(BQ) Part 2 book Hazardous chemicals handbook has contents: Monitoring techniques, radioactive chemicals, safety by design, operating procedures, marketing, transport of chemicals, chemicals and the environment sources and impact, conversion tables and measurement data,...and other contents.
10 Monitoring techniques As mentioned in Chapters 4, and 16 chemicals can be a nuisance or pose safety, health and environmental risks, or become wasteful of expensive resources if allowed to escape excessively and uncontrollably into the general or workplace environment Escapes can result from inadequate process control, errors in operation or maintenance, incomplete understanding of the process, etc Such problems can arise from both: periodic emissions of chemicals due to the need to open, or enter, the ‘system’ occasionally (e.g during sampling, cleaning, line-breaking) including both planned and unplanned releases (e.g due to accidents, human error) and, continuous low-level fugitive emissions from normally-closed points, e.g valve seals, flange gaskets, pump seals, drain valves The need to monitor the impact of activities involving chemicals on the environment may stem from sound management practice or to satisfy a host of specific legal requirements Thus, in the UK under the Environmental Protection (Prescribed Substances and Processes) Regulations 1991, operators must apply BATNEEC to prevent or minimize the release of prescribed substances into the environment, or to render harmless any emissions The prescribed substances for release into the air are given in Table 10.1 No prescribed process may be operated without an authorization from the Environment Agency and air pollutants which must be measured and the frequency of monitoring are set out in the authorization Compliance with emission limits for municipal waste incineration plants (Table 10.2) also requires monitoring Table 10.1 Prescribed substances for release into the air Oxides of sulphur and other sulphur compounds Oxides of nitrogen and other nitrogen compounds Oxides of carbon Organic compounds and partial oxidation compounds Metals, metalloids and their compounds Asbestos, glass fibres and mineral fibres Halogens and their compounds Phosphorus and its compounds Particulate matter In addition to pollution episodes, risks may arise due to atmospheric oxygen concentrations fluctuating beyond its normal level of 21% posing health (page 72) or fire hazards Fire and explosion dangers may also arise from the presence of flammable gases, vapours, or dusts in the atmosphere (Chapter 6) Thus, as illustrated by Table 17.13 monitoring emissions of hazardous chemicals into the environment may be required for a variety of reasons such as: 308 MONITORING TECHNIQUES Table 10.2 Selected emission limits for municipal waste incineration (units: mg/m 3) Country Plant capacity (tonne per hour) Particulates CO SO2 Volatile organic compounds HF NOx as NO2 Cr, Cu, Mn, Pb Ni, As Cd, Hg Dioxins • • • • • • • • • • EU EU EU UK UK 1–3 1