Quantitative assessment in safety reports of the consequences from the detonation of solid explosives

Safety reports are mandatory documents in member states of European Union whenever any threshold limits of amounts of either stored or processed hazardous substances are exceeded. After a short introduction to EU Seveso Directives on major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances and to the transposition and implementation by member states, with a brief comment on last 2012/18/EU Directive (also known as Seveso III directive), the paper focuses on drafting of safety reports for industrial activities involving solid explosives. Specifically, the quantitative assessment of consequences from detonation is tackled respect to the side-on overpressure and the debris production. Both direct and inverse problems are illustrated to determine respectively the overpressure value at a given distance, and the explosive amount that allows respecting the regulations. Their solution is based on either analytic or numerical techniques and being based on recent scientific publications on the matter either evaluates or zeroes nonlinear algebraic equations. The availability of these equations avoids grounding the consequences assessment on diagrams and nomograms that otherwise would lead to interpretation and usage errors besides avoiding the automatic solution of the inverse problem. The paper focuses also on details such as embankment, crater, munitions, rocket propellant, building structure, and wall material that, at different levels, play a role in the assessment of detonation consequences. A discussion on debris formation, the available literature, and the evaluation of the impact probability of fragments on both fixed and moving targets closes the paper.     

Municipal solid waste management in South Africa: from waste to energy recovery through waste-to-energy technologies in Johannesburg

ABSTRACT

“Waste-to-energy” (WTE) technologies have been presented as one of the avenues to improve the management of solid waste whilst promoting clean and healthy urban environments through the recovery of waste and generation of energy. Research suggests that with the right investment in technologies and institutional changes, waste can potentially become a resource that can contribute to the socio-economic development of cities. It is in this context that this paper presents a review of the literature on WTE technologies and their implications on sustainable waste management in urban areas. The paper particularly contributes to our understanding of WTE technologies and its potential on Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is estimated that the city of Johannesburg’s landfills airspace will be completely depleted by year 2023. This projection becomes a motivation for the identification of suitable WTE alternative avenues to manage waste in the city. The paper argues that WTE technologies can contribute significantly to sustainable waste management, economic growth, ecological and environmental well-being.     

The effect of barriers on reducing thermal heat fluxes from a hydrocarbon pool fire

The radiant heat flux from a pool fire is frequently calculated using the solid flame model, where the flame envelope is approximated as a stationary cylinder whose surface emits thermal radiation at a constant rate. Radiant heat flux calculations using the solid flame model assume the target to be at a given elevation, typically at ground level, and to have an unobstructed view of the fire. The presence of obstacles (e.g., walls, buildings, etc.) or terrain features that would create shaded areas and provide shielding of a target from the fire is typically neglected in these calculations: this is a conservative approach, but it is not accurate. This paper presents a methodology to utilize the solid flame model to calculate the heat flux to a target while taking into account the presence of an obstruction between the target and the fire. The shielded solid flame method can quantitatively account for the presence of obstacles as a passive mitigation measure and allows project developers or designers to optimize their facility layout to meet safety requirements. The methodology presented in this paper uses the same correlations found in currently used solid flame models (e.g., LNGFIRE3), therefore, it remains consistent with current regulatory requirements for LNG facilities in the U.S.     

Enhancement of anaerobic biodegradability of flower stem wastes with vegetable wastes by co-hydrolysis

The vegetable wastes and flower stems were co-digested to evaluate the anaerobic hydrolysis performance of difficultly biodegradable organic wastes by introducing readily biodegradable organic wastes. The experiments were carried out in batches. When the vegetable wastes were mixed with the flower stems at the dry weight ratio of 1 to 13, the overall hydrolysis rate increased by 8%, 12%, and 2% according to the carbon, nitrogen, and total solid （TS） conversion rate, respectively. While the dry weight ratio was designed as 1 to 3, there was a respective rise of 5%, 15%, and 4% in the conversion rate of carbon, nitrogen, and TS. The enhancement of anaerobic hydrolysis from the mixed vegetable wastes and flower stems can be attributed to the formation of volatile fatty acids （VFA） and nutrient supplement like nitrogen content. The maximum VFA concentration can achieve 1.7 g/L owing to the rapid acidification of vegetable wastes, loosing the structure of lignocellulose materials. The statistic bivariate analysis revealed that the hydrolysis performance was significantly related to the physical and biochemical compositions of the feeding substrate. Especially, the soluble carbon concentration in the liquid was significantly positively correlated to the concentration of nitrogen and hemicellulose, and negatively correlated to the concentration of carbon and lignocellulose in the feeding substrate, suggesting that the regulation and control of feedstock can have an important influence on the anaerobic hydrolysis of organic wastes.     

废旧锂离子电池资源化技术研究

通过介绍废旧锂离子电池的组成成分及近年来废旧锂离子电池资源化处理技术的研究进展,提出目前主要回收方法有溶解分离法和直接回收正极材料的新型方法等,并对现有研究中存在的二次污染、安全性问题进行了初步探讨。     

养殖废水中9种大环内酯及林可酰胺类抗生素的同时测定及分析方法研究

采用固相萃取-超高效液相色谱三重四极杆质谱联用法,建立了同时测定养殖废水中9种大环内酯及林可酰胺类抗生素的方法,并对样品pH值、保存时间、洗脱溶剂、上样流速及过滤材质等进行了优化。测定结果表明,pH值为6,过滤材质为聚丙烯（GHP）,上样速度为5 mL/min时,9种抗生素的加标回收率最优,为71.4%～126%,相对标准偏差最小,为2.4%～7.1%,标准曲线的线性最好,相关系数为0.998 5～0.999 5,检出限为0.78～1.22 ng/L。该方法灵敏度高、检出限低、测定结果准确,能够广泛应用于养殖废水中大环内酯及林可酰胺类抗生素残留量的监测分析。     

A choice experiment analysis for solid waste disposal option: a case study in Malaysia

In Malaysia, most municipal wastes currently are disposed into poorly managed 'controlled tipping' systems with little or no pollution protection measures. This study was undertaken to assist the relevant governmental bodies and service providers to identify an improved waste disposal management strategy. The study applied the choice experiment technique to estimate the nonmarket values for a number of waste disposal technologies. Implicit prices for environmental attributes such as psychological fear, land use, air pollution, and river water quality were estimated. Compensating surplus estimates incorporating distance from the residences of the respondents to the proposed disposal facility were calculated for a number of generic and technology-specific choice sets. The resulting estimates were higher for technology-specific options, and the distance factor was a significant determinant in setting an equitable solid waste management fee.     

Valorization of solid waste in sugar factories with possible applications in India : A review

Sugar production is a major agro-based industry in India that generates various solid wastes viz. sugarcane trash, bagasse, press mud and bagasse fly ash. This work examines the state-of-the-art in innovative value added products that can be obtained from the transformation of these wastes. Challenges in implementing these waste valorization solutions are also highlighted. It is observed that the extent of research and adoption of these solutions vary considerably. Both industry involvement as well as government encouragement is required in translating the research findings into commercial products.     

Optimization of the recovery of plastics for recycling by density media separation cyclones

Material recovery processes are presented as the optimum option for recycling plastic wastes as a means of recovering hydrocarbon resources. There exist a large variety of automated material recovery processes for recycling of such wastes but each with significant limitations. Of these, the separation based on differences in densities is advocated as the optimum process either for producing recycled products or preparing wastes for subsequent recovery processing.Density separation processes based on cyclone type density media separation (DMS) is presented as an important, potential method for increasing plastics recycling process capacities. It is demonstrated to have the capacity to separate a significantly larger range of particle sizes than those presently processed industrially. The mathematical relationship for the prediction of quality of typical LARCODEMS type density media separations by particle size and density as expressed by the Ecart Probable is presented.A proposed device configuration is presented for density media separation to optimize the recovery and purity of both density fractions produced. It is also suggested that to be economically viable, a large scale of operation is required for industrial plastics recycling operations recovering and producing a number of different plastics with a purity to be used as a substitute for virgin material.     

Formulation of criteria for pollution control on cement products produced from solid wastes in China

The process of producing cement products from solid waste can increase the level of pollutants in the cement products. Therefore, it is very important to establish a pollution control standard for cement products to protect the environment and human health. This paper presents acceptance limits for the availability of heavy metals in cement products which have been produced from solid wastes and explains how the limits have been calculated. The approach and method used to formulate these criteria were based on EN 12920. The typical exposure scenarios used in this paper involve concrete being used for drinking water supply pipelines and concrete pavements and are based on an analysis of typical applications of cement in China, and the potential for contact with water. The parameters of a tank test which was based on NEN 7375 were set in accordance with the environmental conditions of typical scenarios in China. Mechanisms controlling the release of heavy metals in concrete and a model for that release were obtained using the leaching test. Finally, based on acceptance criteria for drinking water and groundwater quality in China, limit values for the availability of heavy metals in concrete were calculated.