Antimony environmental effects

This review describes factors concerning the safety and environmental effects of organic arsenic, antimony and bismuth compounds. The factors involve the production and use of the elements, toxicity, pollution, metabolism (alkylation), health effect assessment, fate and so on. 

The health and environmental effects profile for antimony oxides was prepared by the Office of Health and Environmental Assessment, Environmental Criteria and Assessment Office, Cincinnati, OH, USA Acceptable daily intakes, defined as the amount of a chemical to which humans can he exposed on a daily basis over an extended period of time (usually a lifetime) without suffering deleterious effects, were 24.5, 29.3, 30.9 and 32.5 /ig day for oral exposure, for antimony, antimony trioxide, antimony tetroxide and antimony pentoxide, respectively. 

Antimony (Sb), 3 41-56, 56. See also Group Ill-Sb system InAsSb alloy InSb photodiode detectors/arrays Lead-antimony alloys Low antimony lead alloys Stib- entries in babbitts, 24 797 catalyst poison, 5 257t chemical reactions, 3 42—44 in coal, 6 718 economic aspects, 3 47-48 effect of micro additions on silicon particles in Al-Si alloys, 2 311-312 effect on copper resistivity, 7 676t environmental concerns, 3 50 gallium compounds with, 12 360 health and safety factors, 3 51 in pewter, 24 798... 

The Environmental Protection Agency (Cincinnati, OH, USA) reported investigations regarding the health effects of antimony and its compounds. The conclusion of the report is as follows Oral reference dose values (RfDo) were derived for antimony and selected compounds based on the LOAEL (lowest-observed-adverse-effect-level) for antimony of 350/zgkg" day" associated with potassium antimony tartrate (15) in the drinking water of rats for lifetime exposure. Reduced lifespan was observed in both sexes and altered blood biochemical characters in males. The only concentration tested was of 5 ppm antimony. RfDo values for antimony of 24.5/ig dayfor antimony potassium tartrate of 65.5 fig day and for antimony tri-, tetra- and pentoxides of 29.3, 30.9 and 32.5 /igday" respectively, were calculated. It should be noted that orally administered antimony has been inadequately tested for carcinogenicity. 

Biological, chemical, and physical effects of airborne metals are a direct function of particle size, concentration, and composition. The major parameter governing the significance of natural and anthropogenic emissions of environmentally important metals is particle size. Metals associated with fine particulates are of concern particles larger than about 3-fjim aerodynamic equivalent diameter are minimally respirable, are ineffective in atmospheric interactions, and have a short air residence time. Seventeen environmentally important metals are identified arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, copper, iron, mercury, magnesium, manganese, nickel, lead, antimony, selenium, tin, vanadium, and zinc. This report reviews the major sources of these metals with emphasis on fine particulate emissions. 

Nash et al. (2000) (Methodologies for determination of antimony in terrestrial environmental samples). The review by Tolg (1987) (Extreme trace analysis of the elements -the state of the art today and tomorrow) is an insightful review by an experienced trace analyst concentrating on atomic spec-trometric methods including AAS, OES, XRE, MS with many variants of excitation. A table is provided comparing the capability of determinative methods listing the method, the specific technique, limit of determination, matrix effects, multielement determination, and speciation analysis. Methods compared include AAS, ZAAS, OES-DCP, OES-ICP, OES-MIP, OES-HC, EANES, AES, XRS, MS, NAA, voltammetry, LAS and fluorimetry. 

Examples of liquid additives currently in use include bismuth and antimony based additives for passivation of nickel contaminants. A number of solid catalytic additives have been developed that are specific for certain functions. Approximately two-thirds of North American units utilize a noble metal promoter to reduce emissions of CO as well as provide beneficial yield effects. During the early to mid-1980 s, SOX removal additives came into use due to tighter environmental restrictions. A ZSM-5 based additive for octane enhancement and light olefin production was developed during the mid-1980 s and is used commercially. Additives have also been proposed as metal traps especially for vanadium passivation. These solid FCC additives have become an increasingly important tool by which refiners meet yield and environmental requirements. 

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