Flue gas treatability studies: a tool for techno-economic control of industrial air pollution

Air pollution problems in developing countries have gained larger fraction in the last decade especially due to non functioning and non implementation of effective air pollutioncontrol devices in industries. In industrial wastewater management, adequate treatability studies are conducted to arrive at a techno-economic treatment option. However no suchstudies were done for reducing air pollution or emission fromindustries until now in India. Little information was availableabout such studies in other countries. This article provides information about a novel technique known asflue gas treatability studies and to undertake such studies, a pilot scale system is installed in Air Pollution Control Divisionof M/s National Environmental Engineering research Institute, NEERI, Nagpur-20, India. This study is a tool for techno-economicselection of air pollution control systems specially for small/medium scale industrial emissions.     

Aliphatic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediments of Kaohsiung Harbour and adjacent coast, Taiwan

Surficial sediment samples collected from Kaohsiung Harbour and its nearby coast were analyzed for aliphatic hydrocarbons and parent polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). According to our results, the average total concentrations of n-alkanes (n-C₁₂ to C₃₅) and aromatics (15 PAHs) were 4.33 µg g^–1 dry weight (ranged 0.46–22.60) and 0.59 µg g^–1 dry weight (ranged 0.09–1.75), respectively. The highest concentrations of aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons were recorded in stations near the estuaries of Qianzhen River and Love River, respectively. Aliphatic hydrocarbons in the samples indicate that there has been significant non-petrogenic, possibly terrestrial, contribution in the sediment of the open coast of Kaohsiung Harbour and that there has been dominant contribution from petrogenic sources in the sediment of the inner harbour. PAHs, detected in the samples, however, indicated a higher pyrolytic contribution in open-coast samples and a higher petrogenic contribution in the inner harbour. Overall, sediment concentrations of total alkanes in this study were comparable to those found in Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong and are higher than those found in Xiamen Harbour, China. Concentrations of total PAHs in inner Kaohsiung Harbour sediments were relatively lower than those found in Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong and Xiamen Harbour, China, but comparable to those found in Hsin-ta Harbour, Taiwan and Incheon Harbour, Korea. In comparison with several effect-based sediment quality guidelines, most PAH concentrations found in samples taken from inner harbour stations exceeded the Threshold Effect Level of Florida indicating a slight possibility of adverse effects.     

Determining Ecoregions for Environmental and GMO Monitoring Networks

A representative environmental monitoring network at the regional scale cannot use raster-based or random sampling designs, but requires a stratified sampling procedure integrating different information layers, and it has to occur in ecologically differing homogeneous regions (ecoregions). These we have determined using a set of spatial strata with ecological variables which we analysed with classification and regression trees (CART). We present a framework for environmental monitoring, that covers different scales, and we transfer the framework to a potential GMO (genetically modified organisms) monitoring network. We use ecoregion and other environmental strata together with existing environmental monitoring networks to determine GMO monitoring sites more precisely.     

Measurements of Ozone Concentrations in Zagreb

Ozone concentrations were measured in Zagreb at four sites from May 1999 to April 2001 in order to categorize the air quality with respect to ozone. In the summer of 2000, the ozone measurements were also extended to four sites in the suburbs of Zagreb. Methods of active and passive sampling with nitrite ion as a reagent were used. In the northern part of the town ozone was analyzed by an automatic device. Automatic device measurements in the years 1999 and 2000 showed that hourly averages of ozone concentrations did not exceed the Croatian recommended value of the 98th percentile (180 g m^–3). Over the two-year period, 24-h averages occasionally exceed 110 g m^–3 in city center and in the northern part of the town. Regardless of these isolated examples, ozone was well within acceptable concentrations. Ozone concentrations measured in summer 2000 were higher in the suburbs of Zagreb than in the city. The 98th percentile values higher than 110 g m^–3 were recorded at three sites.     

IMPACTS OF VISITORS ON SOIL AND VEGETATION OF THE RECREATIONAL AREA “NACIMIENTO DEL RÍO MUNDO” (CASTILLA-LA MANCHA, SPAIN)

This study examines the effects of recreational use on the soil and vegetation at a site of ecological importance (Nacimiento del Río Mundo, Albacete, Spain). The most visited sites showed increased soil compaction of approximately 50%, bare ground increase to 61 ± 10% and a decrease in richness (from 25 ± 2 to 15 ± 2 species), diversity (from 4.0 ± 0.1 to 2.7 ± 0.4) and stratification of plant species (from 80 ± 11 to 21 ± 4%). The most visited sites had 90% less plant species as compared to the least visited. Intense use was associated with the presence of nitrophilous plant and vegetal species with a morphology adapted to heavy trampling. The recreational areas showed a distribution pattern of impact radiating outwards from the most used and degraded point. At the most visited point, Los Chorros (the spring of the river), the impact radiated outwards for about 20 m. A pilot experiment examining the effects of one-year restriction to visitors for access to a formerly impacted area showed a plant cover increase by anthropic and not by native species of 57 percent units.     

吐鲁番旅游城市环境质量问题及其环境保护对策

通过对新疆著名旅游城市吐鲁番的空气环境、水环境、声环境、景观生态环境等环境质量存在的问题进行分析，针对性地提出了相应的环保对策及建议，为吐鲁番市的环境保护工作提供参考。     

Multipoint source method in air pollution modelling of cold start emission

The paper presents a new method of air pollution modelling on a micro scale. For estimation of concentration of car exhaust pollutants, each car is treated as an instantaneous moving emission source. This approach enables us to model time and spatial changes of emission, especially during cold and cool start of an engine. These stages of engine work are a source of significant pollution concentration in urban areas. In this work, two models are proposed: one for the estimation of emission after cold start of the engine and another for the prediction of pollutant concentration. The first model (defined for individual exhaust gas pollutants) enables us to calculate the emission as a function of time after the cold or cool start, ambient temperature and average speed of motion. This model uses the HBEFA database. The second mathematical model is developed in order to calculate the pollutant dispersion and concentrations. The finite volume method is applied to discretise the set of partial differential equations describing wind flow and pollutant dispersion in the domain considered. Models presented in this paper can be called short-term models on a small spatial scale. The results of numerical simulation of pollutant emission and dispersion are also presented.     

CHLORINATED HYDROCARBON (HCB, DDTs AND PCBs LEVELS IN CETACEANS STRANDED ALONG THE ITALIAN COASTS: AN OVERVIEW

Concentrations of HCB, DDTs and PCBs in the tissues andorgans of cetaceans ( Stenella coeruleoalba, Tursiops truncatus, Balaenoptera physalus, Steno bredanensis}, Grampus griseus} and Globicephala melaena) strandedalong the Italian coasts in the period 1987–1993 are reported. The values are compared between speciesand between specimens of the samespecies. Chlorinated hydrocarbon (CH) levels were found toincrease in relation to the quantity andtype of lipids in each tissue and organ. Differences inaccumulation encountered in the differentspecies are principally due to different feeding habitats.Remarkable differences found between malesand females of each species confirm that during gestation andlactation, females undergo disintoxication by passing much of their total burden of CHs to their young.     

Planning Tools for Developing Comprehensive Regional Monitoring Programs

We present a planning framework that structures thelarge amount of interrelated information involved indeveloping regional monitoring programs. By regionalwe mean programs that recognize the importance ofprocesses that occur on larger geographic scales andthat cut across more than one ecosystem component. Theframework helps visualize functional relationshipsamong qualitative ingredients such as public concernsand more concrete details such as individual dataelements. It portrays the flow of information amongthe components of a regional program and ties eachaspect of the program to management decision-makingneeds. This makes it easier, during the planningprocess, to ensure that monitoring will actuallyproduce useful information. Further, the frameworksnovel, graphically oriented, and readily accessibleformat makes key information equally available to thewide range of participants (regulators, scientists,managers, public) whose input and support arenecessary for program success.     

Biological complexity confounds the separation of point- and non-point sources of human impact on the natural world

Identifying process from pattern is one of the most vexing tasks inenvironmental monitoring. Given information on the distribution of speciesin a pre-defined area, together with comprehensive data on how environmentalconditions in that area have altered through time, is it possible toidentify the factors controlling the species‘ layout? Here, the practicalsignificance of this quandary is demonstrated using a series ofenvironmentally-degraded coastal lagoons in New South Wales. The TuggerahLakes (33°17′S,151°30′E) have over the last 50 yearsexperienced significant changes in species‘ distributions. Seagrasses,macroalgae, phytoplankton, molluscs, prawns and the jellyfish Catostylus mosaicus have altered in spatial pattern. Two human activitieshave been blamed for these perturbations: (1) agricultural clearance ofnative vegetation from the catchment, with associated input of top-soil andnutrients; (2) the commissioning of a coal-fired power station in 1967, withmassive uptake and recirculation of lake water for cooling purposes. In thispaper, spatial changes in macrophyte distributions over the last 50 yearsare reviewed in an attempt to identify the true source(s) of perturbation.The model adopted assumes that the power station is a point source of impactwhile nutrient inputs from the catchment are a diffuse source of impact;changes in species distributions can hypothetically be related back to thesesources according to whether they are localised or widespread. However,after a comprehensive analysis of available macrophyte data derived frominterviews, aerial photography and line transect methodologyies theconclusion is reached that changes in biogeographical pattern around theTuggerah Lakes cannot be attributed to specific anthropogenic pressures atanything beyond the coarsest of levels. This is considered to be the normfor most coastal management situations where natural background variation(’noise‘) and the complexity of linkages between physical, chemical andbiological components confounds the identification of causal relationships.The practical implications of this conclusion are discussed in the contextof litigation and remedial management design. Emphasis is placed on theneed to adopt an adaptive approach to estuarine management, incorporatingexplicit recognition of the limitations of available data, and to developnew techniques for identifying cause-effect relationships.