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Waste combustion in residential small-scale combustion units is not legal in the Czech Republic or other European Union countries. The resulting gaseous and particulate pollutants expose inhabitants to smells and toxic compounds and may damage their property and health. This study is designed to define the emissions of gaseous and particulate pollutants and determine the influence of municipal waste combustion on emission factors. Different types of solid fuels, municipal wood wastes (window frames, furniture chipboard), and mixtures of solid fuels with municipal wastes (namely, textiles, plastics, PET briquettes comprising a mixture of PET bottles + wood pellets + frying oil, paper, and floor coverings) were combusted in residential combustion units (such as gasification boiler, boiler with down-draft combustion, overfire boiler, and stove). Studies describing such an extensive range of waste samples combusted in different small-scale combustion units have not yet been published. Emission factors (EFs) for products of incomplete combustion (carbon monoxide (CO), organic gaseous compounds (OGC), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in gaseous and particulate phases) and particulate matter (PM) were within narrow intervals and lowest for standardized wood fuel (dry wood logs only) and 2-4 times higher on average for unsuitable coal samples (coal unsuitable for the particular boiler type used and coal combined with waste), for which values fell within broad intervals.The EFs of pollutants resulting from incomplete combustion (CO, OGC, and 16 PAH

The aim of this study was to simulate a banned but widely spread practice of co-combustion of plastic with wood in a small residential boiler and to quantify its impact on emissions of gaseous pollutants, particulate matter (PM), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and 1,3,5-triphenylbenzene (135TPB), a new tracer of polyethylene plastic combustion. Supermarket polyethylene shopping bags (PE) and polyethylene terephthalate bottles (PET) were burnt as supplementary fuels with beech logs (BL) in an old-type 20 kW over-fire boiler both at a nominal and reduced heat output. An impact of co-combustion was more pronounced at the nominal heat output: an increase in emissions of PM, total organic carbon (TOC), toxic equivalent (TEQ) of 7 carcinogenic PAHs (c-PAHs) and a higher ratio of c-PAHs TEQ in particulate phase was observed during co-combustion of both plastics. 135TPB was found in emissions from both plastics both at a nominal and reduced output. In contrast to findings reported in the literature, 135TPB was a dominant compound detected by mass spectrometry on m / z 306 exclusively in emissions from co-combustion of PE. Surprisingly, six other even more abundant compounds of unknown identity were found on this m / z in emissions from co-combustion of PET. One of these unknown compounds was identified as p-quaterphenyl (pQ). Principal component analysis revealed strong correlation among 135TPB, pQ and five unknown compounds. pQ seems to be suitable tracers of polyethylene terephthalate plastic co-combustion, while 135TPB proved its suitability to be an all-purpose tracer of polyethylene plastics combustion.

The aim of the work consisted in quantifying the size of the emissions of heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their impact on air quality in the region with many remnants of mining and metallurgical activities such as waste heaps (dumps), on which the mining, metallurgical and other waste was placed. On the heaps, chemical and mechanical changes of the stored material occur very often, several of them are even heaps burning (e.g. Heřmanice heap). Emerging and settling dust particles get into the atmosphere due to wind erosion, movement of people and technology as well as by mining the heap waste, and may contribute to the deterioration of air quality in the vicinity (airborne dust, carcinogens). This phenomenon can be significantly involved in the deterioration of air quality in the region and has not yet been explored. By this time, the exploration works in the area of dumping sites associated with air emissions have primarily been focused on the issue of suspended particles, in particular as part of the EIA projects addressing the use of materials stored in the body of dumps for construction purposes. These works were carried out on a small number of sites; however, it was not a comprehensive study so it is impossible to derive the overall impact of dumps on the region’s air quality. The emissions of gaseous substances from thermally active dumps represent the second area linked to air quality, on which the surveys have been focused so far. However, the results obtained are burdened with unacceptably high uncertainties that preclude their use for draft regulations concerning the further exploitation of dumps. The lack of information on the contents of heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the emissions into the atmosphere is the main drawback of recent ratings. The influence of dumps on the pollution situation of those pollutants has not yet been assessed. Considering the smaller (zero) explorability, the proposed project focused on the air pollution impacts of dumps associated with the emissions of heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Although the content of the mineral phases is considered relatively harmless to the environment [1], an integral part of the research was to determine precisely the mineral phases using X-ray diffraction in a roll of material, which is closely related to his character [2]. All analysis were however focused on PM10, which in recent years the focus of [3] Own research was conducted within the project CZ.3.22/1.2.00/12.03398 Evaluation of concentrations of PAHs and heavy metals on the surface of dumps and nearby industrial enterprises funded through the Operational Programme Czech Republic – Poland 2007-2013. The Faculty of Mining and Geology at the VSB - Technical University of Ostrava (hereinafter referred to as VSB-TUO), namely the Institute of Clean Technologies for Mining and Utilization of Raw Materials for Energy Use (hereinafter ICT), was the project holder, and the Main Mining Institute in Katowice (hereinafter as GIG) a foreign partner.

The focus of recent research is the utilization of oil sludge as a potential source of hydrocarbons via pyrolysis with the presence of calcium oxide as an additive. Pyrolysis of oil sludge was studied by thermogravimetry and in a laboratory-scale reactor. Results obtained by both methods are consistent. Formation of char, common for slow pyrolysis was very limited. A possible explanation could be in the reaction of calcium sulfate with char which leads to the consumption of carbon and formation of CaS. Oil sludge produced a large amount of oil rich on aliphatic compounds with a higher calorific value of about 42 MJ kg−1 and low sulfur content. A large increase in polyaromatic hydrocarbons during the pyrolysis was observed. Precursors of polyaromatic hydrocarbons were identified in the gas phase.

Summary Effect of column bleed on trueness of determination of trace levels of dibenzofuranes (PCDD/F) and biphenyls (PCB) by gas chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry (GC-HRMS) was studied. As a result of extensive bleed of an arylenesiloxane capillary column, fluctuations of abundance ratios of monitored ions were observed, making exact determination of target analytes impossible. These effects were observed on food samples as well as on pure standard mixtures. The column bleed affected the abundance ratios of PCDD/F and PCB within the range of 13–328 pg of target analyte/mL, and higher levels of analytes remained intact. An analysis of diluted calibration mixtures is recommended as a tool for detection of column bleed.

This study reports on the first complex data set of emission factors (EFs) of selected pollutants from combustion of five fuel types (lignite, bituminous coal, spruce, beech, and maize) in six different domestic heating appliances of various combustion designs. The effect of fuel as well as the effect of boiler type was studied. In total, 46 combustion runs were performed, during which numerous EFs were measured, including the EFs of particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), hexachlorobenzene (HxCBz), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans (PCDD/F), etc. The highest EFs of nonchlorinated pollutants were measured for old-type boilers with over-fire and under-fire designs and with manual stoking and natural draft. Emissions of the above-mentioned pollutants from modern-type boilers (automatic, downdraft) were 10 times lower or more. The decisive factor for emission rate of nonchlorinated pollutants was the type of appliance; the type of fuel plays only a minor role. Emissions of chlorinated pollutants were proportional mainly to the chlorine content in fuel, but the type of appliance also influenced the rate of emissions significantly. Surprisingly, higher EFs of PCDD/F from combustion of chlorinated bituminous coal were observed for modern-type boilers (downdraft, automatic) than for old-type ones. On the other hand, when bituminous coal was burned, higher emissions of HxCBz were found for old-type boilers than for modern-type ones.

Spatial and temporal variation of vapor- and particle-phase polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was determined in six urban and sub-urban locations in Kaunas, Lithuania during heating and non heating seasons. Two different sampling methodologies were used: passive (based on semipermeable membrane device, SPMD) and active (based on collection on filter and sorption). Sixteen priority PAHs as well as methylated PAHs were quantified in the collected samples. The sampled total amount of 16 PAHs investigated in SPMDs ranged from 10–138 ng/day outdoors, from 5–59 ng/day indoors during the winter sampling campaign. In summer these amounts varied from 11–19 ng/day outdoors and from 19–27 ng/day indoors. The total concentrations of vapor and particle-phase PAH in winter in actively taken samples varied from 49–286 ng/m3 outdoors and from 28–83 ng/m3 indoors. Seasonal differences as well as the influence of the fuel burning for domestic heating purposes on the PAH concentration outdoors were well reflected by the data obtained using the SPMD methodology.

A method for the simultaneous determination of the benzoylurea insecticides diflubenzuron, flufenoxuron, flucycloxuron chlorfluazuron and triflumuron in apples using reversed-phase HPLC is described. The separation of analytes was performed on a Separon SGX C8 column (150 × 3 mm I.D., 5 μm) with methanol-water (55:45, v/v) as the mobile phase. Benzoylurea residues were extracted with acetone and then partitioned into dichloromethane. The final clean-up step was conducted by gel permeation chromatography on Bio- Beads SX-3 using cyclohexane-chloroform (3:2, v/v) as the mobile phase.

A 6-month air sampling survey was conducted at 26 sites across the African continent with the aim to establish baseline information on contamination of ambient air with persistent organic pollutants (POPs) as a reference for future monitoring programs in the region. Sampling sites included continental, rural and urban backgrounds, agricultural and industrial sites as well as waste and obsolete pesticide dumps. Concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans, polychlorinated biphenyls and organochlorine pesticides were low at most of the rural background sites, but they raise some concern in big cities. The large temporal variability in the pesticide concentrations suggested seasonal application of gamma-HCHs and endosulfans; levels of p,p'-DDT were often much higher than those of p,p'-DDE and indicated recent application of DDT.