Sample preparation for the analysis of volatile organic compounds in air and water matrices.

Humanity already possesses the fundamental scientific, technical, and industrial know-how to solve the carbon and climate problem for the next half-century. A portfolio of technologies now exists to meet the world's energy needs over the next 50 years and limit atmospheric CO2 to a trajectory that avoids a doubling of the preindustrial concentration. Every element in this portfolio has passed beyond the laboratory bench and demonstration project; many are already implemented somewhere at full industrial scale. Although no element is a credible candidate for doing the entire job (or even half the job) by itself, the portfolio as a whole is large enough that not every element has to be used.

“Stabilization wedges: Solving the climate problem for the next 50 years with current technologies” from science magazine (2004)

The global energy infrastructure is undergoing a drastic transformation towards renewable energy, posing huge challenges on the energy materials research, development and manufacturing. Additive manufacturing has shown its promise to change the way how future energy system can be designed and delivered. It offers capability in manufacturing complex 3D structures, with near-complete design freedom and high sustainability due to minimal use of materials and toxic chemicals. Recent literatures have reported that additive manufacturing could unlock the evolution of energy materials and chemistries with unprecedented performance in the way that could never be achieved by conventional manufacturing techniques. This comprehensive review will fill the gap in communicating on recent breakthroughs in additive manufacturing for energy material and device applications. It will underpin the discoveries on what 3D functional energy structures can be created without design constraints, which bespoke energy materials could be additively manufactured with customised solutions, and how the additively manufactured devices could be integrated into energy systems. This review will also highlight emerging and important applications in energy additive manufacturing, including fuel cells, batteries, hydrogen, solar cell as well as carbon capture and storage.

Additive manufacturing : unlocking the evolution of energy materials

PCBs, used to manage risks from the flammability of dielectric fluids and to increase the durability of elastic sealants, had declining environmental concentrations after legislation banning new production was passed during the 1970s and 1980s in Europe and North America. To answer why PCB temporal trends are now nearly stable and if current policies will further reduce concentrations and our exposure, we estimated PCB stocks in Toronto, Canada (population of ∼2.5 million) of 437 (282−796) tonnes, of which 97 and 3% are in closed sources and building sealants, respectively. The greatest geographic density of PCBs is downtown, specifically in commercial, electricity-intensive skyscrapers. An unknown stock is within now-buried landfills and other waste-handling facilities as well as diffuse sources such as electrical wiring and paints. Using the Multimedia Urban Model, we estimated city-wide emissions of ∼0.14−1.4 mg m−2 y−1 or 35−350 mg capita−1 y−1 of ΣPCB70, which is ∼0.01−0.3% annually of total document...

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/es9012036

Estimation of PCB stocks, emissions, and urban fate: will our policies reduce concentrations and exposure?

https://ps.uci.edu/~rowlandblake/publications/barlettaambient.pdf

Ambient halocarbon mixing ratios in 45 Chinese cities

In-situ gas chromatographic measurements of halocarbons in an urban environment

The first € price and the £ and $ price are net prices, subject to local VAT. Prices indicated with * include VAT for books; the €(D) includes 7% for Germany, the €(A) includes 10% for Austria. Prices indicated with ** include VAT for electronic products; 19% for Germany, 20% for Austria. All prices exclusive of carriage charges. Prices and other details are subject to change without notice. All errors and omissions excepted. W.-Y. Chen, J. Seiner, T. Suzuki, M. Lackner (Eds.) Handbook of Climate Change Mitigation

Handbook of Climate Change Mitigation

Postgraduate students are excellent role models for school students, where their passion and energy play a vital role in engaging younger students and spreading enthusiasm and excitement about science. However, participating in outreach is not a one way activity for these postgraduate students. Through focus groups we show that the postgraduate students perceive that there are many benefits for themselves. These benefits are identified and discussed. This paper also contrasts the postgraduate with their undergraduate counterpart in terms of their contributions to engagement activities.

/pdf/the-many-positive-impacts-of-participating-in-outreach-1kxsb798x9.pdf

The many positive impacts of participating in outreach activities on postgraduate students

. The results of a field campaign carried out from early spring through to the late summer of 2000, in Bristol, England, are presented. Continuous measurements of over 40 hydrocarbons have been made at an urban background site, located at Bristol University, for approximately nine months using a Gas Chromatography - Flame Ionisation Detection (GC-FID) system and for a selection of halocarbons for approximately one month using a Gas Chromatography - Electron Capture Detection (GC-ECD) system. In this paper we present the time-series of the nine halocarbons and selected hydrocarbons. Daytime and night-time hydroxyl radical concentrations have been estimated based on the diurnal variations of a selection of the measured hydrocarbons. The average summer daytime concentration of OH was found to be 2.5x106 molecules cm-3 and the night-time concentration to be in the range 104 to 105 molecules cm-3. In addition, the role played by certain VOCs in the formation of ozone is assessed using the POCP (Photochemical Ozone Creation Potential) concept.

/pdf/the-role-of-volatile-organic-compounds-in-the-polluted-urban-443c3cz8ly.pdf

Alison C Rivett

Papers

In-situ gas chromatographic measurements of halocarbons in an urban environment

Handbook of Climate Change Mitigation

The many positive impacts of participating in outreach activities on postgraduate students

The role of volatile organic compounds in the polluted urban atmosphere of Bristol, England

The art of chemistry