Arsenic smelter emission

Proximity to the smokestacks of metal smelters is positively associated with increased levels of lead in the hair (manes) of horses and in tissues of small mammals, and is consistent with the results of soil and vegetation analyses (USEPA 1972). Lead concentrations were comparatively high in the hair of older or chronically impaired horses (USEPA 1972). However, tissues of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) collected near a zinc smelter did not contain elevated levels of lead (Sileo and Beyer 1985). Among small mammals near a metal smelter, blood ALAD activity was reduced in the white-footed mouse but normal in others, e.g., the short-tailed shrew (Beyer et al. 1985). The interaction effects of lead components in smelter emissions with other components, such as zinc, cadmium, and arsenic, are unresolved (USEPA 1972) and warrant additional research. 

Kapustka, L.A. Lipton, J. Galbraith, A. Cacela, O. Leyeune, K. Metal and arsenic impacts to soils, vegetation communities and wildlife habitat in southwest Montana uplands contaminated by smelter emissions. 2. Laboratory phytotoxicity studies. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 1995, 14, 1905-1912. 

Organoarsenic species are known to vary considerably in their toxicity to humans and animals . Large fluxes of inorganic arsenic into the aquatic environment can be traced to geothermal systems, base metal smelter emissions and localized arsenite treatments for aquatic weed control. Methylated arsenicals enter the environment either directly as pesticides or by the biological transformation of inorganic species . ... 

Blood levels decrease within a few hours. They do not lend themselves to the detection of chronic exposure [29,58,73]. But during spraying season the blood levels of workers who applied arsenic herbicides were significantly elevated [60]. Increased serum contents of 78-180 p.g/liter of Indian opium eaters are exotic [88]. More information is available from hair. Children living near a coal power plant showed a mean level of 3260 (ig As/kg in comparison to unexposed children with 152 p.g/kg [15]. Similar results were evoked by smelter emission high exposure led to 182600 p,g As/kg low exposure to 8900 p-g/kg [78], 5500 p.g/kg [18] or 2600 p.g/kg [13]. Significantly lower are the concentrations caused by arsenic in well water (450-1240 p.g/kg) [31,80,89]. Nails also contain remarkably high contents of arsenic compared with normal levels 21100-72800 p,g As/kg in smelter workers [78] and 4550 p.g/kg in persons exposed to arsenic well water [31],... 

Heavy metals on or in vegetation and water have been and continue to be toxic to animals and fish. Arsenic and lead from smelters, molybdenum from steel plants, and mercury from chlorine-caustic plants are major offenders. Poisoning of aquatic life by mercury is relatively new, whereas the toxic effects of the other metals have been largely eliminated by proper control of industrial emissions. Gaseous (and particulate) fluorides have caused injury and damage to a wide variety of animals—domestic and wild—as well as to fish. Accidental effects resulting from insecticides and nerve gas have been reported. 

Primary copper processing results in air emissions, process wastes, and other solid-phase wastes. Particulate matter and sulfur dioxide are the principal air contaminants emitted by primary copper smelters. Copper and iron oxides are the primary constituents of the particulate matter, but other oxides, such as arsenic, antimony, cadmium, lead, mercury, and zinc, may also be present, with metallic sulfates and sulfuric acid mist. Single-stage electrostatic precipitators are widely used in the primary copper industry to control these particulate emissions. Sulfur oxides contained in the off-gases are collected, filtered, and made into sulfuric acid. 

Exposure of humans and wildlife to arsenic may occur through air (emissions from smelters, coal-fired power plants, herbicide sprays), water (mine tailings runoff, smelter wastes, natural mineralization), and food (especially seafoods). 

In response to the widespread arsenic contamination (Appendix D), many governments have instituted regulations on the disposal of arsenic-bearing wastes and arsenic emissions from ore smelters and... 

Unless contaminated by coal combustion facilities, ore smelters, or other arsenic emitters, melted snow tends to have much <1 pgL-1 of arsenic (Table 3.17). The arsenic concentrations in the precipitation of an area may also change over time. Specifically, snowpacks in Colorado and New Mexico, USA, had less arsenic in 1999-2000 (<0.01-0.02 pgL-1 in meltwater) than averages from nearby sampling stations in 1993-1999 (0.05-0.14 jag U1 in meltwater) ((Ingersoll, 2000) Table 3.17). The origin(s) of the arsenic is unknown, but may be related to emissions from nearby coal-fired power plants (Ingersoll, 2000), 2. 

Examination of the spatia-J. variation in the concentrations of excess S04, As, and H+ reveals an area of influence of some source of sulfur and arsenic on rainwater composition immediately to the northeast (downwind) of Tacoma,WA. Since the Tacoma smelter is the major emission... 

Emission standards for several smaller scale, but more hazardous discharges of copper smelters, such as arsenic and lead compounds have recently been set by the U.S. EPA [41]. 

In the end, the only significant control measures were smoke-collecting devices—settling chambers, baghouses, and electrostatic precipitators—that captured arsenic but had little effect on sulfur emissions. Arsenic could be sold market demand grew rapidly between 1918 and 1923 after it was shown that calcium arsenate could control the boll weevils that devastated cotton crops. In 1923, Anaconda added more precipitators soon the smelter by itself produced nearly enough arsenic to saturate the pesticide market nationwide, and the company worked intensely to find additional uses. Spread across farm fields and sprayed on fruit, the arsenic captured in the precipitators created a new set of environmental problems that would be bequeathed to posterity.13... 

The precipitator was soon at work, removing the acid mist from the stack gases of the snlfuric acid plant. A modification of the original design then removed arsenic dnst, as well as lead particles, from the emissions of a lead smelter. A further modification precipitated the dust from the emissions of a cement plant. 

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