James C. O’Shaughnessy

Bio: James C. O’Shaughnessy is an academic researcher from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The author has contributed to research in topics: Soil water & Return on investment. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 3 publications receiving 3 citations.

Sorption, Desorption and Leaching Transport of Heavy Metals in Soils Common to New England

Abstract: Heavy metals are recognized as human health and environmental contaminants of concern. Non-industrial human exposures typically involve metals dissolved in water, sorbed in the soil, or contained in foods. Leaching of heavy metals to groundwater supplies is of particular concern. Heavy metals bioaccumulate in biota, and bioconcentrate in animals at higher trophic levels in the food chain. Animal exposures typically include ingestion of water, plant material and contact with soil. Risk characterization is a formal part of the process for remediation of properties contaminated with hazardous materials. The risk posed by heavy metals in the environment is a function of toxicity, physical parameters, and the mobility of the metal in the soil. To date, there is limited quantitative data regarding the sorption, leaching, and transport of metals in the vadose zone. This paper presents the results of bench scale experiments to evaluate these phenomena. Sixteen study soil columns were prepared using soils common to New England. Soils contained varying amounts of plastic and non-plastic fines, and included outwash sands, clay and till deposits. Physical parameters of each column were determined, including cation exchange capacity, particle size parameters and plasticity. Each column was filled with one liter of solution contain ing known concentrations of cadmium, chromium, copper, nickel and zinc. After a four -day contact period, columns were gravity drained for two days, and the volume of effluent solution and associated metals concentrations determined. Columns were then leached by application of 20 tap water rinses of approximately one pore volume each, and the concentration of each metal in the rinse lixiviant determined. Data were used to investigate the following questions: the capacity of soils to sorb metals, whether soil physical parameters are predictive of sorption, the ability of tap water to leach the metals, and the kinetics of the leaching process.

Development and weighting of a life cycle assessment screening model

Abstract: Nearly all life cycle assessment tools available today are high priced, comprehensive and quantitative models requiring a significant amount of data collection and data input. In addition, most of the available software packages require a great deal of training time to learn how to operate the model software. Even after this time investment, results are not guaranteed because of the number of estimations and assumptions often necessary to run the model. As a result, product development, design teams and environmental specialists need a simplified tool that will allow for the qualitative evaluation and "screening" of various design options. This paper presents the development and design of a generic, qualitative life cycle screening model and demonstrates its applicability and ease of use. The model uses qualitative environmental, health and safety factors, based on site or product-specific issues, to sensitize the overall results for a given set of conditions. The paper also evaluates the impact of different population input ranking values on model output. The final analysis is based on site or product-specific variables. The user can then evaluate various design changes and the apparent impact or improvement on the environment, health and safety, compliance cost and overall corporate liability. Major input parameters can be varied, and factors such as materials use, pollution prevention, waste minimization, worker safety, product life, environmental impacts, return of investment, and recycle are evaluated. The flexibility of the model format will be discussed in order to demonstrate the applicability and usefulness within nearly any industry sector. Finally, an example using audience input value scores will be compared to other population input results.© (2004) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Pollution prevention applications in batch manufacturing operations

Abstract: Older, "low-tech" batch manufacturing operations are often fertile grounds for gains resulting from pollution prevention techniques. This paper presents a pollution prevention technique utilized for wastewater discharge permit compliance purposes at a batch manufacturer of detergents, deodorants, and floor-care products. This manufacturer generated industrial wastewater as a result of equipment rinses required after each product batch changeover. After investing a significant amount of capital on end of pip-line wastewater treatment technology designed to address existing discharge limits, this manufacturer chose to investigate alternate, low-cost approaches to address anticipated new permit limits. Mass balances using spreadsheets and readily available formulation and production data were conducted on over 300 products to determine how each individual product contributed to the total wastewater pollutant load. These mass balances indicated that 22 products accounted for over 55% of the wastewater pollutant. Laboratory tests were conducted to determine whether these same products could accept their individual changeover rinse water as make-up water in formulations without sacrificing product quality. This changeover reuse technique was then implement at the plant scale for selected products. Significant reductions in wastewater volume (25%) and wastewater pollutant loading (85+%) were realized as a direct result of this approach.© (2004) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Sorption, Desorption, Remediation and Fertility Characteristics of a Clay Soil

Abstract: This study is conducted to investigate sorption and desorption characteristics of a clay soil of Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. Also, the soil fertility after the desorption tests was investigated. Sorption of copper by a clay soil was examined using copper solutions with concentrations from 1,000 mg/L to 5 mg/L. The influence of copper concentration and pH on desorption was also studied. Electrokinetic remediation was carried on soil specimen spiked with copper. Soil fertility parameters for specimens acidized by electrolysis reactions and nitric, hydrochloric, and citric acids were compared. From the results, the adsorption of copper by the soil is proportional to the concentration in the solution and Langmuir isotherm represents the data. Desorption of copper was found to increase with the increase of initial copper in the soil and the decrease of pH. At pH of 5.75 ± 0.25, the maximum desorption was 16.5% of initial copper and the minimum was 4.2%. In tests with similar copper concentrations, the maximum desorption was 76.6% in the test with pH of 2. Electrokinetics reduced the pH of soil near the anode to 2.1 and removed 86% of copper. Soil specimen acidized by electrolysis reactions preserved favourable fertility parameters compared with specimens acidized by acids.