Environmental Sciences and Engineering

Southwest Research Institute provides comprehensive engineering and scientific services to industry and government to assess and manage environmental pollution. Institute scientists and engineers monitor and analyze emissions from mobile and stationary sources and develop remediation technologies for sites contaminated by toxic materials. SwRI staff members perform applied engineering research, pilot-scale treatability studies, field investigations and monitoring studies, and major health and environmental risk assessments. Research is conducted to develop new sampling and analytical methods and test new process control technologies.

The Institute has transferred its dioxins/dibenzofurans analytical technology to the Environmental Protection Administration in Taiwan through a U.S. defense contractor's Industrial Cooperation (Off-Set) Program. Institute staff instructed Taiwanese scientists in techniques used for extracting environmental samples, cleaning up the sample extracts, and analyzing the extracts for dioxins using a high-resolution mass spectrometer. The first phase was completed in January 1996, and the Institute will provide follow-on technical assistance in Taiwan.

For more than nine years, SwRI engineers and chemists have monitored air quality by analyzing air samples collected in stainless steel canisters for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), Freons^TM, and halogenated compounds. The Institute is assisting Missouri's Department of Natural Resources in monitoring 58 volatile hydrocarbons to assess air quality, characterize the nature and extent of ozone problems, and track VOC emissions. In other studies, SwRI scientists investigated sources of offensive sulfur odors such as mercaptans, carbon disulfide, and hydrogen sulfide emitted from landfills, industrial facilities, and wastewater treatment plants. Sulfur-containing compounds commonly are a result of waste biodegradation in anaerobic environments.

Agricultural workers and farmers may be exposed to many pesticides and herbicides. To learn more about dermal and inhalation exposures to agricultural pesticides, the Institute participated in a pilot assessment for the Agricultural Health Study, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the EPA. Institute statisticians evaluated data collected by SwRI during mixing and boom spraying of herbicides. Results indicated that milligram levels of pesticides typically were detected on the hands and body, while microgram levels typically were inhaled. Applications with hand-held sprayers generally yield lower exposure levels. However, application of a common pesticide using a hand-held duster produced the largest dermal and inhalation exposures observed. As farmers in Iowa and North Carolina continue to be monitored for possible development of specific cancers, the NCI will conduct nested case-control studies to determine if those cancers can be associated with documented specific pesticide exposure levels.

The Institute participated in Columbia University's Long Island Breast Cancer Study sponsored by the NCI. Researchers hope to determine if environmental contaminants increase the risk of breast cancer. Scientists are analyzing carpet dust samples from the homes of 325 recently diagnosed female breast cancer patients and a 325-member control group who have lived in their homes for 15 years or more. Under evaluation are 16 pesticides, three polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and 13 polychlorinated biphenyl congeners.

SwRI is in the fifth year of a contract with the FDA to provide analytical support for the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition in its effort to develop and apply technologies to detect, identify, and determine hazards of natural and manmade contaminants in food and cosmetics. Under this contract, Institute scientists measure vitamins, amino acids, fatty acids, and contaminants in animal feeds and tissues.

SwRI has developed a method to measure alkylphenols - compounds reported to have hormonal effects on human cell cultures - in groundwater, wastewater, and drinking water, at concentrations 100 times lower than previously reported in the literature. As part of testing for the Silent Spring Institute (SSI) in Newton, Massachusetts, with funding from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, SwRI scientists analyzed water samples obtained from Cape Cod for these compounds. The SSI will assess the impact of alkylphenols on local shallow drinking water supplies on Cape Cod as part of a breast cancer study in that area.

The Institute is in its ninth year of testing produce samples for pesticide residues for a large grocery firm. The samples are processed for analysis to identify levels of residues using methodologies developed by the California Department of Food and Agriculture. This procedure helps the grocer ensure the safest possible product through careful selection of produce suppliers. Scientists have noted a downward trend in the frequency of samples with residues exceeding EPA limits.

The Institute is collaborating with Harvard and Emory universities in the EPA's National Human Exposure Assessment Survey to estimate the annual exposure of Americans to pesticides, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), and metals. Hand wipes and samples of indoor air, carpet dust, and soil were collected six times during a year from more than 50 residents in the Baltimore, Maryland, area. Institute scientists are analyzing the samples for nine pesticides and 11 PAHs to study how a single measurement estimate relates to a person's annual exposure. These environmental exposure levels also will be compared to doses determined through blood and urine samples.

An Institute technician conducts an air quality survey to evaluate the impact of hydrocarbon vapors from a fuel storage facility on a residential community.

In recent years, the public's concern over health effects of corporate use of chemicals in the community has escalated. SwRI was requested by the U.S. Air Force to perform a field assessment of the impact of a jet fuel storage area on air quality in a local community in order to answer concerns of residents. The jet fuel, JP-8, is a complex mixture of many petroleum hydrocarbons. Current evaluation methods do not readily differentiate sources and types of hydrocarbon vapors, such as distinguishing jet fuel from diesel fuel or gasoline. Consequently, SwRI engineers and scientists faced the challenge of detecting and identifying air trace levels of jet fuel-specific chemical compounds in a background of hydrocarbons of industrial origin or from gasoline used in vehicles. Air diffusion modeling was conducted to predict the spread of the fuel vapors, and new sampling and analytical methods were devised to determine the contribution of jet fuel to ambient concentrations. Several jet fuel-specific chemical components were used as indicators to differentiate actual jet fuel concentrations from background hydrocarbon concentrations found outside the emissions plume. Once jet fuel concentrations are determined, SwRI will evaluate the exposure risk to surrounding communities.

In a joint project with SwRI's Engine and Vehicle Research Division, scientists from the Chemical Engineering Section evaluated the ignition properties of diethyl ether and investigated how it could be produced from renewable resources for use as a transportation fuel.

SwRI was awarded a five-year subcontract from Stone and Webster Engineering Corporation to provide technical support to the U.S. Army Program Manager for Chemical Demilitarization. Under this contract, the Institute is evaluating a new pulsed flame photometric detector/mass spectrometer for chemical agent monitoring, and developing design criteria for the system. The environmental monitoring and laboratory analysis will support two alternative technology demilitarization pilot plants for chemical warfare agents. In addition to supporting the U.S. Army baseline chemical agent stockpile destruction program, the Institute also is investigating alternatives to incineration for chemical agent destruction under the auspices of the Program Manager for Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment. One of the technologies Institute environmental engineers and scientists are evaluating is a new proprietary treatment process called Solvated Electron Technology® to destroy explosives and chemical munitions using metallic sodium and recyclable anhydrous ammonia.

The U.S. Army has awarded chemical agent disposal system contracts to Raytheon Demilitarization Company (RDC) and SwRI for the destruction of chemical munitions stored at the Umatilla Army Depot near Hermiston, Oregon. The program involves the planning, construction, systemization, operation, and ultimately closure of a facility for the destruction of chemical agents stored at the depot. As with the Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System program, SwRI 's role is to conduct environmental and health monitoring and operate a chemical agent analysis laboratory. SwRI scientists and engineers also are developing the plans and procedures required to ensure the safety and health of the plant workers and the local community. Subsequent to the Umatilla contract, the Army announced selection of Raytheon and SwRI to provide similar services related to the destruction of aging munitions stored at the Army's Pine Bluff Chemical Depot in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Finalization of that award is pending.

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