Assigned Work #1

Keep a "scrapbook" of items describing an environmental issue of current interest. The idea is to read and collect articles that appear this semester in newspapers (i.e., New York Times, Observer, South Bend Tribune), news magazines (Newsweek, Time) and scientific journals (Chemical and Engineering News, Chemical Engineering Progress) that deal with an environmental issue. At the end of the semester you should add a 1-2 page summary of the articles, pointing out the various viewpoints and explaining what you think of the issue and why. Possible topics include global warming, ozone depletion, habitat destruction, SOx and NOx, etc. I would suggest that you start by keeping copies of all environmental articles you see and then, as the semester progresses, choose an area that is of interest to you and on which you will be able to accummulate sufficient information. Articles from a variety of sources would be best. An effective way of doing this might be to work into your schedule visits to the library one or twice a week to read current magazines and newspapers.

Part 1

Turn in your scrapbook (in a 3-ring binder would be best) containing articles on a variety of topics (arranged by topic and chronologically within a topic). Indicate which topic you have chosen to focus on for the rest of the semester and why (one paragraph). The book will be returned to you right after break.

Part 2

Turn in the completed scrapbook that contains items for the full semester on a single topic, as well as the 1-2 page summary.

Assigned Work #2

1. Describe how the release of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) can affect the concentration of ozone in the lower atmosphere. A paragraph with appropriate reaction chemistry will be sufficient. Please give your references (a textbook is fine).

2. Choose one of the two following options:

1. Choose some recent (last decade or two) catastrophic release of pollutants (e.g., Bhopal). Find literature sources (newspaper articles, news magazines, Chemical and Engineering News, CEP, more technical journal articles) about the incident. Write a 1-2 page report on the incident where you include things like:
   • What pollutants were released? How much? Over what time period?
   • What is the toxicity and what are the environmental
   hazards of the compounds released?
   • What was the immediate and longterm impact of the incident on people and the environment?
   • What efforts were made for cleanup or remediation, if applicable?
   • What was identified as the cause of the incident? What efforts were taken/will be taken by the manufacturer/company involved to avoid a recurrence? Make sure that you adequately cite your references in the report. Please attach copies of the references if you can.
   
   
   
2. Find an example of where acid rain (from SOx or NOx emissions or both) has severely damaged an aqueous system (lake, river, etc.). Find literature sources, as described above, about the situation. Write a 1-2 page report on the situation where you include things like:
   • How much did the acid rain decrease the pH in the body of water?
   • Over what time period?
   • What were the native species in the body of water?
   • How have they been affected by the changes in their ecosystem?
   • What impact does this have on humans?
   • What efforts have been/will be done to revive the ecosystem?

Once again, make sure that you adequately cite your references in the report. Please attach copies of the references if you can.

Assigned Work #3

The purpose of this assignment is:

• For you to gain experience with finding information about hazardous waste emissions on the Internet.
• For you to research the waste record of a particular manufacturing facility and interpret that information.

You will need to pick a facility, perhaps, one near your home town. The facility should be one that does, in fact, emit and/or dispose of a significant amount of waste so that you have something interesting to report on. If you don't have any particular place in mind, I would suggest one of the manufacturers over in the Gary/Hammond/Whiting area (e.g., U.S. Steel Gary Works, Amoco Whiting refinery).

Your report (no more than 2 pages single space typed, not counting graphs and figures) should include as much of the following as possible (as well as other topics you may find important):

• Some background on the facility. Who owns and operates the facility? What is manufactured or processed there? What are the raw materials used in the process? How old is the facility?
• Is the facility in an attainment or a nonattainment area for each of the six criteria air pollutants? Will this change if the new ozone and air particulate NAAQSs are enacted? Does this facility emit any of the six criteria air pollutants? How much? How about VOCs? Are there neighboring major sources of the six criteria air pollutants? VOCs?
• What are the pollutants, hazardous wastes and toxic chemicals released from, emitted from or transfered from this facility? How much of each? In what form - air, water, solid? Any fugitive emissions? What is the toxicity of the wastes? Provide some quantitative measures. Which ones are most hazardous? Least hazardous?
• Is there any overlap between the information that you find in the various databases? If so, what is it? Describe.
• How has this facility's waste changed with time? Why? Any indication of added/removed processes, increased/decreased throughput? Appearance or disappearance of entire waste streams?
• Compared to other facilities in the area or similar facilities elsewhere in the country, is your facility a major, minor or in-between source of pollution? Which pollutants? Can you make any recommendations on pollution sources that might be good targets for pollution prevention?
• You are encouraged to include tables and graphs of data and trends. However, there is no need to include the raw printouts that you get from the Internet. What you present should be an analysis of the information you find.

Useful web sites:

AIRS homepage:		http://www.epa.gov/airs/
NAAQSs:			http://www.epa.gov/airs/criteria.html/
proposed NAAQSs:	http://ttnwww.rtpnc.epa.gov/naaqspro/
graphs from AIRS:	http://www.epa.gov/airs/ag.html/
BRS and TRI:		http://rtk.net/
	BRS:		http://www.rtk.net/www/data/brs_gen.html/
	TRI:		http://www.rtk.net/www/data/tri_gen.html/

Assigned Work #4

1. In 1986 there was a well-publicized chemical liability lawsuit against W. R. Grace & Co (documented in the current nonfiction best-seller A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr). The plaintiffs were a number of residents of Woburn, MA (a suburb of Boston) who had children die of leukemia. The suit sought to show that the increased incidence of leukemia in Woburn was due to the contamination of the city water wells with trichloroethylene from W. R. Grace, who operated a facility in the town. The wells were used off and on from about 1965 to 1975 and pumped as much as a million gallons/day. Finally when they were tested the concentration of TCE in the water from the wells was about 200 ppb. Initially, when the investigation began the company said that they had only used one 55 gal drum of TCE in the whole time that the plant had been in operation. Later this was revised to four 55 gal drums. Assuming that the wells were in operation half of the time and that the TCE concentration was 200 ppb throughout the period that the wells were used, what is the minimum number of drums of TCE that would be needed to account for the TCE that showed up in the water pumped from the wells. (This, of course, would be a low estimate since one would anticipate that the remaining water in the underground aquifer in that region also contained TCE).



2. a) PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) were dumped in Lake Michigan from the 1940's through about 1970. In 1970 there were approximately 10,000,000 lbs of PCBs (assume it is all 3,3',4,4',5,5'-hexachlorobiphenyl) in the Lake. The volume of the water in the Lake Michigan is about 1180 miles3. Assuming a well-mixed system, what was the concentration (mole fraction or molarity) of PCBs in the lake in 1970?
   
   b) Assume again that the lake is a well mixed system. According to the Great Lakes Atlas, the time constant (residence time) for the lake is 99 years (this represents the total liquid volume of the lake divided by the total volumetric outflow to Lake Huron and to evaporation). If no PCBs have been added to the lake since 1970, how long will it take for the PCB concentration to drop to one-tenth of its 1970 value? Neglect losses of 3,3',4,4',5,5'-hexachlorobiphenyl to fish removed from the lake, or any preferential evaporation of the PCBs that might occur.



3. In a study of 28,500 Turkish workers employed in the shoe industry where they were exposed to benzene vapor at levels up to 650 ppm over an average of 9.7 years, it was found that 34 individuals died of leukemia. Based on numbers for the average population in Turkey one would have expected 15.7 individuals in this group to die of leukemia. What is the probability that the observed death rate from leukemia among the workers is not in any way attributable to the exposure to benzene? You can solve this problem any way you like but please state your assumptions clearly. You may want to consider using more than one method to come up with your answer and comparing them.



4. a) The PEL (permissible exposure limit) for benzene is 1 ppm. Assuming a perfectly well-mixed system, how much benzene would have to evaporate each day from an open container in my lab to cause all of Fitzpatrick to be at the PEL. The air turnover rate in Fitzpatrick is about four hours (i.e., the air in the building is replaced every four hours). You will, of course, have to estimate the volume of air in Fitzpatrick, so don't forget the two floors underground.
   
   b) Now consider the situation in which the benzene does not get evenly distributed throughout the building and remains confined to my lab. How much benzene would have to evaporate to maintain my lab (about 30' x 40') at 1 ppm? Still assume the 4 hour air turnover rate from the room and a well-mixed system within the room.



5. If a pond of water is saturated with benzene, what is the concentration (mole fraction) of benzene in the air just above the liquid/vapor interface? The solubility of benzene in water is about 10 milligrams of benzene per liter of water and its vapor pressure at 20°C is 75 mm Hg. Assume that the infinite dilute activity coefficient of benzene in water at room temperatures is about 10.