Evaluation of volatile organic emissions from hazardous waste incinerators

Journal Article · Thu Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1991 · Environmental Health Perspectives; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2307/3431310· OSTI ID:6052664

Sedman, R M; Esparza, J R ^[1]

---

1. California Dept. of Health Services, Sacramento (United States)

Conventional methods of risk assessment typically employed to evaluate the impact of hazardous waste incinerators on public health must rely on somewhat speculative emissions estimates or on complicated and expensive sampling and analytical methods. The limited amount of toxicological information concerning many of the compounds detected in stack emissions also complicates the evaluation of the public health impacts of these facilities. An alternative approach aimed at evaluating the public health impacts associated with volatile organic stack emissions is presented that relies on a screening criterion to evaluate total stack hydrocarbon emissions. If the concentration of hydrocarbons in ambient air is below the screening criterion, volatile emissions from the incinerator are judged not to pose a significant threat to public health. Both the screening criterion and a conventional method of risk assessment were employed to evaluate the emissions from 20 incinerators. Use of the screening criterion always yielded a substantially greater estimate of risk than that derived by the conventional method. Since the use of the screening criterion always yielded estimates of risk that were greater than that determined by conventional methods and measuring total hydrocarbon emissions is a relatively simple analytical procedure, the use of the screening criterion would appear to facilitate the evaluation of operating hazardous waste incinerators.

• OSTI ID: 6052664
• Journal Information: Environmental Health Perspectives; (United States), Journal Name: Environmental Health Perspectives; (United States) Vol. 94; ISSN 0091-6765; ISSN EVHPA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

560300* -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
AIR POLLUTION
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
HAZARDS
HEALTH HAZARDS
HYDROCARBONS
INCINERATORS
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
MATTER
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
QUANTITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
RISK ASSESSMENT
VOLATILE MATTER
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT