Atmospheric non-methane hydrocarbons near plants of crude oil first treatment

Rrecently, the continuous expansion of the drilling activity to oil extraction purposes in the proximity of residential areas has led to focus the attention on the impact of this highly industrialized process on public health. in fact, people living near this kind of plants must cope with various problems, such as air and noise pollution, contamination of soil and groundwater, heavy traffic to and from the site, accidents and malfunctions in the plant. in this context, the health risk assessment is hampered by the fact that exposure to chemicals cannot be definitively assessed due both to the inability in defining type and concentrations of all the compounds released into the environment and to the problem of the coexposure to other pollutants. despite the now overt and widespread interest generated by this subject, to date there are not so many studies based on populations regarding health effects on the communities living in the vicinity of drill and extraction sites, and this creates the need to conduct monitoring campaign and epidemiological studies that verify the possible existence and nature of pattern of diseases associated with these activities. this review identifes the main atmospheric pollutants in the vicinity of a plant of first crude oil treatment and seeks to provide an overview of their sources and their characteristics

An integrated approach to identify the origin of PM10 exceedances

Purpose This study was aimed to the development of an integrated approach for the characterization of particulate matter (PM) pollution events in the South of Italy. Methods PM10 and PM2.5 daily samples were collected from June to November 2008 at an urban background site located in Bari (Puglia Region, South of Italy). Meteorological data, particle size distributions and atmospheric dispersion conditions were also monitored in order to provide information concerning the different features of PM sources. Results The collected data allowed suggesting four indicators to characterize different PM10 exceedances. PM2.5/PM10 ratio, natural radioactivity, aerosol maps and back-trajectory analysis and particle distributions were considered in order to evaluate the contribution of local anthropogenic sources and to determine the different origins of intrusive air mass coming from long-range transport, such as African dust outbreaks and aerosol particles from Central and Eastern Europe. The obtained results were confirmed by applying principal component analysis to the number particle concentration dataset and by the chemical characterization of the samples (PM10 and PM2.5). Conclusions The integrated approach for PM study suggested in this paper can be useful to support the air quality managers for the development of cost-effective control strategies and the application of more suitable risk management approaches

Odour Impact Assessment by a Multiparametric System (electronic Noses/ch4-nmhc Analyser)

Odour impacts are assessed according to two principal approaches: evaluation and estimation of the pollutant relapse on the territory and monitoring through standard methodologies. In particular, odour monitoring is characterized by a great complexity due principally to the strict association of odour pollution to human perception. The standardized methodology for the determination of odour concentration is represented by an instrumental sensory technique, the dynamic olfactometry, that is affected by some limitations. This methodology provides punctual odour concentration data and it does not allow to perform continuous and field measurements, useful for monitoring the industrial processes causing odour emissions. The need of carrying out a continuous monitoring having been encouraged the use of an odour surrogate monitoring, performed by specific or not specific instruments (chemical analysers or electronic noses). The surrogate measurements employment is based on the fact that the ratio of surrogate concentration to odour units must be relatively constant and known. This paper focuses on the development of a multiparametric system for the evaluation of odour impact caused by an industrial source. The system has been tested during olfactometric monitoring campaigns conducted at the industrial site, coupling the results of electronic noses. The purpose of the research work has been to find an indicator for the odour emissions produced by the examined industrial site, and to correlate it with odour concentrations. This study has allowed to demonstrate the real applicability of not specific instruments to odour continuous monitoring, useful to detect a change of state in operating conditions of industrial processes and control it