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)

landfill, incineration, composting/recycling

3 basic alternatives for solid waste management

cradle to grave

hazardous waste generation, transportation, and disposal

hazardous waste

waste that is ignitable, corrosive, reactive, or toxic

resource conservation and recovery act

RCRA

RCRA

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

comprehensive environmental response, compensation, and liability act

CERCLA

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

municipal waste

paper, food, yard trimmings, plastic, metal, glass, etc waste

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

1. source reduction

2. reuse

3. recycling/composting

4. energy recovery

5. treatment

6. disposal

waste management hierarchy

materials recovery facility

facility where recyclables are sorted and prepared for reuse

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?

bioreactor landfills

leachate is recirculated to maintain moisture; accelerates waste decomposition

F list

list of non-specific source wastes

K list

list of specific industrial wastes

P list

list of acutely hazardous commercial chemicals

U list

list of toxic commercial chemicals

toxic substances control act

TCSA

TCSA

regulates chemicals before and during use

waste generators

determines if wastes are hazardous or not

waste exchange

when the waste of one industry becomes raw material for another

centrifugation, sedimentation, reverse osmosis

physical waste processes

oxidation, reduction, precipitation

chemical waste processes

bacterial leaching, rapid microbial growth

biological waste processes

incineration

thermal waste process

1. site inspection

2. site mapping and documentation

3. review historical data

Phase 1 ESA

site inspection

owner approval, identify ASTM environmental conditions, notes/photos

site mapping and documentation

property lines, site boundaries, previous land use

historical data

aerial photos, topo maps, database records

1. fieldwork

2. site mapping

3. data analysis/risk assessment

Phase 2 ESA

fieldwork

review permits, clear utilities, soil/groundwater sampling

site mapping

determine soil properties, drilling locations

data analysis/risk assessment

lab analysis, regulations, conclusions, recommendations

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

unstable

when ambient rate is higher than adiabatic rate

stable

when ambient rate is lower than adiabatic rate

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, combustion

methods for removing gas constituents

adsorption

mass transfer from gas to liquid (spray chambers, scrubbers, towers)

adsorption

mass transfer from gas to solid (breakthrough)

breakthrough

adsorption media will accumulate a gas on its surface until saturation

combustion

contaminant gas is oxidized to an inert gas

direct flame combustion

gas flame must be autogenous (self-supporting after ignition)

catalytic combustion

gas flame is not autogenous (self-supporting after ignition)

sedimentation, cyclone, filtration, liquid scrubbing, electrostatic precipitation

methods for removing particulate constituents

sedimentation

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

cyclone

an air stream carrying particles changes direction (particles > 10um)

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

CAA

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

emission factor

average emission produced per unit activity

point source

single identifiable location (smokestacks, power plants)

area source

many small sources (residential heating, agriculture)