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Bioremediation > L1 - Intro to Pollution > Flashcards

L1 - Intro to Pollution Flashcards

1
Q

What is pollution?

A

Physical impurity or contamination of harmful or poisonous substances

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2
Q

Give examples of pollution disasters

A

Exxon Valdez oil spill (1989)

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3
Q

Give examples of pollutants

A 
Mercury
Asbestos
Pesticides
Sewage
Solvents
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4
Q

Give 4 examples of very problematic types of pollutants

A

Polymers - eg lignin
Toxic organics - cyanides, phenol
Highly toxic organics - methylmercury silver
Not soluble - oil

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5
Q

When do pollutants become pollution?

A

When they enter the environment they’re not normally found in

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6
Q

What 5 environments can be polluted?

A 
Marine - sea
Terrestrial - soil
Fresh water - rivers and lakes
Atmosphere 
Extraterrestrial - space
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7
Q

What are the 3 main ways pollution gets into the environment?

A

Deliberate release
Natural release
Accidental release

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8
Q

What are examples of deliberate release?

A

Industrial discharge, tipping, litter

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9
Q

What are examples of Natural release?

A

Oils seepages, erosion

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10
Q

What are examples of accidental release?

A

Tanker accidents, explosions, gas leaks

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11
Q

What is the increase in CO2 in this age?

A

1000-1750 it was 280 ppm
2015 it is 399 ppm
CO2 increasing at 0.5% per year

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12
Q

What are the UK’s CO2 emissions and how has it increased?

A

2% of global CO2
Peaked at 831m tonnes in 2004.
2011 was 22% lower

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13
Q

What is categorised as a serious incident?

A

Major, serious, persistent or extensive impacts. E.g 100 dead adult coarse fish

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14
Q

What is categorised as a significant incident?

A

Significant impact on environ, people, and property. E.g damage to protected wildlife site

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15
Q

How have UK pollution incidents changed since 2000?

A

Reduced 50%

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16
Q

What are the main types of pollution incidents in the UK in 2012?

A

28% Waste management facilities
16% agriculture
13% sewage and water

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17
Q

How did UK waste generation decrease?

A

11.3 percent between 2004 and 2008

18
Q

What sectors in the UK produce most of the waste?

A

Retail and wholesale - 19%
Power and utilities - 12%
Metal manufacture - 9%
Food, drink, tobacco - 10%

19
Q

What 2 countries are good at bad with waste?

A

Latvia almost all waste to landfill

Sweden all recycled

20
Q

How much of the UK is contaminated?

A

33500 confirmed

21
Q

What are arguments for treatment of pollution?

A

Ecological - destruction of habitat, loss of diversity and extinctions
Human - Health, welfare and economics

22
Q

What are arguments against treatment of pollution?

A
  • Not destruction but creation of new environment

- Extinction leads to niches for evolution to fill

23
Q

What are the broad types of treatment of contamination and example

A

Physical - containment
Chemical - neutralise acid
Biological - Sewage treatment

24
Q

What are the four main types of physic-chemical treatment?

A

Containment
Solidification
Minimisation
Destruction

25
Q

What are the two ways physic-chemical treatment is carried out?

A

In situ - treat where it is

Ex situ - remove to another site

26
Q

What are the features of physical containment? And example

A

Movement prevented by barriers
Applied to all types of pollution
Control of water and gases is difficult
E.g. storage of nuclear waste

27
Q

How can physical containment treat liquid pollution?

A

Leachate collection - pipes laid through collect methane and gases generated by degradation

28
Q

What is the landfill tax?

A

£80 per tonne

29
Q

What are some inactive pollutants?

A

Brick, clay, soil, gravel

30
Q

What are some active pollutants?

A

Wood, piping, plastics

31
Q

What is an in situ method of containment?

A

Impermeable or reaction barriers - concrete of steel pilings around contamination

32
Q

Give an example of a reaction barrier?

A

Zeolite treatment wall used to treat radioactive groundwater (strontium-90)

33
Q

What is hydrological containment?

A

Modifies the flow of groundwater at a site

34
Q

What is solidification/stabilisation?

A

Pollutant converted into a more stable form by adding binding agents e.g asphalt to prevent migration off site

35
Q

What is extraction?

A

Use a solvent like water, chemicals or gases to treat volatile chemicals e.g petrol.
(may only move pollutant)

36
Q

What is soil venting?

A

Pumps of blowers induce flow of air through boreholes sunk in contaminated soil - volatile organic compounds then diffuse into airstream to be captured

37
Q

What is thermal desorption?

A

Contamination heated to drive off organic contaminants

38
Q

What is soil washing?

A

Liquid solvent (usually water) used to extract contaminant

39
Q

What is destruction?

A

Incineration - can just move pollutant from solid to gas

40
Q

What are the problems with physic-chemical treatments?

A

Containment is putting off problem
Often invasive or damage site further
Often costly

Bioremediation (9 decks)

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