Marzenna R. Dudzińska

Children's personal exposure to air pollution in rural villages in Bhutan.

Exposure assessment studies conducted in developing countries have been based on fixed-site monitoring to date. This is a major deficiency, leading to errors in estimating the actual exposures, which are a function of time spent and pollutant concentrations in different microenvironments. This study quantified school childrens daily personal exposure to ultrafine particles (UFP) using real-time monitoring, as well as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and NO2 using passive sampling in rural Bhutan in order to determine the factors driving the exposures. An activity diary was used to track childrens time activity patterns, and difference in mean exposure levels across sex and indoor/outdoor were investigated with ANOVA. 82 children, attending three primary schools participated in this study; S1 and S2 during the wet season and S3 during the dry season. Mean daily UFP exposure (cm(-3)) was 1.08×10(4) for children attending S1, 9.81×10(3) for S2, and 4.19×10(4) for S3. The mean daily NO2 exposure (µg m(-3)) was 4.27 for S1, 3.33 for S2 and 5.38 for S3 children. Likewise, children attending S3 also experienced higher daily exposure to a majority of the VOCs than those attending S1 and S2. Time-series of UFP personal exposures provided detailed information on identifying sources of these particles and quantifying their contributions to the total daily exposures for each microenvironment. The highest UFP exposure resulted from cooking/eating, contributing to 64% of the daily exposure, due to firewood combustion in houses using traditional mud cookstoves. The lowest UFP exposures were during the hours that children spent outdoors at school. The outcomes of this study highlight the significant contributions of lifestyle and socio-economic factors in personal exposures and have applications in environmental risk assessment and household air pollution mitigation in Bhutan.

Environmental problems of Poland during economic and political transformation

Abstract The main environmental problems in Poland are presented, including geographic, economic and political effects, and unexpected and predicted ecological problems caused by the transformation from a communist into a capitalist system. Problems of transforming peoples consciousness and goals for the future are presented.

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in leachates from municipal landfills

The leachates from six municipal waste landfills, located in South-eastern Poland, were studied for the presence of major, Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) – PAHs, Polychlorinated Dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs)/Polychlorinated Dibenzofurans (PCDFs), Polychlorinated Dibenzothiophenes (PCDTs) and Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). The measured concentrations varied with respect to the particular compound and landfill, but POPs were present at measurable levels in the leachates from all the examined landfills. The highest concentrations were found in the leachate from the landfill collecting waste from the capital of the province. In the leachates from younger landfills, the concentrations of lower halogenated compounds were higher than those of higher substituted congeners. Lower condensed PAHs showed higher concentrations in samples from all the examined sites.

An Attempt to Estimate the PCDF/PCDD Emissions from Waste Incinerated in Cement Kilns

This paper gathers the current state of knowledge on waste incineration in cement kilns with special respect to emissions of organic hazardous compounds such as PCDF/PCDDs, which tend be a crucial point, causing the strongest local opposition to the location of waste incinerator.

Radon and its decay products in an air-conditioned auditorium in correlation with indoor air parameters

The measurements of radon and its attached decay product activity concentrations were carried out in an occupied and unoccupied auditorium during three air-conditioning modes i.e. air-conditioning system switched off (air-conditioning off), air-conditioning system switched off during the night and switched on during the day (air-conditioning on/off) and air-conditioning system switched on (air-conditioning on). Higher average concentrations of radon and its decay products were recorded in the auditorium when the air-conditioning system was switched off. The average particle mass and CO2 concentrations and indoor air thermal parameters were elevated during the air-conditioning on/off mode. A statistically significant (p < 0.001) positive correlation between the decay product concentrations and the particle number and average particle mass concentrations has been observed in the air-conditioning off mode (r = 0.55 and r = 0.68) and in the air-conditioning on/off mode (r = 0.54 and r = 0.62, respectively). A significant negative correlation has been observed between the decay product concentrations and the indoor air temperature and CO2 concentrations in the air-conditioning off mode (r = −0.86 and r = −0.47, respectively). The obtained results confirmed the impact of the air-conditioning system operation on the decrease of health risks related to the presence of radon and its decay products in air conditioned premises.

Thermal Solid Waste Utilisation in Regular and Industrial Facilities

1. Neutralisation of Wastes in a Cement Kiln L. Pawlowski. 2. Ecological Aspects of Co-incineration of Solid Waste in Cement Kilns U. Lahl. 3. Recovery of Materials and Energy from waste in Austrian Cement Works K.E. Lorber. 4. PCDF/D Emission from Waste Utilisation in Cement Kilns M.R. Dudzinska, Z. Kozak. 5. Utilisation of Sewage Sludge in Cement Kilns M. Kotowski, et al. 6. The Environmental Influence of Heavy Metals Introduced to the Clinkering Process with Wastes R. Gierzatowicz. 7. The Use of Coal Spoil in the Process of Cement Production J. Duda. 8. Solid Waste Utilisation in Cement Kilns T.J. Reese. 9. The Pyrolityc Convective Waste Utiliser T. Piecuch. 10. Research on Possibilities of Sewage Sludge Utilisation in the Process of Pyrolysis J.B. Bien, et al. 11. Catalytic Limitation of Organic Chloride and Sulphur Emission in the Thermal Waste Utilisation Process M. Kazmierczak. 12. Evaluation of Gaseous Emission from Energy Generating Facilities R. Gierzatowicz. 13. Plasma Technologies for Environmental Protection K. Cedzynska, Z. Kolacinski. 14. Plasma Technology in the Deactivation of Spent Ion-exchangers D. Dziadko, I. Pollo. 15. Plasma Gasification of Surrogate and Real Waste Plastics A. Huczko, M. Sioda. About the Editors. Index.

Radon Hazards in Relation to Elemental and Isotope Composition of the Geological Structures in the Lubelskie Voivodeship

The study involved investigation of the relationship between the radon concentrations in the ground air – and thus in the indoor air – and the geological structure of the Lubelskie Voivodeship (eastern Poland). Both passive and active methods were used for measuring the radon concentrations in coal, phosphate and chalk mines, caves, wells as well as indoor environments. The study also included elemental, uranium and lead isotope analyses of rocks. The performed research showed that Paleogene and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks rich in radionuclides are the sources of radon in the Lubelskie Voivodeship. In the case of the buildings located in proximity to such rocks, characterized by relatively high radon exhalations, radon remediation methods are recommended. Already at the designing stage of buildings, the measures which protect against the hazardous radon gas should be applied.

Thermal conditions and perceived air quality in an air-conditioned auditorium

The study reports measurements of indoor air temperature (T) and relative humidity (RH), perceived air quality (PAQ) and CO2, fine aerosol particle number (PN) and mass (PM1) concentrations in an air conditioned auditorium. The measurements of these air physical parameters have been carried out in the unoccupied auditorium with the air conditioning system switched off (AC off mode) and in the unoccupied and occupied auditorium with the air conditioning system switched off during the night and switched on during the day (AC on/off mode). The average indoor air thermal parameters, CO2 concentration and the PAQ value (in decipols) were elevated, while average PM1 concentration was lower in the AC on/off mode. A statistically significant (p < 0.001) positive correlation has been observed between T and PAQ values and CO2 concentrations (r = 0.66 and r = 0.59, respectively) in that AC mode. A significant negative correlation has been observed between T and PN and PM1 concentrations (r = −0.38 and r = −0.49, res...

The influence of air conditioning changes on the effective dose due to radon and its short-lived decay products

Abstract Most people spend the majority of their time in indoor environments where the level of harmful pollutants is often significantly higher than outdoors. Radon (222Rn) and its decay products are the example of radioactive pollutants. These radioisotopes are the main source of ionizing radiation in non-industrial buildings. The aim of the study was to determine the impact of air-conditioning system on radon and its progeny concentrations and thus on the effective dose. The measurements were carried out in the auditorium at the Environmental Engineering Faculty (Lublin University of Technology, Poland). Measurements of radon and its progeny (in attached and unattached fractions) as well as measurements of the following indoor air parameters were performed in two air-conditioning (AC) operation modes: AC ON and AC ON/OFF. The air supply rate and air recirculation were taken into consideration. The separation of radon progeny into attached and unattached fractions allowed for determining, respectively, the dose conversion factor (DCF) and the inhalation dose for teachers and students in the auditorium. A considerable increase of the mean radon progeny concentrations from 1.2 Bq/m3 to 5.0 Bq/m3 was observed in the AC ON/OFF mode compared to the AC ON mode. This also resulted in the increase of the inhalation dose from 0.005 mSv/y to 0.016 mSv/y (for 200 h/year). Furthermore, the change of the air recirculation rate from 0% to 80% resulted in a decrease of the mean radon concentration from 30 Bq/m3 to 12 Bq/m3 and the reduction of the mean radon progeny concentration from 1.4 Bq/m3 to 0.8 Bq/m3. This resulted in the reduction of the inhalation dose from 0.006 mSv/y to 0.003 mSv/y.

Radon equilibrium factor and perceived air quality in an air-conditioned auditorium in Lublin, Poland

The study reports measurements of radon and its decay products and of perceived air quality carried out in an occupied and unoccupied auditorium at the Lublin University of Technology in Lublin, Poland during three air conditioning system operation modes – air conditioning off, air conditioning on and air conditioning on/off. In the air conditioning on/off mode radon and its decay product concentrations and values of perceived air quality were inversely related. During that air conditioning operation mode, the value of the mean equilibrium factor F for the unattached fraction (0.31 ± 0.19) was somewhat higher than for the attached fraction (0.24 ± 0.19) and significant negative correlations were found between F values for attached, unattached and for the sum of both progeny fractions and perceived air quality values. These findings may be of importance as they indicate that in certain air conditioning operation modes indoor air quality deteriorates along with a reduction in the radon health hazard. This, in turn may adversely affect the comfort and productivity of the room users.