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A University of Utah engineer has developed an inexpensive new method to remove oil sheen by repeatedly pressurizing and depressurizing ozone gas, creating microscopic bubbles that attack the oil so it can be removed by sand filters. Water from mining of oil sands and oil shale. Heavy metals in soil.
The World Health Organization now estimates that in 2012 around 7 million people died—one in eight (12.5%) of total global deaths—as a result of air pollution exposure. million deaths linked to indoor air pollution and 2.6 million deaths related to outdoor air pollution—5.9 million deaths in total.
Through a recent modeling experiment, a team of NASA-funded researchers have found that future concentrations of carbon dioxide and ozone in the atmosphere and of nitrogen in the soil are likely to have an important but overlooked effect on the cycling of water from sky to land to waterways. Credit: NASA. Click to enlarge.
(Japan) report in the journal Angewandte Chemie the development of a mesoporous two-line ferrihydrite (2LFh)—ferrihydrite is a widespread mineral composed of iron, oxygen, and water—that could lead to a new generation of ozone filters in electrostatic devices and aircraft applications. removal; it showed about 95 % O 3.
The Asian monsoon circulation provides an effective pathway for pollution from Asia, India, and Indonesia to enter the global stratosphere, according to a new international study led by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo. NCAR scientist William Randel, the lead author.
The proposed Transport Rule sets in place a new approach that can and will be applied again as further pollution reductions are needed to help areas meet air quality health standards, EPA says. This proposal reduces emissions contributing to fine particle (PM 2.5 ) and ozone nonattainment that often travel across state lines.
Among the many climate-related vulnerabilities that can impact its mission, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cites a likely increase in tropospheric ozonepollution as potentially making it more difficult to attain National Ambient Air Quality Standards ( NAAQS ) in many areas with existing ozone problems.
Black carbon and tropospheric ozone are harmful air pollutants that also contribute to climate change. Reducing black carbon and tropospheric ozone now will slow the rate of climate change within the first half of this century, the study said.
The California Air Resources Board today approved a statewide plan for attaining the federal health-based standard for ozone, typically experienced as smog. The 2022 State Implementation Plan Strategy identifies the state’s control strategy for meeting the federal 70 parts per billion, 8-hour ozone standard over the next 15 years.
Illustration of projected ozone changes in the South Coast region due to climate change in 2050. Areas in orange and red could see ozone concentrations elevated by 9 to 18 parts per billion. We already know that climate change will bring us increased forest fires, shorter winters, hotter summers and impact our water supply.
Cooking, cleaning and other routine household activities generate significant levels of volatile and particulate chemicals inside the average home, leading to indoor air quality levels on par with a polluted major city, according to a study by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder. Earlier post.).
The $461,000-project, titled “Heterogeneous Aging Mechanisms of Combustion and Biomass Burning Emissions,” will focus on how gases, such as ozone, react with pollutants emitted from power plants and forest fires. Guzman and his students will study how these pollutants are transformed on surfaces by oxidizing atmospheric gases.
The California Air Resources Board (ARB) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are collaborating in the $20-million CalNex research project to examine the nexus between air pollution and climate change. The complex roles that ozone and aerosols play in the atmosphere provide examples of such trade-offs.
CSIRO scientists have developed a new way to account for ozone in computer simulations of the climate. This latest modeling shows that the oceans take much less ozone out of the atmosphere than previously thought. Ozone (O 3 ) is formed by reactions of chemicals such as nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds—i.e.,
Every time it rains, fish living downstream of storm drains are exposed to pollutants, including the tire-derived compound 6PPD-quinone, in the runoff. 6PPD is an antioxidant and antiozonant that helps prevent the degradation and cracking of rubber compounds caused by exposure to oxygen, ozone and temperature fluctuation.
Data collected during a major 2010 state-federal atmospheric research project show that the first-in-the-nation regulation requiring ocean-going vessels to use clean fuel when near the California coast has been extremely effective in reducing sulfur dioxide pollution from ships, according to the California Air Resources Board (ARB).
A) shows the base case peak concentrations for O 3 (ozone), ClNO and HCl in parts-per-billion by volume (ppbv). (B) Under extreme circumstances, this previously unknown chemistry could account for up to 40 parts per billion (ppb) of ozone; the current US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 8-hour average standard is 75 ppb.
HFCs are powerful greenhouse gases originally developed as substitutes for ozone-depleting chemicals. A binding legal agreement exists that can cut HFCs now—the Montreal Protocol ozone treaty—and many alternatives to HFCs have already been developed and are waiting for the right regulatory incentive from the Montreal Protocol to be deployed.
Photochemical Ozone Creation Potential (kg Ethene equivalent). Quantifies the production of pollutantozone (? to ozone layer), the results of the reaction of sunlight on NO x and volatile organic compounds. water, and non-renewable energies (crude oil, coal.) Eutrophication Potential (kg Phosphates equivalent).
eutrophication; ET = ecological toxicity; FEC = fossil energy consumption; WU = water use; LO = land occupation; “The rest” includes acidification; smog formation; ozone layer depletion; and human health effects. Error bar shows regional variations for E85. GW = global warming; Eut. Credit: ACS, Yang et al. Click to enlarge.
Depletion of fresh water reserves [m 3 ]. Deterioration of the ozone layer [kg CFC-11-eq.]. The system will graph lifecycle impact for a range of specified powertrains, for a large number of impact categories: Climate change [kg CO 2 -eq.]. Depletion of fossil energy resources [kg oil-eq.]. Depletion of metal resources [kg iron-eq.].
But excess nitrogen is emitted from soils, seeps into groundwater and runs off into surface waters. Nitrogen runoff in bays and coastal areas, where it makes algae numbers spike then crash, drawing oxygen from the water and leading to dead zones—areas that cannot support finfish, shellfish or most other aquatic life. Tom Tomich.
The burning of coal releases more carbon dioxide than other fossil fuels, as well as comparatively high levels of other pollutants, including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particles such as ash. This particle effect is a double-edged sword because reducing them is a good thing in terms of lessening air pollution and acid rain.
In the first empirical study using satellite measurements to explore the relationship between urban form and air pollution, a team from the University of Minnesota has found that cities with highly contiguous built-up areas have, on average, lower concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 , a key component of urban air pollution).
Jacobson used a computer model of global climate, air pollution and weather that he developed over the last 20 years and updated to include additional atmospheric processes to analyze how soot can heat clouds, snow and ice. Warming of the air by any chemical, including soot, enhances natural surface emissions of water vapor [e.g.,
succeeded in isolating the simplest CI and reported direct kinetic measurements of its reactions with water, NO, NO 2 , and SO 2. Our results will have a significant impact on our understanding of the oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere and have wide ranging implications for pollution and climate change. Welz et al. Carl Percival.
Bromine then reacts with a gaseous form of mercury, turning it into a pollutant that falls to Earth’s surface. Bromine also can remove ozone from the lowest layer of the atmosphere, the troposphere. Despite ozone’s beneficial role blocking harmful radiation in the stratosphere, ground-level ozone is a harmful pollutant.
New research by a team from the US, China and Japan focusing on the Houston, Texas area suggests that widespread urban development alters weather patterns in a way that can make it easier for pollutants to accumulate during warm summer weather instead of being blown out to sea. ““The very existence of the Houston area favors stagnation.”
Researchers from the University of Minnesota have produced a spatially and temporally explicit life cycle inventory (LCI) of air pollutants from gasoline, ethanol derived from corn grain, and ethanol from corn stover for the contiguous US (the lower 48 states). The researchers included a sixth pollutant, ammonia (NH 3 ).
While that report projected vessel activity, it did not explore the environmental impacts of increased shipping in terms of air emissions or the potential climate impacts from increases in short-lived climate pollutants such as black carbon. Click to enlarge. ships diverting from prior routes to Arctic routes. Regulatory background.
In all of this, we must also recognize that climate change will affect other parts of our core mission, such as protecting air and water quality, and we must include those considerations in our future plans. Protecting America’s Waters. Improving Air Quality. Other themes include: Assuring the Safety of Chemicals.
Findings from a recent EPA study titled “Assessment of the Impacts of Global Change on Regional US Air Quality: A Synthesis of Climate Change Impacts on Ground-Level Ozone,” for example, suggest that climate change may lead to higher concentrations of ground-level ozone, a harmful pollutant.
A new report from the National Research Council examines and, when possible, estimates, “hidden” costs of energy production and use—such as the damage air pollution imposes on human health—that are not reflected in market prices of coal, oil, other energy sources, or the electricity and gasoline produced from them. Click to enlarge.
This surge in exploration and production from unconventional sources has been accompanied by public concerns about various environmental issues—including air quality, water quantity and quality, and human health impacts. Moore et al. They then reviewed the available literature on air quality impacts for each of the stages.
When in the air, these compounds may combine with volatile organic compounds to produce ozone, the main component of smog. In a subsequent laboratory comparison, they found that nitrate disappeared from grime 10,000 times faster than from a water-based solution when both were exposed to artificial sunlight. —James Donaldson.
Although the catalyst is in use, exactly how it converts NO x to nitrogen and water with the help of ammonia (urea) hasn’t been entirely clear. In some catalytic zeolites, the metal ions can break down the pollutant nitric oxide in vehicle emissions. However, the zeolites crumble and clog easily, leading to early failure.
As well as copper, the excavated ore layers often also contain arsenic—a highly toxic, inorganic pollutant that poses a threat not only to human health but to the entire ecosystem. Previously, the fact that these compounds are water-soluble never presented any problems since the Atacama Desert is one of the driest regions in the world.
Inventorying criteria air pollutants showed that vehicle non-operational components often dominate total emissions. Life-cycle criteria air pollutant emissions are between 1.1 Future work should also focus on environmental effects not quantified herein, such as the use of water, generation of waste water, and toxic emissions.
The type of feedstocks produced, management practices used, land-use changes that feedstock production might incur, and such site-specific details as prior land use and regional water availability will determine the mandate's environmental effects, the report says. Barriers and opportunities.
NO x is a precursor for both ground level ozone and secondary PM 2.5 The transportation sector was responsible for over 7 million tons of NO x emissions in the US in 2014, with 50% of this sector’s NO x attributed to heavy-duty on- and off-road vehicles and equipment.
Up there, 10 to 50 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, ozone molecules absorb the sun’s ultraviolet light, protecting life far below. Even less is understood about the potential risks to people and the environment—could the particles deplete the ozone layer, for example, or significantly alter the weather? about 0.6 °C.
We see it as similar to the ozone hole problem, where we really needed a tight, science-based focus on the limits to human inputs to the system--and howthose inputs affected the ozone layer's ability to keep people safe. by spewing pollution into the air. The largest blue bar is the effect of pollution particles on clouds. [[The
Take, for example, the tens of thousands of fossil-fueled ships that chug across the ocean, spewing plumes of pollutants that contribute to acid rain, ozone depletion, respiratory ailments, and global warming. Such clouds might be less likely to produce rain, and the retained cloud water would keep albedo high.
Low-input cultivation of perennial plants, e.g. from short-rotation forestry and grasslands, may be an effective source of cellulosic biomass and provide environmental benefits (reduced pollution and lower greenhouse gas emissions). However very few studies include water use impacts. Ravindranath et al. 2007) may not be robust. ”
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