Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Total on-site air emissions
On-site surface water discharges
Total on-site disposal or other releases
Total off-site disposal, including underground injection
Total on-and off-side disposal or other releases
1,400,000
1,200,000
1,000,000
800,000
600,000
400,000
200,000
0
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2004
Ye a r
FIGURE 2.5 Estimated releases of 1,4-dioxane from 1988 through 2004. [U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (USEPA), 2000, Preliminary data summary: Airport deicing operations. Ofi ce of Water, USEPA.]
Because 90% of all 1,4-dioxane produced in the United States was reportedly used as a stabilizer
for methyl chloroform, tracking chemical market reports for methyl chloroform provides a means of
corroborating TRI data for 1,4-dioxane. Prior to 1988, 1,4-dioxane production, consumption, and
releases to the environment can only be inferred from chemical market reports. The release of 1,4-dioxane
as a by-product of manufacture can be estimated from total production in the plastics, synthetic textiles,
and ethoxylated surfactants industries. The trends apparent from TRI data for 1,4-dioxane releases to air,
surface water, landi lls, and injection wells are presented in Figure 2.5. Trends in the TRI database for
transfers of 1,4-dioxane wastes for treatment and energy recovery are shown in Figure 2.6 .
During the 16-years of waste handling records depicted in Figures 2.5 and 2.6, 28 million pounds
were transferred to treatment facilities, and 15 million pounds were released. Releases of 1,4-dioxane
to air and surface water have decreased substantially, while recovery and transfer to treatment has
increased. For example, U.S. facility emissions of 1,4-dioxane to air reported in the TRI database have
decreased from a high of about 840,000 lb in 1989 to approximately 115,000 lb in 2004. Discharges to
surface water reported in the TRI database increased from about 200,000 lb in 1988 to 650,000 lb in
1993, and then decreased to about 90,000 lb in 2004. Overall discharges have decreased approximately
sixfold from 1993 to 2004. Some of the apparent trends in the TRI database may be reporting artifacts,
but the overall trend shows decreases in discharges and increased recovery and treatment of 1,4-dioxane
from facilities that use and generate it. A cursory review of records for facilities generating 1,4-dioxane
shows that since methyl chloroform was banned by the Montreal Protocol Clean Air Act Amendments,
1,4-dioxane emissions and releases to surface water have been eliminated or signii cantly decreased.
1,4-Dioxane occurrence at hazardous waste sites is the focus of Chapter 8.
2.8.1 1,4-D IOXANE IN W ASTEWATER
1,4-Dioxane has been detected in raw wastewater in Michigan and Japan. Treated efl uent from a
wastewater-treatment plant serving several apartment complexes in Japan's Kanagawa Prefecture
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