Mining operations are potential sources of airborne metal and metalloid contaminants through both direct smelter emissions and wind erosion of mine tailings. The warmer, drier conditions predicted for the Southwestern US by climate models may make contaminated atmospheric dust and aerosols increasingly important, with potential deleterious effects on human health and ecology. Fine particulates such as those resulting from smelting operations may disperse more readily into the environment than coarser tailings dust. Fine particles also penetrate more deeply into the human respiratory system, and may become more bioavailable due to their high specific surface area. In this work, we report the size-fractionated chemical characterization of atmospheric aerosols sampled over a period of a year near an active mining and smelting site in Arizona. Aerosols were characterized with a 10-stage (0.054 to 18 μm aerodynamic diameter) multiple orifice uniform deposit impactor (MOUDI), a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS), and a total suspended particulate (TSP) collector. The MOUDI results show that arsenic and lead concentrations follow a bimodal distribution, with maxima centered at approximately 0.3 and 7.0 μm diameter. We hypothesize that the sub-micron arsenic and lead are the product of condensation and coagulation of smelting vapors. In the coarse size, contaminants are thought to originate as aeolian dust from mine tailings and other sources. Observation of ultrafine particle number concentration (SMPS) show the highest readings when the wind comes from the general direction of the smelting operations site.

The validity of a new method to destroy gas-phase perchloroethylene (PCE) is demonstrated at bench scale using a fixed-bed reactor that contains a Pt/Rh catalyst. Hydrogen and oxygen were simultaneously fed to the reactor together with PCE. The conversion efficiencies of PCE were sensitive to H 2 /O 2 ratio and reactor temperature. When the temperature was ≥ 400 °C and H 2 /O 2 was ≥ 2.15, PCE conversion efficiency was maintained at ≥ 90%. No catalyst deactivation was observed for over two years, using only mild, convenient regeneration procedures. It is likely that PCE reduction steps precede oxidation reactions and that the importance of oxidation lies in its elimination of intermediates that would otherwise lead to catalyst poisoning. In practice, this catalytic dechlorination method holds potential for low-cost, large-scale field operation.

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Aerosols (PM 2:0 ), and associated precursor gases have been continuously monitored at Mt. Lemmon (2791 m ASL), Arizona, since September 1992. Month-long samples are collected on filters and chemically analyzed resulting in a decade-long record with over 100 data points for each species-among the longest such records currently available. The species determined include SO and NH 3 (g), appear to be increasing, but some trends may not be statistically significant. Long-term decreasing trends in SO 2 (g) and SO 2À 4 , reflect source controls implemented over the past decade, whereas HNO 3 (g)

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