Hazardous Waste Management

Kitipan Kitbamroong Ph.D. 7 January, 2011

Description

Chemical fate and transport in the environment. Frequency and magnitude of accidents involving hazardous materials. Effects of these releases on the community

Textbooks

Hemond, H.F. and E.J. Fechner-Levy. Chemical Fate and Transport in the Environment. 2nd edition. Academic Press. ISBN: 0123402751. 448 pages. October 1999.

Instructor and Goals

Instructor: Kitipan Kitbamroong Ph.D., email kitipan@gmail.com

Course Goals: Integrate chemical property information to better understand the transport and fate of hazardous chemicals released to the environment. Examine case studies to understand the longterm social and environmental effects of these releases.

Topics and Agenda

1.1 Introduction 1.2 Chemical Concentration 1.3 Mass Balance and Units 1.4 Physical Transport of Chemicals 1.5 Mass Balance in an Infinitely Small Control Volume 1.6 Basic Environmental Chemistry 1.7 Error in Measurements of Environmental Quantities 1.8 Chemical Distribution among phases

1.1 Introduction

By sensible definition any by-product of a chemical operation for which there is no profitable use is a waste. The most convenient, least expensive way of disposing of said waste up the chimney or down the river is the best.

Haynes, W. American Chemical Industry, A History. Van Nostrand, NY. 1954.

Processes

1.) wick effect: when water evaporates from soil surface, the suction gradient produced results in an appreciable upward movement of water to replace that evaporated

2.) infiltration: (atmosphere soil) precipitation that doesnt simply runoff the land surface into a surface water body or storm drains enters the unsaturated zone (soil)

3.) evapotranspiration: evaporation from leaves (water from plant root uptake through the lip of leave)

4.) dry deposition: any physical removal process that doesnt involve precipitation, there are three main mechanisms : gravitational settling (particle in the streamline settle down), impaction (happen when hit building or something), absorption (particle absorp to surface of object)

5.) rainout: mechanism in wet deposition (removal process that involve precipitation), involve s incorporation of chemical into water droplet that occur *within a cloud

Processes

6.) washout: wet deposition, occurs *beneath a cloud as precipitation fall through the air toward the earth surface

7.) evaporation: process in which liquid transform to vapor, moving to atmosphere 8.) bubble bursting (sea spray): occur in few mm above ocean surface, there is a lot of small water bubble (1-100 Qm dia) generate from dynamic action and come up from ocean surface & broken in that top layer

9.) codistillation: evaporation & volatilization at the same time (simultaneous) 10.) excretion : the release of compound from organism to soil and water

Processes

11.) ingestion: uptake from soil and water to organism 12.) infiltration: (water-soil), movement of water from surface water body to unsaturated zone, soil act as filter 13.) percolation: movement of water from unsaturated zone to sat (groundwater) 14.) runoff: precipitation that runoff the land surface into a surface water body 15.) leaching: dissolution of soluble compound from soil to water

1.2 Chemical Concentrations

Mass per unit volume [M/L3], such as mg/L, is the most common expression for water.

ppm and ppb are often used.

Mg/kg is often used for soils because the mass of soil does not vary.

1.3 Mass Balances and Units

Three possible outcomes exist for a chemical present at a specific location in the environment at a particular time:
The chemical can remain in that location Can be carried elsewhere by a transport process Eliminated through transformation into another chemical. The RULES of mass balance or mass conservation

1.3 Mass Balances and Units

Mass Balance Equation

Change in storage of mass = mass transported in mass transported out + mass produced by sources mass eliminated by sinks

Mass Balance Rate Equation (mass per time)

Rate of change in storage of mass = mass transported rate in mass transport rate

out + mass production rate by sources mass elimination rate by sinks

1.4 Physical Transport of Chemicals

Advection Transport Fickian Transport

1.5 Advection-Dispersion-Reaction Equation

1.6 Basic Environmental Chemistry

1.6.1 Chemical Kinetics 1.6.2 Gibbs Free Energy

1.6 Basic Environmental Chemistry

1.6.3 Chemical Equilibrium 1.6.4 Electroneutrality 1.6.5 Activity

1.6 Basic Environmental Chemistry

1.6.6 Chemical Kinetics

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First Order Kinetics leads to exponential decay or first-order decay Half Life - the amount of time it takes for the parent compound to decay to half its initial concentration

1.7 Error in Measurements of Environmental Quantities

The error of observation is the difference between the measured value of a quantity and the accurate value.

1.8 Multiple phases present in the environment

1.8.1 Solubility and Vapor Pressure

o

Aqueous solubility is the concentration of a chemical dissolved in water when that water is both in contact and at equilibrium with the pure chemical.

1.8.2 Henrys Law Constants

o

A partition coefficient describes how a chemical distributes itself between two different phases.

The Henrys Law constant, H (or K ), is a partition coefficient defined as the

H

ratio of a chemicals concentration in air to its concentration in water at equilibrium

1.8.3 Chemical Partitioning to Solids

1.8 Multiple phases present in the environment

1.8.3 Chemical Partitioning to Solids

o

Sorption is the term used to describe the chemical partitioning between air and solid phases.

Adsorption is when the chemical sticks to the two-dimensional surface of a solid.

Absorption is when the chemical diffuses into a three-dimensional solid.

1.8 Multiple phases present in the environment

1.8.3 Fugacity
o

Fugacity literally means the tendency to flee and is used to determine to the relative concentrations of a chemical in air, water, and soil phases at equilibrium (can also be used to include other environmental phases, such as fish, bottom sediments, dissolved gases, suspended sediment)

Fugacity has units of pressure and is related to concentrations through a fugacity capacity constant (in units of mol/atm-m3)

1.8.3 Fugacity
Level I Level II Level III and IV