Impact of mercury emissions from incineration of automobile shredder residue in Japan

Mercury emissions from the incineration of automobile shredder residues (ASRs) were investigated. Continuous monitoring of elemental and reactive gaseous Hg in flue gas was performed in lab-scale and plant-scale ASR incineration. Results of continuous monitoring agreed with those obtained using the JIS K0222 method and Ontario-Hydro method. Before cleaning by air pollutant control devices (APCDs), reactive Hg was the dominant form of that element in both lab-scale and plant-scale results. Emission factors of reactive Hg before APCDs estimated from monitoring results showed large differences between plant-scale and lab-scale emissions. The emission factor in the plant scale was more than 10 times larger than that in the lab-scale, which is explainable by the different Hg contents of ASR. Based on plant-scale monitoring at the stack, emission factors after APCDs were estimated as 0.79 mg-Hg/Mg-ASR for elemental Hg and 6.8 mg-Hg/Mg-ASR for reactive Hg. Using these emission factors, total Hg emissions from ASR incineration were estimated as 2.2 kg/a. An ASR incineration plant investigated in this study used highly effective APCDs. Consequently, these emission factors might result in underestimation of national Hg emissions from ASR incineration. Emission factors estimated from lab-scale monitoring at a fabric filter outlet side might be more appropriate. However, even if emission factors calculated from plant-scale or the lab-scale monitoring are used, estimated emissions are still less than 1.0% of total Hg emissions in Japan. Therefore, Hg emissions from ASR incineration can be evaluated as insignificant. Unless Hg contents of ASR increase extremely, ASR incineration would be a minor source of Hg atmospheric emission in Japan, even if all ASRs were incinerated.     

Phytoplankton communities in the Bering Sea and adjacent seas

Vertical distribution of phytoplankton in early warming season in the eastern Bering Sea and adjacent sea areas was investigated. In the surface layer which was under the influence of newly melted sea ice in the shelf water region of the Bering Sea in May, remarkably dense populations ofThalassiosira hyalina andT. nordenskiöldii and relatively large populations ofFragilaria andNavicula occupied large part of phytoplankton community. In June, although theThalassiosira populations sunk into the bottom layer and withered, a certain part of theFragilaria-Navicula populations was still suspended in subsurface layer. Thus,Fragilaria-Navicula were the leading components of the June community in the shelf region.In the Bering Basin region, no dense phytoplankton populations were developed until a shallow thermocline was established. In June when the shallow thermocline developed near shelf edge,Thalassiosira decipiens burst out. As the shallow thermocline extended from near shelf to central part of the Basin region with surface warming, the areas of blooming also shifted from near shelf to the central part.Contribution No. 73 from the Research Institute of North Pacific Fisheries, Hokkaido University.     

Spatial Patterns in Nutrient and In Vivo Fluorescence Distributions in the Marginal Ice Zone and the Seasonally Open Oceanic Zone in the Indian Sector of the Antarctic Ocean, in Austral Summer

Surface temperature, salinity, concentrations of silicate (Si) and nitrate + nitrite (N), and in vivo fluorescence (Fluor) were investigated in the marginal ice zone (MIZ) and the seasonally open oceanic zone (SOOZ) (32–40°E, 64–69°S) from February 23 to 28 1992. In the MIZ the mean Si and N were 67.8 ± 2.2 M and 32.5 ± 1.7 M, respectively. There was a trend that low N values coincided with high Fluor values. Observation conducted at one point (64°S, 38°E) revealed a diel variation pattern in Fluor. Applying this pattern of deviation from noon value, all Fluor data were normalized to value at local noon. In the MIZ a significant negative correlation was observed between the normalized Fluor and N but not Si. On the other hand, Si decreased continuously from south to north in the SOOZ and was negatively correlated with the normalized Fluor. Difference in Si concentration was about 30 M between the sea around 64°S and the MIZ, while the difference in N concentration was estimated as less than 10 M. If diatoms take up silicate and nitrogen at an approximate ratio of 1:1, additional nitrogenous nutrients other than nitrate and nitrite (e.g. ammonia, urea etc.) would be required. In this case, an f-ratio of lower than 33% is obtained. It is suggested that in the MIZ abundance of phytoplankton community dominated by non-diatom increases utilizing nitrate while in the SOOZ abundance of phytoplankton community dominated by diatoms increases consuming Si and regenerated nitrogen.     

Comments on the paper ‘on the reliability of the structure of the low corona as derived from flash spectra’ by R. Giovanelli

In spite of the ambiguity in analyzing the eclipse flash spectrum, pointed out by Giovanelli (1975), the general conclusion of Kanno et al. (1971) is shown to be still valid.     

Mechanisms of pelleting flocculation

Basically speaking, flocculation and coagulation should be theoretically treated as a many-body problem. However, such potential energy theories of coagulation as the DLVO theory have been developed as a two-body problem, i.e., interaction between two plates or two particles in an infinite medium. The concept volume fraction of the constituent particles in the floc, i.e., voidage fraction in the floc is excluded from these theories and, therefore, the traditional theories are not applicable to the phenomenon of “pelleting flocculation”.In an effort to formulate a theory of flocculation that leads to pellet-like flocs, three possible mechanisms of flocculation process are involved, i.e., (1) perikinetic flocculation, (2) orthokinetic flocculation, and (3) an additional process of mechanical syneresis. A few hypotheses are also presented, which may become the prelude to a subsequent flocculation theory.     

Nonequilibrium Processes in the Solar Corona,Transition Region,Flares, and Solar Wind <Emphasis Type="Italic">(Invited Review)</Emphasis>

We review the presence and signatures of the non-equilibrium processes, both non-Maxwellian distributions and non-equilibrium ionization, in the solar transition region, corona, solar wind, and flares. Basic properties of the non-Maxwellian distributions are described together with their influence on the heat flux as well as on the rates of individual collisional processes and the resulting optically thin synthetic spectra. Constraints on the presence of high-energy electrons from observations are reviewed, including positive detection of non-Maxwellian distributions in the solar corona, transition region, flares, and wind. Occurrence of non-equilibrium ionization is reviewed as well, especially in connection to hydrodynamic and generalized collisional-radiative modeling. Predicted spectroscopic signatures of non-equilibrium ionization depending on the assumed plasma conditions are summarized. Finally, we discuss the future remote-sensing instrumentation that can be used for the detection of these non-equilibrium phenomena in various spectral ranges.     

Petrographic and mineralogical study of hydrothermal alteration of the Rokko Granite at Hakusui-kyo and Horai-kyo along the Arima-Takatsuki Tectonic Line in western Japan

Field, hand specimen, and microscopic investigations alongside X-ray diffraction analyses revealed four types of hydrothermal alteration (Type-A, -B, -C, and -D) based on the mode of occurrence of altered rocks and alteration mineral assemblage at Hakusui-kyo and Horai-kyo along the Arima-Takatsuki Tectonic Line (ATTL) in western Japan. Type-A alteration locally occurred as gray alteration halos with sulfide minerals. Type-B and -C alterations were confined to fault gouge veins and occurred as greenish-gray veins and brown veins, respectively. Type-C alteration crosscut Type-B alteration. These alterations were associated with a number of granitic fragments including cohesive breccia and micrographic facies. Type-D alteration occurred locally in brown sediments. Different mineralogical features in the four alterations are summarized as (Type-A) illite; (Type-B) chlorite; (Type-C) limonite (Fe³⁺ hydroxides and goethite) and calcite; and (Type-D) limonite. We propose that the alterations can be broadly divided into Paleocene hydrothermal alteration (Type-A) and post-Late Miocene hydrothermal alteration (Type-B, -C, and -D): Type-A alteration occurred at approximately 200 °C during hydrothermal activity after a granitic intrusion in Late Cretaceous; Type-B, -C and -D alterations occurred under hydrothermal activity accompanying deep fluids with repeated ascents invoked by the seismicity of the ATTL after the Late Miocene. The fluids may have been the “Arima-type thermal waters” (i.e., mixtures of convective groundwater and Na-Ca-Cl-HCO₃-type fluids). Type-B alteration occurred in fractures at depths where the temperature was ≥150 °C. Type-C alteration overprinted Type-B alteration as a result of mixing of new deep fluids and descending oxidized meteoric water near the surface. Fe³⁺ hydroxides and calcite precipitated from the fluids due to the oxidation of Fe²⁺ and the degassing of CO₂, respectively, at ambient to near-boiling temperatures. When the ascending fluids gushed out from the fractures, they generated Type-D alteration at the surface under similar temperature conditions due to the oxidation of Fe²⁺.     

Numerical analysis on seismic response of Shinkansen bridge-train interaction system under moderate earthquakes

This study is intended to evaluate the influence of dynamic bridge-train interaction (BTI) on the seismic response of the Shinkansen system in Japan under moderate earthquakes. An analytical approach to simulate the seismic response of the BTI system is developed. In this approach, the behavior of the bridge structure is assumed to be within the elastic range under moderate ground motions. A bullet train car model idealized as a sprung-mass system is established. The viaduct is modeled with 3D finite elements. The BTI analysis algorithm is verified by comparing the analytical and experimental results. The seismic analysis is validated through comparison with a general program. Then, the seismic responses of the BTI system are simulated and evaluated. Some useful conclusions are drawn, indicating the importance of a proper consideration of the dynamic BTI in seismic design.