环境英语证书考试(PEC)-实用术语解释.doc

1、环境英语证书考试（PEC）-实用术语解释Solid WasteMostly the solid debris from households, industries and construction. It does contain some liquids, some gases, and some infectious materials from house bound ill persons.Sanitary LandfillA disposal technique resulting in burial of the waste using an engineered method

2、intended to protect the environment, typically employing plastic liners and drains on the bottom to collect liquids and covers on the “top“ to keep rain water out and to keep methane and other gases from escaping. See also “Landfill.“LeachateThe juice from garbage, usually, but not always, in a land

3、fill. May be caused by water washing through and dissolving things or may be part of the original liquids that were in the garbage.NIMBYNot In My Back Yard. In other words, an attitude that says: “Not near my house!“TCLPTest Similar to the EP Tox Test referred to elswhere in this glossary. The Acron

4、ym stands for Toxic Characteristics LeachingProcedure.Tipping FloorThe flat surface on which the arriving trash trucks dump their loads of solid waste at an incinerator.Transfer StationA place, usually a building, where smaller route trucks unload their garbage so that it can be transferred into lar

5、ge, over-the-road semi-tractor trailer trucks or special trains for long trips to the landfill or other disposal point.Integrated Solid Waste ManagementA management system that uses several techniques such as composting, recycling, incineration, landfilling, and education to dispose of and/or minimi

6、ze solid waste.Tipping FeeThe fee charged to dump at an incinerator, transfer station, or landfill.White GoodsUnwanted appliances, such as washing machines, stoves, etc., very often white. It also includes other such waste metals as fencing, swing sets, buckets, etc.EP Tox TestExtraction Procedure T

7、oxicity Test. The test required by USEPA for the testing of waste materials to determine if they are “Hazardous.“ It was meant to simulate the acid conditions and leaching that would naturally occur in a sanitary landfill. It is generally agreed that the test, as presently configured, does not accur

8、ately simulate a sanitary landfill; it is far too aggressive (too acid).SludgeThe watery bio-solids removed from wastewater during treatment. Does not include the solids that were screened out of the wastewater as it came into the wastewater plant. Sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plants (

9、with good industrial oversight programs to minimize metals) is very good for farm soil. Sludge from industrial water treatment may, or may not, be good for farm soil. Horticulturists would need to make that determination individually because these industrial sludges can be very different.Fabric Filt

10、ersA device which uses fabric to remove particles from flue gas. See also “Bag House.“Flue GasThe exhaust gases from a combustion process contained for a time in the flue.Fly AshSolid particles that literally fly out of the combustion process. Often called “particulate.“Hazardous WasteWastes defined

11、 as “hazardous“ by law. Most such waste is only “hazardous“ if mis-managed. Such terms can lead to public concern or complacence if not used with care. Regular municipal solid waste can be a “hazard“ to health and the environment if left unmanaged.Infectious WasteSolid waste from doctors offices and

12、 hospitals. Most states have legal definitions which need to be considered. Such definitionsexclude as well as include, so the result is not always as expected. For example, all municipalities have some ill and homebound people which renders all municipal solid waste potentially infectious. Further,

13、 most legal definitions of infectious waste exclude the “small quantity generator“, ie small doctors offices even the offices of large doctors, perhaps, and thus the waste from such offices is mixed in with the regular municipal solid waste.All municipal solid waste is potentially infectious. Always

14、 has been.LitterWaste not managed.Mass BurnA type of incineration that requires virtually no pre-processing. The mixed municipal refuse is burned as is - generally everything that is “no larger than a bread box“.ParticulateTiny pieces (particles) which are suspended in the “smoke“ or exhaust from an

15、y process. See “fly ash.“PICsProducts of Incomplete Combustion, ie carbon monoxide (CO2) and other compounds.POCsPrimary Organic Constituent. A term usually applied to Hazardous Waste combustion situations, not a municipal waste concern.DensitySolid waste has many different densities, all valid. Loo

16、se, in a Dumpster container for example, it weighs 100 - 250 lbs. per cubic yard. Squashed into a modern route truck it weighs from 400 lbs. to 800 lbs. per cubic yard. Crushed and compacted into a modern landfill it can weigh more than 1000 lbs per cubic yard. Incinerator ashes in an ash monofill w

17、eigh approximately 1 ton per cubic yard.Lime, Hydrated Lime, and Quick LimeThese are forms of Calcium bearing minerals which are often used to clean up various environmental situations. The terms are sometimes used carelessly for the different forms. Natural Limestone is mostly calcium carbonate and

18、 is often used in powdered form to neutralize acids in water, soils or air. Limestone powder is plowed into some fields by farmers and it is also used to make cement. The different forms listed here have differing amounts of material other than Calcium such as water molecules and carbon. The Hydrate

19、d lime is more aggressive than plain limestone, and the Quick lime is very aggressive and more difficult to handle safely.DioxinsPolychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs), a class of several chlorinated organic compounds, some of which are quite toxic to laboratory mice and rats, though not necessarily

20、 to humans.One should note that incinerators are only a small source of ambient dioxin. At least half of ambient air dioxin comes from natural sources according to Dr. G. W. Gribble, a professor of chemistry at Dartmouth College, in a thoroughly documented paper published in 1994 in the Journal of E

21、nvironmental Science the margins of profit are not all that large.CompostingThe controlled organic digestion of materials such as grass clippings, food wastes, and lawn debris. Composting can be used to manage the disposal of a large part of the American waste stream; grass and lawn debris in 1990 c

22、onstituted 20% of American solid waste. Composting can be done in the residential yard in conjunction with gardening, or it can be done with separate collection and a large central processing facility.If the product is to be sold, it needs to be very uniform and “pure“ with no bits of plastic or met

23、als to cause appearance problems. In Holland, for example, municipal waste compost was used widely on farm fields where it seemed to be doing well from a crop production standpoint. Unfortunately, now those fields that have received several annual applications of such compost are beginning to look l

24、ike fields of plastic debris.I have reviewed many composting processes and found the key to clean compost to be keeping the plastic out in the first place; it cannot be completely removed once it is in the compost.The composting process has its own emissions, mostly carbon dioxide and water vapor (l

25、ike organic combustion), but also a plethora of organic gases and acids which, to be fair, need further study.Waste StreamThe daily quantity of municipal solid waste and trash. The control of this stream of material is the key to financing disposal facilities. Many states are now receiving a stream

26、of waste from other states which do not have adequate disposal facilities within their own borders. Waste stream control, however, has been found to be a violation of US Constitutional guarantees against “Unfair Restraint of Free Trade.“ The public is generally unaware that the US Constitution provi

27、des for such control, however, under Rules to be established by the US Congress. Congress has failed to establish such rules because landfill and trucking lobbys have been so effective.Ironically, in 1992 the Congress failed to institute such rules by one vote from Virginia, which is now inundated w

28、ith the waste stream coming from New York and New Jersey. In 1992, Virginia thought it had 100 years of landfill space available. Now it appears to have less than 20 years of space because of the stream from out of state.Flow ControlThe laws and ordinances used to direct Solid Waste to a certain fac

29、ility for disposal. Unlike a wastewater plant which is tied to its intended customers with piping, a solid waste facility has no physical control to direct the “stream“ of waste into the processing plant once it is constructed. Thus, in order to be financed, solid waste plants need to have other gua

30、rantees that they will receive the solid waste they are intended to process. Recent US Supreme Court Rulings, however, have found local and state flow control ordinances to be in conflict with the free trade provisions of the US Constitution. Only when rules are adopted by the US Congress to address

31、 this matter, may some form of flow control become legal once again.Acid Gas EmissionsGases which exhaust from power plants, other combustion processes, and landfills contain substantial amounts of various chemical compounds which go into the atmosphere and combine with natural moisture to form vari

32、ous acids which fall as acid rain. New York rainfall appears to have a higher level of acidity when it lands on the earth than rain which falls downwind of the industrial Midwest.In many northeastern American states, such as New York, the natural alkalinity of the ground is not sufficient to neutral

33、ize acid rain water. Here in Ohio, however, natural limestone based soil is sufficient to neutralize such acid rainfall. In New York State, the lakes are actually becoming more and more acidified. Some are so acidified that aquatic life has ceased to exist. There is substantial disagreement among th

34、e technical community about the true source of this acid rain. Some experts believe that it results from natural carbon dioxide gases which escape from many sources (including people); others claim it is largely from power plants.Carbon dioxide, chlorine, sulfur dioxide, and fluorine are all gases w

35、hich can form acids. Sulfur dioxide, which is emitted in large quantity from many power plants burning coal or oil, is thought to be the worst culprit. Fortunately, hardly any sulfur dioxide originates during the municipal solid waste incineration process. Carbon dioxide, chlorine and fluorine are t

36、he acid producing gases which emits in detectable quantities from the incineration process.Due to the ability of these gases to combine quickly with water, a wet scrubber can provide neutralization for much of the acid in such gases. The addition of lime, ammonia, or caustic to the conditioning cham

37、ber or scrubber water can neutralize the acid contained therein. Lime slurry can be injected into a hot gas stream to neutralize acid gases. Neutralization of much of the acid before it reaches air pollution control devices can help protect the devices from corrosion problems.ParticulateThe small pa

38、rticles which make smoke visable. All gases are clear in small quantities like an exhaust gas would contain. If smoke is visible, it is due to particulate only.EmissionsPhysical or chemical evidence given off to the environment by a process as a result of its activity. Any process gives off emission

39、s. People give off heat and carbon dioxide as a result of being alive. People also reject various liquids and solids after they have gleaned the useful content for sustaining their bodily functions. Automobiles give off exhaust gases that contain additional carbon dioxide as a result of the internal

40、 combustion in their engines. Automobiles also give off carbon monoxide and other acid and organic gases as a result of their combustion process. Diesel engines give off many such gases including dioxin. Incinerators give off somewhat similar exhaust gases, although modern incinerators emit only ver

41、y very small amounts of such bad gases as carbon monoxide, organics, and dioxins due to their very complete combustion processes.The two most important emissions from automobiles, diesels, and incinerators are acid gases and particulates; both of these are reduced to nearly undetectable levels from

42、incinerators by the emission control devices included with a modern facility. These devices include bag houses, electrostatic precipitators, and scrubbers.Bubble PolicyThe phrase used to describe the Environmental Protection Agency Policy with regard to multiple stacks on a single facility. The poli

43、cy recognizes that the aggregate emission from the stacks is more important than the specific emission from each individual stack. Therefore, a facility may choose to “super clean“ some of its stacks while leaving some others a little “dirty“, so that the average emission from all stacks will fall w

44、ithin acceptable emission standards.Emissions PlumeIn air or groundwater; a feather (plume) shaped emission of gases or water. The term is usually used to refer to a pollutant in air or ground water.Scrubber (Low Energy)A gas washing device which operates at a relative low pressure drop-between 4 in

45、ches and 14 inches of water column. Scrubbers work by causing the pollution laden gases to zigzag sharply through a wetted, washed labyrinth. The solid particles (smoke), which are heavier than the gas which carries them, tend to travel in a straight line, thereby impacting and sticking to the wette

46、d surface. Such scrubbers are also effective in removing gaseous pollutants such as chlorine and fluorine. Gas removal is accomplished by simple surface contact and chemical reaction. The water in scrubbers is typically recycled to minimize the cost for fresh water and sewage disposal. The recycled

47、water is processed to remove the captured pollutants such as smoke particles and acid.Scrubber (High Energy)A gas washing device which employs Venturi passages to produce severe impact between smoke particles and wash water usually requires a substantially higher energy input-greater than 14 inches

48、of water column-but can effect the removal of much smaller particles called “particulates.“ Particles greater than one micron in size can be removed rather effectively with a simple Zigzag device such as a packed tower, but to remove sub-micron sized particulate, a Venturi type scrubber must be empl

49、oyed.As the gas stream and injected water pass through the Venturi neck, they are compressed, sped to a high velocity, decompressed suddenly, and slowed down suddenly. This quick series of actions causes the tiny particulates to gather condensed moisture, gain weight, and impact the water droplets. The scrubber water can then be processed to concentrate the particulates for removal and neutralize acids.Scrubbers are not usually used with municipal incineration systems, today. Most are in industrialized countries where the level of affluence is adequate to justify the use of electrosta