Environment Report 7 Jan 2002 to 13 Jan 2002

TABLE OF CONTENTS

S/N	Title			Synopsis
I. Subject Area: Environmental Policy and Regulations
1	New mercury ban may shut local crematorium	The UK's Department of Environment has decided to crack down on mercury emissions. The 50-year old Breakspear crematorium, which helps to dispose of remains of more than 4,000 people every year, may have to close down because it is unable to meet the new mercury emission requirement.
2	Strict air pollution rules for Ontario's electricity sector	Ontario has introduced new strict air pollution rules to progressively reduce the emission of NOx and SO2, which are the chief contributors to smog and acid rain, from fossil fuel power plants. The power plants will have to cap their NOx and SO2 emission to 53% and 25% of the current emission levels respectively by 2007.
II. Subject Area: Environmental Technology
3	Researchers found a way to lengthen battery life	Researchers at the University of North Carolina in the US have discovered the use of carbon nanotubes could make longer-lasting batteries.
4	The 99-mpg wonder	High-tech diesels are an alternative to electric cars and costly hybrids if emissions standards could be compromised.
5	Idemitsu develops desulfurising agent for kerosene	A Japanese oil refiner, Idemitsu Kosan Co Ltd has developed a desulfurising agent that could lead to the commercialization of fuel cells using kerosene to generate hydrogen.
III. Subject Area: Waste Management and Green Energy
6	Used coffee grounds to produce cheaper lithium batteries		Sony has found an alternative form of graphite to produce cheaper lithium-ion batteries by using the carbon in coffee grounds.
7	A Cuisinart for recycling plastics		A new process has been developed to recycle plastic waste such as discarded computer cases and soda bottles without the use of "compatibilizers", which acts as a chemical glue to link incompatible polymers.
IV. Subject Area: General Environmental News
8	EPA launches new e-commerce portal		U.S. EPA has announced the setting up of a single portal on the Web for all environmental data submission to the agency. The Central Data Exchange offers companies, states and other entities that provide data to EPA a faster, easier and more secure reporting option.
9	Microbe first to break down PCBs		A first strain of bacterium that breaks down tough chlorine bonds of the pollutant polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) has been discovered.
V. Subject Area: Environmental Pollution and Health
10	Water treatment process byproducts may increase risk of health problems		A report by two environmental groups has found that minute byproducts from chlorine treated water may increase the risk of miscarriages, birth defects and cancer for those who drink the water.

SUMMARY REPORT

Period Covered: 7 Jan 2002 to 13 Jan 2002

Item 1	New mercury ban may shut local crematorium
Summary	The UK's Department of Environment is considering tough new measures on mercury emissions, which could cost Breakspear crematorium up to GBP 3 million to meet. As the councillors of the crematorium are not able to find the money to fund the required retrofication works, the crematorium will have no alternative but to close down. The Breakspear crematorium, which has served local families for more than 50 years, disposes of the remains of more than 4,000 people every year. The potentially dangerous mercury comes from the dental fillings of the deceased. The UK government has decided to crack down on mercury emissions as they accumulate in the environment contaminating the food chain, in particular fish. Mercury is toxic to the developing brain.
Reference	http://www.lexis-nexis.com

Item 2	Strict air pollution rules for Ontario's electricity sector
Summary	Starting 1 Jan 2002, fossil fuel power plants in Ontario will be subject to stringent new caps on their emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulphur dioxide (SO2). Both gases are air pollutants and chief contributors to smog and acid rain in the province. Under the new emissions caps, Ontario Power Generation's six fossil fuel stations will have to limit their total 2002 NOx emissions to 36 kilotonnes, and their SO2 emissions to 157.5 kilotonnes. Thereafter, the caps will be lowered gradually until 2007, when the cap for NOx will be 53% lower than today, while SO2 emissions limits will drop by 25%. A new mandatory emissions monitoring and reporting regulation, which requires the electricity sector to report on its emissions of air pollutants, including substances that cause smog, acid rain and climate change, has also been implemented.
Reference	http://www.lexis-nexis.com

Item 3	Researchers found a way to lengthen battery life
Summary	Experiments conducted at the University of North Carolina in the US show that carbon nanotubes can contain roughly twice the energy density of graphite. The carbon nanotubes are very strong tubular structures formed from a single layer of carbon atoms and are only about a billionth of a meter in diameter. Most rechargeable batteries in portable electronics today are lithium-ion batteries, which use graphite as one of the electrodes. The graphite electrode in lithium-ion batteries could be replaced by carbon nanotubes where the occurring of redox reactions creates a flow of electrons that generate and store energy. The scientists created single-wall carbon nanotubes by subjecting a carbon target to intense laser beams. By chemical processing, the researchers were able to open the closed ends of the nanotubes and reduce their lengths. This allows the diffusion of lithium ions into the interior space of the nanotubes and hence reduces the diffusion time and enhances its energy storage capacity.
Reference	http://www.enn.com/direct/display-release.asp?id=5940

Item 4	The 99-mpg wonder
Summary	High-tech diesels are an alternative to electric cars and costly hybrids if emissions standards could be compromised. The advanced diesel vehicles can accelerate decently and do not stink or clatter. Diesels can also get better mileage because diesel fuel contains about 10% more energy than gasoline and the absence of a mechanical throttle, which hurts a gasoline engine's air-breathing efficiency. For example, Volkswagen's Lupo 3L TDI and Opel's Astra 1.7 has low fuel consumption of three litres per 100 highway kilometres (about 99 mpg) and 4.4 litres per 100 kilometres respectively. In Europe, advanced diesels account for about a third of new cars purchased. However, they are not for sale in the U.S. because they do not meet the tough emissions standards of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that will take effect in 2004.
Reference	Fortune, 21 Jan 02, Pg. 70

Item 5	Idemitsu develops desulfurising agent for kerosene
Summary	A Japanese oil refiner Idemitsu Kosan Co Ltd has developed a desulfurising agent that could lead to the commercialization of fuel cells using kerosene to generate hydrogen. Japan's oil firms have been trying to develop technology to extract hydrogen from fuel products such as gasoline, kerosene and methanol. Idemitsu had been working to develop a fuel cell that runs on kerosene, which is cheaper and more widely used than other oil products. However, kerosene has a sulphur content of 30-50 parts per million (ppm). With the newly developed agent added to regular kerosene, the sulphur content can be reduced to 0.05 ppm or less.
Reference	http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=13924&newsdate=07-Jan-2002

Item 6	Used coffee grounds to produce cheaper lithium batteries
Summary	Sony has found an alternative form of graphite to produce cheaper lithium-ion batteries by using the carbon in coffee grounds. Lithium-ion batteries are the power source of choice for laptops, digital cameras and other portable gizmos but they cost at least 30% more than other power packs. A highly reactive metal, lithium must be stabilized by encapsulating the molecules in carbon. By replacing the expensive oil-derived graphite with carbon from used coffee grounds, the cost of carbon used in producing lithium-ion batteries could be trimmed by 50%. There is no shortage of raw material in Japan as coffee-service companies dispose of 270,000 tons of coffee grounds a year. Tests also indicate that the batteries made with coffee carbon might pack even more power than those in use today.
Reference	Business Week, 21 Jan 02, Pg. 41

Item 7

A Cuisinart for recycling plastics

Summary

A new process has been developed by a New Work-based startup company, New Generation Plastic to recycle plastic waste such as discarded computer cases and soda bottles without the use of "compatibilizers" which acts as a chemical glue to link incompatible polymers.

Current recycling methods use compatibilizers to link a mix of different plastics for reuse. This method is expensive and may not always work. Developed by New York-based startup New Generation Plastic, the new process - in essence, an industrial-scale Cuisinart - feed used plastics into a chamber with whirring blades. The mechanical stress serves to break existing chemical bonds and pave the way for new ones to form.

Tests show that the resulting material can have better properties than any of the original ingredients and the process is far cheaper than current recycling methods. New Generation Plastic expects to begin building a full-scale plant in France this spring.

Reference

Business Week, 21 Jan 02, Pg. 41

Item 8	EPA launches new e-commerce portal
Summary	US EPA has established a single portal on the Web for all environmental data submission to the agency. The Central Data Exchange (CDX) offers companies, states and other entities that provide data to EPA a faster, easier and more secure reporting option. According to the US EPA, the portal also includes built-in data quality checks, web forms, standard file formats and a common, user friendly approach to reporting data across vastly different environmental programs such as the toxic release inventory, unregulated contaminant monitoring rule, risk management plans and public water system supervision. A cornerstone of EPA's e-government initiative, CDX helps the agency's overall systems modernization effort and saves money by reducing redundant infrastructure. CDX currently accepts data for certain air, water, waste and toxic programs and will gradually expand to support all agency environmental reporting by 2004.
Reference	http://www.caprep.com/1201048.htm

Item 9	Microbe first to break down PCBs
Summary	A first strain of bacterium that breaks down tough chlorine bonds of the pollutant polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) has been discovered. Researchers from the University of Maryland Biotechnology used a rapid, DNA screening method on bottom sediments from Baltimore harbor in repeated experiments and found that the growth of the anaerobic bacterium was linked directly to PCB dechlorination. According to the researchers, the bacterium in the study is the first found to break the chlorine bonds in the critical ortho position. This raises hope for potential complete dechlorination of persistent molecules.
Reference	http://www.sciencedaily.com/print/2002/01/020108075648.htm

Item 10	Water treatment process byproducts may increase risk of health problems
Summary	A report by two environmental groups has found that minute byproducts from chlorine treated water may increase the risk of miscarriages, birth defects and cancer for those who drink the water. The report was released after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reduced the allowable levels of seven chlorination byproducts in tap water. It found that federal and state health agencies failed to track actual exposures to tap water contaminants and keep adequate records on rates of birth defects and miscarriages caused by exposure to toxic pollutants. Chlorine is added to drinking water to destroy disease-causing bacteria and viruses but when it is added to water that contains organic matter, for instance runoff from farms or lawns, compounds that can cause illness, such as chloroform, are formed.
Reference	http://www.lexis-nexis.com

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