Air Toxic Emissions Research Articles

Trends in air toxics cancer risk in Southern California, 1998-2018

Air toxics are an important category of air pollutants that are known to cause adverse health effects, including increased cancer risk. Regulatory efforts at federal, state, and local levels have aimed to decrease air toxics emissions over the past several decades. This study evaluated trends in air toxics cancer risks in Southern California using data from 1998 to 2018. We estimated air toxics cancer risk for each of four iterations of the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s Multiple Air Toxics Exposure Study, which included at least one year of measurements at 10 stations and air toxics modeling for each iteration. Cancer risks were calculated using the measured and modeled air toxics concentrations averaged over a one to two year period and multiplied by the corresponding cancer potency factor and combined exposure factor that accounted for multiple exposure pathways and children’s increased sensitivity to the health effects of air pollution. We examined temporal trends in overall air toxics cancer risks and evaluated changes in the air toxics species that contributed most to cancer risk in the region. Both measurement and modeling results show that air toxics cancer risk in Southern California decreased by more than 80% between 1998 and 2018, including a decrease of about 50% from 2012 to 2018. Diesel particulate matter was the main risk driver, followed by benzene, 1,3-butadiene, and formaldehyde. We found that more densely populated communities showed larger decreases than sparsely populated areas. The substantial decrease in air toxics levels over this 20-year period points to the success of air pollution policies aimed at addressing air toxics emissions and can inform future policy efforts to further reduce air toxics health impacts.

Air pollution impacts of amine scrubbing for CO2 capture

The current political discussion in the United States around carbon capture and storage includes statements that suggest a need for a technical review to clarify the expected air pollution impacts of amine scrubbing. The Center for International Law and 50 other organizations published an open letter claiming that “CCS is not consistent with the principles of environmental justice… CCS makes dirty energy even more dangerous for frontline communities. Facilities equipped with carbon capture technology have to burn more fossil fuel to get the same energy output, resulting in increased emissions of toxic and hazardous pollutants, like fine particulates (PM2.5).”This paper reviews air pollutants produced by the use of amine scrubbing on coal- and gas-fired power plants in the U.S. and the process features and mitigation strategies that will minimize their impact on air quality. Even with atmospheric reactions, emissions of amine, nitrosamine, and other air toxics are likely to have insignificant environmental and health impacts. Stacks will disperse emissions with a dilution factor greater than 8000. Water wash with or without acid will reduce emissions of amine and nitrosamine that is produced from atmospheric reactions. Nitrosamine emissions will be managed with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) to reduce the NO/NO2 and/or selection of primary or non-volatile amines. With coal-fired power plants, amine aerosols, Hg, SO3, and fine particulate emissions will probably be managed by a fabric filter with alkali addition. Carbon capture by amine scrubbing will reduce significantly the effect of the power plant emissions on ambient levels of PM2.5. With coal-fired power plants, the application of amine scrubbing will significantly reduce SO2 emissions. NOx emissions will usually be minimized by selective catalytic reduction (SCR) in both gas- and coal-fired plants. Ammonia emissions will be minimized by managing amine oxidation, and if necessary, by adding an acid wash or other controls.

TOXIC CHEMICAL EMISSIONS AND DEMENTIA RISK: RESULTS FROM THE CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH COGNITION STUDY

Abstract Air pollution is a modifiable risk factor for dementia. Yet, studies on specific forms of air pollution (e.g., toxic chemical emissions from industrial facilities) and dementia risk are underexplored. We examined associations between toxicity-weighted concentrations of industrial pollution and dementia outcomes among a large, multi-site cohort of older adults. Participants (n=2,770) were ≥ 65 years old (M=75.3, SD=5.1 years) from the Cardiovascular Health Cognition Study. Toxicity-weighted concentrations were estimated using the Risk Screening Environmental Indicator (RSEI) model which incorporates total reported chemical emissions with toxicity, fate, and transport models. Estimates were aggregated to participants’ baseline census tract, averaged across 1988-1992, and log10-transformed. Dementia status was clinically adjudicated in 1998-1999 (M=5.2 person-periods) by subtype (all-cause, Alzheimer’s, vascular, mixed). We assessed whether RSEI-estimated toxicity-weighted concentrations were associated with: 1) odds of prevalent dementia and 2) incident dementia risk by subtype. After adjusting for individual and neighborhood-level covariates, a 1-unit increase in log10-toxicity was associated with a 34% increase in the odds of prevalent dementia (OR=1.34, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.78). In discrete-time survival models, each 1-unit increase in log10-toxicity was associated with a 65% increased hazard of vascular dementia (HR=1.65, 95% CI: 1.04, 2.61) but was not significantly associated with all-cause, Alzheimer’s disease, or mixed dementia. Living in regions with higher toxic air emissions was associated with greater odds of prevalent dementia and a heightened risk of incident vascular dementia. Results suggest that the RSEI model may be a novel screening tool for examining associations between toxic chemical releases and dementia risk.

Integrative literature review: Ethylene oxide exposure signs and symptoms.

Although ethylene oxide (EtO) gas is designated as a human carcinogen, extant literature reports mixed findings on the health effects of exposure. The disparate findings may reflect industry bias as many studies were funded by a large chemical industry lobby. To conduct an integrative review of studies free from industry bias to facilitate compilation of a comprehensive list of reported signs and symptoms of EtO exposure. We reviewed 1887 papers of which 42 articles met inclusion criteria. The authors conducted this review in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. The presence of bias was assessed using Joanna Briggs Institute checklists. Non-industry biased literature confirmed serious adverse health effects associated with EtO exposure at the occupational, hospital, and community level. EtO represents a carcinogen, neurotoxin, and respiratory irritant. After removal of industry-biased studies, EtO was unequivocally found to pose a threat to human health. There remains a gap in the number of studies examining community-level exposure, which is essential to understanding the impact of EtO. Given that EtO-emitting facilities are concentrated in diverse and disadvantaged communities, further study of EtO exposure health effects is warranted to inform public policy on toxic air emissions.

Methodology for Mobile Toxics Deterministic Human Health Risk Assessment and Case Study

Air toxic emissions from on-road mobile sources are significant contributors to the degradation of air quality in urban and dense population centers. Research led by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified more than 1162 hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) in the exhaust and evaporative emissions from on-road mobile sources. However, less than 70 hazardous air pollutants are monitored by regulatory agencies. HAPs emitted from Mobile Sources are known as Mobile Source Air Toxics (MSATs). The EPA estimates that approximately half of the cancer risk and 74% of noncancer health impacts from air toxics is attributed to mobile sources. The quantification of the risk associated with MSATs exposure remains limited to date, and only a few MSATs have ambient air quality standards to protect human health and welfare. This work presents a novel and validated methodology to quantify the myriad health risks associated with exposure to on-road mobile emissions. This methodology is introduced in the form of a pipelined analysis process, which may be employed in existing and new transportation projects. The proposed new methodology integrates results from three different types of models: on-road vehicle emissions inventory models such as MOVES and IVE, air dispersion models such as AERMOD and SCIPUFF, and risk estimate models for human and ecological receptors such as the 2005 Final U.S. EPA Human Health Risk Assessment Protocol for Hazardous Waste Combustion Facilities. The result of this research work is a new methodology that provides regulators and risk analysts with a more detailed awareness of the health impacts of MSATs. A case study of Saint Paul, Minnesota, validated the air dispersion modeled results against monitored data, and the agreement was acceptable (i.e., the estimates were within a factor of two of the observations). Three high-population locations in the Saint Paul area were evaluated for human health risk, with the observation that at two of these locations, the Saint Paul—Ramsey Health Center and Anderson Office Building, the calculated cancer risk is in excess of the target risk level of 1.0E-05 for benzo(a)pyrene. The methodology presented in this paper allows regulators, risk analysts, and air quality engineers to better estimate multi-pathway cancer and noncancer risk associated with acute and chronic exposure to MSATs. Moreover, this work provides a science-based aid to policy decision makers when considering factors that most significantly affect population health and ecology.

Upstream oil and gas infrastructure and wildfire burn areas in the western U.S.: Assessing current and future risks

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The extent and intensity of wildfires has worsened in recent years, a trend that is expected to continue as climate change worsens. The western U.S., a region with numerous oil basins, has a particularly high wildfire risk. Wildfires damage to oil and gas wells may result in emissions of air toxics and higher costs for safe well retirement. We aimed to determine the extent to which oil and gas wells were located within and near wildfire burn areas in the western U.S. in each year between 1984 and 2020 and to identify wells at high risk of wildfire exposure in present-day and under projected risk in mid- and late century METHODS: We obtained oil and gas wells data from Enverus DrillingInfo, population data from the US Census Bureau, wildfire burn areas data from National Interagency Fire Center, and data on areas with high projected future wildfire risk from Argonne National Laboratory. We assessed which wells were inside or near (≤1 km) wildfire burn areas from 1984-2020 and estimated the number of people living near burn areas with wells. We then determined the count of active and plugged wells in areas with high current and projected wildfire risk. RESULTS: We observed that an estimated 31,385 (1.9%) of the 1.65 million wells in the western U.S. were located in wildfire burn areas during the study period and an additional 52,815 (3.2%) were within 1 km of a burn area. CONCLUSIONS: Wildfire damage to oil and gas wells may increase pollution in nearby communities, raise operator mitigation costs, and increase climate change through fugitive fossil fuel emissions. Policymakers may wish to consider wildfire risk in oil and gas operation regulation. KEYWORDS: oil and gas, climate change, wildfire, exposure, spatial analysis

A Review of Medical Waste Management Systems in the Republic of Korea for Hospital and Medical Waste Generated from the COVID-19 Pandemic

With the increasing generation of medical waste worldwide, managing medical waste has become crucial, given its potential environmental and public health risks. Previously in the Republic of Korea, medical waste was often mixed with municipal waste and disposed of in residential landfills or unsuitable treatment facilities (e.g., improperly managed incinerators). Environmental regulators and waste producers have made extensive efforts in recent years to improve waste management at healthcare facilities. This study presents an overview of the status of medical waste management in Korea and discusses information on the generation, composition, separation, transportation, and treatment of medical waste. Incineration was confirmed to be the most preferred treatment method for medical waste and was the only one used until late 2005. Large-scale medical waste incinerators are used for treating medical waste from most medical facilities in Korea; however, with increasing regulations on toxic air emissions (e.g., dioxins and furans), air emission standards are being tightened for all existing small-scale incineration facilities without air pollution control. Since medical waste usually contains various plastic materials such as polyvinyl chloride, these incinerators are highly likely to emit toxic air pollutants if improperly operated and managed. Waste minimization and recycling, control of toxic air emissions from medical waste incinerators, and alternative treatment methods to incineration are seen as major challenges. Incineration capacity cannot be expanded as quickly as the rising quantities of medical waste in Korea; thus, there is a growing need to reconsider the overall management system. Accordingly, we examined various medical waste treatment policies and methods that are being implemented in other countries, in addition to the main strategy of waste management. To determine preferable directions for the improvement of the medical waste management system, we investigated and compared the status of domestic and foreign waste management and proposed directions for improvement, focusing on several issues related to the current medical waste management system in Korea.

Invited Perspective: Oil and Gas Development and Adverse Birth Outcomes: What More Do We Need to Know?

Invited Perspective: Oil and Gas Development and Adverse Birth Outcomes: What More Do We Need to Know?

Hourly emission inventories for air toxic emissions for eastern Australian electricity generators derived from energy distribution data

Emission inventories are a fundamental input for atmospheric chemical transport models in order to accurately simulate air pollution and its impacts. In Australia, emission inventories are currently not available for electricity generators at high temporal and spatial resolutions. In this study, a new high spatial and temporal resolution inventory for Australian power plant emissions has been developed. The emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants have been estimated using 5-min electricity generation time-series data and emission factors. The emissions are estimated from 2010 to 2019 for sulfur dioxide (\(\hbox {SO}_2\)), nitrogen oxide (\(\hbox {NO}_{2}\)), particulate matter (PM) and mercury (Hg). We estimate that, for 2019, the coal-fired power plants in Australia emitted significant amounts of \(\hbox {SO}_2\) (485.7 kTonne) and \(\hbox {NO}_{2}\) (452 kTonne), as there are no sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxide controls in place. In contrast, PM emissions are mitigated by particulate matter control devices and coal-fired power plants emit an estimated 27.48 and 13.46 kTonne of \(\hbox {PM}_{10}\) and \(\hbox {PM}_{2.5}\), respectively. Coal-fired power plants were responsible for an estimated 3.13 tonnes of Hg emissions. Gas-fired plant emissions are significantly lower than coal-fired power emissions for all pollutants. Temporal analysis showed that coal- and gas-fired power plant emissions vary quite markedly during the day and over the week. There is a strong diurnal cycle in the gas-fired emissions, which, if ignored by assuming constant emissions (such as is routinely done), will lead to significant errors in modeled air pollution.

Analysis and design of low gas emission of ethanol fuel from ionic liquid-assisted pretreatment of biomass

The growth of gas emissions (GE) in the environment that stirred climate change, has correlated with the decline of fossil fuels. Generally, GE was produced by burning fossil fuels such as gasoline in the combustion engine. Gasoline has higher air toxic emissions than ethanol. Hence, the investigation of ethanol has gained attention. On the other hand, biomass has become a renewable source of ethanol. However, due to the rigid structure of biomass, biomass pretreatment is needed before the hydrolysis and fermentation process. Recently, growing attention has been devoted to applying ionic liquids (ILs)-assisted pretreatment despite the high-cost process. Therefore, in this study, to optimize the ethanol production from biomass, the simulation using SuperPro Designer (SPD) software was conducted. Bagasse as biomass material was treated by IL, namely choline acetate (ChOAc), with the range of ratio IL/biomass of 0–1.5. The developed SPD model was validated with published data. The results indicated that the minimum ratio of IL/biomass was 1.3. When in the hydrolysis performed at high-loading after 72 h reaction time, the glucose and xylose concentrations were 49 g/L and 13 g/L, respectively. When the fermentation process was conducted, the initial mixed sugar solution concentration was 23 g/L of glucose and 6 g/L of xylose. Then, the ethanol concentration was 15 g/L at 24 h, which was 89% of the theoretical ethanol yield. To conclude, the developed SPD model not only could support to optimize the biomass refinery into low GE of ethanol but also could reduce large cost experimental.

US Air Pollution Policy Changes Under the Trump Administration and Their Impact on Public Health Disparities

For decades, the US federal government has relied on science-based processes to set national air pollution policies to protect public health, from the ambient air quality standards to air toxics emissions control to clean vehicle standards. Because of the evolving and complex relationships between air pollutants and health outcomes, scientific advice has long played a crucial role in ensuring the best available scientific information informs policy decisions at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). While these policy protections are insufficient to adequately address disparities by race and income in air pollution exposure, science-based policy processes play a crucial role in lifting the regulatory floor, driving innovation in control technology, and enhancing control implementation. Under the Trump administration, however, the EPA has experienced many proposed and implemented process changes that threaten to diminish the role of science and scientists in agency air quality decisions and weaken public health protections. These policy actions will exacerbate pollution exposure in communities already facing disproportionate cumulative air pollution exposure. This presentation will survey recent changes to air quality-related decisionmaking at the EPA, their expected impacts, and the response of the broader scientific community. Solutions will be proposed for strengthening the role of science in protecting public health from air pollution and reducing exposure disparities.

Забруднення повітря та стан здоров'я дитячого населення України

Atmospheric air pollution is one of the main factors, which negatively affects the health of children in Ukraine. It can exacerbate chronic diseases and decrease the quality of life of children and their families. The aim to determine the correlation ranking between the incidence and prevalence of diseases among children in Ukraine in 2015 and the volume of pollutant emissions from stationary and mobile sources of pollution per person depending on the area of residence. Materials and methods. During the analysis, data from the Center for Medical Statistics of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the State Statistics Service of Ukraine for 2015 were used. Methods of system approach, epidemiological, correlation and cluster analysis are applied. Results. In our study we have discovered that the volume of pollutant emissions from stationary and mobile sources into the atmosphere per 1 person had a direct impact on the incidence of all diseases of children in Ukraine, especially children aged 0–6 years (p<0.01). The closest direct correlation was observed between pollutant emissions and prevalence of respiratory diseases among children, especially in children aged 0–6 years and 15–17 years and with the prevalence of bronchial asthma and diabetes in all age groups. The correlation between children morbidity level of tuberculosis, some infectious and parasitic diseases, congenital anomalies, circulatory and digestive diseases, diseases of the musculoskeletal system, ear and mammary gland and the volume of air toxic emissions haven't reached any important statistical significance. Correlation between the mortality rates of children under one year and the incidence of all diseases, including respiratory diseases, some infectious diseases, acute respiratory viral infections, pneumonia and influenza, cerebral palsy and air toxic emissions also haven't reached statistical significance. Conclusions. Morbidity and prevalence of all children's diseases was chained in different manner with the amount of pollutant air emissions. This fact indicates that the increase in morbidity is associated not only with socio-economic and medical and genetic factors, but also with environmental influence. This situation requires brings a necessity of establishment the issue of environmental safety of the population of Ukraine, especially children. No conflict of interest were declared by the authors. Key words: children, morbidity, prevalence, mortality, air pollution.

Thirty years of the Clean Air Act Amendments: Impacts on haze in remote regions of the United States (1990–2018)

The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 were aimed at reducing major environmental threats in the United States, such as acid rain, urban air pollution, toxic air emissions, and regional haze. To this end, there have been major reductions in anthropogenic gaseous emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). SO2 and NOx are also major contributors to particulate haze, which affects visibility in both urban and rural environments. The Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) network has tracked trends in haze in remote regions of the United States since the late 1980s by reconstructing total light extinction (bext) from speciated particulate concentrations. Regional trends in bext were examined using aggregated data from individual sites. Regional, annual mean short-term trends analyses (2002–2018) indicated strong reductions in bext associated with reduced SO2 and NOx emissions, especially in the eastern United States (−4.3% yr−1, p < 0.001) where haze historically was dominated by sulfate particles. Less improvement occurred in the Intermountain West/Southwest (−0.9% yr−1, p = 0.03) and trends were negative but insignificant along the West Coast (−1.5% yr−1, p = 0.19). On average, across the continental remote United States, bext has decreased at a rate of −2.8% yr−1 (p < 0.001) from 2002 through 2018 and -1.8% yr−1 (p < 0.001) from 1992 through 2018. The composition of haze has shifted away from being sulfate-dominated to having higher contributions from carbonaceous and crustal aerosols. This shift points to the success of combined regulatory activities aimed at reducing anthropogenic emissions over the last three decades. As emissions from regulated sources of SO2 and NOx continue to decline, the contributions to haze from unregulated sources, both anthropogenic and natural, such as oil and gas extraction, international sources, biomass burning, and dust, have increased in importance. Reducing haze from these sources would require additional mitigation strategies and resource management plans.

High priority violations and intra-firm pollution substitution

We examine the sign and the magnitude of pollution leakage associated with the High Priority Violations Policy (HPVP) under the Clean Air Act. Using 46,012 facility-year observations for 7947 polluting facilities across all industries in the U.S., we find strong evidence of intra-firm pollution substitution associated with the HPVP. On average, a compliant facility increased its toxic air emissions by about 35–56 percent (3600 to 6000 lbs.) if it had at least one other sister facility, within the same 6-digit NAICS industry code and belonging to the same parent firm, concurrently under violation. The magnitude of such intra-firm pollution substitution was stronger towards compliant facilities with no prior history of high priority violation as well as towards those owned by private parent companies. We also find that substitution of pollution from a sister facility under violation increases the risk of violation among currently compliant facilities.

A license to pollute? Opportunities, incentives, and influences on oil and gas venting and flaring in Texas

While overall air pollution has steadily decreased in the United States since the 1970s, air pollution from the oil and gas extraction industry has dramatically increased rural population's exposure to toxic air emissions since the fracking boom. Venting (i.e., releasing or leaking natural gas into the atmosphere) and flaring (i.e., burning extracted natural gas) by the oil and gas extraction industry is the largest industrial source of volatile organic compounds. Despite the critical role the oil and gas industry plays in contributing to global climate change, quantitative disproportionality research has yet to explain pollution disparities within the oil and gas extraction industry. Using a sample of 126,862 producing oil and gas extraction facilities and the 4608 companies that directly operate them, I analyze how venting and flaring is related to the characteristics of facilities, operators, and the political environment in which they are embedded. I find that venting and flaring is not a uniform practice of all oil and gas extraction facilities. A two-part hurdle regression model shows venting and flaring practices are consistently associated with facilities with new drilling, few nearby wells, large operator oil production, violations, permitting, and the portion of the surrounding community that is Hispanic. Findings suggest economic incentives and state policy are key factors contributing to the environmental decisions of organizations. I suggest political will be applied to enact policy to reduce the pollution and waste caused by venting and flaring.

Effect of Temperature on the Synthesis of Methyl Ester via the Transesterification of Waste Black Seed Oil and Castor Seed Oil Admixture

There is an increasing attempt in biodiesel production (fatty acid methyl ester) because of the depleting fossil fuel resources as well as the similarity in properties when compared to those of diesel fuels. Engines set off on biodiesel have lower emissions of carbon monoxide, unburned hydrocarbons, and air toxics than engines runned on petroleum-based diesel fuel. We reported the optimization of Coconut oil methyl esters production via methyl ester from black oil/castor seed oils admixture under various operating conditions. The optimum yield, temperature, catalyst concentration and reaction time were found to be 93%, 60°C, 1.0% (wt of crude oil admixture) and 60 minutes respectively. Many fuel properties (viscosity, specific gravity and flash point) as measured according to standard methods, also found to conform to international standard.

Investigation of the Effect of Mid- And High-Level Ethanol Blends on the Particulate and the Mobile Source Air Toxic Emissions from a Gasoline Direct Injection Flex Fuel Vehicle

This study examined the influence of low-, mid-, and high-ethanol fueling, as well as the influence of the aromatic hydrocarbons in the fuel blend, on the regulated and greenhouse gas emissions, the mobile source air toxic pollutants, and the particulate emissions from a current model flexible fuel vehicle equipped with a gasoline direct injection engine. This study utilized a total of four fuels, including a baseline U.S. EPA Tier 3 E10 fuel, one E10 fuel with higher aromatics content than the baseline E10, an E30 fuel that was splash-blended with the Tier 3 E10, and an E78 fuel. Testing was conducted over triplicate cold-start and hot-start LA92 cycles. The findings of this study showed that the higher ethanol blends, namely, the E30 and E78, led to statistically significant reductions of 9%–13% for total hydrocarbon (THC), 13%–44% for non-methane hydrocarbon (NMHC), 20%–35% for carbon monoxide (CO), and 17%–36% for nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions compared to the high-aromatics E10 fuel. The emissions o...

Effect of air pollutants and toxic emissions from various mileage of motorcycles and aerosol related carcinogenicity and mutagenicity assessment.

This research investigates the mileage and the health risk assessment of aerosol carcinogenicity and mutagenicity emitted by ten in-use motorcycles. The total p-PAHs emission factor of ten in-use motorcycles are 676.3 μg km-1 with average of 67.6 ± 13.6 μg km-1. Naphthalene (Nap) shows the largest emission factors, followed by phenanthrene (PA) and fluoranthen (FL). The mileage present high correlation coefficient (Rsp = 0.681) with CO. CO is associated with cumulative mileage leading to bad combustion efficiency, which caused low to high relationship for total p-PAHs (Rsp = 0.388), PM2.5 (Rsp = 0.680) and NOx (Rsp = 0.799). Both PM2.5 and total p-PAHs are generally generated via incomplete combustion and the results expressed the moderate to high correlation (Rsp = 0.578, 0.898) with NOx. Taking into consideration of high-mileage motorcycles (30,001-50,000 km), the toxic equivalent of carcinogenicity and mutagenicity exhaust are about 4.67, 1.99 and 3.89, 2.0 times higher than low (10,001-20,000 km) and middle (20,001-30,000 km) cumulative mileages, respectively. Therefore, in the conclusion of our study in compared with that of other research directed the fact that lower carcinogenicity and mutagenicity emission factor were found at lower cumulative mileages motorcycles however, the impact increases with the high cumulative mileage motorcycles.

Residential Proximity to Unconventional Oil and Gas Development and Air Volatile Organic Compound Concentrations in Ohio

Approximately 4 million Americans live within one mile of an unconventional oil and gas (UO&amp;G or &amp;#8220;fracking&amp;#8221;) well, potentially placing them in the path of toxic air emissions. We conducted a community-based, exploratory study to evaluate associations between proximity to UO&amp;G wells and presence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) inside and outside 66 homes (n&amp;#61;132 samples) in Belmont County, Ohio, an area with an active UO&amp;G industry. Well locations were obtained from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Passive charcoal badges were selected as low-cost samplers that could readily be deployed both indoors and outdoors over a one-week period. Samplers were used to collect indoor and outdoor air samples over approximately nine days and were analyzed for three VOCs using gas chromatography and flame ionization detection. Using multivariate logistic regression, we assessed relationships between inverse-distance-squared-weighted (ID2W) well counts and detection rates of benzene, ethylbenzene, and toluene. VOCs were generally not detectable in the outdoor air samples (detection rate &amp;#8804;3%); indoor detection rates were 23% for benzene, 14% for ethylbenzene, and 49% for toluene. Three homes had indoor and one home had outdoor benzene concentrations exceeding health-based references. No associations between ID2W well count and detection rates of benzene, ethylbenzene, and toluene in residential air samples were observed. Though we had a large proportion of samples below the detection limit and did not observe any correlations, this study is among the first to compare UO&amp;G proximity metrics with indoor and outdoor home measurements of air pollutants. Use of more sensitive sampling methods are needed for future efforts. The inclusion of additional attributes of UO&amp;G wells and local meteorological and topographical data into proximity models could provide further insights into the potential for increased residential exposures to VOCs in communities with UO&amp;G operations.

Investigation of Co and So2 from Acid Clay Treatment of used Lubricating Oil

Recycling and treatment processes is one of the acceptable means to reduce the effect of pollution from used oil. These recycling methods save some amount of time and money and also helps to conserve our natural resources. However, various methods have been used for used oil treatment which has resulted in toxic air emissions. This work monitored the emissions of Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) from used lubricating oil using a combustion analyzer. CO emission was found to be the highest emitted pollutant with MEC of 167.07 mg/m3 due to incomplete combustion. Also, CO concentration at dehydration exceeded the set limits which could cause adeverse effect to receptor locations while SO2 was within the limit. Hence, quantifying the emissions at each stage of this process is needed to control emissions in the sector. The predicted results in this study can help decision makers to formulate policy for controlling the impact of air emissions from used lube oil treatment plants using acid-clay treatment method.