Suchergebnisse

The Danish air pollution abatement is based by and large on emission control. Since the ratification of the international sulfur protocol of 1985, there has been a continuous tightening of the permissible sulfur content in fuels and of the maximum emissions from power plants. As a consequence, the total annual emission of sulfur dioxide (SO2) has been reduced from 450,000 tons in the seventies to 180,000 tons in 1990. This has had a pronounced effect on the SO2 levels in Danish urban areas. Thus, in Copenhagen, the yearly averages have fallen to about 25%. For nitrogen oxides emitted from the power plants, similar regulations are in force. With this legislation, the most important and crucial source of air pollution in Danish urban areas is road traffic. The contribution of nitrogen oxides from national traffic accounts for nearly half the total Danish emission and is increasing steadily; this is consistent with an observed increase of nitrogen oxides in ambient air. The permissible levels of lead in petrol has been reduced drastically. After an introduction of reduced tax on lead-free petrol, it now accounts for more than two-thirds of the total consumption. As a result, the concentration of lead in urban ambient air has been reduced to less than one-sixth. The introduction of 3-way catalytic converters from October 1990 will result in reductions in the emission of a series of pollutants, e.g., lead, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides. In 1980, a Danish air quality monitoring program was established as a cooperative effort between the authorities, the Government, the countries, the municipalities, and the Greater Copenhagen Council.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The investigations presented in this work were carried out in order to further deepen the knowledge about nitrite pathways in the area of sugar beet extraction. The article consists of two parts with different experimental set-up: the first part focuses on laboratory trials in which the fate of nitrate and nitrite was studied in a so-called mini-fermenter. These trials were carried out using juice from the hot part of the cossette mixer of an Agrana sugar factory in Austria. In the experiments, two common sugar factory disinfectants were used in order to study microbial as well as microbial-chemical effects on nitrite formation and degradation caused by bacteria present in the juice. The trials demonstrated that the direct microbial effect (denitrification) on nitrite degradation is more pronounced than the indirect microbial-chemical effect coming from pH value decrease by these bacteria and subsequent nitrite loss. The second part describes the findings from laboratory experiments and full scale factory trials using a mobile laboratory set-up based on insulated stainless steel containers and spectrophotometric detection of nitrite in various factory juices. The trials were made at two Nordzucker factories located in Finland (factory A) and Sweden (factory B). The inhibiting effect of the two common sugar factory disinfectants on nitrite formation was evaluated in laboratory trials, whereas the full scale trials focused on one disinfectant. Other trials to evaluate potential contamination sources of thermophilic nitrite producing bacteria to the extraction system, reactivation of nitrite producing bacteria in raw juice and the effect of a pH gradient on bacterial nitrite activity in cossette mixer juice are also reported.

Abbreviations used: D, Dagspressen (Oslo); E, L'Echo de la Presse et de la Publicité (Paris); IJJ, Institute of Journalists Journal (London); J, Journalist of the National Union of Journalists (London); JD, Journalisten (Copenhagen); JN, Journalisten (Oslo); ANN, Newspaper News (Sydney); NW, Newspaper World (London); WPN, World's Press News (London).