Review of corporate environmental indicators

This paper reviews a series of environmental indicators developed in the last years that were found suitable to be applied at corporate level for the evaluation of production processes and products. The indicators reviewed in this paper were classified into four main groups: 1) Indicators of Energy and Material Flows; 2) Indicators with a Territorial Dimension; 3) Indicators of Life-Cycle Assessment; 4) Indicators of Environmental Risk Assessment. Integrative and single index indicators such as the ecological footprint or carbon footprint were found as the most appealing for enterprises, although there is a need to advance in the field to combine the simplicity required at corporate level for tracking and reporting environmental data, and the scientific rigor and transparency necessary to make the scores reliable. Hence, for each of the indicators revised it was stated what they do and do not measure so that misleading information was not used for decision making at corporate level.     

Process analysis of PM2.5 pollution events in a coastal city of China using CMAQ

US EPA's Community Multiscale Air Quality modeling system(CMAQ) with Process Analysis tool was used to simulate and quantify the contribution of individual atmospheric processes to PM_(2.5) concentration in Qingdao during three representative PM_(2.5) pollution events in the winter of 2015 and 2016. Compared with the observed surface PM_(2.5) concentrations, CMAQ could reasonably reproduce the temporal and spatial variations of PM_(2.5) during these three events. Process analysis results show that primary emissions accounted for 72.7%–93.2% of the accumulation of surface PM_(2.5) before and after the events.When the events occurred, primary emissions were still the major contributor to the increase of PM_(2.5) in Qingdao, however the contribution percentage reduced significantly,which only account for 51.4%–71.8%. Net contribution from horizontal and vertical transport to the accumulation of PM_(2.5) was also positive and its percentage increased when events occurred. Only 1.1%–4.6% of aerosol accumulation was due to PM processes and aqueous chemical processes before and after events. When the events occurred,contribution from PM processes and aqueous chemistry increased to 6.0%–11.8%. Loss of PM_(2.5) was mainly through horizontal transport, vertical transport and dry deposition, no matter during or outside the events. Wet deposition would become the main removal pathway of PM_(2.5), when precipitation occurred.     

Role of adsorption behavior on metal build-up in urban road dust

Metal pollution of stormwater runoff can cause potential toxic impacts on the receiving water environment and human health. Effective pollution mitigation requires accurate stormwater quality modeling. Even though a significant knowledge base exists on the factors influencing metal build-up on urban roads, very limited studies have investigated how metal–particulate interaction influences metal build-up. This study quantitatively assessed the influence of particulate characteristics, together with vehicular traffic and land use, on the build-up of Zn, Cu, Pb, Cr, Ni and Cd on urban roads. The study outcomes revealed that the variability in metal build-up is highly influenced by the variability associated with metal adsorption to particulates. The percentage contribution from particulate properties influencing metal adsorption in the case of 150 μm size road dust particles was found to be higher(Zn 44%, Cu 52%, Cr 16%, Ni 27% and Cd 45%) when compared to traffic and land use characteristics(Zn 21%, Cu 13%, Cr and Ni 10% and Cd 34%). Similar adsorption behavior was noted for metals associated with 150 μm size road dust particles. Among different particulate properties influencing metal adsorption, effective cation exchange capacity showed a strong positive relationship with the build-up of Cd compared to other metals,highlighting the potential role of Cd in stormwater quality as a readily available metal. The build-up of metals such as Cr and Ni are highly influenced by metal oxides of Al, Fe and Mn and clay forming minerals, indicating that Cr and Ni are relatively stable in nature.     

我国地下水污染修复试点对策建议——对《水污染防治行动计划》的解读

《水污染防治行动计划》中明确提出了开展地下水污染修复试点工作,我国地下水污染的严重性正引起广泛关注,也面临着迫切的修复需求,因此启动地下水污染修复已经刻不容缓。文章介绍了发达国家的地下水污染修复经验,主要包括具备完善的法律制度、实施地下水污染源分类管理、形成完善的指南和规范。为应对我国地下水污染修复基础薄弱,落实水污染防治行动计划、全国地下水污染防治规划等国家政策需求,建立地下水污染分类管理体系,按照修复目标确定、修复方案筛选、修复工程设计、实施、监测和终止等规范程序要求开展工作,实施地下水污染修复示范工程,为全面推进地下水污染修复和改善地下水环境质量提供支撑。     

基于云物元的老旧社区内涝灾害脆弱性评价*

为降低内涝灾害评价中信息模糊性和冲突性对评价结果的影响,促进老旧社区内涝灾害适灾化和海绵化改造,提出基于云物元模型的老旧社区内涝灾害脆弱性评价方法。从防灾减灾角度和社区尺度出发,围绕致灾因子危险性、孕灾环境敏感性和承灾体易损性建立评价指标体系,运用AHP-熵权法确定指标组合权重,建立老旧社区内涝灾害脆弱性云物元评价模型,并以长沙市科学村社区为例进行验证。研究结果表明:本文模型能直接客观反映老旧社区内涝灾害脆弱性的主要影响因素和脆弱性等级,研究结果可为提高老旧社区内涝灾害应对能力提供支持。     

社区安全脆弱性评估模型的构建与应用

为了准确衡量社区的安全水平,提出了社区安全脆弱性的概念模型,并分析社区安全脆弱性的影响因素。通过由人员特征、基础设施、社区环境和管理水平构成的结构性因素和由自然风险、人为风险构成的胁迫性因素,构建出社区安全脆弱性评估模型,并选取3个代表性社区进行实证分析。结果表明:社区安全脆弱性评估模型计算得出的社区安全脆弱性指数,与社区安全的评估水平相吻合,能够准确反映出社区安全状况。     

Process safety management lessons learned from a fire and explosion accident caused by a liquefied petroleum gas leak in an aromatics reforming unit in Taiwan

A severe fire and explosion accident was caused by a liquefied petroleum gas leak in Taiwan in 2019. This accident resulted in the loss of approximately US$3.5 billion in output value due to a one-and-a-half-year shutdown after the accident; however, no casualties were recorded at the accident scene. An analysis of the accident pipelines demonstrated that the pipeline leak had been caused by hydrochloric acid corrosion. Cause analysis based on the accident timeline, fault tree analysis, and causal factor charting indicated inadequacies in five elements of process safety management (PSM) namely mechanical integrity (MI), management of change, emergency planning and response, process hazard analysis (PHA), and process safety information (PSI) as the root causes of the accident. Furthermore, insufficient PSI (i.e., a lack of comprehensive understanding regarding corrosion mechanisms) was deemed to have been the core problem leading to the accident. This accident revealed common shortcomings that are often overlooked in PSM implementation in Taiwan; thus, the present research can serve as a vital reference for improving PSM programs in Taiwan.