Fallout was a concern, but the larger and heavier sand particles emitted usually fell near the source. Quality controls on air pollution that were acceptable in the late 1940s and 1950s were now unacceptable in the late 1970s and 1980s. George was instrumental in the formation of the South Australian chapter of the Clean Air Society, of which he was first secretary, and the highly successful 7th International Clean Air Conference in Adelaide in 1981.
Lectures and practical work were held by four members of the Training Unit and local experts. Len was an inaugural member of the Victorian Branch of the Clean Air Society and Branch President from 1972 to 1978. He assisted Dick Urie in setting up the Herman Research Laboratory and later managed the Laboratory for several years.
The rest of the course will consist of "hands on" sessions with a range of acoustic instrumentation. A full social program will take advantage of the city's location, and the outstanding tourist attractions available in the Sydney area. Winer joined the University of California's Statewide Air Pollution Research Center, located on the Riverside campus, and since 1978 has served as Assistant Director of the Center.
In the discussion that follows, the application of both these methods will be described.
BOOK REVIEWS
W. MANUELL
34; Photooxidation of aliphatic amines under simulated atmospheric conditions: formation of nitrosamines, nitramines, amides and photochemical oxidants,” Environ.
NEW BOOK
AIR POLLUTION GUIDE
The national primary and secondary air quality standard for petrochemical oxidizers, measured and corrected for interferences by nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide according to the reference method, is 8 pphm (160 mg/m3). The maximum 1-hour concentration may not be exceeded more than once per year". This standard has now been increased to 12 pphm (240 ^g/m3) due to the very high costs that would have to be incurred if the previous standard were to be met. The Japanese standard states: Hour - The Ly values of photochemical oxidants shall not exceed 6 pphm (120 /ig/m3).
In Australia, the National Health and Medical Research Council recommends that an average ozone concentration of 12 ppm 1 hour is not exceeded more than once a year. Average period Acceptable level Adverse level 1 hour 12 ppm 15 ppm 8 hours 5 ppm* 8 ppm - “based on vegetation damage.
AIR POLLUTION CONTROL in PRACTICE
The two documents were prepared by a working group of the Australian Environment Council and the National Health and Medical Research Council and are expected to be published jointly. Mr Cohen said the "national guidelines for the control of air pollution emissions" were recommended for application to new plant and installations. They reflect recent advances in control technology and a better understanding of health and environmental effects.
The air pollution monitoring methods contained in the "Recommended Methods for Monitoring Air Pollutants" are the most appropriate current methods for use in Australia. Periodic review of the recommended methods and emission guidelines will be required in light of knowledge of environmental hazards, air pollutants, and developments in monitoring and control technology. The fundamental goal of air pollution control is to limit the concentration of pollutants in air levels that will not adversely affect the health, well-being or welfare of the community or harm the natural and built environment.
The concept of the best practicable means of control is widely used by air pollution control authorities in determining appropriate emission levels in both general regulations and specific situations. The alternative was to set out in a directive a set of general emission limit values that reflect recent advances in control technology and better understanding of the effects on health and the environment. Through this course, the details of start-up allowances, averaging, testing methodologies and the feasibility of emission levels in specific situations are left for individual states and territories to specify in their legislation, in consultation with the local community. and industry, if applicable.
The latter course has been chosen as more appropriate, because the legal authority for control rests with the States and Territories. Many factors, such as climatic conditions, dispersion, dilution due to the use of tall chimneys and the mass of emissions, determine the concentration of air pollutants in the general environment. The standards may only be applied to the intended emission points from factories and installations to the atmosphere, such as from flues and emission stacks.
The emission levels in the guidelines are generally intended to represent the maximum allowable values when measured according to the recommended test method for the pollutant in question and when the process is operating normally. Good ventilation design and housekeeping to prevent fugitive emissions are important additions to the imposition of emission limits and may need to be addressed in specific conditions attached to permits and approvals. The concentrations or masses of pollutants specified in Tables 1 and 2 apply to waste gas streams after completion of processing or manufacture, but before mixing with air, smoke or other gases for dilution.
RECOMMENDED METHODS FOR MONITORING AIR
Introduction
Complete model rules could then have been formulated specifying average emissions rates, peaks, start-up fees and testing methodologies. The standards in this guideline are recommended to statutory authorities as an informed assessment of the limits that can be achieved through the use of the best practicable control technology. New factories and installations must be designed to at least meet these standards unless there are good arguments for relaxing these standards in certain situations.
Retrospective application to established factories and installations or to installations already approved and under construction is not intended. Detailed requirements regarding emissions in each state and territory should be consulted for specific applications and locations, and for details of averaging periods, start-up fees and testing methods. The guidelines assume that potential contaminants are collected efficiently and passed on after control to the point where the standard must be maintained.
HOW CLEAN IS THE AIR IN PERTH?
A PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION William A. Robertson, Franz Lax and
Willoughby
One of the problems with revising this book is that it is a collection of chapters contributed by different authors or sets of authors, all of whom have been allowed considerable leeway by the editors when it comes to organizing their material. Nevertheless, there are certain underlying structural similarities between chapters and this reflects the aims of the editors as expressed in the book's preface. The editors have ensured that authors do much more than just pay lip service to these principles and the reader without a good mathematical background will undoubtedly struggle with some of the equations, especially in the chapter on atmospheric dilution.
A mix of units is used, which can be annoying; this presumably reflects both the scope of the authorship and the desire of the editors to meet the needs not only of the American market but also of markets elsewhere. I can also commend it to industry professionals; it may not have detailed comprehensive information on commercially available types of equipment, but it provides a means of gaining a much deeper understanding of the principles on which equipment selection must be based. The polluted troposphere differs from the unpolluted troposphere not in the nature of the chemical species present, but in their distribution and the resulting imbalances that occur as a result.
Georgii & Jaeschke's book covers many important aspects of the tropospheric chemistry of trace atmospheric components that have significant human-produced sources. Of the carbon oxides, only carbon dioxide is discussed in detail; although a paper on carbon monoxide appears to have been presented at the symposium, it is not present in the proceedings. Aerosols are represented by two papers, one by Jaenicke, which presents a new approach to interpreting the physical nature of aerosols in the atmosphere along a continuum starting with the trace gases; and the other a review by Whelpdale of wet and dry deposition mechanisms, which also includes gas removal.
One of the main influences on trace gas distribution is the various meteorological processes and one of the major potential consequences of the imbalances caused by human trace gas emissions is on climate. The remaining chapters in the meteorological section deal with aspects of the carbon cycle and their potential long-term effects on natural climate trends. It is essential, if trends are to be established and the overall importance of human input is to be assessed, that accurate measures of the trace components be established in time and space.
The use of measurements at relevant locations to obtain a "good" temporal and spatial description of air pollution concentrations is discussed in the specific case of the Netherlands in an article by Schneider. Further papers on specific topics worth mentioning are: the use of FT-IR spectroscopy to measure the rates of certain reactions; measurement of the most important oxidant in the troposphere – the OH radical;. We recommend this book without hesitation to anyone interested in trace elements in the atmosphere.
