Organic solvent production plants emit waste gases containing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which are usually harmful to the environments and public healths. Plant managers are obligated to control the VOC emission to meet regulations at reasonable costs. A solvent plant located in southern Taiwan emits VOC-containing gas streams from some distillation columns and storage vessels with a total ventilation gas flow rate of 2.6-3.6 m3/min which contains VOCs with concentrations of less than 1,000 mg C/m3. Due to a concern of plant¡¦s safety, the plant managers constructed a full-scale biofilter for eliminating a part of the VOCs and the associated odors in the waste gas. This study aimed to investigate the effects of operation parameters such as EBRT (empty bed retention time) of the gas through the biofiltration media and organic loading to the media on the VOC removal efficiency. The biofilter is constructed of RC (reinforced concrete) with outer dimensions of 8.45 mL ¡Ñ 3.30 mW ¡Ñ 3.00 mH. The filter was also instrumented with inverters for control of speed of induced fans, and with thermometers, hygrometers, and wind speed meters. Fern chips with a total packing volume of 36 m3 was used as the biofiltration media. After inoculation with suitable microorganisms, the waste gas was introduced to the filter for VOC elimination. Nutrients (urea, milk, and a phosphate salt) and water were supplemented to the media on a daily basis. The investigation period is July, 2008 to May, 2010. In the period, THC (total hydrocarbon) concentrations for the influent and effluent gases to and from the reactor were daily measured. In addition, on a weekly basis, compositions of the VOCs in gas samples were detected by a gas chromatography equipped with a flame ionization dector (FID). On the same time basis, pH, COD (chemical oxygen demand), SS (suspended solids) in a sample of the trickled liquid from the media was analyzed. Media pH and moisture content were also analyzed for understanding the environmental conditions around the microorganisms for the VOC degradation. Results indicated that the media was in conditions of pH = 4.5-7.0, moisture = 11-61 % in the experimental phase. Trickled liquid had low COD and SS contents which can be easily treated by the existing wastewater unit in the plant, or be recycled to the media. Avarage THC, NMHC (nonmethane hydrocarbon), and VOCs were 71, 73, and 79%, respectively, with gas EBRTs of 4.2-6.3 min. With media pH of 4-5 and moisture contents 51-57%, over 90% of the influent VOCs coulb be eliminated. However, nearly dried media (moisture around 10%) had VOC removal efficiencies of lower than 30%. Nutrition tests indicate that the VOC removal efficiency was nearly proportional to milk supplementation rate. Removal of ethnaol and acetic could easily be removed with an efficiency of over 97% while 2-pentane was only 74%. Odor intensities of the treated gas could be controlled to <1,000 (dilutions to threshold) according to 3 test data.

The International Maritime Organization(IMO) has adopted a draft of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as modified by the Protocol of 1978 relating thereto and by the Protocol of 1997(termed as MARPOL 73/78/97)since September 1997, amended the Convention and added a new Annex VI which regulates gas pollution emitted from ships, the latest Annex came into effect after the MARPOL convention. This study aims to discuss the effect of the Annex VI Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships after it was implemented on 19 May 2005 and the growth and decline status of pollution by document analysis and quantitative analysis methods. This study find that there were different concern positions from each PSC region, the enforcement state of Europe, Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions were better than Black Sea, west and central Africa, Latin America and Caribbean regions. The statistical show that sulfur oxides decreased notably, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxides decreased slowly by UNFCCC web; in addition, some countries did not submit their gas inventory, including developed countries: Canada, United States of America, Japan, Luxembourg and Netherlands et al. The quantitative analyses show that some countries has decreased or slow down the ship-source gas pollution with countries¡¦ economy developed, including Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Japan, Australia and United States of America et al.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the differences between North American and European tertiary educational organizations regarding their expressed concerns about sustainable development within the transportation sector and their commitment to the research of issues related to sustainable transport. For this study, we created a list of academic organizations based on the compendium of papers from the Transportation Research Board¡¦s 2012 annual meeting. Then we analyzed the content from the public websites of these organizations to distinguish differences in the way universities in North America and Europe designed courses related to sustainable transport. After analyzing information from about 5,000 such courses, we found that most of them were worth 3 credits, more courses were offered for graduate students than for undergraduates, lecturing was the most common teaching method, the most commonly offered course was Transportation Engineering, and, on average, North American universities offered more sustainable transport courses than their European counterparts.

Abstract Biological processes have been proven to be economical and effective for control of VOCs with concentration of <1,000 mg C/m3. This study armed to develop a biofilter packed only with fern chips for the removal of airborne isopropyl alcohol (IPA). A three-stage down-flow biofilter (2.2 m in height and 0.4 m¡Ñ0.4 m in cross-sectional area) was constructed for the performance test. The first stage serviced as a humidifier for the incoming gas and the following two stages, both packed with fern chips with a packing space of 0.30 m ¡Ñ 0.40 m ¡Ñ0.40 m, as trickling bed biofilters for the VOC removal. Air with a nearly constant IPA concentration of 100 mg/Am3 (@ an average temperature of 34 oC) and a flow rate in the range of 100-400 L/min was fed to the reactor in Phase I test. The flow rate gave an empty bed retention time (EBRT) in the range of 12-48 s for the gas flowing through the two bed media. Solutions of urea-N, phosphate-P, and milk powder were supplied daily to the fern chips for the microbial nutrition in Phase I experiment which lasted for 26 days. Following the Phase, Phase II test operated with a constant EBRT of 12 s and without any nutrient supplementation for 30 days. Experimental results show that with an influent gas temperature of 29-40oC (average 34 oC) and relative humidity of 43-93% (average 73%), with a proper moistening of the bed media, the effluent gas could achieved a temperature of 26-35oC (average 29 oC) and a relative humidity of 98%. The proceeding medium experienced a greater moisture variation (12-68%, average 38%) than that (65-82%, average 72%) of the following one. The former and the latter media had pH in the range of 6.11-7.78 (average 6.77) and 6.13-7.36 (average 6.59), respectively. With no additional nutrient supplementation for 30 days, approximately 98% of the influent IPA of 100 mg/m3 could be removed at the EBRT of as short as 12 s which corresponded to a loading of 60 g IPA/m3.h.

A 20 kg/hr ritual-money combustion chamber and a 20 Am3/min (@35oC) wet scrubber were setup for performance tests on the removal of TSP (total solid particulates) from the combustion flue gas. Test results indicate that (1) TSP in the flue gas ranged from 93-157 (avg. 126) and 127-182 (avg. 157) mg/m3 (@35oC) at gas drawing rates (QG) of 13.1 and 26.3 m3/min (@35oC), respectively, and ritual-money combustion rates of 14.2-16.3 (avg. 15.3) kg/hr. The lower gas drawing rate gave lower TSP concentrations in the flue gas. TSP removal efficacy varied linearly with the liquid scrubbing rate (QL) and a 70% TSP removal was achieved at a QL of 60 L/min which is equivalent to a scrubbing-liquid intensity of 4.0 L/m2.s over the scrubber cross section. (2) Visual smoke intensity in the exit of the scrubber chimney was not apparent with a combustion rate of 16 kg/hr, scrubbing intensity of 4.0 L/m2.s, and gas drawing rates of 13.1 and 26.3 m3/min. (3) Scrubbing water consumptions of 1.2-2.4 L were estimated for a combustion of 1 kg ritual money. (4) Pertinent design parameters of a scrubber for 70% TSP removal from the flue gas are (a) liquid/gas ratio (QL/QG) = 3-6 L liquid/(m3 gas @30oC); (b) superficial gas velocity over the scrubber cross section (UG) = 0.6-1.2 m/s; (c) superficial liquid velocity over the scrubber cross section (UL) = 0.004 m/s; and (d) a gas-liquid contacting length of 0.70 m. Results also show that the combustion exit gas odor concentration (D/T, dilution times to threshold) could be removed from 309 to 232 by the scrubber at operation conditions of QG = 13.1 and 26.3 m3/min, and QL = 60 L/min. Results also show that parts of CO2, CO, and NO could be removed by the scrubbing liquor, and there was no significant removal for NO2 and SO2 by the scrubber. By spraying KClO3 on a homemade wood pulp ritual money at a dosage of 3 wt.%, it shows that it burned more rapidly and with more smoke emission than a non-sprayed sample. Experiments also show that FeCl3 (15mg/L) was a satisfactory coagulant for enhancing the coagulation and sedimentation of the suspended solids (SS) in the wasted scrubbing liquor (known as Gray water). By the coagulant, SS in the Gray water with a pH of 7.0 could be removed from 100 to < 10 mg/L. XRD (X-Ray Diffraction) examination of a bottom ash sample indicates that the ash has an elemental composition of O, Na, Al, and Si of 49.9, 11.8, 23.8, and 15.1%, respectively. SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) analysis indicates that the collected fly ash and the bottom one have particle sizes of 20-110 (mostly 45-60 nm) and 50-300 (average 250) nm, respectively.

In this study, it is aimed to develop a database on Seyhan River Basin / and an environmental pollution index for the middle section of Seyhan Basin by combining different pollution indices such as water, and air. Water and air pollution indices are developed for the selected quality monitoring stations and the selected years. Water pollution index is calculated by using the method suggested by National Sanitation Foundation of United States, and air pollution index is developed according to the modified Environmental Protection Agency&rsquo / s air pollution index. As aggregation method, weighted arithmetic mean function is used for development of indices. After development of separate water and air pollution indices, environmental pollution index is developed for the year 2008 by two aggregation methods, one based on linguistic interpretation and the other again on weighted arithmetic mean function. The water pollution index for the middle section of the basin is determined as &ldquo / good&rdquo / , and air pollution index as &ldquo / low pollution&rdquo / . According to calculated water and air pollution indices, environmental pollution index is calculated with two methods and obtained the index equal to 4, which is classified as &ldquo / good&rdquo / . Although, both of the methods give same result in development of environmental pollution index, the second method based on weighted arithmetic mean function concluded to be more user friendly.

This study investigated the characteristics of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the atmosphere at the surrounding area of an oil storage and pumping station from March to June, 2001. The influence of operation condition of storage and pumping station as well as meteorological factors on the distribution of VOCs was also investigated. In this study, a sampling network including six sites around the boundary of the oil storage and pumping station and one site at a nearby village was established for the sampling of VOCs near ground level. Air samples were collected by a carbontrap 300 multi-bed stainless steel sampling tube and were desorbed by a thermal desorption unit (TDU). The desorbed VOCs samples were then analyzed by a gas chromatography with flame ionization detector (GC/FID). In addition, hydrocarbons (both methane and non-methane hydrocarbons) and meteorological condition including wind speed and wind direction were detected automatically in order to correlate with the concentration of VOCs. Results from field measurement indicated that up to twelve VOCs were detected in the atmosphere, which quite consisted with the composition of stored oil including petroleum crude oil, aviation turbine fuel, 95 unleaded gasoline, and naphtha. Major VOCs observed at the surrounding area of the oil storage and pumping station were benzene and toluene, however, in most cases high boil-point organic compounds were also detected. It suggested that the nearby village could not be solely affected by VOCs emitted from oil storage tanks but also from other local sources such as steel plating plants. Furthermore, meteorological condition played an important role on the dispersion of fugitive VOCs at the surrounding area. For instance, the concentration of VOCs at the downwind sites were generally higher than that at the upwind sites while northern and northwestern winds blew in late Spring. Besides, toluene to benzene concentration ratios (T/B) ranged from 1.5 to 2.1 during the southwestern wind period in Summer, which were higher than those (T/B&#x00A3;1.5) during the northern and northwestern wind periods in late Spring. It suggested that the nearby village as a sensitive location could be much more easily affected by local traffics than the oil storage and pumping station during the summer time since T/B ratios were approximately 2.0 in the tail gas exhausted from automobiles. From the viewpoint of health risk assessment, the location with highest potential risk at the surrounding area of the oil storage and pumping station was the floating oil tank zone which required better operation strategies of the oil storage and pumping station for the protection of ambient air quality.

Some of the air pollution regulations in the United States are based on an application of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards at the property line. Agricultural operations such as cotton gins, feed mills, and cattle feed yards may be inappropriately regulated by such regulations if the current methods of measuring and predicting the concentrations of regulated pollutants are used. The regulated particulate matter pollutants are those with aerodynamic equivalent diameters less than or equal to a nominal 10 and 2.5 micrometers (PM10 and PM2.5) respectively. The current Federal Reference Method PM10 and PM2.5 samplers exhibit oversampling errors when sampling dusts with particle size distributions similar to those of agricultural sources. These errors are due to the interaction of the performance characteristics of the sampler with the particle size distribution of the dust being sampled. The results of this work demonstrate the development of a new sampler that may be used to accurately sample total suspended particulate (TSP) concentrations. The particle size distribution of TSP samples can be obtained and used to more accurately determine PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations. The results of this work indicate that accurate measures of TSP can be taken on a low volume basis. This work also shows that the low volume samplers provide advantages in maintaining more consistent sampling flow rates, and more robust measurements of TSP concentrations in high dust concentrations. The EPA approved dispersion model most commonly used to estimate concentrations downwind from a stationary source is the Industrial Source Complex Short Term version 3 (ISCST3). ISCST3 is known to over-predict downwind concentrations from low level point sources. The results of this research show that the magnitude of these errors could be as much as 250%. A new approach to correcting these errors using the power law with P values as a function of stability class and downwind distance is demonstrated. Correcting the results of ISCST3 using this new approach results in an average estimated concentration reduction factor of 2.3.

The following thesis titled, Atlanta Automotive Particulate Matter Exposure and Evaluation, presents data obtained as a part of a joint project with Emory University, Rollin's School of Public Health. The Atlanta Commuters Exposure (ACE) Study uses both real-time and time-integrated sampling techniques for ambient aerosol concentrations. The ACE study is unique in that it will correlate the ambient aerosol concentrations with the concurrent health measurements. The primary objective of this thesis is to measure the concentration, size distribution and the chemical composition of PM2.5 inside the vehicle cabin for several commuters. The vehicles followed a scripted route along roadways in the Atlanta metropolitan region during periods of peak traffic volume, while the compact air sampling package of both real-time and time-integrated instruments recorded data. Real-time measurements for Particulate Matter (PM) were made using compact Optical Particle Counters (OPC), a Condensation Particle Counter, and a MicroAethalometer. The time-integrated measurements for Elemental Carbon (EC), Organic Carbon (OC), Water Soluble Organic Carbon (WSOC), particulate elemental concentrations, and speciated organics required filter collection methods. Thus a compact air-sampling package was created to combine both sets of real-time and time-integrated instruments. The following results are presented for the first four commutes. The framework for analyzing and presenting results is developed, and will be used for future commutes.

Inverse modeling has been used in the past to constrain atmospheric model parameters, particularly emission estimates, based upon ambient measurements. Here, inverse modeling is applied to air quality planning by calculating how emissions should change to achieve desired reduction in air pollutants. Specifically, emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO + NO2) are adjusted to achieve reductions in tropospheric ozone, a respiratory irritant, during an historic episode of elevated concentrations in urban Atlanta, GA. Understanding how emissions should change in aggregate without specifying discrete abatement options is particularly applicable to long-term and regional air pollution management. Using a cost/benefit approach, desired reductions in ozone concentrations are found for a future population in Atlanta, GA. The inverse method is applied to find NOx emission adjustments to reach this desired reduction in air pollution. An example of how emissions adjustments may aid the planning process in two neighborhoods is demonstrated using urban form indicators from a land use and transportation database. Implications of this method on establishing regional and market-based air quality management systems in light of recent legal decisions are also discussed. Both ozone and secondary particulate matter with diameters of less than 2.5μm (PM2.5) are formed in the atmosphere from common precursor species. Recent assessments of air quality management policies have stressed the need for pollutant abatement strategies addressing these mutual sources. The relative contribution of several important precursor species (NOx, sulfur dioxide, ammonia, and anthropogenic volatile organic compounds) to the formation of ozone and secondary PM2.5 in Atlanta during May 2007 - April 2008 is simulated using CMAQ/DDM-3D. This sensitivity analysis is then used to find adjustments in emissions of precursor species to achieve goal reductions for both ozone and secondary PM2.5 during a summertime episode of elevated concentrations. A discussion of the implications of these controls on air pollutant concentrations during the remaining year follows.