficiency remained above 99% for the following two months of operation at inlet concentrations of 0.7 g/m3 (200 ppmv), at superficial bed velocities approaching 50 m/h, and empty bed residence times of about one minute. Thus, nutrient availability may well limit biofilter performance even in compost- based units. It was shown that nutrients can be added effectively in a soluble form if compost quality is poor and a method is proposed for the evaluation of compost quality.     

Aerobic Treatment of a Nitrogen-Limited Chemical Process Waste water

Abstract

Nitrogen transformations and their effect on aerobic suspended growth treatment of an industrial wastewater were studied in three parallel bench-scale reactors operated at 5 "C at mean cell residence times (MCRT) of 15, 30, and 60 days. In normal process wastewater, the bulk of influent nitrogen was in organic form, and the fraction transformed was almost totally incorporated into synthesized biomass. Assimilative control by heterotrophs maintained ammonianitrogen levels below permitted effluent levels, and nitrification was not significant. Although volatile suspended solids had a nitrogen content of only 5% to 8%, effective organics removal was maintained, and total organic carbon and filtered daily average five-day biochemical oxygen demand (BODS) were below permitted effluent levels. A marked improvement in settleability and lower effluent total suspended solids was achieved by adding ammonia-nitrogen to the wastewater in excess of stoichiometric growth requirements.

During a batch production cycle of a cationic chemical, the ratio of nitrogen to chemical oxygen demand and the fraction of the total influent nitrogen in soluble form increased in the wastewater. Reactor effluent ammonia levels increased to above permit levels at all three MCRTs during treatment of wastewater containing cationic production effluents. The magnitude of ammonia increase was greater for longer MCRTs, suggesting that synthesis of cell mass was not capable of assimilating the increased ammonia supply under these non-steady conditions. The experimental results suggest several potential strategies for operating the aerobic process at the treatment facility, including adding nitrogen to improve settleability and discontinuing these additions when wastewater contains a high ratio of nitrogen to chemical oxygen demand and an elevated soluble nitrogen fraction     

Microwave Plasma Conversion of Volatile Organic Compounds

Abstract

A microwave-induced, steam/Ar/O₂ , plasma “torch” was operated at atmospheric pressure to determine the feasibility of destroying volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of concern. The plasma process can be coupled with adsorbent technology by providing steam as the fluid carrier for desorbing the VOCs from an adsorbent. Hence, N₂ can be excluded by using a relatively inexpensive carrier gas, and thermal formation of oxides of nitrogen (NO_x ) is avoided in the plasma.

The objectives of the study were to evaluate the technical feasibility of destroying VOCs from gas streams by using a commercially available microwave plasma torch and to examine whether significant byproducts were produced. Trichloroethene (TCE) and toluene (TOL) were added as representative VOCs of interest to a flow that contained Ar as a carrier gas in addition to O₂ and steam.The O₂ was necessary to ensure that undesirable byproducts were not formed in the process. Microwave power applied at 500–600 W was found to be sufficient to achieve the destruction of the test compounds, down to the detection limits of the gas chromatograph that was used in the analysis. Samples of the postmicrowave gases were collected on sorbent tubes for the analysis of dioxins and other byproducts. No hazardous byproducts were detected when sufficient O₂ was added to the flow. The destruction efficiency at a fixed microwave power improved with the addition of steam to the flow that passed through the torch.     

Evaluation of the field dissipation of fungicides and insecticides used on fruit bearing trees in northern Italy

The dissipation of the fungicides captan, cyprodinil, fludioxonil, dithianon, and tebuconazole and of the insecticides chlorpyrifos, fenitrothion, and malathion was studied, following a single treatment of different cultivars of pears, apples, and peaches. The study was conducted in northern Italy, over two successive growing seasons (2004 and 2005). The treatments were performed by the farmers involved, in line with their usual practice. At various time intervals from treatment to harvest, representative samples of fruit were collected and analyzed for pesticide residues. In some cases, concentrations lower than the maximum residue levels (MRLs) were found immediately after treatment. In all trials a rapid decline in pesticide concentrations was observed leading to residues at harvest greatly below the MRLs.     

Biliary PAH metabolites, EROD activity and DNA damage in dab (Limanda limanda) from Seine Estuary (France)

The Seine Estuary is well known to be widely contaminated by organic pollutants and especially by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Fish are known to metabolize PAHs, leading to different toxic effects at both cellular and sub-cellular levels. In this work, we studied the relationships between the 7-ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activity in the liver, the level of DNA strand breaks in blood cells and the concentration of PAH metabolites in the bile of the sentinel flatfish species Limanda limanda. Muscle and liver samples were analysed for parent PAH levels. Female and male dabs of two size classes (juveniles and adults) were collected by trawling in two sites with different degrees of pollution during March and September 2005 and 2006. Significant effects of sex, age, site and season were demonstrated on EROD activity and the level of strand breaks. Parent PAH concentrations in dabs did not allow discriminating of the two sampling sites. However, for PAH metabolites, significant differences were observed with sites and seasons. Dabs collected at the mouth of the estuary appeared to be the most impacted when looking at the results obtained with the three selected markers. The significant correlations observed between the level of PAH metabolites and the level of DNA lesions showed the importance of a combined analysis of chemical and biochemical markers to correctly assess the contribution of chemical contamination to the toxic effects measured in situ in fish.     

Alkylphenolic compounds and bisphenol A contamination within a heavily urbanized area: case study of Paris

This study evaluates the influence of a heavily urbanized area (Paris Metropolitan area), on receiving water contamination by both bisphenol A (BPA) and alkylphenol ethoxylate (APE) biodegradation product. The study began by investigating concentrations within urban sources. In addition to the more commonly studied wastewater treatment plant effluent, wet weather urban sources (including combined sewer overflows, urban runoff, and total atmospheric fallout) were considered. The initial results highlight a significant contamination of all urban sources (from a few nanograms per liter in atmospheric fallout to several micrograms per liter in the other sources) with clearly distinguishable distribution patterns. Secondly, concentration changes along the Seine River from upstream of the Paris Metropolitan area to downstream were investigated. While the concentrations of BPA and nonylphenoxy acetic acid (NP₁EC) increase substantially due to urban sources, the 4-nonylphenol concentrations remain homogeneous along the Seine. These results suggest a broad dissemination of 4-nonylphenol at the scale of the Seine River basin. Moreover, the relationship between pollutant concentrations and Seine River flow was assessed both upstream and downstream of the Paris conurbation. Consequently, a sharp decrease in dissolved NP₁EC concentrations relative to Seine River flow underscores the influence of single-point urban pollution on Seine River contamination. Conversely, dissolved 4-nonylphenol concentrations serve to reinforce the hypothesis of its widespread presence at the Seine River basin scale.