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LETTERS WASTEWATER Hazardous waste cleanup Dear Sir: I must take exception to the attitudes expressed in your editorial on the costs of hazardous waste clctinup ( E S & T , July 1979, p 769). The idca thal. "This fee. of course, would bc passed ,ilong to the consumer in the form of higher prices on finished goods." has 1.m long been used to dampen public: demands for protection from environniental hazards. There is no "of course" about it at all; these costs can and do often come out of a companq's profits and not out of the consumer's pocketbook. :lnd i t is not. .is you state, ". , , the public's dema,nd -artificially created or not-~--forfri\,olous products that generates the mounds of hazardous ~ a t e in s the first place." Frivolous product production is no more likely to crc:itc hazardous wastes than the manufacture of essential products. and I have yct to see a spontaneous public demand for a product not in existcncc. The consuming public has absolutclj no voice ic the choice of manufacturing matcrisls and techniques, or the disposal of industrial waste, and certainly deserves none of the responsibility you have loaded upon i t . Jason C . Annis En g i n ce r i 11g Co ris 11It a n t L1a n h ;I I I ;i n K 3 r s. 6 6 5 02
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Surface analysis, I k a r Sir: N ' e .ire Nriting in regard to the recent report ( E S & T , July 1979.p 78 1 ) of the 9th Symposium on the Analqtical Chemistry of Pollutants held M ; i y 7-9. 1979, ;it Jeky!l Island, G;t. : I paper tiexribing some of our rcccnt uork w a s presented a t this conference, arid was reviewed in the :tbovc article under the heading S u r jirc~,.4rza/j~sis.We would like to corrcct a small buI important misquote. I t is import,jnl to understand that thc nature of o u r work on the surface ii n a I y s i s of en v i ro n men t al particulates is thc characteri7ation of surface segregated and surface speciated substances. Correlai.on of' surface results M it11 bulk anail:yses gives ideas about
Donex Ion Chromatographs analyze ions in solution. Their unique characteristics include: specificity, and rapicf, sequential analysis. Based on ion-exchange chromatography, IC uses conductimetric detection to achieve unprecedented sensitivity levels e.g. less than 10 ppb. IC is especially suited for the analysis of complicated matrices several ions in a singte sample ions in low concentration in the presence of a large concentration of other ions trace (ppb) levels of ions several samples of a given type, then several of a different type.
the processes of adsorption, possible heterocatalysis, and the formation process of particulates. In our talk we presented results of surface analysis by ESCA and bulk trace analysis by dc arc emission. We showed that trace metals (magnesium, boron, silicon, aluminum, calcium, manganese, and copper) were present from the emission results. However, these were not detectable by ESCA and therefore are not significantly surface segregated. This result was misinterpreted in the article by the statement, "no trace metals have been found." We would like to reiterate that what we found was that no tracc elements were significantly segregated at the surface of thc particle, but trace metals were certainly detected in the bulk. This is ;1 very important distinction which should be corrected. DaFid \I. Hercules
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Quantitative analysis of ionic compositions in industrial wastestreams is often slow and hindered by interferences. This occurs because a large number of components may be present in very different concentrations, and because the ratio of concentrations may change with time. IC can easily measure several ions during a single analysis, and IC can measure trace amounts of one ion in the presence of large concentrations of other ions. That makes it an ideal technique to determinethe ions in wastestreams as shown below. For information, circle the reader service number.
Joseph A . Gardella, Jr. L n i v e r s i t j of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, Pa. 15260
Tar sands Dear Sir: We read w i t h great i n terest the article written by Mr. Ashok Kumar on "Air Quality at the T a r Sands" ( E S &7; June 1979, p 650). The paper was an excellent description of the air quality and source emission monitoring systems installed a t the S\,ncrude plant. There was, however. an unfortunate error in the description of the Western Research & Development C S E M System. The CSEM System continuously measures SO- concentration, volume flow rate, and temperature of the stack gas, nor 1 -min concentration measurements as indicated in the article. Similarly. the analog computation of the SO? mass emission rate is continuous. Also. in Figure 4. which depicts the stack gas monitoring system, there is in fact only one arialog computer, not analog computers as the drawing would indicate. Michael C. J. Beamlsh, P. Eng. U'extern Research Kc Development Calgar). Alberta. Canada T2E 61.5
A n i o n s in a Fertilizer Plant Wastestream ( 1 0 0 ~dilution) F
CI Consenlrallon (PPrn) 6 7
Ci
3-7
"3 NO,
145
2 28
iiH
NO SO'
!
7 -
PO,'
so.'
I
,
BR 8
-
6
li
8
Minutes
Dlonex Corporation In the US: 1228 Titan Way, Sunnyvale, CA 94086, 406-737-0700 In Europe: c/o 4, The Buchan, Camberley, Surrey, GU15 3XB, England CIRCLE 24 ON READER SERVICE CARD
Volume 13, Number 10, October 1979
1177
