Chemical and physical properties of emissions from Kuwait oil fires
After the Iraqi retreat from Kuwait in 1991, airborne sampling was conducted in the oil fire plumes near Kuwait City and ground-level samples were taken of the air within the city. For the airborne sampling, a versatile air pollution sampler was used to determine the SO(2), elemental concentrations, the aerosol mass loadings and SO4(2-) and NO3(1-) concentrations. Striking differences between the black and white plumes were associated with high concentrations of NaCl and CaCl(2) measured in the white plumes and large numbers of carbon chain agglomerates in the black plumes. For the ground-based measurements, an annular denuder system was used to determine levels of SO(2), SO4(2-), trace elements, and mass loadings. Certain pollutant levels rose in the city during inversion conditions, when winds were too weak to continue moving the combustion products directly to the Persian Gulf, and the increased levels of Pb and certain trace elements were comparable to those in other large urban areas in Europe.
- Research Organization:
- Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC (United States). Atmospheric Research and Exposure Assessment Lab.
- OSTI ID:
- 7024356
- Report Number(s):
- PB-92-206481/XAB; EPA-600/A-92/148
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Presented at the Inter. Conf. on Environ. Qual. and Ecosystem Stability, Jerusalem, Israel, June 22-24, 1992. Prepared in cooperation with Maryland Univ., Dept. of Chem.; Kuwait Environ. Protect. Dept.; NASA, Langley Res. Center; and ManTech Environ. Tech., Inc., Research Triangle Park, NC
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Studies of the Kuwait oil fire plume during midsummer 1991
Ground level concentration of sulfur dioxide at Kuwait`s major population centers during the oil-field fires
Related Subjects
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
FIRES
AIR POLLUTION MONITORING
KUWAIT
OIL FIELDS
NITRATES
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
SULFATES
SULFUR DIOXIDE
AIR POLLUTION
CALCIUM CHLORIDES
CHLORIDES
COMBUSTION PRODUCTS
ELEMENTS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
LEAD
OIL WELLS
PLUMES
SMOKES
SODIUM CHLORIDES
SOOT
TRACE AMOUNTS
AEROSOLS
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
ALKALINE EARTH METAL COMPOUNDS
ASIA
CALCIUM COMPOUNDS
CALCIUM HALIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
COLLOIDS
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
DISPERSIONS
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
MASS TRANSFER
METALS
MIDDLE EAST
MINERAL RESOURCES
MONITORING
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
POLLUTION
RESIDUES
RESOURCES
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
SOLS
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SULFUR OXIDES
WELLS
020900* - Petroleum- Environmental Aspects
540120 - Environment
Atmospheric- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)