EDITORIAL

President's Message H.F. Hartmann 39

TECHNICAL PAPERS

Particulate Concentrations in Air in Eastern Australia and Papua New Guinea, 1971 to 1976 H.S. Goodman 40

A Simple Solution to the Internal Combustion Engine Pollution Problem P.L. Spedding 44

Meteorology in Environmental Impact Assessment Edward T. Linacre 48

FEATURES

Fourth International Clean Air Congress, Tokyo 1977 ST. Mainwaring 52

Conferences 53

Highlights from the Clean Air Society Tenth Annual Report 54

Branch News 55

Book Reviews 56

JOURNAL OF THE CLEAN AIR SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND President: H.F. Hartmann Secretary: R.W. Manuell, Box 4047, G.P.O., Sydney, N.S.W. 2001

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A2 Clean Air/August, 1977

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

At the 1977 Symposium of the Clean Air Society, one keynote speaker, Milton Feldstein, Director of Tech­nical Services, the Bay Area Air Pollution Control District, San Fran­cisco, stated that the 1970 U.S. Clean Air Act made the achievement of statutory air quality standards man­datory on pain of considerable penalties.

After two extensions, the final deadline for compliance elapsed on May 31 of this year without the stan­dards being achieved. Indeed, Milton Feldstein was wondering whether he would land in jail a few days after his return home just before the deadline. On balance he professed sufficient faith in the democratic process to believe that the law would be changed in time to spare him summary in­carceration

When standards which are widely accepted throughout the world can­not be achieved in spite of determined efforts, the basic philosophy behind them should be critically re­examined.

Both the U.S. Air Quality Stan­dards and the World Health Organisation long term goals have been set on the basis of health effects and aim to protect the most suscepti­ble members of the community with an adequate safety margin.

While it has been stressed that there are no definable threshold levels for h e a l t h e f f e c t s , a n d s o m e physiological reactions may be ex­pected right down to zero concentra­tions, the lowest level at which any effect could be shown has been used in practice. With the addition of a safety margin this then became the standard.

In addition, these standards have been reduced still further in certain cases as a reasonable precaution against any as yet undetected damage to the very young or the sick, or other

susceptible members of the com­munity.

In conjunction with these con­siderations a principle has been ac­cepted that no deterioration should be tolerated even in areas where the air quality standards have not been exceeded. There are strong arguments in favor of this course of action.

Thus, massive ill effects have sometimes been experienced in ac­cidental industrial situations which were not anticipated. There also have been some sub-toxic consequences of increasing air pollution which were unforeseen and have proved very dif­ficult to eradicate.

In this and similar situations, in­dustry initially proved less than co­operative and fell into line only after stringent regulations had been pro­mulgated. Prophecies of technical im­possibility and disastrous costs generally did not prove correct in the long run but the necessary technology was usually only developed under pressure.

In some critical situations, drastic action has achieved dramatic im­provements in air quality, notably in London and Pittsburgh and to a lesser degree in Los Angeles.

There are, however, significant arguments against the basis of the standards.

While there may be no actual threshold levels some practical con­centration levels have to be accepted if for no other reason because the atmosphere even in the remotest areas naturally contains traces of all major air "pollutants".

It is notoriously difficult to carry out experimental work determining toxic and sub-toxic levels on both animals and man with the very low concentrations involved. The results of the enormous amount of work already carried out frequently con­flict.

It may, therefore, be found that the basis of a particular standard is doubtful or that human and animal organisms adapt to various low level stimuli. However, it is unlikely that air pollution standards will be relax­ed, as the responsibility for so doing is not likely to be assumed lightly by responsible people. This is in contrast with the risks which we as a com­munity readily accept or we would never fly in an airplane or ride in a motorcar, but we do not appear to be able to accept a risk level for air pollution.

As the resources of any country are always limited compared to the varid aspirations of its citizens, the cost of control cannot be ignored. In fact, costs approximately double each time we require an increase of one order of magnitude in cleanup and rise ex­ponentially as control approaches the 100% mark.

A policy of very stringent stan­dards and a ban on any deterioration in air quality could well mean a severe restriction on economic growth and a lowering of living standards of the community.

These requirements also conflict with others. Can we nowadays ex­pend energy, particularly of scarce li­quid fuels, in order to reduce air pollution?. Should we use strategies for reducing automobile exhaust emissions which simultaneously in­crease petrol consumption?.

I do not pretend to have the answers to these questions, nor do I even have a firm opinion on many of these complex problems. However, I do believe that the whole matter needs to be exhaustively re-examined, without emotion and, if at all possi­ble, without any preconceived ideas.

I further hope that our Society will be able to play a responsible part in this crucial debate.

H.F. HARTMANN

Clean Air/August, 1977 39

PARTICULATE CONCENTRATIONS IN AIR IN EASTERN AUSTRALIA AND PAPUA NEW GUINEA, 1971 to 1976

H.S. Goodman

Total particulate concentrations in air near the surface are measured at five locations along the Eastern Australian coast, and at one location in Papua New Guinea, using identical high volume sampling equipment. Annual means are between 20 and 60μg/m 3 for mainland Australia, with lower values for Tasmania and Papua New Guinea, over the five year period studied (1971 to 1976). No long term trends in particulate concentrations are apparent at the southern locations, but downward trends are observed at two northern sites.

Mrs Goodman is an officer with the Division of Atmospheric Physics of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, P.O. Box 77, Mordialloc, Victoria, 3195.

INTRODUCTION: During August and September 1971 a network of high volume air samplers was installed in the environs of large cities along the Eastern Australian coast (approximately 150°E longitude). The primary objective of the program was to obtain more information regarding the movements of stratospheric air, and its exchange with the troposphere, by studying the time and latitudinal variations in c o n c e n t r a t i o n s o f v a r i o u s radioisotopes in air. This work has been reported elsewhere1.

Another objective was to study total particulate concentrations in near surface air. Thus sites were chosen so that no industrial sources of pollution were within the immediate vicinity of each sampler. Identical equipment was installed near Brisbane and Townsville in Queensland, Sydney in New South Wales, Melbourne in Victoria, and Hobart in Tasmania, to obtain a wide latitudinal distribution (see Figure 1). During August 1972 the network was extended to the north by the installation of equipment near Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea.

T h e f i r s t 18 m o n t h s o f measurements of the total particulate loading of near surface air at the six locations in Eastern Australia and Papua New Guinea were reported earlier2. Thepresent study summarises the five years of data now available (1971 to 1976). Mean particulate concentrations are compared with results from other countries and the data are examined for annual variations and long term trends.

Sampling Sites and Experimental Procedures Preference was given to grassed open areas for each installation. Where this was not possible the high volume samplers were placed on the tops of multi-storey buildings to avoid the effects of local wind-blown surface

40

dust. All sites are described in Table 1. Each of the air samplers has remained in its original position throughout the five year period of this study except for the Townsville unit which was shifted to a new, though similar site in August 1975, due to the relocation of the field station of the Physics Department, James Cook University.

The high volume samplers are designed for continuous operation in temperate or tropical conditions and have been fully described by Haye3. The sampling intakes are about 1.5 m above surface level. Air is drawn through the filters at a rate of about 50 m3/hr for weekly periods, the samples normally being collected each Monday. The filters are pre­loaded into quick-change holders inside the laboratory.

Each filter is cut from polystyrene material (Microsorban special grade 99/98S), which effectively retains particles larger than about 0.2μm diameter4. The cut edges are sealed to prevent loss of the inner filter material. Although abnormally large particles are not drawn into the sampling system, another study4 has shown that some particles in excess of 100μm have been collected.

Prior to their dispatch to the operating stations, the filters are allowed to come into equilibrium with s t a n d a r d c o n d i t i o n s of temperature (20°C) and relative humidity (45%) and then weighed at the c e n t r a l l a b o r a t o r y near Melbourne. Immediately after expo­sure the filters are returned to the cen­tral laboratory in pre-supplied boxes for re-weighing under standard conditions. Flow rates through the filter are measured, usually daily, using an orifice plate and manometer system. Each sampler is calibrated, usually annually, using a hot-wire anemometer and a graded series of test filters.

Total particulate concentration is calculated from the mass difference (typically about 0.5 gm) and the

Clean Air / August, 1977

TABLE 1: Details of Locations and Operating Agencies of the Surface Air Sampling Network of CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Physics.

Station

Hobart

Melbourne

Sydney

Brisbane

Townsville

Port Moresby

Site

Sandy Bay (4 km to S of city centre)

Aspendale (30 km to SE of city centre)

Epping (16 km to S of city centre)

St Lucia (4 km to S of city centre)

Prior to August 1975-Upper Ross (10 km to SW of city centre) After August 1975-Douglas (9 km to SSW of city centre)

Waigani (11 km to NE of city centre)

Lat.

43°S

38°S

34°S

27°S

19°S

9.5°S

Long. Agency

147°E Physics Department, University of Tasmania

145°E CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Physics

151°E CSIRO Division of Cloud Physics

153°E Physics Department, University of Queensland

147°E Physics Department, James Cook University of North Queensland

9.5°S 147°E Physics Department, University of Papua New Guinea

Location

On the roof of Physics Building

Grassed area of Divisional grounds

Grassed area of Divisional grounds

On the roof of Physics Building

Grassed area surrounded by natural scrub

Grassed area surrounded by natural scrub

Grassed area surrounded by natural scrub

volume of air sampled, obtained from the flow rate and the sampling period, and expressed as μ g/m3. Previous tests indicate that the ac­curacy of measurement of par­ticulate concentration depends main­ly on the accuracy of the determina­tion of the volume of air sampled. Although measurements of the flow rate are usually made each day at most of the sampling stations, the volume determination is estimated to be accurate to about 5%

40°h

120" 130° 140° 150°

Longitude — East

FIGURE 1. Locations of air sampling sta­tions in Eastern Australia and Papua New Guinea.

Clean A i r / A u g u s t , 1977

Results and Discussion

For the 5 years of results considered in this paper, monthly, seasonal and annual means of total particulate concentrations in air have been c a l c u l a t e d from the weekly gravimetric determinations. The an­nual means for each sampling site are listed in Table 2. The table also shows the long term means for the 5 year period studied, and the number of weeks of data included in each mean. A complete five year record is available except for a short period of data loss at Townsville when the sampler was blown over and flooded during cyclonic conditions in December 1971, and two short periods at Port Moresby caused by in­strumental difficulties in September 1973 and July 1974. The long term mean particulate concentrations measured at the sampling sites in Hobart (26.8μg/m 3) and Port Moresby (25.5μg/m3) are lower than t h o s e o b t a i n e d a t t h e other network stations (38.9 to 56.0μg/m3). This is not surprising as the other stations are in the environs of large cities on the Australian mainland, whereas Hobart and Port Moresby are less industrial cities close to large areas of forest. Compared to measurements made overseas, all of the means listed in Table 2 are low. Typical mean annual values of total particulate concentration in North

American and European urban areas are in the range 60 to 200 g/m3. 5,6

No long-term trends in concentra­tion are apparent at the Hobart, Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane sta­tions. Downward trends are apparent at the sites near Townsville and Port Moresby. There have been no ob­vious changes in vegetation or in local sources of pollution near either the Townsville or the Port Moresby sampling stations. It is unlikely that the relocation of the Townsville air sampler in August 1975 contributed to the apparent downward trend in particulate concentration. The weekly values obtained from this unit for some time before and after relocation were at a similar level. The trends may be due, in part, to the effects of the higher than average rainfall which occurred at Townsville in 1973, 1974 and 1975, and at Port Moresby in 1973, 1975 and 1976. Townsville, Brisbane and Port Moresby are the only network stations where rainfall is significantly correlated with par­ticulate concentrations in air. At Townsville a correlation coefficient of -0.530, significant at the 1 % level, is found between monthly rainfall values and monthly means of par­ticulate concentration for the five year period of this study. At Port Moresby a correlation coefficient of -0.321, significant at the 5% level, is found for the four year period of data available from this site.

41

TABLE 2: Total Particulate Concentrations in Air at Network Stations ( i n / g / m 3 ) . Annual and Long-Term Means (1971 to 1976) are listed. The number of weeks of data used in the long-term means is listed as n.

Station

Hobart

Melbourne

Sydney

Brisbane

Townsville

Port Moresby

1971

21.2 (Sept. to Dec.)

41.6 (Aug. to Dec.)

55.4 (Aug. to Dec.)

51.5 (Aug. to Dec.)

56.3 (Aug. to Dec.)

—

1972

25.8

44.8

55.2

37.8

51.6

39.6 (Aug. to Dec.)

1973

26.4

39.4

56.1

42.2

35.3

34.6

1974

31.7

42.1

56.5

49.9

38.3

28.5

1975

28.6

52.2

55.5

42.9

35.3

16.7

1976

21.2 (Jan. to Aug)

42.4 (Jan. to Aug)

57.6 (Jan. to Aug)

31.5 (Jan. to Aug)

23.6 (Jan. to Aug)

15.6 (Jan. to Aug)

Long Term

26.8

44.1

56.0

42.3

38.9

25.5

n

259

264

264

264

259

197

Analysis of the chemical composi­tion of the collected particulates may identify any changes in the sources of local pollutants and may possibly provide an explanation for the long-term trends in total particulate loading of the air. A preliminary study of the concentrations of several heavy metals collected on a small number of Hobart filters indicated that quite high levels may be associated with a particular source7. More data are required to see if the apparent long-term downward trends in particulate concentration are a continuing feature.

The seasonal means (Spring being the months September through November, Summer being December through February, Autumn being March through May, and Winter be­ing June through August) of par­ticulate concentration at each site are presented as a time series in Figure 2, the southern sites being shown in part (a) and the northern sites in (b). No regularly occurring annual cycle is ap­parent at any of the stations over the five year period. This is in agreement' with a study which reported five earlier years of particulate data at the Aspendale site near Melbourne4. The study of the first 18 months of net­work measurements reported an ap­parent tendency for highest concen­trations of particulates to occur in Autumn at the three southernmost stations2. This feature is not sup­ported by the five years of data now available, though there is a tendency for higher values of seasonal means to occur in Summer or Autumn at the Sydney site. Comparatively high in­dividual weekly values of concentra­tion occur in all seasons at all sites.

Some correlation between par­ticulate concentrations at the sampl­ing stations is apparent in Figure 2.

Long-term correlation coefficients between weekly values of particulate concentration at all stations have been calculated. All statistically significant correlations, and the levels of significance, are listed in Table 3. Those correlations show positive rela­tionships between the concentrations at adjacent stations. The only statistically significant long-term cor­relation found between the northern and southern stations shows a negative relationship between concen­tration levels at Melbourne and Port Moresby. These results are in substantial agreement with those reported in the previous network study2. The importance of air trajec­tories has been extensively discussed in several reports using data similar to those presented here 2 , 4 , 8 . If it is ac­cepted that wind direction is relevant, then synoptic situations and their latitudinal extent will have a signifi­cant effect on the levels of particulate concentration. Thus it is not surpris­ing that positive correlations are found between adjacent stations. An indication of the amount of influence of the positions and strengths of local sources of pollution awaits the analysis of the chemical composition of the collected particulates referred to earlier in this report.

Following Pittock9, who examined correlations between the monthly mean latitude of the high-pressure belt, L, and various atmospheric parameters, correlation coefficients have been calculated between the monthly means of particulate concen­tration at each station and L over the five year period of this study. The results, and the levels of significance, are listed in Table 4. The correlation coefficients are statistically signifi­cant at four stations, the coefficients being positive for the southern sta­

tions and negative for the northern stations. High values of L result in high rainfall at the northern stations9

where, as is shown earlier, particulate concentrations are negatively cor­related with rainfall. The mean latitude of the high pressure belt dur­ing the five year period is 33.6°S, i.e. between Sydney (34°S) and Brisbane (27°S). The effects of local sources of pollution may explain the weak cor­relation found between particulate concentrations and L at the southern stations, particularly as the concen­trations and rainfall are only poorly correlated at the southern stations.

CONCLUSIONS Results from the first five years of operation of a network of high volume air samplers set up at five locations in the environs of large cities along the Eastern Australia coast and at one location in Papua New Guinea are presented in this study. The annual means of total par­ticulate concentration in near surface air during the period 1971 to 1976 are between 20 and 60μg/m' for the four mainland stations. Lower values are obtained at the Hobart and Port Moresby sites. Mean valuesr at all of the network locations are low com­pared with measurements made in North America and Europe.

No long-term trends in particulate concentration are observed at the sites near Hobart, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, but downward trends are apparent at Townsville and Port Moresby. It is possible that higher than average rainfall at these two sites during the period of this study may have contributed to these trends. No regularly occurring annual cycles are apparent in the five years of data presented for the six loca­tions.

42 Clean Air/August, 1977

TABLE 3: Significant Correlations (r) found between Particulate Concentrations at Network Stations, 1971 to 1976. The number of weekly data pairs is listed as n, and the levels of statistical significance are listed as p.

Station pairs

Hobart-Melbourne

Melbourne-Sydney

Sydney-Brisbane

Brisbane-Townsville

Townsvi l le-Port Moresby

Melbourne-Port Moresby

r + 0.187

+ 0.354

+ 0.225

+ 0.311

+ 0.283

-0.272

n 259

264

264

259

197

197

P

1%

1%

1%

1%

1%

1%

Particulate concentrations at adja­cent stations are positively correlated, while a negative relationship is sometimes found between southern and northern stations. Significant correlations are found between the monthly mean latitude of the high pressure belt and particulate concen­trations at four of the sites. These results support previous studies which had suggested that particulate levels were influenced by wind direction which is, in turn, influenced by the latitude of the high pressure belt.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to Mr B.B. Hicks who initiated the air sampling program and to Mr B. Turner who constructed the air samplers. The co-operation of many members of the staffs of the Physics Departments of the Univer­sities at Port Moresby, Townsville, Brisbane and Hobart and of CSIRO Divisions of Cloud Physics, Sydney, and A t m o s p h e r i c P h y s i c s , Melbourne, is much appreciated. Without their support, this program would not have been possible. Dr A.B. Pittock provided the high pressure belt latitude data.

References 1 Hicks, B.B. and Goodman, H.S., Tellus,

29,182-188(1977). 2 Goodman, H.S. and Hicks, B.B., Clean

Air, 7,25-28(1973). 3 Haye, N.R., Clean Air, 7, 67-68 (1973). 4 Hicks, B.B., Australian Meteorol. Mag.,

21, 19-28(1973). 5 U.S. Department of Health, Education

and Welfare. Air quality criteria for par­ticulate matter, Summary and Conclu­sion. Repr. from National Air Pollution Cont ro l A d m i n i s t r a t i o n R e p o r t , February, 12-14(1969).

6 Junge, C.E., Air chemistry and radioactivity, Academic Press, New York and London, p. 359 (1963).

7 Goodman, H.S., Noller, B.N., Pearman G.I. and Bloom, H., Clean Air, 10, 38-41 (1976).

8 Galbally, I.E. and Goodman, H.S., Atmos. Env., 6, 409-418(1972).

9 Pittock, A.B., Quart J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc., 99,424-437(1973).

TABLE 4: Correlation Coefficients (r) bet­ween Monthly Averaged Particulate Con­centrations and the Latitude of the High Pressure Belt, L. The number of data pairs is listed as n, and the levels of statistical signicance are listed as p.

Station

Hobart

Melbourne

Sydney

Brisbane

Townsville

Port Moresby

r

+ 0.080

+ 0.222

+ 0.182

-0.467

-0.432

-0.329

n

58

59

59

59

57

46

P

> 1 0 %

10%

> 1 0 %

1 %

1 %

2%

43

A SIMPLE SOLUTION TO THE INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE POLLUTION PROBLEM

P.L. Spedding

Is it possible to meet current pollution control standards in Australia for motor cars without incurring fuel penalties, cold starting problems, poor driveability and reduced vehicle life? The author describes a carburettor modification — a venturi air bleed — which results in better fuel vapourisation which has this result. Side benefits are better fuel economy and engine life.

Professor Spedding is in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Auckland, New Zealand. He was one of the early workers in air pollution whilst a post-graduate student at the University of New South Wales, and has maintained his interest since then.

Introduction The Normal petrol fuelled internal combustion engine operates on a mixture of air, vaporised fuel and fuel droplets. Large fuel droplets cause a number of adverse effects on the engine performance mainly through mal­distribution and stratification of the air/fuel mixture in the inlet manifold system and the cylinders. In the normal multi-cylinder engine, maldistribution and stratification is such as to cause the end cylinders in the engine block to be fed a rich mixture while the other centre cylinders end up being fed a lean mixture. Thus engine performance and life suffers. If the fuel could be properly atomised or vaporised so as to eliminate maldistribution and stratification, the engine performance would be improved substantially. Liimatta et al. (1) and others (2) have reported the results on engine performance of better fuel prepa­ration. Ogasawara et al. (3) claim that better fuel preparation provides a more reactive mixture in the combustion zone. Thus for a given air/fuel ratio the combustion process would be more complete at the end of the combustion stroke. Also the provisions of a more reactive mixture would allow the engine to be run on the lean side without combustion being prolonged beyond the cylinder. With the normal engine a lean mixture results in combustion being prolonged thus leading to burnt out exhaust valves.

While this is far from novel, it is not in accord with the current weight of anti-pollution research. Most of the interest is centred around cleaning up the gases in the exhaust system by catalytic combustion or thermal pro­cesses or by adding air. These exhaust gas improvement systems have been shown to work and are currently used on most anti-pollution vehicles. But it is more logical in the current fuel crisis to burn the fuel more efficiently in the cylinder so that its energy can be more fully harnessed and the formation of pollutants avoided.

Other approaches to pollution con­trol are to modify the combustion

process and chamber, to totally redesign the engine, or to use alternative fuels and power sources. While undoubtedly these latter methods of pollution con­trol are the eventual answer in motor vehicles, it will require considerable effort and cost to effect the optimum solution. Further, there will be an appreciable time delay before these approaches are available and actually contribute to a reduction in motor vehicle pollution. Even then it will be a number of years beyond that point before the full benefits of these develop­ments are realised as the current units are replaced or phased out.

The only practical way to tackle the motor vehicle pollution problem immediately is to provide a simple retrofit device which can be quickly and easily fitted to an operating vehicle. This presents difficulties, mainly through the sheer magnitude of the number of motor cars involved, but it is workable. It appears to be more logical to solve motor vehicle pollution by changing the air and fuel fed to the engine even if only to relieve the load on any other anti-pollution device which may be used, such as the catalytic converter. This indeed is not a unique view as has been pointed out elsewhere (4,5,6) .

Better fuel preparation results in more complete combustion within the cylinders, and hence -reduces both the fuel usage and the concentration of pollutants in the exhaust (7-12). More­over, it has been shown to be possible to operate such an engine on higher air/ fuel ratios than normal with a further reduction in pollutant concentration in the exhaust without loss of driveability (13-16). Thus, as an extension of this basic reasoning, work was undertaken to develop a simple device which when fitted to an operating vehicle will reduce pollution without adverse side effects.

Modified Low Emission Carburettor A carburettor modification was develop­ed suitable for fitting to the normal GMH and Ford 6 cylinder engine which

44 Clean Air / August, 1977

meets many of the criteria above. One variant of the unit is illustrated in Fig. 1 and consisted of a second venturi located directly under the carburettor. Additional air is added either as second­ary air through a vacuum-controlled valve located at the throat of the second venturi, as shown (Fig. 1), or the air/ fuel ratio is altered so that additional air is taken in through the air cleaner. In operation, the addition of extra primary air is easier, although in practice, the secondary air addition is preferred.

The unit is designed for the follow­ing: first, the second venturi provides a region of low pressure through which the air/fuel mixture is passed. Second, extra air is added to increase the degree of combustion. The fuel droplets in the air/fuel mixture vapourise more com­pletely and suffer a degree of flash atomisation as they are subjected to the low pressure region at the throat of the second venturi. Thus large droplets of liquid fuel are eliminated from the inlet feed to the engine ensuring a more homogeneous mixture for the engine.

Within the combustion zone, the mass and heat transfer operations and the combustion reactions act more quickly and in a different manner. Figure 2 shows a droplet of liquid fuel burning in a cylinder. The shape of the combusting gas zone around the droplet is due to the airstream flowing past the droplet. Initially the flame front of the burning gaseous air/fuel mixture passes by the droplet leaving it suspended as a drop of liquid fuel in an environment of hot flue gases. To get the liquid fuel to burn, heat must be transferred through

the boundary layer of gas surrounding the droplet. This heat is used to evaporate the liquid which then must pass as a gas through the boundary layer and meet oxygen from the air in order for combustion to proceed on the peri­phery of the liquid droplet. Thus heat is transferred inwards to the liquid surface while gaseous fuel vapour is transferred outwards countercurrently to the com­bustion zone. As this takes time, so in the normal engine a certain amount of combustion takes place beyond the cylinder in the exhaust stroke even ignoring the effect of additional air in the exhaust environment. As the drop­lets are reduced in size, or indeed eliminated, so the combustion process is speeded up and almost all of it is complete with the passing of the initial flame front in the cylinder.

The air admitted to the system by the unit can be used in the cylinder if the reaction rate is speeded up by vapourisation and atomisation of the fuel. In the normal engine, any addition­al air would cause combustion to pro­ceed at the outlet valves thus causing them to burn out, but by keeping the mixture rich, the combustion can be held up until the exhaust gases en­counter additional air in the exhaust system. Better preparation of the fuel by use of the second venturi means that the combustion in the cylinder is vastly improved to that occurring in the normal car and allows for a more complete reaction.

Results The modification unit was tested by

fitting it to operating stock cars,. Vehicles under test were first checked to ensure all engine components, par­ticularly the fuel and electrical systems and the tyres, conformed to the manu­facturer's specification. Also the car­burettor was set to the requirements laid down by the manufacturer before any test work was done. If road tests were performed the stock car was run for at least 500 km by one driver to check on all aspects of the car's opera­tion.

Emission tests were done according to the procedures and driving cycles laid down under the U.S. Federal 1970 test procedure, the Australian Design Rule ADR 27 (ECE 15 test) procedure, and the ADR (U.S. Federal test 1973) pro­cedure. The device shown in Fig. 1 was then fitted to the vehicle without alter­ing any settings. To do this the air cleaner and the carburettor hold-down bolts were removed and the carburettor lifted off. The unit was then slipped in under the carburettor and the whole rebolted down. The air cleaner then was replaced. The vehicle was driven over 160 km of road in order to run in the unit and the motor car then tested in an identical fashion to that of the stock car. Fuel economy tests were done on the highway on the same vehicle using the same driver with and without the device. Bench tests were done on an engine set to the manufacturer's specifi­cation in the normal way.

The results of the U.S. Federal 1970 tests for the venturi air bleed unit are detailed in Table 1. The results of the tests following the Australian ADR 27 and ADR 27A procedure are given in

Clean Air / August, 1977 45

TABLE 1. Average Concentration and the Reduction in Tail-pipe Pollution from Motor Vehicles Fitted with the Venturi Air Bleed Unit

Vehicle

Make

GM Holden GM Holden BMC Marina BMC Mini

Engine Size litre 3.0 3.0 1.75 1.0

Compression ratio 9.4/1 9.4/1 9.1/1 8.3/1

Cylinders

6 6 4 4

Meterage (Kilometers)

6,400 7,400 9,600

20,600 Average

CO | H/C

ppm

3000 3730 2300 2760 2950

% Reduction

90.0 88.0 90.0 92.0 90.0

ppm

260 257

95 150 190

% Reduction

76.0 77.0 82.0 79.0 78.5

NO

ppm

30 37 30 39 34

% Reduction

91 90 90 89 90

Table 2. Additional work showed that the venturi air bleed unit removed car­bon build up from the engine and exhaust system, increased both drive-ability and total power output, gave more smooth running conditions and easy cold starting, achieved a fuel saving of 10-30% and reduced the octane number requirements of the motor. In addition, there was a noticeable lower­ing of the exhaust gas temperature and a 10% increase in air intake. Discussion The results detailed in Table 1 followed the U.S. Federal test (1970) procedures and therefore can be criticised in that they are not accurate in the absolute sense but they do provide a reasonable measure of the relative reduction in pollution which was achieved using the unit. The test results in Table 1 show that the venturi air bleed gave a signifi­cant reduction in all tail-pipe pollutants. Independent test work by other organi­sations has confirmed these results (17-18).

The first series of tests (Table 1), while of interest, did not give any positive indication as to how the unit performed with regards to the current U.S. limits. Consequently, the results for the venturi air bleed were confirmed by independent tests carried out by Bendix Corporation of Australia.

The first series of tests shown in Table 2 were carried out following the Australian ADR 27 procedure, which is the same as the ECE 15 test. The maximum allowable levels for the tests are 152 g for carbon monoxide and 10.1 g for hydrocarbons per test. It is observed therefore, that the device meets these requirements with ease. The second series of tests shown in Table 2 were carried out following the Austra­lian ADR 27A procedure which is the same as the U.S. Federal 1973 test procedure. The maximum allowable levels which applied up until the end of 1974 for these tests are 2.1 g/km for hydrocarbon emissions, 24.2 g/km for carbon monoxide and 1.9 g/km for nitrogen oxides. The results show that the device meets the requirements of the U.S. Federal emission levels for 1974.

All these results were obtained with the unit illustrated in Fig. 1, which has a fixed throat dimension, designed to compromise between the various driving modes encountered in the light load, short run city traffic conditions. The unit will not give optimum results for continuous country driving. Ideally a venturi of variable throat size is required to give optimum low level emissions under the various driving modes of the motor car, including very heavy load conditions. Such a design was built and was tested, and gave pollution emissions for the U.S. Federal test (1974) pro­cedure of 5.26-2.08 g/km for carbon monoxide, 0.35-0.25 g/km for hydro­carbons and 0.94-0.67 g/km for nitro­gen oxides. These emissions are well within the requirement laid down by the test procedure. However the unit is bulky and requires some skill to fit and adjust on an operating motor car.

Other systems have also been de­veloped which, while giving better re­sults than the unit of Fig. 1 do not have the ability to be fitted easily by un­skilled personnel to a motor car without any adjustment to the other parts of the carburettor and engine. One such unit was a second venturi with a fixed orifice secondary air bleed which drew air from the air cleaner. In this case the jet in the carburettor needs to be altered to give acceptable operation and pollution re­duction. Another approach is to com­bine the simple unit of Fig. 1 with other simple anti-pollution devices to make a more acceptable system. For example, a simple air preheater unit, new designs of spark plug and the use of gaskets which eliminate dead areas in the quench zone of the cylinders (19). When these latter modifications were carried out on the normal 6 cylinder Holden or Ford the pollution emissions for the U.S. Federal 1974 procedure were 12.3-8.2 g/km for carbon monoxide, 0.55-0.34 g/km for hydro­carbons and 1.40-1.30 g/km for nitro­gen oxides. It was felt therefore that while it is possible to get better pollu­tion emission reductions than that given by the simply unit of Fig. 1, through the use of more complex designs, it is

not desirable in the long run. The simple unit has the advantage that it can easily be fitted by unskilled personnel without any adjustment to the motor car.

The venturi air bleed unit simul­taneously suppresses carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides in the engine exhaust. The literature shows this aspect of the unit's operation to be unusual but by no means unique (20-23). Most simple anti-pollution de­vices relying basically on better air/fuel mixing record a rise in nitrogen oxides as, for example, was found by Gompt (24). However, as Matthes and McGill (2) have pointed out, the manner in which mixture preparation is achieved influences emissions and the com­bustion process is not well understood. If the unit has the secondary air bleed removed, the exhaust composition changes dramatically. The carbon monoxide concentration rises to be­tween 6 and 10% by volume while the hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide falls. It would appear that the combustion reactions in the cylinder proceed through a chain commencing with simple oxygenated hydrocarbons and ending up at C02 and H 2 0. The final step of the chain is the reaction of CO to give C0 2 . Thus the venturi acting alone presents a more reactive mixture to the engine forcing the oxidation reaction along the chain of reactions in the time available in the cylinder. In the absence of sufficient oxygen to ensure complete combustion, the reaction must cease at CO. Hence the CO content rises as the mixture preparation is improved and the fuel is made more reactive. The importance of sufficient air to complete the reaction within the cylinder is thus emphasised. However it is well-known that nitrogen oxides are reduced sub­stantially in the presence of high con­centrations of carbon monoxide which compete for the available oxygen. These observations are in line with suggestions made by other workers (25, 26).

There are two other aspects of the engine operation with the venturi air bleed device which need explanation; the supercharging effect and the reduc­tion in exhaust gas temperatures. De­tailed analysis of cumulative samples

46 Clean Air / August, 1977

TABLE 2. Average Concentration and the Reduction in Tail-pipe Pollution from Motor Vehicles Fitted with the Venturi Air Bleed Device

Test

ADR 27 (ECE 15) (ECE 15)

ADR 27A (U.S.A. Federal 1973)

VEHICLE

Cylinders

6

6

CO

g/test

30

41

g/km 17.8

23.7

% Reduction

78.7

77.1

H/C

g/test

5.4

4.9

g/km 1.75

1.83

% Reduction

40.0

49.0

N O x

g/test

g/km 1.63

1.44

% Reduction

N.B.: 3 Ford Falcon (6 cylinder, 3.6 litre engine size, 9.1/1 compression ratio) and 3 GM Holden (6 cylinder, 3.0 litre engine size, 9.4/1 compression ratio) vehicles used.

from the engine show that the super­charging effect is due to increased scavenging. Apparently the venturi air bleed device, partially removes the film of unburnt fuel which accumulates on the walls of the cylinder in the quench zone. In the normal vehicle this film of liquid fuel partially evaporates as the air/fuel mixture is drawn in under vacuum. Thus it limits the amount of air/fuel which is taken into the cylinder by reducing the vacuum created in the cylinder through the normal rotation of the engine. If the film of liquid within the cylinder is removed, evaporation will not occur during the charging stroke and the pressure difference be­tween the cylinder and the outside air will be greater, allowing more air to be drawn into the cylinder.

The venturi air bleed device operates so as to increase the reactivity of the fuel fed to the cylinder' Thus there is an increased amount of reaction taking place within the cylinder where useful work can be extracted from the hot gases. The tendency to burn out valves is reduced as the combustion reaction is confined, in the main, to the cylinders themselves. In the normal vehicle the air/fuel ratio must be kept rich, other­wise the exhaust valves are burnt as the combustion proceeds at the valves them­selves beyond the the cylinders. When the exhaust contacts excess air in the exhaust, manifold combustion proceeds and the exhaust temperature is kept higher than if total combustion proceed­ed in the cylinders themselves.

Detailed bench tests of the operation of the venturi air bleed device have shown that the power developed by the engine at a quarter throttle is increased significantly giving increased driveability and total power. This is important since it is the normal operating region of the motor car. Further, it also allows a reduction in the octane number require­ment of the engine, permitting the use of deleaded fuel. Not only will it enable lead pollution of the environment to be considerably reduced but also cheaper cuts of petrol will be able to be used for motor fuel thus allowing the more volatile lower molecular weight portion to be used in more beneficial ways.

A point which is often overlooked with the use of retrofit devices, and the venturi air bleed unit in particular, is that the normal motor is tuned using a relative method of analysis to give the proper operating conditions set down by the motor car manufacturers. This method operates correctly if the motor car is the same as that produced in the factory. However, the venturi air bleed device alters the mixture preparation

fed to the engine in such a manner that it gives a false reading on the relative air/fuel meter usually used in the garage by the service mechanic. Thus when a motor car fitted with the venturi air bleed device is brought in for service the mechanic assumes from the reading on the air/fuel meter that the car is out of adjustment. On following the instruc­tion book, the mixture is adjusted to very rich, with the result that the car behaves like a kangaroo, has an exces­sive fuel consumption and cokes up. It is advised therefore that before service the venturi air bleed is removed from the motor car. The mechanic then can set the car to the manufacturer's hand­book. After service, the device is placed back on under the carburettor.

Conclusion The experiments outlined have shown that it is possible to incorporate a simple retrofit carburation modification device on the normal operating motor car which will permit the exhaust gases to meet the current pollution require­ments without affecting the engine per­formance and operation. The unit is so simple that any ordinary person can fit it on an existing car. In addition to a reduction in pollution emissions, the device will increase driveability, reduce fuel usage by 10 to 30%, eliminate coking, increase the life of the car engine, and reduce the octane number requirements of the engine.

However, at this time the venturi air bleed unit design has not been com­pletely optimised to give peak perform­ance. In addition we are busy working on another unit which, while giving the same type of improvements, increases fuel economy further, by 60% to 80%. This work will be reported in a sub­sequent paper.

References 1. Liimatta, D.R., Hurt, R.F., Deller, R.W.

and Hull, W.L., SAE Conf. Montreal, Paper No. 710618, June (1971).

2. Matthes, W.R. and McGill, R.N., Paper

No. 760117, SAE Conf., Detroit, Feb. (1976).

3. Ogasawara, M., Takashiro, T., and Fujii, K., Combustion Symp., Tokyo, 10, 124 (1972).

4. E.P.A. Emission Control Division, Rept. 75-5, RBM, July (1974).

5. Barber, E.M. and MacPherson, J.H., SAE Quat. Trans 4(1), 15,(1950).

6. Lawrence, G.L., Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng. 113, 24, (1968-69).

7. Kauffmann, J.C., "Investigation of the influence of gasoline engine induction system parameters on exhaust emis­sions", PhD Thesis, Ohio State Univ. (1972).

8. Ebaran-Eberhorst, R., Mortortech Z. 30 (9), 315 (1969), Automobiltech Z. 74 (11), 425, (1972).

9 De la Traille, R., Sic. Vie (639), 112, (Dec. 1970).

10. Yanagihara, S., Nenryo Kyokaishi 49 (521), 646, (1970).

11. Otto, W., U.S. Pat.3, 537, 829, (1970). 12. Creswick, F.A. et al., Battelle Memorial

Inst., NAPCA Contract No. CPA 22-69-9 (1969), OAP Contract No. CPA 70-20 (1972).

13. Soejima, V. and Yoshida, K., Kogii to Taisaku 2 (2), 85, (1966).

14. Brubacker, M.L., Calif. Air Resources Board, Feb. (1969).

15. Yamazaki, S. et al. U.S. Pat. 3, 566,064 (1971).

16. Kimura, M. and Ohyagi, K., Kokushikau Daiguku Kogakubu Kiyo, 4, 50, (1971).

17. A.D. Farmer. Rep. Exhal Ind. Ltd, (1974).

18. A.J. Madden. Rep. McWade Int. Ltd, (1972).

19. Wentworth, J.T., Comb Sci. and Tech. 4, (2), 97, (1971).

20. Linder, E., Jahnke, H., Latsch, T., Neid-hard, K., Scherenber, D., Symp. Comm. Challenges Mod. Soc., 2, p. 8.1-8.9, (1974).

21. E.P.A. Emission Control Division, Rep. 75-7AW, Aug. (1974); Rep. 75-2AWK July (1974); Rep. 74-19AW (1973).

22. Hollnagel, H.S., U.S. Pat. 3,762,385 (1973).

23. Gompf, H.L., Office of Air Programmes Test and Evaluation Branch Rep. 72-9, APTD - 1393 (1972).

24. Hofbauer, P. Hoffmann, E., Oesterr Ing. Z. 17 (4) 128, (1974).

25. Schwarzbauer, G., Motortech. Z. 35 (8), 255, (1974).

26. Husain, LA., University of Exeter, un­published work, (1974).

27. Inone, K., Yoshizumi, K., Oguchi, K., Odaka, T., Japan Soc. Air Poll. Conf., Fukushima, Paper 79, Nov. (1973).

Clean A i r / A u g u s t , 1977 4 7

Edward T. Linacre METEOROLOGY ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

In choosing a site for a project, or interpreting its environmental impact, there is a need for specialist expertise in considering meteorological factors. These are reviewed, differentiating between the mesoclimate of a region, the topoclimate of the constituent zones and the microclimates of locales. A new method is described for low cost assessment of the wind characteristics of a site. Professor Linacre is the Associate Professor of Climatology, School of Earth Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW, 2113.

1. Environmental Impact A s s e s s m e n t : With a large shop­ping complex, a freeway, an oil refinery or an airport, there are effects which go beyond profitability to its initiator. The community at large is affected also, as regards the economics of the region and the biological, social and physical en­vironment (1). As a consequence, a developer applying for permission to carry out a project has now to show that there are no disproportionate en­vironmental costs. The process of estimating these costs (and the benefits too) is called Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), which culminates in an Environmental Im­pact Statement (EIS). An EIS is now required in America or Australia for many projects, which are either con­troversial, establish an important precedent, determine extensive future developments or involve the co­ordination of several governmental authorities (2).

An environmental impact is the dif­ference between changes that would have occurred anyway and those resulting from the project. It will vary in time; impacts frequently are dif­ferent during the phases of site preparation, construction, operation and site rehabilitation, for example. Such effects become significant if they affect living things, even if only indirectly. Thus changes of fogginess downwind of a cooling tower are im­portant if they hurt or benefit people, fauna or flora, though fogginess is not of interest intrinsically. The iden­tification, measurement, interpreta­tion and communication of relevant impacts are what EIA is about (3).

EIA procedure in Australia has been described and discussed in a recent symposium (4). The procedure has been criticised on several grounds (5-9), but is being improved. It does have the merit of encouraging a de­

veloper to consider environmental consequences right from the begin­ning of the design. If he does not, there may have to be costly modifica­tions later, to comply with the criticisms made by the decision­making authority on examining the EIS. Secondly, the EIS makes explicit (and preferably public) the evidence on which the eventual decision is to be made. This allows discussion of the evidence by others and hence less likelihood of a wrong decision or of expensive public controversy after the event.

In addition to assisting in the design and the decision on particular proposed developments in a given area, the technique of EIA is an in­tegral part of land-use planning in general. In principle it has always been essential to consider the conse­quences on the surroundings, of zon­ing land for industrial use etc, but this aspect of planning has become highlighted by EIA. Ideally, an EIA should be carried out for alternative zoning plans, to allow selection of the best. In practice, this would be done only in a general sense, leaving detail­ed EIA for specific development pro­posals in the context of the general plan.

A third kind of EIA has arisen in America, concerned with the en­vironmental consequences of some policy or activity, and not related to a particular place. Examples would be trail-bike riding, radial freeways, the use of spray-cans, supersonic transport, green bans, and so on. This third kind of EIA is like the others in requiring the skills of various specialists, each able to ap­preciate the insights of the other ex­perts. Successful EIA essentially depends on interdisciplinary co­operation.

It is the purpose of this paper to consider the relationship of the skills of a meteorologist to EIA, in order to

48 Clean Air / August, 1977

help him identify significant impacts and to make non-meteorologists more aware of what he offers. Also the paper clarifies which aspects of meteorology need attention in train­ing people to carry out EIA.

2. Meteorological Impacts The effects of any major develop­ment are numerous and ripple out­wards in space and time. There are consequences to the economics of the nation, of the region and the im­mediate locality. There are social aspects, such as the slicing of com­munities by freeways. And there may be effects on the biological and physical environment, some of which are considered in what follows. The discernment of the different effects demands imagination, the obtaining of ideas from as many people as possible (perhaps including the public at large, as well as concerned organisations), discussion within the EIA team of experts and, if available, experience with similar projects elsewhere. It is regrettable that past completed EIS's are not ac­cumulating in some accessible library available for any one to consult. A stimulus to discerning possible im­pacts is a checklist such as that pro­posed by Leopold, et al. (10), on the excellent manual prepared by Clark, et al. (11). Table 1 indicates meteorological impacts that should be considered, affecting people, creatures or plants.

Impacts listed in Table 1 are separated into those affecting areas of the scales explained in Table 2 and Fig. 1. The regional scale would apply to the entirety of one of the major Australian capitals, for instance, whilst a zone is the area of a valley, coastal strip or hillside. A locale is the smaller unit of a street-corner, a patch of trees, playing field or weather station, for instance.

The table and diagram illustrate how the various scales of climate are related. It is clear that measurements of microclimate winds are only in­direct indications of the zonal winds most important in air-pollution dispersion. Air temperatures near the ground are merely loosely related to the existence of inversions at a few hundred metres, which govern the downwards reflection of noise from a quarry, for instance. Table 2 also shows that a locality's microclimate is susceptible to so many influences that homogeneity is not to be expected beyond a few dozen metres, or less. One of the chief influences is the over-arching topoclimate, which itself is affected by several factors. Zones such as a coastline or a mountain-top have quite different topoclimates, especially in the presence of slope winds or sea b r e e z e s . T h i s m e a n s t h a t measurements in one microclimate may not be assumed to apply within another microclimate, especially if

ground

FIGURE 1. Dimensions typical of a region, zone and locale, respectively.

the latter is far enough away to be in­fluenced by a different topoclimate.

Spatial scales such as those in Table 2 are connected with temporal scales: the larger the scale, the longer the relevant time-span. At one ex­treme, air pollution on the global scale is a slowly accumulating pro­blem resulting from rising population and industrialisation. On the other hand, noise is local and momentary. The scales also relate to the level of government involved in the decision­making for which the EIS is being prepared: higher authorities would be interested in matters of larger scale.

There are three ways in which climate factors relate to a project. First, the practicability or design of the project may depend on climatic features. The prevailing zonal winds affect high-building design a prone-ness to hail in some areas governs the

TABLE 1: Consequences on meteorology resulting from typical projects.

Typical project

High-intensity industry

Urban growth

Industrial complex

Cooling towers

High buildings

Quarry

Affected climate

element

temperature

air's stability

rainfall

air purity

humidity

wind

noisiness

Consequent impacts

region zone

zero

zero

zero

dirt, health, plant-growth, corrosion

zero

zero

zero

zero

pollution dispersion

plant-growth

same*

comfort, visibility

zero

discomfort

locale

discomfort

zero

zero

same*

corrosion

comfort, gust-hazard, soil-erosion, plant-growth

same*

Climate elements

modifying the consequences

local wind, air's stability

zonal wind, sunshine

topography winds

zonal wind, air's stability

zonal wind

local topography, nearby obstructio

zonal wind, air's stability

* same as in the larger area

Clean A i r / August, 1977 49

TABLE 2: Features of climates of various scales

Area(1)

entire globe

part of the globe

region

zone

locale

Extent: km

40,000

400-4,000

20-400

1-20

0-1

Climate

global

synoptic

mesoclimate

topoclimate

microclimate

Components

general circulation

secondary circulations (2)

gradient wind (3), solar radiation, cloudiness, subsidence-inversion (4)

rainfall, stability, 10-150 m winds

net-radiation, screen temperature, humidity, surface wind

Height of layer of horizontal uniformity: metres

over 15,000

1,500-15,0000

300-1,500

10-300

1-10

Controlling meteorological influences

Sun, major mountains, oceans

general-circulation, latitude, continents

secondary-circulation, elevation, season

mesoclimate, topography, advection from upwind, microclimates beneath

topoclimate, aspect, albedo, wetness, roughness, obstructions of the surface, time of day

(1) the names and scales of these areas provide an elaboration subdivisions suggested by previous authors (12). There is no consis­tent nomenclature in the literature on the subject.

(2) secondary circulations include those of cyclonic depressions, anticyclones and fronts. (3) the gradient wind is determined in strength and direction by the pattern of isobars shown in the customary sea-level map of

pressures, but circumstances are more complicated at low latitudes. (4) this is an inversion important in limiting air-pollution dispersion and occurs as a result of air slowly descending in an anticyclone. (5) the lower limit would be higher near tall buildings.

location of glasshouse horiculture,k and cold-air drainage may influence the location of vegetable production. The developer will be concerned with that kind of meteorology for his own sake. Second as regards the environ­mental consequences of the project, the project may affect the climate and this subsequently affect living things directly. Or, thirdly, the project and the climate may combine in parallel to determine the environmental im­pacts. Examples of the latter would be the cutting of a road through a forest, the clearing of topsoil, or pav­ing a large area. These cause little direct impact, but may have impor­tant indirect consequences, depend­ing on the climatic conditions locally. If the orientation of the road to the sun and to the zonal winds is ap­propriate, and the regional winds are dry and strong, the ventilation within the forest may progressively kill it back from the road, from the time that the protective canopy has been breached. Topsoil removal can lead to serious soil erosion, provided that

the region is affected also by frequent and heavy rains or strong winds. Pav­ing a large area by roads, car parks or buildings will enhance the risk of flash floods on lower ground, to the extent that regional rainfalls are heavy.

3. Air Pollution The chief meteorological impact of many projects is the resulting air pollution downwind. The pollutants usually considered are dust, gases such as sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide, toxic metals (e.g. lead), photo-oxidants (which develop in the sunshine, from nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons) and water vapor. The concentrations to be considered de­pend on emission rates now and in the future, and also on the wind strengths and the heights of various inversions. Predictions over at least the next ten years should be attempted.

The pollutants that affect health are not those that most worry or­dinary people. Complaints from the

public chiefly concern smells, visible haze and dust deposition. The last is calculable, at least roughly, but one can estimate the effect of projects on smells and haze only vaguely and by analogy with existing cases. The im­pact of smells depends on the kind, time of emissions, frequency and so on (13). The urban haze may be peculiar to the particular city and c o n t a i n a e r o s o l s c r e a t e d photochemically, with various minor pollutants contributing catalytically.

The importance of the concentra­tion increment expected from a development depends on the nature of the pollutant in question. Sulphur dioxide, for instance, destroys paint­work, weakens fibres, discolours building materials, corrodes metals, injures vegetation, and damages health (especially in conjunction with dust). The impact of a development's emissions of this pollutant is the sum of the costs due to such effects. The effects of pollutants on vegetation have been studied (14, 15) and also the reduction of property values (16).

50 Clean A i r / August, 1977

Recent work on the economic costs of the ill-health or deaths caused by air pollution has shown that an increase of sulphur-dioxide concentrations by 10% may be associated statistically with an increase of death rates by 0.9%. Koshal and Koshal (17) have deduced that halving the air pollution associated with cancer (suspended particulate matter, benzene-soluble organic dusts and radioactive dusts) would reduce cancer mortality by 12%. The economic benefits to the community can be evaluated at least approximately (18).

Different attitudes to air-pollution control exist in America and Britain, respectively, with an intermediate position being taken by Australian authorities. In USA the emphasis is on maintaining a satisfactory air quality, expressed in terms of max­imum acceptable concentrations of pollutants. In UK this concept has been rejected until recently, in favor of persuading polluters to reduce all emissions by the best practicable means. This has meant that both the meteorology which governs the even­tual concentration and the EIA which estimates its importance have been comparatively little considered there. Scorer (19, 20) notably has properly criticised the weaknesses of relying too heavily on particular threshold values of pollution concentration as the starting point for permiting cer­tain rates of pollution emission at some particular place: people differ in their susceptibility, the diluting ventilation alters in space and time, and so on. However the position ap­pears to be changing. A recent UK government report (21) advocated an experimental introduction of EIA, and the Flowers Committee (22) stated "we believe the time has come to focus attention more explicitly and openly on air quality and we recom­mend a system of air quality guidelines for major pollutants". In Australia, EIS are increasingly re­quired federally and in most States, and World Health Organization specifications of acceptable pollutant concentrations (based on American standards) are being more frequently quoted. The chief difference is that in UK and Australia the acceptable concentrations are referred to as guidelines, whereas in USA they have greater force as the basis of planning for the future.

4. Mixing-Layer Depths The concentrations of air pollution downwind of a source depend firstly

(a) ground inversion

(b) elevated inversion

temperature temperature

Figure 2: The temperature difference of an inversion on which depends its effec­tiveness in limiting the vertical dispersion of air pollutants. The heavy lines represent neutral conditions (a fall of temperature by 1°C for each 100 metres elevation) resulting from vigorous convection or wind. The circles indicate alternative levels of pollutant emissions from cars or chimneys. For car emissions from A or chimney emission from B, the limiting temperature difference is •T. For a chimney emission from level C, the upwards barrier is represented by •T' instead of •T, and the downwards barrier by ( • T - • T ' ) . For an emission from D the inversion represents a barrier to downwards con­vection.

on the extent of dispersion upwards and secondly on advection sideways. The latter depends on the zonal winds, considered in the next section, whilst vertical dilution is governed by zonal atmospheric instability, men­tioned in Tables 1 and 2. Instability is a measure of the tendency for the at­mosphere to overturn, as a result of either the buoyancy of warm or moist air near the ground, or of the stirring created by wind. Air with relatively cold air below is stable, like water beneath oil, whereas solar heating of the ground in the daytime warms the adjacent air and creates instability, leading to vertical convection of air pollutants. The stirring caused by wind leads to neutral conditions, be­tween stability and instability.

An inversion layer of the at­mosphere is cooler at the base than at the top, so that there is no tendency for thermal convection and any ver­tical stirring is caused only indirectly by the horizontal zonal or regional wind. The inhibition of vertical mo­tion within an inversion separates the atmosphere above it from that below, so the layer acts as a boundary to pollution on either side. The im­permeability of the inversion barrier depends on the temperature dif­ference (• T) shown in Fig. 2.

There are several kinds of inversion layer, some of which can exist at the same time. A "radiation inversion" may occur near the ground during the night and early morning, extending up to 150 metres or so (Fig. 2(a)). It results from nocturnal cooling of the ground beneath clear skies, and disappears when the surface is heated by the Sun. Pollution released into

the layer is not dispersed vertically, so concentrations remain undiluted. Ground-level pollution may be releas­ed by cars, but fortunately there are relatively few cars about during the night.

Another nocturnal and early-morning type of inversion, which similarly reaches down to the ground, occurs in a closed valley such as the Hawkesbury River Valley near Sydney. Such a valley is closed by a narrow defile, through which the river runs. So cold air lying in the valley bottom is unable to flow out to sea and an inversion occurs at the top of the ponded air (23) at a height which depends on the topography. The inversion depth in the Hawkesbury Valley is limited partly by overflowing of the cold air into the Parramatta River Valley over a saddle at about 80 m elevation.

Below the stable layer of an inver­sion there may be a layer of air mixed by convection due to buoyancy or wind. This "mixing layer", beneath a radiation inversion or a ponded-cold-air inversion, may be only a few metres deep at night. It would be created by the turbulence of traffic movement and surface irregularities, perhaps enhanced by low-level con­vection caused by a city's warmth (24). The mixing layer below any such inversion grows upwards from the ground during the morning, as a result of local and then zonal convec­tion caused by the Sun's heating of the ground. However, the layer may still be only shallow at the time that pollution from cars is a maximum, during the rush-hour to work. So the pollutants are then released into a

Clean A i r / August, 1977 51

small volume of the atmosphere, and thus remain fairly concentrated.

Another kind of inversion occurs whilst cold air is draining downhill from nearby hills. The inversion ex­ists between the top of the flow of cold air and the topoclimate above, but the cold air's motion creates good stirring near the ground. Such a situa­tion is probably common in open valleys which carry cold air away from adjacent high ground, at night and in the early morning. It has been reported by Hawke et al (25) that the mixing layer is about 100-150 m deep (Fig. 2(b)) in the Parramatta River Valley.

A fourth sort of inversion occurs when a Seabreeze introduces relatively cold air under regional air. This is a daytime process and results in an in­version at about 300 m elevation, perhaps. But this is not a serious limit to the spread of pollution, because the latter is dispersed laterally by the Seabreeze beneath.

Fifth, a subsidence inversion com­monly exists at some height around 1000 m, whenever anticyclonic con­ditions prevail. It exists day and night, but tends to be higher in the afternoon. The frequency of such an inversion varies with the season. At Glastone, for instance, such inver­sions occur more often in winter than in summer (26) because of the greater prevalence of anticyclones at that latitude in mid-year. The mixing-layer is less than 1000 m on 23 days in August as against 10 days in April. At Laverton (Vic.) the layer is below 1000 m on 6-15% of days and below 1500 m on about 24% of days (27) but at that latitude the frequencies are greater in summer than in winter.

An inversion layer reduces the dilu­tion of air pollutants in two ways. Firstly, the layer confines low-level emissions beneath it. Secondly, it decouples the mixing layer from the regional wind, so that the low-level winds are less vigorous and hence less effective in dispersing pollution sideways. On the other hand, an in­version reduces the environmental impact when pollution is released above the inversion: it shields the ground by preventing descent of the pollution (28).

Suitably high release of the pollu­tion is achieved by the tall chimneys now being built, (as much as 300 metres high) and by the additional buoyancy given by the plume's warmth. The sum of chimney height plus the lift due to buoyancy is the "effective height" of the ostensible

origin of the plume. It is this effective' height which has to be considered as the level of emission in Fig. 2. The concentrations at groun level (GLC) depend on the square of the effective height, so a modest error in calculating the height of plume rise above the stack greatly affects the calculated concentrat ion. The calculation of plume rise can be made in various ways, which unfortunately yield answers differing by as much as a factor of 10(29). The best method may be that of Moses & Kraimer (30).

If the effective height lies within an inversion layer, the pollution rests at that layer till daytime heatring of the ground extends the mixing layer to the effective height. Then there is a sudden stirring of the undiluted pollutant down to the ground, called "fumigation" (31, 32). This may greatly increase the GLC for half an hour or so, at a distance of 10-30 km downwind, for example. To estimate the likelihood of such an impact from the chimney's emissions it is clearly necessary to estimate inversion heights (preferably from a record of radiosonde ascents) and effective height (33) .

To be continued in next issue.

References 1. Munn, R.E. (ed.) Environmental Impact

Assessment: Principles and Procedures. SCOPE Report 5, Toronto (UNESCO) ppI73(1975).

2. Mahoney, J.R. and Spengler, J.D. Meteorological content of Environmental Impact Statements in D.A. Haugen, 275-292(1975).

3. Warner, M.L. and Preston, E.H. A review of EIA methodologies (U.S. En­vironmental Protection Agency) (1974).

4. Linacre, E.T. (ed.) Impact Assessment. Search 7,227-274(1976).

5. Adler, C.A. Ecological Fantasies: Death from Falling Watermelons (Green Eagle Press, New York) (1972).

6. Westman, W.E. Environmental impact statements — boon or burden? Search 4, 465-470(1973).

7. Hogg, D. 1975 Impact statement on im­pact statements. Search 6, 47-48.

8. O'Brien, B.J. Environmental Impact Statements and a Psh-Me-Pull-You approach. Science 7, 264-266 (1976).

9. Schindler, D.W. The impact statement boondoggle. Science 192, 509 (1976).

10. Leopold, L.B., Clarke, F.E., Hanshaw, B.B. and Balsley, J.R. A procedure for evaluating environmental impact . Geological Survey Circular 645 (U.S. Government Printing Office) p p 1 3 (1971).

11.Clark, B.D., Chapman, K., Bisset, R. and Watheen, P. Assessment of Major in­dustrial Applications: a Manual (UK Dept of the Environment) ppl70 (1976).

12. Johnson, W.B. and Ruff, R.E. Observa­tional systems and techniques in air pollu­tion meteorology, in D.A. Haugen 243-274(1975).

13. Fraser, J.A. and Day, D.C. Receptor reaction to odour-stress: a paradigm and methodological exploration. Atmos. En­viron. 10, 151-157(1976).

14. Linzen, S.N. (ed.) Impact of Air Pollu­tion on Vegetation, conference of 7-9 April, Toronto (Air Management Branch, 880 Bay St., Toronto) (1970).

15. O'Connor, J.A. Parberry, D.G. and Strauss, W. The effects of phytotoxic gases on native Australian plant species. Environ. Pollut. 1 Acute effects of sulphur dioxide, 7, 7-23 (1974). II Acute injury due to ozone, 9, 181-192(1975).

16. Anderson, R.J. and Crocker, T.D. Air pollution and residential property values. Urban Studies 8, 171 -180 (1971).

17. Koshal, R.K. and Koshal, M. Air pollu­tion and cancer: an econometric approach. Clean Air 10, 19-22(1976).

18. Lave, L.B. and Seskin, E.P. Air pollu­tion, climate and home heating: their ef­fects on U.S. Mortality. .4mer. Jour. Public Health 62, 909-916 (1972).

19. Scorer, R.S. Air Pollution (Pergamon) pp. 151 (1968).

20. Scorer, R.S. New attitudes to air pollu­tion — the technical basis of control. At­mos. Environ. 5, 903-934 (1971) and 7, 228-229(1973).

21. Callow, J. & Thirlwall, C.G. En­vironmental Impact Analysis (UK Dept of Environment) ppl 16(1976).

22. Flowers, B. (chairman) Royal Commis­sion on Environmental Pollution 5th Report. Air pollution control: an in­tegrated approach. (HM Stationery Of­fice) pp130 (1976).

23. Richardson, B.J. and Linacre, E.T. At­mospheric stability in the Hawkesbury River Valley in winter. Aust. Geog. Studies, in press (1977).

24. Leahey, D.M. An application of a simple advective pollution model to the city of Edmonton. Atmos. Environ. 9, 817-824 (1975).

25. Hawke, G.S., Hyde. R., Linacre, E.T. and McGrath, C.A. Sydney's winds and air pollution. Proc. Environment '75 Sytnp., Sydney. (New South Wales Pollu­tion Control Commission), 19-34 (1975).

26.Tapp, R., The potential for air pollution in Gladstone, Queensland. (Univ. of Melbourne Meteo ro logy Dept.) Publ. No. 20, pp49(1976).

27. Daniel, B.F. Climatological and synoptic-aspects of air-pollution potential in Melbourne, in Proc. Internal. Clean Air Conf., Melbourne 15-18 May (Clean Air Soc. of Aust. and New Zealand), 31-38 (1972).

28. Llewelyn, R.P. The application of plume models. Symp. on Air Pollution Diffu­sion Modelling, 18-20 August, Canberra (Australian Environment Council) pp23 (1976).

29. Briggs, G.A. Plume-rise prediction, in Haugen, D.A.,59-111 (1975).

30. Moses, H. and Kraimer, W.R. Plume-rise determination — a new technique without equations. Jour. Air Polln. Control. Assoc. 22, 621-30(1972).

31. Lyon, W.A. and Cole, H.S. Fumigation and plume trapping on the shores of Lake Michigan during stable onshore flow. J. Appl. Meteor. 12.494-510 (1973).

32. Lyons, W.A. Turbulent diffusion and pol lu tant t r an spo r t in shore l ine environments, in Haugen, D.A., 136-208 (1975).

33. Turner, D.B. Workbook of Atmospheric Dispersion Estimates (U.S. Public Health Service Publ. 99-AP-26) pp84 (1970).

52 Clean A i r / August, 1977

FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CLEAN AIR CONGRESS, TOKYO 1977

Any single participant in the 1977 Clean Air Congress must come away with rather a limited impression of what the conference had to offer. The working part of the conference only lasted four and a half days and, dur­ing that time, something like two hundred and seventy three papers had been given in six sessions which were generally held in parallel. Overlayed on this were the three technical excur­sions to the National Institute for Pollution and Resources, the Air Pollution Monitoring Centre of the Kanagawa Prefecture and the Kimit-su Works of Nippon Steel Corpora­tion, as well as the main social excur­sion of the conference to Nikko on a festival day. Attendance at any one of these excursions significantly reduced the time left to attend the sessions.

The efficiency of the conference organisation was of the level one ex­pects in Japan, but still is somewhat surprised to find in any country. There were two magnificent recep­tions at the beginning and end of the proceedings and the members of the host nation on both these occasions did an excellent job of circulating and entertaining the guests. My only criticism of the organisation would be that there were rather too many chairmen and co-chairmen and that this caused confusion at times, par­ticularly when a change in these of­ficers occurred four times each day in each session. There were a disappoin­ting number of withdrawals of papers including some from Australia and New Zealand possibly due to the un­fortunate timing of the air line strike in Australia. One might also add the comment that it was hard to see the necessity of using French as an of­ficial language at the conference, thereby greatly increasing the amount of translation going on and the general level of noise.

The conference exhibition was disappointing for the foreign visitor. The exhibitors, almost without excep­tion, were aiming at the Japanese market, which was true even of the Japanese firms.

Technical Sess ions: The sessions in which I had the strongest interest were "Research and Survey for Air Pollution" and "Air Pollution Measurements", where I gave a paper. These two sessions were

relatively small and did not always overlap, so attendance at some papers from both was possible.

Within the air pollution measure­ment session most emphasis was on new methods of measurement in the atmosphere and sampling of stacks. Three separate papers were presented on the validation and accuracy of a range of instruments designed to measure a particular pollutant or range of pollutants. The first, by K.W. Buhne from the Federal Republic of Germany, was on in­struments for measuring hydrocar­bons as total carbon in order to of­ficially validate such instruments so they can be used to provide evidence of emissions from large sources. This is legal requirement in Germany under their Federal Emissions Con­trol Law. The second paper, from H.J. van de Wiel, J.W. Uiterijk and T.A. Rechts from the Ryksinstituit voor de Volks-gezondheid in the Netherlands, was on a study of chemiluminescent monitors for measuring ambient nitrogen oxides. Characteristics of three different monitors were evaluated under similar conditions. The authors found that although chemilumines­cent technology has greatly improved making continuous measurement possible, there still are uncertainties about the N02 to NO conversion method used to determine the concen­tration of NO2. The third evaluation was of SOn and NOn monitors, in this case, the intention of the author, H. Peperstraete, was to set up a remote data handling system, which took i n t o a c c o u n t the i n h e r e n t characteristics of the monitors. These are — vitally important studies, par­ticularly relevant to air quality monitoring where preventative and legislative action is a possible out­come of excessive measured levels. R e p o r t e d c o n c e n t r a t -tions are no better than the limita­tions of the instrument and these have not always been accurately known or reported. Variations between in­struments and their operations have caused much confusion in the past because comparative evaluations have not been carried out.

W. Stober and F.J. Monig reported on further advances on their aerosol mass distribution monitor. This in­genious device uses a spiral duct cen­

trifuge and piezo-electric quartz sen­sors to continuously monitor aerosol mass over a continuum of sizes.

Another development of interest was the solid electrolyte detector studies of Chamber land and Detanger of the Institute of Hydro-Quebec for measuring sulphur bear­ing pollutants in-situ in stacks. They are also looking into the possibility of measuring N02 and C02 using car­bonates and nitrates as solid state detectors.

Session IV has a concentration of papers on photochemical smog research, a phenomenum of par­ticular interest to the Japanese. In fairness, I should say that for the period of the conference, clear air was turned on by our hosts. The in­teresting thing about these papers, which might also be said about the majority of papers presented at the conference, was their practical con­cern with solving air pollution prob­lems. The photo-chemical smog' papers dealt with the areas where there are serious unsolved problems related to smog control; in particular, hydrocarbon reactivity scales, mechanisms of aerosol formation and the role of SO2, in photochemical smog formation. There was a par­ticularly interesting paper by Fox and Wright from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, describing ex­periments on mechanisms of smog formation. The reaction chambers us­ed was a transparent Teflon struc­ture, placed outdoors, so that the natural build-up of sunlight intensity and its decay is used to activate the system. All the instrumentation was located in a laboratory directly underneath the reaction chamber. Reactants were drawn into the chamber before sunrise; reactant disappearance and product formation were followed throughout the day. Of the eleven experiments reported, a secondary ozone peak was observed in seven, which may have some relevance to transport of reactants and the high ozone concentrations observed in rural areas.

In the same session there were also several papers on sulphur dioxide ox­idation, particularly when emissions were associated with metal containing particulates or carbon particles, where the possibility of catalysis of the oxidation exists.

Clean Air / August, 1977 53

I have only discussed here the ses­sions that I attended. However, the main interest of the conference, was in the ares of medical and biological effects, meteorological and diffusion of pollutants, air pollution control and technology and air pollution con­trol planning. The emphasis given to planning indicates one of the most pressing concerns at the present time.

While I was in Japan I was for­tunate in being able to visit a number of research institutions working in air pollution and some teaching institutes with environmental education courses. This was made possible through a generous grant from the Japan-Australia Foundation, which has been set up to foster technical visits contacts between people of similar interests in the two countries.

Of particular interest to the Society is the Aichi Environmental Research Centre in Nagoya. This has a telemetering system which transmits monitored information from 71 sta­tions to the control room, where they are processed on a central computer. Hourly values of sulphur oxides, car­bon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, oxidants and suspended particulates are available from each of the stations and are displayed on a large illuminated map. Warning lights come on if predeter­mined limits are exceeded at any time. One important aspect of the system is that it allows for the photochemical smog potential for each day to be calculated at a time of day when the possibility of reduction of emissions is still possible. This means that some potentially dangerous situations can be averted or modified. The necessary action to reduce emissions is taken by the Prefectural Government on receiving the information from the centre. In Osaka and Kanagawa Prefectures, where similar systems operate, the authority to take action to reduce emissions lies with the monitoring centre itself. In an ex­treme case, a request for a reduction of emissions of S02 by 80% and ox­idants by 40% can be made to major emitters, all of whom are directly linked to the control centre. Citizens are advised at such times to avoid driving cars and to refrain from strenous exercise.

My thanks go to the Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand for aiding me in attending this conference.

S. J. MAINWARING

Air Pollution Analysis (Melbourne Symposium)

A most successful conference on this subject was held at the University of Melbourne by the Victorian Branch on May 23 to 27, 1977. There were 80 par t ic ipants from th roughou t Australia, in spite of nationwide strikes on the airlines. Thirteen papers were presented during the first three days, with very lively discussion sessions and workshops. The last two days were devoted to demonstrations of recently developed apparatus and instrumentation for air pollutant analysis. In particular, the com­puterised automated atomic adsorp­tion determination of lead from pollution samples attracted attention and was demonstrated by two firms.

The lectures by our keynote speakers, Dr B.T. Commins (Water Research Centre, Medmenham, Bucks, U.K., and formerly an associate of Professor Lawther of the MRC Air Pollution Unit, St Bar-tholemew's Hospital), and Mr Milton Feldstein (Deputy Director of the Bay Area Air Pollution Control District, San F r a n c i s c o ) , -were m o s t stimulating. There was much interest in discussion on the pitfalls of measuring air pollution as part of the planning and decision-making pro­cesses. The following papers were presented: B.T. Commins (UK. Measurement of air pollutants in relations to assessing human health. G.I. Pearman (CSIRO, Aspendale). Measurement of atmospheric com­position at the base line atmospheric monitoring station. H.M. Shaw (EPA, Victoria). Measurement of nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide in the atmosphere us­ing correlation spectrometry. T.D. Mitchell, R. Rothwell, B.J. Dowling (SPCC, NSW). The analysis of C2 to C6 hydrocarbons. P.M. Nimmo, P.J. Fishburn (Air Pollution Control, Queensland). The characterisation of odours by gas chromatograph. G.D. Holden EPA, Victoria). The a n a l y t i c a l i n v e s t i g a t i o n o f photochemical smog. R.J. Sims, N.G. Thom (Health Dept. NZ). A review of the techniques used for air pollution monitoring in New Zealand. M. Feldstein (BAAPCD, U.S.). Air Quality Standards and their measure­ment.

G.A. Hol l is , R . F . Boomsma (Hammersley Iron, WA). Sample col­lection and analysis of quartz in respirable air. S.J. Mainwaring, M. McGuirk (University of Melbourne). The deter­mination of 3, 4 Benzpyrene. G.P. Ayers (CSIRO, Sydney). Chemical tests for individual sub-micron particles. H. Bloom, N. Noller (University of Tasmania). Application of trace analysis techniques to the study of at­mospheric metal particulates. L.M. Ferrari, D.C. Johnson, W. Watkins (SPCC, NSW). Recent techniques for the measurement of sulphur dioxide in the atmosphere.

Copies of the Proceedings can be obtained from Dr W. Strauss, Department of Chemical Engineer­ing, University of Melbourne, Vic­toria, 3052, for $12.75 (post free).

FUTURE CONFERENCES

Environmental Engineering Con­ference 1978, Sydney, July 1978.

The topic of this conference under the auspices of the National Committee on Environmental Engineering of the Institute of Engineers is environmen­tal inquiry. Papers are being called for with the overall aim of.examining and evaluating such inquiries, their objectives, methods, cost and role in planning and decision-making.

Intending authors should send synopses of papers to the Conference Manager by September 30, 1977. The Institute of Engineers, Australia, 11 National Circuit, BARTON, A.C.T. 2600.

Environmental Symposium, Risk Assessment and Risk Accep­tance.

The International Association of Environmental Coordinators will hold their Autumn meting in Ver­sailles, France, on Thursday and Fri­day, November 24 and 25, 1977, on the theme: "Risk assessment and risk acceptance". Three invited speakers will give the points of view of in-dustry, controlling authorities and the general public, respectively. The item will then be discussed in "workshop" sessions.

Inquiries about this meeting and about membership of the Association should be directed to the Interna­tional Association of Environmental C o o r d i n a t o r s , A v e n u e F . D . Roosevelt, 112, Bte 8, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.

54 Clean Air /August , 1977

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE CLEAN AIR SOCIETY TENTH ANNUAL REPORT

During 1976 the Society realized one of its major objectives; the establish­ment of branches in all Australian States, the Australian Capital Ter­ritory, and throughout New Zealand. Membership continues to be balanc­ed, and the Society provides a real discussion forum for those working in Clean Air from many facets; governnment and the enforment agencies, industry, equipment manufacturers, educational institu­tions and research organizations.

Membership numbers have stabiliz­ed at about 700. On the basis of the population of Australia and New Zealand of about 17 m, this is equal to approximately 40 per million of p o p u l a t i o n . T h i s c o m p a r e s favourably with our biggest brother organization, the Air Pollution Con­trol Association which covers the U.S.A. and Canada, with a total m e m b e r s h i p of a b o u t 7000, equivalent to about 30 per million. Distribution of members, as at December 31st 1976 is given in the table.

The two new branches are in the Australian Capital Territory and in Western Australia. The A.C.T. Branch held its inaugural meeting in Canberra on July 27th, 1976, and by December had attracted 12 in­dividual and one organization member. Dr N. Daly of the ANU is Branch President and has given con­siderable publicity to the Society on the news media. The W.A. Branch was launched with a very successful one-day Symposium at the W.A. In­stitute of Technology, on October 14th, and the first regular meeting was held on November 30th. Mr Ralph, from Western Mining Cor­poration is the Branch President. Membership in this State rose to 17 (an increase of 12) by late 1976, and had, some months later, exceeded 40.

Special Symposium: "Smog '76". A most successful symposium was held on February 1976 by the N.S.W. Branch at Macquarie University to discuss the latest developments in at­

mospheric chemistry in urban at­mospheres, with particular reference to the Sydney study. Dr James N. Pitts, of the University of California, Riverside, and Director of the Statewide Air Pollution Research Center, and Dr Robert Guicherit,

. Deputy Head of the Atmospheric P o l l u t i o n D i v i s i o n , o f the Netherlands Research Institute for Environmental Hygiene (T.N.O.) were the invited keynote speakers. The symposium attracted wide in­terest with 160 participants. It was the first time that such a symposium devoted to a specialized topic was held in the interval between our Inter­national Conferences. Its success has indicated that here is an area where our organization can make a real con­tribution to the understanding of air pollution and its control to society as a whole.

By inviting such notable scientists to be present, and providing us with the latest thinking on current developments it enables us to keep well to the fore in these topics: the generation of smog, reaction mechanisms, measurement, research and control technology. The keynote speakers subsequently visited the dif­ferent branches in all States and New Zealand, attracting large audiences.

1978 International Conference in Brisbane. Planning is well advanced for the 1978 International Conference, plan­ned to be held at the Crest Hotel, in the centre of Brisbane, May 15-19, 1978. Over 80 papers have been of-, fered, many from overseas, and it promises to be a conference of the highest technical calibre. The Queensland Government has offered generous and most welcome financial support, which will enable outstan­ding keynote speakers to be invited.

Clean Air. The journal of the Society continued to appear regularly, maintaining a high level of technical and scientific contributions. Mr Fred Denholm our

circulation manager was forced to retire due to ill health. At its August meeting, the Council of the Society agreed unanimously to elect Mr Denholm a life member of the Socie­ty, in recognition of his outstanding services. To our regret Fred died as a result of his illness in October. Mr Alan Crapp was elected by Council to fill this vacancy. Later in the year, the editor, Dr Strauss also became seriously ill. Our thanks are due to Dr Sylvia Mainwaring, the associate editor who brought out the Journal, with its usual high standard.

Despite our increases in the number of subscribers, rising costs of publica­tion, and limited number of adver­tisers, have forced the Council to in­crease the annual subscription to the Society, to offset these costs, starting in 1977. Members of the Society are encouraged to seek subscribers for the journal, and encourage adver­tisers to avail themselves of the ser­vices the Journal can provide them in covering directly those requiring ser­vices and equipment for controlling air pollution.

International Union. We continue to be active in the Inter­national Union of Air Pollution P r e v e n t i o n A s s o c i a t i o n s (I.U.A.P.P.A.). The Fourth Con­gress will be held in Tokyo by the Japanese Union of Air Pollution Prevention Association in May 1977. To assist Australian authors present­ing papers in Tokyo, the Society is offering $150 to each of these, to help with the registration fee and other ex­penses. Six Australasian papers were accepted. We will aply to the Interna­tional Union for one of the subse­quent congresses to be held in Australia.

Other Activities of the Society. The Society put two recommenda­tions to the Air Quality Sub-Committee of the National Health and Medical Research Council (N.H.M.R.C). These were adopted, and the N.H.M.R.C. subsequently published an amended guideline on

Clean Air / August, 1977 55

air emission standards, in line with the Society's recommendation.

Three States in Australia now have regulations limiting the lead alkyl content of petrol implementing the N.H.M.R.C. recommendation that it seemed prudent not to increase lead emissions to the atmosphere until more was known about the potential health hazard of airborne lead com­pounds. This will have an effect on the cost of fuel to the community, but the extent of this has not yet been determined.

The Australian design rule 27A became operative on July 1st, 1976, restricting emission of carbon monoxide and oxides of nitrogen, the components of photochemical smog. This major step in reducing air pollu­tion will cost the Australian com­munity about $50 million each year. Other controls on emission to the at­mosphere are currently being con­templated by our authorities, and the cost will be substantial. More medical research on the effects of air pollu­tion is essential, as only on this basis can a rational approach to the essen­tial controls be established. It is of national importance that the public should be allowed to participate in the decision making process which will have significant effects on resource allocation.

Accounts. This Society, like others, has been adversely affected by rising costs, and has been endeavoring to minimise these. In spite of these efforts, a rise in the annual fee for Individual Members to $10 will be necessary from January 1, 1978. Nonetheless, the membership fee of this Society, holding technical meetings, and ma­jor symposia with speakers of inter­national reputation, as well as publishing a substantial technical journal, remains the lowest of any comparable body. Due to restrictions of space, the full balance sheet will not be published here, but can be ob­tained on application, from our Treasurer, Dr K. Basden.

J.G.SCHRODER (PRESIDENT)

1978 INTERNATIONAL CLEAN ASR CONFERENCE Brisbane, May 15-19

There are less than 10 months to the 1978 International Clean Air Con­ference. The main efforts of the Branch Committee over the last 12 months have been directed towards the 1978 International Clean Air Conference. Plans are well in hand, and Branch members look forward to the pleasure of being your hosts in Brisbane from May 15 to 19, 1978. Be assured that no effort is being spared to make your Conference attendance a memorable occasion. Synopses of 85 papers have been received, over one-third of these from authors from 10 overseas countries. All are of a high standard, so a stimulating and informative Conference is assured. Agreement has been reached with Ann Arbor Science Publishers to publish the proceedings as a high quality hard cover volume, suitable for inclusion in any library.

The four keynote speakers who have accepted our invitation to attend are Professor P.J. Lawther (Medical Research Council, UK), Professor F. Loeffler (University of Karlsruhe, West Germany), Dr L.J. Brasser (TNO, Delft, Netherlands), and Mr J. Lagarias (Kaiser Engineering, USA). In addition, a senior member of the U.S. EPA will probably attend as a keynote speaker.

The main auditorium of the Brisbane City Hall has been selected as the site of the Trade Exhibition to be held in conjunction with the Con­ference. The City Hall is directly across the street from the Crest Hotel, where the Conference sessions will be conducted. As on previous oc­casions, the Exhibition will be organised by South Pacific Total Concept Exhibitions.

Preparation of the second (registra­tion) brochure is in hand, and a copy of this will be included in the November issue of "Clean Air".

BRANCH NEWS

TASMANIAN BRANCH

A most interesting meeting was held by the branch in Launceston on July 21, 1977. Spokesmen from three local industries discussed their respective air pollution problems, and abate­ment measures.

Mr David Harrison of Comalco Aluminium (Bell Bay) Ltd, talked about the containment of dust and gaseous hydrogen fluoride which result from the reduction of alumina to aluminium. The relative merits of packed bed, venturi and dry scrub­bers were discussed.

Mr Noel Matthews on behalf of the Tasmanian Electro Metallurgical Co. Pty Ltd, described the baghouse in­stallation which effectively eliminates the emission of silicious dust in the manufacture of ferrosilicon alloys.

Finally, Mr David Stamp, of John W. Stamp Pty Ltd, who have been commissioned to install waste heat recovery and odor control equipment at Launceston's Kilafaddy Abattoir discussed abatement measures of this type. A spirited discussion time demonstrated the appeal and value of this type of meeting.

QUEENSLAND BRANCH

During May and June the Branch conducted two meetings addressed by Mr Milton Feldstein and Dr Brian Commins, who were keynote speakers at the Victorian Branch Symposium on Analytical Chemistry. At the latter meeting we were joined by members of the Queensland Branch of the AWWA.

A one day workshop "Industrial Gas Cleaning" was conducted at the Queensland Institute of Technology on July 6, when 40 delegates met to discuss in depth the use of elec­trostatic precipitators, baghouses, dry collectors and wet scrubbers, followed by a general session on ap­plications of the four techniques. The sessions were under the leadership of Mr Vince Walsh (Queensland Elec­tricity Generating Board), Mr Noel Davies (State Electricity Commission of Queensland), Mr Peter Stone (Consolidated Fertilisers Ltd), Mr Rod Cullen (Sugar Research In­stitute) and Dr Ted White (University of Queensland). The day provided opportunity for delegates to increase their knowledge of these techniques, under the guidance of experienced leaders.

Membership as at December previous year were as follows:

31st, 1976 and changes from the

56 Clean Air / August, 1977

BOOK REVIEWS

Air Pollution Virginia Brodine Published by Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, Inc. New York 205 pp. 1975 Recommended Price $A7.10

This is a volume in the Environmental Issues Series of the Scientists Institute for Public Information, which has the distinguished editorship of Barry Commoner. The author attempts to "marshal scientific knowledge that is relevant to the social issues of air pollution showing how air pollution affects the earth-atmosphere system, how it affects the human body throughout its life span and . . . how these matters are related to the need for social and economic change" (quotation from preface), all to be "understandable at the college level without previous science courses".

This is an admirable aim, but the reviewer feels that this results in a lop-sided treatment of air pollution, and the possible problems that may result. The author assumes as certain facts, what is generally conjecture, without making an attempt to place these conjectures in their full scien­tific context. As as example (on p. 58), the legend to a diagram reads "we are playing a dangerous game by interfering with the global heat balance in this interglacial age". But the evidence for this temperature rise (based on the CO2 increase and pos­sible greenhouse effect) is not nearly as definite as the author assumes.

The book is extremely well, and even excitingly written. It is profusely illustrated with diagrams, and photographs, so is very acceptable technically.

However, the reviewer is disturbed that the author piles on the doomsday predictions, but does not provide a comprehensive alternative strategy (even if this is returning to a simpler, more primitive, lifestyle). Its final conclusions are such platitudes as "the need for political action", for "fruitful d i a logue" "crossing disciplinary boundaries" etc.

Air pollution indeed presents a pro­blem, but it must be taken in context. Alternative strategies for society re­quire development, and choices have to be made. Unfortunately this book does not help in making the choice a rational one.

W. STRAUSS

Removal of Trace Contaminants from the Air Ed. by Victor R. Deitz A.C.S. Symposium Series 17, 206 pp 1975 U.S. $17.25

This symposium, co-sponsored by the Division of Colloid and Surface Chemistry and the Division of En­vironmental Chemistry of the American Chemical Society at its Atlantic City Meeting in 1974, is a very mixed, but quite interesting col­lection of papers.

There are 16 chapters, dealing with a wide range of topics such as removal of contaminants in sub­marine atmospheres to atmospheric reactions. A number of them concern filtration of aerosols, in cigarettes, by electrically augmenting filter fabrics, by fibre mats etc. Urban hydrocar­bons, and high ozone concentrations in non-urban atmospheres are discussed alongside a number of other important problems, such as the transport and fate of pesticides.

Perhaps one could say that this is a very good collection of papers on the really difficult unsolved aspects of air pollution.

W. STRAUSS

Sublethal Effect of Toxic Chemicals on Aquatic Animals Ed. J.H. Koeman and J.J.T.W.A. Strik Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1975, 234 pp. Recommended Price: $21.70

In the past, research on the effects of pollutants on organisms has largely concentrated on acute studies and in particular with establishing lethal dosages. It is now being increasingly recognised that the insidious long-term effects of low, non-lethal chronic concentrations of toxic com­pounds both at the organismic and community levels are ecologically more damaging and less easy to remedy. This book is welcomed as a useful addition to our knowledge on and concern with the effects of toxic substances on animals at sublethal levels. It is comprised of 22 research papers presented at the Swedish-Netherlands Symposium held at Wageningen in the Netherlands, dur­ing September 2-5, 1975. This sym­posium however gives a rather

restricted view of the field of sublethal toxicology as the papers report on research being undertaken principally in Sweden and the Netherlands.

The quality, style and format of presentation of the papers vary con­siderably due to the now common practice of direct offset reproduction of papers prepared by the authors and the absence of a clear editorial policy. Papers vary in length from 7-19 pages with the longer papers generally presenting an academically more rigorous account of the research.

The diverse range of topics presented in this book fall into three broad over-lapping categories: (a) investigations of a purely scien­tific nature concerned with the elucidation of biochemical and physiological effects; (b) develop­ment of testing and monitoring pro­cedures for the routine assessment of the effects of sublethal levels of toxic chemicals in the environment; and (c) evaluation of environmental stan­dards for pollution control using the results of environmental surveys and toxicity testing. The majority of the papers report research on freshwater fish. Six papers describe studies on marine organisms in salinities varying from 7°/oo up to 34°/oo. Marine and freshwater invertebrates feature in five papers. One paper describes experiments with frogs. The effects of the heavy metals cadmium, cromium, mercury, zinc and lead are variously reported mostly in relation to haematology. Investigations on the effects of methylmercury, PCB, H C B D , c h l o r o n a p h t h a l e n e s , dieldrin, diuron and surfactants are also described in relation to haematology, energy budgets , metabolism and liver function amongst others. Three papers describe environmental surveys on the incidence of vertebral damage, liver tumors , and epidermal papillomas. Studies undertaken to determine the causes of biological degradation in a spasmodically changed body of water are described. Several papers give excellent guide lines for programs of toxicity testing and monitoring.

In only one paper, dealing with zinc and lead is the complication of multi-factor interaction considered. Ion speciation and complexing in water and the influence of salinity on the levels of toxic compounds present in solution have received remarkably

Clean Air / August, 1977 57

little consideration by many authors in their experimental design and deliberations. To give meaningful results research on the sublethal ef­fects of toxic chemicals must involve a number of different disciplines such as analytical chemistry, anatomy, physiology, biochemistry and statistics. With a few exceptions most papers were deficient in this regard. The reviewer agrees with the com­ment made in the Introduction that the main lesson to be learnt from this symposium is that sublethal tox-icological studies are not simple and must be tackled on a multi-disciplinary front.

This book contains useful and in­formative papers and is recommend­ed to students and research staff, and to industrial enterprises and govern­ment bodies concerned with the ef­fects of waste discharge on organisms and the preservation of this beautiful and delicate environment which is our inheritance and the inheritance of our children.

R.C.L. HUDSON

The Measurement of Airborne Particles. Richard C. Cadle John Wiley & Sons — New York. Price $27.

This book is issued in Wiley's En­vironmental Science & Technology series edited by Robert L. Metcalf, James N. Pitts and Werner Stumm.

"The Measurement of Airborne Particles" is concerned with the physical measurement of aerosols, their size distribution, their concen­tration and their form. The aerosols in question being limited to solid par­ticulates suspended in air.

' One important feature of the book is that it assumes no prior knowledge of the area and leads the reader logically from a discussion of the parameters that need to be measured and the problems of classification that have to be dealt with to the col­lection and measurement procedures themselves. The mathematical representation of distributions is fully dealt with together with the basic statistical background required.

Collection methods are fully il­lustrated with both diagrams and photographs of actual equipment. The theory is adequately dealt with and the scope of the survey in terms of equipment and referenced ex­amples of its use would be a good

starting point for anyone extending their studies to this area. Most physical scientists have had little or no training in the use of microscopes and the detail provided here on their operation and application in par­ticulate work is a positive feature of Cadle's treatment. Bulk classification techniques are referenced, but not treated by the author, such techni­ques only have relevance to at­mospheric measurements in the rare cases where large amounts of material have been collected.

Methods of determining particles in situ by light scattering and light ex­tinction are treated in some detail, such methods have obvious ad­vantages when no analysis of the aerosol is required and are particular­ly well adapted to continuous measurement.

Three short chapters conclude the book on collection with sizing; miscellaneous methods, such as those using electrical properties; and sampl­ing probes.

This book would be a valuable reference work for those who con­template embarking on studies in the area as well as background reading for anyone with an interest in pollutants in the atmosphere.

SYLVIA J. MAINWARING

Environmental Chemistry, Volume 1. The Chemical Society, Black-horse Road, Letchworth, Herts. SG6 1HN, U.K. Senior Reporter, G. Eglinton. Price £8.

This is the first volume of a biennial series of specialist periodical reports on the subject of environmental chemistry. As the editor points out in his introduction, there is no well-defined body of knowledge that can be defined as environmental chemistry. This has caused the editors some problems in structuring the book, which might be thought to pro­vide a pattern for the series. For­tunately, they have not decided to define the area too rigidly and we can hope to see fields not covered in this volume covered in subsequent issues. This aspect of editorial policy has en­sured that each subject handled is covered in sufficient depth and that the necessary background material is included, each chapter giving an up to date review of the topic covered up to the end of 1973.

This first volume in the series con­centrates on organic materials in aquatic environments. The approach is to look at the total chemistry of the environment and not just the aspects related to pollution and pollutants.

Chapter I by J. W. Smith deals with the information that can be obtained from the stable isotope ratios of car­bon, sulphur, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen in the different parts of the biological geochemical cycles of the environment. The following three chapters cover each of the three main aquatic environments; rivers and lakes; bogs, marshes and swamps; and oceans, fjords and anoxic basins. Chemical substances are treated broadly as classes of compounds and the interaction of each aquatic system with its sediments; the nature of transport within the system; and the points where man may or has in­fluenced the cycles is covered in each case.

The final three chapters deal with specific compounds or classes of compounds, namely hydrocarbons, D D T a n d P C B ' s a n d 2-4 Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, each of which has an important pollutant source from oil spills, insecticide sprays and weedkillers respectively.

I, for one, look forward to seeing a future volume of equally high stan­dard concentrating on the at­mosphere and atmospheric processes.

S. J. MAINWARING

A Guide to the Preparation and Review of Environmental Impact Reports. Richard E. Warden and W. Tim Dagoday Security World Publishing, P.O. Box 272, CULVER CITY. CA. 90230 USA, 138 pp (1976). Price $7.95.

This book claims to offer the general public a guide to the preparation and review of Environmental Impact Assessments. Unfortunately, it fails to do this since it is little more than a manual on how to prepare En­vironmental Impact Reports, as re­quired under the Californian En­vironmental Quality Act of 1970. In fact, more than half of the volume consists of reprints of official State Guidelines for Impact Assessment and various Federal Guidelines for preparing Impact Statements under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1972.

58 Clean Air / August, 1977

The Californian experience with impact assessment is very interesting, since the legislation requires private as well as public projects to go through the impact assessment pro­cess. Whilst this book gives some background to the legislation and discusses the requirements of each section of the Act, it does so in a descriptive rather than an analytical method.

Thus there is no methodological framework for those preparing or reviewing impact reports and does not even discuss the presently used methods for identifying, predicting and evaluating impacts. Neither is there any mention of the more recent work on qualitative prediction of im­pacts such as that published by the Urban Institute or others.

Thus it tends to be nothing more than descriptive amplification of U.S. legislation and guidelines, without a critical review of methodologies or of the benefits derived from impact assessment. It will be of little benefit to teachers or practitioners of impact assessment in Australia other than those who have not copies of the published guidelines of the Council of Environmental Quality, the Environ­ment Protection Agency, or the Californian Legislation.

P. CULLEN

Air Pollution. Henry C. Perkins. McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York Price $19.60 approx.

This is a very useful text for anyone teaching a comprehensive course in air pollution at the undergraduate level to engineering and science students. The author assumes a basic knowledge of chemistry, ther­modynamics and fluid mechanics and treats technical matters in detail and with remarkable clarity. The pro­blems at the end of each chapter are searching and generally require numerical treatment or research on the part of the student.

The initial chapter of the book sets the historical perspective. This is followed by a chapter dealing with air pollution influences on a global scale. Multiple emissions are dealt with in a chapter on sources and chapters on the specific problem of Los Angeles and another on the automobile. Meteorology is dealt with in some detail in three chapters, two of which deal with plumes. This is a necessary input to a book of this type where the

intended audience generally has no background in the meterology area.

Particulates, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide are dealt with separately, and some discussion of control techniques is included. Two useful chapters on the effects of pollutants are provided and, finally, a chapter on control strategy as practis­ed in the United States, followed by a general conclusion. This final conclu­sion is a negative feature of the book in that it is superficial and, for that reason, tends to be misleading. I find it hard to believe, for example, as in­dicated in Table 16.1, that West Ger­many's energy usage per capita somewhere between the 11th and 22nd in the world, below East Ger­many and the USSR. Similarly, the implication that there is a simple direct relationship between standard of living and energy usage, ignores some factors in the U.S. energy usage which is much higher than that of countries such as Sweden and West Germany, which have comparable climates and per capita incomes.

This is a very readable book that can be recommended as an introduc­tory text to air pollution for anyone with a moderate amount of scientific background. The authors style and balanced use of illustrative material would also recommend sections of the book to the general reader.

S. J. MAINWARING

Atmospheric Pollution Proc. of the 12th Int. Colloquium, Paris, 1976 (ed) Michel Benarie Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company Amsterdam, 1976, 649 p.

The twelfth international Colloquium organised by the Institute National de Recherche Clinique Appliquee was held in Paris, France May 5-7, 1976 In 649 pages of varying typescript, at times difficult to decipher, this book presents the results. Nine of the papers are in French. Some of the English in the remaining forty-two is at times uncomfortable but presents no real barrier to understanding.

The purpose of the colloquium, as stated in the keynote address by the editor of the collection of papers, was "to come to the greatest possible practical progress that is consistent

with a minimal effort as far as calculations, theories, or time, are concerned."

Practitioners will recognise the pro­blem.

After the keynote address and a general statement from Professor A.C. Stern on "The Problems before us", the papers are laid out under the following headings and with the numbers of contributions distributed as shown — * from National and International

Coordinating Organisms (3) * Atmospheric Models and

Transport of Pollutants (9) * Strategy of Survey Networks (3) * Air Chemistry and Aerosol

Formation (5) •Metrology (Principles of the

Measurement) (11) •Measurement of Gaseous

Pollutants (2) * Measurement of Particulates (6) •Survey Results (12)

Presented are the results of surveys carried out at: Kawasaki, Japan, Haifa bay, Israel, Tehran, Iran, La Spezia, Italy, Istanbul, Turkey, California, U.S.A., Brest, Paris and the Crau-Camargue region, France, Geelong, Australia.

The Italian study is concerned with air flow at a coastal site. Most of the remainder relate to trends in monitor­ing networks, although in some the nexus between survey results and local sources is given special pro­minence.

One such survey, around the Thetford-Mines area of Quebec, has found its way into the section on Measurement of Particulates.

This section devotes itself to measurement in the ambient air and not measurement of stack effluent.

The same comment applies to the section on Measurement of Gaseous Pollutants which contains one paper on remote sensing by carbon dioxide laser.

Measurement of stack effluents is dealt with in the section of Meteorology particularly an in­formative paper from the En­vironmental Sciences Research Laboratory at Research Triangle Park, North Caroline, U.S.A.

Techniques discussed in other papers in this section include: •Time of flight aerosol beam spec­

trometry

Clean Air/August, 1977 59

* Telemetering and data reduction

* Remote sensing

There is one paper "Evidence of Electronic Malpractice in Air Pollu­tion Instrumentation" which reports on twelve cases.

Although one paper in the section on aerosol formation addressed a wider field, the remainder deal only with the interaction of sulphur diox­ide and the formation of sulphate in ambient air.

The section on Strategy of Survey Networks again shows overlap with other sections, and papers tend to concentrate on measures taken to maintain integrity of the data. The one optimising study is in French.

Finally, Atmospheric Models and Transport of Pollutants receive the usual varied treatment. One paper assumes stationarity, the next relies on empirical relationships "in view of the considerable uncertainty about . . . effects . . . of non-stationary.

The editor's quote of Gide, referr­ing to some philosophers, is opposite here: "when they answer you, one

finally doesn't know what has been asked?"

Particularly interesting is the con­sideration of air pollution in the vicinity of street canyons and highways.

One the international scale, there are contributions from the French Ministry of the Quality of Life, W.H.O., and Association Francaise de Normalisation.

Overall the collection is well worth reading and a useful corrective to the specialised journal and the textbook alike.

FRANK SMITH

Handbook of Ventilation for Contaminant Control. Henry J. McDermott. Ann Arbor Science Publishers, Ann Arbor, Mich., 1976, 368 pp. $A30.

In designing systems for control of processes which are not enclosed, the engineer has to consider not only the cleaning process but also how to

design an appropriate hood and ven­tilation system which passes the gases (and particulates) to a clean-up de­vice. This is an area where experience and "a r t " has always played a major part, and the young or inexperienced engineer has had little except com-monsense to guide him.

This book, apart from Alden's classic, is the only book covering this vital aspect of industrial hygiene. It deals with the U.S. (OSHA) stan­dards, the assessment of hazards, and with the design of hoods, ducting and fans. Testing of completed systems, and special aspects to consider when ventilating toxic dusts and gases are given a separate chapter.

Simple equations for calculating gas flows, sizes, etc, are given, so that those with a knowledge of elementary algebra can solve virtually any ex­haust system design problem. Work­ed examples are interspersed throughout the text. Unfortunately for us, the book is in British and not S.I. units. Nonetheless, no practising ventilation engineer or consultant can afford to be without it.

W. STRAUSS

Determination of Dust Particles in Air

The determination of dust in air requires modern and reliable measuring equipment. Sartonus manufacture such instruments which are used for the evaluation of aerosols according to their characteristics, size and concentration. The various instruments can be used in closed rooms or open atmospheres and may be portable or operated at a fixed location.

Should you be interested in Sartorius dust sampling equipment, a detailed catalogue will gladly be sent to you on request.

SELBYS SCIENTIFIC LTD. Melbourne 544-4844

Sydney 888-7155

Brisbane 371-1566

Perth 21-9431

Adelaide 51-4651

Hobart 28-4691

60 Clean Air /August , 1977

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Pulsed fluorescence eliminates the need for hydrogen cylinders or hydrogen generators, wet chemicals and flames. Direct, clean, specific . . . that's the way ambient air is measured with Model 43. Weight: 40 pounds; power: 150 watts; dimensions 17" W x 8-54" H x 23" D.

Thermo Electron Ambient Analyzers for SO2 and NOx. The best answer for long-term, unattended monitoring.

Baseline Industries Inc. Microprocessor controlled Chromatographs.

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