Shili Liu

Atmospheric mercury monitoring survey in Beijing, China.

With the aid of one industrial, two urban, two suburban, and two rural sampling locations, diurnal patterns of total gaseous mercury (TGM) were monitored in January, February and September of 1998 in Beijing, China. Monitoring was conducted in six (two urban, two suburban, one rural and the industrial sites) of the seven sampling sites during January and February (winter) and in four (two urban, one rural, and the industrial sites) of the sampling locations during September (summer) of 1998. In the three suburban sampling stations, mean TGM concentrations during the winter sampling period were 8.6, 10.7, and 6.2 ng/m3, respectively. In the two urban sampling locations mean TGM concentrations during winter and summer sampling periods were 24.7, 8.3, 10, and 12.7 ng/m3, respectively. In the suburban-industrial and the two rural sampling locations, mean mercury concentrations ranged from 3.1-5.3 ng/m3 in winter to 4.1-7.7 ng/m3 in summer sampling periods. In the Tiananmen Square (urban), and Shijingshan (suburban) sampling locations the mean TGM concentrations during the summer sampling period were higher than winter concentrations, which may have been caused by evaporation of soil-bound mercury in warm periods. Continuous meteorological data were available at one of the suburban sites, which allowed the observation of mercury concentration variations associated with some weather parameters. It was found that there was a moderate negative correlation between the wind speed and the TGM concentration at this suburban sampling location. It was also found that during the sampling period at the same site, the quantity of TGM transported to or from the sampling site was mainly influenced by the duration and frequency of wind occurrence from certain directions.

Detection and remediation of soil and aquifer systems contaminated with petroleum products: an overview

Fate of organic chemicals in the subsurface strata is not very well understood. It has only been a decade or two that environmental scientists are focusing their attentions on remediating sites that are contaminated with organic chemicals. Different routes of soil and groundwater contamination by petroleum hydrocarbon compounds and their partitioning into gaseous, aqueous and pure phases in the subsurface strata are discussed. A summary of the techniques used for treating hydrocarbon-contaminated soil and groundwater and their application limitations are presented. United States Environmental Protection Agencys (US-EPA) methods 8260, 8270 and 418.1 for detection and quantitation of petroleum range hydrocarbon in soil and aqueous samples and some recently developed mathematical models used to predict the fate and transport of petroleum range compounds in aquifer systems are briefly discussed. Results of some toxicological studies on light and heavy petroleum hydrocarbon are presented. It is concluded that reaching an environment free of hydrocarbon contamination needs broad public understanding of the risks associated with these compounds. Proper management and careful handling of petroleum products reduces the possibility of spills. Replacing old and leaking underground storage tanks with new double wall tanks equipped with leak detectors and cathodic protection could significantly improve the quality of our precious and fragile groundwater resources.

United States experience with gasoline additives

Abstract History, benefits and problems associated with gasoline additives in the United States were reviewed. To reduce air toxics and ozone in highly air-polluted areas of the country, oxygenates will continue to be added to gasoline until an alternative is sought and approved by the Congress of the United States. In near future, the use of methyl tert butyl ether (MTBE) will be reduced from its present magnitude and could be replaced by ethanol or other oxygenates that are less harmful to the environment. With rising oil prices, global warming and other environmental issues in the horizon, it is very likely that in the future, hydrogen will substitute gasoline to power electrically driven motors in automobiles. Nevertheless, hydrogen has to be extracted from a readily available source such as gasoline. If gasoline is going to be used as a source of hydrogen, it has to be reformulated from its present form and there will be no need for any additives.

Long-term investigation of atmospheric mercury contamination in Connecticut

Atmospheric mercury was monitored from January 1997 through the end of December 1999 in eight sampling locations in Connecticut. Four sampling locations were chosen along the shores of Long Island Sound and four were chosen in interior sections of Connecticut. Sampling locations were chosen to represent both rural and urban sectors. Average concentrations of gaseous and particulate mercury were found to be 2.06 ng/m3 and 10.5 pg/m3, respectively. The weekly average wet deposition fluxes of mercury and methylmercury over the three-year sampling period were measured to be 611 and 11 microg/ha/week, respectively. Concentrations of gaseous, particulate and wet flux of mercury were found to be significantly higher in urban areas than the rural sampling locations. There was, however, no significant difference between the mean gaseous and particulate concentrations of mercury in coastal and inland sampling locations. No significant difference was observed either between the wet fluxes of total mercury in coastal and inland sampling locations and there was no spatial gradient for mercury concentration and deposition. The data of this study suggest that vehicular traffic and localized emission sources in urban areas play a significant role in determining the atmospheric concentration of mercury in Connecticut.

The effect of precipitation amount and atmospheric concentrations on wet deposition fluxes of oxidized and reduced nitrogen species in Connecticut

The effects of precipitation amount and atmospheric concentrations of inorganic nitrogen species on precipitationconcentrations and wet fluxes of oxidized and reduced nitrogen inConnecticut were studied for a period of 152 weeks (7 February,1997 through 31 December, 1999). The annual volume weighted mean(VWM) concentration in precipitation of oxidized and reducednitrogen varied with precipitation amount between sites andyears. To investigate the effect of varying precipitation amountand mean monthly temperatures on concentrations of inorganicnitrogen species in precipitation, the precipitation events wereclassified into seven groups and each year was divided into twowarm and cold sampling periods. Increasing precipitation amounthad a substantial decreasing effect on the VWM concentration ofnitrate and ammonium ions in precipitation. The highest VWMconcentrations of oxidized and reduced nitrogen in precipitationwere found in the lower weekly precipitation range of 0 to 0.5 cm. The results of this study indicated that precipitationamount was one of the main factors affecting volume weighted meanconcentrations and fluxes of oxidized and reduced nitrogen. Chemical composition of inorganic nitrogen species in theatmosphere showed that during warm and cold sampling periodsreduced nitrogen was the predominant atmospheric specie, andoxidized nitrogen was the predominant wet specie in precipitationat all sampling sites.

A Comparison of Spectrophotometric and Gas Chromatographic Measurements of Heavy Petroleum Products in Soil Samples

Laboratory studies were conducted to compare the infrared spectrophotometry (TPH-IR) and gas chromatography (TPH-GC) measurements of total petroleum hydrocarbon in soil samples.Real world soil samples containing #2 to #6 fuel oils, mechanical lubricating oil, diesel fuel, kerosene, jet fuel andweathered gasoline were extracted with trichlorotrifluoroethane(Freon-113) and methylene chloride. The extractants were analyzed using gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID) and infrared spectroscopy (TPH-IR) methods.A paired statistical t-test was applied to compare the average of paired differences in the analytical results. Statistical tests were evaluated with graphical presentation of the results. In general, a trend was observed in the measured concentrations.Total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentrations measured withTPH-IR had the highest readings. The same samples extracted withmethylene chloride and analyzed with GC-FID showed lower concentrations than the TPH-IR method while the GC-FID analysisof the same samples extracted with Freon-113 produced the lowestconcentrations. Laboratory experiments indicated that TPH concentrations measured with the TPH-IR method were higher thanthe actual quantities of petroleum hydrocarbon in the soil samples.

Non-Uniform Regulations of Underground Storage Tanks in the United States: Calls for a National-Scale Revision

Abstract Leaking underground storage tanks (USTs) are one of the major sources of ground water contamination. United States federal regulations for USTs were established in September of 1988. Since that time little or no amendments have been made to these regulations. In order to protect sensitive areas such as aquifer recharge zones for public water supply wells and wetlands, different states have been obligated to apply more stringent standards than the federal UST regulations. This practice however, has led to a non-uniform application of regulations for USTs throughout the country. In this article, United States regulations for USTs are reviewed and its deficits are highlighted. Based on these regulations and the experience of northeastern states of United States, a sequence of leak and spill preventive measures for USTs is proposed. Application of the proposed measures could substantially reduce the possibility of UST failure and would be more protective of the subsurface environment.

Improved Sparger for Purge and Trap Concentrator Used for the Analysis of Volatile Organics in Landfill Leachates and Septic Samples

Abstract An improved sparger unit, part of a commercially available purge and trap concentrator, has allowed for the determination of volatile organics in very “dirty” landfill leachates and septic samples. The loss of volatile organics is minimized during transfer steps by using the same glass tube for sample collection, for storage and for the analytical sparging operation. Chemometrics was used to compare the sparging efficiency of the original and the improved sparger unit.

Comparison of On-Column and Splitless Injections for the Capillary Gc Quantitation of Organics Extracted from Landfill Leachatesl

Abstract An extensive study of the organic components of the leachate from the University of Connecticut landfill has been carried out. A modification of EPA Method 625 for base/neutral extractable organics was used to obtain both the gas chromatographic profiles and the mass spectrometric identification of the organics in groundwater samples from six test wells and several private wells in the vicinity of the landfill. A characteristic fingerprint representing a number of components was consistently found in the analysis of the landfill leachate but not in the drinking water of the private residences located on an adjoining road. Gas chromatographic parameters for optimum qualitative and quantitative analysis of field samples were determined using an acetone solution of the model leachate sample. It was confirmed that the on-column injection mode resulted in greater flame ionization detector (FID) response and more reproducible peak areas than the splitless mode. The major variable in obtaining reproduci...