Archive for the ‘Chemistry World Highlights’ Category

Computer plastics recycled into toys

Brominated flame retardants found in toys and cup lids

Researchers in Europe have narrowed the search for bad recycling practices that are to blame for some toys and food packaging inadvertently containing banned pollutants.

Manufacturers often incorporate chemicals designed to limit household fires, such as brominated flame retardants, in soft furnishings and electronic devices. However, concerns about brominated flame retardants’, particularly polybrominated diphenyl ethers’, impact on the environment and human health means their use is heavily restricted.

infant playing with toy cars

Source: Georgijevic/iStock /Getty Images Plus

Previous studies have already indicated that brominated compounds unintentionally exist in toys and food packaging. The EU recently updated its guidance on recycling and disposal of materials containing polybrominated diphenyl ethers to combat this contamination.

Chromatography combined with mass spectrometry is the standard method to analyse plastics for brominated flame retardants, but this is expensive and time consuming. Now, Stuart Harrad, at the University of Birmingham, and colleagues have shown they can simplify the process by using a handheld x-ray fluorescence spectrometer.

 

Read the full article in Chemistry World.


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Unexpected levels of monoterpenes found in UK homes

Overusing household cleaners may reduce indoor air quality

Domestic indoor air

Source: (c) iStock

The air in some UK homes contains potentially harmful levels of volatile compounds due to residents overusing household chemicals without proper ventilation, new research shows.

Air quality research tends to focus on the outdoors. However, with homes becoming more insulated and energy efficient, and with people spending more time indoors, it’s worthwhile studying this air too.

Alastair Lewis’ team at the University of York and colleagues at King’s College London have measured the concentration of gaseous organic compounds in 25 UK homes to see how occupants’ activity can affect indoor air quality.

 

Read the full article in Chemistry World.


Unexpectedly high concentrations of monoterpenes in a study of UK homes
Chunting Michelle Wang, Benjamin Barratt, Nicola Carslaw, Artemis Doutsi, Rachel E. Dunmore, Martyn W. Ward and Alastair C. Lewis
Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts, 2017
DOI: 10.1039/C6EM00569A
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Quantifying UK carbon reduction potential

With 2016 set to become the warmest year on record, global warming has never been more prominent in the news. Researchers have found that scientifically viable carbon capture and reduction technologies could reduce the UK’s carbon footprint by 8–32%.

This year the UK signed up to the Paris climate agreement, which aims to limit global temperature increases to below 2°C compared with pre-industrial temperatures. One way to start meeting this agreement is for the UK to aim for net zero CO2 emissions through the use of negative emissions technologies (NETs) – these include methods to capture CO2 either directly from the air of before it is released from fossil fuel emissions, planting trees and creating forests, accelerating natural geological weathering to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, changing agricultural practices and land use, and binding CO2 in the form of biochar.

Negative emission technologies

Carbon dioxide flows among atmospheric, land, ocean and geological reservoirs for different negative emission technologies. Source: © Royal Society of Chemistry

Pete Smith, from the University of Aberdeen, UK, and colleagues have assessed the impact that UK-based NETs could have on reducing the country’s CO2emission levels. Smith’s team discovered that if the UK implemented all possible NETs, regardless of their technical viability, it would reduce current emissions by 8–32%. However, the actual proportion of this potential that can be realised might be smaller than this; factors such as cost, energy requirements, environmental impact and public acceptance will all affect these technologies’ viability.

Read the full article in Chemistry World.


Pete Smith, R. Stuart Haszeldine and Stephen M. Smith
DOI: 10.1039/C6EM00386A
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Closing the window on air pollution

Graphical abstractSwitching off fans and closing car windows can minimise drivers’ exposure to harmful particles.

Sitting in traffic is bad for your lungs, but closing your car windows and switching off the fans can minimise the amount of micro-size pollution particles you breathe, scientists from the UK found.
Air pollution is a major health risk. The World Health Organization estimates that it caused 3.7 million premature deaths in 2012. Last year, a group led by Prashant Kumar from the University of Surrey, UK, showed that drivers stuck at traffic lights are exposed to 29 times more harmful pollution particles than those driving in free flowing traffic.

Switching off fans and closing car windows can minimise drivers’ exposure to harmful particles
Sitting in traffic is bad for your lungs, but closing your car windows and switching off the fans can minimise the amount of micro-size pollution particles you breathe, scientists from the UK found.
Air pollution is a major health risk. The World Health Organization estimates that it caused 3.7 million premature deaths in 2012. Last year, a group led by Prashant Kumar from the University of Surrey, UK, showed that drivers stuck at traffic lights are exposed to 29 times more harmful pollution particles than those driving in free flowing traffic.

Read the full article in Chemistry World.


Concentration dynamics of coarse and fine particulate matter at and around signalised traffic intersections
Prashant Kumar and Anju Goel
Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts, 2016, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C6EM00215C, Paper

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Snow soaks up pollutants from engine exhausts

Scientists in Canada have shown that snow acts as a sink for nanosized particles and certain organic constituents from car exhausts.

Snow for the experiment was collected from a park in Montreal, where it snows for around 5 months of the year

Air pollution is recognised as a leading environmental driver of cancer deaths, which makes the fate of these toxic and carcinogenic aerosols from car exhausts important for informing changes in emissions and air quality regulations, and technologies, in countries with cold winters.

Anna Lea Rantalainen, an environmental chemist at the University of Helsinki, Finland, says the work raises further questions: ‘It seems that snow is efficient at removing aerosol particles from the air, but what happens after the snow has melted?’ If the sink is temporary, pollutant emissions could increase rapidly in industrialised areas when snow melts. ‘This is not just important for Canada, but other industrial regions like China that emit very diverse compounds, which are subject to transport around the globe,’ cautions Ariya.

Please visit Chemistry World to read the full article.

Role of snow and cold environment in the fate and effects of nanoparticles and select organic pollutants from gasoline engine exhaust*
Yevgen Nazarenko, Uday Kurien, Oleg Nepotchatykh, Rodrigo B. Rangel-Alvarado and   Parisa A. Ariya
Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts, 2016, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C5EM00616C

*Access is free through a registered RSC account until 25 February 2016 – click here to register

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Hungry Ghost festival behind annual air quality decline in Singapore

Researchers in Singapore have linked late-summer spikes in air and rainwater pollution with incense and paper offerings being burnt during local celebrations of the Hungry Ghost festival.

During the month-long festival, when deceased relatives are believed to return to their families, colourful joss paper and ‘hell bank notes’ are burned as gifts for the visiting ancestors to take back to the underworld.

[…]

To read the full article, please visit Chemistry World.

Annual air pollution caused by the Hungry Ghost Festival
B. Khezri, Y. Y. Chan, L. Y. D. Tiong and R. D. Webster
Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts, 2015, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C5EM00312A

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Salty soil set to hamper Bangladesh crop production

Salty soil set to hamper Bangladesh crop production

Scientists have quantified the effect of climate change on soil salinity and crop production in Bangladesh. Their models suggest the monsoon will be unable to fully leach dry season salt deposits and that salt accumulation will become a major issue for farmers in coastal regions with farm productivity dropping by as much as 50%.

The team discovered that irrigation with water that contained a salinity measure of 8ppt resulted in incomplete salt leaching and an average crop loss of 50%. This level of damage is likely to make farming unsustainable and since salinisation is difficult to counteract, the ESPA Delta project is now researching salt tolerant crops.

To read the full article, please visit ChemistryWorld.

Projections of on-farm salinity in coastal Bangladesh
D. Clarke, S. Williams, M. Jahiruddin, K. Parks and   M. Salehin
Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts, 2015, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4EM00682H

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Hungary’s rivers in recovery after red mud disaster

Four years after Hungary’s disastrous red mud spill, Will Mayes and co-workers at the University of Hull, UK, have shown that implemented remediation measures have successfully limited the long term impacts of the spill on the affected Danube tributaries. Elemental and particle size analyses of fluvial sediments sampled downstream from the spill site in 2013 showed that the characteristic geochemical signature of the red mud was predominantly absent compared to in post-disaster surveys, highlighting that the contaminated material was mostly removed by intervention measures.

To read the full article please visit ChemistryWorld.

Geochemical recovery of the Torna–Marcal river system after the Ajka red mud spill, Hungary*
Á. D. Anton, O. Klebercz, Á. Magyar, I. T. Burke, A. P. Jarvis, K. Gruiz and   W. M. Mayes
Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts, 2014,
DOI: 10.1039/C4EM00452C

*This paper is open access

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Higher levels of some metals in e-cigarette smoke

The source of the metals appears to be the e-cigarette cartridge rather than the e-liquid © Shutterstock

 A study comparing secondhand emissions from e-cigarettes and conventional tobacco ones reveals that although e-cigarettes release much lower levels of most harmful compounds, they actually discharge more nickel and silver than tobacco cigarettes. 

E-cigarettes are electronic devices that aerosolise nicotine-containing liquids, called e-liquids, for users to inhale. They have been widely marketed as safer alternatives to traditional cigarettes as they do not contain tobacco, and their use has rapidly risen over the last decade. However, little research exists on what effects e-cigarettes have on users or those in the vicinity. 

To read the full article, please visit Chemistry World

Particulate metals and organic compounds from electronic and tobacco-containing cigarettes: comparison of emission rates and secondhand exposure
Arian Saffari, Nancy Daher, Ario Ruprecht, Cinzia De Marco, Paolo Pozzi, Roberto Boffi, Samera H. Hamad,   Martin M. Shafer, James J. Schauer, Dane Westerdahle and Constantinos Sioutas
Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts, 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/ C4EM00415A, Paper

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Concerns over chemical treatment of reclaimed fracking fluid

The study analysed water samples from shale gas wells in Marcellus (Pennsylvania), Eagle Ford (Texas), and Barnett (New Mexico) © Michael J Mullen Scranton Times-Tribune/AP/Press Association Images

Estimates suggest that in the next 50 years, over one trillion gallons of water will be used in shale gas extraction but research from scientists in the US suggests that environmentally detrimental compounds are being created when this fluid is recycled.

Shale gas is found in rock formations kilometres underground. Hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, facilitates the release of this energy dense fuel in a cost-effective and timely manner. Water, sand and a combination of other additives are pumped into the ground at high pressure, breaking the shale formations apart, allowing the gas to migrate to the surface where it can be collected.

To read the full article, please visit Chemistry World.

Organic compounds in produced waters from shale gas wells
Samuel J. Maguire-Boyle and Andrew R. Barron
Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts, 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4EM00376D, Paper

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