Greenlist(tm) Bulletin 10/29/04
Greenlist(tm) Bulletin 10/29/04
This is the weekly bulletin of the TURI Library, reporting a selection of recently published titles we have acquired. Our pledge is to keep the bulletin relevant to your work and brief -- no more than 10 titles. (usually)
Titles here, abstracts below them:- OSHA Revises Hexavalent Chromium Standards, October 2004
- Teknor Apex Considers Plant for Recovering Flexible Vinyl Compounds, July 2004
- Flowsheeting-Based Simulation of Recycling Concepts in the Metal Industry, 2004
- ACC Lobbies on Chemical Security; Kerry Criticizes Bush Policy, Sept./Oct 2004
- Solvents Take "Aim", October 2004
- Is Greener Whiter? Voluntary Environmental Performance of Western Ski Areas, 2004
- A Template for Assessing Corporate Performance: Benchmarking EHS Organizations, Spring 2004
- Plastic Bags, Sugar Cane and Advanced Vibrational Spectroscopy: Taking Green Chemistry to the Third World, May 2004
- Metal Particulate Matter Components Affect Gene Expression and Beat Frequency of Neonatal Rat Ventricular Myocytes, May 2004
- Making Volatile Corrosion Inhibitors an Explosive Issue, April 2004
1. TITLE OSHA Revises Hexavalent Chromium Standards
SOURCE Chemical & Engineering News, October 18, 2004, vol. 82, no. 42, p. 34
ABSTRACT
OSHA is proposing new regulations that lower the permissible exposure
limits for workers exposed to hexavalent chromium and its compounds in
construction, shipyards, and general industry. The regulations lower
the exposure level from 52 ug of Cr(VI) per m3 of air, averaged over
eight hours, to 1 ug per m3 of air. It includes measures for employee
protection and record keeping. According to OSHA, hexavalent chromium
compounds are widely used in the chemical industry in pigments, metal
plating, and chemical synthesis as ingredients and catalysts. Health
problems associated with exposure to these compounds included lung
cancer, asthma, nasal septum ulcerations, skin ulcerations, and contact
dermatitis. Published in the Oct. 4, 2004 Federal Register, page 95305.
2. TITLE Teknor Apex Considers Plant for Recovering Flexible Vinyl Compounds
SOURCE Wire Journal International, Vol. 37, No. 7, July, 2004, p. 16
ABSTRACT
Does your company go through a lot of high-quality flexible vinyl
compound? If so, Teknor Apex wants to know whether you (and the wire
and cable industry in general) will support the creation of a facility
to recover high-quality flexible vinyl compounds. A press release from
the U.S. compound/colorant producer said it wants to hear from
potential sources of scrap wire and cable that use flexible vinyl
compounds, especially whether they would be interested in a buy-back
program. By the end of 2004, the company hopes to know whether it has
the support to create such a facility, which would use Solvay's
Vinyloop technology. Advances in the process, it said, makes it
possible and cost-effective to separate and recover the constituent
materials.
3. TITLE Flowsheeting-Based Simulation of Recycling Concepts in the Metal Industry
AUTHOR Schultmann, Frank; Engels, Bernd; Rentz, Otto
SOURCE Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 12, no. 7, 2004, pp. 737-751
ABSTRACT
This paper presents a methodology for the planning of integrated
recycling concepts taking into account the peculiarities of process
engineering in the process industries. Process models for certain unit
operations simulated with a flowsheeting program allow to calculate
mass and energy balances considering the technical characteristics and
performance of a single process or a combined process chain. Based on
principles of thermodynamics, this approach allows an assessment of
integrated recycling strategies considering techno-economic as well as
ecological criteria. The approach is illustrated with an example from
the iron and steel making industry where the injection of plastic waste
into a blast furnace is investigated.
4. TITLE ACC Lobbies on Chemical Security; Kerry Criticizes Bush Policy
AUTHOR Sissell, Kara
SOURCE Chemical Week, September 29/October 6, 2004, vol. 166, no. 32, p. 9
ABSTRACT
ACC says it has sent plant managers and security experts to Capitol
Hill to again ask lawmakers to pass chemical plant security
legislation, part of a long-running effort by ACC to pressure lawmakers
to move forward on legislation that would require all facilities to
conduct security vulnerability assessments. Plant managers meeting with
lawmakers "provided key information detailing the significant actions
already taken by member companies, and explaining why we need national
legislation based on the precedent set by industry leaders," ACC says.
Right-to-know groups say ACC's insistence that the Department of
Homeland Security have oversight in plant security matters is at least
a partial attempt to shield details regarding plant activities form
public scrutiny.
5. TITLE Solvents Take "Aim"
AUTHOR Tullo, Alexander H.
SOURCE Chemical & Engineering News, October 18, 2004, vol. 82, no. 42, pp. 32-33
ABSTRACT
Over the past decade, the greatest driver of technological change in
paints and coatings has been the reduction of traditional solvent use.
Regulations designed to reduce air pollution have forced paint makers
and their raw materials suppliers to develop high-solids, waterborne,
powder, and other technologies that have revolutionized the industry.
Most of the regulations aim to reduce the use of the volatile organic
compounds (VOCs) that, along with nitrogen oxides, produce ozone. But
one of their effects has been to send solvent suppliers and their
customers scrambling to develop compliant coatings with lower volumes
of solvents. One of the most important regulations has been the EPA's
national rule for architecture and industrial maintenance (AIM)
coatings, adopted in the 1990s. These regulations put nationwide limits
on the amount of VOCs that can be used in products such as house paints
and varnishes. But because of local air pollution problems, even
stricter limits were put in place in Southern California in the late
1990s and applied broadly through that state in 2000. The latest shoe
to drop is a series of California-like AIM regulations being
implemented in NY, NJ, PA, DE, MD, the District of Columbia and
northern Virginia on Jan. 1, 2005.
6. TITLE Is Greener Whiter? Voluntary Environmental Performance of Western Ski Areas
AUTHOR Rivera, Jorge; de Leon, Peter
SOURCE The Policy Studies Journal, vol. 32, no. 3, 2004, pp. 417-436
ABSTRACT
This study analyzes the initial implementation of the Sustainable
Slopes Program, a voluntary environmental initiative established by the
US National Ski Areas Association in partnership with federal and state
government agencies. Our findings indicate that participation of
western ski areas in the Sustainable Slopes Program is related to
institutional pressures in the form of enhanced federal oversight and
higher state environmental demands exerted by state agencies, local
environmental groups and public opinion. The analysis also suggests
that, despite these institutional pressures, participant ski areas
appear to be correlated with lower third-party environmental
performance ratings. This behavior seems to reflect the lack of
specific institutional mechanisms to prevent opportunism in the current
design of the Sustainable Slopes Program. That is, the program does not
involve specific environmental standards, lacks third-party oversight,
and does not have sanctions for poor performance.
7. TITLE A Template for Assessing Corporate Performance: Benchmarking EHS Organizations
AUTHOR Yang, Yilun; MacLean, Richard
SOURCE Environmental Quality Management, Spring 2004, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 11-23
ABSTRACT
The performance of corporate environmental, health, and safety (EHS)
organizations has been the subject of intense scrutiny during the last
few years. Specifically, business executives have challenged EHS
departments to demonstrate that they are both performing optimally and
adding value. There are, however, no standardized methods and
procedures for assessing the performance of EHS organizations. Among
the difficulties impeding such standardized approaches are issues
relating to data quantification and validity, as well as information
collection and "mining." As a result, there is no absolute benchmark
measurement of EHS performance.
8. TITLE Plastic Bags, Sugar Cane and Advanced Vibrational Spectroscopy: Taking Green Chemistry to the Third World
AUTHOR Poliakoff, Martyn; Noda, Isao
SOURCE Green Chemistry, May 2004, vol. 6, no. 5, pp.G37-G38
ABSTRACT
It is becoming increasingly important for Green Chemists to communicate
the message of Green Chemistry to the wider public. The key is to find
examples which can catch the audience's imagination. Fortunately, there
are many such examples. However, it is only if you have to lecture in a
Third World country that you suddenly realize how heavily these
examples rely on the context of a developed country to achieve their
effect.
9. TITLE Metal Particulate Matter Components Affect Gene Expression and Beat Frequency of Neonatal Rat Ventricular Myocytes
AUTHOR Graff, Donald W.; Cascio, Wayne E.; Brackhan, Joseph A.; Devlin, Robert B.
SOURCE Environmental Health Perspectives, May 2004, vol. 112, no. 7, pp. 792-798
ABSTRACT
Soluble particulate matter (PM) components (e.g., metals) have the
potential to be absorbed into the bloodstream and transported to the
heart where they might induce the expression of inflammatory cytokines
and remodel electrical properties. We exposed cultured rat ventricular
myocytes to similar concentrations of two metals [zinc (Zn) and
vanadium (V)] found commonly in PM and measured changes in spontaneous
beat rate. We found statistically significant reductions in spontaneous
beat rate after both short-term (4-hr) and long-term (24-hr) exposures,
with a more substantial effect seen with Zn. We also measured the
expression of genes associated with inflammation and a number of
sarcolemmal proteins associated with electrical impulse conduction.
Exposure to Zn or V (6.25-50 μM) for 6 hr produced significant
increases in IL-6, IL-1, heat shock protein 70, and connexin 43 (Cx43).
After 24 hr exposure, Zn induced significant changes in the gene
expression of Kv4.2 and KvLQt (potassium channel proteins), the 1
subunit of the L-type calcium channel, and Cx43, as well as IL-6 and
IL-1. In contrast, V produced a greater effect on Cx43 and affected
only one ion channel (KvLQT1). These results show that exposure of rat
cardiac myocytes to noncytotoxic concentrations of Zn and V alter
spontaneous beat rate as well as the expression of ion channels and
sarcolemmal proteins relevant to electrical remodeling and slowing of
spontaneous beat rate, with Zn producing a more profound effect. As
such, these data suggest that the cardiac effects of PM are largely
determined by the relative metal composition of particles.
10. TITLE Making Volatile Corrosion Inhibitors an Explosive Issue
AUTHOR Defosse, Matthew
SOURCE Modern Plastics, Vol. 81, No. 4, April 2004, pp. 51 - 52
ABSTRACT
Metal products can be protected from corrosion during transit and
storage by wrapping them in polyethylene film that contains volatile
corrosion inhibitors, or VCIs. The VCIs escape from the film, and
deposit on the product surface. Anticorrosion films see use in almost
every industry including automobile, electrical and electronics,
machine manufacturing, even more so in the military. Globalization has
driven demand upward as more goods travel further from their places of
manufacture. One critic, and rival distributor, claims VCIs are
hazardous. The danger, says Randy Dutton, VP and part owner of barrier
film distributor FPM Inc., based in Flat Rock, MI, is that those VCI
vapors in the film contain hazardous chemicals that may come into
contact with people handling the products.
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