| Title: | Emissions from small-scale burns of simulated deployed U.S. military waste |
| Author(s): | Woodall BD; Yamamoto DP; Gullett BK; Touati A; |
| Address: | "U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology, Department of Systems and Engineering Management, 2950 Hobson Way, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio 45433, USA" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1520-5851 (Electronic) 0013-936X (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "U.S. military forces have historically relied on open burning as an expedient method of volume reduction and treatment of solid waste during the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. This study is the first effort to characterize a broad range of pollutants and their emission factors during the burning of military waste and the effects that recycling efforts, namely removing plastics, might have on emissions. Piles of simulated military waste were constructed, burned, and emissions sampled at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Open Burn Testing Facility (OBTF), Research Triangle Park, NC. Three tests contained polyethylene terephthalate (PET #1 or PET) plastic water bottles and four did not. Emission factors for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particulate matter (PM(10), PM(2.5)), polychlorinated and polybrominated dioxins/furans (PCDD/F and PBDD/F), and criteria pollutants were determined and are contained within. The average PCDD/F emission factors were 270 ng-toxic equivalency (TEQ) per kg carbon burned (ng-TEQ/kg Cb), ranging from 35 to 780 ng-TEQ/kg Cb. Limited testing suggests that targeted removal of plastic water bottles has no apparent effect on reducing pollutants and may even promote increased emissions" |
| Keywords: | Afghanistan Air Pollutants/*analysis Air Pollution/statistics & numerical data Benzofurans/analysis Dioxins/analysis Environmental Monitoring Incineration/*methods/statistics & numerical data Iraq *Military Personnel Plastics/analysis Polychlorinated Dibe; |
| Notes: | "MedlineWoodall, Brian D Yamamoto, Dirk P Gullett, Brian K Touati, Abderrahmane eng Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. 2012/09/06 Environ Sci Technol. 2012 Oct 16; 46(20):10997-1003. doi: 10.1021/es3021556. Epub 2012 Sep 19" |
