Operational Air Emission Rates: Operational Air Emission Rates: Course Learning Outcomes for Unit IV Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to: 3. Assess health effects of air pollution. 3.1 Discuss the natural air pollution variables causa

Operational Air Emission Rates: Course Learning Outcomes for Unit IV Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to: 3. Assess health effects of air pollution. 3.1 Discuss the natural air pollution variables causally related to adverse health effects on humans. 3.2 Discuss the anthropogenic air pollution variables causally related to adverse health effects on humans. 3.3 Calculate operational air emission rates for a selected scenario. Course/Unit Learning Outcomes Learning Activity 3.1 Unit Lesson Chapter 5, pp. 155-197 Chapter 12, pp. 437-459 Unit IV Mini Project 3.2 Unit Lesson Chapter 5, pp. 155-197 Chapter 12, pp. 437-459 Unit IV Mini Project 3.3 Unit Lesson Chapter 5, pp. 155-197 Chapter 12, pp. 437-459 Unit IV Mini Project Reading Assignment Chapter 5: Health Effects, pp. 155–197 Chapter 12: Environmental Noise, pp. 437–459 Unit Lesson To date, we have discussed air pollution as being sourced either from natural or anthropogenic forces. In our reading for this unit, Godish, Davis, and Fu (2014) thoroughly explain the health effects of air pollution as well as tie together air pollution and noise pollution in a rather unique manner. This strategy of tying together noise pollution and air pollution deems consideration, perhaps even further than what is presented in our reading. Health Effects One of the interesting points that you may note as you progress through this program is that much of what is considered a pollutant to humans is actually already present in nature rather than synthesized. This includes some of what is mentioned in our unit reading, such as aerosols (ocean spray), hydrocarbons (petroleum oils), oxides of nitrogen (tropical forests), ozone (elevated atmospheres), and heavy metals (e.g., lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium) (Godish et al., 2014; Phalen & Phalen, 2013). A question could then be posed as to why or how natural phenomena, energy sources, tropospheric nitrogen compounds, and naturally occurring elements are available as environmental pollutants when in the presence of other ecological or human life. This is an important consideration, given that most of the time we may be asked to only engineer ambient air quality back to levels found to be at a state of climax in nature. UNIT IV STUDY GUIDE Engineering Air Quality for Human Health MEE 6501, Advanced Air Quality Control 2 UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title The answer to the posed question may be enlightened with a closer consideration as to how humans interact within the environment. This includes anthropogenic acts, such as exposing elemental sulfur through mining operations to rainfall events, thereby allowing an unmitigated exposure of the sulfur to water and creating sulfuric acid (H2SO4) (Hill & Feigl, 1987). Another example might be over-stocking cattle in a confined animal feeding operation (CAFO), thereby allowing an unmitigated concentration of methane gas into the immediate environment (impacting both ambient air and confined animal space air) that might otherwise be more evenly distributed in a range-grazing situation (Withgott & Brennan, 2011). As such, the answer to balancing anthropogenic and natural variables, causally related to air quality, lies with our ability to engineer systems that work to minimize anthropogenic forces upon nature. This systems approach affords us the opportunity to control the air environment just enough to allow natural variables to only minimally impact humans, while allowing anthropogenic variables to only minimally impact nature (ecology). The challenge for the air quality engineer is to understand the air emission potential of all variables in given situations. He or she must then engineer the anthropogenic systems (such as within our course project scenarios) in such a manner that allows for the natural variables’ air emissions, even while mitigating exposures of those emissions to humans and the surrounding ecology. For example, we understand that hydrocarbon oils and solids have the natural potential to emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs), even without human interaction in nature (Godish et al., 2014). However, we also see the use of hydrocarbon compounds in synthetic products, such as interior coating materials and other paint products, and subsequently incorporate those hydrocarbons into our synthetic product designs. The engineer’s job then becomes one of learning to forecast and quantify the natural emission rates of the VOCs from the hydrocarbon compounds contained as ingredients in the synthetic paint products. Once the VOC emission rates have been forecasted for a given product, the work system (such as the course project scenarios) can be evaluated for subsequent impacts to the ambient air environment and human health, alike. This often requires the air quality engineer to calculate emission rates into several different units of measure, to include poundage of VOC per product, poundage of VOC per hour of work exposure, poundage of VOC per year, and even tonnage of VOC per year. As such, the air quality engineer is pragmatically taking something rather obscure like vapor and converting the VOC into something tangible as units of mass. When the VOC is converted into tangible units of mass as pounds or tons, the statistical forecasting mathematics becomes possible, and consequently manageable, within the work system. This concept of converting pollutants as abstract concentrations (or even percent by weight, as is common in industrial hygiene measurements) into tangible units of mass-based concentration like parts per million (ppm) or parts per billion (ppb) then becomes the air quality engineer’s primary unit of evaluation for airborne pollutants. This is because ppm (as mg/L) and ppb (ug/L) can be expressed as units of mass-based concentration for almost any air pollutant represented (Phalen & Phalen, 2013). Air quality assessments get even more interesting once the air quality engineer considers that noise may be treated appropriately as a form of either atmospheric or ambient pollution. Godish et al. (2014) demonstrate this with their argument that sound energy causally related to noise is transmitted largely through the air environment. Suddenly, we find the need to also measure air quality through measures of dimensionless units of decibels (dB), in order to adequately evaluate air quality impacts on human health. MEE 6501, Advanced Air Quality Control 3 UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title Consequently, engineered air quality that is focused on protecting human health, through minimizing impacts of our anthropogenic activities, must be considered a critical aspect of our work system variables. As we may recall from our Unit I material, even aerosols in the ambient air have the ability to refract (bend) light waves (Godish et al., 2014). In much the same way, air pollutants may serve to refract or reflect sound waves. In stark contrast, noise levels may serve as air pollutants to ambient environments of interest, such as residential, commercial, or recreational sites. Noise Pollution Godish et al. (2014) spend a determined amount of time explaining the human health effects of noise pollution within our ambient air environment, to include both biological processes as well as psychophysiological processes. This is in addition to the well-anticipated hearing impairment problems regarded as being associated with noise pollution. Closely consider the quantitative measurement techniques discussed within this unit as they relate to noise pollution, and be ready to incorporate them as a final consideration during your Unit VII work within the course project. While an actual Title V Air Permit process may not yet specifically address noise pollution (the over-arching permit associated with the Permit by Rule (PBR) evaluation document for our project), we will still include it in our permit application process. In our course project, we refer again to our tabulated data for the scenario information. Specifically, we take note of our “units per day” that will be processed, as well as our “hours per day” and “days per week” for each process. Finally, we refer back to our calculated values of 28.0 lb VOC/unit of coating and 1.0 lb ES/unit that we derived in our Unit III work. We will now use the following steps to calculate our hourly VOC quantities for our air permit evaluation document. These calculated values will collectively serve as our operational air emission rates for our PBR evaluation document. First, we reference our scenario for the tabulated information on the coating, lining, and curing process (these comprise the entire painting process, in general), as well as our calculated values from our Unit III work (28.0 lb VOC/unit coating). Then we multiply our calculated 28.0 lb VOC/unit coating by the number of units/day to derive a value for lb VOC/day. Finally, we multiply our lb VOC/day by the tabulated 1 day/hours to derive a value for lb VOC/hour. Note the following example for our Unit III calculated value of 28.0 lb VOC/unit coating and a given 3 units/day and a process of 8 hours/day [Note: The actual scenario tabulated data is 2 units/day and a process of 5 hours/day]: VOC/hour (in lb) = lb VOC/unit coating x units/day = 28.0 lb VOC/unit x 3 units/day = 84.0 lb VOC/day 84.0 lb VOC/day x 1 day/8 hours = 10.5 lb VOC/hour Second, we reference our scenario for the tabulated information on the painting process as well as our calculated values from our Unit III work (1.0 lb ES/unit coating). Then, we multiply our calculated 1.0 lb Exempt Solvent (ES)/unit by the number of units/day to derive a value for lb ES/day. Finally, we multiply our lb ES/day by 1 day/hours to derive a value for lb ES/hour. Note the following example for our Unit III calculated value of 1.0 lb ES/unit coating and a given 3 units/day and a process of 8 hours/day [Note: The actual scenario tabulated data is 2 units/day and a process of 5 hours/day]: Figure 1. Effects of noise pollution (Vaeenma, n.d.) MEE 6501, Advanced Air Quality Control 4 UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title ES/hour (in lb) = lb ES/unit coating x units/day = 1.0 lb ES/unit x 3 units/day = 3.0 lb ES/day 3.0 lb ES/day x 1 day/8 hours = 0.375 lb ES/hour Third, we reference our scenario for the tabulated information on the painting process. Then, we multiply our calculated lb VOC/day of coating by days/week to derive a value for lb VOC/week. Now, we multiply our lb VOC/week by 52 weeks/year to derive a value for lb VOC/year. As a final step, we multiply our lb VOC/year by 1 ton/2,000 lbs to derive a value for tons VOC/year. Note the following example for our calculated value of 84.0 lb VOC/day and a given 5 days/week [Note: The actual scenario tabulated data is 4 days/week with an actual Unit 3 data calculated value of 28.0 lb x 2 units = 56.0 lb VOC/day]: Finally, we multiply our lb ES/day by days/week to derive a value for lb ES/week. Now, we multiply our lb ES/week by 52 weeks/year to derive a value for lb ES/year. We then finish by multiplying our lb ES/year by 1 ton/2,000 lbs to derive a value for tons ES/year. For example, for our calculated value of 3.0 lb ES/day and a given 5 days/week [Note: The actual scenario tabulated data is 4 days/week with an actual Unit 3 data calculated value of 1.0 lb x 2.0 units = 2.0 lb ES/day]: Reviewing the tabulated state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) PBR limits, we are reminded that we have already calculated our VOC/5-hour average period for emissions, multiplying our lb VOC/day by 1 day/5 hours (but calculated as 8 hours on the example calculation) to derive lb VOC/5-hour (averaged over a 5-hour period). As such, the VOC/5-hour average value equals the calculated VOC/hour value calculated in our first step (second calculation), above. Further, reviewing the tabulated state DEQ PBR limits, we are reminded that we have also previously calculated our potential to emit (PTE) by multiplying our lb VOC/week by 52 weeks/year and converting it to tons to derive tons VOC/year (PTE). As such, the PTE value equals the calculated VOC/year value calculated in our third step (and the third calculation in that step), above. The good news in this final calculation is that if the PTE does not meet or exceed the 100 tons VOC/year limit, you, as the engineer, may continue to move forward with the Permit by Rule (PBR) calculations instead of having to stop immediately and pursue a full Title V Air Quality operating permit! However, we may find that we need to recommend additional engineering controls in order to say in compliance with the VOC/5-hour average limits. VOC/year (in tons) = lb VOC/day coating x days/week = 84.0 lb VOC/day x 5 days/week = 420.0 lb VOC/week 420.0 lb VOC/week x 52 weeks/year = 21,840.0 lb VOC/year 21,840.0 lb VOC/year x 1 ton/2,000 lb = 10.92 tons VOC/year ES/year (in tons) = lb ES/day x days/week = 3.0 lb ES/day x 5 days/week = 15.0 lb ES/week 15.0 lb ES/week x 52 weeks/year = 780.0 lb ES/year 780.0 lb ES/year x 1 ton/2,000 lb = 0.39 tons ES/year MEE 6501, Advanced Air Quality Control 5 UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title References Godish, T., Davis, W. T., & Fu, J. S. (2014). Air quality (5th ed.). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. Hill, J., & Feigl, D. (1987). Chemistry and life: An introduction to general, organic, and biological life (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Macmillan. Phalen, R. F., & Phalen, R. N. (2013). Introduction to air pollution science: A public health perspective. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Vaneema. (n.d.). Effects of noise pollution, (ID ) [Diagram]. Retrieved from Withgott, J. H., & Brennan. S. R. (2011). Environment: The science behind the stories (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Pearson