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Previous by Date: Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (5 articles) Date: Mon, 2 Jan 2017 07:24:01 -0500 Author: DCHAS Secretary |
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Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, January 4, 2017 at 7:54:52 AM
A membership benefit of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
All article summaries and tags are archived at http://pinboard.in/u:dchas
Table of Contents (9 articles)
AN INDIAN CHEMICAL PLANT HAS FIGURED OUT HOW TO TURN ITS CARBON EMISSIONS INTO BAKING SODA
Tags: India, industrial, discovery, response, carbon_dioxide, sodium_bicarbonate
SPILLS UP AT WATERFORD'S MOMENTIVE CHEMICAL PLANT AS CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS RESUME
Tags: us_NY, industrial, follow-up, environmental, adhesives
CATAS RECOVERING AFTER FURNITURE LAB FIRE
Tags: Italy, laboratory, follow-up, response, unknown_chemical
EARLY MORNING FIRE AT ELEMENTIS CHROMIUM
Tags: us_NC, industrial, fire, response, fire_extinguisher
A VISUAL UPDATE FROM RUWEL
Tags: China, industrial, fire, environmental, unknown_chemical
UPDATED: HAZMAT TURNS OUT TO BE MEDICAL EMERGENCY AND SPILLED DETERGENT
Tags: us_VA, public, discovery, response, dust
EAST END BRIDGE RENEWS HAZARDOUS CARGO DEBATE
Tags: us_IN, transportation, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
4 CHILDREN DEAD, 6 PEOPLE HOSPITALIZED FOLLOWING 'HAZMAT INCIDENT' IN NORTHEAST AMARILLO
Tags: us_TX, public, release, death, ag_chems, pesticides, phosphine
DUPONT FACES MORE LEGAL LIABILITIES FOR CLEANUPS
Tags: us_OH, industrial, discovery, environmental, waste
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AN INDIAN CHEMICAL PLANT HAS FIGURED OUT HOW TO TURN ITS CARBON EMISSIONS INTO BAKING SODA
Tags: India, industrial, discovery, response, carbon_dioxide, sodium_bicarbonate
A chemical plant in India is the first in the world to run a new system for capturing carbon emissions and converting them into baking soda.
The Tuticorin Alkali Chemicals plant, in the industrial port city of Tuticorin, is expecting to convert some 60,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually into baking soda and other chemicals ' and the scientists behind the process say the technique could be used to ultimately capture and transform up to 10 percent of global emissions from coal.
While carbon capture technology is not a new thing, what's remarkable about the Tuticorin installation is that it's running without subsidies from the government ' suggesting the researchers have developed a profitable, practical system that could have the commercial potential to expand to other plants and industries.
"I am a businessman. I never thought about saving the planet," the managing director of the plant, Ramachadran Gopalan, told the BBC.
"I needed a reliable stream of CO2, and this was the best way of getting it."
---------------------------------------------
SPILLS UP AT WATERFORD'S MOMENTIVE CHEMICAL PLANT AS CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS RESUME
Tags: us_NY, industrial, follow-up, environmental, adhesives
As a strike at a Waterford chemical plant drags into its third month, fuel or chemical spills by new workers there have become more common, according to records from the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Since the strike began Nov. 2 at Momentive Performance Materials, on routes 4 and 32, there has been a spill reported every 2.6 days on average, a Times Union analysis of DEC records shows. That is more than double the average spill rate between 2011 through October 2016.
Meanwhile, union and company officials are returning to the bargaining table for the first time since the strike started, said Dominick Patrignani, president of IUE/CWA Local 81359, on Tuesday. Meetings are tentatively scheduled for Jan. 11-13, he said.
Momentive spokeswoman Tina Reiber said the meetings were requested last month by the union. "They asked us to return to the table the second week of January and we have agreed to do so," she said.
Unionized workers have been picketing outside the plant after rejecting a contract offer that would cut workers' vacation time, reduce 401(k) benefits, raise health insurance costs and decrease retiree health insurance and other benefits.
Union workers have repeatedly claimed that replacement workers, hired to work with non-union supervisors during the strike, are not adequately trained, and prone to mishandling fuel and other materials at the sprawling, 700-acre plant, where industrial sealants and adhesives are made.
"Our guys outside on the line have seen amazing things going on, things that would get them fired," said Patrignani.
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CATAS RECOVERING AFTER FURNITURE LAB FIRE
Tags: Italy, laboratory, follow-up, response, unknown_chemical
SAN GIOVANNI AL NATISONE, Italy -- In late December, one of the labs of Catas, the Italian research and testing laboratory for the wood and furniture industry in San Giovanni al Natisone, was destroyed in a fire. The structure, proof machinery and all the building contents were completely destroyed, with a loss of more than a million dollars.
Firefighters from Udine and Gorizia were able to control the fire and to restrict it to the building where it broke out. Catas activity is going on in the other labs in Friuli and in the Lissone branch.
'We're from Friuli and we learned to never stop when we are in front of a catastrophe,' commented Andrea Giavon, managing director of the research center. 'We're choosing a warehouse to rent as soon as possible and ordered some of the machines we need urgently, because we want to open again very soon and continue to give our clients the services everyone expects from us.'
This is one of the six laboratories of Catas and only in this department the activity has been partially interrupted. The other departments: chemistry, surfaces, fire, mechanical and furniture-Brianza, are still active and are regularly working.
To ensure an immediate continuity of testing service on furniture, Catas will use more of the potential of its twin laboratory located in Lissone (Milan). Some technicians from the headquarters of San Giovanni al Natisone will also help the colleagues in the Lissone branch. The headquarters of San Giovanni al Natisone, however, continues to operate with some equipment that were saved by the fire and which have already been immediately enhanced with other simple instrumentation.
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EARLY MORNING FIRE AT ELEMENTIS CHROMIUM
Tags: us_NC, industrial, fire, response, fire_extinguisher
NEW HANOVER COUNTY -- A small fire inside a kiln was extinguished Tuesday morning at Elementis Chromium.
New Hanover County Fire and Rescue crews responded to the report of a fire around 4:18 a.m. at the chemical company on Holly Shelter Road, said Deputy Fire Chief Frank Meyer. Upon arrival, crews spent 5-10 minutes putting out a fire involving a gear-drive system on a kiln. A pre-installed extinguishing system had experienced difficulty putting out the fire itself, Meyer said.
He added the fire was limited to a lubricant container and no injuries were reported.
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A VISUAL UPDATE FROM RUWEL
Tags: China, industrial, fire, environmental, unknown_chemical
The fire that raged PCB manufacturer Ruwel on December 27 completely ruined the company's plant where it produce the innerlayer for masslam boards. And looking at the pictures that the company has provided ' it's clear; there is nothing left.
When you see the pictures it really looks terrible, there is nothing left, but when you look at it closer, the conclusion must be, that the company had some luck in this tragedy ' none of the staff was injured.
Ruwel has provided an update from the site ' that is now in rubbles ' stating that; the firewall between the main building and the chemical storage did its job. It kept the fire away from the chemical storage for more than 12 hours, so there hasn't been any major environmental damage.
As of right now the order of business is as previously announced: to keep supplying our customers with the help of Unimicron in Kunshan. And to build a new plant as soon as possible on the piece of land just behind the burned down plant two (the plot is owned by Ruwel and the company already have a building permit).
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UPDATED: HAZMAT TURNS OUT TO BE MEDICAL EMERGENCY AND SPILLED DETERGENT
Tags: us_VA, public, discovery, response, dust
A man who suffered a diabetic emergency prompted a shutdown of U.S. in Dumfries when responding rescue workers discovered a white powder in his home.
U.S. 1 was shut down after fire and rescue was called to a house on Main Street Tuesday morning to check on the welfare of a person who didn't show up at work. They arrived to find the resident unconscious and an unknown white powder in the house, said Prince William County police spokesman Nathan Probus.
The powder turned out to be laundry detergent and the man had suffered a diabetic emergency, said county police Sgt. Jonathan Perok.
---------------------------------------------
EAST END BRIDGE RENEWS HAZARDOUS CARGO DEBATE
Tags: us_IN, transportation, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
For decades public safety officials and some politicians said an East End bridge was needed to divert dangerous truck cargo around downtown Louisville.
Now that the new Lewis and Clark Bridge is open, there's no clamor to quickly make that change for explosive, flammable or caustic shipments - though some authorities said they would welcome an investigation of the possibilities. They include fuels, acids and gases, including the deadly asphyxiant anhydrous ammonia.
Officials are saying they need information, including an update to a 2012 study that examined what was being shipped through Louisville on cars and trucks, and identified almost three motor vehicle incidents a month involving the chemicals.
They'd also want to evaluate the pros and cons of various routing alternatives. Such research would cost money - no immediate price estimate was available - and then any action would require the potentially knotty task of reaching agreement among local and state officials in Kentucky and Indiana, along with the trucking industry.
---------------------------------------------
4 CHILDREN DEAD, 6 PEOPLE HOSPITALIZED FOLLOWING 'HAZMAT INCIDENT' IN NORTHEAST AMARILLO
Tags: us_TX, public, release, death, ag_chems, pesticides, phosphine
AMARILLO, Texas (KVII) - Several Amarillo authorities were sent to a home where at least four children have died following a "HAZMAT incident" in Northeast Amarillo Monday morning.
....The Amarillo Fire Department said there were 10 people inside the home when the incident occurred. When crews arrived at the scene just after 5 a.m. Monday, one minor was already dead. The other three died after being taken to the hospital. The oldest of those who have died due to this incident was 17 years old. One of the other people who were taken to the hospital is said to be unstable and in ...
Jackson said the mother is still alive, but in serious condition. She has been airlifted to a Lubbock hospital. The father is in intensive care, but is in stable condition. The four other children who were in the home are also in stable condition in ICU.
AFD said someone at the residence had sprayed a pesticide, which is now identified as Weevil-Cide, containing aluminum phosphide underneath the house. At some point, a person living at the home tried to wash away the pesticide with water. This caused a chemical reaction that created phosphine gas, which is extremely dangerous. Phosphine gas causes pulmonary edema and extreme respiratory distress.
---------------------------------------------
DUPONT FACES MORE LEGAL LIABILITIES FOR CLEANUPS
Tags: us_OH, industrial, discovery, environmental, waste
DuPont's environmental headaches became a migraine at the end of last year as it lost one contamination lawsuit and confronted a new one.
Late last month, the firm, which is awaiting completion of its merger with Dow Chemical, was ordered by an Ohio jury to pay $2 million to a man who claimed he developed testicular cancer from drinking water contaminated by a DuPont fluorochemical. A second lawsuit, launched by the town of Ctarneys Point, N.J., wants DuPont to pay more than $1 billion to clean up pollution from the Chambers Works manufacturing site, which it operated for more than a century.
The Ohio jury award is the latest in a series of trials DuPont has been defending since late 2015 over its liability for contaminating wells with the Teflon processing aid perfluoroctanoic acid. The PFOA came from the firm's plant in Parkersburg, W.Va. Overall, DuPont faces 3,500 suits in federal court by residents who claim PFOA-laced water made them ill.
So far, four cases have gone to trial. Three have gone against DuPont for more than $9 million in total. Others were settled out of court for an 'immaterial amount,' according to a DuPont financial document. The judge overseeing the PFOA suits has scheduled an additional 39 trials this year.
The Carneys Point suit claims that over the years the Chambers Works released more than 45 million kg of hazardous waste into the soil and groundwater, threatening nearby residential neighborhoods. In its complaint, the municipality alleges that DuPont spun off the complex in 2015 to Chemours to avoid the cost of the cleanup.
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