Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-xm8r8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-07T05:11:39.007Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Analysis of Air Particulate Emissions Collected Downwind of an Automobile Shredding Operation: Implications for the Environment and Human Health

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 July 2016

Kennedy Nguyen  and
Valerie J. Leppert
Kennedy Nguyen
Affiliation:
School of Engineering, University of California, Merced 5200 North Lake Road, Merced, CA 95343, USA
Valerie J. Leppert*
Affiliation:
School of Engineering, University of California, Merced 5200 North Lake Road, Merced, CA 95343, USA
*
*(Email: vleppert@ucmerced.edu)
Get access

Abstract

The disposal of materials at the end of their lifecycle, especially for complex manufactured products, presents challenges in terms of both protecting the environment and human health. In particular, used automobiles are disposed of by removal of various component parts, followed by shredding. In this study, air particulates were collected over several days by DRUM impactor downwind of an automobile shredding plant, size separated, and analyzed by scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM), and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDXS), in order to determine their particle size distribution and corresponding chemical composition. Results for larger particles, ranging in size from 2.5 to 10.0 μm, showed mainly diatoms and salts, from the plant’s ocean side location, and aluminosilicates, consistent with geological sources. As particle size decreased from 10 μm to 0.09 μm, particle loading decreased, and composition shifted to mainly oxygen and sulfur, indicative of sulfates, which along with nickel and vanadium that were detected, could be attributed to emissions from nearby shipping traffic. Iron was found to be present, including in spherical particles that were ∼ 2 μm in diameter, indicating they originated from a high temperature process. Spherical iron particles also were found to correlate with plant operations, making them a useful “tracer” material for plant emissions. Lead, cerium, barium, chromium and zinc were also detected and their possible correlation to plant feedstocks is discussed. The implications of these results for the environment, particularly soil and water deposition, and for human health as a result of inhalation, are discussed.

Keywords

particulateRecyclingFe
Type
Articles
Information
MRS Advances , Volume 1 , Issue 53: Energy and Environment , 2016 , pp. 3613 - 3618
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Pere´-Trepat, E., Kim, E., Paatero, P. and Hopke, PK, Atmospheric Environment 41, 5921 (2007).Google Scholar
Cahill, T.A., Barnes, D.E. and Boberg, K., Deposition of coarse toxic particles in Wilmington, CA for the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC): Summer, 2008, and Spring, 2009, Final Report to the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, 2011. Available at: http://delta.ucdavis.edu/Reports/ti%20report.pdf (accessed April 13, 2016).Google Scholar
MacNee, W. and Donaldson, K., European Respiratory Journal 21, 47s (2003).Google Scholar
Chow, J. C., Watson, J. G., Ashbaugh, L. L., and Magliano, K. L., Atmos. Environ. 37, 1317 (2003).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fabec, J. L. and Ruschak, M. L., Analytical Chemistry 57, 1853 (1985).Google Scholar
Millet, C.-N., Chédotal, R., and Da Costa, P., Applied Catalysis B: Environmental 90, 339 (2009).Google Scholar
Peralta, M. A., Milt, V. G., Cornaglia, L. M., and Querini, C. A., Journal of Catalysis 242, 118 (2006).Google Scholar
Ohno, H., Matsubae, K., Nakajima, K., Kondo, Y., Nakamura, S., and Nagasaka, T., Resources, Conservation and Recycling 100, 11 (2015).Google Scholar
Dalmijn, W. L. and Jong, T. P. R., JOM 59, 52–56 (2007).Google Scholar
Dalmijn, W. L. and v. Houwelingen, J. A., New developments in the processing of the non ferrous metal fraction of car scrap. Warrendale, PA: Minerals, Metals and Materials Society, 1995.Google Scholar
Ojeda, N., Greaves, E. D., Alvarado, J., and Sajo-Bohus, L., Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy, 48, 247 (1993).Google Scholar
Winebrake, J.J., Corbett, J.J., Green, E.H., Lauer, A., and Eyring, V., Environ. Sci. and Tech. 43, 4776 (2009).Google Scholar
Shafer, M.M., Perkins, D.A., Antkiewicz, D.S., Stone, E.A., Quraishi, T.A., and Schauer, J.J., J. Environ. Monit. 12, 704 (2010).Google Scholar