FE Environmental Part 4

Flashcards from the notes I've taken in preparation for the Environmental FE. This covers these topics: solids/hazardous waste, air quality

solid waste

anything that is thrown away (except radioactive/mining waste)

cradle to grave

accounting for hazardous waste generation, transportation, and disposal

hazardous waste

waste that is ignitable, corrosive, reactive, or toxic

RCRA

regulates the generation and disposal of hazardous waste; required EPA to establish standards for storage, treatment, and disposal facilities

CERCLA

addresses abandoned hazardous waste sites that pose a public health risk; allowed responsible parties to be held liable for damages/cleanup

national priority list

list of sites that are of national priority due to releases of hazardous waste

superfund

fund for cases where responsible parties could not be found or could not pay

CERCLA

established National Priority List and superfunds

closed loop recycling

recycling material into the same or similar quality items

open loop recycling

transforming recycled material into different items

composting

biological decomposition of organic material

incineration

disposal of waste by burning it; reduces volume, high cost, air emissions

landfill

disposal of waste by burying it; inexpensive, produce methane

landfill liners

prevent contaminant migration to groundwater

leachate

contaminated liquid formed when water passes through waste

methane and carbon dioxide

what two gases are produced from landfills?

toxic substances control act

TSCA

TSCA

regulates chemicals before and during use

waste exchange

when the waste of one industry becomes raw material for another

physical

centrifugation, sedimentation, reverse osmosis ; these are ____ waste processes

chemical

oxidation, reduction, precipitation ; these are _____ waste processes

biological

bacterial leaching, rapid microbial growth ; these are _____ waste processes

selective catalytic reduction

method that reduces NOx emissions from combustion sources; uses NH3 plus a catalyst

catalyst

substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without itself undergoing any permanent chemical change

wind

generated when air naturally moves from regions of high pressure to low pressure

warmer

for ____ temperatures, gas expands and relative humidity drops

colder

for _____ temperatures, gas shrinks and relative humidity rises

Coriolis effect

the centrifugal force created by the Earth’s motion causes an angular thrust to air movement between high and low pressure areas

anticyclone

circulation created by high pressure areas where air will subside, and relative humidity drops (clear sunny skies)

cyclone

circulation created by low pressure areas where air rises (clouds, rain, storms)

atmospheric stability

tendency of the atmosphere to resist or enhance vertical motion

adiabatic lapse rate

rate at which air cools as it rises or heats as it sinks

ambient lapse rate

the actual temperature gradient with height

gaussian dispersion model

model used to predict how air pollutants disperse in the atmosphere

clean air act

established NAAQS, emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants and vehicles

national ambient air quality standards

NAAQS

attainment areas

air quality control regions with air quality equal to or better than the standards

non-attainment areas

air quality control regions that do not meet air standards

adsorption

mass transfer from gas to liquid

breakthrough

adsorption media will accumulate a gas on its surface until saturation

combustion

contaminant gas is oxidized to an inert gas

sedimentation

used to remove particles large enough to settle (particles > 100um)

filtration

a particle is filtered out physically by being intercepted by fibers (particles < 5um)

deep bed filter

filtration method for relatively clean gases at low volumes (AC, furnaces)

baghouse filters

filtration method for dirty industrial gas with high volumes

liquid scrubbing

method that combines spray chamber and cyclone

electrostatic precipitation

gases pass through wires and the ion field creates negative particles that migrate to positive particles

ambient air

outdoor air

criteria air pollutants

EPA regulated pollutants: CO, NOx, SO2, O3, PM2.5, Pb

CO, VOCs, mold, radon

common indoor air pollutants

air exchange rate

AER

AER

measures how quickly indoor air is replaced

air changes per hour

ACH

source control

method to manage air control by reducing pollutant generation

ventilation

method to manage air control by increasing outdoor air exchange

air cleaning

method to manage air control by removing contaminants

moisture control

method to manage air control by preventing mold growth

loading rate

amount of pollutant entering a system per unit time

emission rate

amount of pollutant emitted per unit time

point source

single identifiable location (smokestacks, power plants)

area source

many small sources (residential heating, agriculture)