Concentration contaminant

Process Concepts. Hybrid systems involving gas-phase adsorption coupled with catalytic processes and with other separations processes (especially distillation and membrane systems) will be developed to take advantage of the unique features of each. The roles of adsorption systems will be to efficiently achieve very high degrees of purification to lower fouUng contaminant concentrations to very low levels in front of membrane and other separations processes or to provide unique separations of azeotropes, close-boiling isomers, and temperature-sensitive or reactive compounds. 

The most important factors affecting performance are operating temperature, surface velocity, contaminant concentration and composition, catalyst properties, and the presence or absence of poisons or inhibitors. 

High destruction efficiencies for oxygen-rich, low-contaminant concentration gas streams... 

IDLH means immediately dangerous to life and health. This is a concentration at which immediate action is required. The exac4 effect on an individual depends on the individuals physical condition and susceptibility to the toxic agent involved. It is the maximum airborne contamination concentration from which one could escape within 30 min without any escape-impairing symptoms or irreversible health effects (developed by NIOSH). 

If areas identified as likely to receive significant atmospheric contaminant concentrations include areas supporting edible biota, the biouptake of contaminants must be considered as a possible environmental fate pathway. Direct biouptake from the atmosphere is a potential fate mechanism for lipophilic contaminants. Biouptake from soil or water following transfer of contaminants to these media must also be considered as part of the screening assessments of these media. 

Similarly, contaminant concentrations in rivers or streams can be roughly assessed based on rate of contaminant introduction and dilution volumes. Estuary or impoundment concentration regimes are highly dependent on the transport mechanisms enumerated. Contaminants may be localized and remain concentrated or may disperse rapidly and become diluted to insignificant levels. The conservative approach is to conduct a more in-depth assessment and use model results or survey data as a basis for determining contaminant concentration levels. 

The objective of a proper sampling program is to take a sufficient number of samples to obtain a representative estimate of exposure. Contaminant concentrations vary seasonally, with weather, with production levels, and in a single location or job class. The number of samples taken depends on the error of measurement and differences in results. It is important also that if the employer has conducted air sampling and monitoring in the past, a thorough review of the records should be made. 

Physisorption occurs when, as a result of energy differences and/or electrical attractive forces (weak van der Waals forces), the adsorbate molecules become physically fastened to the adsorbent molecules. This type of adsorption is multilayered that is, each molecular layer forms on top of the previous layer with the number of layers being proportional to the contaminant concentration. More molecular layers form with higher concentrations of contaminant in solution. When a chemical compound is produced by the reaction between the adsorbed molecule and the adsorbent, chemisorption occurs. Unlike physisorption, this process is one molecule thick and irreversible... 

Concentration of organic contaminants can affect the adsorption process. A given AC filter may be more effective than another type of AC filter at low contaminant concentrations, but may be less effective than the other filter at high concentrations. This type of behavior has been observed with chloroform removal. The filter manufacturer should be consulted to determine how the filter will perform for specific chemicals at different levels of contamination. 

Effieieney The ability, expressed as a percent, of a filter to remove specified artificial contaminant at a given contaminant concentration under specified test conditions. 

These include equipment for supply air and equipment for exhaust air and gases. Cleaning of supply air is normally called air filtering, when the contaminant concentration upstream from the air filter is less than, e.g. 1-2 mg/ m Also, chemical filtration can be applied for supply air. 

Requirements on parameters that may influence the building and its performance and target levels to be determined for occupational zones and non-occupational zones are the following temperature, humidity, air velocity, contaminant concentration (particles, gases), odors, biocontamination (in air and on surfaces), fire/explosion risk, noise, vibrations, radiation (IR, UV, radioactive, etc.), sunshine, loading on floors, and pressure differences (in,side-outside and between rooms). 

The main target levels inside a building are normally set for temperature, humidity, air velocity, airflow rate (and air distribution), and contaminant concentration.1 -... 

The requirements on building materials due to air velocities inside the building are generally negligible. However, sometimes the allowed contaminant concentrations can be of such magnitude that moving air may affect surfaces. In such cases it is necessary to use materials with sustainable surfaces. Normally this demand is valid only for the transport of dust-laden air in... 

Theories of hood performance with nonbuoyant pollution sources are based on the equation of turbulent diffusion. The following equation allows the engineer to determine the contaminant concentration decay in the uniform airflow upstream from the contaminant source ... 

Zones located within the same room on different levels. These zones have different air temperatures and/or contaminant concentrations (Fig. 7.1()7e). 

The effect of turbulent exchange l>etween the contaminated air in the process equipment enclosure and the room air (Fig. 7.11 lb) is described by Elter-nian. According to Elterman, the air velocity in the process equipment enclosure opening assuring contaminant concentration Q at the distance / from the opening can be calculated from... 

The following equations separately outline calculating contaminant concentration inside a room with central and local recirculation. The assumptions for the room are that it has one main ventilation system with supply and exhaust air and that the contaminant concentration is the same in the whole volume (except very close to the contaminant source or in the ducts, etc.). The contaminant source is steady and continuous. The model for local ventilation assumes also one main ventilation system to which is added one local exhaust hood connected to a local ventilation system (see Chapter 10) from which all the air is recirculated. In the central system the number of inlets and outlets could vary. The flow rates are continuous and steady. 

FIGURE 8.1 Model of a central recirculating system used for calculating the connection between contaminant concentrations, airflow rates, contaminant source strength, q, and air cleaner efficiency, rj. Cj p is the concentration in the supply (outside) air, c is the concentration in the room, c is the concentration in the returned air, (JaMot the total flow rate through the room, ic is the ratio between recirculated airflow rate and total air flow rate, T is the time constant for the room, and V is the room volume. 

The following differential equation (or something similar), derived from a mass balance for the room, is solved to find the correlation between flow rates, source rate, contaminant concentrations, cleaning efficiency, and time. 

The room air cleaner consists of a fan and some kind of air cleaner for particles or gases or both, usually mounted together as one unit. This is a local recirculating system and the equation for the contaminant concentration in the room, derived with the same assumptions and in the same way as for central systems, is the following ... 

From this equation it is clear that if either flow rate or cleaner efficiency for the recirculation system is zero, there will be no change in contaminant concentration. Also, a low flow rate can only be compensated to a small degree by a higher cleaning efficiency, but a low cleaning efficiency can be compensated to some degree by increasing the flow rate. 

To design an air recirculation system it is necessary to know the performances of fans, air cleaners, and exhaust hoods included in the current system. The equations described here include the source generation rate and the total airflow rate through the room, which could be difficult to measure. The ratio between source rate and flow rate has the unit of concentration and should in fact be equal to the concentration without recirculation. The equations could thus be transformed to include the contaminant concentration without recirculation instead of this ratio. In this way a direct comparison between concentration without and with recirculation is possible. By using the described equations it is then possible to design an air recirculation system to result in the demanded concentration in a workroom. 

Ventilation efficiency has traditionally been defined as the ratio between contaminant concentration in the occupied spaces and the concentration in the exhaust air. Sandberg and Skaret differentiate between the terms air change efficiency and contaminant removal effectiveness. Air change efficiency is a measure of how effectively the air present in a room is replaced by fresh air from the ventilation system, whereas contaminant removal effectiveness is a measure of how quickly an air-borne contaminant is removed from the room. A third similar criterion that is used is contaminant removal efficiency. ... 

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