Measurement quality standards

This type of contract requires the operator to pay a fixed amount to the contractor upon completion of the well, while the contractor furnishes all the material and labour and handles the drilling operations independently. The difficulty with this approach Is to ensure that a quality well Is delivered to the company since the drilling contractor will want to drill as quickly and cheaply as possible. The contractor therefore should guarantee an agreed measurable quality standard for each well. The guarantee should specify remedial actions which will be implemented should a substandard well be delivered. 

Legislative measures (quality standards of fuels) and regulations will progressively prohibit the use of alkyl-lead additions in fuels, and reduce the risks of lead contamination of the food-chain, but there will still remain an important problem of soil, sediments and water contamination by lead. 

Cleaning the Optical Cell. The type of material used for the cell and the cleaning method are very important for measurement quality. Standard cleaning procedures recommended by cell manu-... 

Quality control encompasses all activities used to bring a system into statistical control. The most important facet of quality control is written documentation, including statements of good laboratory practices, good measurement practices, standard operating procedures, and protocols for a specific purpose. 

Because a filter sample includes particles both larger and smaller than those retained in the human respiratory system (see Chapter 7, Section III), other types of samplers are used which allow measurement of the size ranges of particles retained in the respiratory system. Some of these are called dichotomous samplers because they allow separate measurement of the respirable and nonrespirable fractions of the total. Size-selective samplers rely on impactors, miniature cyclones, and other means. The United States has selected the size fraction below an aerodynamic diameter of 10 /xm (PMiq) for compliance with the air quality standard for airborne particulate matter. 

Hundreds of chemical species are present in urban atmospheres. The gaseous air pollutants most commonly monitored are CO, O3, NO2, SO2, and nonmethane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs), Measurement of specific hydrocarbon compounds is becoming routine in the United States for two reasons (1) their potential role as air toxics and (2) the need for detailed hydrocarbon data for control of urban ozone concentrations. Hydrochloric acid (HCl), ammonia (NH3), and hydrogen fluoride (HF) are occasionally measured. Calibration standards and procedures are available for all of these analytic techniques, ensuring the quality of the analytical results... 

The three major characteristics of particulate pollutants in the ambient atmosphere are total mass concentration, size distribution, and chemical composition. In the United States, the PM q concentration, particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter <10 /nm, is the quantity measured for an air quality standard to protect human health from effects caused by inhalation of suspended particulate matter. As shown in Chapter 7, the size distribution of particulate pollutants is very important in understanding... 

Describe the rationale for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency s establishment of a standard reference method for measurement of National Ambient Air Quality Standard air pollutants. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has established National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for protection of human health and welfare. These standards are defined in terms of concentration and hme span for a specific pollutant for example, the NAAQS for carbon monoxide is 9 ppmV for 8 hr, not to be exceeded more than once per year. For a state or local government to establish compliance with a National Ambient Air Quality Standard, measurements of the actual air quality must be made. To obtain these measurements, state and local governments have established stationary monitoring networks with instrumentation complying with federal specifications, as discussed in Chapter 14. The results of these measurements determine whether a given location is violating the air quality standard. 

Raw data must be analyzed and transformed into a format useful for specific purposes. Summary tables, graphs, and geographic distributions are some of the formats used for data display. Air quality information often consists of a large body of data collected at a variety of locations and over different seasons. Table 15-3 shows the tabular format used by the California Air Resources Board to reduce ozone hourly measurements to a format which shows information about compliance with air quality standards (6). The format has location, maximum values, annual means, and number of occurrences of hourly values above a given concentration as a function of the month of the year. One can quickly determine which areas are violating a standard, at what time of the year elevated concentrations are occurring, and the number of good data points collected. 

You should review the contract and the detail specifications to identify whether your existing controls will regulate quality within the limits required. You may need to change the limits, the standards, the techniques, the methods, the environment, and the instruments used to measure quality characteristics. One technique may be to introduce Just-in-time as a means of overcoming storage problems and eliminating receipt inspection. Another technique may be Statistical Process Control as a means of increasing the process yield. The introduction of these techniques needs to be planned and carefully implemented. 

Should you need any new instrumentation, either for monitoring processes or for measuring quality characteristics, you need to make provision for its development. You will need to develop detail specifications of the instrumentation, and design, manufacture, inspect, and install the instruments under controlled conditions which meet the requirements of the standard. 

In Mexico City, several air quality parameters are measured continuously by an Automated Monitoring Network operated by the Under Secretariat of Ecology. Carbon monoxide, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and ozone are the contaminants exceeding Air Quality Standards. Emissions produced by 2.7 million vehicles and 35,000 commercial and industrial outfits are not easily dispersed in a Valley located at 2240 m and surrounded by two mountain chains which hinder air circulation. An Integral Program, recently established to alleviate pollution, is briefly described. 

Off-the-shelf catalogue sales of micro reactors have just started [15]. With an increasing number of commercial products, quality control will become more important. Brandner et al. describe quality control for micro heat exchangers/reactors at the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe [23]. All manufacturing steps are accompanied by quality control and documentation. Leak rates (down to 10 mbar 1 s for He) and overpressure resistance (up to 1000 bar at ambient temperature) are measured. Under standardized conditions, the mean hydraulic diameter is determined. Dynamic tests supplement this quality control. 

This effect has not been found in the source measurements carried out by the same or different operators in the same or different laboratories, with the same make of apparatus. None of the levels of error of measurement ever relates to an experimental value of flashpoint. This is incredible since over the past few years techniques of statistical control of testing and experimental planning have been developed which are now compulsory for some activities under the ISO 9000 quality standard. 

The WFD, so far, has identified 33 priority hazardous pollutants (PHS), for which Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) have been set. To some extent, these EQS can be met through the establishment of emission control measures. These PHS may originate from several different sources and activities. The main sources of toxic substances to water bodies in Europe may be categorised as agriculture, sewage treatment plants, urban runoff, industry, contaminated lake/ river sediment, soils and landfills. Input via atmospheric transport and deposition has also been identified as an important source both far from and close to source areas. Many of the PS are today banned in Europe, but due to their persistence they are still present in the environment [30]. 

Regarding the specific issue of NP and NPEOs there is still some disparity between the USA and Europe. In Europe, voluntary bans in the industrial sector are in place and in household applications they are already forbidden, with environmental quality standards set at 1 pgL-1 levels. However, in the USA the situation is quite different with much milder measures being taken such as pollution prevention or source reduction efforts, as opposed to the outright APEO ban in Europe. 

Following that, in September 1990, the Commission produced a Report which recommended establishing Community quality standards for all laboratories involved in inspections and sampling under the OCF Directive. Proposals on this have now been adopted by the Community in the Directive on Additional Measures Concerning the Food Control of Foodstuffs (AMFC)2 In Article 3 of the AMFC Directive it states ... 

Because of the status of the CAC described above, the work that it has carried out in the area of laboratory quality assurance must be carefully considered. One of the CAC Committees, the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling (CCMAS), has developed criteria for assessing the competence of testing laboratories involved in the official import and export control of foods. These were recommended by the Committee at its 21st Session in March 19979 and adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission at its 22nd Session in June 1997 10 they mirror the EU recommendations for laboratory quality standards and methods of analysis. The guidelines provide a framework for the implementation of quality assurance measures to ensure the competence of testing laboratories involved in the import and export control of foods. They are intended to assist countries in then-fair trade in foodstuffs and to protect consumers. 

A working group on odours of the Inspectorate for the Environment in The Netherlands proposed, in 1983, an air quality standard for odour concentration in dwellings around odour sources (3). Because odour concentrations always have to be assessed sensorically, a guideline for olfactometric measurement was also included in the same report. Detailed recommendations were not included. In 1985 a draft chapter on odours will be pubished in the Air Pollution Control Manual with more details and comments on the measuring methods in use in The Netherlands (4). 

The need to standardize olfactometric measurements is growing in the Netherlands. In 1984 interim limit values on odour concentrations were published in the Indicative Multiyear Programme to combat Air Pollution 1985-1989. This is a revised version of the 1983 proposal (3, 5). In 1988 or 1989 these interim limit values will be laid down in a General Administrative Order. By that time a standardised olfactometer must be available. In the meantime air quality standards will be set for about 30 so called priority substances. For some of these, well defined threshold values are necessary. On behalf of... 

Nonurban oxidant measurements in Ohio were reported by Neligan and Angus. Concentrations of 0.18 and 0.12 ppm were reported for rural sites in Wilmington and McConnelsville, respectively. At the same time, urban sites had similar concentrations. However, the nonurban sites violated the ambient air quality standard more frequently than the urban sites. Trajectory analysis showed that ozone concentrations of 0.04-0.06 ppm were found in air masses that had not passed over anthropogenic hydrocarbon sources. These may have been examples of naturally occurring oxidant. Airborne hydrocarbon bag samples were obtained over 6-min... 

A dramatic departure of ozone measurements from total oxidant measurements has b Mi reported for the Houston, Texas, area. Side-by-side measurements suggested that either method was a poor predictor of the other. Consideration was given to known interferences due to oxides of nitrogen, sulfur dioxide, or hydrogen sulfide, and the deviations still could not be accounted for. In the worst case, the ozone measurements exceeded the national ambient air quality standard for 3 h, and the potassium iodide instrument read less than 15 ppb for the 24-h period. Sulfur dioxide was measured at 0.01-0.04 ppm throughout the day. Even for a 1 1 molar influence of sulfur dioxide, this could not explain the low oxidant values. Regression analysis was carried out to support the conclusion that the ozone concentration is often much higher than the nonozone oxidant concentration. 

Another classification of model is related to the time and space scales of interest. Ambient air quality standards are stated for measurement averaging periods varying from an hour to a year. However, for computational purposes, it is often necessary to use periods of less than an hour for a typical resolution-cell size in a model. Spatial scales of interest vary from a few tenths of a meter (e.g., for the area immediately adjacent to a roadway) up to hundreds of kilometers (e.g., in simulations that will elucidate urban-rural interactions). Large spatial scales are also warranted when multiday simulations are necessary for even a moderate-sized urban area. Under some climatologic conditions, recirculations can cause interaction of today s pollution with tomorrow s. Typical resolution specifications couple spatial scales with temporal sc es. Therefore, the full matrix of time scales and space scales is not needed, because of the dependence of time scales on space scales. Some typical categories by scale are as follows ... 

The technol( for the routine measurement of the nitrogen oxides (nitrogen dioxide and nitric oxide) is fairly well advanced. The epa is on the verge of officially proposing that chemiluminescence produced by the reaction of nitric oxide with ozone be the reference method for nitrogen dioxide.This method is even more suitable for nitric oxide. Because no national air quality standard has been promulgated for nitric oxide, no reference method will be specified. However, its measurement in the atmosphere is crucial for establishing the relation of its emission to the formation of atmospheric ozone and other photochemical oxidants. 

European Union (2008) European Normative EN 15549 - Air Quality - Standard method for the measurement of the concentration of benzo[a]pyrene in ambient air. EU Publ., Brussels... 

In concentrations approximating present air quality standards (Table III), O3 or SO2 in combination with NO2 could measurably suppress CO2 uptake rates of sensitive plants if exposed under favorable growing conditions. In the controlled environmental chamber studies, 1-hr exposures to 10 pphm O3 (which is slightly above the primary and secondary standards — i.e., 8 pphm for 1 hr) for example, depressed alfalfa CO2 absorption rates by approximately four percent. Exposures to 15 pphm hr SO2 in combination with an equal amount of NO2 reduced uptake rates by 7 percent. Alfalfa, barley or oat canopies exposed to these pollutants singly required higher concentrations (i.e., 1- to 2-hr treatments with more than 20 pphm SO2 or 40 pphm NO2) to measurably reduce canopy uptake rates. 

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