United States carbon monoxide poisoning

Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, toxic gas. It is one of the most common poisons in the environment and is responsible for thousands of deaths and hospital emergency room visits each year in the United States. Carbon monoxide is produced from fuel-burning appliances, such as space heaters, furnaces, stoves, and vehicles. It is also a component of cigarette smoke. Carbon monoxide is flammable and capable of forming an explosive mixture with air. 

Carbon monoxide poisoning is another serious health problem. Carbon monoxide is formed whenever coal, oil, or natural gas burns. For example, the burning of gasoline in cars and trucks produces carbon monoxide. Today, almost every person in the United States inhales some carbon monoxide every day. 

Carbon monoxide is produced when carbon and carbon compounds undergo incomplete combustion. The inefficient combustion of carbon fuels for heating results in the production of carbon monoxide, which may result in high CO concentrations in indoor environments. The use of carbon fuel heaters without adequate ventilation can result in deadly conditions. Each year several hundred people in the United States die from CO poisoning, and 10,000 patients are treated in hospitals for CO exposure. Most of these cases result from faulty heating systems, but barbeques, water heaters, and camping equipment (stoves, lanterns) are also sources of CO. 

If there is a relative shortage of oxygen, however, and the mole ratio of carbon to oxygen is closer to 2 mol C 1 mol O, carbon monoxide forms. Carbon monoxide is colourless, tasteless, and odourless. It is a highly poisonous gas, that is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people in Canada and the United States every year. Carbon monoxide can escape from any fuel-burning appliance furnace, water heater, fireplace, wood stove, or space heater. If you have one of these appliances in your home, make sure that it has a good supply of oxygen to avoid the formation of carbon monoxide. 

Carbon monoxide, often referred to as the silent, deadly killer, is a colorless, odorless gas. The CO is the byproduct of the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels. When people are exposed to high concentrations of the gas, they suffer from decreased oxygen in the blood due to CO out-competing oxygen for hemoglobin. This causes side effects such as visual impairment, dizziness, and headaches. The American Red Cross (ARC) (2004) reports that several thousand people in the United States each year go to the hospital with CO poisoning. At very high levels it can result in death. The Consumer Product Safety Commission reports... 

PAFCs are very efficient fuel cells, generating electricity at more than 50 % efficiency [13], About 85 % of the steam produced by the PAFC is used for cogeneration. This efficiency may be compared to about 35 % for the utility power grid in the United States. As with the PEMFC Pt or Pt alloys are used as catalysts at both electrodes [76]. The electrolyte is inorganic acid, concentrated phosphoric acid (100 %) which will conduct protons [77-79]. Operating temperatures are in the range of 150-220 °C. At lower temperatures, PAFC is a poor ionic conductor, and carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning of the platinum catalyst in the anode can become severe [76, 80,81]. 

Volcanic eruptions can cause some harmful health effects. Tourists were kept at some distance from the 2011 eruption of the Kilauea volcano (see Section 9.4.1) because of its emissions of sulfur dioxide gas. People may suffocate in the carbon dioxide or be poisoned by the toxic carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulfide. (If the geothermally active Yellowstone National Park in the United States was an industrial installation, it is likely that authorities would consider placing some areas off limits because of emissions of hydrogen sulfide, readily detected by visitors by its foul odor.) Fine particles blown into the atmosphere from volcanic eruptions can cause respiratory problems when inhaled. Plants may be killed or their growth stunted by exposure to sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide from volcanoes. 

Exposures to the chemical carbon monoxide (CO) can be very significant in a warehouse environment. Carbon monoxide is the by-product of the incomplete combustion of any material containing carbon such as gasoline, natural gas, oil, propane, coal, or wood. CO is a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that can cause harm without warning. Unintended exposure to CO in the United States claims more than 800 lives each year. The Centers for Disease Control identified 11,547 CO deaths from 1979 to 1988. Some 40 percent of all CO poisonings occur at work sites, may of which are warehouses, states the National Safety Council. 

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