Btmospheric PollutCon
Pebrnary 1952
Over the past few years conferences, publications, and equipment development for air pollution study have reflected a more mature approach to the subject bw Loa& C. McCaee
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pollution publications, conferences, and legislation appear to be on the increase in 1952. Publications. McGraw-Hill Book Co., 330 West 42nd Street, New York, N. Y., will publish the Proceedings of the United States Technical Conference on Air Pollution in February, under the tit1e“Air Pollution.” Ninety-five papers and the discussions of the general sessions and panels on agriculture, meteorology, health, legislation, instrumentation, equipment, analytical methods, and properties, which were previously reviewed in this column (July and August 1950), comprise the volume. The publishers have prepared an index which materially increases the usefulness of the publication. The offset process will be used in the manufacture of the 900page book. H. P. Munger of Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, Ohio, is planning a volume on the sources, methods of study, control, and prevention 01 air pollution. Authors are being selected for various chapters of the book which will be published by John Wiley & Sons. Stanford Research Institute, Stanford, Calif., has made a contract with McGraw-Hill Book Co. for an air pollution handbook which is designed for those interested in or working in the various fields of air pollution. The book will contain the necessary background and fundamental information to serve the engineer, planning executive, smoke inspector, and student. Tables of physical constants, formulas, and conversion factors will be included. The book will total some 750 pages and is expected to be ready for publication in 1953. A. R. Meetham of the British National Physical Laboratories, DeTMOSPHERIC
February 1952
partment of Scientific and Industrial Research, London, England, is the author of a book of approximately 150 pages, now in page proof, which is being published by the Pergamon Press of London under the title, ‘(Atmospheric Pollution.” The publication is meant t o be of use to all who are professionally interested in atmospheric pollution It is estimated that over 8,000,000 tons of atmospheric pollution are produced each year in Great Britain from the combustion of coal and its derived fuels. The author states that this causes far more damage than pollution from any other source, even from decaying vegetation, the evaporation of sea spray, or wind-blown dust. Pollution from fuel is therefore the main subject of the book. Meetham defines pollution as the admixture of any foreign substance which we dislike with something pleasant or desirable. Atmospheric pollution, therefore, is an undesirable substance mixed with the open air. Any objectionable gas in the air is atmospheric pollution, whether it is harmful or merely unpleasant, but the definition does not apply t o gases alone. The air frequently contains solid or tarry particles or droplets, less than 0.001 inch in diameter, which continue in suspension for a long time, Since any particulate matter is liable t o cause trouble, these aerosols are all atmospheric pollution, irrespective of their chemical nature. Also, by general consent, the term atmospheric pollution is applied to larger particles, when these are lifted into the air by the wind or emitted from a chimney. To complete the definition of atmospheric pollution the author states it might seem necessary to enumerate the chemical compounds in it, but this would be an academic exercise of little real value, for pollution contains most of the ninety-two natural elements in one combination or another. The various polluting materials which escape from chimneys can be divided more conveniently according to their properties into three groups:
1. The reactive substances. 2. The finest particles, which remain suspended in the air for a long time, ultimatelv being: deposited as d i s on walls, ceilings, and other surfaces. 3. The relatively coarse particles which quickly fall to the ground. Each group is dominated, as i t happens, by one constituent : 1. The reactive substances include sulfur dioxide, sulfur trioxide, carbon monoxide, ammonia, hydrochloric acid, and compounds of fluorine, but sulfur dioxide is by far the most important in ordinary town air. 2. The finest particles are mostly the “smoke” which is produced when fuels are imperfectly burned. 3. The coarser particles are mostly mineral matter and grit from fuel. Though smaller in size they are the same material as the ash which collects under a fire, together with particles of unburnt and partly burnt fuel. Much attention is given in the volume to sulfur dioxide, smoke, and ash, not only because they are considered important but because they serve jointly as prototypes; any other form of pollution when released into the atmosphere will behave similarly to one or other of them. Meetham believes that in a consideration of this problem it is not enough for a book to give information about atmospheric pollution, its meaaurement, distribution, and effects. These matters are important, but there is need to go into the subjects of fuel, fuel-burning appliances, industrial processes, and domestic requirements, not perhaps, with too technical an approach, but deeply enough to provide at least a foundation for more technical studies. The first six chapters deal with fuels, furnaces, and fires; the treatment of such subjects has been kept as free as (Continued on page IOW A )
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
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Atmospheric Pollutlon possible from technical jargon. These chapters are necessarily brief, but a bibliography at the end of each chapter refers to detailed sources of information. The five following chapters are devoted to a study of the properties of atmospheric pollution. Remedial measures are considered last. One chapter is a summary of recommendations, many of which have been mentioned earlier in the book. The last chapter is an account of the law in England with some notes on American law, so far as it concerns atmospheric pollution.
Conferences. The Department of National Health and Welfare of Ottawa, Ont., has announced a series of lectures entitled “The Urban Air Pollution Problem.” The lectures will be given at the Industrial Health Laboratory, 200 Kent Street, Ottawa, a t 3:30 P.M. on Fridays, as follows: Further information regarding these lectures may be obtained from Kingsley Kay, Chief of the Industrial Health Laboratory of the Department. 1, January 25 : “New Engineering Methods for Controlling Atmospheric Pollution,” H. F. Johnstone, University of Illinois. 2. February 8: “Air Pollution Disasters,” Geo. Clayton, U. S. Public Health Service. 3. March 7: “Economic ASpects of Air Pollution,” Louis C. McCabe, U. S. Bureau of Mines. 4. March 21: “Gas Damage to Plants,” M. 0. Thomas, American Smelting and Refining CO. 5 . April 4: “Toxicity of Common Urban Air Pollutants,” Lawrence Fairhall, Yale University and U. S. Public Health Service. 6. April 18: “Atmospheric Pollution in Canada,” Morris Katz, Technical Advisory Board on Air Pollution, Windsor-Detroit Area. The Manufacturing Chemists’ Association will hold an air pollution abatement conference at the Hotel Statler, New York, February 25, and 26, 1952. Technical sessions and a forum on “A Rational Approach to Air Polution” will be attended by representatives of a number of industries concerned with pollution problems. Information regarding this conference may be obt a i n d from M. F. Crass, Manu102 A
facturing Chemists’ Association, Woodward Building, Washington, D. C. The Second National Air Pollution Symposium will be held at the Huntington Hotel in Pasadena, Calif., on May 5 and 6 under the sponsorship of Stanford Research Institute and in cooperation with California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the University of Southern California. A M. Zarem, 612 South Flower Street, Los Angeles 17, Calif., is in charge of the symposium. The engineering department of the Extension Division of the University of Wisconsin is planning its second Air Pollution Control Institute which will be held in Madison on May 27 and 28. R. C. Tegtmeyer, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, is in charge. The annual meeting of the Air Pollution and Smoke Prevention Association of America will be held in Cleveland on Juhe 9-12. R. T. Griebling, Executive Secretary, 4400 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh 13, Pa., plans to make the quarterly, Air Repail., a monthly publication some time in the future.
Legislation. Senate Joint Resolution No. 110,“ to provide for intensified research into the causes, hazards, and effects of air pollution, into the methods for its prevention and control, and for recovery of critical materials from atmospheric contaminants, and for other purposes,” ivas introduced by Senator Murray of Montana on October 19, 1951, and referred t o the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare. This bill is essentially identical to House Joint Resolution No. 218 which was introduced by Congressman Murphy of New York on March 22, 1951, and referred to the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. Either bill may be called for hearings during the second session of the 82nd Congress. These bills would provide for research in atmospheric pollution by the Public Health Service and the Department of the Interior through the Bureau of Mines. Correspondence concerning this colrinm will be for%a.rded promptly if address t o the author, ClO Editor, IXDUSTRIAL AND EVQINEERING CHFVIRTRY 1155--16th S t , N.W., Washington 6 , n. C.
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