CleanUp Technologies

• Ground water remediation

• Toxic waste incinerator – synthetic
organic chemicals can be broken down,
heavy metals → insoluble, stable oxides.
• Bioremediation – toxic organic
compounds → biodegradable. Oxygen &
organisms are injected into contaminated
zones.
• Phytoremediation – Heavy metal & non-
biodegradable organic compounds. Plants
→ extracts contaminants by direct uptake
from soil. Soil Stabilizing → prevent further
US Resource Conservation
& Recovery Act (RCRA)
• (1) all disposal facilities such as landfills be
permitted.
• (2) All toxic wastes destined for landfills be
pretreated. Treatment like bio-degradation or
incineration (i.e. Cement kiln)
• (3) ‘cradle-to-grave’ tracking.
Underground
storage tank
Legislation
• Part of RCRA
• UST ~ 20 years
before it may leak.
• Strict monitoring of
fuel supplies, tanks
and piping.
• Remediation must
begin within 72 hours
after leak detection.
• Upgrade with tank
interior lining and
cathodic protection.
• Fiberglass tank
 Midnight dumping in
Malaysia
• Dec 5, 2005 – 50 drums of toxic waste dumped near a
residential area and a golf course in Kelana Jaya.
• Menteri Besar of S’gor gave Kuala S’gore district
office 1 week to clear 500 drums.
• District office activated the district natural disaster
action committee (Kuala S’gore Municipal Council,
Kuala S’gore District Police, DOE & voluntary
organisation) to tackle the problem.
• Kualiti Alam (M) Sdn.Bhd. (sole operator dealing with
scheduled wastes) quoted RM 2 million for clearing
the drums, RM 2 million to repack, RM8 million for
disposal at Bukit Nenas Scheduled waste treatment
plant.
• Under EQA 1974, Section 34(b), illegal dumping
carries max. fine RM500,000 or 5 years jail, or both.
 Reduci ng acci dents
duri ng tr ansp or ta ti on
 Specific containers,
methods of packaging
to reduce the risk of
spills, fires, poisonous
fumes in the case of
mixing different type of
chemicals in the case of
an accident.
 EQA 1972 requires
standard placard on
individual container/outside
of truck & trailer.
 Oc cupa tion al Saf ety &
Hea lth Ac t ( OSH A)
 Gazetted on 24th February 1994. Cited as the
Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994
 The Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (OSHA) is enforced by
the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH), a
government department under the Ministry of Human Resources
Malaysia.
 All employers with more than 5 employees are required by the
legislation to formulate a written Safety and Health Policy.
 Under section 30 of the OSHA (1994), every employer shall establish
a safety and health committee at workplace if there are 40 or more
persons employed at the place of work
 Worker’s right to know
 OSHA requires business & industries make information available on
HAZMAT & provide protective equipment.
 Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS).
 The worker’s responsibility to read the information & exercise proper
precaution.
 OSH A
SEVEN regulations under OSHA 1994 that enforced by
DOSH.
1.Employers' Safety and Health General Policy
Statements (Exception) Regulations, 1995.
2.Control of Industrial Major Accident Hazards
Regulations, 1996.
3.Classification, Packaging and Labeling of Hazardous
Chemicals Regulations, 1997
4.Safety and Health Committee Regulations, 1996
5.Safety and Health Officer Regulations, 1997
6.Use and Standards of Exposure of Chemicals
Hazardous to Health Regulations, 2000
7.Notification of Accident, Dangerous Occurrence,
Occupational Poisoning and Occupational Disease
Regulations, 2004
 En vi ronmental
Mana gem ent Syst em
 (EMS)
EMS = management structure that creates a system to
assess, catalogue, and quantify the environmental impact
by organization’s activities.
 The world’s first standard for EMS = BS 7750, developed
and published by British Standards Institute (BSI) in 1992
→ ISO 14000 (International Organization for
Standardization in 1996)
 The ISO 14000 series consist of 21 standards and
guidance documents cover the area of environmental
management systems, environmental auditing,
environmental labeling, environmental performance
evaluation, and life cycle assessment.
 ISO 14001 = EMS
 ISO 14010-14012 = Environmental auditing
 ISO 14030 = Environmental life cycle assessment
 ISO 14000 certification is voluntary.
Latest regulations in U.K.

 From 16 July 2005, more types of waste materials

have been classified as hazardous waste under the
Hazardous Waste (England and Wales) Regulations
2005 and the Lists of Wastes (England) Regulations
2005.
 The most common office items now classified as
hazardous waste are:
 Fluorescent tubes as used for overhead lighting in
commercial premises
 Batteries containing Lead, Ni-cad or mercury, as used in
typical household and office applications.
 HAZMAT Reduction
 Pollution avoidance – changing production process or
material so that harmful pollutants won’t be produced
in the first place (i.e. switching to electric car).
 Exxon chemical company – add ‘floating roofs’ to
storage tanks → reduce volatile chemical
evaporation by 90% → saving of $200,000/year
→ paid for cost of roof in 6 months.
 Dry-cleaning industries substitute toxic organic
chemical with water-based cleaners (wet-
cleaning). Water-based ink/paint substitute those
contained synthetic organic compounds.
 Reuse- distill solvents and reuse (US military
bases).
The Atmosphere: Climate Change
& Ozone Depletion
 1997-98 El niño.

Mar 25, 1997 Apr 25, 1997 May 25, 1997 Nov 18, 1997

http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/elnino/index.html
1997-98 El niño
 April 1997 – June 1998
 Northwest America (California & Oregon coast) –
unusually severe storms, causing major coastal erosion
& flooding rivers.
 Eastern seaboard & Gulf of Mexico – mildest hurricane
season.
 East Africa (region of drought) – rainfall 5x.
 Indonesia – drought, forest fire, haze over Southeast
Asia.
 New Guinea – drought, crop failure.
 India, Australia & Argentina – record high crop harvest.
 California & Florida – unusual rainfall triggered
vegetation growth.
 Estimated global damage ~ $30 billion.
 1997/98 El niño most intense.
 Past 12 years (1997-2000), 5 El niño → highest
frequencies.
 Atlantic has unusual number of hurricanes for 9
out of the past eleven 11 season since 1995
(hurricane season = July – Sept). 15 hurricanes
in one season (2005) including 4 category 5
storms.
 Intensity of hurricanes (causing severe
economic damage such as Katrina 2005)
increased.
 The latest El niño/Katrina revealed that
atmosphere, land & ocean are linked together.
Climate Change
 The Earth’s atmosphere: lowest layer =
troposphere, ground level to 8 kilometers
at the poles and to 18 kilometers near the
equator.
 The troposphere = 75 percent of the mass
of the atmosphere and almost all the
atmospheric water vapor.
 Troposphere = Often turbulent, home to
weather systems such as hurricanes,
tornadoes, and thunderstorms.
 Troposphere = temperatures that
generally decrease with increasing height.
 Stratosphere = a relatively stable layer of the atmosphere
above troposphere, extends to about 50 kilometers in
altitude.
 Important feature of stratosphere = ozone layer, protects
the Earth by absorbing much of the ultraviolet radiation
from the Sun.
 Stratosphere = overall increase of temperature with
increasing height.
 Tropopause= boundary of troposphere & stratosphere.
 Tropopause = Its height is sensitive to the changes in
atmospheric temperature caused by both natural and
human factors.
 Previous studies of weather balloon data → tropopause
has risen about 200 meters since 1979.
Atmosphere Layer
Climate Change – Tropopause height
 Climate is the average pattern of
weather over the long term.
 Climate is influenced by many natural and
anthropogenic factors.
 These “forcings” of the climate system can
have different effects on tropospheric and
stratospheric temperatures and hence on
tropopause height.
.
Climate Change – Tropopause height
 For example, well-mixed greenhouse gases, such as the
carbon dioxide produced from burning fossil fuels,
simultaneously warm the troposphere and cool the
stratosphere. Both effects increase tropopause height.
 The depletion of stratospheric ozone by
chlorofluorocarbons cools the stratosphere, which tends
to raise the tropopause.
 The sulfate aerosols produced by burning fossil fuels
lower the tropopause by cooling the troposphere.
 Volcanic aerosols injected into the stratosphere during
massive eruptions also lower the tropopause because
they absorb incoming solar radiation, thus warming the
stratosphere and cooling the troposphere.
 Changes in solar radiance
 Simulations with the Parallel Climate Model show that human-caused changes in
tropopause height are greater than those from natural effects alone.
 Major volcanic eruptions tend to decrease tropopause height while human activity
tends to increase it.
 The modeling results are consistent with observational data from the National Center
for Atmospheric Research and the National Center for Environmental Prediction
(NCEP) and from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ERA).
Evidence on rising surface
temperature

 Other evidence : tree rings, corals,

bubbles trapped in ice.