Environmental Risk Assessment Method Research Articles

Prioritization of the ecotoxicological hazard of PAHs towards aquatic species spanning three trophic levels using 2D-QSTR, read-across and machine learning-driven modelling approaches

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) represent a common group of environmental pollutants that endanger various aquatic organisms via various pathways. To better prioritize the ecotoxicological hazard of PAHs to aquatic environment, we used 2D descriptors-based quantitative structure-toxicity relationship (QSTR) to assess the toxicity of PAHs toward six aquatic model organisms spanning three trophic levels. According to strict OECD guideline, six easily interpretable, transferable and reproducible 2D-QSTR models were constructed with high robustness and reliability. A mechanistic interpretation unveiled the key structural factors primarily responsible for controlling the aquatic ecotoxicity of PAHs. Furthermore, quantitative read-across and different machine learning approaches were employed to validate and optimize the modelling approach. Importantly, the optimum QSTR models were further applied for predicting the ecotoxicity of hundreds of untested/unknown PAHs gathered from Pesticide Properties Database (PPDB). Especially, we provided a priority list in terms of the toxicity of unknown PAHs to six aquatic species, along with the corresponding mechanistic interpretation. In summary, the models can serve as valuable tools for aquatic risk assessment and prioritization of untested or completely new PAHs chemicals, providing essential guidance for formulating regulatory policies.

Assessment of performance and environmental friendliness of a sorbent-based remediation method for heavy metal and metalloid contaminated soils

The contamination of natural ecosystems with heavy metals and metalloids (HMMs) primarily results from anthropogenic activities. Consequently, ongoing efforts are dedicated to the development of technologies aimed at restraining the mobility of HMMs and expediting chemical reactions that convert pollutants from mobile to immobile states. Addressing the reclamation issue always necessitates the selection of the most promising and effective type of reclamation work, as well as justification of land prioritization for reclamation purposes. In terms of performance and future potential, the sorbent-oriented approach, grounded in the concept of “green” utilization of man-made waste as a raw material for creating novel composite sorbents, is gaining traction for land reclamation in disturbed areas. In international practice, diverse environmental risk assessment methods are employed to substantiate the necessity for and prioritize reclamation efforts.The aim of the present study is to evaluate established conventional methods for assessing the risks associated with environmental harm. Additionally, this research aims to assess the efficacy and ecological compatibility of the composite sorbents developed by the author. This evaluation will be conducted by assessing and comparing the levels of potential environmental risks or risks of environmental damage subsequent to the application of these sorbents.The objectives of this study are as follows: 1) to explore the theoretical aspects of HMMs: including the formulation of a definition, investigation onto the origins of HMMs, examination of HMMs’ toxicity, and identification of prevalent methods for evaluating the environmental risks associated with HMMs; 2) to evaluate the effectiveness of established methods for assessing the environmental risks posed by HMMs; 3) to assess the efficacy and environmental sustainability of the composite sorbents developed by the author. This evaluation will involve an examination and comparison of the levels of potential environmental risks and the risks of environmental damage subsequent to the a pplication of these sorbents.The research subject: the mining allotment within the Levikhinskoye mine (classified as an environmental disaster site) is investigated as a disturbed land ecosystem, encompassing industrial waste dumps containing HMMs.The research hypothesis aims to establish the viability of “green” waste utilization from industrial sources as a raw material for composite sorbents used in land reclamation, without escalating the environmental damage. The conducted experiments revealed that sorbents composed of peat/water treatment sludge (at a ratio of 20/80 wt. % with natural moisture content) and peat/diatomite/water treatment sludge (at a ratio of 5/15/80 wt. % with natural moisture content) exhibited the highest level of performance, surpassing an overall efficiency of 89%. A sorbent composed of peat/diatomite (at a ratio of 25/75 wt. % with natural moisture content) demonstrated an overall efficiency of 67.7%. The estimated environmental risks (ER and ED) after the application of the proprietary composite sorbents, which include water treatment sludge, exhibited an average reduction of 89.5% and 88%, respectively.

Environmental health risk assessment of urban water sources based on fuzzy set theory

Abstract Water pollution and protection of water resources have become an urgent task for humanity today and are also important components of environmental risk assessment. In response to the problems of high risk level and low risk credibility in the current environmental health risk assessment of urban water sources, this article aims to use fuzzy set theory to comprehensively evaluate the environmental quality and quickly monitor the safety of urban water sources. Therefore, this article analyzed the health factors of the urban water source environment and then studied the content and uncertainty analysis of health risk assessment. Finally, it constructed a health risk assessment system and proposed corresponding water environment protection strategies. In the experimental section, the risk level and risk credibility of the water environment were analyzed. Through comparison, it was found that the risk level in the new water environment health risk assessment was 0.16 lower than that in the traditional water environment health risk assessment, and the risk credibility was 0.11 higher than that in the traditional water environment health risk assessment. The water quality monitoring effect in the new water environment health risk assessment was 7.3% higher than that in the traditional water environment health risk assessment, The health hazard effect is 8.2% lower than traditional water environment health risk assessment. In summary, water environment health risk assessment plays an important role in protecting the water source environment. Health risk assessment of the water environment helps to reduce water pollution, improve water quality, and ultimately improve human health. Moreover, using fuzzy set theory makes it easier to comprehensively and efficiently evaluate the water environment. The innovation of this article lies in paying attention to the importance of fuzzy set theory in water pollution risk assessment and applying fuzzy technology to water pollution control strategies, to better improve water quality and optimize water source environmental health risk assessment methods.

Land Reclamation Using Typical Coal Gasification Slag in Xinjiang: A Full-Cycle Environmental Risk Study

A rising quantity of coal gasification slag (CGS) is produced annually. Land reclamation is a valuable method for efficiently utilizing coal gasification slag on a large scale. The ecological influence of CGS during land reclamation has not been widely investigated. This article covers the entire CGS use cycle for land reclamation, which includes generation, storage, and disposal. The environmental risk of using CGS for land reclamation was assessed by combining four environmental risk assessment methods. The results show no environmental risk for coal gasification coarse slag (CGCS) and coal gasification fine slag (CGFS) at the generation and storage stages. However, a concern remains regarding manganese leaching from CGCS during the storage stage. In the disposal phase, no environmental risk is present when up to 15% of CGCS and CGFS are applied to land reclamation projects. However, the environmental risk of disposing of 100% of CGS in a landfill cannot be disregarded. Conversely, the full-cycle use of CGS for land reclamation carries no environmental risk.

An assessment of O3-related health risks and economic losses in typical regions of China.

As one of the key areas for air pollution prevention and control in China, the Fenwei Plain is experiencing serious near-surface O3 pollution, which is a key issue that needs to be solved urgently. Based on pollutant concentration monitoring data and meteorological and health data over the same period, this study analyzed the temporal and spatial characteristics, the relationships with meteorological factors of O3 pollution, and the health effects and economic losses caused by exposure to O3 pollution using environmental health risk and environmental value assessment methods in 11 cities on the Fenwei Plain in China from 2014 to 2020. The results showed that O3 pollution has become increasingly serious on the Fenwei Plain in recent years. The annual average concentration of O3_8h_max showed an overall upwards trend, with an increase of 32.39% in 2020 compared to 2014. The mean concentrations observed in summer were the highest, followed by spring and autumn, and the lowest was in winter. The O3 concentration had a significant positive correlation with air temperature and sunshine hours. The evaluation results of the impact of air pollution on population health showed that the number of premature deaths caused by O3 pollution fluctuated and increased during 2014-2020. In 2020, the numbers of total, cardiovascular and respiratory deaths attributable to O3 pollution on the Fenwei Plain were 6,867 (95% CI: 3,739-9,965), 3,652 (95% CI: 1,363-5,905), and 1,257 (95% CI: 747-2,365), respectively, and the total number of premature deaths related to O3 exposure increased by 48.05% compared with 2014. The health and economic losses attributed to O3 pollution on the Fenwei Plain during the study period were 44.22 (95% CI: 22.17-69.18), 47.16 (95% CI: 23.64-73.77), 68.28 (95% CI: 34.27-106.31), 114.44 (95% CI: 57.42-177.76), 110.85 (95% CI: 55.45-172.52), 116.41 (95% CI: 58.24-180.74), and 116.81 (95% CI: 58.00-180.88) billion yuan, respectively. In Linfen City, the increasing rate of the number of premature deaths reached 283.39% because the O3 concentration increased greatly. Due to high O3 concentrations and obvious population growth in Xi'an, the problems of premature death and health and economic losses attributed to O3 concentrations exceeding the standard value are prominent.

Screening of priority antibiotics in Chinese seawater based on the persistence, bioaccumulation, toxicity and resistance

Antibiotics are emerging pollutants that have detrimental effects on both target and non-target organisms in the environment. However, current methods for environmental risk assessment primarily focus on the risk to non-target organisms in ecosystems, overlooking a crucial risk of antibiotics - the induction of resistance in targeted bacteria. To address this oversight, we have incorporated resistance (R) risk with persistence, bioaccumulation and toxicity (PBT) to establish a more comprehensive PBTR (persistence, bioaccumulation, toxicity, and resistance) framework for antibiotic-specific risk assessment. Using the PBTR framework, we evaluated 74 antibiotics detected in Chinese seawater from 2000 to 2021, and identified priority antibiotics. Our analysis revealed that the priority antibiotics with R risk accounted for the largest proportion (50% to 70%), followed by P risk (40% to 58%), T risk (16% to 35%) and B risk (0 to 13%). To further categorize these priority antibiotics, we assigned them a risk level according to their fulfillment of criteria related to P, B, T, and R. Antibiotics meeting all four indicators were classified as Grade I, representing the highest risk level. Grade II and Grade III were assigned to antibiotics meeting three or two indicators, respectively. Antibiotics meeting only one indicator were classified as Grade IV, representing the lowest risk level. The majority of priority antibiotics fell into Grade IV, indicating low risk (55% to 79%), followed by Grade III (16% to 45%). The highest risk antibiotic identified in this study was clindamycin (CLIN), categorized as Grade II, in the East China Sea. Our findings aligned with previous studies for 25 antibiotics, affirming the validity of the PBTR framework. Moreover, we identified 13 new priority antibiotics, highlighting the advancement of this approach. This study provides a feasible screening strategy and monitoring recommendations for priority antibiotics in Chinese seawater.

Emission Characteristics, Speciation, and Potential Environmental Risks of Heavy Metals from Coal-Fired Boilers: A Review

Coal-fired boilers, including coal-fired power plants (CFPPs) and coal-fired industrial boilers (CFIBs), are an important area for achieving sustainability globally as they are one of the globally important sources of anthropogenic emissions of heavy metals (HMs) due to huge amount of coal consumption. To date, the investigation of atmospheric emission characteristics, speciation, and potential environmental risks of HMs from coal-fired boilers has received widespread attention and achieved significant progress. To characterise the emissions of HMs from coal-fired boilers, research is currently being carried out in the areas of (1) studying the release of HMs from coal combustion processes, (2) developing emission factors and emission inventories, and (3) revealing the cross-media partitioning of HMs between different output streams. Research on the chemical forms of HMs in waste from coal-fired boiler is currently focused on chemical valence and speciation components. The sequential chemical extraction method is currently the most widely used method for investigating the chemical fractionations of HMs in wastes from coal-fired boilers. Studies indicate that different HM elements display differentiated characteristics of speciation in waste from coal-fired boilers. Early studies on potential environmental risk and ecological risk caused by HMs are usually based on actual monitoring values of HMs in the target environmental media. The risk assessment code method and the leaching toxicity method are the most widely used method to study the potential environmental risk of HMs in waste from coal-fired boilers. With the implementation of global carbon emission reduction strategies, the scale of coal-fired boilers and air pollution control technologies are bound to change in the future. Therefore, as an important component of global efforts to achieve sustainable development, more research is needed in the future to improve the accuracy of emission inventories, reveal the mechanisms of HM chemical transformation, and establish methods for potential environmental risk assessment at regional scales.

Analysis of the possibility of environmental risk assessment using the Fine-Kinney scoring method

The article is devoted to the issue of environmental risk assessment, which underlies the regulation of the quality of the state of the environment. Examples of negative impact on the environment due to human anthropogenic impact have been studied. The concept of environmental risk is considered, which is currently considered as the probability of occurrence of emergency events in a certain period of time and is expressed in quantitative terms. Also, which is quite important, the issue of legislative regulation of the environmental risk assessment procedure has been studied by studying the current legislative acts in the Russian Federation. Two legislative acts were singled out separately: GOST R 54135-2010 and GOST R 14.09-2005. From their analysis, a general evaluation algorithm has been compiled, which includes 4 stages: determination of restrictions on the use of products; identification of hazards and dangerous situations; preliminary risk assessment; final risk assessment. In addition, the authors of the article have considered a method for assessing environmental risk based on the Fine-Kinney method, which is now actively used in assessing occupational risks in production. The method consists in quantifying environmental damage by determining the possible severity and consequences, as well as the likelihood of an event that may negatively affect the environment. During the analysis of the method, it was concluded that using the Fine-Kinney method of environmental risk assessment, it is difficult to study the small details described in the recommendations, but at the stage of preliminary environmental risk assessment, we consider its use to be quite appropriate. In particular, this method can be used in the final stage of environmental monitoring, which is an effective tool in terms of studying the likelihood of a negative impact on the environment and preventing the occurrence of emergency situations.

The visualization method of environmental risk assessment for metal cultural relics in museums based on Quick Response code

How to quantitatively evaluate and characterize the risk of the preservation environment of cultural relics in museums is an important research topic in the preventive protection of movable cultural relics. According to the current existing risk analysis methods for cultural heritage protection, this paper investigates the impact models of time, space and environmental factors on the degradation process or the atmospheric corrosion of metal culture relics in museums for typical application scenarios such as repository houses, exhibitions and transportation. Based on the museum air environment quality and reactivity monitoring data, a grading strategy for the preservation of the metal cultural relics in museums is proposed, and a visual environmental risk assessment method based on QR code (Quick Response code), Visual-ERAM (Visualization Environment Risk Assessment method), is established. This study can provide an intuitive and convenient tool for the risk assessment and early warning functions of the environmental risk management of metal cultural relics in museums.

Machine learning exploration of the mobility and environmental assessment of toxic elements in mining-associated solid wastes

Continuous development of the mining industry has led to the production of large volumes of solid wastes. Toxic elements (TEs) have been identified in mining-associated solid wastes, whose leaching potential poses a significant environmental risk. In this study, we introduce a synthesis framework titled Fast mobIlity Evaluation and environmentaL inDex (FIELD). The physicochemical properties of solid waste, element properties, and total TEs concentrations were used as input variables to construct the machine learning model and predict the TEs fractions. Novel environmental indexes were then proposed based on both the total TEs concentrations and corresponding chemical speciation. Applying the framework to a case study of coal fly ash (CFA) demonstrated robust performance of the deep neural network model with good generalization capabilities (R2 = 0.83 on the testing set), indicating it can rapidly and accurately predict TEs fractions. The TEs fractions were found to be primarily affected by the element properties. The results also demonstrate that the proposed environmental indexes are superior to current indexes for identifying the most environmentally hazardous TEs within a specific CFA sample, as well as for identifying the most dangerous CFA sample based on TEs fractions. Compared with traditional laboratory analysis and environmental risk assessment methods, the FIELD framework proposed in this study is more efficient and achieves robust results, with important reference significance for environmental pollution control.

Use of multi-criteria ranking method for environmental risk assessment of antineoplastic agents and their transformation products

Among the various classes of pharmaceuticals, antineoplastic agents require particular attention. This work investigates the degradation of the anticancer drugs anastrozole (ANZ) and methotrexate (MTX) by the solar photo-Fenton (SPF) process under different experimental conditions and in different aqueous matrices. Tentative identification of the treatment transformation products (TPs) was performed by suspect screening, employing a purpose-built database containing thirty-three TPs from ANZ and MTX. The experimental condition that achieves the most favorable degradation of ANZ and MTX in real hospital wastewater was pH 5 and multiples additions of Fe2+. This condition provided a reduction of ANZ and MTX of 30 % and 70 %, respectively. Eighteen MTX TPs and five ANZ TPs were tentatively identified in the analyzed samples. After tentative identification, quantitative structure-activity relationship ((Q)SAR) in silico methods were used to predict eight endpoints of environmental risk of the selected analytes. When different possible structures could be proposed, all the possibilities were considered, resulting in fifty-nine structures evaluated. TOPSIS multicriteria decision-making method was used to rank the compounds according to their environmental concern, based on (Q)SAR predictions. As main results, TOPSIS ranking showed that all ANZ TPs and most MTX TPs showed higher environmental risk potential than the parent compounds. The findings highlighted the importance of qualitative tentative identification of TPs and their monitoring throughout treatments, as well as risk assessment using various endpoints simultaneously. The proposed approach can provide objective and holistic evaluation of treatment processes.

An integrated of fuzzy-WASPAS and E-FMEA methods for environmental risk assessment: a case study of petrochemical industry, Iran.

Due to the scope and volume of activities, the petrochemical industry has a high potential for risk to humans and the environment. This study aimed to evaluate the environmental risks caused by the ammonia and urea production process. To screen the risks identified in the follow-up phase, the process hazard analysis (PHA) was used. The environmental aspects were also assessed using environmental failure mode and effects analysis (EFMEA). The most significant environmental aspect with a Risk Priority Number (RPN) of 100 was related to CO2 emissions from the disposal tower. To rank the final aspects, the criteria "severity," "probability of occurrence," "probability of detection," and the "extent of contamination" were first weighed by the fuzzy Shannon entropy method. Then, each aspect was prioritized based on the mentioned criteria and using fuzzy Weighted Aggregated Sum Product Assessment (WASPAS). According to this technique, among the 24 environmental aspects, the highest score (with a value of 0.702) was given to CO2 emissions from the disposal tower. Finally, suggestions were made to mitigate the risks.

Combining the Bow-tie model and EFMEA method for environmental risk assessment in the petrochemical industry

Combining the Bow-tie model and EFMEA method for environmental risk assessment in the petrochemical industry

A New Method for Environmental Risk Assessment of Pollutants Based on Multi-Dimensional Risk Factors.

Pollutant discharge causing the deterioration of the watershed environment has seriously threatened human health and ecosystem function. The importance of improving the risk warning system is becoming more and more prominent. Traditional chemical risk assessment methods focused on toxicity and the exposure of pollutants without considering the impact of persistent pollutants in different environmental media. In this study, a new approach was proposed to reflect multi-dimensional evaluation with a synthetic risk factor (SRF) of pollutants. The integrating parameters of SRF include toxicity endpoint values, environmental exposure level, persistent properties, and compartment features. Selected pesticides, perfluorinated compounds, organophosphate esters and endocrine disruptors were analyzed by the proposed and traditional methods. The results showed a higher risk outcome using SRF analysis for PFOS, imazalil, testosterone, androstenedione and bisphenol A, which were different from those obtained by the traditional method, which were consistent with existing risk management. The study demonstrated that the SRF method improved the risk assessment of various pollutants in different environmental media in a more robust fashion, and also provided a more accurate decision basis for ecological environment protection.

Assessment of potential ecological risk of bisphenol A in surface waters via evaluation of alternative non-animal approaches

Recently, national regulatory agencies have announced plans to move away from animal testing through the adoption of new approach methods (NAMs) including in silico and in vitro approaches. In this study, we suggest a new approach of environmental risk assessment method for water quality criteria of bisphenol A (BPA) in the surface water of 11 rivers in Asia using an alternative toxicity method based on the in vitro-based cytotoxicity and genetic toxicity. The hazardous concentrations for 5% (HC5) were obtained from the species sensitivity distribution (SSD) curves based on the traditional acute toxicities (TAT), traditional chronic toxicities (TCT), and alterative acute toxicities (AAT) data. The HC5 values for the TAT, TCT, and AAT data were 2019.3 µg/L, 0.92 µg/L, and 0.68 µg/L, respectively. The TAT-based predicted no-effect concentration (PNECTAT), TCT-based PNEC (PNECTCT), and AAT-based PNEC (PNECAAT) values were derived as 1009.65 µg/L, 0.46 µg/L, and 0.34 µg/L, respectively. The TAT-based risk quotient (RQTAT) value of BPA was negligible (<0.1). The AAT-based RQ value (RQAAT) of BPA in Liuxi river (RQAAT = 21.94) of China showed the highest potential ecological risk of the 11 sampled rivers of Asia. In Korea, the highest potential risk assessment (RQAAT = 2.93) was recorded in Gyeonggi-do as the largest administrative region. The results may suggest that the application of AAT in the ecological risk assessment for surface water can replace the previously applied TCT approach.

Analysis of railway ballast contamination in terms of its potential reuse

In light of the ever-increasing need for a circular economy in all sectors, the rail ballast reuse during the railway lines reconstruction can be an important element in the implementation of sustainability principle. However, this activity should be carried out in a responsible way based on environmental risk analysis due to the contaminated ballast may pose a hazard, especially to deterioration for the quality of soil and water. This paper presents new method for environmental risk assessment of the impact of rail ballast reused as a construction material. The proposed method was verified on a real site at five selected point on trans-European TEN-T transport network in south Poland. The obtained results confirm the possibility of direct reuse of ballast at 4 of the 5 analyzed points. The case study highlights the technical feasibility and desirability of using recycled ballast in the reconstruction of railway tracks. Moreover, papier presents a new tool to assess when such a process can be carried out safety for an environmental. Additionally based on the results of presented studies may establish an understanding on relevant processes and environmental risk of railway emissions to soil, drainage water and groundwater.

Predicting environmental concentrations and the potential risk of Plant Protection Products (PPP) on non-target soil organisms accounting for regional and landscape ecological variability in european soils.

Plant Protection Products (PPP) raise concerns as their application may cause effects on some soil organisms considered non-target species which could be highly sensitive to some pesticides. The European Food and Safety Authority (EFSA), in collaboration with the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission, has developed guidance and a software tool, Persistence in Soil Analytical Model (PERSAM), for conducting soil exposure assessments. EFSA PPR Panel has published recommendations for the risk assessment of non-target soil organisms. We have used PERSAM for calculating PPPs predicted environmental concentrations (PECs); and used the estimated PEC for assessing potential risks using Toxicity Exposure Ratios (TER) for selected soil organisms and good agricultural practices. Soil characteristics and environmental variables change along a latitudinal axis through the European continent, influencing the availability of PPP, their toxicity upon soil biota, and hence, impacting on the risk characterization. Although PERSAM includes as input geographical information, the information is aggregated and not further detailed in the model outputs. Therefore, there is a need to develop landscape based environmental risk assessment methods addressing regional variability. The objective was to integrate spatially explicit exposure (PECs) and effect data (biological endpoints i.e. LC50, NOEC, etc.) to estimate the risk quotient (TER) of four PPP active substances (esfenvalerate, cyclaniliprole, picoxystrobin, fenamidone) on non-target species accounting European landscape and agricultural variability. The study was focused on the effects produced by the above-mentioned pesticides on two soil organisms: E. fetida earthworms and Folsomia sp. collembolans. After running PERSAM assuming a worst case application of PPPs, PECs in total soil and pore water were obtained for different depths in northern, central and southern European soils. With this data, soil variability and climatic differences among soils divided in three large Euroregions along a latitudinal transect (Northern, Central, Southern Europe) were analysed. Summarising, a trend to accumulate higher PECs and TERs in total soil was observed in the north decreasing towards the south. Higher PECs and TERs could be expected in pore water in southern soils, decreasing towards the north. The risk disparity between pollutant concentrations at different soils compartments should be taken into account for regulatory purposes, as well as the potential landscape variabilities among different Euroregions.

Environmental health risk assessment of sulfur dioxide (SO2) at workers around in combined cycle power plant (CCPP)

State electricity company is an Indonesian government-owned corporation with a monopoly on Indonesia's electricity distribution. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) pollution is produced by burning fossil fuels with coal and oil-fired power plants. At the combined cycle power plant (CCPP), the state electricity company has the largest role in SO2 production. In addition, SO2 can cause respiratory tract dysfunction, decreased lung function, eye irritation, throat irritation, and coughing at certain concentrations. This study aims to assess the magnitude of SO2 exposure to workers health at CCPP Indralaya unit, Indonesia. The research is a quantitative study using the environmental health risk assessment (EHRA) method. Purposive sampling was used to obtain 32 respondents. The results revealed that the average SO2 concentration was 0.085 mg/m3. The non-carcinogenic intake was 0.0025 mg/kg/day for real-time exposure and 0.0069 mg/kg/day for lifetime exposure. The Risk Quotient (RQ) for real-time exposure obtained is 0.0959, and RQ for lifetime exposure is 0.2668, indicating an RQ = 1. The study concluded that the CCPP Indralaya unit is not at-risk cause non-carcinogenic due to SO2 exposure. Regardless, precautions must ensure that workers' exposure to SO2 or other emissions gases produced by CCPP activities does not endanger their health.

Risks assessment and driving forces of urban environmental accident

Regional environmental accident risk is regarded as the focus and the most difficult challenge of environmental management, posing a serious threat to people's lives and property. Much of the current literature relies on calculating and assessing the risks of environmental accidents. Little is known regarding about the driving forces of environmental accident risks, and how they affect the level and distribution characteristics of risks, especially the inherent linkages between regions and enterprise (individuals). The aim of this research is to innovate and develop the method for assessing the risk of the environmental accidents at multiple scales in order to accurately investigate the distribution characteristics and driving factors of environmental accident risks. In this study, the Multiscale Environmental Accident Risks Assessment model (MEARA) was proposed to comprehensively evaluate the characteristics and impacts of environmental risk at different scales. And we adopted GeoDetector model (GED) to explore the dominant driving factors and their interaction among multiple scales. The city of Dongguan, China, was chosen as the research area. We discovered that: 1) there were significant differences in risk levels across industries, with the environmental accident risk of enterprises in Dongguan being generally low, while some industries, such as the petrochemical, telecommunication, and equipment manufacturing industries, had higher risks. 2) Risks of environmental accidents exhibited significant agglomeration. Rivers and lakes, coastal areas, and transportation hubs were all hotspots for high-risk enterprises and regions. 3) The interaction between social and economic factors was the most significant in terms of spatial heterogeneity among influencing factors. By analyzing the results of the GeoDetector, we realized that the economy and population were the dominant factors influencing the environmental accident risk level. The interaction results show that the interaction between the factors is significantly improved. The interaction of population, and GDP, ecological sensitivity, the importance of ecological function, and the intensity of hospital radiation has increased the explanatory power of the environmental accident risk level. We discuss the need of emergency management for environmental accident risks. We provide an innovative “point-area” multi-scale environmental accident risk assessment method, as well as strategies for environmental accident risk management of enterprises and regions at various risk levels. It is beneficial for effective emergency management to protect residents' living environments.

In Silico Methods for Environmental Risk Assessment: Principles, Tiered Approaches, Applications, and Future Perspectives.

This chapter aims to introduce the reader to the basic principles of environmental risk assessment of chemicals and highlights the usefulness of tiered approaches within weight of evidence approaches in relation to problem formulation i.e., data availability, time and resource availability. In silico models are then introduced and include quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) models, whichsupport filling data gaps when no chemical property or ecotoxicological data are available. In addition, biologically-based models can be applied in more data rich situations and these include generic or species-specific models such as toxicokinetic-toxicodynamic models, dynamic energy budget models, physiologically based models, and models for ecosystem hazard assessment i.e.species sensitivity distributionsand ultimately for landscape assessment i.e.landscape-based modeling approaches. Throughout this chapter, particular attention is given to provide practical examples supporting the application ofsuch in silico models in real-world settings. Future perspectives are discussed to address environmental risk assessment in a more holistic manner particularly for relevant complex questions, such as the risk assessment of multiple stressors and the development of harmonized approaches to ultimately quantify the relative contribution and impactof singlechemicals, multiple chemicals and multiple stressors on living organisms.