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Context Chemicals used in plastics have been described to contribute to disease and disability, but attributable fractions have not been quantified to assess specific contributions. Without this information, interventions proposed as part of the Global Plastics Treaty cannot be evaluated for potential benefits. Objective To accurately inform the tradeoffs involved in the ongoing reliance on plastic production as a source of economic productivity in the United States, we calculated the attributable disease burden and cost due to chemicals used in plastic materials in 2018. Methods We first analyzed the existing literature to identify plastic-related fractions (PRF) of disease and disability for specific polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDE), phthalates, bisphenols, and polyfluoroalkyl substances and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). We then updated previously published disease burden and cost estimates for these chemicals in the United States to 2018. By uniting these data, we computed estimates of attributable disease burden and costs due to plastics in the United States. Results We identified PRFs of 97.5% for bisphenol A (96.25-98.75% for sensitivity analysis), 98% (96%-99%) for di-2-ethylhexylphthalate, 100% (71%-100%) for butyl phthalates and benzyl phthalates, 98% (97%-99%) for PBDE-47, and 93% (16%-96%) for PFAS. In total, we estimate $249 billion (sensitivity analysis: $226 billion-$289 billion) in plastic-attributable disease burden in 2018. The majority of these costs arose as a result of PBDE exposure, though $66.7 billion ($64.7 billion-67.3 billion) was due to phthalate exposure and $22.4 billion was due to PFAS exposure (sensitivity analysis: $3.85-$60.1 billion). Conclusion Plastics contribute substantially to disease and associated social costs in the United States, accounting for 1.22% of the gross domestic product. The costs of plastic pollution will continue to accumulate as long as exposures continue at current levels. Actions through the Global Plastics Treaty and other policy initiatives will reduce these costs in proportion to the actual reductions in chemical exposures achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike problems requiring new-to-the-world solutions that combine knowledge from multiple sources, operational problems can often be solved by repurposing existing knowledge from other contexts into new-to-the-firm solutions. Firms that seek new-to-the-firm solutions to operational problems face a cost-benefit tradeoff when deciding how many knowledge sources to use. With less need for knowledge recombination than for new-to-the-world solutions, greater knowledge breadth incurs greater screening and implementation costs without concomitant benefits. We study how U.S. manufacturing facilities from 1991 to 2005 improve operational performance by reducing their rate of annual output of toxic chemical waste (i.e., improvements to operational effectiveness). Results show that search involving fewer knowledge sources in a given year is associated with greater improvements in operational performance (greater waste reduction). At the same time, however, using multiple knowledge sources over time helps improve operational performance, suggesting that avoiding satiation from a single source and learning across sources play temporal roles in toxic chemical waste reduction. Overall, the results suggest that the greatest improvements in operational performance arise with a focused search for new-to-the-firm solutions within periods while also exploring multiple sources over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concrete pavement recycling has become a common practice for many states in the U.S. While material properties and structural performance of pavements with virgin concrete aggregates replaced by recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) have been extensively characterized, very little effort has been made to assess potential sustainability benefits of this application. A life cycle assessment to compare an RCA based portland cement concrete (RCA-PCC) pavement and a plain PCC pavement (i.e., without RCA) from all three aspects of sustainability (i.e., economic impact, social impact, and environmental impact) was carried out using an economic input-output life cycle assessment (EIO-LCA) approach. An inventory of stressors during materials production and construction, use, and end-of-life phases of pavement life cycle was obtained, followed by a life cycle impact analysis using the Tool for Reduction and Assessment of Chemicals and other Environmental Impacts (TRACI). Based on the results, the benefits of using RCA during the materials production and construction phase are invariably achieved for all the sustainability categories, but the RCA-PCC pavement would pose higher negative impacts during the use phase of pavement life. Still, the pavement made with RCA-PCC was found to be generally more environmentally and socially friendly compared to the pavement made with virgin aggregates, especially for the TRACI categories of ecotoxicity, human health cancer, and human health non-cancer. The sustainability benefits of using RCA for concrete pavement application will only be magnified with a growing level of environmental awareness, further diminishment of local virgin aggregate sources, and a rapid increase of landfill tipping costs for construction demolition debris in the future. • Compare RCA-PCC pavement with plain PCC pavement from all three aspects of sustainability. • Conduct an economic input-output life cycle assessment case study for concrete pavements with and without RCA. • Assess the environmental and social benefits of using RCA in PCC pavement via the TRACI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Deposits from eight coals were collected in reducing and oxidizing conditions. [•] Deposits on the upstream side were larger and irregular in shape. [•] Deposits on the downstream side were smaller and spherical in shape. [•] Higher sulfur concentrations were found on downstream side of oxidizing deposits and upstream side of reducing deposits. [•] Sulfur was associate with calcium in oxidizing locations and with iron in reducing locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States and the European Union have taken different approaches toward energy policy as illustrated by their respective policies on CO2 emissions reduction. A comparison of those policy approaches suggests that the interaction of policies must be well understood in order to achieve success in three key areas: energy efficiency, electricity production from renewable resources, and carbon market/tax. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The processing of lunar regolith for the production of oxygen is a key component of the In-Situ Resource Utilization plans currently being developed by NASA. In the carbothermal process, a portion of the surface of the regolith in a container is heated by exposure to a heat source so that a small zone of molten regolith is established. A continuous flow of methane is maintained over the molten regolith zone. In this paper, we discuss the development of a chemical conversion model of the carbothermal process to predict the rate of production of carbon monoxide. Our model is based on a mechanism where methane pyrolyzes when it comes in contact with the surface of the hot molten regolith to form solid carbon and hydrogen gas. Carbon is deposited on the surface of the melt, and hydrogen is released into the gas stream above the melt surface. We assume that the deposited carbon mixes in the molten regolith and reacts with metal oxides in a reduction reaction by which gaseous carbon monoxide is liberated. Carbon monoxide bubbles through the melt and is released into the gas stream. It is further processed downstream to ultimately produce oxygen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased export of biologically available nitrogen (N) to the coastal zone is strongly linked to eutrophication, which is a major problem in coastal marine ecosystems (NRC () Clean Coastal Waters: Understanding and Reducing the Effects of Nutrient Pollution. National Academy Press, Washington, DC; Bricker et al. () National Estuarine Eutrophication Assessment. Effects of nutrient enrichment in the nation’s estuaries. NOAA-NOS Special Projects Office, Silver Spring, MD). However, not all of the nitrogen input to a watershed is exported to the coast (Howarth et al. () Biogeochemistry 35:75–139; Jordan and Weller () Bioscience 46:655–664). Global estimates of nitrogen export to coasts have been taken to be 25% of watershed input, based largely on northeastern U.S. observations (Galloway et al. () Biogeochemistry 70:153–226; Boyer et al. () Global Biogeochem Cycle 20:Art. No. GB1S91). We applied the N budgeting methodology developed for the International SCOPE Nitrogen project (Howarth et al. () Biogeochemistry 35:75–139; Boyer et al. () Biogeochemistry 57:137–169) to 12 watersheds in the southeastern U.S., and compared them with estimates of N export for 16 watersheds in the northeastern U.S. (Boyer et al. () Biogeochemistry 57:137–169). In southeastern watersheds, average N export was only 9% of input, suggesting the need for downward revision of global estimates. The difference between northern and southern watersheds is not a function of the absolute value of N inputs, which spanned a comparable range and were positively related to export in both cases. Rather, the proportion of N exported was significantly related to average watershed temperature (% N export = 58.41 e−0.11 * temperature; R 2 = 0.76), with lower proportionate nitrogen export in warmer watersheds. In addition, we identified a threshold in proportionate N export at 38°N latitude that corresponds to a reported breakpoint in the rate of denitrification at 10–12°C. We hypothesize that temperature, by regulating denitrification, results in increased proportionate N export at higher latitudes. Regardless of the mechanism, these observations suggest that temperature increases associated with future climate change may well reduce the amount of nitrogen that reaches estuaries, which will have implications for coastal eutrophication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluates a reengineered concept of bioretention for nitrate removal via microbial denitrification in the U.S. Levels of nitrate in drinking water; Characteristics of the stormwater used in denitrification experiments; Phases of the study.

We studied Cr isotopic fractionation during Cr(VI) reduction by Pseudomonas stutzeri strain RCH2. Despite the fact that strain RCH2 reduces Cr(VI) cometabolically under both aerobic and denitrifying conditions and at similar specific rates, fractionation was markedly different under these two conditions (ϵ was -2%o aerobically and -~0.4%o under denitrifying conditions). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This short communication investigates whether or not US coal consumption follows a stationary process by examining coal consumption for the 50 US states over the period 1982–2007. Employing several panel unit root and stationarity tests with endogenously determined structural breaks, the results indicate that coal consumption is integrated of order zero. Thus, energy conservation policies oriented towards the reduction of coal consumption will only have short-term effects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Reports developments in the chemical industry in the United States as of January 2001. Reduction of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emission; Sale of international pharmaceutical operations of BASF AG to Abbot Laboratories; Establishment of a national compliance-assistance clearing Website on environmental regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency.