Modeling impacts of industrial park activity on air quality of surrounding area for identifying isolation distance: A case of Tan Tao Industrial Park, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam

Industrial factories have been addressed as the main contributor to the amount of air pollution in many urban areas around the world. The emissions of air pollutants from factories, combined with exhausted gases from automobile and domestic cooking activities, have placed enormous adverse effects on human health. Recently, air quality models, which usually figure out for industrial emission with representative indicators such as CO, NO2, SO2, and TSP, have triggered an application to identify a suitable isolation distance that could lessen affection on public health. Concerning to develop an air emission inventory for Tan Tao Industrial Park (IP) for three sources of points, line and area sources by using top-down and bottom-up approaches, this study aim to: (i) apply a system model of TAPM – AERMOD model to study the air pollution dispersion from the IP to the surrounding area, and (ii) identify a hygiene isolation distance for sensitive objects around industrial park, especially zones of community, based on their separating demand from contamination. Results show that the point sources are the dominant air emission sources of Tan Tao IP. Total emissions of Tan Tao IP in 2019 estimated at 413.15 tons of TSP/year, 280.9 tons of NO2/year, 621.99 tons of SO2/year, and 2720.21 tons of CO/year. Modeling results show that 1-hour maximum concentration of TSP, NO2, SO2, and CO in the simulation area is 581µg/m3, 4.069µg/m3, 5.478µg/m3, 40.695µg/m3, respectively, exceeding the standards. Especially, the pollution levels of NO2 were 20 times higher than the limit value, similar trends for SO2 (15 times higher). The hygiene isolation distance was suggested a widely ranged from 2910 meters in the North-West and in the rest directions of Ho Chi Minh City. Some sensitive objects such as residential areas, hospitals and kindergartens recently are inside the affected zone should be reckoned to have suitable solutions that keep their health safe. The method for calculation of hygiene isolation distances from industrial activities has a significant guiding not only for environmental safety action but also for public health protection.

Biological Potentiality to Remove Organic Solvents From Exhausted Air Emissions

The performance of an industrial prototype of a biological system was investigated during more than two years, for the treatment of exhaust gas from air emission of wooden painting activities. Two different type of VOCs mixture were treated at different weather conditions. Removal efficiencies were sufficiently high to maintain the outlet emissions within the legal thresholds. Particularly low costs for management were experienced, confirming the biofiltration a sustainable technology.

Bio-Based Polyisoprene Can Mitigate Climate Change and Deforestation in Expanding Rubber Production

Biomass is a promising renewable feedstock to produce polyisoprene for the rubber industry. Through metabolic engineering, sugars derived from pretreated and hydrolyzed cellulose and hemicellulose can be directly fermented to isoprene to produce rubber. Here we investigate the life cycle environmental impact of isoprene fermentation to produce bio-polyisoprene from agricultural residues (of Zea mays L.). Results show that the greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity of bio-polyisoprene (−4.59 kg CO2e kg−1) is significantly lower than that of natural rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) and synthetic rubber (−0.79 and 2.41 kg CO2e kg−1, respectively), while supporting a circular biogenic carbon economy. We found the land use intensity of bio-polyisoprene to be 0.25 ha metric ton−1, which is 84% lower than that from rubber tree plantations. We compare the direct fermentation to isoprene results with indirect fermentation to isoprene through the intermediate, methyl butyl ether, where dehydration to isoprene is required. The direct fermentation of isoprene reduces reaction steps and unit operations, an expected outcome when employing process intensification, but our results show additional energy conservation and reduced contribution to climate change. Among the ReCiPe life cycle environmental impact metrics evaluated, air emission related impacts are high for bio-polyisoprene compared to those for natural and synthetic rubber. Those impacts can be reduced with air emission controls during production. All other metrics showed an improvement for bio-polyisoprene compared to natural and synthetic rubber.

Furlow Palatoplasty for Velopharyngeal Dysfunction Management: Auditing and Predicting Outcomes

Objective The Furlow palatoplasty is a proven procedure in the management of secondary velopharyngeal dysfunction in patients with cleft palate. But the selection of cases, the degree of clinical success, and the preoperative predictors of the same are less established. This study is an effort to retrospectively look at outcomes, in a large series of velopharyngeal dysfunction cases treated with the Furlow palatoplasty alone. Design Retrospective analysis of preoperative and postoperative speech and videofluoroscopic data. Setting Tertiary care center. Patients/Participants Ninety-two patients who were diagnosed with velopharyngeal dysfunction post primary cleft palate repair. Interventions Furlow palatoplasty for velopharyngeal dysfunction post primary cleft palate repair. Main outcome measures Variables analyzed were perceptual speech parameters and, closure ratios obtained from lateral video-fluoroscopic images. Results Overall, 81.5% had postoperative improvements in their lateral video-fluoroscopic parameters, 63% improved their nasality scores, and 65.2% had improved speech intelligibility. A simple linear regression was done to predict the postoperative closure ratio. Preoperative closure ratio, hypernasality (moderate and severe), and audible nasal air emission are predictors for postoperative closure ratio. Conclusions The Furlow palatoplasty alone led to complete resolution, or significant improvement of velopharyngeal dysfunction in a majority of patients, despite the cohort having a wide range of severity in terms of degree of dysfunction. The predictive formula will be validated in a further study.

Development and Resolution of Nasal Fricatives in a Child With Repaired Bilateral Cleft Lip and Palate: A Case Report

Purpose This case report describes the development, characteristics, and resolution of anterior nasal fricatives (ANFs)—a learned maladaptive articulation error—in a young girl with repaired bilateral cleft lip and palate. Method The girl was observed every 2 months from 12 to 24 months of age with follow-ups at 36, 48, and 67 months of age. Results At 12 months of age, the girl nasalized /b/ inconsistently and had mild conductive hearing loss. At 18 months of age, she exhibited audible nasal air emission on some plosives and used ANFs to replace /s/ and /z/, often with a nasal grimace. At 24 months of age, the child continued to experience mild conductive hearing loss, obligatory nasal air emission, and ANFs for /s/ and /z/. At 36 months of age, pressure-flow testing documented significant velopharyngeal (VP) dysfunction. The girl then used ANFs for /f/ and /s/, phonetically marked by different oral stops. At 48 months of age, although VP impairment continued, speech therapy largely eliminated ANFs. By 67 months of age, VP closure was nearly normal. Conclusions Multiple factors including VP dysfunction, audible nasal air emission, and conductive hearing loss contributed to the development of ANFs. Clinical and etiological implications are discussed.