Sustainability of the anaerobic digestion of oil refinery secondary sludge

Among the waste generated at oil refineries, secondary sludge from biological wastewater treatment processes (activated sludge systems) stands out. This paper aimed to assess the use of anaerobic digestion (AD) to treat sludge by SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat) analysis, ranking the different factors based on sustainability criteria. Additionally, the SWOT factors were matched (TOWS matrix) to help interpret the results. AD was found to be compatible with sustainability. The results demonstrated that the strength of AD (reduced organic load) compensates for its weaknesses (need for operational control and initial implementation costs), thereby avoiding the threat (sludge composition) and making the most of the opportunity (lower disposal cost). AD and co-digestion (added with food waste) used to treat oil refinery sludge showed that around 60% of the factors analyzed were confirmed experimentally. It was concluded that AD should be considered in the sustainable treatment of oil refinery waste activated sludge, especially when mixed with other readily biodegradable wastes.

Ecological and human health risk assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in Tigris river near the oil refineries in Iraq

Recent Iraqi battles against ISIS in 2014 and 2015 resulted in the destruction or severe damage to several refineries' infrastructure. This, along with other factors, has led to the release and accumulation of a wide range of hazardous chemicals into the environment, for instance, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Thus, for the first time, a comprehensive 16 PAHs measurements campaign over the course of six months near the oil refineries along the Tigris River and its estuaries was investigated. The 16 PAHs concentrations in surface water and the sediments for the following oil refineries: Baiji, Kirkuk, Al-Siniyah, Qayyarah, Al-Kasak, Daura, South Refineries Company, and Maysan were examined. The overall findings indicated that the 16 PAHs concentrations ranged from 567.8 to 3750.7 ng/L for water and 5619.2-12795.0 ng/g for sediment. Water samples in South Refineries Company recorded the highest PAH concentrations while Baiji oil refinery registered the highest PAH concentrations in the sediment samples. The percentages of high molecular weight PAH (5-6 rings) in water and sediment samples were the highest, ranging from 49.41% to 81.67% and from 39.06% to 89.39% of total PAH for water and sediment, respectively. The majority of 16 PAHs measured in water and sediment samples of the Tigris River were derived from pyrogenic sources. Based on sediment quality guidelines (SQGs), most sites showed a possible effect range with occasional biological effects of most of the PAH concentrations in all sediments' samples. The calculated incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) value was high risk with adverse health effects, including cancer.

Atmospheric odor dispersion from oil refinery flare system: a case study

A flare stack is an indispensable device in the oil and gas industry for allowing the safe combustion of gases into the atmosphere, especially during emergencies. However, it is not ideal for the routine disposal of gaseous waste, as it is subject to meteorological influences and poor operational control. In addition, it can be affected by toxic currents and thus pose a potential risk of odors; in view of this, an assessment must be made of the implications of burning on the environment and health. Atmospheric dispersion modelling has proved to be a very useful tool for this purpose. In light of this, an attempt has been made in this work to evaluate the impact of H₂S on the well-being (odor perception) of the community in the surrounding area of an oil refinery, where the temporary burning of rich gas in H₂S occurs in a chemical flare, and operational factors have an influence on atmospheric dispersion. The odor assessment was carried out with the aid of AERMOD which was adapted to estimate the maximum odor concentration for very short periods by means of peak-to-mean ratios. The results showed that H₂S detection can reach a probability rate of 42% at 3.5 km distance from the flare (in a time interval of 5 s) with a relatively high degree of annoyance (3.0 AU). However, some operational procedures can reduce the probability of odor detection to 29% and the degree of annoyance to 2.6 AU.

Robust productivity growth and efficiency measurement with undesirable outputs: evidence from the oil industry

This paper aims to contribute to the contemporary and imperative research on the performance and productivity growth of the oil industry. Among cutting edge methods, frontier analysis is a successful approach that has been widely used to assess the efficiency and productivity of entities with multiple resources and multiple outputs. This study first develops a unique framework based upon data envelopment analysis (DEA) to measure efficiency and productivity in the way that it tackles the uncertainty in data and undesirable outputs and, in turn, provides useful information to decision-makers. An adaptive robust optimisation is utilised to combat uncertain data whose distributions are unknown and consider the nexus between the level of conservatism and decision-makers' risk preference. The key advantage of the proposed robust DEA approach is that the results remain relatively unchanged when uncertain conditions exist in the problem. An empirical study on the oil refinery is presented in situations of data uncertainty along with considering CO₂ emissions as the undesirable output to conduct environmental efficiency and productivity analysis of the 25 countries over the period 2000-2018. The empirical results obtained from the proposed approach give some imperative implications. First, results show that the price of robustness does not affect identically for varying technologies when assessing productivity in a global oil market, and the USA oil industry is observed as the highest productivity growth in all cases confirming its efforts for the rapid rise in oil extraction and production at low costs. There may be practical lessons for other nations to learn from the USA oil industry to improve productivity. Findings also support a considerable regress during the 2008 Global Financial Crisis in the oil industry compared to the rest of the periods in question, and due to monetary and fiscal stimulus, there is a sharp productivity growth from 2009 to 2011. The other implication that can be drawn is that the GDP growth rate and technology innovation can more effectively improve the productivity of the oil industry across the globe.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00291-022-00683-y.

An eco-efficiency analysis of refinery effluent pretreatments for water reuse under a Zero Liquid Discharge regime

This paper presents an eco-efficiency analysis of five scenarios for treating a petrochemical unit effluent defined sequentially to increase the water reuse rate to the limit condition of Zero Liquid Discharge perspective. The base process, consisting of reverse osmosis, an evaporator and crystallizer, displayed pretreatment alternatives the addition of antifouling agents, desupersaturation of barium ions and coprecipitation of low solubility salts to increase osmosis efficiency. The eco-efficiency analysis applied the life cycle approach to verify environmental and energy performances and determined the costs of the treatment unit installation and operation for a time horizon of 9.5 years. The pretreatment increased water recovery during osmosis from 84% to over 97%. The environmental-energetic analysis indicated a strong influence of electric energy, consumed mainly during the thermal stages of the treatment, and of the chlorine-derived compounds used in the pretreatment. Also due to pre-treatment, it was possible to reduce impacts in terms of Global Warming Potential by up to 59%, and in Primary Energy Demand by 64% for the best scenario. The economic analysis depicted a significant influence of operating costs, and the electricity consumed in the processes is responsible for the largest share of expenses. The reuse water presented a cost ranging between US$ 1.08/m³ and US$ 1.80/m³. The systems with pretreatment by coprecipitation with Ca(OH)₂ and CaCO₃ and monoacids to adjust the pH of the final effluent showed to be more eco-efficient than the other options under analysis.

Psychological and Psychosocial Impact and Related Factors during the COVID-19 Pandemic among Iranian Oil Refineries Personnel: A longitudinal study

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 outbreak is currently a critical challenge, and proper perception of the mental health situation of individuals in the working environments has become a crucial issue. This study aimed to investigate the psychological and psychosocial impact during the COVID-19 pandemic among Iranian oil refineries personnel.

METHODS

This longitudinal study was conducted in two phases from November 2019 to July 2020 among the 850 employees of three refineries in Iran. To study the mental workload, job burnout, lifestyle, occupational stress, general health, and memory quotient of personnel, the NASA-TLX questionnaire, Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) questionnaire, Walker's health-promoting lifestyle questionnaire, health and safety executive (HSE) job stress questionnaire, general health questionnaire, and Wechsler memory scale were used, respectively. Data were analyzed using paired sample t test, independent sample t test, and one-way ANOVA in SPSS version 25.

RESULTS

The study results revealed that the mean age of studied personnel was 34.62±13.48 years. There was a meaningful correlation between the values of mental workload, job burnout, occupational stress, general health, healthy lifestyle, and memory quotient of personnel before and during the COVID-19 pandemic (P value<0.05).

CONCLUSION

The COVID-19 pandemic can significantly affect the psychological and psychosocial parameters of employees in working environments. Therefore, implementing psychological interventions is absolutely necessary to promote personnel's mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Spatiotemporal variation of odor-active VOCs in Thessaloniki, Greece: implications for impacts from industrial activities

A yearlong study of odor-active VOCs was carried out in the northwestern district of the city of Thessaloniki, Greece, which is in close vicinity to a large-scale petroleum refining and petrochemical process complex, as well as other activities such as power generation from natural gas burning and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) shipping. Odor nuisance has been a major concern in the district often rising complaints from local residents. A total of 312 samples of VOCs were collected at three sites during a 12-month period (May 2018-May 2019) on thermal desorption cartridges and analyzed by thermal desorption gas chromatography interfaced with mass selective detector (TD-CG/MS). Fifty-five odorous compounds including 8 mercaptans, 5 thiophenes, 7 sulfides, 22 aromatics, and 13 aldehydes were measured, and their spatial and temporal variations were assessed. Concentrations found were compared with those measured at other sites within the urban agglomeration Thessaloniki. Correlations with meteorological conditions (ambient temperature, relative humidity, wind direction/speed, and frequency/depth of temperature inversions) were investigated. Bivariate polar plots of the concentrations of Σ₈Mercaptans, Σ₅Thiophenes, Σ₇Sulfides, Σ₂₂Aromatics, and Σ₁₃Aldehydes as a function of wind speed and wind direction were constructed for source localization.

Identification of diverse air pollution sources in a complex urban area of Croatia

Pinpointing the contribution of sources in complex urban areas, affected by large point sources such as oil refineries, is important for developing emission control strategies. Receptor models based on the chemical composition of particulate matter (PM), such as chemical mass balance (CMB) and positive matrix factorization (PMF), are useful means for source apportionment, but the inclusion of other gaseous pollutants need further consideration. The results of the multipollutant analyses using temporal variations in pollutant concentrations, chemical PM speciation and receptor modeling, PMF and conditional bivariate polar plots (CBPF), were used for determination of major pollutant sources of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) and less represented pollutants - hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and sulfur dioxide (SO₂) in an urban area in Slavonski Brod, Croatia influenced by a large point source (an oil refinery) in Brod, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is found that the composition of PM_2.5 is dominated by carbonaceous combustion particles, mainly organic carbon (OC), with maximum values appearing during winter. Summer PM_2.5 levels were dominated by sulfate and ammonium, which can be related to the industrial activities i.e., oil refinery. According to PMF analysis, the majority of OC is coming from biomass burning with ∼50% contribution to observed species concentration followed by ∼30% from industry/refinery and ∼10% from traffic. CPBF model showed that urban and highway traffic was the main source of NO₂ concentrations while oil refinery was identified as the dominant source of SO₂ and H₂S. The CBPF receptor model combines concentrations of pollutants and meteorological parameters and emerged as a reliable complementary tool for the identification of sources for considered gaseous pollutants. Limitations of the CBPF method are in the application in stable atmospheric boundary layer conditions (SABL) as wind direction is not representative. Also, larger uncertainty is related to the representation of peak concentrations transported with higher wind speeds (>8  m/s) due to the lower number of events. This work uses various source apportionment methods in the assessment of PM but also for gaseous pollutants, such as NO₂, SO₂ and H₂S that are less represented in the source apportionment studies and can be used for future scientific applications to assure more efficient air quality management.

Hospital, health, and community burden after oil refinery fires, Richmond, California 2007 and 2012

INTRODUCTION

Emergency Departments experience a significant census burst after disasters. The aim of this study is to describe patient presentations at Emergency Departments in Contra Costa County, California following chemical release incidents at an oil refinery in 2007 and 2012. Specific areas of focus include hospital and community burden with an emphasis on disease classes.

METHODS

Searching 4 weeks before through 4 weeks after each event, Emergency Department abstracts identified patients living in Contra Costa County and seeking care there or in neighboring Alameda County. City and ZIP-code of residence established proximity to the refinery. This provided the following contrast groups: Event (2007, 2012), time (before, after), location (bayside, rest of county), and within bayside, warned or not warned to shelter in place. Using the Multi-Level Clinical Classification Software, we classified primary health groups recorded 4 weeks before and after the events, then summarized the data, calculated rates, and made tables, graphs, and maps to highlight findings.

RESULTS

Number of visits meeting selection criteria totalled 105020 records. Visits increased modestly but statistically significantly after the 2007 incident. After the 2012 incident, two Emergency Departments took the brunt of the surge. Censuses increased from less than 600 a week each to respectively 5719 and 3072 the first week, with the greatest number 2 days post-event. It took 4 weeks for censuses to return to normal. The most common diagnosis groups that spiked were nervous/sensory, respiratory, circulatory, and injury. Bayside communities had statistically significant increases in residents seeking care. Specifically, visits of residents in warned communities nearest the refinery increased by a factor of 3.7 while visits of residents in other nearby un-warned communities increased by a factor of 1.5.

CONCLUSIONS

The 2012 Emergency Department census peaked in the first week and did not return to normal for 4 weeks. Diagnoses changed to reflect conditions associated with reactions to chemical exposures. Surrounding communities and nearby hospitals experienced significant emergent burdens. In addition to changes from such events in patient diagnoses and community burden, the discussion highlights the long-term implications of failures to require adequate monitoring and warning systems and failures of health planning.

Oil refinery wastewater treatment in the Niger Delta, Nigeria: current practices, challenges, and recommendations

The extensive oil exploration has led to a series of environmental issues in the Niger Delta, Nigeria, over the years. Aside from oil spill, insufficient wastewater treatment of oil refineries and the discharged effluents become another potential source of pollution that has not received enough attention from the government and the public. Through reviewing the current oil refinery wastewater treatment processes and the discharge standards of wastewater effluents in Nigeria, we aimed to raise the awareness of the shortcomings of the current wastewater treatment technology and to discuss the consequences of insufficient treatment to the environment. This article further discussed the use of nanotechnology as a potential upgrade to the conventional treatment technologies as it has shown its capacity of removing persistent organic pollutants (POPs) or converting hazardous components to environmentally friendly derivatives. It should also prove beneficial to the key stakeholders involved in the exploration of crude oil in the region to consider optimization of oil refinery wastewater treatment processes through integration of emerging technologies.

PAHs in water and surface sediments from Douro River estuary and Porto Atlantic coast (Portugal)-impacts on human health

This study investigated the presence of 16 priority polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAHs) in waters from the Douro River estuary and nearby Atlantic seacoast, which both bath the Porto metropolis. In the area, there is an oil refinery, an important harbour, an intense maritime traffic, small marinas and highly inhabited cities. For the analysis of PAHs, water samples were taken from four sampling sites, at six different times of the year (2011), and extracted by solid-phase extraction (dissolved fraction) and by ultrasound technique (suspended fraction), before their quantification by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Results not only proved the ubiquitous distribution of all analysed PAHs in the present habitat, but also that their global amounts (∑₁₆PAHs) were extremely high at all sampling sites. Their average concentrations attained ≈ 55 ng/L and ≈ 52 μg/g dry weight (dw), respectively, in water and surface sediments. Accordingly, the surveyed area was classified as highly polluted by these organics and so, in view of the concentrations, mutagenic/carcinogenic responses in both humans and aquatic animals are possible to occur. The percentages of carcinogenic PAHs for humans (group 1) dissolved in water and in surface sediments were ca. 5 and 6%, respectively. These results are the first reported in the area and can be used as a baseline for future control of the PAHs levels locally while serving the building of global scenarios of PAHs pollution in Europe. Graphical abstract Percentage of PAHs, from different categories acordingly to WHO (2016), in both surface sediments and surface waters from Douro River estuary and Porto Atlantic seacoast; group 1 - carcinogenic, group 2A - probably carcinogenic, group 2B - possibly carcinogenic, and group 3 - not classifiable as carcinogenic to humans.

Determination of odour concentration by TD-GC×GC-TOF-MS and field olfactometry techniques

ABSTRACT

Field olfactometry is one of the sensory techniques used to determine odour concentration, in atmospheric air, directly in emission sources. A two-dimensional gas chromatography with time of flight mass spectrometer (GC×GC-TOF-MS) allows performing the chemical characterization of various groups of chemical compounds, even in complex mixtures. Application of these techniques enabled determination of odour concentration level in atmospheric air in a vicinity of the oil refinery and the neighbouring wastewater treatment plant. The atmospheric air samples were analysed during a time period extending from February to June 2016. Based on the GC×GC-TOF-MS analysis and odour threshold values, the theoretical odour concentrations were calculated and compared with the odour concentrations determined by field olfactometry technique. The investigations revealed that higher values of odour concentration were obtained with the field olfactometry technique where odour analysis was based on holistic measurement. It was observed that the measurement site or meteorological conditions had significant influence on odour concentration level. The paper also discusses the fundamental analytical instruments utilized in the analysis of odorous compounds and their mixtures.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

BTX in urban areas of eastern Spain: a focus on time variations and sources

Seasonal and daily cycles of BTX were studied in a non-industrialized city (Alicante) and an urban area near an oil refinery plant (Castellón) in order to evaluate the influence of different sources on time variations. Lower levels were observed in summer than in winter at both locations due to higher dispersion conditions and photochemical removal of BTX during the summer season. Daily patterns showed seasonal differences and were controlled by traffic emissions and the evolution of the mixing layer height, with no influence of the petroleum refinery plant in the city of Castellón. The results of the conditional bivariate probability function suggest that the influence of this source on BTX concentrations was limited to point impacts. At both sites, benzene exhibited a different behavior from toluene and xylenes, most likely due to its significantly lower chemical reactivity.

Monitoring coastal pollution associated with the largest oil refinery complex of Venezuela

This study evaluated pollution levels in water and sediments of Península de Paraguaná and related these levels with benthic macrofauna along a coastal area where the largest Venezuelan oil refineries have operated over the past 60 years. For this, the concentration of heavy metals, of hydrocarbon compounds and the community structure of the macrobenthos were examined at 20 sites distributed along 40 km of coastline for six consecutive years, which included windy and calm seasons. The spatial variability of organic and inorganic compounds showed considerably high coastal pollution along the study area, across both years and seasons. The southern sites, closest to the refineries, had consistently higher concentrations of heavy metals and organic compounds in water and sediments when compared to those in the north. The benthic community was dominated by polychaetes at all sites, seasons and years, and their abundance and distribution were significantly correlated with physical and chemical characteristics of the sediments. Sites close to the oil refineries were consistently dominated by families known to tolerate xenobiotics, such as Capitellidae and Spionidae. The results from this study highlight the importance of continuing long-term environmental monitoring programs to assess the impact of effluent discharge and spill events from the oil refineries that operate in the western coast of Paraguaná, Venezuela.

Assessing redox potential of a native tree from the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest: a successful evaluation of oxidative stress associated to a new power generation source of an oil refinery

The antioxidant responses in saplings of Tibouchina pulchra (a native tree from the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest) exposed around an oil refinery in the city of Cubatão (SE Brazil), varied during the exchange of its power generation source, from boilers fueled with oil to a thermoelectric fueled with natural gas. The redox potential changed in response to an interaction of air pollution and meteorological parameters, indicating that the pro-oxidant/antioxidant balance was not reached after the exchange of the power generation system. The gain in environmental quality in the region was not achieved as expected due the technological modernization, at least relative to oxidative stressors. These conclusions were based on results of analyses of enzymatic antioxidants: superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), catalase (CAT), glutathione reductase (GR); non-enzymatic antioxidants: reduced, oxidized and total ascorbic acid (AsA, DHA, totAA) and glutathione (GSH, GSSG, totG), their redox state (AsA/totAA and GSH/totG) and an indicator of lipid peroxidation (MDA). We also applied exploratory multivariate statistics in order to verify if the temporal sequence of changes in the plant redox capacity coincided with changes in the profile of air pollution, climatic conditions or with their interactions and if the environmental benefits that would supposedly be promoted by the mentioned exchange of power generation system were achieved in the region.

An integrated experiment for identification of best decision styles and teamworks with respect to HSE and ergonomics program: The case of a large oil refinery

Decision making failure is a predominant human error in emergency situations. To demonstrate the subject model, operators of an oil refinery were asked to answer a health, safety and environment HSE-decision styles (DS) questionnaire. In order to achieve this purpose, qualitative indicators in HSE and ergonomics domain have been collected. Decision styles, related to the questions, have been selected based on Driver taxonomy of human decision making approach. Teamwork efficiency has been assessed based on different decision style combinations. The efficiency has been ranked based on HSE performance. Results revealed that efficient decision styles resulted from data envelopment analysis (DEA) optimization model is consistent with the plant's dominant styles. Therefore, improvement in system performance could be achieved using the best operator for critical posts or in team arrangements. This is the first study that identifies the best decision styles with respect to HSE and ergonomics factors.

Urinary biomarkers of exposure and of oxidative damage in children exposed to low airborne concentrations of benzene

The aim of this work was to evaluate the oxidative damage to nucleic acids in children (5-11 years) associated with exposure to environmental pollutants and tobacco smoke (ETS). For each subject, urinary sampling was done twice (evening and next morning) to measure by tandem LC-MS-MS such oxidated products of nucleic acids as 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-oxodGuo), 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanosine (8-oxoGuo), and 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine (8-oxoGua). Methyl tert-butyl ether (U-MTBE), benzene (U-Benz), and its metabolites (t,t-muconic and S-phenylmercapturic acids, t,t-MA and S-PMA, respectively) were determined as biomarkers of exposure to air pollution, and cotinine as a biomarker of exposure to ETS. Biomarkers of exposure (S-PMA and U-MTBE) and of DNA oxidation (8-oxodGuo) were dependent on the urbanization and industrialization levels and increased in the evening sample as compared to next morning (p<0.05). In both evening and next morning samples, 8-oxodGuo and 8-oxoGuo correlated with each other (r=0.596 and r=0.537, respectively, p<0.01) and with biomarkers of benzene exposure, particularly S-PMA (r=0.59 and r=0.45 for 8-oxodGuo and r=0.411 and r=0.383 for 8-oxoGuo, p<0.01). No such correlations were observed for U-MTBE and cotinine. Multiple linear regression analyses showed that 8-oxodGuo was positively associated with S-PMA at both sampling times (β=0.18 and β=0.14 for evening and next morning sampling, respectively; p<0.02) and weakly with U-MTBE (β=0.07, p=0.020) only in the evening urines. These results suggest that the selected biomarkers of exposure to benzene, particularly S-PMA, are good tracers of exposure to complex mixtures of oxidative pollutants and that the associated oxidative damage to nucleic acids is detectable even at very low levels of exposure.

Historical trends (1998-2012) of nickel (Ni), copper (Cu) and chromium (Cr) concentrations in marine sediments at four locations in the Northern Adriatic Sea

Historical trends (1998-2012) nickel (Ni), copper (Cu) and chromium (Cr) concentrations in marine sediments were assessed at four locations in the Northern Adriatic Sea (Croatia) in the proximity of an oil refinery. Ecological risks were characterized by benchmarking the dataset against Sediment Quality Guidelines (SQG). A significant number of samples had Ni values above ERL with no exceedance of the ERL values for Cu and Cr. Weak positive historical trends were found for only for Cu. At all sites there were statistically significant correlations between Ni and Cr indicating a common origin of these heavy metals in the investigated marine sediments. There were statistically significant differences between the sites under the direct influence of the oil refinery compared to the control site indicating the possibility that the oil refinery is contributing to the concentration of these heavy metals in the marine sediments.

Will technological modernization for power generation at an oil refinery diminish the risks from air pollution to the Atlantic Rainforest in Cubatão, SE Brazil?

We assessed the level of atmospheric contamination by S, N and metals before, during and after the installation of a new thermoelectric plant that provides power to an oil refinery in Cubatão, SE Brazil. We measured the foliar accumulation in Lolium multiflorum "Lema" with the aim of evaluating risks to the Atlantic Rainforest that grows in the region. Al, Co, Cr, Cu, K, N, Ni, S, V and Zn were appropriate markers of the new air contamination profile associated with the modern technology. With the exception of V, the leaf contents of these elements significantly increased between the pre-operation to post-operation phases (Al, Co, N, K, S), or only during the transition phase (Zn, Cu, Cr, Ni), and returned to the previous levels after the total shutdown of the old system. Therefore, the expected environmental gain was not achieved with the installation of the new technology.

Measurements of labile Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn levels at a northeastern Brazilian coastal area under the influence of oil production with diffusive gradients in thin films technique (DGT)

In this work, the ability of the diffusive gradients in thin films technique (DGT) was evaluated for monitoring the concentrations, and estimating the availability, of metals at a northeastern Brazilian coastal area under the influence of oil production. Three sites with an average distance between 0m (EM-1), 100 m (EM-2), and 1,000 m (EM-3) of a submarine outfall-I (Guamaré-RN, Brazil) and another site (GA-1) with an average distance of 12,000 m east of Outfall I, near the city of Galinhos, were studied. DGT units were deployed at the same sites in three campaigns from July, 2010 to June, 2011. Effects on the accuracy of analytical results regarding the deployment time, gel porosity, and thickness were evaluated. There was no difference between the measurements obtained with two sets of DGT devices, those assembled with open or restrictive pore gel, respectively, showing that organic metallic species are not present near the submarine outlet. After 21 day deployments in a region (near Submarine Outfall I) that receives produced waters that have been treated, there was evidence of biofilm formation on DGT membranes. However, it was demonstrated that the biofilm interference with DGT measurements was negligible. Data found in this work show that total concentrations of Cd, Cu, Pb, Ni, and Zn in seawater samples collected at sites GA-1 and EM-1 in two campaigns were below 0.33, 1.67, 0.47, 0.70, 2.86 ng mL(-1) respectively. For the first time, labile levels of Cd, Cu, Pb, Ni, and Zn in an area under the influence of oil production were determined. DGT measurements allowed the verification of the effects of temporal variation on levels of Zn and Ni. There were no effects of spatial variations on levels of Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn at the four studied sites, suggesting no contamination of these metals at the northeastern Brazilian coastal area investigated in this work.

Place-based stressors associated with industry and air pollution

Exposure to air pollution and its sources is increasingly viewed as a psychosocial stress, however its nature is not understood. This article explores the role of the concept of place on risk perception and community stress within data collected from eight focus groups in Philadelphia, USA. Discussions focused on air pollution, a nearby oil refinery, health, and a proposal for air monitoring. We present a framework of place-based elements of risk perception that includes place identity, stigma and social control. Our findings indicate that air pollution contributes to physical and psychosocial conditions that act as community-level social stressors. Findings also suggest that programs which seek to change behaviors and gather or spread information on issues such as pollution and other environmental concerns will be challenged unless they directly address: (1) the public׳s identification with a place or industry, (2) immediate environmental stressors such as abandonment, waste and odors, and (3) public perceptions of lack of social control and fear of displacement.