Applying probabilistic material flow analysis for quality control and management of waste recycling in steelmaking.

In modern steelmaking, multiple processes comprise a continuous manufacturing system, but not all phosphorus content data are connected or integrated into a holistic and systematic database. Disconnected data hinder the improvement of material management and resource efficiency in the industry. The objective of this study was to establish a method to evaluate material flows, reduce uncertainty, and perform quality control for waste recycling in the steelmaking industry.

Twice the effort: Ineffectiveness of selecting air pollution control targets with emission quantity for risk reduction.

Protection of human health from air pollution has been typically pursued primarily via regulations of air quality standards and emission standards. Although reducing air pollution from the largest sources and placing more stringent emission limits on the industries of focus is a criterion used by decision makers to control air pollution, it is not clear whether this criterion is the most effective and efficient in improving health protection. Pollutants released from sources into the environment are spatially fluctuating rather than uniformly distributed, and hence, health risk is an issue of geographic variability.

The influence of spatial resolution on human health risk co-benefit estimates for global climate policy assessments.

Assessment of the ability of climate policies to produce desired improvements in public health through co-benefits of air pollution reduction can consume resources in both time and research funds. These resources increase significantly as the spatial resolution of models increases. In addition, the level of spatial detail available in macroeconomic models at the heart of climate policy assessments is much lower than that available in traditional human health risk modeling.

Assessing the transfer of risk due to transportation of agricultural products.

Health risk assessment (HRA) is the process used to estimate adverse health effects on humans. The importance and sensitivity of food chains to HRA have been observed, but the impact of the transportation of food has generally been ignored. This study developed an exposure assessment to demonstrate the significance of the transportation of agricultural products in HRA.

Integrating input output analysis with risk assessment to evaluate the population risk of arsenic.

Multimedia and site-specific risk assessments (RA) of major sources releasing arsenic (As) were converted into sector-based risk coefficients, which were integrated with the Input Output Table (IO) to analyze the association between sector activities and health risks. The developed IO-RA framework is a valuable tool for unfolding the risk chain linking the receptors, exposure pathways, emission sources, and production and consumption activities associated with various industrial sectors. The enlarged decision space along the chain can then be considered in planning risk management strategies.

Life cycle risk assessment of bottom ash reuse.

The life cycle thinking was integrated with risk assessment to develop the life cycle risk assessment (LCRA) methodology in this study. Because LCRA assessed risks from a life cycle perspective of the concerned policies, it was helpful to identify important sources, contaminants, receptors and exposure pathways along the life cycle of reuse activities. The case study showed that different reuse scenarios resulted in risk shift between different life stages and receptors, and using duration of pavement was an essential factor for risk management.

Assessing the health risk of reuse of bottom ash in road paving.

Although the reuse of bottom ash has been favored gradually, reflected on regulations and researches, the associated risk is still an issue of great concern. This study quantified the health risks from multimedia transport and multi-pathway exposure to the concerned chemicals as a result of reusing bottom ash in road paving with consideration of various application scenarios. In particular, the using duration of the pavement was taken into consideration because movement of chemicals in the soils and groundwater would affect the subsequent exposure and risk.

The Health Risk assessment of Pb and Cr leached from fly ash monolith landfill.

As of 2004, nearly two hundred thousand tons of fly ash monoliths are created each year in Taiwan to confine heavy metals for reducing the leaching quantity by precipitation. However, due to abnormal monolith fracture, poorly liner quality or exceeding usage over designed landfill capacity, serious groundwater pollution of the landfills has been reported. This research focuses on Pb and Cr leaching from monolithic landfill to assess the risk of groundwater pollution in the vicinity.