CLEAN AIR Volume 27 No 3, August, 1993

THE CLEAN AIR SOCIETY OF

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

Postal Address: Box 191, Eastwood, N.S.W. 2122. Fax: (02) 858 3854 Australia (02) 858 3854 International 612 8583854

President: F. Fleer Deputy President: N. Bofinger Treasurer R.M. Hope Secretary: P. Williams Tel: (03) 867 2400

EDITOR Jack O'Heare, . 12 Pall Mall, Mt. Waverley, Vic. 3149 Tel: (031807 1942

ASSOCIATE EDITORS (Review) G. Ayers P. Manins

EDITORIAL BOARD J. O'Heare H. F. Hartmann G. Ayers P. Manins

ADVERTISING Ann Sykes-Smith. Tel: (03) 347 2377 Fax: (03) 348 1206

PRINTER J. G. Holmes Pty. Ltd. Tel: (03) 510 6961 1 St.Edmonds Road, Prahran. 3181.

CIRCULATION MANAGER, Mr. A. Crapp, Box 191 Eastwood, N.S.W. 2122 Australia Tel: (02) 325 5626 Fax: (02) 858 3854

SUBSCRIPTIONS Annual Subscription rates (Inc. postage) for non-members and libraries:

Australia and New Zealand SA50.00

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Publication is quarterly in February. May, August and November. CLEAN AIR is listed in Current Contents

The opinions expressed by authors and contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the view of the Society.

All materal appearing in CLEAN AIR is copyright. Reproduction in whole or in part is not permitted without the written permission of the Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand.

EDITORIAL Quality in Environmental Management Phil Ashton. 90

OBITUARY Professor Harry Bloom 92

LETTER TO EDITOR 92

COMPANY NEWS 94

CONFERENCES 96

NEW PRODUCTS 132

REPORTS Newcastle Air Forum John Court. 98 ARTICLES

The Kooragang and Inner Newcastle Airshed Study (KINAS), H.A. Bridgman and P.C. Manins. 101

Sources and Emissions in the Kooragang and Inner Newcastle (KINAS) Area, H.A. Bridgman and B. Whitelock. 103

Modelling Air Quality for KINAS, P.C. Manins. 112

Ambient Air Quality Standards for Sulfur Dioxide in Australia: 1. Criteria and Analysis, D. Doley and D.C. McClune. 122

ADVERTISERS THIS ISSUE • Analysis Automation • A.W.N. (Air Water Noise) Consultants • Camp Scott Furphy • Dames and Moore • Ecotech Pty. Ltd. • Envirosciences • Finnegan MATT Pty. Ltd. • Institute of Environmental Health & Forensic Sciences • Lear Siegler Australasia Pty. Ltd. • Oil Free Company • P. W. Stephenson and Associates

CONDITIONS OF ACCEPTANCE OF MATERIAL FOR PUBLICATION All contributions to this journal, including advertisements, are accepted for publication only on the basis that contributors and advertisers indemnify the Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand, its servants and agents, against all liability whatsoever arising from those contributions and advertisements, and warrant that the material supplied by them complies with all legal requirements.

ISSN 0009 - 8647

90 Ciean Air May 1993 Vol 27 / 3

EDITORIAL

QUALITY IN ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

PHIL ASHTON

Many organisations nowadays are committed to the practice of Total Quality Management (TQM) and as a result, are reaping the benefits which arise from a good reputation for quality and service in the market place.

Quality endorsed companies can however further enhance their reputations through the achievement of quality in environmental management. In these days of increased environmental awareness and customer community concern in relation to environmental issues, significant benefits can be reaped, not only for the environment itself, but also for organisations in terms of general profitability.

The specific benefits gained from achieving excellence in environmental performance are not easily recognisable, but aside from the obvious benefits to the environment, other non-environmental benefits relate to significant savings in energy, raw materials and waste treatment costs, and increased production and product sales. A good environmental company image has also been shown to have a positive effect upon workforce morale, resulting in few man hours lost, increased production and retention of experienced personnel within the company.

In addition, a quality environmental company will attract less scrutiny from the authorities as a result of effective self regulation, and can expect swifter approvals from relevant authorities in the case where an expanion of facilities is being pursued.

To achieve the status of a quality environmental performer is not an easy task. Discrete steps need to be followed to achieve this goal. Dependent upon the nature of the organisation, a reasonable financial outlay may be required initially to achieve significant benefits in the future. These steps include a complete assessment of all the company's activities, direct and indirect, which impact or have the potential to impact upon the environment including air emissions, liquid discharges, noise, risk, general waste management, emergency response and management of environment related administrative matters. Objectives and strategies can then be developed to improve performance where required. The development of an efficient environmental data base and records system is also essential to allow regular effective and efficient audit of performance. Regular audit is essential, allowing deficiencies to be identified and additional strategies to be implemented.

Perhaps the most important piece in the jigsaw puzzle relates to the devolution of responsibility for environmental management throughout the organisation's staff structure, from management to the shop floor. All Environmental Managers faced with the day to day frustrations of shouldering responsibility for environmental affairs would agree that devolution of responsibility is the key to achieving quality environmental performance. Without the support and involvement of the workforce, total quality cannot be achieved - the two are inseparable.

The practice of environmental departments taking responsibility for environmental management, will rapidly become extinct as the move toward quality environmental performance increases in popularity.

The absolute importance of the role of education in environmental affairs cannot be overemphasised. A workforce which can assess, in general terms, the impact of their and the organisation's activities upon the environment, will be increasingly responsive to ensuring impacts are minimised. The workforce must be made aware of why they have been delegated with specific environmental responsibilities through formal, formally assessed training in preference to the "monkey see monkey do" approach. An organisation's workforce is the key to achieving quality in production and environmental management.

It would seem a natural progression for environmental management to be included in a total quality management program. This, in my opinion, will be one of the growth areas for industry and environmental consultants in the coming years.

Those industries who have already embraced effective environmental management as a plus toward increased profitability are testiment to the benefits which can arise from good environmental management and publication of implemented environmental initiatives to its customers and the community. Given the choice of two identical products in these days of environment enlightment, the product with the environmental quality label is sure to be chosen.

Phil Ashton is President of the Western Australia Branch of the Clean Air Society.

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91

OBITUARY -PROFESSOR HARRY BLOOM

LETTER TO EDITOR

Professor Harry Bloom passed away on 31 August, 1992, after a short illness.

He completed his early training at the University of Melbourne, before obtaining his PhD from Imperial College. University of London in 1947, and joined the Chemistry Department at the University of Auckland the same year and worked there for 13 years. In 1960 he was appointed Professor of Chemistry at the University of Tasmania and remained there until his retirement in 1981. He gained his DSc from the University of Melbourne in 1961.

Professor Bloom received many awards and honours, including most recently the RAG citation for contributions to chemistry. He was the University of Tasmania's representative for a number of years on the council of Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering. He was a Fellow of both the NZ Institute of Chemistry and the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. On his retirement the University conferred the title of Emeritus Professor.

Much of Professor Bloom's early work was in the field of molten salt chemistry and in this area he made a major contribution to chemistry in both pure and applied aspects. In the early and mid 1970s, whilst Professor of Chemistry at Tasmania, he undertook a series of studies in environmental chemistry and heavy metal pollution particularly in and around the Derwent River at Hobart. These studies included a substantial component of work relating to the atmospheric dispersion of heavy metals, particularly lead in exhaust from motor vehicles and metallurgical industries. This involvement with atmospheric studies of metal particulates led Professor Bloom to become interested in the activities of the Clean Air Society and become the Tasmanian Branch president during the 1970s.

Professor Bloom was often outspoken and appeared in the newspaper and on television and radio, presenting a very high profile for the benefit of chemistry. He remained scrupulously non-political and thus was accorded considerable respect for his efforts.

Up to the time of his death. Professor Bloom worked in collaboration with the Tasmanian Department of Environment and the Central Science Laboratory of Tasmania and consulted with industry and government on the issue heavy metal pollution. He worked with industry to demonstrate that by applying modern technology industry can bring benefits to society without unacceptable environmental problems.

He is survived by his wife Norma and sons Walter and Laurence. A memorial service for Professor Bloom was held in the University Centre, Hobart on 15 October 1992.

Barry N. Noller

Dear Sir

CLEAN AIR ARTICLE - FINE PARTICLE SULFUR LEVELS

We read with concern the article "The determination of fine particulate sulfur leveis in the Wollongong, Newcastle and Sydney areas" by David Cohen et al published in the May issue of Clean Air (Vol. 27 No. 2).

The article presents the findings from a study to measure the mass loading and chemical composition of fine particles (less than 2.5 micrometres) over central and eastern NSW. The study is capable of yielding information on a wide range of elements present in the particle size fraction analysed. However, we consider that the article contains a number of serious deficiencies which should be addressed lest readers of Clean Air be left with the view that the article represents an accurate and scientific consideration of the issues raised.

In the following paragraphs a brief examination of only the more significant issues in the article is presented, space precluding a detailed critique of the article. The areas covered are the overall study design, difficulties in interpretation of the study's results and specific factual issues.

Before presenting this examination it should be noted that Pacific Power is a participant in the fine particle Air Sampling Project (ASP), but did not contribute to the article in question. In hindsight, we consider this to be unfortunate because Pacific Power would have been able to provide factual information not otherwise available to the authors and would also have been able to contribute substantial knowledge and experience on air quality assessments gained through numerous collaborative projects with the CSIRO. University groups and others on atmos­pheric chemistry, transport and environ­mental assessment.

The study only addresses the sub 2.5 micrometre fraction of the aerosol loading, making it difficult to compare the results from the ASP network with recognised health goals for respirable particles which are normally expressed as the sub 10 micrometre fraction of the total suspended particles.

What is inescapable in the data pres­ented however, is the higher total particle and aerosol sulfur exposure in the urban areas compared with the outer zones in the network. This is clearly evident in Figures 2 and 5 and Table 4. The assertion that the relative amount of sulfur in the samples increases with distance from the city is both statistically untested and of far less relevance with respect to health and environmental impact than the total amount of particles in the air.

The article makes reference to "acid rain", suggesting that the ASP results can be used to estimate acidic deposition and

potential environmental effects. It should be noted that acidic deposition consists of three components - wet( ":acid rain"). dry(gaseous) and dry(aerosol). The ASP study is not fully addressing any of these components: while it is measuring aero­sols it is not establishing deposition velocities necessary to estimate aerosol deposition. Hence, the environmental significance of the resultscannot be estimated. Moreover it is well established that aerosol deposition is probably least representative of total deposition among the three pathways.

In Table 2 an attempt is made to quantify emissions of sulfur dioxide in NSW. The assumption that the (incor­rectly) calculated SO2 emissions uni­formly cover the 80,000 square kilometre ASP area is inappropriate - even a cursory examination of the emitter loca­tions combined with an understanding of dominant wind directions indicates that a significant amount of the emissions will be transported out of the area and indeed often out over the Pacific Ocean.

There are also errors in reducing an emission density in g m2 yr to a notional "dry deposition". This is because dry deposition is a function of atmospheric concentration (not emission) and depo­sition velocity. Drawing on representative values for S02 concentration and depo­sition velocity for S02 in the Hunter Valley yields dry deposition values less than 5% of those suggested in the article.

The comparison of deposition figures for very sensitive aquatic ecosystems in the U.S.A with the incorrectly calculated "dry deposition" values for NSW is also potentially misleading. CSIRO's research on behalf of Pacific Power suggests that soils and surface waters in the Hunter Valley are generally adequately buffered against acid deposition and comparisons with ecosystems with completely different characteristics are both misleading and erroneous.

The authors claim that the ASP network will be particularly useful in helping to identify and understand high pollution episodes. The highest 24 hour sulfur measurement reported was 1200 ng/m3

- one may ask does this constitute a "high pollution episode "? The article does not present appropriate air quality goals on which to base an assessment of the potential health or environmental implica­tions of the results. The article fails to carry out even the most rudimentary air quality assessment in the analysis of the "event" on the 27th December 1992. The implication that Bayswater Power Station was the prob­able source of sulfur measured at Putty. Muswellbrook. Richmond, Badgery's Creek, Campbelltown and Wilton is nothing more than unsubstantiated spec­ulation which should not have appeared without supporting evidence.

An examination of the most relevant

92 Clean Air May 1993 Vo!.27/3

93 Clean Air August 1993 Vol.27 / 3

wind data for the day in question indicates that the northeasterlies or northerlies required to transport the Bayswater plume either toward Putty or into the Sydney Basin did not occur on this, or the previous, day.

Pacific Power has participated in, and contributed to the Fine Particle Study in order to promote a greater understanding

CLEAR AIR AWARD WINNERS

On World Environment Day. June 5, the Victorian Conservation and Environment Minister. Mark Birrell announced winners of the 1993 Clear Air Awards. The awards recognise industries and community groups that have made a positive con­tribution to improving Victoria's air quality.

The Altona Complex Neighbourhood Consultative Group was named winner in the community, education and local government category.

Marplex Australia and the Altona Chemical Complex were named joint winners in the industry and commerce category. Companies that make up the Altona Chemical Complex are BASF, Dow Chemical, Geon (formerly B.F. Goodrich), HAL (Hoechst) and Kemcor.

Information forwarded to Clean Air by the recipients is given below.

A MODEL OF INDUSTRY-COMMUNITY CO-OPERATION

The Altona complex Neighbourhood consultative Group (ACNCG) was named the winner in the community, education and local government category of the 1993 Environment Protection Authority's Clear Air Awards.

It is pleasing that the Group's highly successful work in raising the commun­ity's environmental awareness and the promotion of industry community co­operation has achieved due recognition with this Award.

The Altona Complex Neighbourhood Consultative Group was formed in 1989 in response to growing community con­cern about industrial activity in the Altona Chemical Complex. The need to establish some ongoing dialogue between the companies and the local community was further highlighted during the review process of the Altona planning controls in the complex and the surrounding areas.

The ACNCG has developed over the years as a forum for dealing with resident complaints concerning industrial opera­tions. The group comprises members from local residents, the City of Altona, the Altona Complex companies and the Environment Protection Authority (EPA), the Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OHSA). Meetings are held on

of the distribution and composition of fine particles in the region studied. It is apparent that the fine particle study has yielded a large amount of data on a wide range of elements found in the sub 2.5 micrometre size fraction: the challenge for the study's project managers, including Pacific Power, will be to interpret the results in a manner which contributes to

the second Thursday of each month (except January) with meeting venues being shared between the Civic Offices and various Complex companies.

The work of the ACNCG has produced a number of positive outcomes. After residents' concerns about odours and noise from the Complex were raised at meetings, the companies responded with capital investment and a sustained effort to eliminate the causes of the problems.

In 1992, the Complex companies formalised their ongoing programs designed to reduce the discharge of volatile organic compounds to the atmos­phere in a voluntary agreement with EPA. Each company has committed to reduc­ing its emissions by 50% over a five-year period. Each company has a program to detect and repair leaking valves. This, together with modifications to equipment, will make a major contribution to the emissions reduction program and will significantly assist the drive towards continuing improvement.

Other ACNCG's achievements include the publication of its own quarterly newsletter, the Consultative Chronicle, the introduction of the Environment Action Line (008 061 050) - a 24 hour toll-free phone line to receive community com­plaints about odours etc., input into the selection of a community siren, written submissions made to the Coode Island Review Panel on the chemical storage facility and receiving funding from the State Government for the beautification and landscaping of the nature strips around the Complex companies.

The group has gained statewide and national recognition and is considered a model for industry-community co­operation.

ALTONA CHEMICAL COMPANIES RECEIVE EPA'S CLEAR AIR AWARD

The Altona Chemical Complex believe that winning the inaugural EPA Clear Air Award for industry recognises the value of co-operation and consultation as well as performance. Mr. Ron Cameron, General Manager (Manufacturing! of Kemcor Australia, and Chairman of the Complex General Managers group, in accepting the award from the Minister for Environment, Mr. Mark Birrell, said that

the development and implementation of air quality management programmes in NSW.

Yours faithfully, J SLIGAR, J BANKS and H MALFROY. PACIFIC POWER.

the effort which led to the award was very much a joint initiative. Mr. Cameron said the Altona Complex companies were proud of the air emission reductions achieved to date, but believed the award equally recognised the value of co­operation between the individual com­panies working together and of consul­tation with the local authority and the local community working towards a common goal.

The current hydrocarbon emissions from the companies in the Complex (BASF, Geon, Dow. Hoechst and Kemcor) are already low - considerably less than the emissions from the residents of Melbourne using their lawnmowers on an average week day in summer.* While each company has its own environmental improvement program, the need for joint industry progress is well recognised and it was this which led the companies to a voluntary public commitment to an overall 50% reduction over five years. At the same time, the Complex is reporting in detail to the local community on its plans and progress, on this and other programs for continuous environmental improvement. The Complex companies are therefore particularly pleased that the Minister has also announced the Altona Neighbourhood Consultative Group as winners of the Community section of this new award. The companies are active participants in this consultation process and have certainly benefitted by being able to address the real community concerns.

The emission reduction program since announcement of a voluntary commit­ment early last year is already equivalent to permanently taking 1,000 motor veh­icles off the roads in Melbourne and the Complex companies are confident that this improvement will continue up to and beyond the targets set.

For further information: Contact Tony Jaques, Public Affairs Manager, Dow Chemical on 368 4218.

* Comparison from Port Phillip Control Region Air Emissions Inventory. EPA Victoria, December 1991

MARPLEX WINS AWARD WITH TECH-NOLOGY SOLUTION

Marplex Australia Limited, Hammond

Clean Air August 1993 Vol.27 / 3

COMPANY NEWS

94

Road. Dandenong, was joint winner of the Environment Protection Authority Clear Air Award 1993, Industry and Commerce Category, with the Altona Chemical Complex.

EPA chairman Dr. Brian Robinson described the submissions received this year as being of the highest standard to date and reflected the growing commit­ment and involvement of a range of individuals, groups and organisations making a contribution to clearing the air in Victoria.

The Minister for Conservation and Environment, Hon. Mark Birrell, declared this was the first time joint winners had been chosen in the Clear Air Awards, the judging panel having a most difficult job so high was the standard of industry submissions.

He congratulated Marplex on its com­mitment to reducing air emissions with the installation of a thermal oxidiser to convert odorous materials into odourless, colour­less, carbon dioxide and water vapour.

This technological solution has gone a long way towards solving a local problem', Mr. Birrell said. "To achieve this Marplex had to connect the widely separated latex, resin and compounding plants to the central oxidiser with half'a kilometre of pipeline. This process is more sophisticated than it sounds and the entire project is costing between S1.7 million and S1.8 million".

Mr. Birrell said Marplex had also undertaken considerable community liaison as part of improving environmental performance.

"In particular, I want to mention the efforts of Ken MacDonald, the Manufac­turing Manager, and Gordon Holland, public relations consultant, who regularly attend meetings of the Dandenong Offensive Zone Liaison Group, and have helped to make the local community much more comfortable with the company's operations".

"Marplex and Altona Chemical Com­plex had environmental problems in the past but they had acknowledged their own responsibility for improving their perfor­mance and had worked voluntarily with the Environmental Protection Authority to achieve real results.

"It is their fundamentally responsible attitude to the environment and the community, at all levels in the organisa­tions concerned, that have made Marplex and the Complex the winners. They have set an excellent example for other businesses to follow '. Mr Birrell said.

Marplex general manager. John Beau­mont, described winning the award as a high point in the four years' long project and a significant contribution to cement­ing an even closer relationship and understanding between the company and the community in Dandenong. The com­pany would continue working on improv­ing the environment and reducing emissions.

("Clean Air", August 1992, Vol. 26 3. published "Odour Reduction in Plastics

Manufacture: A Case Study" by Robert J. Brown, Marplex plant engineer, which discussed the problem and the steps taken to resolve it).

MARPLEX NAME CHANGE TO HUNTSMAN CHEMICAL

On 1 July, Marplex Australia Limited name changed to Huntsman Chemical Com­pany Australia Pty Ltd, a joint venture of Consolidated Press Holdings and the Huntsman Chemical Corporation, of Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.

Huntsman Chemical Corporation and affiliated family businesses own and operate 34 manufacturing plants around the world and are America's largest producer of polystyrene. Revenues exceed SUS 1.3 billion.

Mr. John M. Huntsman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said in Melbourne the joint venture would not only give strength and continuity to the Chemplex operation in Australia, but will be a vehicle for expansion in the chemical industry in other parts of the world.

(Marplex was a wholly owned subsi­diary of Chemplex).

APM MILLS ACCLAIMED AS BEST IN THE WORLD.

'Recycling has been an integral part of APM's business from day one, so it is extremely pleasing that our Botany and Spearwood Mills become the first makers of 100% recycled papers in Australia to be recommended for AS3902ISO9002 Certification of their Quality Management Systems." - Leigh James, APM National Quality Manager.

The ongins of today's APM. date back to 1868. That was the year that a 46 year old English migrant named Samuel Ramsden built Victoria's first paper mill on the banks of the Yarra. Interestingly enough the mill, from the start, used only recycled materials. Linen and cotton rags were Ramsden's preferred raw materials for paper manufacture.

The growth of the company during the last 125 years has been phenomenal. Today, APM has mills in all mainland states. The company is Australia's largest private forest plantation owner, managing 85,000 hectares of forests, of which 55,000 hectares are APM's own planta­tions. In 1992 - 1993 the company will plant 1.3 million eucalyptus seedlings. But it is in the area of recycling that APM's record is most impressive. As the largest collector and user of recycled paper in Australia, the company collects 550.000 tonnes of waste paper each year. Over 50% of APM's fibrous raw material is recycled paper and cardboard.

In 1994, APM will complete its first off shore venture, a paper mill in New Mexico, USA. The plant will be a zero effluent' mill which will produce lightweight liner-board for new cardboard boxes. The raw materials will be entirely post consumer waste.

APM is very proud that our Petrie Mill, in Queensland, became Australia's first paper mill to receive international Quality Systems Certification when it achieved the AS3902/SO9002 Standard, in July, 1992, from Lloyds Register. Now two more APM mills have been recommended for the same accolade. A continent apart in distance, yet barely a week apart in time, the Botany Mill in NSW, and the Spear­wood Mill in Western Australia, have been recommended for Quality Systems Cer­tification. Whilst both plants are makers of 100% recycled papers, Botany, with an intake of 250,000 tonnes of recycled materials and an output of 215,000 tonnes of recycled paper, is by far the biggest manufacturer of recycled paper products in Australia.

Released on behalf of Australian Paper Manufacturers by L.L. Brown Advertising. For further information please contact Mr. Laurie Brown on (03) 827 2277.

WORLD FIRST IN NATURAL GAS VEH­ICLES BY FORD AND GAS & FUEL

The world's first production run of natural-gas powered prime-movers will take place through a project by the Ford Motor Company and the Gas and Fuel Corpo­ration of Victoria, backed by Federal Government funding.

The six prime-movers which will oper­ate solely on natural gas using Cummins N14 engines will come from Ford's Brisbane production line next year, and have already been ordered by three Victorian companies for a variety of haulage work throughout the State.

Gas and Fuel Corporation is providing engine management systems and design expertise to Ford, as well as refuelling stations for the prime-movers when they are delivered to the transport companies and begin a ten-month road trial in July 1994.

Running purely on natural gas, with spark ignition engines, the prime-movers will be operated on rural, urban and mixed routes by the three companies: Trans-Brick (Vermont), Rapid Transport (South Melbourne), and Dyers Transport (Sale).

The differing types of routes and traffic that the vehicles will be encountering will give us more data on maintenance costs, down-time, and oils and oil additives,' said Rob Allen, of the Gas and Fuel Corporation's NGV Australia division.

A S1.7 million contract between the Federal Government's Energy Research and Development Corporation (ERDC), Ford, and the Gas and Fuel Corporation was finalised last week.

The project follows the successful trial of a Ford Louisville converted to natural gas operation which has been operated by Ford between its Broadmeadows and Geelong plants since September 1991.

"The truck has achieved 40 per cent savings in operating costs during the Ford trial, and this extension of the programme

Continued on page 100

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CONFERENCES, COURSES, ETC.

CLEAN AIR '94

12th INTERNATIONAL CLEAN AIR CONFERENCE

at Burswood Convention Centre, Perth, Western Australia

23 - 28 October 1994.

Provisional Programme

A broad programme content has been established. The main subject areas to be discussed are — • Air Pollution Control • Air Quality Management • Waste Management Issues • Industrial Safety • Combustion and Control Technology • Developments in Remote Sensing • International and Regional Issues • Environmental Auditing

Plenary Sessions will be devoted to the main subjects and workshops will be organised to explore the themes in greater detail.

International Speakers will be sup­ported by speakers from Australia and New Zealand.

A Trade Exhibition will support the conference showing the latest in equip­ment and services for testing purposes and air pollution control.

Conference organisers: Promaco Con­ventions Pty Ltd, Tel: (09) 364 8311 (09) 364 5380 Fax: (09) 316 1453.

NETWORK OF AIR POLLUTION MODELLERS: AUSTRALIA - NEW ZEALAND

It was agreed at the Workshop on Air Pollution Problems and Modelling held in March 1993 at Cape Schanck, Victoria, that there is a strong need to develop a NETWORK of people in Australia and New Zealand involved in air pollution impact assessments and modelling. The concept is to produce an inventory of all involved people, with a brief description of their institute, interests and contact details. The inventory will overlap some­what with one being produced for Project CREN, an initiative of the UK Common­wealth Secretariat, but that listing will be more detailed in content and not as complete in coverage.

The inventory will be circulated to all those who participated in the Cape Schanck Workshop and will be updated as further people learn of the Network. The inventory will provide all the infor­mation you will need to contact other modellers and so will help you in your own efforts to keep informed.

If you are interested in joining the Network of the Pollution Modellers: Australia, please contact Peter Manins or Paul Holper, Coordinators, NAPMANZ on (03) 586 7666 or Fax:: (03) 586 7600.

ECONOMIC GROWTH WITH CLEAN PRODUCTION

AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE JOINTLY ORGANISED BY CSIRO AUS-TRALIA AND THE UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGAN-IZATION (UNIDO)

MONDAY 7 TO THURSDAY 10 FEBRU-ARY. 1994. WORLD CONGRESS CEN-TRE, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA.

Conference Objectives

The objective of this conference is to provide a forum for examination of issues of economic growth accompanied by clean production, with particular refer­ence to countries of the Asia-Pacific region. The conference will realistically address sustainable economic develop­ment in specific industries and ways of achieving a clean environment including: • waste minimisation • technology development • energy conservation • training and education • pollution control • recycling • technology transfer

The theme of the conference targets the new approach that is emerging for environmental management, which

ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT CONFERENCE

FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE

6 to 8 October 1993

World Congress Centre, Melbourne, Australia

The Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand and the Victorian Environment Protection Authority are hosting a National conference on the topic of Ecological Risk Assessment to be held in Melbourne in October.

Ecological Risk Assessment is a rapidly developing field overseas. Its potential benefits in determining the impacts of pollutants and chemicals on the environment are being increasingly recognised. In Australia, the benefits of risk assessment have been recognised, however, the application has been very limited and largely associated with public health issues. Ecological risk assessment embraces issues of human health and environmental health. It may be an important tool in decididng whether the Precautionary Principle needs to be involved.

This conference aims to encourage wider use of risk assessment in Australia. Specific aims are to:

• present the most recent developments in risk assessment: • The first day targets risk assessment in general.

• provide in depth technical detail • The second day provides technical detail.

• to demystify the process and its applications. • The third day provides hands on workshop sessions.

The program is structured to reflect these aims.

Experts from North America and Europe will be presenting the approaches of their respective countries to risk assessment, as well as outlining detailed methodology. The experience of Australian practitioners and academics will also be presented and issues such as risk communication and acceptable risk will be addressed.

This is the first conference of this type to be held in Australia and will be an excellent start to the development and formalisation of risk assessment methodologies for use by government and industry.

Finalised workshop topics are listed in the conference brochure. Contacts: Registration and information: Mr Geoff Angus, c/o Clean Air Society, 1 Denman Street, Mitcham, Vic. 3132. Phone-(03) 874 4446 General information: Ms llze Stals, EPA Victoria, Phone: (03) 628 5649, Fax: (03) 628 5945.

reverses the priorities for management of pollutants in industry. Pollution prevention opportunities such as product and pro­cess changes and on-site recycling and recovery are looked at first, before turning to pollution abatement measures.

Progressive companies are quick to realise that cleaner production is a less expensive and thus more profitable approach to environmental management. Also they are aware that sooner or later they will be forced by public pressure and regulation, to reduce pollutant loadings to the environment.

This conference builds on and extends the outcomes of the successful Asia-Pacific Cleaner Production Conference held in Melbourne Australia in February 1992. Enquiries to: Conference Australia Pty Ltd.. GPO Box 1469N Melbourne Victoria 3001 Australia. Telephone: (03) 698 4210 Facsimile: (03) 699 4863.

NATIONAL SHORT COURSE IN ENVIR­ONMENTAL HEALTH Principles of Risk Assessment and Management 28 Nov - 8 Dec, 1993 Adelaide.

Speakers include: Dr H. Koren, U.S. EPA. This nine-day intensive course is directed at persons working in environmental health in the public and private sectors, and at Masters level students. Content: Principles and methods in the investiga­

tion, risk assessment, management and policy aspects of ambient environmental health problems. Presented by: The University of Adelaide in conjunction with The S.A. Health Commission. Contact for registration form and informa­tion leaflet: Ms Louise Stafford, University of Ade­laide. Ph: (08) 303 4637. Fax: (08) 223 4075.

CERTIFICATE OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT (The Air Environment)

INTRODUCTION

The Certificate of Environmental Quality Management (The Air Environment) is a co-operative venture between Monash University and CSIRO, Division of Atmos­pheric Research and has been developed to satisfy a range of training needs for people currently working in areas of environmental management research who wish to upgrade their understanding/ knowledge in the area.

The course is designed to provide participants with a sound knowledge of the fundamentals of environmental quality management for the atmospheric envir­onment, and the necessary grounding to enable them to expand their knowledge and expertise by way of other formal courses which are under development.

Proposed developments in this area include a Graduate Diploma in Environ­mental Quality Management (EQM), to be offered by the Faculty of Science, at Monash, for which students who success­fully complete the Certificate and elect to be assessed will be eligible to apply for entry. If selected, students will receive advanced standing on the basis of the assessment of the material covered in the Certificate.

COURSE STRUCTURE AND SCHEDULE

The course comprises a sequence of four modules on various "fundamentals" of EQM, plus a project (equivalent to one module).

Each module consists of 24 hours of class contract time (including any labor­atory and field work components), con­ducted over a 5 day intensive period.

The four modules are scheduled to be run during January and February 1994. The project can be commenced during this time and completed externally within a 3 month period.

The Certificate will be awarded on the basis of satisfactorily attending each of the four modules and submitting a satisfactory project report. Participants wishing to be eligible to apply for advanced standing into the proposed Graduate Diploma in EQM can elect to be assessed in each of the modules and

Clean Air August 1993 Vol.27 / 3

97

the project. The modules may also be taken

individually by people wishing to upgrade their understanding or knowledge in the material covered.

OUTLINE FOR MODULES

The Environmental System

• Processes in the biosphere • Air pollutants: their impacts and

sources • Air pollutant pathways and processes

(chemistry, physics) • Air pollution meteorology (diurnal

cycle, geographic features)

Principles of Air Quality Management

• Air quality objectives - bases, rationale • Management strategies (a resource,

monitoring, modelling, control) • Environmental impact assessments,

airshed management strategy • Risk assessment, environmental

audits

Assessing Ambient Air Quality Impacts

• Scales - local, regional, large • Air quality modelling needs - emis­

sions, meteorology, impacts

• Air measurement methods (surveys, measurements, processes)

• Air pollution meteorology (plumes, transport, mixing)

• Air pollution chemistry (nitrogen, sulfur, aerosols, smogs, odours)

• Environmental Impact Assessment methods

Atmospheric Pollution Control

• Philosophy of pollution control • Source control regulations: bases and

requirements • Pollution control technologies (filters,

separators, process modifications, ...j • Emission monitoring methods (metho­

dologies for different processes....) • A systems approach to pollution

control (ambient surveillance, alterna­tive processes, emissions reduction, methods, modelling for decision support)

Project

• Introduction to research methodologies

• Literature review and case study • Seminar

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

An open-entry policy applies to the course and each individual module. However, applicants may be advised to undertake special bridging or pre-courses in: • Communication and analysis skills • PC skills

It is anticipated that the normal entrance requirements to the proposed Graduate Diploma will be a degree from a recog­nised University or College of Advanced Education (or equivalent). However, special entry requirements may be allowed based on professional expe­rience and or performance in the Certif­icate. Thus, the Certificate may provide an opportunity for entry into tertiary study, and to achieve a recognised qualification, for applicants who may have been denied such access in the past.

Further Information

Organisations and individuals wishing further information on the course, or information on the 1994 schedule and fee structure, should write to, or telephone: Professor Graeme Ross. Centre for Applied Mathematical Modelling, Monash University (Caulfield Campus). PO Box 197, Caulfield East, Vic. 3145. Tel: (613) 573 2101. Fax: (613) 573 2748.

On 2 June the NSW Branch of the Society joined with Newcastle City Council in running the 1993 Newcas­tle Air Forum at the City Hall. The purpose of the Forum was to let the Newcastle public hear from experts and officials about current air quality, pollution control and future planning in the Newcastle region. The Society was pleased to respond to the Coun­cil's invitation to be part of this attempt to 'demystify' some of the air quality terminology in a non-confrontational atmosphere. The Forum was opened by the Lord Mayor, the Hon. John McNaughton, and was attended by about 100 people including six Alder­men and four local members of the NSW Parl iament. The audience represented a cross-section of local interest groups and residents from industrial and non-industrial suburbs, industry, government, professionals, universities and colleges.

The forum was divided into four sessions (a) Current Knowledge (b) Management of Newcastle's Air

Quality

(c) Industry and Public Response (d) Panel discussion on The Future and speakers were drawn from Industry, Universities, Government bodies and a public action group.

The Society is thankful to the Newcastle City Council for sponsor­ing and supporting the Forum and for AGL and BHP who provided lunch and morning tea respectively.

(a) Current Knowledge

Associate Professor Howard Bridg-man of Newcastle University updated the Kooragang and Inner Newcastle Airshed Study (KINAS) which he had undertaken in 1992 with CSIRO. Faced with limited air quality informa­tion on which to base planning decisions the City Council commis­sioned the KINAS study to model air quality levels from emission inventory information - an excellent example of local government using local exper­tise to address its local needs. The study indicated that while there are a few 'hot spots' Newcastle air quality is relatively clean by world standards.

Public scepticism of this finding and supporting information was evident at the Forum, with community represen­tatives voicing concerns over anec­dotal experiences of fallout, short-term exposures and alleged impacts on health. This response highlights an ongoing problem in the manage­ment of air quality - the gap between public percept ion and sc ient i f ic assessment especially in the vicinity of heavy industry.

To set the discussion of air quality levels in a health context Dr Keith Bentley of NH&MRC outlined the steps involved in setting and review­ing air quality goals in Australia. The rigorous use of peer review and consultation of public interests made this a more time-consuming process than in previous years. Dr Michael Hensley, Associate Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at Newcastle University, illustrated the full spectrum of possible impacts of air pollution ranging from death (as in the great London smogs) to nuisance. In par­ticular he focused on asthma with reference to his work in the Hunter

Clean Air August 1993 Vol.27/3

REPORT ON NEWCASTLE AIR FORUM

98

region. It was again apparent that members of the public were sceptical of scientific assurances that their health was unaffected.

(b) Management of Newcastle's Air Quality

Rob Winston and Harold Stewart of Newcastle City Council outlined the planning and regulatory roles of local government respectively. Environ­mental audits of over 2,000 premises not licensed by the EPA represents a substantial practical commitment to environmental management at the local level. This builds on the long involvement of the Newcastle City Council in the field.

At the instigation of the late Alder­man Frank Purdue* the Council established a Smoke Abatement Advisory Panel in 1947, one of the earliest such initiatives in the country. The Panel has evolved to become the Environment Protection and Pollution Advisory Committee on which Dr Ken Sullivan, Immediate Past President of the Society, con­tinues to serve.

Newcastle City Council has also operated one of the longest- running air quality monitoring networks in the country, commencing the monitoring of fallout in 1951 and acid gases (wet

method) in 1958. As John McNaughton reminded us, the enor­mous gains made since then are tribute to the dedication and techno­logical skill of those who committed themselves to the 'achievement of the unachievable'.

However, the tension between local and state government is nowhere more acute than in the making of planning decisions with environmental consequences. The frustration of local government responding to the demands of its residents while under pressure from state and federal governments to fast track development projects is appar­ent and finds expression in a sense of powerlessness engendered at local level by State Environment Protection Policies such as SEPP 33 and 34.

The new face of the State's envir­onmental authority was presented by Brian Gilligan, a well known environ­mental manager in the region, recently appointed as Regional Director of the Environment Protec­tion Authority. In contrast to the image of its predecessor, the SPCC, as having a narrow end-of-pipe focus on pollution, Brian held out the vision of an Authority wielding three instru­ments in balance to achieve inte­grated environmental protection: the

'help' of education and training, the 'stick' of enforcement and the 'carrot' of economic incentives. Distrust of the concept of putting a price tag on the environment was again apparent among public representatives. It was clear from Brian's contribution that while the EPA has a comprehensive program for the lower Hunter it also has an attentive ear to local and regional interests.

David Johnson of the EPA outlined the general background to the Met­ropolitan Air Quality Study (MAQS) and its specific outworking in the lower Hunter region. The four new monitoring stations will monitor a full range of air quality and meteorolog­ical variables producing over half a million data points a day! Public concern over monitoring emerged, however, in three areas: distrust of industry self-monitoring, failure to detect short term exceedences and the location of monitoring sites away from 'hot spots'.

(c) Industry and Public Response

Brian Butler reviewed the extensive work of BHP in controlling emissions and more recently in reducing wind-borne dust sources by grassing and sealing open areas. Dedusting con­trols for the blast furnace cast house

Clean Air August 1993 Voi.27 / 3

99

is a current project at a cost of $7.5 million. Hydrogen sulphide odours from siag granulation is an example of an area of ongoing research for a problem which does not have a recognised solution. BHP also oper­ates a substantial monitoring program of both emissions and ambient pol­lution levels around its extensive site.

Dr Robert Hyde of Macquarie University outlined the effect of meteorology on air quality. Essentially emissions from industry and the community tend to stay steady from day to day and the difference in daily air quality levels is almost totally dependent on factors such as wind speed, direction and stability. Three types of air movement are relevant for Newcastle: synoptic winds, sea breezes and cold air drainage flows. The differences between subsidence, radiation and advection inversions were also explained. There was some confusion in the audience about stratospheric and tropospheric ozone.

Bernie Brown of Incitec Ltd. took us through the history of pollution control on Kooragang Island from the time of the Inquiry under the SPCC chaired by its director Eric Coffey in 1 972 to the present. While it is sad that many industries have closed down with loss of employment it is a fact that closures have led to substantial reductions in emissions. (Surely the challenge today is to cleaner production rather than no production?) Impressive and quanti­fied reductions in sulphur oxides, fluorides, particulates, nitrogen oxides and odours were presented. Incitec continues to maintain a mon­itoring station on Stockton.

Finally Theresa Gordon presented a community perspective to the Forum. Theresa made the point that she had grown up in Boolaroo and hence was no stranger to the prob­lems of industrial pollution. A 1993 survey of public opinion in Newcastle had revealed that 86% of residents considered that air pollution was a serious or very serious problem. While welcoming such developments as the KINAS study, the MAQS expansion of monitoring and the NH&MRC's attention to acceptable levels and community involvement she was critical of the removal of effective local say in planning deci­sions by the State Government, the EPA's failure to monitor 'hot spot' pollution itself and the general delay in decision making following NH&MRC decisions.

As a way forward from reactive

response to pollution problems Theresa called for National 'Com­munity Right-to-Know' legislation establishing a Registrar with power to require information from industry to create a National inventory of toxic chemicals manufactured, used, stored, released and disposed of into the environment and corresponding emergency response procedures and health effects information. The information on the Register would be freely available to the community. She envisioned in parallel with this the development of Good Neighbour­hood Agreements between compan­ies and neighbours as practised in other parts of the world. She con­cluded her presentation by stressing the need for the three Cs: Commun­ication, Cooperation and Consideration.

(d) The Future

A lively panel discussion gave the residents of Newcastle the opportun­ity to discuss further with the speakers particular problems they were expe­riencing with Newcastle's air quality. It was seen that there was a place amongst the abundance of highly technical monitoring systems that had and were being established in the Newcastle district, for public 'moni­toring' as well. A personal account in the form of a diary, giving details of dates of high pollution periods, time of day. wind direction, etc., could be helpful in pinpointing sources of pollution.

CONCLUSION

In summing up the proceedings for the day I pointed out that while much progress had been made there was a need for better communication between the scientists and officials on one hand and the public on the other so that some public fears of 'the worst' can be allayed. But I also made the point that there is a continuing need for science to develop better methods of assessing and controlling the sort of'short-term' and 'hot-spot' pollution that continues to worry many resi­dents of the Newcastle area. I also announced the Clean Air Society's decision to form a Hunter region branch working initially through the NSW Branch structure.

The Forum was well covered by regional electronic and print media.

EPILOGUE

The desirability of the Society taking

a wider interest than its customary professional and technical focus was suggested by the public response to this Forum and the earlier Forum conducted by the ACT Branch of the Society. Air pollution has a social as well as scientific, technical and economic ones!

John Court NSW Branch President

* Alderman Purdue was the first recipient of the Clean Air Society's, Clean Air Medal.

Continued from page 95

will provide additional information for us to further refine the operating specifica­tions of spark-ignition natural-gas engines.' said Rob Allen.

NGV Australias General Manager, Gerard Waldron. said. Natural gas vehicles are the way to go. they offer substantially reduced operating costs for fleet operators, are cleaner and quieter than diesel-powered vehicles, and utilise one of Australia's abundant natural resources wisely and economically". Issued jointly by: Corporate Affairs Department. Gas and Fuel Corporation of Victoria and Public Affairs Office, Ford Motor Company of Australia. For further information: Gerard Waldron. General Manager, NGV Australia, Gas and Fuel Corporation Tel: (03) 559 0333. Adrian Ryan, Programmes Communica­tions Manager. Ford Motor Company Tel: (03) 359 7384.

Clean Air August 1993 Vol.27 / 3

100

Newcastle is an industrial city located in the Hunter Region on the east coast of New South Wales, at the mouth of the Hunter River (see Figure 1). Air pollutants from a range of industrial processes, including iron and steel manufacturing, fertiliser and ammonia processing, and aluminium smelting, have been the source of complaints from residents. The Kooragang and Inner Newcastle Airshed Study (KINAS) was completed in June 1992 (Bridgman et al. 1992), in response to these air quality concerns. Funded by the NSW Department of Industrial Development, the study focussed on seven terms of reference. These included a historical review of air quality measurements, the establishment of an air pollutant emissions inventory, a comparison of specific pollutants with standards and concentrations in other cities, an assessment of current monitoring, and recommendations for further action. KINAS was the first attempt to provide a detailed emissions inventory, and then to use the inventory to model spatial distributions of ground level concentrations for the Newcastle area.

Figure 1 depicts the study area and the location of

major industries in Newcastle. The study area, defined by a recent risk assessment study (DOP 1992), was 48 km2, and is delineated by the heavy line in the Figure. For modelling purposes the emissions inventory region was expanded to 484 km2, to allow for transport of pollutants into and out of the KINAS area.

Evaluation of some aspects of cumulative air quality have been attempted before. In 1973, Coffey provided an assessment based on a very limited data set. Results suggested that dust from stacks and a variety of uncontrolled surface sources, plus sulphur gaseous emissions, created mainly aesthetic problems. Bridg­man et al. (1983) evaluated sulfur dioxide emissions from sources in the Lower Hunter Region and estimated spatial concentrations using area models.

The results of the historical review in the KINAS report, plus information from Coffey (1973) and several other reports (see Bridgman et al. 1992 for a complete list) indicated that sulfur dioxide (S02), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and dust and suspended particulate matter were the major pollutants of concern in the city. In 1989,

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101

The Kooragang and Inner Newcastle Airshed Study (KINAS)

H.A. BRIDGMAN, UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLLE AND P.C. MANINS, CSIRO

FIGURE 1. The Kooragang and Inner New­castle Study area (heavy linei. including the location of major industries and the three air quality monitoring stations i'open squares).

TABLE 1 Annual means ard maximum values of S02. N02, ano TSP for 1990 ana 1991 from measurements at Stockton, Waratah, and Mayfield.

Stockton 1990 1991

Mayficld 1990 1991

Waratah 1990 1991

NSW EPA Guideline

WHO(1987)

Guideline

SO2 (ng/m3)

Mean

34 37

11 11

6 6

57

50

Hour Max

163 200

378 458

480 134

715

350

10 min Max

223 463

543 543

543 486

1430

500

NO2 (|μg/m3)

Mean

20 31

14 8

11 20

103

None

Hour Max

139 228

107 82

267 185

328

400

10 min Max

371 779

310 349

390 185

None

None

TSP (μg/m3)

Mean

96 84

89 113

72 62

90

120

24 hr Max

167 223

269 401

95 92

260

None

Source of information: Raw data, NSW SPCC Quarterly Reports, 1990 and 1991.

102 Clean Air August 1993 Vol.27/3

three monitoring stations equipped with modern instruments were established to measure SO2. NOx. and total suspended particulate matter in the suburbs of Waratah, Mayfield, and Stockton (see Figure 1). Table 1 provides results for these stations for the years 1990 and 1991. compared to NSW EPA and WHO (1987) guidelines. Of the three pollutants, TSP concentrations are of the greatest concern, exceeding annual mean guidelines at Stockton and Mayfield and 24-hour maximum guidelines at Mayfield. Hourly maximum and 10-mmute maximum WHO guidelines for SO2 guide­lines were also exceeded.

The sources and emission rates for the three primary pollutants in the KIN AS area are described in Bridgman and Whitelock (1993). Modelling of their cumulative air pollution impacts is presented in Manins (1993).

REFERENCES

Bridgman, H.A., Chambers. J.A., and Kalma, J.D. 1983, The contribution of industrial fossil fuel use to ground level sulfur dioxide concentrations in the lower Hunter Region. Research Paper No 8. Board of Environmental Studies, University of Newcastle. 48 pp

INTRODUCTION

The Kooragang and Inner Newcastle Airshed Study (KINAS) was completed to describe the present state of knowledge about a-r pollution concentrations, sources, and emissions over the industrial and nearby surrounding areas in Newcastle. NSW. Similar studies have oeen completed for other cities, for example the Port Phillip Region, including Melbourne (Carnovale et ai. 1991, 1992); Brisbane (Simpson and Auliciems 1989) and San Francisco (Feldstein. 1990). Estimates of atmospheric emissions from various sources in Australian capita! cities was compiled by Farrington (1988). As part of the KINAS project, an inventory oi air pollution sources and emissions was necessary, to provide the data base for dispersion modelling. This paper describes the construction of the inventory, identifies the important pollutants emitted, compares the

Bridgman, H.A., Manins, P.C., and Whitelock, B. 1992, An assessment of the cumulative emissions of air pollution from Kooragang Island and the inner suburbs of Newcastle, a report to the NSW Dept of State Development. 162 pp. Bridgman, H.A. and Whitelock, B. 1993, Sources and emissions inventory in the Kooragang and inrer Newcastle (KINASl area. Clean Air. 27 3. 103-111. Coffey, J.E. 1973, Inquiry into pollution, Kooragang Island, report and findings of tne Commissioner. Office of NSW Minister of Environ­mental Control. Sydney, 72 pp. DOP 1992, Newcastle and Kooragang Island area risk assessment study, final report, Sydney. NSW Department of Planning. Manins, P.C. 1993, Modelling air quality for KINAS, Clean Air (Aust.), 27 3:112-121. WHO Europe 1987, Air quality guidelines for Europe, World Health Organisation. Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen, WHO Regional Publications, European Series 23

Howard A. Bridgman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography, University of New­castle, Newcastle NSW 2308 and Dr Peter C. Manins is a specialist in air pollution meteorology at the CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research. PMB 1. Mordialloc Vic 3195, Australia

importance of different sources, and places the relevant emissions in the context of those from other Australian capital cities. It was recognised that variations in emissions between weekdays and weekend days occurs. Therefore a typical workday (Wednesday) with full workforce in operation formed the basis for analysis. Estimates are oriented toward the year 1990, but data limitations required use of information from the period 1985 to 1992.

GENERAL PROCEDURE

For proper evaluation of the cumulative impacts of the various pollutants and to establish the emissions base for the modelling of air pollution impacts (Manins, 1993), it was necessary to determine the amount and types

ABSTRACT

An emissions inventory for SO2, NOx, and total particle matter for the industrial and surrounding areas of inner Newcastle (NSW) is constructed for the year 1990, using a range of measurements and estimates for different sources. These include industrial stacks, traffic, harbour activities, rail activities, residential emissions, open surface areas (bare soil), and natural sources. Results suggest that approximately 20,900 kg day of SO2 is emitted on a typical mid-week working day, 26,800 kg/day of NOx, and 67,500 kg day of particle matter. Emission sources of the two gases are dominated by industrial stacks (96% of SO2 emissions. 83% of NO, emissions), but concentrations of neither gas at air quality monitoring locations exceed present NSW EPA guidelines. Emissions of particle matter come mainly from industrial stacks (33%), unpaved industrial roads (33%), and open surface areas (31%). TSP measurements at two inner monitoring stations indicate that present NSW EPA standards are being violated. This paper describes the construction of the inventory, evaluates the importance of different sources, and compares the relevant emissions to those from other cities in Australia.

Clean Air August 1993 Vol 27 / 3

103

Sources And Emissions Inventory In The Kooragang And Inner Newcastle (KINAS) Area

H. A. BRIDGMAN AND B. WHITELOCK, UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE

of emissions by source. For purposes of this evaluation, sources were divided into seven major categories: a. Major point sources, to include emissions from

industrial stacks; b. Traffic, to include emissions from petrol and diesel

powered cars, vans, buses, motorcycles, and trucks;

c. Harbour activities, to include emissions from ships, fishing boats, and wharf activities (unloading and loading of ships);

d. Rail activities, to include the emissions from diesel powered coal trains, other goods trains, and shunting activity in the port area;

e. Residential emissions, to include emissions from different types of home heating;

f. Surface and area sources of particle matter, to include bare soil, stockpiles, and coal piles;

g. Natural emissions from open water, vegetation, parklands, and wetlands areas.

In order to establish a spatial distribution of these sources, the KINAS area was gridded into 500 x 500 metre squares. Total emissions for each grid square were divided into surface emissions and combined point source, or stack emissions. Total emissions were calculated for a weekday in each season, and within the day, for the periods 0600-0900, 0900-1500, 1500-1800, and 1800-0600 (Bridgman et al. 1992). For purposes of this discussion, however, only the results for full days are presented. There were no measure­ments available for many of the categories listed above. However, procedures established in Carnovale et al. (1990), Farrington (1988), the United States Environ­mental Protection Agency reports (USEPA Vols I and II plus supplement, 1985 and 1985'86), and a wide variety of other sources, including several environmen­tal impact statements, proved valuable. The information provided in these sources allowed the estimate of the spatial distributions of the emissions of SO2, NOx, and particle matter, the three pollutants of major concern. Estimates of VOC, PM10, and CO, are included in Bridgman et al. (1992).

EMISSIONS FROM MAJOR POINT SOURCES

Emissions from major point sources in the KINAS area were determined through the use of a questionnaire sent to all industries (see Bridgman et al. 1992 for an example). The questionnaire requested the following information for each stack: a. stack height; b. stack interior diameter; c. stack emissions velocity; d. whether the stack was separate, or connected to

(or part of) a building; e. operations of the facility associated with the stack

(time of use, what was produced and so forth): f. fuel use (type and amount), if appropriate: g. any available information on the type and amount

of pollutant emissions. In many cases the makeup of the material released

from the stacks was unknown. In these cases, emissions were estimated by fuel use and fuel type, and.or type of operation using values from USEPA (1985.6).

The spatial distribution of emissions of SO2 is presented on the grid over the KINAS area in Figure 1. The spatial distribution of NOx and emissions of particle matter are similar. Total SO2 emitted from all

point sources in the KINAS area was calculated to be 20,500 kg day, which did not vary by time of day or by season. Total NOx was calculated to be 25,100 kg. day, and total particulate emissions 22,100 kg. day. The spatial distribution in Figure 1 establishes the strong relationship of stack emissions to industrial activities, with the concentrations by grid square varying depending on the type of pollutant.

TRAFFIC EMISSIONS

Emissions from vehicular traffic were estimated following the procedures of Carnovale et al. (1991) for the Melbourne area, with information in support from Stewart et al. 1982. Vehicular traffic includes cars, trucks, vans, and buses powered either by diesel or petrol. To estimate the emissions, it was necessary to calculate vehicle-kilometres travelled (VKT) per grid square for the entire fleet. Data on total traffic volumes for several locations in the KINAS area were obtained from RTA (1988), with more recent information from the Newcastle Branch of the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority, and supplemented by information from various local environmental impact statements.

The traffic data were collated by hourly totals for a typical weekday. Peak flows in the morning and afternoon (0600-0900; 1500-1800) averaged 1800 to 2000 vehicles per hour: day (0900-1500), 1200 to 1500 vehicles: and night (1800-0600), 100 to 400 vehicles. For locations where only 24-hour total volumes were available, an estimate of hourly traffic was made using percentages from other roads where the data were more complete. For each grid, road lengths were measured to determine VKTs from an air photograph. Following procedures of Carnovale et al., (1991) roads were then divided into three different categories: a) arterial free flow, defined as major roads carrying

the majority of traffic: b) over-dimension route flow, consisting of roads with

a higher than normal amount of heavy vehicles; c) residential-minor roads.

For the arterial and over-dimension roads, total VKT was calculated by determining the traffic count multiplied by the length of road for each grid square, and summing all contributions for each road category (after Carnovale et al. 1991).

The RTA data included no information on traffic flow for residential roads. Residential VKTs were therefore estimated from 1986 census data which showed the number of houses, the number of people owning one or more cars, and the number of people who drive to work. For each grid square, the residential road length was divided by the number of roads to allocate a distance travelled to each appropriate vehicle. The total number of residential VKTs based on people travelling to work by car was then assigned to the two peak traffic periods. The number of people owning cars was much higher than the number of people driving to work. It was estimated that during non-peak hour periods, traffic volume along residential roads would be approximately 25% of peak-hour flows.

The total VKTs in the KINAS area for our typical workday were calculated to be 605,364. Of these, 55.6% were on arterial roads, 41.2% on over-dimension roads, 0.5% on residential roads, and. after a separate determination for industrial traffic inside the industrial boundaries, 2.5% were industrial roads.

104 Clean Air August 1993 Vol.27 / 3

Clean Air August 1993 Vol.27 / 3

105

FIGURE 1 The spatial distribution of SO2 emitted from point

sources in the KINAS area (kg. day).

Once the VKTs were determined, emissions from the traffic fleet were calculated. The most comprehensive and up-to-date procedure available is that by Carnovale et al. (1991), and considers engine size, fuel type, speed of traffic, age of vehicle, type of vehicle, and use of pollution control equipment. SO2 emissions were determined from the sulfur content of petrol (0.01%) and diesel (0.1%). NOx emissions were determined in a similar manner. Particulate matter from traffic is fine in size (mostly PM10) and mainly originates from exhaust, and brake and tyre wear. Carnovale et al. (1991) suggest that about 80% of these particles may come from diesel vehicles, despite constituting only about 12% of the traffic fleet. Evidence from Williams et al. (1989) confirms that 86% of the particulate matter from diesel exhaust was less than 1.0 ^m in size.

Procedures to estimate the emissions from the industrial fleet differed somewhat, mainly because the structure of the fleet was dominated by trucks. Emissions from the fleet within BHP Rod and Bar boundaries (see Figure 1, Bridgman and Manins, 1993) were used as representative of the industrial fleet. Emission factors for each of the five pollutants were determined for cars, fork lifts, light and heavy trucks powered by petrol, and light and heavy tucks powered by diesel. The structure of the fleet and the VKT information was determined from an internal report (Stuart 1982). Emission factors were taken from Carnovale et al (1991).

The estimates of emissions of the three pollutants from the vehicle fleet, including industrial vehicles, appear in Table 1. Particle emissions are by far the highest, with NOx emissions considerably lower, and SO2 emissions virtually negligible by comparison.

TABLE 1 Summary of total emissions from all surface based sources in the KINAS area for 1990 in winter. Summer totals are included for comparison.

HARBOUR ACTIVITIES

Emissions from harbour activities can occur from the commercial fishing fleet, movement of large bulk carriers, Maritime Service Board (MSB) boats on the water and vehicles moving around the dock areas, the Stockton Ferry, police boats, and pleasure craft. Of these, emissions from the ferry, from pleasure craft,

from police boats, and from vehicles moving around the dock areas were considered negligible after discussion with the Maritime Services Board. Emissions from the other sources depend on from amount and type of fuel burned. Total harbour emissions are presented in Table 1. Except where noted below, these emissions were assumed to be spread around the harbour grids according to the percentage of each grid containing water.

Commercial fishing fleet

According to information from the Fisherman's Cooperative, there are 140 boats in the commercial fishing fleet, of various sizes and types. Approximately 4100 litres of diesel fuel is used by the fleet in its activities each day. The boats have no set pattern of movement but either disperse around the harbour, up the Hunter River for prawning, or travel outside the harbour for fishing, at a variety of hours during the day. According to USEPA (1985), emissions from diesel engines on small boats are (per kl): SO2, 3.2 kg; and NOx. 41.0 kg-

Maritime Services Board boat activities

Information on the type and use of MSB boats on the harbour was obtained for the month of February, 1992. Operations were assumed to be between 6:00 am and 6:00 pm. Emissions estimates for both unleaded petrol and diesel engines for small craft from USEPA (1985) were used to determine total emissions from the MSB fleet plus other miscellaneous operations.

Large commercial ships

Information about large commercial ship movements in Newcastle Harbour was obtained from the MSB for the year 1991. Shipmovements into and out of the harbour were averaged for every Wednesday, with the result being seven. Since movements of large ships into and out of the harbour can occur at any time of day, and are often dependent on tidal movements, it was assumed that ships entered or left the harbour at regular intervals during the 24 hour period. Each ship took one hour to move from berth to harbour entrance or vice-versa. A typical engine size was assumed to be 20,000 brake horse-power. The engine burns high viscosity fuel oil at a rate of one tonne per trip.

Emissions from each ship were calculated as follows. Farrington (1988) used an S02 concentration of 2.9% sulfur content by weight in high viscosity fuel oil for ships in his study of capital city emissions. This value was applied to Newcastle Harbour. NOx emissions were estimated by ratio to SO2 from Farrington's calculations of total emissions on Sydney Harbour. The resultant emissions from a commercial ship moving in Newcastle Harbour were calculated to be: SO2, 29 kg'trip; NOx, 35 kg/trip.

EMISSIONS FROM RAIL ACTIVITIES

The NSW State Rail Authority (SRA) operates a large number of diesel locomotives of various sizes and classes within the KINAS area. The main purpose is to haul coal from mines in the Hunter Valley to either the Port Waratah or Kooragang coal loaders (see Figure

106 Clean Air August 1993 Vol.27/3

1 of Bridgman and Manins, 1993), or to haul other goods in and out of the port area. In the past, wheat has been a major commodity, but the economic situation has effectively shut down wheat exports from the Port of Newcastle. There is also a considerable amount of shunting activity within the port area on a day-to-day basis. Fast freight trains, passing through the area without stopping, and trains in transit to the shunting yards, were considered to have negligible impact on air quality.

Information was obtained from the SRA about the number and types of locomotives, their sizes, and the amount of diesel fuel consumed during a typical worki ng day. The use of the diesel engines was almost exclusively to haul coal (80% at Port Waratah, 100% at Kooragang).

Coal haulage occurred using 19 trains with an average of 1.6 journeys per day, seven days per week. The number of locomotives per train range from two to four, but a common size is two locomotives hauling 4,200 tonnes of coal. About 40% of the time the locomotives are in the terminal, and 60% of the time they are in the valley collecting coal. On a busy day, 16 trains per day go to Port Waratah and 12 trains per day to Kooragang. It is assumed that three trains are in each coal loader yard at all times, operating on idle or very slow speed.

Calculation of fuel use of all trains during one day while at Kooragang and Port Waratah yields 360 litres of diesel at each location. Emissions estimates from diesel locomotives were taken from USEPA (1985), based on nationwide statistics in the United States. The total emissions per day are included in Table 1. All emissions are assumed to occur at the two terminals.

RESIDENTIAL EMISSIONS

There were no data available to directly determine the emissions from residences. Although some emissions come from cooking and other activities, it was assumed that residential emissions could best be represented by those released from home heating. For each grid the number of households was calculated from the 1986 census data, using census districts. Using the NSW Energy Survey (ABS, 1984), the percentage of households with wood (solid fuel), oil, or natural gas heating; and gas cooking and hot water systems was determined. Emissions from electrical heating were considered negligible.

Type of Appliance

Gas cooking Gas hot water Gas heating Oil heating Wood solid fuel

% of NSW Households

22.0 12.3 9.8 7.3 14.1

Calculations were then made of the amount of fuel used in each category for a typical winter and summer day. For natural gas, information per household obtained from Newcastle Gas Company suggested 50 Mj.day for heating in winter only; 20 Mj/day for hot water all year; and 10 Mj/day for cooking, averaged per week. These data total 14,000 Mj/year. For wood heaters, wintertime burning of 26 kg day of wood was estimated from individuals owning such heaters. For oil, assuming a household storage tank of 100 litres is emptied in one winter, 1.1 litres per day was used.

Emission factors from Carnovale et al. (1991) for each fuel type, multiplied by the amount of fuel burned, were

Clean Air August 1993 Vol.27 3

107

then used to calculate total emissions from each grid square for a typical day in summer and in winter. The majority of emissions from home heating come from wood heaters, which at present have uncontrolled emissions to the atmosphere, and dominate the residential emissions shown in Table 1.

SURFACE AND AREA PARTICLE EMISSIONS

Surface and area particle emissions were calculated as total particle matter, as there were no data available to provide size distributions. Sources considered were paved urban roads, unpaved and paved industrial roads within the boundaries of BHP Rod and Bar: stockpiles of coal and other minerals; and locations with bare soil in the KINAS area. The overall results are presented in Table 1.

Paved urban roads

Emissions of particle matter from paved urban roads depends on the traffic volume, the quantity and particle size of the loose material on the paved surface, and transport of material on vehicles from unpaved locations. According to USEPA (1985 6), on normal paved streets evidence exists that the loose material is fairly consistent in size.

Following procedures from USEPA (1985.86), dust emissions from paved roads were estimated (assuming no rain and conditions suitable for dust production):

E = K(SL/ 0.5)P

where: E = emission of particle matter in g.VKT; K = 2.54 and is defined as the base emission fac­

tor for the particle size fraction less than 15 μm;

p = 0.8 a constant, and; sL = the silt loading, 0.36 for major streets and

highways. From this equation, E is calculated as 1.95 g / VKT

for the KINAS area. The estimate was then applied to all road categories listed in this section. Total emissions were estimated to be 1,130 kg / day.

Emissions from BHP Rod and Bar roads, representing industrial roads

Roads within industrial boundaries are both paved and unpaved, with the latter the majority. Stuart (1982) calculated emissions from the road beds by determining the length of the road, the silt content of the road matter, the weight of the vehicle, the speed, the annual number of vehicles on the road, and the number of dry days per year. Stuart's results were 2,459 kg. ha. month, very similar to 2,220 kg/ha month for the Latrobe Valley from Marsiglio (1988a), taking values for a construction site.

The total emissions of particulate matter from all BHP roads were calculated to be 22,000 kg day. This was considered to be a "worst case" situation because it did not include any artificial water spraying.

Stockpile emissions

Particle emissions from active stockpiles comes from wind erosion and was calculated according to the following equation (USEPA 1985/86):

108 Clean Air August 1993 Vol.27 / 3

The soil erodibility index was determined from procedures described by Woodruff and Siddoway (1965), using a calculation of the percentage of dry soil fraction greater than 0.84 mm. Samples were taken from the locations described in the Newcastle City Council survey, and sieved after oven drying at 40°C to determine the required fraction. The results ranged from 8.9 to 78.7%.

The PE index was calculated from Williamtown data, using the ratio between average precipitation and average evaporation. S was determined from sieving, with values ranging from 0.6 to 19.2%. The area of each source area was determined from the aerial photograph. Emissions were on the order of 20-23000 kg/day, depending on the season.

TOTAL EMISSIONS FROM ALL SURFACE SOURCES IN THE KINAS AREA

Table 1 presents a summary of daily emissions from all surface sources in winter. Summer totals are included for comparison. Figure 2 presents spatial

p and f were calculated on a seasonal basis from meteorological data.

S was determined by sieving samples of stockpile material down to less than 63 μm. The silt content of coal was taken from USEPA (1985/6). The area was measured for each stockpile using an air photograph. The emissions from stockpiles for each grid ranged from 6 to 59 kg/day in summer and 2 to 20 kg day in winter. No artificial watering was included, creating a "worst case" emission assumption.

Emissions from bare soil areas

In 1992, the Newcastle City Council released an internal report identifying 59 dust-generating sites in the Newcastle area. Of these, 20 are included in the KINAS area. These sites are generally bare of vegetation and are covered by loose material which is subject to wind erosion under dry conditions. To estimate emissions from these sources, the equation of Stuart (1982) for BHP Rod and Bar was used:

FIGURE 2 The spatial attribution of particle matter from surface

sources ,n the K,NAS area (kg / day) in summer, the season of

highest emissions.

Clean Air August 1993 Vol 27 / 3

109

distributions of surface emissions of particle matter in 500 m by 500 m grids in the KINAS area, as an example of the spatial distribution of surface area emissions. Several features are important in both Table 1 and Figure 2. S02 emissions from surface sources are generally small, and tend to be dominated by emissions from traffic. A similar distribution exists for NOx, but these emissions are more widespread, especially south of Kooragang Island, due to traffic and emissions. Surface emissions of particle matter (Figure 2) are dominated by two main sources: emissions from dirt roads in the BHP Rod and Bar complex, and emissions from bare soil on the western part of Kooragang Island. Emissions in summer are considerably higher than those in the season of least emissions, autumn, due to variations in rainfall and surface wind speed.

TOTAL EMISSIONS FROM ELEVATED SOURCES COMPARED TO SURFACE EMISSIONS

Comparison of emissions from stack and surface sources allows an evaluation of relative importance to the total emissions inventory in the KINAS area. The results from Table 2 show that the major emission from surface sources is particulate matter, with both surface and stack sources releasing relatively large amounts. Stacks are much more important as sources of S02

and NOx, with surface sources of these gases being about 4% of stack emissions in the case of SOx, and about 20% in the case of NOx.

It is important to emphasise that the numbers included in Table 2 are indicative only, and should be viewed as comparative rather than accurate. The wide variety of estimation methods to obtain the emissions, and limitations in parts of the emissions inventory prevented detailed accuracy.

TABLE 2 Total emissions from elevated stacks sources compared

to averaged surface emissions in the KINAS area. Units are kg

day.

Source

Elevated

Surface

SO2

20500

383

NOx

25100 1672

Particles" !

22100

45450

'Does not consider size distribution and therefore contains a dust

fraction.

COMPARISONS OF TOTALS WITH OTHER AUSTRAL­IAN CITIES

similar to those in Melbourne, and less than all other cities except Hobart.

The major exception is particle matter. Comparative particle data are available only for Brisbane (Simpson and Auliciems 1989) and Melbourne (Carnovale et al. 1991). The totals for Brisbane and Newcastle are almost the same, and fall between Melbourne's summer and winter totals. Given the size of Brisbane and Melbourne compared to the KINAS area, at first glance it seems that the KINAS particle emissions may be grossly overestimated. However, neither the Brisbane nor the Melbourne estimates include surface emissions from open areas, which in the KINAS data set makes up 43% of the surface emissions and about 25% of the total particle emissions. On the other hand, the dust suppression measures undertaken by industry in KINAS, such as artificial watering, is not included here.

TABLE 3 Comparison of total emissions from the KINAS area

wth other Australian cities itonnesday).

. Carnovaie et al. (1991'I

Melbourne winter

summer

Farrington 11988)

Adelaide

Brisbane

Canberra

Darwin

Hobart

Melbourne

Perth

Sydney

Simpson and Auliciems

(1989)

Brisbane

KINAS area.

Newcastle

NOx

234

220

94

124

13

9

13

187

96

205

134

27

SO2

43

42

34

57

NE

35

9

20

55

45

107

21

Particles

125*

26*

73 +

72

*PM10 estimates from residences and automobile traffic only, no

surface area or stack sources;

- Does not include surface area sources.

NE is not estimated. There are no particle data included in

Fa'rington ii988j.

Using the data in Table 2, it is possible to compare KINAS total emissions with those from other cities. Emissions estimates for other cities are provided in Carnovale et al. (1991), Farrington (1988), and Simpson and Auliciems (1989), and are compared with the KINAS estimates in Table 3. The size of the KINAS area is relatively very small, only 0.32% the size of the Port Phillip control region evaluated by Carnovale et al. (1991).

In general, emissions from the KINAS area are closest to those from the smallest cities, such as Darwin. However, this varies by individual pollutant. NOx

emissions are about I.5 times higher than Canberra, but well below Adelaide and Perth. S02 emissions are

CONCLUSIONS

The historical review completed in the KINAS report (Bridgman et al. 1992) established that three pollutants were of major concern in the Newcastle area: SO?, NOx, and suspended particle matter (including dust). Emissions of these three pollutants from major point (stack) sources, the traffic fleet, harbour activities, rail activities, residential emissions, bare surface and stockpile sources, and natural emissions were combined to create an emissions inventory on a 500 x 500m grid for the KINAS area. Emissions from a wide variety of sources had to be estimated from data collated outside the KINAS area, since few measurements were

110 Clean Air August 1993 Vol.27 3

available. Results therefore have to be considered indicative rather than highly accurate.

Emissions of S02 average 20,900 kg for a typical mid-week working day and are dominated (96%) by releases from stacks. The spatial distribution of emissions emphasised the grids containing industrial stacks. Surface source emissions mainly came traffic (248 kg day). Atmospheric concentrations from S02

emissions do not exceed present NSW EPA guidelines, but if the stricter WHO (1987) guidelines are introduced, present concentrations would exceed both the hourly and 10-minute guideline.

Emissions of NOx total 26,800 kg for a typical mid­week working day, and similarly to S02, are dominated (83%) by releases from stacks. However, traffic emissions (1,430 kg. day) are significant surface sources, strongly influencing the pattern of surface spatial distributions. Atmospheric concentrations of N02

are well below both NSW EPA and WHO (1987) guidelines.

Emissions of particle matter are much greater than either of the two gases, totalling 67,500 kg for a typical mid-week working day. Of this total, 33% comes from stacks, 33% from industrial (unpaved) roads, and 31 % from open surface areas and stockpiles. An important minor source for future consideration is emissions from residential wood burning stoves, which at present produce 540 kg. day in winter, with the potential for significant increase if uncontrolled. Particle matter concentrations in the atmosphere exceed both the annual and 24-hour NSW EPA guidelines at the inner monitoring sites of Mayfield and Stockton.

The results of this analysis, and the KINAS report (Bridgman et al. 1992), suggest that immediate attention to minimising particle matter emissions is needed. Control over surface source (unpaved roads, stockpiles) emissions through water and chemical sprays is occurring in certain industrial locations. Control of emissions from large open areas, especially the western part of Kooagang Island, can be obtained by planting grass and other types of vegetation.

In the near future, control is needed over particle matter emissions from some of the industrial stacks. The results of the KINAS report established that stack emissions to the atmosphere occur overwhelmingly from a few sources in the older, more established industrial operations in the area. Stacks associated with newer industries, subject to later technology and more stringent emissions control measures, do not add significantly to the deterioration of air quality over the KINAS area. Older stacks in particular should be subject to a series of extensive in-stack monitoring programs to clearly establish the types and concentrations of pollutants emitted, and to establish the best approach to emissions control. Some control over major S02

emissions from stacks should also be considered, especially if NSW EPA guidelines are to be tightened in the future.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank the following people and organisations for assistance in this project: the Newcastle City Council and the NSW EPA for data and advice; all environmental officers or sections from the major industries surveyed for information on emissions and cooperation with questions, especially the environmental section of BHP Rod and Bar; Dr F. Carnovale from the Victorian EPA,

and Mr. N. Tromp and Mr M. Pengilly from the NSW EPA, for advice on the inventories; Mr R. Dear from the Computing Centre, University of Newcastle, for help with computing; Mrs L Walsh for cartography; Mrs M. Lane. Mrs S. Francis and Mrs S. Parry for help with the construction of the manuscript. This project was funded by a grant from the NSW Department of State Development.

REFERENCES

Australian Bureau of Statistics 1984 NSW energy survey part 1 household appliances, facilities, insulation, and appliance acquisition. Report No.8211.1, Canberra. Bridgman. H.A. and Manins, P.C. 1993 The Kooragang and inner Newcastle airshed study (KINAS), Clean Air (Aust.), 27,3:101-103. Bridgman, H.A., Manins, P.C, and Whitelock, B. 1992 An assessment of t ie cumulative emissions of air pollution from Kooragang Island ana the inner suburbs of Newcastle, a report to the NSW Dept of State Development, 162 pp. Carnovale, F., Alviano, P., Carvalho, C, Deitch, G., Jiang, S., Macaulay, D. and Summers, M. 1991 Air Emissions Inventory Port Phillip Control Region: Planning for the Future. SRS91 001 EPA of Victoria, 179 PP-Carnovale, F., Alviano, P., Carvalho, C, Deitch, G., Jiang, S., Macaulay, D. and Summers, M. 1992 Air Emissions.for the Port Phillip Control Region. Clean Air (Aust), 26(4):134-143. Farrington, V. 1988 Air Emissions Inventories (1985) for the Australian Capital Cities Australian Environment Council Report No. 22. Australian Government Publishing Service. Canberra. Feldstein. M. 1990 Planning for attainment of the ozone standard, Clean Air (Aust:, 24I'4J.144-149. Manins, P.C. 1993 Modelling air quality for KINAS. Clean Air (Aust), 27 3 .112-121. Marsiglio, J.A. 1988a Dust sources in the emissions inventory of the Latrobe Valley. Clean Air (Aust).22(4j:2l 9-220. RTA 1988 Traffic volumes and supplementary data, Newcastle and districts. Roads and Traffic Authority of NSW, Newcastle, 103 pp. Simpson, R and Auliciems, A 1989 Air Pollution in Brisbane. Institute of Applied Research. Griffith University, Qld, 109 pp. Stewart A.C., Pengilly, M.R., Brown, R., Haley, J.J. and Mowte, M.G. 1982 Motor vehicle emissions into the Sydney air basin. In The Urban Atmosphere - Sydney a case study. jed| J.N. Carras and G.N. Johnson, Sydney, pp.485-501. Stuart, C. 1982 Application of ARMCO's 'Bubble Concept' December. '981-February. 1982. Internal Report to Broken Hill Proprietary Company Ltd. Iron and Steel Works: Newcastle, 16 pp. USEPA 1985 Vol. II. Compilation of Air Pollutant Emission Factors Volume 2: Mobile Sources. Fourth Edition AP-42, USEPA Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA, U.S. Department of Commerce, National Technical Information Service. USEPA 1985/86 Vol. I. Compilation of Air Pollutant Emission Factors Volume 1: Stationary Point and the Area Sources. Fourth Edition AP-42. USEPA Part 1 and Part 2 Research Triangle Park, NC. USA. US Department of Commerce National Technical Information Service, plus supplement. Williams, D.J., Milne, J.W., Qutgley, S.M., Roberts, D.B., and Kimbertee, M.C. 1989 Particulate emissions from 'in-use' motor vehicles - II. diesel vehicles, Atmos. Environ.. 23(12): 2647-2661. Woodruff, N.P. and Siddoway, F.H. 1965 A Wind erosion equation. Soil Sci. Soc. Amer., Proc 29, pp. 602-608.

Associate Professor Howard A. Bridgman and Ms Barbara Whitelock are in the Department of Geography, University of Newcastle, 2308 Australia.

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111

Modelling Air Quality for KINAS

P.C. MANINS, CSIRO

ABSTRACT

In this paper the modelling results for the Kooragang Island and Inner Newcastle Study (KINAS) are compared to air pollution concentration data from the three primary air quality stations in the Newcastle region. Predictions of the air quality throughout the reference year at places remote from the stations are presented, and the different contributions to the air pollutant levels are discussed. Finally, an overall assessment of the cumulative impacts is made for the KINAS region, as are predictions for a possible future Newcastle.

The modelling predicts that ambient sulfur dioxide levels near the major source (the BHP steel works) on a NW-SE axis are sometimes so high as to be barely acceptable, and that they are low off this axis on Kooragang Island and in Newcastle. Nitrogen oxide levels are predicted occasionally to be high in industrial Newcastle, due primarily to stack emissions but with some contributions from activities in the areas of the coal loaders and ports. The emissions inventory of nitrogen oxides is shown to require further investigation. Newcastle has had a severe problem due to wind-blown dust, mostly from bare-soil areas and stock piles. The modelling shows that these problems have been minimised by a program of revegetation, water spraying and dust suppression on dirt roads. The predicted contribution to dust levels from major industrial stacks is small, but some other industries may need to be more vigilant.

INTRODUCTION

The Kooragang Island and Inner Newcastle Study (KINAS) was undertaken for the NSW Department of State Development. The objective was to consider the existing and cumulative impacts on air quality in the inner Newcastle area due to local and industrial emissions. Particular emphasis was required on the role of Kooragang Island industry on the air quality of Newcastle (Bridgman and Manins, 1993).

A proven Gaussian plume air quality model (DIS-PMOD, see Rayner, 1987) was adapted for KINAS. The model was run using new detailed source emissions inventory data (Bridgman and Whitelock, 1993) and a specially constructed data set describing mixing in the atmospheric boundary layer for every hour of 1986, the year for which the most complete meteorological data exist. The model predicts the ground level pollution levels due to each of 50 or more sources for each of the 8,760 hours of the year in an enlarged KINAS region. The ground level concentrations are superim­posed for each hour to produce the cumulative impacts and to identify their causes, and these impacts are ordered from the highest downwards. Once established as being adequate for the task, the model is useful for judging contributions to existing air quality, in predicting it in locations where there are no measure­ments, and to assist in formulating planning options.

There are many uncertainties in modelling air pollution impacts, including errors and effects of unsteadiness in the meteorological data, violated model assumptions, and unknown or uncertain emissions levels. Air quality standards usually reflect this reality. For example, some USEPA standards specify a value not to be exceeded for the second highest hourly average ground level concentration over a year at any point in the area. The Australian NHMRC (1987)

guidelines for N02 require that the recommended value not be exceeded more than once a month anywhere in the region. In Victoria, the State Environment Protection Policy for air (SEPP, 1981) defines objectives for sulfur dioxide (S02) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in terms of the ninth-highest hourly value over one year at any place. These are much less taxing predictions to have to make than predicting the level at a specified time and place.

In this paper the modelling results for KINAS are compared to data from the three primary industry-run air quality stations in the Newcastle region to establish the performance of the model. These stations were installed in 1989, so there is necessarily a mismatch in predictions for 1986 and measured levels. Predictions of the air quality at places remote from the stations are presented, and the different contributions to the air pollutant levels are discussed. Finally, an overall assessment of the cumulative impacts is made for the KINAS region, as are predictions for air quality with the now-completed expansion of the nearby Tomago Aluminium plant, once the revegetation of areas of Kooragang Island by BHP is finished, and dust emissions from stockpiles and other open surfaces are fully controlled.

REQUIREMENTS FOR MODELLING

The major requirements are the DISPMOD air quality model (see the Appendix), an inventory of emissions, and a meteorological data set.

The Source Emissions Inventory

Data from the Source Emissions Inventory (SEI; see Bridgman and Whitelock, 1993) were used directly except for wind-blown dust. The SEI for dust was modified as discussed in the Appendix. Because of

112 Clean Air August 1993 Vol.27 3

their proximity and potential impacts on the KINAS region with regard to S0 2 and NOx , data were also included for the Pasminco zinc company at Boolaroo (located beyond the SW corner of the domain shown in Figure 2) and for Tomago Aluminium. The data obtained for the emissions inventory are far from complete and are for a general period around 1990-91: this period is assumed to also characterise emissions in 1986. Since it is not known whether an emitter was indeed active at any given time in the year, each emitter is assumed to have operated at normal levels for all hours.

Meteorological data

For KINAS, DISPMOD requires a meteorological data set for every hour of a year. The only suitable data are from the Tomago Aluminium Smelter meteorolog­ical tower, and the only sufficiently complete year was 1986. Analysis showed that the weather on this year was representative of years of moderate to poor air quality (Bridgman et al., 1992). In addition to other parameters for the whole domain to be modelled, the required hourly averaged data are listed in Table 1.

TABLE 1 Hourly meteorological data required to run DISPMOD.

The tower reports wind speed and direction, standard deviation of wind direction, σθ, and rainfall. Cloud cover has been interpolated to hourly values from the 3-hourly data from the Bureau of Meteorology at Williamtown (10 km north of the KINAS region). In the absence of relevant observational data, the first four parameters listed in Table 1 have been indirectly determined. The methods employed for the Study are discussed in the Appendix.

MODELLING S0 2

The vast majority of S 0 2 is emitted from stacks and the sulfur content of most fuels is well known. Hence the distribution and strengths of these sources are readily included in the model. The results of simulations of pollutant concentrations for S 0 2 should be reasonable.

of occurrence. The contributions from the different sources are grouped and coded in the Figure legend. 'N Ports' are the sources associated with the Newcastle and Kooragang ports areas, 'Loaders' is the coal loader area of Port Waratah, 'Ind Lnd' is the industrial land area around BHP and Mayfield, and the major stacks are grouped by company.

FIGURE 1 Predictions of the top 25 1-hour average SO2 concentrations for the whole of 1986 at the Newcastle air quality stations, ranked by concentration and plotted as cumulative bars keyed to the more important sources in the inventory (see text) The top ten observed concentrations in 1990 91 are also plotted in the same way. The NSW Guideline value is 715 μg m-3 (NHMRC 1987). the WHO Europe (1987I recommended value is 350 μg m-3; EPA Victoria Ob|ective is 490 ug m3 for the ninth highest value (SEPP 1981).

Peak S02 concentrations

The predictions for the top 25 1-hour average S 0 2

concentrations over the year at the Waratah, Mayfield and Stockton air quality stations are shown in Figure 1. given as cumulative bar graphs, independent of time

The measured top S0 2 levels for the year 1990 91 are also shown in Figure 1. It can be seen that the predictions compare poorly at Waratah for the very highest values but by the ninth highest prediction the difference is only 30 %. The comparison is similar for Mayfield but now the very highest levels are under-

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113

predicted before coming into close agreement by the fourth highest value. At Stockton the comparison is good for all of the highest concentrations. It should be remembered that the wind information is for the year 1986, not 1990-91: it is not surprising that there should be differences between the highest predictions and observations.

It is clear from Figure 1 that S02 levels are dominated by stack emissions. It is also apparent that BHP is predicted to contribute most or all of each of the top 25 1 -hour S 0 2 pollution events at the three air quality stations. Tomago Aluminium contributes a half or more of the level on occasion - sometimes, as at Stockton, it is predicted to cause all of some events. At Mayfield and Waratah, the ports area emissions contribute a small amount to the cumulative impacts for most events. At Stockton, Incitec and to a lesser extent Koppers, are predicted to add to the impact of the coal loaders to cause some of the highest values at that place.

FIGURE 2 Predicted contours of the highest 1-hour average sulfur dioxide levels in KINAS with all emission sources. The contour interval is 100 μg m-3 The predicted peak concentration is in the Carrington area with a value of 900 μg m -3. A predicted secondary peak of 660 μg m - 3 is located to the NW near the Tourle Bridge, and a further peak o* 520 ΜG m ' 3 is located close to Tomago Aluminium. (NSW Guideline value is 715 μg nr3, WHO Europe recommendee value is 350 μg m-2.;

Figure 2 shows predictions for the highest 1-hour average S 0 2 levels for the whole year across the whole KINAS region, unrelated in time. The contours are aligned with the prevailing NW-SE wind directions, which is also the approximate alignment of BHP sources of S0 2 (see Figure 1 of Bridgman and Manins, 1993). It must be stressed that the values are predicted to occur at different times at different places: this is NOT a map of air pollution for a particular time of the day. or day of the year.

It is evident from Figure 2 that the Waratah air quality station was just to the west of an area of much higher

predicted pollutant levels. This may be just a quirk of the one extreme event in 1986. However, an observation that is sustained by appeal to other data is that Stockton air quality station is too far north to monitor the higher S02 pollutant levels. The Figure shows that the peak hourly value in 1986 would have been only 200 μg m-3, but the peak level in central Stockton is predicted to have been over 420 μg m-3 - more than twice the value at the air quality station.

The number of times during the year that the WHO (Europe) guideline for S0 2 is predicted to be breached is shown in Figure 3: up to eight times in the channel area to the east of the port coal loaders in the KINAS region.

FIGURE 3 Contours of the number of hours for which ground level concentrations of SO2 in the KINAS region are predicted to exceed 350 fig m-3 (the WHO for Europe recommended value.

Average conditions in summer and winter

Predicted hourly average summer and winter air quality conditions with respect to S0 2 are shown in Figure 4. The prevailing wind is predominantly easterly in summer so the downwind Mayfield site is shown for that season. Since the winds are predominantly westerly in winter, predictions for the Stockton site are shown. The Figure shows quite strikingly that average air quality conditions at the two sites are acceptable by compar­ison with Guideline values. It is interesting that the predictions at Mayfield sometimes show small contri­butions at 0500 and 1800 hours from the Pasminco ('Sulphide' in Figure 4) plant at Boolaroo.

Present S0 2 air pollution conditions - a prediction

The Tomago Aluminium expansion is now complete. What are the expected cumulative air pollution conditions with it operating at its full design level and all other existing sources of SO2are also emitting as

114 Clean Air August 1993 Vol.27 3

FIGURE 4 Predictions of 1 -hour average S0 2 concentrations on (a) an average January day in 1986 at Mayfield air quality station, (b) on an average July day at Stockton air quality station. The bars show the cumulative impacts of the major sources of S0 2 on the site (NSW Guideline value is 715 μg m-3. WHO Europe recommended value is 350 μg m-3.

given by the present source emissions inventory? When compared with the predicted situation shown

in Figure 2, the new prediction has practically the same highest concentrations everywhere in the region, except in the vicinity of the aluminium smelter and extending into the north-west part of the KINAS area. The predicted peak 1 -hour average S0 2 concentration is increased by 60 μg m-3. to 960 μg m-3., now two kilometres to the west of Tomago Aluminium. The peak ninth-highest predicted value continues to be located over the Ports area of Newcastle, but is increased from 345 μg m-3

to approximately 350 μg m-3 due to cumulative contributions from BHP, Tomago and sources of lesser importance.

MODELLING NOx

As much as 83 % of all NOx (NO + N02) is emitted from stacks in KINAS. However the uncertainty in the stack emissions is large. In most instances measure­ment data are unavailable and estimates have had to be made. While there are identifiable surface sources of NOx in the loader and ports areas due to the activities of diesel locomotives, there are also numerous unaccounted smaller sources throughout the KINAS and greater Newcastle area. The omissions may not affect predictions of the highest values since these will be dominated by the major sources.

Following Bridgman and Whitelock (1993), for this presentation the NOx emissions estimates for the diesel locomotives in the KINAS region have been greatly reduced compared with the data in the primary report (Bridgman et al., 1992). This is due to the availability of more recent, though still very uncertain, data.

The modelling methodology for the KINAS investi­gation is unable to describe the chemical conversion of NO to N02 in the atmosphere. Nor are complete data on emissions of the participating hydrocarbons and on ambient levels of ozone and reactive organic compounds available. So all the predictions in this section are in terms of concentrations of NOx.

Peak NOx concentrations

Predictions for the top 1-hour average NOx concen­trations at the Waratah, Mayfield and Stockton air quality stations are shown in Figure 5. The contributions from the different sources are grouped and coded in the Figure legend. Note that the grouping is a little different

FIGURE 5 Predictions of the top 25 1-hour average NOx

concentrations for the whole year at the Newcastle air quality stations, ordered oy concentration and plotted as cumulative bars keyed to the rrore important sources in the inventory of emissions (see text for an explanation of the Keys). The top 10 observed concentrations in "990-91 are plotted in the same way. (For N02, not NOx NSW Guideline value .s 330 ug nr3, EPA Victoria Acceptable Level is 300 ug m3 for the ninth highest value. There is no 1 -hour recommendation by WHO Europe.)

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to that used in presenting the SO2 results, reflecting the increased importance of surface sources of NOx. 'Ncstl Sf is a grouping of surface emissions from the Mayfield and Hamilton areas of Newcastle; 'N Ports' are again the sources associated with the Newcastle and Kooragang ports areas; "Loaders' is reserved for the coal loading area of Port Waratah; 'Ind Lnd' is the grouping of surface emissions from the industrial strips of Mayfield and Kooragang Island along the south channel of the Hunter River; 'KoorLnd' is the stockpile area on Kooragang Island; and 'Remote' is a grouping of all emissions of NOx from surface sources some distance from the KINAS region.

The comparison of predictions with the observed top measurements during the 1990-91 period is good at two of the three air quality stations. Figure 5 shows an over-prediction of the very top value at Mayfield. but thereafter there is agreement. The results for Waratah are satisfactory for most of the top ten predictions, while at Stockton there is a general strong under-prediction of all values. Note that the predictions are actually based on meteorological conditions for 1986; the emissions data are for 1990-91. Nevertheless, the results for Stockton are poor. Examination of the measured data shows high NO fractions compared with N02, suggesting the impact of very local emission sources or from an unknown discrete plume.

It is not possible to compare directly the predicted levels of N0X with air quality standards, since the latter are for N02, not NOx.. Analysis shows that the predictions of these highest ranked concentrations occur at different times throughout the day. Thus the fraction of the predicted NOx that is actually N0 2 may vary from low to high. What is more, the peak values of N0 2 may occur at different times from the occurrence of the NOx peaks. Within the first few kilometres of travel the N0 2 levels are likely to be between 20 % and 45 % of the predicted N0X concentrations (Bridgman et al.:1992).

Figure 5 predicts that for Mayfield the modelled BHP stack emissions generally dominate the top 25 predictions. Local surface sources ('lnd Lnd'j are frequently represented, and the emissions from the diesel locomotives in the coal loader area sometimes make a contribution.

BHP emissions feature in most of the predicted highest events at the Stockton station. Emissions from the coal loading diesel locomotives. Commonwealth Steel ('C Steel'), Incitec, and other surface emissions also contribute to events. However, the discrepancy between predictions and observations is larger than the predicted contribution from any of the already-mentioned sources. Overall, the Stockton result points to a significant omission from the emissions inventory for NOx in the vicinity of the air quality station or on Kooragang Island around the ports and stockpile areas.

At Waratah, most of the highest NOx levels in Figure 5 are predicted to be from Commonwealth Steel (the emission estimates for this source are very uncertain). There are lesser contributions predicted from BHP stacks and surface works. Since Waratah is less than a kilometre from Commonwealth Steel, it may be taken that practically all of that contribution is still in the form of harmless nitric oxide.

Chronic NOx conditions

The annual average concentrations of NOx predicted

for the KINAS region are shown in Figure 6. There is a small peak in the region of the main coal loaders, but the larger area above 30 μg m-3 is associated with poor dispersion of a mix of industrial and vehicular surface emissions in the low terrain between the City Centre and Waratah. Again there is the problem of interpreting what the results mean in terms of the pollutant N0 2. If however, the NOx were taken to be 30 % N02, the predicted peak annual level of 12 μg m 3 is low by comparison with standards. This result is unlikely to be affected by failings in the SEI on Kooragang Island.

FIGURE 6 Surface map of the predicted annual average NO, concentrations cue to emissions Irom all sources in the extendec KINAS region. Tne contour interval is 10 μg m-2. :For N02. not NO, The NSW Gu.cel.re value is 100 μg m-3 the WHO Europe guideline value is 30 μg m-3I

Present NOx air pollution conditions - a prediction

There is only a minor predicted effect due to the expanded Tomago Aluminium plant in full operation, and in all areas south of the NW-SE axis of BHP it can be expected that there will be negligible change in NOx concentrations. However, with the identification of missing inventory sources in the east and north of Kooragang Island, a prediction for the present conditions to the north of the axis of BHP cannot be made with much confidence.

MODELLING TSP

It is extremely difficult to model ground level concen­trations of total suspended particulate matter (TSP) -essentially all dust that is collected by a high-volume sampler, being particles less than approximately 30 μm in aerodynamic diameter. There are so many sources, the vast majority are at ground level, they have a large effect locally but not further afield, their emissions vary rapidly with weather conditions, there are very few data

116 Clean Air August 1993 Vol.27 3

on the rates of emissions, and the size ranges and composition of the dust are generally unknown. The SEI values are over-estimates for the major stockpiles, loader- and bare areas since they are based on a variety of emission factors that take no account of dust mitigation measures being practiced. It is also certain that many other lesser sources are missing. Therefore all predictions of TSP, not least the longer-term averages, may be grossly in error.

The impact on TSP levels by the industrial stacks alone

Stack emissions of TSP are poorly understood and characterised with respect to sizes and composition. Nevertheless, they are much better known than for surface and fugitive emissions. Figure 7 shows that the stacks are predicted to contribute up to 85 μg m 3 to the 24-hour average ground level concentrations of TSP. The peak is centred over Commonwealth Steel in Waratah. The company is very aware of their dust emissions and is working to minimise them.

FIGURE 7 Predicted contributions to TSP levels throughout tne KINAS region by the industrial stacks alone. The maximum 24-hou' average value is 85 μg m-3 (The NSW Guidelines are maximum 24-hour average TSP < 260 ug m 3.)

TSP impacts under predicted current conditions

As can be judged from Table 2, predictions of maximum 24-hour average TSP concentrations are extraordinar­ily high if the full SEI is used, with or without the modelling measures discussed in the Appendix. It must be concluded that the dust-suppression measures in the KINAS region now being practiced are effective. To see this, fugitive emissions from stockpiles and bare soil areas on Kooragang, the Kooragang industrial area, the Mayfield industrial area, the coal loader area of Port Waratah and the Newcastle ports areas have all been reduced in the model. As Table 2 also shows, a 90 % reduction results in predictions that are in

generally good agreement with measured results at the air quality stations. In fact there has been an extensive revegetation program undertaken by BHP on Koora­gang, and industry appears to be generally effective in controlling dust, particularly on hot windy days.

TABLE 2 Observed and predicted peak 24-hour average TSP levels at the air quality stations for the full inventory. 90 % and 99 % reductons of major surface TSP emissions (units are μg m-3), (see text:

SITE

Stockton Mayfield Waratah

Full SEI

1790 1690

160

10 % SEI

175 170

95

1 % SEI

30 40 20

Measured 1990-91

167-223 269-401

95-92

Here it is assumed that the 90 % reduction of selected surface emissions of TSP compared with the full SEI reflects the actual conditions around the 1990-91 time period when the monitoring results were obtained. Predicted peak TSP levels at the monitoring stations and their contributing sources are. shown in Figure 8. Kooragang stockpiles and bare soil areas continue to be the dominant sources for the Stockton and Mayfield sites, but at Waratah Commonwealth Steel stack emissions are the major source of highest TSP levels. The coal loader region is also an important source.

The underprediction of annual average values at the air quality stations shown in Figure 8 points to a common failing with emissions inventories for TSP: either there are many small fugitive sources of dust not in the inventory (highly likely), or the dust mitigation measures are not sustained throughout the year, resulting in frequent minor events from the stockpiles and bare soil areas. The results point to the ongoing importance of the stockpiles on Kooragang Island, and the lesser importance of the port loader area closer to the city for TSP' in the Newcastle region.

Typical days for TSP concentrations in the KINAS region

Typical cases of easterly and westerly winds for days in January and July respectively have been selected from an examination of the model predictions. They are presented in Figure 9 and show the areas commonly affected by TSP emissions. The summer day has a predicted peak of 134 μg m-3 over the western half of Kooragang Island and a lesser maximum over the BHP steel works. It is likely that revegetation on the Island has been more effective than implied here, so the peak may well be lower than that predicted. For the July day, the predictions are dominated by the peak at Waratah due to Commonwealth Steel, with lesser peaks over BHP and Kooragang port areas.

Future TSP air pollution conditions - a scenario

Predictions for the monitoring sites are given in Table 2 with a 99 % reduction in the major surface TSP emitters compared with the SEI, and with Common­wealth Steel having their dust emissions under control. The scenario perhaps demonstrates what might be possible with more widespread and enhanced dust management in the Newcastle area. Now the coal

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FIGURE 8 Predictions of the top 25 24 hour average TSP levels for the year at monitoring sites with a 90 % reduction in surface emissions compared with the KINAS SEI. ordered by concentration and plotted as cumulative oars Keyed to the more important sorces in the inventory. The measured peak ana annua! average concentrations and tne NSW Guidelines values are indicated on the panes

loaders at Port Waratah are the most important of the controllable surface emitters. The impact of the Kooragang stockpiles practically disappears from the ranks of the top 25 events. At Waratah, Commonwealth Steel continues to be represented in the top 25, but only in a minor way - the coal loaders are now dominant there too.

CONCLUSIONS

The model developed for KINAS has been shown to perform satisfactorily with regard to the primary indicator pollutants SO2 and TSP so long as major corrections are made in the emissions inventory for wind-blown dust. It must also be remembered that the predictions

FIGURE 9 The 24-hour average TSP concentrations on summer 3nd winter days throughout the KINAS region n predicted actual 1990 emissions conditions (a) for a typical day in January, (b: for a typical day n July

employ meteorological data for 1986 but the measured pollution leveis are for 1990 - 91. The simulations of NOx demonstrate skill comparable to that shown for S02. However, the pollutant N02 could no; be modelled directly due to lack of data and the complexity of the atmospheric chemistry and dispersion processes governing the apportionment of NOx Into NO ana NO2. Further, there appears to be either a significant omission in the emissions inventory for NO, in the vicinity of the Kooragang Island port and stockpile areas or a local source near the Stockton air quality monitoring station.

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The following can be deduced to aid air quality planning for Inner Newcastle: • The dominant source of ambient concentrations of

sulfur dioxide is the BHP steel works. • By comparison with the different air quality guideline

levels, the predicted (and measured) peak air pollution due to sulfur dioxide at Mayfield and along the NW - SE axis of BHP works may be cause for concern.

• At Waratah and at other locations on Kooragang Island and in Newcastle off the BHP axis, sulfur dioxide levels are generally acceptable, and those at Stockton are well below levels of concern.

• Levels of nitrogen oxides are predicted to be occasionally high in the vicinity of Mayfield and Waratah due primarily to stack emissions.

• The highest measured levels of nitrogen oxides have been at Stockton and these cannot be explained by the modelling - more investigation is recommended.

• Up to 45 % of the predicted NOx concentrations maybe in the form of the pollutant NO2 in the KINAS region. Most of the NOx is eventually transformed to N02 further downwind, but by then concentrations should be low due to mixing.

• Newcastle has experienced severe problems from wind-blown dust, mostly from bare-soil areas and the stockpiles.

• The KINAS emissions inventory for dust is a gross overestimate due to its neglect of mitigation and control measures such as revegetation and use of watersprays.

• Emissions from BHP stacks are of minor impor­tance to the predicted ground level concentrations of dust, but some other industries need to strive harder.

• The great importance of a sustained and enhanced effort on dust control measures throughout the KINAS region is clear. The success with revege­tation and the road-dust suppression program by BHP are fine examples of the actions required.

• The Mayfield and Waratah air quality monitoring stations are well sited to represent their environs with regard to the primary pollutants modelled here.

• The Stockton air quality station may be located too far to the north on the peninsular to adequately represent the conditions experienced by the residents there.

• A new air quality monitoring station is being sited near Newcastle City Hall. This is a good location, representative of central Newcastle. It should also monitor wind velocity and temperature.

• The KINAS emissions inventory has many gaps due to lack of industry data. Rectifying this will be an important challenge.

• New industrial sources located on Kooragang Island are unlikely to have any significant impact on the air quality conditions experienced in inner Newcastle, but may do so on the peninsular near Stockton.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to thank particularly Howard Bridgman and Barbara Whitelock for their collaboration on this project, and Tomago Aluminium for making available their meteorological monitoring data. Thanks also to: Tom Beer, Ian Galbally, John Garratt, Peter Hurley, Paul

Krummel. Bill Physick, Romeo Soriano and Ian Weeks - all of Division of Atmospheric Research; and David Williams and John Carras, of Division of Coal and Energy Technology.

REFERENCES

Beer, T. 1989 A simple model for predicting dust deposition in the vicinity of open-cut coal mines. Clean Air (Aust). 23, 21 -24. Bridgman, H.A. and Manins, P.C. 1993 The Kooragang and Inner Newcastle Airshed Study (KINAS). Clean Air (Aust), 27 3 : 101-103. Bridgman, H.A., Manins, P.C, Whitelock, B. 1992.An assessment of the cumulative emissions of air pollution from Kooragang Island and the inner suburbs of Newcastle, A report on behalf of TUNRA. the University of Newcastle Research Associates, to the New South Wales Department of State Development, 170 pp. Bridgman, H.A. and Whitelock, B. 1993 Sources and emissions inventory in the Kooragang and Inner Newcastle (KINASi area. Clean Air (Aust), 2 7 3 : 103-111. DCE 1982 Kwinana Air Modelling Study, Department of Conservation and Envirorment, Western Australia. Report 10, 96 pp. Delaney, W. and van Meurs, B. 1988 A meteorological data file for use with the ISCST model, Clean Air (Aust), 22,143-146. DiCristofaro, D.C. and Hanna, S.R. 1990 The Offshore and Coastal Dispersion (OCD) model: revisions and evaluations. Preprint. NATO CCMS Meeting, 14-17 May, Vancouver, BC, 8 pp. Draxler, R.R. 1976 Determination of atmospheric diffusion parameters, Atmospheric Environment. 10, 99-105: Egan, B.A. 1975 Turbulent Diffusion in Complex Terrain. Chapter 4 of Lectures on Air Pollution and Environmental Impact Analyses, Edited by D.A. Haugen. American Meteorological Society, Boston, USA, 112-135. Hanna, S.R., Schulman, L.L., Paine, R.J., Pleim, J.E. and Baer, M. 1985 Development and evaluation of the Offshore and Coastal Dispersion Model. JAPCA, 35,1039-1047. Irwin, J.S. 1983 Estimating plume dispersion - a comparison of several Sigma schemes, J. Climate Appl. Meteorol., 22. 92-114. Lyons, W.A. 1975 Turbulent Diffusion and Pollutant Transport in Shoreline Environments, Chapter 5 of Lectures on Air Pollution and Environmental Impact Analyses. Edited by D.A. Haugen, American Meteorological Society, Boston. USA, 136-208. Manins, P.C. 1979 Partial penetration of an elevated inversion layer by chimney plumes. Atmospheric Environment, 13, 733-741. Manins, P.C. 1985 Chimney plume penetration of the sea breeze inversion. Atmospheric Environment, 18, 2239-2344. Manjns, P.C. 1990 Kwirana Power Station S02 Study, A Report to State Energy Commission of Western Australia, CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research, ',32 pp. NHMRC 1987 National guidelines for control of emission of air pollutants from new stationary sources Recommended methods for monitoring air pollutants in the environment 1985, AGPS. Canberra. 1986; updated 19 November 1987. Rayner, K.N. 1987 Dispersion of Atmospheric Pollutants from Point Sources in a Coastal Environment. Environmental Protection Authority of Western Australia. Technical Series No. 22, 258 pp. Rayner, K.N., Bell, B.P. and Watson, T.D. 1990 Coastal internal boundary layers and chimney plume dispersion, Proc. International Clean Air Conference, University of Auckland. 25-30 March 1990. edited by P Gibson, Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand. 151-158. SEPP 1981 State Environment Protection Policy (Air Environment; Victorian Government Gazette. No. 63. Monday 13 July 1981. USEPA 198586 Vol I. Compilation of Air Pollutant Emission Factors Volume 1. Stationary Point and the Area Sources. Fourth Edition AP-42, USEPA Part l and Part 2, Research Triangle Park. NC, USA. US Department of Commerce, NTIS, plus supplement. van Ulden, A.P., and Holtslag, A.A.M. 1985 Estimation of atmospheric boundary layer parameters for diffusion applications. J Clim Appl. Meteorol. 24.1196-1207. WHO Europe 1987 Air Quality Guidelines for Europe, World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe. Copenhagen, WHO Regional Publications. European Series No 23.

APPENDIX - A DESCRIPTION OF DM5

DISPMOD is a short-time steady-state Gaussian plume dispersion model designed particularly to handle shore­line fumigation of elevated plumes in the sea breeze along the lines of the ERT sea-breeze plume-fumigation model (Lyons, 1975). The OCD model (Hanna et al.,

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1985: DiCristofaro and Hanna, 1990) has many similarities. Rayner et al. (DCE, 1982; Rayner, 1987) first developed DISPMOD for the Kwinana Study in Western Australia in the early 1980s and verified its performance against special field experiments. It was extensively revised for the implementation of EPAWA's Environmental Protection Policy for the Kwinana region in 1991 by Manins and Rayner (Manins, 1990).

DISPMOD has a combination of features absent from other models: continuous dispersion parameterisations rather than Pasquill classes, use of surface heat flux data to compute the growth of the thermal internal boundary layer (the TIBL) as sea-breeze air flows onshore, logical partial penetration by plumes of inversions, and computation of turbulence dispersion parameters in the absence of suitable data. For the present application, the model (version DM5) has been extended further to include: • an interactive data-input system: • surface area sources; • dust concentration calculations using DUSTCON

procedures (Beer, 1989), which involve splitting the dust into three size fractions and applying dust-depletion factors, which depend on deposition velocity, wind speed and Pasquill stability class, to the predicted concentrations;

• rainy-day algorithm for surface wetness and hence dust emissions:

• Egan 1/2-height procedure for general terrain influences (Egan. 1975);

• dividing-streamline procedure for terrain influences in thermally stable conditions (DiCristofaro and Hanna, 1990).

Dispersion Coefficients, Mixing Height and Inversion Strength

The horizontal and vertical dispersion coefficients σy

and σz are computed using modified Draxler (1976) formulae as described by Rayner (1987) for elevated point sources. Following Irwin (1983), these formulae have been extended to account for dispersion from surface sources. The method requires data on the standard deviation of horizontal and vertical wind direction for every calculation interval, ie, hourly. The Tomago meteorological data set includes the former, and the recommendations of DiCristofaro and Hanna (1990) are followed to set a lower bound of 0.37 U (with U in m s-1) to the value employed in computing σθ.

The calculations of the friction velocity, u, and surface heat flux. Hv are based on standard formulations using Monin-Obukhov surface-layer similarity theory (eg van Ulden and Holtslag 1985) using wind and temperature data from the tower.

The mixing height for each hour of each day in the year was computed using the approach of Delaney and van Meurs (1988). Only daytime mixing heights are needed for DISPMOD, since it assumes that the weak vertical mixing is unbounded at night. The morning radiosonde ascent for the day from Williamtown was used to provide estimates of the ambient thermal stability, γ, just above the current mixing height Hmix.

The Thermal Internal Boundary Layer

The height of the TIBL is a key parameter in DISPMOD. A simple theoretical relation has been shown to describe the growth of the TIBL with distance inland

(eg Rayner, et al.. 1990)

Sea-Breeze Fumigation and Inversion Interactions

Close to the coast the plumes may rise to the top of the mixing layer. If they can penetrate through the capping inversion they may be subsequently mixed to the ground as the TIBL develops further downwind from the coast. This is the phenomenon of sea-breeze fumigation (Lyons 1975). It is important because places relatively far downwind can be affected by high pollutant levels in these conditions. The major BHP plumes in the KINAS region are occasionally subjected to sea-breeze fumigation. The concept is illustrated in the following sketch.

DISPMOD implements a full treatment of sea-breeze fumigation. A feature is the (perhaps overly) detailed mechanistic description of plume interaction with the capping inversion. A more physical and consistent description of plumes that exit and re-enter the mixing layer is used compared to that by Lyons (1975).

Since estimates of the strength of the capping inversion to the mixing layer are available from the method of estimating mixing height in this study, the plume penetration algorithm of Manins (1979, 1985) is simple to apply. In essence, the plume is considered to have penetrated the capping inversion if it is still hot enough by the time the plume centreline reaches the height of the inversion. A commensurate loss of excess temperature is computed before allowing the plume to rise further.

Rainy-day algorithm for dust emissions

The standard regulatory method of estimating emissions of TSP from dirt roads, bare surfaces, loader operations, and stockpiles is to use emission factors for windy, dry conditions and apply weightings for the frequency of rain days and light winds over a month or more (USEPA 1985 86). Here the weighting for light winds has been removed from the emissions computations and applied in the model as a test: 'f for the present hour the wind is less than 5.4 m s ' (the 'critical' wind speed) then there will be no emissions from the major dust sources. Forced emissions from sources such as the industrial stacks are not affected by the test for light winds (nor for rainy days).

The standard rainy-day test is 'Have more than 0.25 mm of rain fallen at any time on the day in question?'

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The meteorological data set from the Tomago tower contains hourly rainfall, and surface heat flux values are available, so DISPMOD implements a simple surface energy budget with an assumed Bowen ratio, β, = Hv LEE, where E is evaporation, and LE is the latent heat of vaporisation of water in J kg-1. The surface intercepts all rainfall (P mm in the past hour), losing some to runoff, some to the deep layers, and the rest to evaporation. When sufficient moisture is gone, surface emissions of dust at the value specified for dry conditions are possible, subject to adequate wind. This sequence of events is described by the following equation

where wg is the amount of surface water (mm), E = 3600Hv LEβ is the evaporation rate (mm hr-1). By assuming that after receiving 2.5 mm of rainfall, it takes 2.5 days for the surface to become dry enough (wg 0) for dust emissions to occur in the absence of any heat flux, and 1.5 days for the surface to dry out in sunny conditions, the constant K1 takes the value of 0.042 mm hr-1 and β becomes 1.5. These entirely reasonable values were arrived at by preliminary tests on the KINAS TSP data and hence are not independent of the region.

Dr Peter Manins, is a specialist in air pollution meteorology CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research, PMB 1,Mordialloc, Vic. 3195, Australia.

AIR QUALITY SPECIALISTS

The Institute of Environmental Health and Forensic Sciences (IEHFS) is seeking a number of experienced staff to join New Zealand's leading team in the air quality area. The work of the group includes air quality monitoring, emission testing, dispersion modelling, process evaluations, environmental impact assessments, and consent applications under the Resource Management Act. Clients include government departments, local and regional authorities and a wide range of industries.

Staff appointed to the new positions may be involved in any or all aspects of the above work, although particular emphasis will be placed on some specific areas. We are especially interested in people with at least 5 years experience in air pollution monitoring and-' or environmental impact assessments.

IEHFS is a Crown Research Institute formed in 1992 from parts of DSIR Chemistry and the Department of Health. We have offices in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch and additional appointments are currently being considered for all of these locations.

Applications should be submitted in writing along with a detailed c.v. to:

Dr Bruce Graham, IEHFS, Mt Eden Science Centre, 17 Kelly Street, Mt Eden, Auckland 3, New Zealand. Phone: 64 9 623 5600. Fax: 64 9 630 9619

Institute of Environmental Health & Forensic Sciences Ltd.

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AMBIENT AIR QUALITY STANDARDS FOR SULFUR DIOXIDE IN AUSTRALIA:

I. CRITERIA AND ANALYSIS D. Doley, Department of Botany. The University of Queensland. D.C. McCune,

Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.

Summary

Primary air quality standards for sulfur dioxide that protect human health may not protect human well-being, defined as damage to vegetation, soils, water, animals, property, or their economic benefits. Secondary standards, that protect human well-being, are more restrictive on emissions of sulfur dioxide than are primary standards, and have been developed principally in the temperate northern hemisphere. Modification of these standards has been proposed to provide reasonable protection under Australian conditions. This paper summarises the criteria that should be applied in the setting of secondary air quality standards, experimental approaches that may be used, and some problems of extrapolating from experimental studies to field conditions.

Social Objectives: Human Health and Well-being

The need to limit the concentrations of air pollutants is now very widely accepted. The reasons for these limits are also widely accepted. Historically, the first concerns were with the protection of human health, and then the protection of human well-being, which is variously defined, but includes the prevention of delete­rious effects on vegetation, soils, water, animals, and property. For some gaseous pollutants, human health is affected adversely at con­centrations many times higher than those that affect the health of other organisms, and consequently influ­ence human well-being. Therefore, there is commonly a dichotomy between primary standards,"... necessary, with an adequate margin of safety, to protect the public health", and secondary standards "... neces­sary to protect the public welfare from any known or anticipated adverse effects of a pollutant" (United States Environment Protection Agency (USEPA) 1987). Some of the prob­lems of assessing air pollutant effects on clinical and public human health in Victoria were discussed recently by Clark (1993). Another dichotomy exists between emission standards imposed on pollutant sources, and receptor standards, which define the environments that are to be protected (Cochrane et al. 1992). This discus­sion will be concerned with the receptor environment, rather than characteristics of source emissions, although it is recognised that the pollutant emission rate and its rela­tionship to the concentration in the

receptor environment are critical to the operation of an industry.

There is also a difference of approach between anthropocentric parties who advocate setting stand­ards near the highest ambient con­centrations of pollutants presently considered to have no adverse effect on human health or well-being, and deep ecologists who would set the standards at concentrations such that there is no risk to the health and well-being of any organism, including those whose responses to pollutants are as yet unknown. These differen­ces in approach are the cause of extensive debate and sometimes considerable social friction.

Setting standards at non-zero concentrations of a pollutant is more difficult for legislators than insisting on zero impact, because pollution con­trol and environmental management become reactive processes, requir­ing judgement in their formulation and periodic adjustment. On the other hand, a zero-impact requirement would oblige proponents of any activity, regardless of the scale, to anticipate all the possible effects of their intended activity. It would, ideally, stop all human activity. Clearly, each society has to define the nature and scale of "reasonable" activities, and these definitions must be incorpo­rated in some form of social contract.

History suggests that even now the capacity to anticipate effects of human activities is limited, and environmental regulation must con­tinue to be a reactive process. The purpose of ambient air quality stand­ards, then, is to combine science, technology and experience to antic­ipate and prevent undesirable con­

sequences of human activities. It is essential that technologists are sen­sitive to the social framework within which they operate, and that social reformers are aware of all the demands that society (including themselves) makes on the environ­ment. Therefore, the setting of behav­ioural limits for humans, such as ambient air quality standards and industrial emission limits, is a difficult but vital social process.

The position is taken in this review that ambient air quality standards should be set at the highest concen­trations that will protect, with a suitable margin of safety, human health and well-being, including the health and well-being of plant species judged to be important. It does not necessarily follow that a single standard has to be established for all situations. As will be discussed later, there is a case for treating industrial areas, including work places and their buffer zones, differently from human residential or biological conservation areas. It follows that, as plants are many times more sensitive than humans to some pollutants, including S02 (NAS 1978). most attention should be focussed on secondary air quality standards, and on issues of human well-being or public welfare.

Criteria for the establishment of secondary ambient air quality stand­ards for S02 in Australia will be reviewed, and the means by which plant responses to S02 are gener­alised will be examined. Another paper will consider experimental work relevant to the Australian envir­onment, and the relationship between land use planning and the setting of ambient air quality standards.

122 Clean Air August 1993 Vc.27 3

Public well-being issues

Tingey. Hogsett and Henderson (1990) discussed the definition of adverse effects of a pollutant on public welfare (well-being), and identified welfare effects as those involving "... vegetation, soils, water, animals, visibility, weather, climate, and damage to and deterioration of property, as well as effects on eco­nomic values." Although primary legislative standards (protecting human health) and secondary stand­ards (protecting public welfare) are commonly the same, this is not necessarily the case, and Tingey et al. (1990) considered it important to analyse the distinction between the two.

Secondary standards have much broader implications than primary standards because the assessment of adverse effects may be approached from many different directions. Tingey et al. (1990) indi­cated four major categories of adverse effects, or damage: eco­nomic production, ecological struc­ture and function, genetic resources, and cultural values. Doley (1987) used a similar list, with the specific mention of the protection of estab­

lished or preferred forms of land use. It is important to appreciate that these categories are not independent, and that complex interactions occur between plant and animal species and their environments, whether they be natural or managed.

Economic Effects

The economic effects of pollutants on vegetation must identify forms of land use that may be susceptible to pollutants as well as commercially important species. Effects on crops may be assessed by changes in physiological characteristics (Darrall 1992. Montiel-Canobra et al. 1992), yield or quality of a commercial product (Laurence and Weinstein 1981. Kropff et al. 1989, Baker et al. 1990. McLeod et al 1991. Colls et al. 1992). Pollutants may also affect economic value indirectly, through changing the susceptibility of crops to climatic stress (Baker et al. 1982), pests (Alstad et al. 1982, Holopainen et al. 1991) or disease (Laurence and Weinstein 1981, McLeod 1988, Aminu- Kano et al. 1991). McLeod (1992) concluded that the effects of S02 exposure on the economics of crop production could be positive,

even where yield was reduced. In some situations. S02 reduced insect pest and pathogen populations, and therefore reduced the need for chem­ical pesticide applications. The eco­nomic benefit of improved nutrition of plants growing on nutrient-deficient soils but exposed to S02 has been indicated by Turner and Lambert (1980) and Ellis et al. (1983). Eco­nomic loss to producers of grazing livestock through pollutant effects on forage may be an important, albeit indirect consequence of pollutant emission (Wheeler and Fell 1983).

If, for example, it is accepted that a 10% reduction in crop yield due to pollutant effects is significant, it is necessary to demonstrate this critical reduction when the effects of other environmental variables are dis­counted. In practice, demonstration of this 10% reduction in yield requires very careful and costly experimenta­tion and observation, such as the National Crop Loss Assessment Network (NCLAN) project conducted in the United States (Preston and Tingey 1988). If it is accepted that the failure of a plant species to regen­erate in a particular area is important, it must be demonstrated that the absence of regeneration from an area is due to the pollutant, and not to some

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other environmental or biological factor. Making this distinction can be extremely difficult, and could require many years of observation or exper­iment. Therefore, where air quality standards are based on criteria that cannot be assessed quickly, they can only be introduced after careful research has been conducted over a long period of time. Alternatively, industrial development may be delayed while extensive, costly and probably equivocal research is car­ried out. Political considerations commonly mean that this time is not available, and an ad hoc decision will be made on some land use option.

Judgements on economic criteria must consider the direct effect of a pollutant on a particular activity, but it must also consider other costs and benefits of the operation of the polluting industry. This process is attempted in environmental impact assessments, and it is important that judgements on an industry are made on the whole evidence available, and not simply on one part, whether it be favourable or unfavourable for a particular industry.

Ecological Effects

Ecological structure and function is not of major concern in agricultural environments, where ecosystems are extensively and regularly disturbed, and are highly simplified. However, ecosystem structure and function may be of monetary value through the commercial products available from complex natural ecosystems, and through the processes that occur in these ecosystems (Legge and Krupa 1986, Smith 1990). A decrease in natural products supply can be measured in economic terms, such as tree growth (Laurence and Wein-stein 1981), but the changes in an ecosystem may have other values to a society (well-being), even though these values may be difficult to estimate and changes may be evi­dent only after a long time.

Biodiversity and Cultural Value

Any stress, including a pollutant, or disturbance is likely to change the genetic diversity of a species. This change may expose a species to greater risk of mortality due to envir­onmental effects other than pollution, or it may preclude the recognition and use of valuable attributes of the species. On the other hand, the stress could lead to changes in the species

which are beneficial. The interactions between populations of organisms and their environments are extremely complex, and this complexity must be recognisd in any attempt to determine the additional interactions with atmos­pheric pollutants. In addition, the cultural values of native ecosystems are being recognized increasingly, and need to protect them for posterity is often specified in leglislation.

Tingey et al. (1990) emphasised the difficulty of determining the economic costs and benefits of ecological change, and questioned whether an economic approach was appropriate in some situations. The political interpretation of public consensus is not always based upon commercial criteria, but communications between scientists and society requires some criterion against which change or predicted change can be tested. One of the critical issues is the extent of change that is acceptable as the result of some human activity, so that commercial benefit is often weighed against costs (disbenefits) that are very difficult to quantify. Air quality standards attempt to embody the notion of acceptable change in the definition of adverse effects, and they

may incorporate ecological and cultural as well as economic considerations.

Therefore, a standard may be set so that some undesired change in an ecosystem or a component thereof does not occur. The time over which these changes are assessed then becomes critical, and the change must be distinguished from those changes occurring as a result of factors other than the designated stress. Where long-term and possibly systematic changes in climate are occurring (Pearman 1988), changes in ecosystems attributable to atmos­pheric pollutants can be identified only where they are associated with distinct and short-term changes in the functioning of pollutant-susceptible species.

Figure 1 summarises some of the characteristics of the major groups of subjects for which air quality stand­ards have been developed. In par­ticular, the relative complexity of the information base for secondary as compared with primary standards is clear. When the millions of species that could be considered in the development of secondary standards are compared with the single species

FIGURE 1. Representation of relationships between air quality standards, characteristics of the systems to be protected, and the associations between human health and attributes of other environmental components.

124 Clean Air August 1993 Vol.27 3

(Homo sapiens) for which primary standards are designed, the potential complexity of secondary standards becomes even more obvious.

Criteria for analysis of air pollution effects

Establishment of a secondary ambient air quality standard requires evidence of adverse effects of pol­lutants on ecosystems or on partic­ular organisms that is tested against seven criteria (Bennett 1985): (1) types of effects (biochemical to ecosystem responses); (2) realistic exposure concentrations (0.1 ppm S 0 2 or less for exposures of 1 week or more); (3) realistic exposure durations and frequencies (fixed or variable concentrations and dura­tions); (4) ecological or economic importance of taxa affected; (5) type of experimental fumigation or field study; (6) use of a control treatment; (7) clear explanation of growth and exposure conditions.

Studies conducted according to these criteria will indicate a range of concentrations and exposure dura­tions within which no adverse effects of the pollutant may be detected. The upper limit will be indicated by pollutant-tolerant species, and the lower limit by pollutant-sensitive species. The standard is likely to be set closer to the lower than to the upper limit, because of the desire to protect most, if not all species. There is some disagreement concerning the setting of this lower limit, which will depend upon the type of effect used and the plant species, and the purpose for which the land may be used. On one hand, the limit could be established using the most sen­sitive species and the most sensitive response, and incorporating a margin for experimental or observational error. This approach may be approp­riate to National Parks or similar conservation areas. On the other hand, the limit could accept adverse effects to a certain proportion of species or individuals of a species. This decision is finally a political one, but it should be based upon the best available scientific, technical and economic evidence.

Effects of sulfur dioxide on human well-being

Sulfur is an essential nutrient element for animals and plants, being incor­porated in proteins, and it may have a relatively rapid turnover. In certain forms and above certain concentra­

tions, sulfur also acts as a toxicant in plants. Sulfur dioxide is a reducing agent, normally being oxidised to sulfite or sulfate in the process. Sulfate ion is a commonly occurring soil nutrient, and is tolerated by plants at relatively high concentrations as compared with the sulfite ion, which itself tends to undergo oxidation to sulfate in the process reducing other components of plant tissues (Garsed 1984). This means that the regulation of sulfur in the environment must allow for its mode of occurrence, concentration, and turnover (Bell 1984). Because plants are more sensitive to injury by sulfur dioxide than are animals or humans, attention has been directed towards plant responses to S02 exposure, and therefore to secondary air quality standards.

Effects of sulfur dioxide on plants

The rate of deposition of gaseous S02

from the air to vegetation depends upon the aerodynamic roughness of the canopy (a function of plant height) and the gas conductance of the surface. Therefore, the leaves of trees with sparse crowns are more exposed to S0 2 than leaves of grasses in a dense pasture. Sulfur dioxide diffuses into leaves through the stomatal pores, dissolves in water in the cell walls, and is then trans­ported to sites of metabolism within the cells (Unsworth et al. 1976). The stomatal pores tend to open in the light, when temperatures are moder­ate, when water is freely available, and when atmospheric humidities are high. Therefore, the rate of uptake of S0 2 from air with a given S02

concentration will vary considerably with environmental conditions. Under some circumstances, low S02 con­centrations may tend to increase the opening of stomatal pores, but under high to very high S02 concentrations, stomata may tend to close (Mansfield and Freer-Smith 1984). The closing reaction of stomata to S02 does not need to be considered here because it is normally observed at concentra­tions above those of concern for the present ambient standards.

Once in the leaf, the effects of S02

on metabolism vary considerably, depending upon leaf age and other environmental conditions (Koziol and Whatley 1984). The processes of metabolism are regarded as agents of detoxification so that, depending on the species and tissue, different quantities of sulfur may be metabo­

lised without deleterious effects on biochemical or structural properties of cells. It has been postulated that detoxification could involve some metabolic costs if its processes require energy that is diverted from carbon assimilation or growth (Alscher et al. 1991). The capacity for sulfur metabolism represents a thre­shold above which additional acces­sions of sulfur will lead to disruption of function and structure, and con­sequently to injury of the cells, tissues and the plant. In general, young foliage tends to be more sensitive than older foliage, and young plants undergoing active growth are more sensitive than older plants (NAS 1978). Therefore, the sensitivity of species would be greatest during the season of most active growth, and environmental conditions that were associated with dormancy would be expected to be associated with greater resistance. Sulfur accumu­lated during a period of reduced physiological activity may be asso­ciated with injury during a subsequent period of increased activity.

Environmental influences

There is a view that stresses of different origins combine in at least an additive fashion to determine the response of plants to environmental conditions. However, as indicated above, not all stresses appear to be additive in relation to the effects of SO2 that might develop under Aus­tralian conditions. Therefore, the susceptibility to S02 of a plant growing in the field may be greater or less than that of the same plant maintained under favourable condi­tions for growth in an experimental environment. This qualification becomes important where seasonal variation in temperature and water availability is considerable.

Rapid shoot growth in many Aus­tralian plant species occurs in spring or early summer, and in some loca­tions growth may resume in autumn. Other species may grow at any time when temperatures are favourable and water is available. In agronomic species, most growth will be concen­trated into a period of 3 to 4 months' duration, except in the almost asea-sonal tropical lowlands. Regions with highly seasonal climates may have little actively functioning vegetation for a considerable portion of the year, so that the response of plants to pollutant exposure may be very limited. Therefore, an ambient air quality standard that applied for the

Clean Air-August 1993 Vo l .273

125

growing season might be more appropriate than an annual standard. It follows that a growing season standard would apply to different times of the year in different parts of the country. Also, species of recog­nised economic or ecological impor­tance in different parts of the country may have different susceptibilities to injury by S02.

Experimental establishment of air quality standards

Air quality standards are usually applied as arithmetic or geometric mean concentrations of a pollutant over a specified period. Ideally, there should be a consistent relationship between the standards applied for various averaging times, and it should be possible to derive a continuous function for the standard concentra­tion against time (Doley 1987). How­ever, the ambient concentration of a pollutant will rarely be constant over even a short period, so a mean concentration may include short-term concentrations that vary by two orders of magnitude. The effects of these variations on organisms may depend principally on the total amount of pollutant to which the organism was exposed, that is, the dose (the product of concentration and exposure duration). Experimental fumigations are the most efficient means of gathering the data required to establish air quality standards, and it is not surprising that extensive experimental fumigation studies have been conducted.

Two examples of coordinated studies with well-defined goals and methodologies include the National Crop Loss Assessment Network (NCLAN) of the United States of America (Preston and Tingey 1988) and the open-top chamber pro­gramme of the European Community (Mathy 1988). Both were coordinated and funded by central agencies, and used standardised methodologies and a limited number of crop species grown in major agricultural regions. A third group of studies in the United Kingdom was coordinated with the European Community work, but incorporated a greater variety of experimental arrangements, and was directed towards using that variety in the advancement of understanding of air pollution problems (Wilson and Sinfield 1988). In each case, the effects of air pollutants were separ­ated from other environmental limita­tions such as soil nutrient and water availabilities, and seasonal climatic

differences. These environmental factors may be as important as the pollutant exposures and the crop species or variety being tested. A fourth important example is the detailed multidsciplinary study of the effects of S02 on a northern short-grass priarie system in the USA, where a major increase in SO2

emissions from electric power gener­ating stations was anticipated (Lauenroth and Preston 1984).

In Australia, actions to regulate emissions of important atmospheric pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen were taken on the basis of evidence gathered in other countries. It is relevant to ask whether air quality standards developed elsewhere are appropriate to Austra­lia. The general uniformity of human physiology means that human health effects will be similar in all countries, disregarding the possible interaction between pollutants and other envir­onmental variables (Clark 1993). However, many plant and animal species are very restricted in their distributions and vary greatly in their responses to air pollutants. Also, within Australia, there is a range of climatic and management conditions under which one crop species or variety may be grown, and the responses of all varieties in all locations may not be identical. Crop varieties, cultural practices and seasonal conditions differ between Australia and the major industrial countries of the Northern Hemis­phere, where the air quality standards were developed first. Therefore, extrapolation of standards from one part of the world to another is not necessarily valid.

Experimental procedures

The principal requirements of any experimental arrangement leading to ambient air quality proposed by Bennett (1985), have been discussed already. An important conclusion is that experiments should include or allow for variations in exposure conditions and in other environmental variables in a way that makes feasible the application of their results by regulatory authorities and the attain­ment of standards by industries.

Determination of the effects of a pollutant on plant growth and devel­opment, or on ecosystem functioning, requires that there should be a pollutant-free control site and one or more sites identical in all respects to the control, but to which one or more stress conditions (e.g. pollutants) are

applied. Experimental design require­ments dictate that the "natural envir­onment" should be representative of the region to which the results are to be apllied, and that the experimen­tal subjects should be representative of those for which predictions are being made. For these reasons, experiments carried out in controlled environment facilities, where temper­ature, humidity, water availability, nutrition and commonly daylength are controlled, but where plant size is limited, have been criticised as being unrealistic.

A desirable approach is to intro­duce a pollutant at carefully regulated rates so as to maintain certain concentrations at defined locations in an open field environment (Green­wood et al. 1982. Preston and Lee 1982, McLeod et al. 1985, McLeod et al. 1991). This requires expensive installations, with computer-controlled pollutant dispensing appa­ratus and precise environmental measurement. Each location within the experiment will be subjected to a different pollutant exposure regime, depending on wind direction and strength, so analysis of the experi­ment is confined to a relatively limited area around which the control proce­dures were organised. Also, this method of fumigation is suitable only for pollutants that can be monitored instantaneously. Despite these obsta­cles, open- field fumigation systems continue to be developed, principally because they allow the addition of a pollutant to an ecosystem without altering other environmental conditions.

A commonly used compromise between open field fumigations and controlled environment facilities is the open-top chamber (Heagle et al. 1973). In this, air is usually passed through a filter and distributed into an enclosure that is substantially taller than the plants being studied, and passed out at the top. Controlled concentrations of pollutant are admit­ted to the air stream after the filter. Cultural conditions of plants are identical inside and outside the chamber. Because the presence of the chamber causes some alteration to the environment (typically a slight increase in temperature and some­times also in humidity, and a reduc­tion in incident solar radiation), there is usually a direct assessment of chamber effect between unfumigated enclosed and open-grown plants.

The majority of open-top chamber studies have used constant pollutant concentrations for defined periods of

126 Clean Air August 1993

Vol 27 3

time, with either continuous exposure or exposure for certain periods each day and a selected number of days per week or month. These regimes introduce a degree of arbitrariness, but permit periodic average expo­sures to be analysed. If the pollutant normally occurs in the area of the study, the lowest level of exposure is determined by the efficiency of the filter and the intrusion of ambient air through the top.

In some studies, actual courses of pollutant concentration at a location have been used to set the fumgation regime. In these cases, regulation of chamber concentration requires more elaborate controls than those usually adopted to supply the pollu­tants and monitor their concentrations in the chambers. While giving a very precise copy of the conditions actu­ally experienced at a given location and time (or the same pattern mul­tiplied by some factor), this regime is of limited use for extrapolation or generalisation. Indeed, it can be useful only if all the environmental conditions (solar radiation, tempera­ture, humidity, soil water supply, nutrition, daylength, crop variety and stage of development, pest and disease conditions) are identical to those for which the predictions are to be made. Furthermore, the exact pattern of pollutant exposure is most

unlikely to be repeated between one year and another, or between one location and another. As a result, the quest for reality in exposure condi­tions may be counter-productive in terms of provision of information that is applicable generally.

One of the important considera­tions for the setting of air quality standards from experimental studies is the matching of experimental observations and predictions to the environments in which the standards are to be applied. If there is an interaction between pollutant response and environmental condi­tions, it is likely that, where a species occurs over a wide climatic range, it could be susceptible to pollutant injury in one climatic region, and resistant in another. Therefore, it is possible that one region may have mostly pollutant-resistant species, while in another, most species may be susceptible. If field fumigations or open- top chambers are to be used in the setting of air quality standards, it is necessary that the experiments are carried out in the regions where the standards are to be applied. If controlled environment studies are used, then the components of the "normal" environment need to be specified in a way that allows extrap­olation from the experimental envir­onment to the field.

Experimental interpretation

One persistent problem with the expression of the pollutant exposure-effect relationship is whether a measure of dose in a single exposure is appropriately represented by the product of the variables of concen­tration (C) and duration'of exposure (T). These relationships have been investigated in detail for S02, 03 and N02. McCune and Weidensaul (1978) reviewed the procedures first deve­loped by O'Gara and by Thomas and Hill (1935) for plant responses to S02:

T(CR-C0) = kR (1)

where T is the exposure duration, CR

is the concentration of pollutant resulting in a defined response at time T, C0 is the threshold (or asymptotic) concentration for the occurrence of that response, and kH is a resistance factor of the' plant and environment. Heck and Tingey (1971,1979) deve­loped and modified a formula to describe the relationship between the concentration of N02 (CR) required to produce a certain fraction of foliar

Clean Air August 1993 Vol.27 3

127

FIGURE 2. Relationships between exposure time (T) and the concentration of pollutant Producing a certain response (CR,), in relation to the response produced by a one-hour exposure, as described in Equation 4 and Equation 7. and where the sensitivity of response factor, b. has values of either 0.5 or 1 0.

128 Clean Air August 1993 Vol 27 3

When the concentration of S0 2

fluctuates during an exposure, the dynamics of response involve char­acteristics of the recovery processes, so that a continuous exposure can be more effective in causing injury than intermittent exposures of the same cumulative duration. In prac­tice, values of β in the range of 0.3 to 0.7 seem to be appropriate. A knowledge of the value of β allows one to extrapolate from a maximum allowable concentration for one averaging period (e.g. 1, 2.5, 4, or 8. hours) to that for another, by spec­ifying continuous relationships between pollutant exposure and response.

Aggregation of exposures

An experimental investigation of total length of exposure must be complex if it is to avoid the confounding effects of phenology and climatic variation. The derivation of a measure of exposure for multiple exposures is inherently more problematic than for a single exposure because it involves an aggregation of a series of epi­sodes. (Continuous exposures could also be regarded as a series of episodes [day. night] because of the substantial influence of light on the plant's uptake of and response to S02). With a series of exposures, the sum of the products of concentration and time for each period could be

used, with Equation 9 being applied to each interval, n, as represented in Equation 10.

(10)

The weight (gn) applied to each product expresses the effects of phenology and environment during the period on the uptake of S0 2 by the plant and its sensitivity to S02. From a knowledge of the effects of environmental conditions on responses of plants to S02, it would be expected that gn would be greatest under conditions of high light, temper­ature and humidity, and would be lower in darkness, low temperature and drought.

It was indicated above that estab­lishment of a continuous function between the standard pollutant con­centration and averaging time would be useful, particularly in demonstrat­ing that the processes of plant response to pollutants are consistent. The discussion of weighting factors emphasises the difficulty of arriving at a simple response function. Nor­mally, the standard would be set at or close to the most sensitive response boundary for all the com­binations of environmental and plant conditions that influence plant func­tion in a polluted environment. This reduces the complexity of standard setting somewhat, but it should not be considered as a substitute for an

adequate understanding of the rela­tionship between environment and plant response.

Exposure-effect relationship

The form of the exposure-effect (dose-response) relationship is argu­able but critical to the setting of air quality standards. The relationship between exposure and effect on growth or yield may be more complex than that expressed by a linear form, such as is often used for computa­tional convenience. Results for the effects of S0 2 on growth, develop­ment and yield often show increased values at low doses of S02, followed by reduced values at higher doses. An appropriate form of equation for the relationship between yield response (Y) and exposure (X, as defined in Equations 9 or 10) would be non-monotonic but unimodal, such as that in Equation 11.

Y = a0 + a1 (l-e-bX

IX) - a2X(l-e-bX

2X) (11)

Some expressions of this relation­ship are shown in Fig 4. In general, values of the coefficienties a0 and ar

close to 1.0 result in an increase in yield at low pollutant concentrations, before a decrease is observed, whilst low values of these coefficients produce a plateau of yield at low pollutant concentrations. Values of the coefficients b, and b2 close to 1.0 result in a steep decline of the exposure-effect curve with increasing pollutant concentration, whilst lower values result in less abrupt decreases.

An alternative form of the exposure-effect relationship is shown in Equation 12, which assumes the existence of a threshold exposure (X0). with non-negative values for the parameters (X0, an and bn).

These represent two of many des­criptions of the exposure(X)-effect(Y) relationship, which could be used instead of first degree equations in dose. Polynomial equations are not useful for this purpose, as their coefficients (amd perhaps their roots) are not amenable to interpretation (see Rawlings et al. 1988). Weibull equations have been used to des-

Clean Air August 1993 Vol.27 3

129

>

0)

u o

"J 1.0

0.5

cribe the response of plants to ozone injury (Rawling and Cure 1985), but the manner of response of S02 is different from that of ozone, making the Weibull equation unsuitable for describing S02 effects.

Because air quality standards require the estimation of effects of low

levels of exposure (or accurate estimates of parameters determining these effects), the representation that is used for the exposure-effect rela­tionship should be one that is rela­tively stable as the magnitude of the exposures are extrapolated towards background or zero from the limits of

experimental data. The descriptions of plant response

to pollutants outlined above support the proposition that the effects of SO2

on vegetation in Australia should be estimated under Australian condi­tions, not only on native but also on introduced species. In practice, the weighting factors will be established only by repeated exposure under carefully controlled conditions, where the effects of these exposures may be expected to accumulate to the level at which they are detectable. If the weights for a given combination of pollutant and species are reason­ably constant, or if they can be determined reliably for a range of environmental conditions, prediction of the effects of a pollutant on plants will become easier.

However, the situation may not be so simple. In addition to the problem posed by the dynamics of response and recovery during and following a single exposure, there is the problem of the degree to which the concen­tration of S02 and duration in one exposure can act to sensitise or desensitise the plant to the effect of S02 in an ensuing exposure (Zahn 1963b, 1970). that is, the values of a weighting coefficient (I) may also depend upon the previous exposures. Where exposures are likely to be episodic, such as those associated with the scattered point sources that are common in Australia, the period between events may become critical to the plant response. The nature of the interaction between pollutant concentration, exposure duration and time between exposures has not been pursued since the work of Zahn (1970).

From the foregoing discussion, it is clear that the description of the conditions of exposure of vegetation to S02, including the frequency and sequence of events, will have an important effect on the response. As the length of the averaging period increases, the connection between the circumstances directly affecting plant function and the integrated description of exposure becomes more tenuous. Consequently, the standard becomes more of an admi­nistrative tool than a clear description of the working relationship between ambient air quality of plant function.

Conclusions

Secondary ambient air quality stand­ards for S02 are important, because many plant species are affected

130 Clean Air Ajgusl 1993 Vol.27 3

adversely at concentrations that have no detectable effect on human health or comfort. The setting of these standards is not a simple matter, as sulfur is a common constituent of the environment, it is an essential ele­ment in plants and animals, and it is turned over relatively rapidly. There­fore, an ambient air quality standard should reflect these factors, in order to provide adequate protection for sensitive organisms and to avoid unnecessary restrictions on human activities.

Because of the variety of sensitiv­ities to S02 amongst plant species, it follows that if this variety is not distributed uniformly across all envir­onments, there is scope for the application of different standards in different environments. For example, a designated industrial environment may not have the protection of sensitive plant species as one of the priorities in land management, whilst a conservation area would have this protective function as the highest priority. In each case, the relationship between environmental condition and plant response would have to be understood sufficiently well to enable the air quality standard to be drafted, and then to be applied. The require­ments for this process will be dis­cussed elsewhere.

An important issue is what should be done while a state of relative ignorance prevails concerning the responses of Australian plant species to S02. To follow caution and impose stringent standards, with the intention of relaxing them later, is to invite vigorous opposition from parties with an interest in increasing commercial activity and creating employment opportunities. In times of subdued economic sentiment, the deferral of job-creating activities is not viewed with favour by legislators.

The alternative approach, to apply the least restrictive regulations pos­sible, will almost certainly result in the loss of some human well-being. It remains a social decision whetherthe loss of well-being in the form of other organisms and environmental quality is more or less important than the loss of human well-being in the form of immediate material benefits. The identities of the beneficiaries in each situation need to be made clear. Technologists and scientists cannot presume to make that decision for society, but they have an obligation to present as clearly as possible the nature of effects, with their various

costs and benefits. At this moment, it is not possible

to describe with sufficient precision the effects of S02 on Australian plant species or ecosystems, so it is not possible to make economic or social analyses of these effects. One of the tasks of environmental science is to enable these analyses to proceed, and the underlying requirements include carefully planned and com­prehensive studies of these S02

effects on a sample of the Australian vegetation.

References

Alscher, R.G., Madamanchi, N.R. and Cramer, C.L. 1991. Protective mechanisms in the chloroplast stroma. In Active Oxygen Oxida­tive Stress and Plant Metabolism', ec by E. Pell ana K. Sleffen. pp 145-155. American Society of Plant Physiologists. Alstad, D.H., Edmunds, G.F. and Weinstein, L.H. 1982. Effects of air pollutants on insect populations. Ann. Rev. Entomol. 27. 369-384. Aminu-Kano, M., McNeill, S. and Hails, R.S. 1991. Portent, plant and pest interactions the grain aphid Sitobion avenae |F.). Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 33. 233-244. Baker, C.K., Unsworth, M.H. and Greenwood, P. 1982. Leaf injury on wheat plants exposed in the field in winter to SO; Nature 299. 149-150. Baker, C.K., Fullwood, A.E. and Colls, J.J. 1990. Lodging of winter barley Hordeum vulgare L.j in relation to its degree of exposure to sulfur dioxide. New Phytol. 114, 191 -197. Bell. J.N.B. 1984. Air pollution problems in western Europe. In Koziol. M. and Whatley. F.R. iedsj Gaseous Air Pollutants and Plant Metabolism' pp 3-24. Butterworths. London. Bennett, J.P. 1985. Regulatory uses of S02

effects data. In Winner, W.E., Mooney. H A. and Goldstein. R.A. (eds) Sulfur Dioxide and Vegetation. pp 23-36. Stanford University Press. Standford. Clark, P.D. 1993. Perspectives on air pollution: health effects and air quality objectives. Clean AirfAusf; 27. 13-15. Cochrane, L.S., Peilke, R.A. and Kovacs, E. 1992. Selected international receptor-based air quality standards. J Air Waste Manage. Assoc 42. 1567-1572. Colls, J.J., Geissler, P.A. and Baker, CK. 1992. Use of a field release system to distinguish the effects of dose and concentration of sulfur dioxide or winter barley. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 38. 3-10. Dan-all, N.M. 1992. Changes in net photosyn­thesis, transpiration and darK respiration in winter barley exposed to elevated levels of sulfur dioxide using an open-air fumigation system. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 33, 309-324. Doley, D. 1986. Plant-Fluoride Relationships. Inkata Press. Melbourne. Doley, D. 1987. Ambient air quality objectives for fluoride: an Australian perspective Clean AiriAusti 21, 55-62. Ellis, B.A., Verfaille, J.R. and Kummerow, J. 1983. Nutrient gain from wet and dry atmos­pheric deposition and rainfall acidity in southern California chaparral. Oecologia 60, 118-121. Garsed, S.G. 1984. Uptake and distribution of pollutants in the plant and residence time of actve species. In Koziol. M. and Whatley, F.R. iedsj Gaseous Air Pollutants and Plant Metabolism pp 83-103. Butterworths, London.

Clean Air May 1993 Vol.27 3

131

NITROGEN OXIDES STACK GAS EMIS-SIONS ANALYSER

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CO/CO2H20 GAS ANALYSER

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Designed for low maintenance and high reliability, the EX4700A requires no sample conditioning system or bottled gases in normal operation. It is equipped with built-in diagnostic indicators to identify potentially degrading conditions. A choice of calibration cross-checks, including automatic dynamic calibration, allows the instrument performance to be verified without removing the instrument from the process.

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COMPLETE IMPACTOR SAMPLING KITS

Pollution Control Systems recognizes that impactor source sampling is greatly facilitated by the use of multiple instru­ments during testing and has therefore designed a series of five kits for source testers. Each kit contains all the compo­nents necessary to test in a wide variety of situations. For example, the Complete Impactor Sampling (CIS) kit contains a Mark 5 Pilat (UW) Cascade Impactor with collection plates and inserts, a Mark 5 to Mark 3 Conversion Kit, and additional sets of stainless steel foil collection plate inserts and glass fiber substrates. The entire CIS kit fits in its custom carrying case and is discounted over the price of individual instruments and accessories.

For more information on our series of kits, please contact: Keri Olsen, Operations Manager, Pollu­tion Control Systems Corporation, P.O. Box 15570. Seattle, WA 98115 Telephone: (206) 523-7220 Telefax: (206) 523-7221.

QUESTORE DATA SHUTTLE DATA TRANSPORT DEVICE

• Allows for easy storage of print-out data in the field

• For use with 1800 or 2800 Integrating Sound Level Meters

• Provides a simple way to transport Data from Sound Level Meter to a Personal Computer or Serial Printer

• Groups of Data are stored in the same sequential order as they were obtained

• Lightweight and durable • Includes Support Software for Data

Transfer to Personal Computer • Best Pouch makes field use

convenient The Questore Data Shuffle is a memory

device which allows temporary storage of printout information from other instru­ments such as the 1800 2800 series integrating sound level meters. It accepts up to 128 kilobytes of serially transmitted data which is later downloaded to a personal computer or serial printer through an RS232 port.

The Questore Data Shuffle comes with the memory module, cables for attach­ment to the 1800'2800 sound level meter and connecting to a computer's RS232

port and an AC DC 5 volt power supply adapter for recharging the internal bat­teries and belt pouch.

A software disk for downloading data into a computer in an ASCII format is also included. Once the program has created a text file containing the downloaded data, then that file can be printed or edited through DOS or any word processor, editor that the user is familiar with. A word processor program is not included.

For further information, please contact the Selby Scientific & Medical office in your state. Head Office: 352 Ferntree Gully Road, Notting Hill. Victoria. 31668. Ph: (03) 263 4300.

MICROPROCESSOR-BASED PROCESS GAS ANALYSER

Ecotech Pty. Ltd. offers the Model SM8100A Microprocessor-based Pro­cess Gas Analyser from Lear Siegler Measurement Controls Corp. The SM8100A combines the latest in microprocessor-based electronics with a rugged in situ design, for a new approach to monitoring S02 and NO concentrations in industrial process emissions.

Using a unique second-derivative spectroscopic measurement technique, the SM8100A measures a narrowband absorption of ultraviolet energy by S02

NO molecules. Unlike some measure­ment techniques, this method does not require hazardous gases for reference or calibration, sample conditioning, pumps, or plumbing which can leak or cause the sample to change characteristics.

The SM8100A works in conjunction with Lear Siegler Measurement Controls' UNICON 700 Universal Control Unit. The UNICON 700 is a compact microprocessor-based control unit, designed for multiple monitoring require­ments. It provides a series of self-diagnostics and calibration checks that allow the SM8100A to be easily main­tained by plant personnel. With a time-tested ceramic diffuser, rugged design, and minimal electronics on the stack, up to six months of reliable, maintenance-free operation is typical.

The SM8100A features a choice of calibration cross-checks, including AUTOMATIC DYNAMIC CALIBRATION which enables the system to be verified at the same temperature and pressure as the flue gas being measured, without requiring the operator to remove the instrument or climb the stack.

Due to its capability to operate with gases having high water vapour content, high particulate loading and temperatures up to 426°C, the SM8100A is ideally suited to a variety of applications, includ­ing multiple monitoring requirements.

For further information, contact: Ecotech Pty. Ltd., 12 Apollo Court, Blackburn. Vic. 3130. Ph (03) 894 2399. Fax (03) 894 2445.