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Head Office: 67 Alexander St, Crows Nest, Sydney 2065 ph. 437-6191. Vic Sales (and S.A., W.A., Tas.) Kendall Knight (Vic.) 23 Anthony Drive, Mt. Waverley 3149 ph. 233-5055. NSW Sales (and Qld.) Kendall Knight (NSW), 40 Sloane Street, Marrickville 2204 ph. 51-4592.

air pollution monitoring and control is our business

EDITORIAL

Are we succeeding in controlling Air Pollution, W. Strauss

TECHNICAL PAPERS

Albylbenzenes in the Atmosphere at Bawley Point, a Rural Settlement on the South Coast of New South Wales P.F. Nelson, M.Y. Smith and M.F.R. Mulcahy

Air Pollution Planning for Monarto, South Australia J.G. Sharpe

Air Pollution and the Lung Streeton

FEATURES

Branch News

Book Reviews

Letter to the Editor

New Product News

The Vikoma System for Clearing Oil Spills at Sea

News from the Council Meeting

1

2

6

15

7

17

14

19

18

5

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

EDITOR W. Strauss

ASSOCIATE EDITOR S.J. Mainwaring EDITORIAL BOARD J. O'Heare W.H. Cock J.G. Schroder H. Hartman

EDITORIAL OFFICE Department of Industrial Science University of Melbourne Parkville, V i c , 3052, Australia

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Publication is quarterly in February, May, August and November. Annual Subscription rates (inc. postage) for non-members and libraries:

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Subscriptions and subscription enquiries should be directed to the Circulation Manager, Mr A. Crapp,1 Olive St.. Ryde. N.S.W. 2112 Australia

'Clean Air ' is listed in Current Contents and Environmental Periodicals.

CLEAN Vol. 11 No. 1. February, 1977 AIR

Clean Air / February, 1977 A1

A new concept in dust and fume collection

WET GAS SCRUBBER

These results are typical of collecting efficiencies achieved

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97.0% 99.5% 1

Zinc oxide furnace fumes 97.0% Lead fumes from blast furnace 98.0% Lead fumes from Sinter

cooling drum Flotation concentrator gas Gluorine Gas Zinc Chloride fumes

99.0% I 99.0% 1 96.0% 1 97.0% I

1

Fumes from oxygen blown steel furnace

Fluidized bed calcine roaster gases

Lead fumes from rotary Lead chloride fumes from

furnace

99.8%

99.9% 99.5%

99.4%

| ] j i i

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Consider these advantages: • Low Operating Costs A liquid-gas ratio of 2 1GPM/1000 CFM is not uncommon and corresponds to a mass ratio of approximately 1:4. The mechanism employed accel­erates the liquid, not the large mass flow of gas, reducing energy requirements substantially. 15 HP per 1000 CFM gas treated per stage is typical for the ELBAIR.

• Low Pressure Loss As the gas stream does not need to be accelerated pressure loss is limited to 25 mm W.G. per stage maximum, a great advantage when retrofitting existing plant with ELBAIR scrubber.

• Reduced Maintenance Costs There are no moving parts inside the ELBAIR. Because of low air velocities, 200 to 500 ft/min,

abrasion problems are eliminated and the low pressure drop allows the fan to run at a low speed.

• Flexibility Because of the. collecting mechanism employed the ELBAIR cannot be starved, in fact performance increases when the unit is operated below its design capacity while overload-condition up to 150% can be satisfactorily handled.

Variations in volume and fluctuations in dust loading are accommodated without requiring any adjustments.

• F u t u r e C o n t i n g e n c y R e q u i r e m e n t To meet altered process conditions or more stringent emission requirements, provisions can be made to insert internals for an additional stage at any time in the future, at a minimum cost and negligible downtime — an insurance against obsolescence.

Pilot model Elbair is now available for on-site test runs.

A2

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GROUP OF COMPANIES Telegrams: SALA AUST SYDNEY Reprinted from Australian Mining

EDITORIAL

What's in the air?

...hydrocarbons

...Philips can tell. Air pollution networks are coming into service all around the

world. There are integrated networks in such cities as Stockholm, Prague, Milan, Mexico City and Rotterdam. Special sniffers sample the air, measure the pollutants and report to a computer. In Australia the same sniffers have been chosen for continuous automatic monitoring of air quality by such organisations as Mt. Isa Mines Limited and the New South Wales Electricity Commission.

Hydrocarbons polluteour air. They occur in large quantities because of combustion in modern engines and furnaces and help form that unmistakeable haze of photo-chemical smog. To tackle pollution systematically, you must know how to measure it continuously.

Philips have a hydrocarbon monitor, the PW9785 which measures hydrocarbons and methane separately with a flame ionisation detector, t h e unit is a chromatograph and is available in ambient and stack models- The monitor has ranges for 0-100 ppm, 5000 ppm for stack and minimum detectable concentration is 40 ppb. Measurement in 90 seconds and unattended operation for 3 months with zero drift, auto correction and calibration. Hydrogen generators and catalytic air packs are available for safe running. Would you like to know more?

Then contact: Scientific and Industrial Equipment P.O. Box 119, North Ryde. 2113 or phone Sydney 8888222, Melbourne 6990300, Adelaide 2234022, Brisbane 442471, Perth 654199, Canberra 950321, Hobart 285997.

PHILIPS Working on pollution

132.0007

Are we succeeding in controlling Air Pollution?

We frequently despair in our attempts to clean the air. Is the control of particular sources, or the requirement for exhaust emission controls really helping in the long term?

While air pollution controls have been seriously intro­duced in Australia by all States during the past decade, and controls in the United States have been enforced for a similar period, the United Kingdom has now had 20 years of control since the Clean Air Act of 1956. It is in Britain's major cities - London, Burmingham, Sheffield, Man­chester, and others - that the real success of air pollution control is now becoming obvious. The data on dust fall-out and sulphur dioxide levels shows significant reductions. In a recent report from Manchester*, the reduction in smoke has been from averages of 300 μg/m3 in the 1950s to 40 μg/m3 at present. Sulphur dioxide has been reduced from 200 μg/m3 to 60μg/m3.

These statistics are accompanied by improvements in the quality of urban life; winter sunshine has increased by 40%, as has visibility. Clean buildings require less attention, park seats no longer require frequent washing, and the clipping of hedges is no longer considered a dirty job.

Certain bird species have returned, because of the increase in insect life, and Manchester lady birds, which had developed a pattern of black bodies with red spots, have returned to the reverse colours observed elsewhere.

Not quite so dramatic, but still significant, is the reduction in air pollutants emitted in the United States. Similar estimates for Australia† unfortunately show no such reduction in the immediate future, but some long term reductions in air pollutants from controls, will also benefit our community.

W. STRAUSS

* 20 years of Air Pollution Control, published by the Manchester Area Council for Clean Air and Noise Control, 1976.

† R.D. Ciomie and W. Strauss, unpublished calculations.

BRANCH NEWS

New Branch in Western Australia A one day symposium - Clean Air Today and Tomorrow — was held on 14th October at the WA Institute of Technology. It was organised by a steering committee, and speakers included Mr H. Hartmann, R.W. Manuell and six others. About 50 persons attended.

An inaugural meeting was held on 30th November and a committee elected as follows: Branch President, Mr G.M. Ralph; Hon Secretary, Mr D.B. Sykes; Hon. Treasurer, Mr A. Scott and as committee members Messrs A. Cumpston, E. Kirke, D. Rigden, D. Saunders and D. Shafley. There were 47 individual and 6 organisation members on forma­tion. At this meeting Mr R, Southern, Regional Director of the Bureau of Meteorology spoke on "Air Depression Alerts and What Causes Them".

An interesting programme, with 5 meeting or works visits has been arranged for 1977, of which one may be a joint meeting with the RACI.

continued on page 9.

Clean Air / February, 1977 1

ALKYLBENZENES IN THE ATMOSPHERE AT BAWLEY POINT,

A RURAL SETTLEMENT ON THE SOUTH COAST

OF NEW SOUTH WALES

P. F. Nelson, M. Y. Smith and M. F. R. Mulcahy

This paper outlines a study of individual alkybenzene concen­trations at a rural site in New South Wales, Australia. The results obtained indicate that some interesting problems relating to reactive hydrocarbon concen­trations still remain to be solved.

The authors are all members of the CSIRO Division of Process Technology, P.O. Box 136, North Ryde, NSW 2113, where this work was carried out.

INTRODUCTION: The different photo­chemical activities to be found among different hydrocarbons make it desir­able that field studies of the formation of photochemical smog should include measurements of the atmospheric con­centrations of not merely total reactive hydrocarbons but also of the individual hydrocarbon species. Reactive species, notably alkyl substituted benzenes and alkenes, naturally warrant particular attention. Measurements of this kind have been made, in greater or less detail, in cities of the USA(l,2pr7,) and Europe(3,4), and recently in Sydney, Australia(5,6). Few if any measure­ments, however, are on record as having been made at other than urban or suburban locations. Some determina­tions of atmospheric concentrations of several alkylbenzenes carried out at a rural coastal site may therefore be of interest. The results may be compared with urban concentrations of the same hydrocarbons. In addition, they provide indications of differences in reactivity between certain hydrocarbons under atmospheric as distinct from laboratory conditions.

Alkylbenzenes are reactive precursors to the formation of photochemical oxidants and are associated with high production of aerosol(77) and high eye-irritation potential(8) in smog-chamber tests. Smog-chamber and other labora­tory experiments indicate that mono-alkylbenzenes are about as reactive as ethylene, and di-alkyl- and tri-alkylbenzenes are about as reactive as propylene and higher molecular weight aikenes (8,9). Alkylbenzenes as a class are a major component of petrol both in Australia and elsewhere. They con­stituted over 35 mole per cent of premium grade petrol sold in Sydney in 1974(10), and similar figures apply in the USA(ll) and Europe(12 It has been

observed that their concentration in automobile exhaust correlates with their proportion in the fuel used in the engine(3,12). They constituted a signifi-cent proportion of the hydrocarbons found in the atmosphere of cities(2).

The measurements reported here were carried out over a three day period (14-16 May, 1976) at Bawley Point, a small coastal settlement on the south coast of New South Wales, roughly midway between Ulladulla and Bate-mans Bay and about 200 km south of Sydney (Fig. 1). At Bawley Point there are a number of houses and holiday homes and no industrial activities. The nearest city with more than a few thousand people is the industrial city of Wollongong (pop. 210,000) 130 km to the north. The nearest main highway (the Princes Highway) is 6.7 km to the west of the sampling point. The samples were all taken at 1.7 m above ground level, at the same place (Fig. 1) on a headland, the sea being about 50 m to the east of the sampling point. Cor­morant Beach was the same distance to the south and the cul-de-sac of a seldom used minor road about the same dis­tance to the north.

Experimental The methods used to collect the hydro­carbons from samples of air and analyse them by high resolution gas chromato­graphy have been outlined else-where(5,6). Briefly, the hydrocarbons were extracted from the air samples by adsorption on the porous hydrophobic polymer Chromosorb 105 (Johns-Manville, USA). Each sample of air was sucked through a capsule containing the polymer, and the adsorbed hydro­carbons were subsequently transferred to a high resolution gas chromatograph via two intermediate stages of adsorption-desorption and cryogenic

Clean Air / February, 1977

condensation-evaporation respectively. An SE-30 coated glass capillary column 80 m long was used, with flame ioniza­tion detection. The hydrocarbons were identified by Dr K.E. Murray and his group using the Gas chromatograph-Mass s p e c t r o m e t e r - C o m p u t e r (GC-MS-Computer) facility at the CSIRO Division of Food Research.

Part of a chromatogram is repro­duced on a small scale in Fig. 2(b). The column only partly resolved the iso­meric alkylbenzenes, m- and p-xylene and m- and p-ethyltoluene.

Results and Discussion The samples were analysed quantita­tively for ethylbenzene, m, p- xylene, n-propylbenzene, o- xylene, m, p-ethyl-toluene, 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene, o-ethyltoluene and 1,2,4-trimethyl-benzene. Toluene concentrations were not determined because of the possi­bility of breakthrough from the collec­tor. (Because of the low ambient con­centrations at Bawley Point, large col­lection volumes were required). Never­theless it was observed that in all samples toluene was present in higher concentrations than any other alkyl-benzene. This has been found also to be the case in most air samples collected in the central and suburban areas of Sydney(5,6). Results for the six samples taken at Bawley Point are shown in Table 1. Concentrations are expressed in parts-per-trillion (pptV), i.e. 1 pptV is equivalent to one part in 10 by volume. The prevailing wind direction during each period of sample collection is also shown.

Not unexpectedly, the absolute con­centrations at Bawley Point are far lower than those observed in urban air samples. A comparison between concen­trations of certain alkylbenzenes measured at various sites in Sydney and at Bawley Point indicates, generally, that concentrations are about 400 times lower at Bawley Point.

Notwithstanding the great difference in absolute concentrations, a remarkable feature of the Bawley Point chromato-grams is their similarity to those of samples collected in Sydney. This is illustrated by Fig. 2 which provides a comparison of the corresponding parts of chromatograms of samples taken at the two locations. With few exceptions no hydrocarbon has been found pro­minent (relatively) in the Sydney area which is not prominent, though not necessarily equally so, at Bawley Point. (This was also found to be the case with a sample taken at another semi-rural location, namely in the Watagan State Forest in the region of Wyong, NSW).

Such similarities suggest a common origin for the hydrocarbons. Studies of the relative composition of the higher molecular weight hydrocarbons in the atmosphere of urban areas have shown it to be generally similar to that of petrol; and this has been found to be the case as regards alkylbenzenes in Sydney(6). Thus the Bawley Point (and Watagan State Forest) results indicate that the hydrocarbon composition in these areas, at least in respect to aro­matic hydrocarbons, is strongly related to petrol composition.

If the hydrocarbons sampled at Baw­ley Point derive from a source (or sources) some distance away, differ­ences in reactivity could alter the rela­tive concentrations of individual species from those in samples taken near the

source. In other words, the more re­active species might be expected to be in lower relative concentration in Baw­ley Point samples than in samples col­lected in a city, for example Sydney. Inspection of the relative concentrations of the alkylbenzenes does reveal some interesting features in this respect.

First, sample VI, which was collected overnight and presumably derived mainly from the highway 7 km to the west, contained seven of the nine examined hydrocarbons in precisely the same order of relative concentration as that found for these hydrocarbons in Sydney: namely toluene >m-, p-xylene > ethylbenzene > o-xylene > m-, p-ethyltoluene > 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene > 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene. (A compari­son is not available for the remaining

FIGURE 1. Location of Sampling Point at Bawley Point on South Coast of NSW.

Clean Air / February, 1977 3

two hydrocarbons, n-propylbenzene and o-ethyltoluene). All the daytime samples (I-V), however, showed a differ­ent order. Notably, ethylbenzene was present in equal or greater concentra­tion than m, p-xylene in 4 of the 5 samples. More precisely, the ratiom-, p-xylene/ethylbenzene is 1.45 for the nocturnal sample; that is, a littler lower than the daytime Sydney value of 2(6). The values for the 5 daytime rural samples, however, range from 1.04 to 0.86. The photochemical reactivity of m, p- xylene, having regard to the isomeric proportions likely to be pre­sent, is about 2.5 times that of ethyl-benzene' on Pitts' reactivity scale(9). Hence it is plausible to attribute the lower relative concentrations of m, p-xylene to a greater degree of reaction of this hydrocarbon in the atmosphere during the time which elapsed between emission from the source and collection at Bawley Point.

Another feature of the relative con­centrations in the Bawley Point samples, however, is less easily explained. In four

of the five daytime samples (I, III-V in Table 1) the concentration of o-xylene was less than that of m, p-ethyltoluene and of 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene. This is contrary to what has commonly been found in Sydney where, as indicated above, o-xylene is generally higher than the other two compounds. For example, the o-xylene to 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene ratio found in central Sydney in the afternoon is commonly about 1.2. For the overnight Bawley Point sample it is 1.1 But for the four daytime samples the range is from 0.65 to 0.75. (For the fifth daytime sample (II) collected with the wind from NNE, the value is 1.9). 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene is generally re­garded as highly active photochemically. On Pitts' reactivity scale, it is 2.4 times more active than o-xylene. Thus, if different reactivity is to account for the effect observed, Pitts' reactivity scale in this respect and indeed the generally accepted view regarding the relative reactivities of these two compounds are in need of revision.

The data relating to reactivity are too

FIGURE 2. Parts of Chromatograms of Air Samples.

4

few for the foregoing considerations to be more than tentative. Nevertheless, significant possibilities have been brought to light which can be tested when more data are obtained. The sensitivity achieved by the procedures used in this work raises the possibility that determination of the relative con­centrations of hydrocarbons at sites remote from sources could be used to test reactivitiy scales obtained from smog-chamber experiments. Conversely, relative concentrations of appropriate compounds could be used to fingerprint sources and thereby establish the nature of pollutant transport.

Conclusions

Eight alkylbenzenes have been found in the atmosphere at a rural coastal site in New South Wales in individual concen­trations ranging from 10-3 to > 10-2

pptV. The relative concentrations of the various species indicate first, that petrol is the main source of the hydrocarbons, and second that changes in relative concentrations take place between the emission source(s) and the collection site which cannot be completely ex­plained on the basis of currently accept­ed reactivity scales.

Acknowledgements This work was carried out in association with a study of the hydrocarbons in the atmosphere of Sydney undertaken by the CSIRO Division of Process Tech­nology in collaboration with the CSIRO Division of Food Research. The study is partly supported financially by the State Pollution Control Commission of NSW.

References Altshuller, A.P., Lonneman, W.A., Sut-terfield, F.D. and Kopczynski, S.L., En­viron. Sci Technol, 5, 1009 (1971).

2. Lonneman, W.A., Kopczynski, S.L. Dar-ley, P.E. and Sutterfield, F.D., Environ. Sci Technol., 8 229 (1974).

3. Burghardt, E. and Jeltes, R., Atmos. Environ., 9, 935 (197S).

4. Raymond, A. and Guiochon, G., En­viron. Sci Technol, 8, 143 (1974).

5. Mulcahy, M.F.R., Nelson, P.F., Smith, M.Y., Murray, K.E. and Whitfield, F.B., Smog Forming Hydrocarbons in Urban Air, Paper IV in: Smog '76 Proceedings of Symposium and Workshop Sessions, Macquarie University, Sydney, February 1976 (Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand).

6. Mulcahy, M.F.R., Nelson, P.F., Smith, M.Y. and Whitfield, F.B., unpublished results.

Clean Air/ February, 1977

10.

11.

12.

Levy, A., Miller, D.F., Hopper, D.R., Spicer, C.W., Trayser, D.A. and Cote, R.W., Motor-Fuel Composition and Photochemical Smog. Final Report to American Petroleum Institute, April, 1975. Altshuller, A.P. and Bufaline, J.J., En­viron. Sci. Technol, 5, 39 (1971). Pitts, J.N., Jr., California's Experience in the Control of Photochemical Smog, Paper I in: Smog '76, Proceedings of Symposium and Workshop Sessions, Macquarie University, Sydney, February 1976. (Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand). A Review of Gasoline Quality: Australia and New Zealand, April/May (1974 The Associated Octel Co Ltd, London, Sep­tember 1974. Maynard, J.B. and Saunders, W.N., J. Air Pollut. Control Assoc, 19, 505 (1969). Guicherit, R., Hoogeven, A. and Lind-qvist, F., Staub-Reinhalt. Luft, 35, 89 (1975).

Table 1: Concentrations of Alkylbenzenes in Samples Taken at Bawley Point, 14-16 May, 1976

Time of Sample Collection

Date

Alkyl benzene ethylbenzene m, p-xylene o-xylene n-propyl benzene m, p-ethyltoluene 1,3,5-trimethy I benzene o-ethyltoluene 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene Volume collected (l) Wind direct ion

0800-1139

(14)

4.28 4.47 1.39 0.63 3.91 0.82 0.95 2.14 876 W

1110-1415

(15)

1318-1843

(14)

Concentration 8.78 7.80 4.17 4.26 3.83 1.15 1.96 2.22 740 NNE

2.07 2.07 1.27 2.30 2.07 0.71 0.48 1.70 1300 SE

0856-1102

(15)

(pptV) 17.40 16.87 9.42 7.60

16.87 5.62 6.61

13.83 504 W

1323-1510

(16)

10.71 9.99 5.04 9.00 7.83 2.07 2.61 7.47

428 NE

1728-0842

(15/16)

8.40 12.21

5.99 3.70 5.51 2.00 2.00 5.51

3656 W

NEWS FROM THE COUNCIL MEETING

The Council of the Society, now with representatives from all States and New Zealand, met on Monday, 14th Feb­ruary, at the Crest Hotel, Brisbane. The Crest Hotel is the venue of our next 1978 International Clean Air Con­ference, and was found most suitable after an inspection.

Planning for this conference is well advanced; over 60 papers, of which half are from overseas, have been submitted for consideration by the Programme Committee, and a final technical pro­gramme will be drawn up shortly.

Copies of the new Constitution and By-Laws, as ratified at the Annual General Meeting in Melbourne last August (1976), are now available from State Secretaries. Dr Basden was con­gratulated on his efforts for his work on the new constitution and by-laws.

Representatations by the Society to the National Health and Medical Re­search Council were successful in getting this body to modify its recommended emission standards for carbon monoxide and oxides of nitrogen. These will be included fa the new standards shortly to be published by the NHMRC.

The success of the Smog '76 Con­ference was applauded. The NSW SPCC has acknowledged the tremendous benefit that this conference was to those engaged in air pollution control, and the community as a whole.

The Council agreed that special certi­ficates will be prepared for issuing to Life, Honorary and Sustaining Members of the Society to acknowledge their support of the Society.

The Council of the Society agreed

unanimously that its highest award, the Clean Air Medal, he awarded to Mr R.T. (Terry) Douglas, Chief Air Pollution Control Officer (formerly Chief Chemi­cal Inspector) for New Zealand. He was responsible for the administration of air pollution control in New Zealand since 1960, and participated actively in revis­ing legislation that has given New Zea­land its emminent place in the rational approach to air pollution control. He also has an international reputation having, as a WHO fellow, and under the Columbo plan, worked as an advisor in a number of countries. He is a foundation member of the Society.

IUAPPA Statute: The proposed Statute, which will be discussed and adopted at the Tokyo Meeting of IUAPPA, was considered in detail. Some small, but very significant alterations to the draft statute, particularly with refer­ence to the election of the IUAPPA President, and the delegation of powers to the IUAPPA Executive, for action between meetings, are being proposed by the Council for incorporation during the Tokyo meeting.

Because of the size of the Council, with its executive members (4), ex-officio members (2) and branch repre­sentatives (10) the cost of holding two meetings each year is so high that it was decided to reduce the number of full council meetings to one each year, preferably in conjunction with a con­ference. However, the executive mem­bers will endeavour to meet about four times each year, when members of the executive find themselves in the same city. The executive will report their actions to the council meeting. This will enable the work of the Society to be carried out expeditiously, but without

loss of the overriding authority of the full council. The next Council meeting will be held following the 1978 Inter­national Conference in Brisbane.

New President Mr Hans F. Hartmann, Vice-President and current Victorian Branch President, was elected by the Council to the Presidency of the Society, as from July 1st, 1977. The current president, John G. Schroder, who has held this position for the past 10 years, has tendered his resignation as from that date to take a position in London. During John Schroder's presidency the Society has grown from three small branches (Sydney, Melbourne, New Zealand) to a Society with branches in all states (inc. the A.C.T.) and New Zealand, with a membership of more than 700 in­dividual, company and sustaining mem­bers.

Mr K. Sullivan was elected Deputy President of the Society, and will act as an Observer at the IUAPPA meeting in Tokyo, supporting the retiring presi­dent, John Schroder.

Increased Journal Subscription The Council approved in view of the vastly increased mailing charges since March 1976, and increases in printing costs over the past 18 months, to a small increase in subscription rates.

The Australian-subscription will be increased to $6.75 (from $5.50) and the U.K. subscription to £6.00 (from £4.50). The latter increase is forced on us by the relative depreciation of the pound sterling relative to the $A. U.S. and German subscription rates will remain at $12 and DM 30, respectively.

Clean A i r / February, 1977 5

7.

8.

9.

Sample ! II i l l IV V VI

J. G. Sharpe A!R POLLUTION PLANNING FOR

MONARTO, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

The article describes the methods devised to apply current predic­tion techniques to a city as yet unbuilt, an achievement not previously accomplished. Predic­tions are made for photochemical air pollutant levels and particulates generated by a city. Odours are also considered.

Mr J.G. Sharpe is an Environ­mental Planner with the Monarto Development Commission, 129 Greenhill Road, Unley, SA5061.

INTRODUCTION: In 1972 the South Australian Government announced that it intended to build a new city, on generally poor farming land, immedi­ately west of Murray Bridge. The future town was given the name of Monarto and was to be designed for approxi­mately 180,000 people.

The site is roughly saucer-shaped with a dip to the south-east and is the southern end of the top of an unfaulted block in the eastern Mount Lofty Ranges (see Map 1), with major fault lines and scarps to the east and west. The main water drainage from the site is through Kinchina Gully in the east (thence seeping under part of Murray Bridge) and there is an internal drainage area in the south.

A decision was made to plan the emission of air pollutants so that there was no medically significant build-up of pollutants over the whole or any part of the site and to keep the appearance of Monarto as attractive and haze-free as possible. To provide data for this, a meteorological study of the site was begun and this was followed by an assessment of possible pollutants pro­duced by industrial, commercial, domes­tic and other sources, that would eventually be established in Monarto. It was hoped that this would avoid the more obvious problems at the planning stage rather than by remedial action or restrictions later.

The South Australian Department of Health then carried out preliminary monitoring of air pollutants and found, as expected in a rural area, that the levels appeared to be below the threshold of sensitivity of their instru­ments.

A general plan for the city was soon formulated, based mainly upon the fol­lowing reasoning: There was a possible site for a central lake, with a major stand of scrub on one side, so the other side would be a good site for the city centre; An area should be set aside for industry which was serviced by the Adelaide-

Melbourne road (Princes Highway) and the Adelaide-Melbourne railway; There should be two other industrial areas in other parts of the site to keep employment near to homes; Major access would have to be from the Adelaide-Murray Bridge freeway (the southern boundary of the site) which was already planned; All creek beds were to be vegetated. This is the basis of the current Concept Plan as in Map 2.

Meteorology Shordy after the announcement of the plan the South Australian division of the Bureau of Meteorology installed five anemographs on the site, together with other equipment, and operated them for one year. This, as well as the Bureau's general knowledge of winds in that area of the state, was the wind data available when the Monarto Development Com­mission was formed in 1974 to plan the city.

Since then monitoring has continued with one permanent station for long-term records and several short-term investigations of specific areas to resolve specific problems.

Air Pollutants Preliminary Investigations: To the con­cept plan stage there had not been any significant input from air pollution plan­ning. The position of major sources had been tentatively decided and a decision had to be made whether air pollutants were likely to be a major problem, necessitating possible revision of the Concept Plan, or whether they could be contained by modifications at the detail stage.

As motor vehicles appeared likely to be the main source of photochemicals, Dr Iverach (then of the NSW State Pollution Control Commission) was commissioned to predict exhaust emis­sion concentrations on the site as a first order guide (2).

For the prediction, it was assumed that there would be 200,000 people

6 Clean A i r / February, 1977

MAP 1. TOPOGRAPHY OF THE MONARTO SITE.

with one car per two people, these cars would travel 30 km per day at 30 km per hour average speed (the data for Sydney) an that emissions would follow 1976 Australian standards. Dispersion was assumed to be low (exact value not given). These were then analysed on a 9 km2 grid using a Hanna equation (3) (C not given).

The results were: Carbon Monoxide (18 hr. average) 2.8 ppm, Hydrocarbons (a.m. peak 3 hours) 0.11 ppm, Nitrogen Oxides (a.m. peak 3 hours) 0.03 ppm. These are well within recognised goals (e.g. U.S. National Air Quality Stand­ards) and so it was appreciated that air pollutatants from motor vehicles would not be a major factor at concept plan level. Preliminary Predictions: It was then decided to accept the Concept Plan as it stood and Dr Strauss (of the University of Melbourne) was commissioned to analyse it as a whole in greater detail to reveal any specific areas where undesir­able accumulation of air pollutants could occur (4). The method to be used was a Hanna (5) (2 km grid square) area-source model, which required a detailed emissions inventory.

The following sources were con­sidered (by Drs Strauss and Mainwaring in Strauss' report (4) ) to compile an emissions inventory for the future city. (1) From industry: As Monarto is de­signed to accommodate a population equivalent approximately 16% of that currently in South Australia, it will have approximately 16% of the industry in South Australia (measured by number of employees for convenience). Thus a list of industries in South Australia was

Clean Air / February, 1977

obtained, those industries not expected to be found at Monarto deleted (such as oil refining or large-scale lead smelting) and 16% of the capacity of the remain­der assumed for Monarto. The result was close to that of an independent prediction (6) compiled for the Commis­sion for other purposes. These industries were then arbitrarily assigned to the three planned industrial areas, ensuring that each contained at least one major industry. An oil and petroleum tank farm was included.

Fuel for these industries was assumed to be similar to that presently used in Adelaide, an assumption supported by the aims declared in the recent report of the SA State Energy Committee (7). Fuel quantities were then predicted, based on current fuel isages of similat industries and from this total annual emissions were calculated using USEPA emission factors (8). (2) Vehicle exhausts: The number of vehicle miles per year was totalled, assuming 180,000 population, 1½ cars per four persons and that 2/3 of the cars will travel four km to work during the morning peak and 12 km per day over­all. This was considered more realistic for the type of city envisaged than the figures of Iverach. (3) Other hydrocarbon sources: (a) Contributions from sources such as

dry cleaning and painting were esti­mated using USEPA figures,

(b) Petroleum products — these in­cluded filling of tank farm tanks, transfer to road tankers, tank breathing, filling individual cars and filling service station tanks (assum­ing no controls, using USEPA figures).

(4) Household: Assumptions were made for the types of heating and cooling energy used in households (correspond­ing to those installed in current new homes in Adelaide) and emissions cal­culated. Detailed Analysis: An annual analysis of total emission was then performed on a 2 km square grid, total emissions being calculated for S02 CO particulates, oxi­dants, NOx, hydrocarbons, aldehydes and organics. From the wind speed data available a "worst case" speed was selected and the annual emission totals were converted to annual average con­centrations via Hanna's formula.

The calculated emissions were allo­cated to the grid squares in the follow­ing ways: (a) Vehicle emissions were spread

evenly over the squares. (b) Household emissions were allocated

to squares in proportion to the

amount of residential area they contained.

(c) Other emissions were allocated to the squares they would arise from. Industry was spread evenly throughout the industrial areas, with at least one larger source in each, and a tank farm was allocated to the southern industrial area as it will require access to the rail line.

A second analysis was performed for a four hour morning peak, various assumptions being made as to the frac­tion of total emissions allocated to this period. Both projections were then con­verted to average concentrations, the former under a "worst case" wind speed selected from on-site monitoring and the latter under inversion conditions.

This revealed that all except two of the values were well inside U.S. National Air Quality primary and secondary standards. One was the hydrocarbons in the southern industrial area in both analyses, due mainly to the tank farm, which could be reduced by placing controls upon the tanks. The other was annual value of the S02 in the eastern industrial area, due to its share of larger industry component (using fuel oil with 3% sulphur) and this could be prevented by having a relatively tall chimney (usual practice) or lowering the sulphur content of the oil.

The results of this modelling are threefold (if the assumptions are cor­rect): 1. It demonstrates that the general level

of photochemical air pollutants should be well within the U.S. National Air Quality2 limits.

2. There should not be any local areas or special times of air pollution problems.

MAP 2. MONARTO CONCEPT PLAN.

7

3. Remedial action will not have to be taken after the city is built.

Odours

These are a special problem as the quantities needed to cause offence can be minute and they can have such a profound effect upon the enjoyment of life of those people affected.

They were considered in four groups: (1) Odours produced by cars, houses, etc, over a wide area. During times of katabatic drainage, these will tend to drain into the major waterways and flow along them. This has been allowed for by vegetating the waterways and leaving them as undeveloped open space, which also has obvious advan­tages during floods. At other times there will be some degree of dispersive condi­tions and so vegetated buffer zones have been incorporated to allow for some dispersion of odours, particularly before they reach residential areas. Each indus­trial area will have a 200 metre zone surrounding it and each major road (4 or 6 lanes) will have a 100 metre zone. (2) From particular stationary sources. Obvious sources are the industrial areas and the sewage treatment plant.

One of the industrial areas and the sewage treatment plant, together with the freeway and a possible sanitary landfill area, are planned to be in a katabatic ponding area (1). Also, they are upwind of residential areas and the city centre during sea breezes, which are very common in that locality (see Map 3).

Problems with the katabatic drainage would depend upon the point of exit from the "pond" formed by land above the 100 metre contour. Two exits seem­ed likely, one eastwards over farmland and the other northward into Monarto. Anemographs were therefore placed at sites 1 to 4 for a period of three months (the only time available). No. 1 showed that there was a katabatic inflow down­hill but this soon ceased at that point as the bowl "filled". No. 2 shows that the flow continued much later during the night (and that it occured very com­monly). No. 3 revealed a strong outflow on virtually every night there was in­flow. No. 4 was placed on a 5 metre ridge which formed the northern bound­ary of the bowl. This demonstrated that there was very little movement across the ridge and that what there was occurred in both northern and southern directions. This was interpreted to mean that the main flow south of the ridge was easterly down the slope and out of the gap at number 3, whilst the area to

the north tended to Find its own exit to the north-east. Thus the southern odours will tend to be carried over farmland, but the ponding of the area will probably mean that odours from the sewage treatment works will be very apparent to the travellers on the free­way. Odours from the industrial area may be carried over residential areas.

Sea breezes are the other common, reasonably low dispersion wind. Record­ings of these have been made in this area and still remain to be analysed for the degree of dispersive ability.

(3) Odours from highly obnoxious in­dustries (such as those commonly classi­fied as "noxious trades", also fumes, etc) are best removed altogether from proximity to residential areas and several areas outside of the city site have been proposed (by Strauss and others) for these. The sites are surrounded by several miles of farmland and drain into uninhabited sections of the Murray Trench. (4) City centre exhausts. Accumulation of vehicle exhausts between buildings has been prevented by: (a) placing a general four storey limit

on all buildings; (b) designing the central shopping area

as a mall with access to shops for delivery only through rear roads and placing car parks in a well ventilated outdoor area.

A further, general precaution, that of "sanitary zones", has also been recom­

mended (Strauss (4) ). As each type of industry tends to have a characteristic "offensiveness", made up of noise, odours, dust, etc., there has developed in Europe the concept of allotting a standard buffer zone to each industry type. Examples of these are 1,000 metres around an abattoir, 500 metres for a tannery and 200 metres surround­ing a brickworks. A set of these has been recommended for Monarto (4), to be used where the sanitary zone exceeds the industrial buffer zone, but the con­cept has not yet been formally adopted.

A guide has also been prepared (4) to the little known of the susceptibility of Australian native plants to air pollu­tants, to assist in the selection of plants for the buffer zone and sanitary zones.

Further Work Required

As well as the dispersion analysis, much more needs to be known about inver­sions. Nothing is known about any daytime inversions and temperature pro­files have only been taken on two nights. A permanent meteorological station has been established and a student is about to commence a Master's Degree on the subject of inver­sions using an acoustic radar and sup­porting instruments. This should even­tually give a far better idea of the vertical dispersion of pollutants and enable more accurate calculation of factory chimney heights.

8 Clean Air / February, 1977

References 1. Bureau of Meteorology Climate of Mon­

arto Report to the Monarto Development Commission (1976).

2. Iverach, D., Aspects of Air Pollution in Relation to the Development of Monarto, Report to the MDC (1974).

3. Iverach, D, Mongan, T.R., Nielsen, N.G. and Formby, J.R. Motor Vehicle Related Pollution in Sydney, Jour. Air Poll. Cont. Assoc, 26, 39(1976).

4. Strauss, W., An Assessment of the Air Pollution Potential of Monarto, University of Melbourne, Report to the MDC (1976).

5. Hanna, S.R., J. Air Poll. Cont. Assoc. 21, 774(1971).

6. Pak Poy and Assoc, and R.C. Gates, Economic Viability Study of Monarto, Report to the MDC (1974).

7. SA State Energy Committee. Report to the SA Government. No title or publication date.

8. U.S. EPA, Compilation of Air Pollutant Emission Factors (Revised) Office of Air Programs, Research Triangle Park, N.C. (1972).

9. U.S. Dept. of Health, Education and Wel­fare, Photochemical Oxidants — Air Quality Criteria Public Health Service Pub­lication AP67. (1970).

BRANCH NEWS cont. from page 1.

New Zealand Branch The Committee of this branch for 1976 constituted Dr J.S. Rogers as Branch President, Mr R.T. Douglas, Vice Presi­dent, Mr J. Fitzgerald, Past President, Mr N.G. Thom, Secretary/Treasurer, and as members Messrs N. Lory, F. Robson, K. Kemeys, J. Sanders, L. Larsen, J.S. Hickman, D. Ward, Mrs J. Holm and Prof. A.D. Campbell.

Special features of the year's pro­gramme were the setting up of a sub­committee to produce guidelines for Environmental Impact Reports. The NZ Minister for the Environment was in­formed of the conclusions of this com­mittee, and at his suggestion a sub­mission was made on the Auckland Thermal No. 1 Power Station.

Mr P.M. Farrier, the Environmental Control Supervisor of NZ Aluminium Smelters was given $1000 to help in his taking the International Course in En­vironmental Science and Technology at the Delft. University of Technology.

A workshop on the Control of Industrial Atmospheric Emissions was held in March, and was coupled with a visit to New Zealand Steel Ltd, at Glenbrook.

New South Wales Branch The committee of this branch was elected in March and has the following members: Mr K.M. Sullivan, Branch President, Mr J.C. McLeod, Secretary, Mr S. Stanley, Treasurer, and as members Messrs K. Basden, A. Crapp,

A.S. Denholm, A.N. Lamb, R.W. Manuell, B. Munday, L. Phillips and B.C. Smith. Mr Haynes was coopted.

Besides organising the very successful Smog '76 Symposium, there were three ordinary meetings, dealing with odours, lead zinc smelter controls, and the SPCC motor vehicle test facility.

The Branch have cooperated with the ABC in the production of a film "The Chemistry of Air Pollution", for senior school levels in the whole of Australia. The Society provided technical advice and the narrator. This will be available shortly.

Victorian Branch The branch committee, as elected in November for 1977, consisted of Mr H.F. Hartmann, Branch President, Mr W.R. Hicks, Secretary/Treasurer, Mr L. Garner, Past President and as committee members Messrs F. Aston, H. Baddams, L. Clunn, E. Guy, J. O'Heare, R. Osmond, R. Purvis, D. Phillips and W. Strauss.

Members of the Society presented a number of papers, and were on the organising committee of Environment '76. A stand for the Society was manned throughout.

A number of successful technical meetings and one film night was held. The major proposed effort for 1977 is the Symposium and Workshop on the Analysis of Air Pollutants, which will be held on 23rd-27th May, at Melbourne University.

Tasmanian Branch Not only is the Tasmanian Branch the smallest in the Society, but it also has the problem that the industrial/ educational centres are at the northern and southern end of the island. None­theless, the Society now has 22 indi­vidual, 3 organisation and 1 sustaining member.

In view of this separation four general meetings were held, three in Hobart and one in Launceston, and the Annual General Meeting was in Burnie, with 20 participants, probably the highest proportional attendance in Aus­tralia.

At the last meeting the following committee was elected: Branch Presi­dent Mr J. Cruickshawk, Hon. Secre­tary/Treasurer, Dr D. Brown, and as committee members Messrs P. Byrne, R. Cooper, D. Harrison, S. Hills, R. Koenig, T. O'Brien, J. Stevens and as immediate past president Prof. H. Bloom.

Technical meetings covered a wide range of topics including Dr. McArdle of the Department of Public Health, Mr P.

Hutchison of Tioxide (Aust.) Pty Ltd, Mr R. Shaw of Ducan Nicropul, and Prof. J. Pitts of Caltech.

It is hoped that a membership drive in 1977 will get greater membership particularly in the North and North­west.

A.C.T. Branch The inaugural meeting of the A.C.T. Branch was held on July 27th, and the following committee was elected: Branch President Dr Neil Daly, Hon. Secretary Mr Terry McKay, Hon Treasurer D. Colin Vance, and com­mittee members are Messrs G. Cornwell, Peter Makeham and Nae Wendt.

Prof. R. Bilger (Mechanical Engineer­ing, Sydney University) gave a lecture on "Problems of Measurement of Photo­chemical Smog."

During the year, the branch president has spoken on air pollution on the Canberra radio and television stations, and acted as an advisor in the drafting of A.C.T. legislation on air pollution from stationary sources.

In order to attract industrial membership, a prime target this year, it is proposed to hold a one-day workshop on the impact on industry in the A.C.T. of the proposed air quality legislation.

South Australian Branch The committee, as elected in 1976 consists of the Branch President, Mr J.E. Harris, Hon. Secretary, Mr G.F. Sweet-apple, Hon. Treasurer, Mr T.F. Whit-worth, and as committee members Messrs E. Humphrey, M. Moore, A. Robin, A.J. Smith and K. Webb. There was a small increase in membership during the year.

Four technical meetings and a works visit to the Vehicle Testing Faculty at Chrylser (Aust.) Ltd were held. In add­ition a successful short course on air pollution particulate control equipment, its evaluation, selection and mainten­ance was held.

New Publications Paul Elek Ltd, London have just

released a new series of publications under the editorship of J. Rose and E.W. Weidner. This series is aimed prim­arily at university and technical college students studying in the environmental area and will be produced in paperback at about $5 Australian each. Forth­coming titles are: Climate and Environ­ment; Electromagnetism, Man and the Environment, Pesticides, The Changing Information Environment and Ecology and Ekistics. It is hoped to review some of these new releases in Clean Air.

Clean Air / February, 1977 9

D. A. Munro MONITORING OF AIR QUALITY IN MELBOURNE

Ambient air monitoring is being carried out in Melbourne by the E n v i r o n m e n t P r o t e c t i o n Authority of Victoria using both a dustfall, smoke density and sul­phur dioxide system that has been in operation for about fifteen years; and a more recent con­t i nuous ambien t monitoring system. Both these systems are described, with particular empha­sis on the latter. The philosophy underlying these systems and the nature, data handling techniques and proposed enhancement of the continuous ambient air monitor­ing system are also described.

Mr Munro is Principal Air Quality Officer in the quality monitoring section of the Victorian Environmental Protection Authority, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

INTRODUCTION: Legislation to deal with air pollution first came into force in Victoria in 1958 as the Clean Air Act 1958 (Victoria). This legislation pro­vided for the formation of a Clean Air Committee, which considered that if methods of controlling atmospheric pol­lution were to be soundly based, data on the nature and extent of air pollu­tion in Melbourne and other industrial­ised areas in the State would be essen­tial. Staff of the Commission of Public Health, who were empowered to imple­ment the provisions of the Act, there­fore commenced air pollution measure­ments on a routine basis in Victoria in August 1959, both in the Melbourne metropolitan area, and in the Latrobe Valley region. This system has since been somewhat expanded. It is now maintained and operated by the En­vironment Protection Authority of Vic­toria with the assistance of municipal Health Inspectors.

This survey measures dustfall, smoke density and sulphur dioxide using fairly simple apparatus; it is very similar to those that have been, and are still being used in many other cities.

In 1973, the Environment Protection Authority of Victoria which was estab­lished pursuant to the Environment Protection Act 1970 (Victoria), com­menced the establishment of a con­tinuous ambient air monitoring system in Victoria. This Authority has dele­gated powers of environmental manage­ment in certain areas of the State to Delegated Agencies. For management of air quality there is one such agency, the Latrobe Valley Water and Sewerage Board with responsibilities in the Gipps-land region. This Board is therefore responsible for ambient air monitoring in its area of delegation.

The establishment of this continuous ambient air monitoring system has, to present, been concentrated in the Mel­bourne area and in the Latrobe Valley; it is designed to determine a wide range of air pollutants and associated meteor­ological parameters. It will be described

in considerably more detail in this paper.

These two monitoring systems are quite different in nature, and are repre­sentative of markedly different ambient air monitoring philosophies which have resulted from the change in the nature of air pollution in Melbourne. The dustfall, smoke density and sulphur dioxide system largely represents a re­sponse to the effect of industrial activi­ties on their immediate environment; whereas the continuous system recog­nises the more widespread and signifi­cantly different nature of air pollution now in Melbourne.

A large number of purposes can be identified as being served by urban ambient air monitoring. However, the collection of such data can in general be categorised into two useful and increas­ingly essential purposes. These are to measure the current quality of the air and, along with other programs, to assist in predicting the future state of air quality.

Dustfall, Smoke Density and Sulphur Dioxide System. This system is such that it provides data for dustfall, smoke density and sulphur dioxide averaged over a time period corresponding to the interval between changing collectors; usually one month in the case of dustfall, and one day for smoke density and sulphur dioxide. The equipment used in this system is rela­tively simple in nature, requires little space for installation, but needs con­siderable labor for laboratory evalua­tion.

The philosophy behind this system is that of a response to the effect of certain industrial activitiy on the local environment. Sampling locations have been predominantly established in in­dustrial areas, or residential and com­mercial areas in the vicinity of major industrialisation. The pollutants measur­ed by this system are largely those that have long been associated with indus­trial activity, particularly industry burn­ing coal and fuel oil.

10 Clean Air / February, 1977

Dustfall: The deposit gauges used to measure dustfall are devices consisting of a glass funnel placed in the neck of a sufficiently large bottle, the whole being placed a certain distance above ground level. The construction and use of the gauge, and the analysis of its content are carried out to an appropriate standard method.

The gauge essentially collects mater­ial coarse enough to settle out of the atmosphere. This includes dust and grit, much of which arises from the burning of solid fuel; it may also include mater­ial from quarrying activities, wind blown material, and other minor con­stituents. The usual particle size range of the collected material is of the order of 20 to 300 micron, such material in a sufficiently large quantity is likely to be a considerable nuisance in a residential area.

A substantial number of such deposit gauges are located in Melbourne, Gee-long and the Latrobe Valley, primarily in industrial areas and residential areas likely to be influenced by neighboring industrial activity. A few gauges are located in predominantly residential areas to give background information. They are normally changed at monthly intervals and hence the results will tend to represent a mean result for this sampling period rather than indicating variation of dustfall over short time intervals. They can, however, be useful in indicating trends in dustfall over these periods and observing the effect of control measures and seasonal varia­tions.

The gauge collects the deposited matter plus the equivalent rainfall. The collected material is analysed for water soluble matter, water insoluble matter which is further broken down into combustible matter and ash, and the acidity of the water. The result for the insoluble matter is generally of the greatest significance since it represents essentially dust and grit.

The results are quoted as fallout rates and reported in milligram per square metre per day as an average for the period of exposure. Smoke Density: Smoke generally results from the incomplete combustion of fuel, and consists of fine particles, mostly carbonaceous matter, which are sufficiently small to have a low settling velocity and are kept airborne for long periods. This material is not appreciably collected in a deposit gauge and may be determined by filtration, and then esti­mating the density of the smoke stain produced on the filter paper used for collection.

Smoke particles largely fall in the

particle size range 0.1 to 1 micron. Because of this they have considerable light scattering effect and hence along with similarly small particles from other sources, are largely responsible for urban haze. The smoke density is esti­mated by drawing a known volume of air through a white paper strip and measuring the depth of color so pro­duced by the reflectance of incident light. The results of such determination are reported in units of coefficient of haze units per 100 linear metre.

Smoke density is determined at a lesser number of locations than is dust­fall, the sites used are, however, those normally used for some of the deposit gauges.

The tape used for such determination is normally moved forward daily, hence the determined result is the mean of this daily period. Sulphur Dioxide: Sulphur dioxide is formed largely from the combustion of fuels containing sulphur; in particular, high sulphur fuel oils and black coal and is measured by passing a sample of air through a hydrogen peroxide solution followed by laboratory determination of the sulphuric acid formed.

Sulphur dioxide is determined at the same location as smoke density. The gas bubblers are usually changed daily, the determined result is thus the daily mean.

Continuous Ambient Air Monitor­ing System The Environment Protection Authority has a number of continuous, largely automatic, ambient air monitoring stations within the metropolitan area to monitor general air quality. A further station is operated in the Latrobe Valley by the Latrobe Valley Water and Sewer­age Board. Air Monitoring Philosophy: Air quality within an urban area can be expected to show substantial temporal and spatial variation depending on such factors as meteorological conditions, distribution of emission sources and emission charac­teristics. Because of such variations, and the need to determine air quality trends, the establishment of a network of fixed ambient air monitoring stations to operate indefinitely is deemed essential.

Atmospheric monitoring activities have been categorised by Burmann (1) into three areas — research, surveillance and special purpose. Burmann considers "trend monitoring" to be included in

surveillance monitoring, and that it is monitoring involving the use of an air surveillance network that continuously gathers ambient air data at specific

locations for many years, so that pollu­tant trends can be determined for a metropolitan area, region, state, country or the world.

Broadly, for purposes of urban environmental management, ambient air monitoring in a metropolitan area may be seen to be of two general types: (i) Monitoring of air quality in localities of expected greatest concentration of a particular pollutant to indicate maxi­mum exposure i.e. "local monitoring", (ii) Monitoring of general ambient air quality within a given region but remote from major local sources, in order to indicate overall air quality and to be suitable for trend analysis i.e. "general monitoring".

The features of these types will be discussed in somewhat greater detail. The interpretation of data in both cases is most likely to be in terms of accepted dose/response relationships; hence monitoring of a continuous nature from which suitable averages may be derived, or by a procedure that provides a mean over a suitable time interval is required. Local Monitoring: Monitoring of this nature is concerned with the collection of data that may be related to the maximum exposure to which people may be subjected. This can be seen to be a worst case situation, and may indicate the need for control measures to overcome a local problem.

Examples of possibly elevated and important local concentrations are car­bon monoxide and particulate lead in the vicinity of city streets and major arterial roads carrying heavy traffic loads, and sulphur dioxide in the vicinity of major industrial plants burn­ing fuel of a high sulphur content.

Two significant disadvantages of such monitoring may be identified. Firstly, trend analysis of air quality within an air basin, in a number of cases, is likely to be difficult or impossible because of variations in pollutant concentration brought about by such factors as re­distribution of traffic, or a change in emission characterists that may appre­ciably affect the local environment, but have little effect on the total burden to the receiving air basin. Secondly, dose/ response relationships are usually re­lated to the effect of a given pollutant concentration on health, vegetation or materials. The interpretation of such data in these terms must assume a continuing exposure for the required period. For health considerations move­ment of people would possibly, at times, make such interpretation diffi­cult General Monitoring: Monitoring of

Clean A i r / February, 1977 11

general ambient air quality is an attempt to gain continuous data from which useful long-term trend analyses may be undertaken. This monitoring attempts to determine what might be regarded as an "average" concentration of air pollu­tants.

It is considered that monitoring stations for the collection of such data should, of course, be at locations within the air basin of interest; but sufficiently remote from local and highly variable sources, such as major roads and some industrial activities, so that dispersion of pollutants may be such as to give general ambient air levels largely inde­pendent of significant changes in a small number of minor sources. To ensure that trends may be properly identified, such monitoring must be carried out from fixed sites, and continued for very many years.

In general, the data collected from such a site would be expected to show lower primary pollutant levels than those determined by sites for the type of monitoring discussed in (i). Concen­trations of secondary pollutants such as ozone and photochemically generated aerosol may, however, be appreciably greater. The major disadvantage of such monitoring is that it does not record maximum primary pollutant levels to which some element of the population can be exposed. Such trend monitoring is considered essential in assessing with what frequency, and to what extend, general air quality has been unaccept­able, and in judging the effectiveness of emission controls. Monitoring Station Description: Each monitoring station is normally fitted with a wide range of equipment for determining those air pollutants and meteorological parameters of interest. Whenever possible, the station is air conditioned to ensure instrument operating stability. The air pollution parameters usually being continuously monitored are sulphur dioxide, ozone, nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and visibility. Total airborne particulates are measured as an inte­grated 24 hour sample once every six days;. the total lead content of this particulate matter is determined. Total hydrocarbons are at present monitored at one station only. Meteorological measurements that are required for an understanding of the dispersion of pol­lutants and the generation of photo­chemical pollutants are continuously measured; these are wet and dry bulb temperature, wind speed and direction and ultra-violet and total solar radiation. The following table lists these para­meters, the method currently being used

for measurement, the limit of detection of the method and the instrument range normally used.

The instruments used for monitoring, together with further instrumentation used for photochemical smog study, some of which may be regarded as complementary to that used in the continuous monitoring system, have been more fully described by Le Roy et al. (2).

The pollutant measuring instruments are regularly checked for performance. Usually, checking the instrument zero and calibration is regularly carried out at the station, but on occasions it may be necessary to return the instrument to the laboratory for repair or more exten­sive checking. Generally, calibration procedures depend on the use of per­meation tubes or standard gas mixtures, as appropriate to the instrument type.

The data from all monitoring instru­ments, other than that for total airborne particulates, is processed by an elec­tronic data acquisition and storage unit. This unit regularly scans all channels and records the information on mag­netic tape at three minute intervals. These tapes are changed monthly for computer processing. The pollutant in­formation is also recorded on a six-channel chart recorder for immediate access. Ambient Air Monitoring Network: The ambient air monitoring network is in­tended to meet the requirements of providing data suitable for "trend monitoring". As previously discussed, the locations, sought should be within the area of interest, but remote from local sources of pollution to enable trends to be more easily discerned by allowing adequate dispersion to occur. The sites selected are based on con­siderations of topography, land use and demography. Ideally, the location

should be accessible secure, have the necessary services available, and security of tenure should be assured. Since meteorological information is often col­lected at the site, minimum obstruction of such instruments is also to be con­sidered. It is unlikely that all these requirements can be met and practical considerations hence generally dictate a compromise solution.

In 1973, the Authority established a fixed ambient air monitoring station, for air pollutants only, in the State Laboratory Building at 5 Parliament Place; this location is on the eastern fringe of the Central Business District. This station has continued in operation to the present although its use will probably be soon discontinued. Pending arrangements for further ambient air monitoring stations, and in order to commence collection of ambient air data, selected instruments wre tem­porarily sited at fixed locations in sub­urban areas, namely, Preston, Oakleigh and Altona.

Two mobile monitoring vans have been equipped with the full range of monitoring instruments and are in operation. They are used at various locations within the metropolitan area for periods of three to six months at a time, to gain information which is use­ful both for establishing a data base for an area and for assisting in establishing appropriate sites for the location of fixed stations.

In 1975, a fixed station was estab­lished at the Science Museum. This location is within the Central Business District and is believed to provide data reasonably representative of ambient air quality in that area. This station is on public display and is an educational aid in addition to its use for ambient air monitoring.

The Authority hopes to soon estab­lish two further fixed stations in sub-

Table 1. Methods of monitoring used by the EPA in Victoria.

12 Clean Air / February, 1977

Item Method L imi t of Detection Normal Instrument (Range) Range

Air Pollutants Sulphur Dioxide

Ozone

Nitrogen Oxides Carbon Monoxide isibility Particulates

Meteorological Wind Speed Wind Direction Wet and Dry Bulb

Temperature Total Solar Radiation Ultra Violet Radiation

Conductimetric Flame Photometric Ethylene Gas-Phase Chemilumine scent

Chemilumine scent Non Dispersive Infra Red Nephelometry High Volume Fil tration

Cup Anemometer Wind Vane

0,5 pphm (0-40 pphm) 0.1 pphm (0-10 pphm) 0.1 pphm (0-20 pphm)

0.1 pphm (0-20 pphm) 1 pphm (0-100 ppm) 0.1 x 10-4 m - l 1 u g / m 3

2 km/h

1° Wet and Dry Bulb Platinum 0.14°C

Resistance Thermometers (-20°C to + 50°C) Thermopile Photometer

1 Wm- 2 (0 -100Wnr 2 ) 1 Wm -2 (0-100 Wm-2)

0-50 pphm 0-50 pphm 0-50 pphm

0-50-pphm 0-100 ppm (0-10) x 10 - 4 m - l

0° to 360° -20°C to + 50°C

0-1500Wm- 2

0-100 W M - 2

urban localities. In so doing, the use of the station at Parliament Place will be discontinued since this has now been essentially replaced by that at the Science Museum. Further expansion is planned over the next few years to establish sufficient monitoring stations to permit widespread measurement of air quality in the metropolitan area. The number of stations required to achieve this will be determined by assessing results from stations as they are pro­gressively established and by use of the mobile vans, it is envisaged, however, that probably about four to six stations will prove to be sufficient.

It is intended that all stations will be largely equipped with instruments for measuring similar parameters. There may, however, be some instruments not required at certain stations; for instance, it may not be necessary to measure some meteorological parameters at all stations. In some cases, additional in­struments may be added, particularly for some pollutants that may be of local, rather than general interest.

Data Processing The results obtained from the dustfall, smoke density and sulphur dioxide system are obtained by laboratory analysis, and results are such that they may conveniently be handled by manual means. The volume of data generated by the continuous ambient air monitoring network, however, is so great that special data logging techniques are re­quired to process this and reduce it to manageable form. The instruments chosen for these stations are such that they are compatible with automatic data logging techniques. The remainder of this section is concerned with data handling processes for this continuous system.

Data Collection: As previously dis­cussed, the monitoring data is collected by a data acquisition unit at each station and then recorded on magnetic tape. The data acquisition equipment in use at present scans all channels once every eighteen seconds, averages this information for each channel for each three minute period and then records this information on tape. The tape is normally changed at monthly intervals, although it may be changed more fre­quently if desired, and computer pro­cessed to provide reduced data.

The computer printout provides for each day, and for each parameter, the following summary information: 24 hour average 3 minute maximum, and time of occur­ence

maximum 1 hour average, and time of occurence maximum 8 hour average, and time of occurrence

In addition, a monthly summary is produced which includes the following information for each parameter: Average of daily averages to provide monthly average, standard deviation, maximum 24 hour average, and time of occurrence. Average of daily 3 minute maxima, standard deviation, maximum of 3 minute maxima, and time of occur­rence. Average of daily 1 hour maxima, stand­ard deviation, maximum of 1 hour maxima and time of occurrence.

The computer program is also de­signed to provide a presentation of times when certain pollutant levels ex­ceed specified criteria. In particular, this presentation identifies the times and the days when hourly ozone averages ex­ceed certain limits. These occasions can be more closely investigated by those involved in studying the occurrence of haze in Melbourne, for such studies a special computer printout giving the complete 3 minute information for specified times can be produced.

When information is not available from the computer printout, the record­er chart must be used to determine the pollutant concentrations. It is normal practice to examine the chart even when the computer data is used to ensure that clearly spurious data has not been pro­cessed. One hour averages of all para­meters are stored on magnetic tape to be used for any statistical manipulation that might be required.

Telemetry and Real Time Data Process­ing: Data collected and stored on magnetic tape at a monitoring station is essentially retrospective in nature. It is quite satisfactory for trend monitoring but is not suitable for use in prompt investigation of pollution episodes, or as an input to air pollution forecasting techniques. Instantaneous data can be taken from the panel meters of the instruments or from the data acquisition unit; and past data can, if so recorded, be taken from a chart recorder at the station. The acquisition of instan­taneous data in this manner, however, requires attendance at the station which, with an expanding system, becomes decreasingly acceptable.

In order to make pollutant data more readily available, real time telemetry links have been installed between each of the monitoring stations at Parlaiment Place and the Science Museum, and the Authority office. The output of these

systems are fitted with six pen chart recorders to provide the necessary data.

In recognition of the critical import­ance of adequate data processing from a network of monitoring stations and the growing need for being able to provide a pollution forecasting capability as a means of effective environmental management, the Authority has placed an order for a real time telemetry and data processing system for the metro­politan stations. This system will have telemetry units at each station trans­mitting all pollutant and meteorological parameters, via land lines, to a central location at which the data will be handled by central processor using a dedicated mini computer. This system will be capable of providing warnings when conditions exceed established limits, initiating instrument calibration and verifying equipment operation. To a significant extent, the monitoring stations will be under the effective control of this system. Hard copy out­put of conditions will be available at the central location, normally as one hour and daily averages, but more frequently if desired.

The installation of this system, together with the developing network, is seen as an essential part of a compre­hensive study that will involve a mesometeorological investigation, mathemical modelling and the develop­ment of a source inventory to pro­gressively develop the capability of fore­casting periods of unacceptable air pollution so that effective control may be initiated and/or warnings issued. Distribution of Information Daily Bulletin: The Environment Pro­tection Authority makes available ambient air quality bulletins to the media twice daily. These are intended to provide information on individual pollutant levels and an overall assess­ment of air quality. The information for these bulletins had been taken from the station at Parliament Place from the inception of the program until April, 1976, it is now taken from the Science Museum monitoring station.

The data used in preparation of these bulletins are the one hour averages of poEutant concentrations for the hours from 8 to 9 a.m. and from 2 to 3 p.m. The former time generally corresponds to the morning traffic peak which usually gives the highest concentration of primary pollutants in the Central Business District during the day; and the latter period to the maximum concen­trations of photochemically derived pollution on days when this occurs.

The information contained in this bulletin is as follows:

Clean Air / February, 1977 13

Ozone in pphm Total oxides of nitrogen in pphm (being the sum of nitrogen dioxide and nitric oxide) Nitrogen dioxide in pphm Nitric oxide in pphm Sulphur dioxide in pphm Carbon monoxide in ppm Airborne particle index (this is taken as the scattering coefficient as determined by nephelometry x 104 i.e. β scat x 104m-1

The individual results are appro­priately weighted by factors which have been based on a consideration of the relative importance of the various pollutants. The four largest partial indices so derived are summed to give a "pollution index", from which an "air quality classification" is assessed from the following scale: 0-1.9 Clean Air 2-3.9 Light Pollution 4-5.9 Significant Pollution 6-9.9 Heavy Pollution > 10 Severe Pollution Any partial index > 10 Emergency

The "pollution index" so derived has been found by experience to relate well to observed reaction to pollution episodes; it has proved a convenient and rapid means of assessing overall air quality. It is considered desirable to also issue the concentrations of the indi­vidual pollutants in the bulletin since

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Dear Sir, I have had my attention directed

recently to an article entitled, "Environ­mental Education at the Tertiary Level in New Zealand and Australia", by S.J. Mainwaring (Clean Air, August 1976. 46-51,57). The paper acknowledges the contribution of a large number of ter­tiary establishments in the two coun­tries, and discusses details of selected courses, naming 30. Unfortunately it misses out the courses given by Natural Resources in the School of Applied Science, Canberra College of Advanced Education.

The under-graduate three year pro­gram which emphasises ecology, land use planning and resource management was probably the first in either country. In the period 1972 to 1976, some 80 students have graduated with the Bachelor of Applied Science degree, and are employed by organisations in all

these may have significance considered in isolation.

These bulletins are frequently pub­lished or broadcast by the media, par­ticularly on those occasions where air pollution is quite noticeable. Monthly and Annual Reports: A monthly summary of results of ambient air quality from the automatic monitor­ing stations is prepared for public distri­bution. These summaries contain data for twenty-four hour averages and maxi­mum one hour averages for pollutants measured at all monitoring stations, plus a statement of pollution concentrations that were greater than long-term goals suggested by the World Health Organis­ation. (3).

An annual summary is also provided which contains annual data for both the automatic monitoring stations; and monthly and annual averages, as appro­priate, for the dustfall smoke density and sulphur dioxide system.

Conclusions The foregoing description of ambient air monitoring activities being carried out in Melbourne by the Environment Pro­tection Authority indicates that very considerable progress has been made towards establishing a continuous ambient air monitoring network to meet the need for trend monitoring.

Further proposed expansion of the network, and implementation of the

States and Territories of Australia. At the Graduate level, we have a Graduate Diploma in Recreation Planning from which 29 students have graduated. This program emphasises recreation in the natural environment, semester units in Resource Evaluation, Outdoor Recrea­tion Planning, Shoreline Zone Manage­ment, Recreation Administration and Policy, are being offered. From 1978, we will be offering post-graduate dip­lomas and masters degrees in natural resources planning and management.

P. Rudman Head, Natural Resources, School of Applied Science.

New Journal

"Natural Resources Forum" is a jour­nal devoted to the study of economic, scientific, technological and policy aspects of energy, minerals and water resources development. This journal's

data processing system will provide an air monitoring network capable of pro­viding essential information on ambient air quality as a necessary means for increasing the effectiveness of environ­mental management. Furthermore, this monitoring network will provide an essential part of any development of a pollution forecasting capability that may be used to initiate controls and/or warnings.

The system has already assisted in indicating the extent and frequency of occurrence of photochemical type pollution so that appropriate control measures may be initiated. Methods are being reviewed by which the collected data may be most appropriately assessed to provide the required trend analysis.

References 1. Burmann, F.J., A Review of Automatic

Monitoring Systems for Air Quality in Schneider, T. (Ed) Automatic Air Quality Monitoring Systems Elsevier (1976)

2. Le Roy, P.A., Lau, W.W.P. and Holden, G.D.S., The Occurrence and Control of Photochemical Smog in Melbourne. Smog '76. Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand (1976).

3. World Health Organisation Air Quality Criteria and Guides for Urban Air Pollut­ants. World Health Organisation Technical Report Series. No. 506. (1972)

Acknowledgement This paper was presented at the

environmental engineering conference held in Melbourne in October 1976 by the Australian Institute of Engineers.

aim is to acquaint policy-makers with current problems of resources and energy development; to supply accurate information written in a very readable and comprehensible style, and to pro­vide an outlet for constructive debate on controversial issues.

"Natural Resources Forum" will examine ways and means of increasing supply by exploration, investment and new technologies; it will look at the possibilities of reducing demand (when desirable) through conservation and sub­stitution.

Man in his attempt to solve natural resources problems, must recognise the long-term nature of these problems and the need to base new policies upon well founded knowledge and facts. It will be the objective of "Natural Resources Forum" to help in the achievement of these goals for man.

"Natural Resources Forum" will be published quarterly on behalf of the United Nations by D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland.

14 Clean Air/ February. 1977

J. A. Streeton AIR POLLUTION AND THE LUNG

This paper reviews the area of the relationship between respiratory complaints and air pollution. In particular the author considers the effects on that section of the community that is particularly prone to respiratory complaints.

Dr Streeton is Senior Respiratory Surgeon at the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria. This paper was presented at the environmental engineering conference, held in Melbourne in October, 1976 by the Australian Institute of Engineers.

The lung, other than the skin, is the only organ of the body which is in direct communication with the external environment. As a result of this, evolu­tion has created a system of defense mechanisms which can cope with just about anything in moderation provided the concentrations are hot more than would be found in nature, or the mech­anisms short circuited, such as occurs when we smoke. These mechanisms commence at the nose, and to a lesser degree in the mouth, and extend right down the respiratory tree to the basic functioning unit, the alveolus.

The lung acts primarily as an organ of gas exchange. That is, oxygen dif­fuses through a thin membrane so that it forms a chemical compound with haemoglobin in the red blood cells, and carbon dioxide produced by body metabolism is excreted by reverse dif­fusion across the same membrane back into the alveolus.

To do this the lung consists of a ever branching tree of tubes, whose internal diameters and other properties get pro­gressively smaller as one moves more peripherally. There are in fact 23 or 24 generations of divisions depending on which system of counting is used, end­ing in the alveolus which is basically a thin walled sac lined by a specialised epithelium, and which enables air and blood to come into close proximity. The surface area of the normal comple­ment of alevoli, approximately 300 mil­lion, approximates to 200 square metres, that is, about the size of a tennis court (note that the normal internal volume of the thorax is, in an average sized adult, about 7-8 litres).

To protect this marvellous system of tubes and the gas exchange membrane, nature has devised a system whereby particles are filtered out progressively, and in addition moisture content is kept constant. Within an inch or so of the front of the nostrils, air is fully saturated with water vapour at body temperature. The mouth is nearly as effective, though not quite so, as can

be evident when you wake up after having breathed through your mouth all night say with a nose cold.

Large particles, from 5-50 microns, are filtered out mainly by gravity, in the convolutions of the nasal passages, plenty of sticky mucus being available to gather them up. Particles 1-5 microns in diameter can penetrate lower down the respiratory tree to varying levels to be gathered by cilia, or by macrophages if they get down near the aveoli. Particles smaller than 2 microns pene­trate easier to the alveoli, and are often washed out again, especially if less than 1 micron in diameter.

Cilia are hair like projections from the lining cells which are found at all levels of the animal kingdom. They sweep upwards with a regular beat so as to move the surface lining layer of mucus, with any foreign matter caught in it ever upwards. We are not conscious, of this occuring under normal circum­stances, but if, because of irritation or infection, the volume of mucus should increase significantly above its normal 100 mls. per day, then we can in fact become aware of it in the form of phlegm.

Macrophages on the other hand are specialised cells produced by the lung epithelium which have the ability to engulf particles and bacteria which get down to their hallowed haunts, so for all intents and purposes the alveoli are sterile. Once having engulfed particles, the macrophages either die as the result of having done so, and are then engulfed by other macrophages, or they move out of the alveoli through submicro-scopic spaces between the lining cells, into the surrounding interstitial or sup­porting tissues, and thence, to the lymphatic system to the lymph glands where the foreign material is dealt with appropriately, either by complete neutralisation with antibodies, or deposition in the gland such as occurs in the dust diseases (Silicosis). The macro­phages, if high enough, can also move onto the mucus blanket and get carried

Clean A i r / February-1977 15

upwards to the larynx, and thus are swallowed. The nasal passages are like­wise ciliated and their mucus blanklet goes downwards to be swallowed.

In addition to the cilia/mucus blan­ket, and macrophage systems, there is a complex system of nervous reflexes with nerve ending receptors situated the whole way down the respiratory tract from nose to lower airways. When irri­tant gases are inhaled there is a reflex cessation of breathing, followed by an explosive exhalation for obvious reasons. In addition, the smooth muscle which lines the airways contracts so as to reduce their internal diameter — this is known as broncho-constriction. In these persons (nearly 50 per cent of the population) who have an almost cer­tainly genetically determined ability to react in this way, varying degrees of intense broncho-constriction can result. This is known as bronchial hyper­reactivity, and can be demonstrated by using certain drugs to stimulate a short lived reaction. In this way the popula­tion can be divided up into arbitrary groups those who have only a small reduction in their forced expiratory volume (the volume of air which can be forcibly exhaled in one second) — up to 15% — are regarded as normals, those who clinically are regarded as chronic bronchitis, and the remainder those who have quite dramatic falls in forced ex­piratory volume being in the asthma group. There is however a considerable degree of overlap.

It should be stressed that there are a number of diverse agents which are known to be able to produce broncho-constriction in those persons whose airways will over-react in this way. It is not my intention to discuss the various theories currently being investigated as to why this phenomenon occurs, but in essence there would appear to be an imbalance in muscle tone so that the bronchial smooth muscles are in a state of increased spasm (tone). Agents such as exercise, cold air, damp air, polluted air, cigarette smoke, various inert and non-specific dusts and vapours can all produce this reaction, as well as more specific agents such as pollens, house-dust and so forth to which a person might be allergic, and thus get what is known as asthma as a result of this contact. The message is that the re­action of broncho-constriction, no mat­ter what the causative agent, basically follows the same mechanism, and once a person has demonstrated that he or she has the propensity to exhibit broncho-constriction, then any of the above agents are more likely to produce it.

The so-called asthmatic or allergic

response really only means that various tissues and cells in the body are able to react more vigorously. There are chemi­cal mediators which are the inter­mediaries between nerve ending re­sponses and the smooth muscle, and in addition we all have cells in the body (mast cells), and especially in the lungs, which can become sensitised with anti­bodies, and when triggered by certain chemical reactions, release very potent chemicals which trigger the asthmatic reaction — they are, if you like, the link men in the process.

In the specific instance of air pollu­tion, as already mentioned, particles are dealt with by the effective fitter system, unless they are one micron or less in size, in which case they can easily penetrate to the alveolus (as in a fog). In fact, particles generally make no contri­bution to the problem.

Gases and vapours on the other hand are a different matter. They are able to diffuse to the lowest levels of the lung, and can undergo chemical reactions with the mucosal lining layer, leading to increased broncho-constriction due to smooth muscle spasm. Sulphur dioxide is particularly effective in doing this, and the work of Warren Gold's group in San Francisco has demonstrated the heightened sensitivity of any one who has bronchial hyper-reactivity to sul­phur dioxide exposure. Ozone and the nitrogen oxides have a less marked effect, but are still able to cause broncho-constriction. This paper does not consider those responses that occur in the lung when exposed to high concentrations of these gases (greater than 100 parts per hundred million) such as can occur in the industrial situation, but is confined to the ordin­ary everyday contacts with known air pollutants in the concentrations nor­mally measured in the different cities around the world.

Broadly speaking, our experience would tend to suggest that if a person can be shown to have normal lungs, and normal levels of bronchial reactivity, then it is unlikely that normally found levels of air pollutants will cause any problems, other than for some tempor­ary irritation to eyes and nose, and psyche, when having to live and work in a polluted atmosphere. On the other hand, those who have pre-existing lung disease, including chronic bronchitis, those who have bronchial hyper­reactivity, either known or latent, and those who pollute themselves by smoking, are at very considerable risk in an a polluted atmosphere of having their disease process enhanced, either tem­porarily, or in some cases permanently.

A very considerable amount of work has been done over the last few years, not here in Australia, but mainly in-North America, demonstrating the effects that various levels of pollutants have on lung function, exercise toler­ance and heart function. Even normals can be demonstrated to have impaired function especially under the stress of exercise, and I refer here particularly to studies in high school children in Arizona and Colorado, and in Southern California. What is of more particular interest is the demonstration by several Canadian workers of the synergistic effects of inhaling mixtures of gases such as sulphur dioxide and ozone together. Low concentrations of gas which normally do not produce any obvious effect individually are, in com­bination, able to produce measurable changes in airways resistance, par­ticularly if mild exercise is added. These experiments are best done in environ­mental chambers so that all variables can be closely monitored.

Most of this experimental work has been conducted on otherwise healthy students, and the little work which has been done on patients with asthma has demonstrated heightened responses. Al­though the gas concentrations are laid down by WHO as recommended limits have not yet been examined, there is certainly no doubt that mixtures of sulphur dioxide and ozone in concentra­tions of between 25 and 30 parts per hundred million (that is levels which are obtained in normal city atmospheres regularly), are able to produce measur­able reductions in air flow in persons with only mid asthma undergoing gentle exercise. There are some risks involved in doing this work, and one is always a little wary about exposing patients who are known to have marked bronchial hyper-reactivity to situations where, without the cover of bronchodilators, they could be provoked into having severe asthma.

There is one other area of air pollu­tion which most people prefer not to think about — that is — the relationship between air pollution (or more par­ticularly atomobile pollution) and lung cancer. Again this is very difficult area to examine critically. Far more work has been done looking at the effects of personal pollution, namely cigarette smoking, and there can be little doubt about the relationships, effects, and risk factors as shown in the slides. You will note that the Benzpyrenes are the major combustion products in cigarette smoke which are known carcinogens. Various papers are produced from time to time which look at the epidemiological pat-

16 Clean Air / February, 1977

terns of lung cancer. There can be no doubt that allowing for equal smoking habits, the incidence of lung cancer is much higher in urban areas compared to rural areas. The most likely extra factors are of course the various pollutants found in cities.

A good deal of recent research in West Germany has been aimed at look­ing at the combustion products, and their carcinogenic effects, of automobile exhausts, and in particular of diesel exhaust fumes. A detailed search of the literature has revealed firstly that hardly any work has been done (a close exami­nation of all published literature since 1970 revealed less than 20 citations in Medlars in Canberra, their files being drawn on the U.S. National Library files), and secondly, there would be Uttle doubt that exhaust fumes do contain significant levels of carcinogens, particularly Benzpyrenes, particularly if diesel engines are cold, and if they are poorly maintained.

In relation to carcinogenesis work currently in progress over the last couple of years looking at various enzymes which appear to play an impor­tant part in the causation of lung cancer may be important. One of these in particular is Aryl Hydrocarbon Hydro­xylase which is an inducible membrane active enzyme which in fact can convert cyclic hydrocarbons into carcinogenic compounds. It would appear that possession of significant levels of this enzyme is genetically determined. This fact may well go part of the way in explaining why it is that only a propor­tion of smokers, or others exposed to known carcinogens, actually develop carcinoma of the lung. A great deal more work is necessary to elucidate these matters further.

FOOTNOTE: Recent discussions with Prof. P. Lawther, of the MRC Polution Research Group in London, would suggest that as yet, no long term deleterious effects can be attributed to chronic exposure to ozone, despite the immediate unpleasantness of acute exposures. To date, they really have no ideas on what, if anything, is harmful in air pollution, other than high levels of sulphur dioxide, and even there, the "active" agent is not definite.

Bibliography Lebowitz, L., Amer. Rev. -Rasp. Dix, 109,

262 (1974). Severs, R., Texas Rep. Biol Med., 33, 45

(1975). Hazucha, M., and Bates D., Nature, 257, 50

(1975). Folinshee, et. al., /. Appl. Physiol, 38, 996

(1975). Several papers, Man, Zentralbl BakterioL

Orig. B., 158(1), 4-121 (1973). Kellerman, et. aL, N.E.J.M., 289, 934 (1973).

Clean A i r / February. 1977

BOOK REVIEWS

Analysis of Air Pollutants Peter Warner Wiley Interscience Price: $23.95 This book is another volume in the Environmental Science and Technology Series of Monographs, Textbooks and Advances produced by Wiley Inter­science. It is intended by the author to be a textbook but at the same time to present the state of the art in this area.

Air Pollution Analysis is a field that has grown rapidly to meet the require­ments of new laws and control strate­gies. For this reason texts have been fairly frequently superceded as new and more accurate methods of trace analysis are developed. We are now reaching a period when this process is slowing down and a text of the range and depth of the present one is a most welcome addition to the literature on the subject.

One attractive feature of this volume is that far from being a list of recipes of best or accepted methods it puts each species in the context of its assurance in the environment. In so doing the re­lationship between the various com­pounds of interest is clearly seen and the reasons for the development of specific analytical methods becomes obvious.

The book contains the following chapers: Origin and Indentification of Particulate Air Pollutants, Sources and Measurement of Organic Air Contami­nants, Sources and Measurement of In­organic Air Contaminants, Continuous, Automated Methods of Air Analysis, Principles of Air Sampling, Calibration of Sampling Instruments and Prepara­tion of Standard Gas Mixtures and finally Odor Detection and Elrnination. Although in a single volume none of these topics can be treated in great depth, the chapter on particulates, for example, is no substitute for the 'The Particle Atlas', the author has done an excellent job in providing a clear and comprehensive summary of the whole subject. It is particularly satisfying to see sampling methods being given their proper prominence. The chapter on odor control is a useful addition to a book of this type for although this is a difficult area it is also one that is inescapably in the public view. Refer­ences are full and more than sufficient to enable a reader to follow up a method of interest.

All in all this is a useful book for anyone looking for an introduction to the subject and should have great value as a textbook for courses in this area.

S.J. MAINWARING

The Fundamentals of Air Pollu­tion

Stern, A.C., Wohlers, H.C., Boubel, R.W. and Lowry, W.P. Academic Press, New York. Price: $15.00

This book was written by a chemist, a meteorologist, and two mechanical engineers, and the mix was intended to reflect that generally found among workers in the air pollution area. This mix has resulted in a very proper emphasis on nature, effects, meteorology and control.

It is intended as a text book in the area and, as such, assumes very little about the students background know­ledge. Although, as the authors do claim, a background knowledge of chemistry would be necessary and for students interested in the control area, the relevant engineering principles would have to be obtained elsewhere.

Meteorological principles, on the other hand, are treated very thoroughly, and make up about one-third of the book. A knowledge of meteorology is an important part of understanding pollution problems and an essential re­quirement for those involved in plan­ning and predictive areas. In spite of this, meteorology is an area that is often avoided or superficially treated in books of this type, and the extensive handling of the subject, even in its more difficult aspects is, in itself, a recommendation.

Each chapter is adequately refer­enced and contains a list of suggested reading, this unavoidably reflects the nationality of the authors, despite their intention to remain as universal as poss­ible. Questions are provided at the end of each chapter and these generally lead the student on to other sources of material and require him to develop research skills.

This would be a very useful book for use in the undergraduate area in the way the authors suggest with the first two sections, The Elements of Air Pollution and The Effects of Air Pollution taking up one half year describing the problem. The means of resolving the problem, as treated in the third and fourth sections, The Meteorology of Air Pollution and The Control of Air Pollution, would provide the second half of the course.

In Australasia, courses in -this area, tend to be favoured at the post-graduate rather than the undergraduate level. As a post-graduate text, the reviewer feels it is inadequate, although it would be very suitable preliminary reading.

S. J. MAINWARING

17

THE V1KOMA SYSTEM FOR CLEARING OIL SPILLS AT SEA

New Product News from BP Australia

BP's Vikoma System is in use in many parts of the world and has been accepted in Australia. The Vikoma Sea-Pack boom unit is ready for use by the Queensland Harbor and Marine Department at Brisbane and along the coast, while others are held by the Public Works Department in Victoria and stationed at Western port Bay where BP and Esso/BHP have refineries and by the Maritime Services Board in Sydney. The shallow draught Komara Mini-Skimmers are held by the Port Authority in Sydney, by the Caltex Refinery at Botany Bay and the Public Works Department, Westernport Bay. Last year, when the crude oil tanker. Princess Ann Marie split its welds, and spilt oil off the West Australian coast, the Vikoma Sea-Pack, held at Westernport Bay, was airfreighted across Australia by RAAF Hercules Transport for use during clean-up and transfer of remaining fuel to a smaller tanker.

After five years of initial development at BP's Research Centre, Sunbury-on-Thames, in collaboration with Wooton Industries, in England, the Vikoma System for controlling and limiting sea pollution by oil, became fact and now is part of acceptable anti-oil pollution equipment available in many parts of the world.

The system consists of the Vikoma Sea-Pack — a 488 m boom packed in a specially designed glass fibre hull ready for road, sea or air transport. It has its own self-contained development system. Once corralled the second piece of equipment - the Vikoma Sea Skimmer — can be used in deep water while a smaller version — the Komara Mini Skimmer — can be used in shallow areas to collect the spilt oil.

Principle of the Vikoma System It has been well established that there is a definite limiting value of water velocity relative and normal to a boom, above which oil is swept underneath. This value varies slightly with the design of the boom and, in the case of the BP boom, is about 1.5 ft/s (0.5 m/s). If therefore the boom is anchored or towed so that this value is exceeded, oil will escape under the boom. To control the velocity of the boom BP has used immersed drogues. It is known that free floating oil moves at about 3 per cent of wind velocity. By attaching the drogue and controlling the configuration of the boom on the surface of the sea its drift

can be reduced to about 2 per cent of wind velocity. The floating oil therefore drifts into and concentrates in the slower moving boom.

The boom itself (see Figure 1) is a three tube fabrication in a special Butac-lor coated nylon fabric.

The three tube configuration pro­duces a most effective barrier at a very low weight and it also has the feature illustrated in the diagram of not losing effective draught in a sea-way. The large volume of the air and water chambers ensures that the boom remains at the air/sea interface and does not suffer loss of barrier efficiency even under severe wave conditions. The small inflated cuff prevents the boom twisting during the laying operation.

The boom is extremely flexible and easily manoeuvrable. The flexibility, ease of manoeuvre and absence of rigid sections, make it possible to tow and manoeuvre the boom into any desired configuration.

Sea-Pack is a fully self-contained boom deployment unit which requires only the services of a towing and re­covery vessel to complete the operation. This vessel does not require any modifi­cation or special equipment other than a simple recovery roller and would be chosen from those currently available after consideration had been given to the sea conditions likely to be encoun­tered on the operation.

The Sea-Pack containing the boom is based on a 23 ft (7 m) GRP hull and contains 1467 ft (450 m") of boom con-

18 Clean A i r / February, 1977

nected at one end to a diesel-driven fan and ducted propeller waterpump. These simultaneously fill the air and water chambers of the boom respectively. A compressed air cylinder is also included for inflating the boom cuff. The hull is fitted with a forward towing ring and a large inflatable fender to ensure safe towing in heavy weather. No crew is required and no manual attention to the engine or equipment is necessary after launching. The all-up weight is 4 tons.

On arrival at the scene of the in­cident, the boom can be laid and in­flated. To initiate this operation the drogue warp is usually attached to a drogue. Sea-Pack is then towed away at about 3 to 4 knots and the boom lays and inflates automatically. In very strong tidal streams it might be prefer­able to attach the free end of the boom to another craft or to an anchor or a pier, rather than to a drogue. In this style of operation the anchor craft merely applies sufficient power to re­main stationary in the water and the laying craft steams away from her. When laying to a drogue the boom is normally laid down-wind at a speed of 120 to 150 ft (36-46 m) per minute. When the final length of boom leaves the Sea-Pack hull, the tension of the boom automatically engages the clutch, and filling of the air and water chamber commences. Once inflation is completed the inflation equipment will continue to run for up to 8 days maintaining the boom at the correct pressure, sufficient air and water pressure being available to cope with any minor damage that may occur.

A typical laying time, for the stand­ard boom, is 20 minutes from the start of the operation. Techniques are being developed for coupling lengths of boom together.

Once the boom has been inflated it is towed into a wind trap to allow oil to

FIGURE 1. BOOM STRUCTURE

Clean Air / February, 1977

FIGURE 2. SEASKIMMER IN TESTING TANK

concentrate under the influence of the wind. Once all the oil is within the trap it may be closed and further concen­tration effected by the wind pressure on the up-wind side. Although not yet proven in practice, preliminary calcula­tions indicate that under such con­ditions a boom could act as temporary storage for up to 1000 tons of oil while recovery equipment is being deployed. Larger quantities can be contained if lengths of boom are coupled together.

Oil Disposal or Recovery

Once the oil is contained there still" remains the problem of recovery, or disposal. To date, in open sea con­ditions, recovery has not been possible and it is widely recognised that the most practical way of dealing with the oil is to disperse it. Indeed, the concentrating effect of the free floating boom reduces the amount of dispersant needed and, provided dispersant and subsequent agitation are correctly applied, effective dispersion should be possible using a lower concentration of dispersant than would be necessary with a slick on the open sea.

However, considerable thought has been given to devising a system of recovery device of adequate capacity which wijl operate under open sea con­ditions within a closed boom corral is being developed.

BP's Vikoma Seaskimmer and Komara Mm-Skirrrmer depend on the disc skimming principle. This pick-up device has novel geometry and engineer­ing. The discs are mounted in the form of a toroid allowing oil to enter the pick-up area from all directions (Figure 2). The larger unit has a recovery capacity of about 100 tons/hr, and the smaller about 10 tons/hr, depending on oil thickness and viscosity.

Seaskimmer is operated by hydraulic power which is connected to two hydraulic motors on the unit by an umbilical cord. One motor powers the discs while the second motor powers the pump, which disposes of the recovered oil along a flexible pipe to a suitable receiver.

NEW PRODUCTS

Australian Hi-Volume Sampler

An induction motor blower high volume sampler has been developed by Cairns Instrument Services of Perth in conjunc­tion with the WA Health Department's Clean Air Section. This makes the unit very suitable for long-term use without burning out the motor. Indeed, it is guaranteed for 12 months. The unit has an analogue flow read out from 5-60ft3/min and it can be controlled over the range, automatically to ± 0.5ft3 /min over a week.

A standard pen recorder monitors voltage change in a feedback circuit, which indicates the dust build up when operated manually, or monitors flow when on the automatic setting.

The filter paper is in casettes which can be loaded and unloaded in the laboratory. Optional timers and other features are also available.

The unit is available from Cairns Instrument Services, PO Box 6130 Perth, Hay Street East, WA 6000.

Unique Cartridge Dust Collector

D. Richardson and Sons Ltd, Mel­bourne have the agency for the Torit dust collection system.

Using cartridge type filter elements of pleated non-woven filter material, continuous duty is obtained using a low energy pulse jet. Each cartridge is 22 in. long by 12 3A in. diameter and provides almost 200 sq ft of filter area. This large area in a relatively small element has enabled the development of a new technology in the construction of a continuous duty dust collector with a distinct advantage over existing equip­ment.

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