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Synthetic‐Fuel Plants: Potential Tumor Risks to Public Health
Author(s) -
Moskowitz Paul D.,
Morris Samuel C.,
Fischer Harris,
Thode, Jr. Henry C.,
Hamilton Leonard D.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
risk analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1539-6924
pISSN - 0272-4332
DOI - 10.1111/j.1539-6924.1985.tb00169.x
Subject(s) - pollutant , liquefaction , environmental science , environmental chemistry , waste management , environmental engineering , chemistry , engineering , organic chemistry
This article quantifies potential public health risks from tumor‐producing pollutants emitted from two synthetic‐fuel plants (direct liquefaction—Exxon Donor Solvent; and indirect liquefaction—Lurgi Fischer‐Tropsch) located at a representative site in the eastern United States. In these analyses gaseous and aqueous waste streams were characterized; exposures via inhalation, terrestrial and aquatic food chains, and drinking water supplies were modeled. Analysis suggested that emissions of “polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons,”“aromatic amines,”“neutral N, O, S heterocyclics,”“nitriles,” and “other trace elements” pose the largest quantifiable risks to public health. Data and analysis for these pollutant categories should be refined to more accurately match compound‐specific estimated exposure levels with tumorigenic potency estimates. Before these results are used for regulatory purposes, more detailed analysis for selected pollutant classes are needed, and more sophisticated aquatic exposure models must be developed. Also, differences in geographic scales among the environmental transport models used need to be rectified.