Yuanrui Zhu, Gregory Ross, Olga Khaliukova, Selina A Roman-White, Fiji C George, Dorit Hammerling, Arvind P Ravikumar
{"title":"Multiscale Measurements of Greenhouse Gas Emissions at U.S. Natural Gas Liquefaction Terminals.","authors":"Yuanrui Zhu, Gregory Ross, Olga Khaliukova, Selina A Roman-White, Fiji C George, Dorit Hammerling, Arvind P Ravikumar","doi":"10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00713","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00713","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Addressing methane emissions across the liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply chain is key to reducing climate impacts of LNG. Actions to address methane emissions have emphasized the importance of the use of measurement-informed emissions inventories given the systematic underestimation in official greenhouse gas (GHG) emission inventories. Despite significant progress in field measurements of GHG emissions across the natural gas supply chain, no detailed measurements at US liquefaction terminals are publicly available. In this work, we conduct multiscale, periodic measurements of methane and carbon dioxide emissions at two US LNG terminals over a 16-month campaign. We find that methane emission intensity varied from 0.007% to 0.045%, normalized to methane in LNG production. Carbon dioxide emissions accounted for over 95% of total GHG emissions using 100-year global warming potential (GWP) for methane. Thus, contrary to observations across other natural gas supply chain segments, we find that reported GHG emissions intensity closely matches measurement informed GHG emissions intensity of 0.24-0.27 kg CO<sub>2</sub>e/kg CH<sub>4</sub>. In the context of developing LNG supply chain emissions intensity, we conclude that the use of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program emissions intensity provides reasonably accurate estimates of total GHG emissions at LNG terminals.</p>","PeriodicalId":37,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Technology Letters Environ.","volume":"12 1","pages":"44-50"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11736837/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142996289","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kieran S Evans, Daniel Baqer, Marc-Krystelle Mafina, Maya Al-Sid-Cheikh
{"title":"Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Tire Wear Particles (TWPs) in Road Dust Using a Novel Mode of Operation of TGA-GC/MS.","authors":"Kieran S Evans, Daniel Baqer, Marc-Krystelle Mafina, Maya Al-Sid-Cheikh","doi":"10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00937","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00937","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Detecting and quantifying tire wear particles (TWPs) in the environment pose a unique environmental challenge due to their chemical complexity. There are emerging concerns around TWPs due to their potential high numbers of particles released, outnumbering microplastics, as well as the leaching of toxic additives such as 6-PPD which has been linked to the death of salmon even when present at very low levels (<0.1 μg/L). Analytical techniques such as pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) and thermal extraction-desorption gas chromatography mass spectrometry (TED-GC/MS) have been used but also demonstrate limitations including low sample mass, low sample throughput, and complex characterization and quantification procedures. This work aims to overcome these challenges by developing a new approach which utilizes a coupling between thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). This work is the first to harness conventional TGA-GC/MS for the analysis of tire rubber, with the detection of additives such as 6-PPD, while also pioneering a novel mode of operation, PyroTGA-GC/MS, using fast heating to enable robust quantitative analysis of TWPs in road dust. The limits of detection and quantification of 0.08/0.16 μg and 0.20/0.40 μg for SBR and PI, respectively, are lower than those achieved using Py-GC/MS and TED-GC/MS for SBR and align with those achieved for PI. This study reveals a clear link between the ratio of PI to SBR and the proportion of heavy goods vehicles. This work solves key issues in tire particle analysis related to sample size and throughput. By overcoming these limitations, we introduce a technique that provides an economically viable solution for large-scale commercial analysis of tire rubber and particles.</p>","PeriodicalId":37,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Technology Letters Environ.","volume":"12 1","pages":"79-84"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11736838/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142996294","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bryan W. Brooks*, William A. Arnold, Alexandria B. Boehm, Imad El Haddad, Atsuko Ikeda, Jonathan W. Martin, James R. Mihelcic, Margaret Mills, Z. Jason Ren, Daniel Schlenk, Huahong Shi, Shuxiao Wang and Zhanyun Wang,
{"title":"Our Selections for the Best ES&T Letters Papers in 2023","authors":"Bryan W. Brooks*, William A. Arnold, Alexandria B. Boehm, Imad El Haddad, Atsuko Ikeda, Jonathan W. Martin, James R. Mihelcic, Margaret Mills, Z. Jason Ren, Daniel Schlenk, Huahong Shi, Shuxiao Wang and Zhanyun Wang, ","doi":"10.1021/acs.estlett.4c0098110.1021/acs.estlett.4c00981","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00981https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00981","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":37,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Technology Letters Environ.","volume":"11 12","pages":"1260–1261 1260–1261"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142850402","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Rico K Y Cheung, Jun Zhang, Tiantian Wang, Lisa Kattner, Sophie Bogler, Joseph V Puthussery, Ru-Jin Huang, Martin Gysel-Beer, Jay G Slowik, Vishal Verma, André S H Prevot, Imad El Haddad, David M Bell, Robin L Modini
{"title":"Online Measurements during Simulated Atmospheric Aging Track the Strongly Increasing Oxidative Potential of Complex Combustion Aerosols Relative to Their Primary Emissions.","authors":"Rico K Y Cheung, Jun Zhang, Tiantian Wang, Lisa Kattner, Sophie Bogler, Joseph V Puthussery, Ru-Jin Huang, Martin Gysel-Beer, Jay G Slowik, Vishal Verma, André S H Prevot, Imad El Haddad, David M Bell, Robin L Modini","doi":"10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00956","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00956","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Oxidative potential (OP) is increasingly recognized as a more health-relevant metric than particulate matter (PM) mass concentration because of its response to varying chemical compositions. Given the limited research on the OP of complex combustion aerosols, the effects of aging processes on their OP remain underexplored. We used online instruments to track the evolution of OP [via dithiothreitol (DTT) assays] during the aging of wood burning and coal combustion emissions by hydroxyl-radical-driven photooxidation and dark ozonolysis. We observed very substantial increases in the intrinsic OP (OP<sub>m</sub> <sup>DTT</sup>) of complex combustion aerosols (e.g., OP<sub>m</sub> <sup>DTT</sup> up to 100 pmol min<sup>-1</sup> μg<sup>-1</sup> for OH-aged wood burning emissions) within 1 day of equivalent aging. Further analysis in relation to the degree of oxidation revealed a potential for generalizing the OP of carbonaceous aerosols with average carbon oxidation state values ranging from -1.5 to -0.5 by assuming they have a constant OP<sub>m</sub> <sup>DTT</sup> value of ∼10 ± 6 pmol min<sup>-1</sup> μg<sup>-1</sup>. Additionally, we uncovered a strong dependency of OP<sub>m</sub> <sup>DTT</sup> on both the source/precursor and aging pathway with above ∼-0.5. OH photooxidation was identified as an exceptionally efficient pathway for generating highly oxidized, multifunctionalized, and DTT-active products, particularly from wood burning emissions.</p>","PeriodicalId":37,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Technology Letters Environ.","volume":"12 1","pages":"64-72"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11736845/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142996291","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lin Gui, Yu Xu*, Yu-Cheng You, Yi-Jia Ma, Ting Yang, Tang Liu, Hong-Wei Xiao, Hao Xiao and Hua-Yun Xiao,
{"title":"Oxidative Degradation of Higher-Molecular-Weight Aromatic Amine Compounds Is a Potential Source of Anilinium in Urban Aerosols","authors":"Lin Gui, Yu Xu*, Yu-Cheng You, Yi-Jia Ma, Ting Yang, Tang Liu, Hong-Wei Xiao, Hao Xiao and Hua-Yun Xiao, ","doi":"10.1021/acs.estlett.4c0093510.1021/acs.estlett.4c00935","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00935https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00935","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Aminiums are significant components of organic aerosols with intense research on aliphatic aminiums. However, the mechanisms of formation of aromatic aminiums in urban aerosols remain elusive. Highly time-resolved PM<sub>2.5</sub> samples were collected in the center of Shanghai (China) during the winter to investigate the origin and formation of aminiums. The dominant aminium groups were aliphatic (mainly dimethylaminium and monomethylaminium). Anilinium was the third most abundant aminium. The concentrations of anilinium and total aminiums showed higher levels during the daytime and on weekdays. This finding combined with source apportionment analysis suggested that the daily and weekly scale variations of anthropogenic activities (e.g., traffic for commuting) were mainly responsible for the fluctuations in aminium concentrations (particularly aromatic aminiums). The acid dependence of aliphatic aminium formation was significantly stronger than that of aromatic aminium formation. Aliphatic and aromatic aminiums were significantly negatively and positively correlated with ozone, respectively, suggesting that the oxidative processes weakened the abundance of aliphatic aminiums but promoted the formation of aromatic aminiums. The molecular characterization of aromatic aminiums suggested that the atmospheric degradation of higher-molecular-weight aromatic amine compounds was an important mechanism for anilinium formation in urban aerosols. Thus, this study provides novel insights into the formation of aromatic aminiums.</p>","PeriodicalId":37,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Technology Letters Environ.","volume":"11 12","pages":"1355–1361 1355–1361"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142843630","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Rashmi Shakti, Jennifer E. Kay, Elissia T. Franklin, Jennifer L. Ohayon, Julia G. Brody, Mary Beth Terry and Ruthann A. Rudel*,
{"title":"Why the UN Treaty on Plastics Can Reduce Early Onset Cancers","authors":"Rashmi Shakti, Jennifer E. Kay, Elissia T. Franklin, Jennifer L. Ohayon, Julia G. Brody, Mary Beth Terry and Ruthann A. Rudel*, ","doi":"10.1021/acs.estlett.4c0094210.1021/acs.estlett.4c00942","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00942https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00942","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":37,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Technology Letters Environ.","volume":"11 12","pages":"1281–1283 1281–1283"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-11-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142843915","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Matthew Dietrich*, Heather E. Golden, Jay R. Christensen, Charles R. Lane and Michael Dumelle,
{"title":"Lake Chlorophyll-a Linked to Upstream Nutrients across the Conterminous United States","authors":"Matthew Dietrich*, Heather E. Golden, Jay R. Christensen, Charles R. Lane and Michael Dumelle, ","doi":"10.1021/acs.estlett.4c0093810.1021/acs.estlett.4c00938","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00938https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00938","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) is a commonly used proxy for algal biomass within surface waters, which can be indicative of harmful algal blooms. Excess nutrients, such as nitrogen or phosphorus, promote Chl-a production, often leading to eutrophication. However, little research exists on river nutrients-to-downstream lake Chl-a linkages at large watershed scales and across disparate climatic and physiographic regions. We found a significant positive relationship between measured total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) concentrations in upstream rivers and Chl-a concentrations in downstream lakes at the watershed scale (average area = 99.8 km<sup>2</sup> [35.8–628.6 km<sup>2</sup>], <i>n</i> = 254 watersheds) throughout the conterminous United States (CONUS). Additionally, through spatial logistic regression models, we demonstrate that a small number of explanatory variables (2–3 per model) can accurately predict (77%–86% accuracy, AUC = 0.83–0.91) classifications of high or low riverine TN, TP, or lake Chl-a concentrations throughout the CONUS at the watershed scale. The predictive variables included vegetation type, runoff, tile drainage, temperature, and nitrogen inputs. This work supports the hypothesis that rivers supply nutrients that enhance Chl-a concentrations in downstream lakes and demonstrates the power of parsimonious models combined with spatial autocorrelation to accurately predict classifications of nutrient concentrations and Chl-a across the CONUS.</p>","PeriodicalId":37,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Technology Letters Environ.","volume":"11 12","pages":"1406–1412 1406–1412"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142850827","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Potential Role of Photochemistry in Environmental DNA Degradation.","authors":"Eliane Ballmer, Kristopher McNeill, Kristy Deiner","doi":"10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00704","DOIUrl":"10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00704","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Given the severe loss of species richness across diverse ecosystems, there is an urgent need to assess and monitor biodiversity on a global scale. The analysis of environmental DNA (eDNA), referring to any DNA extracted from environmental samples and subsequently sequenced, is a promising method for performing such biodiversity related studies. However, a comprehensive understanding of the factors that drive distinct eDNA degradation rates under different environmental conditions is currently missing, which limits the spatiotemporal interpretations that are possible from the eDNA-based detection of species. Here, we explore what role photochemistry may play in the fate of eDNA in aquatic ecosystems. Since few eDNA photodegradation studies have been performed, we extrapolate measured photochemical degradation dynamics from dissolved organic matter (DOM) and cellular DNA to what is expected for eDNA. Our findings show that photochemistry may dominate eDNA degradation under certain environmental conditions (e.g., DOM-rich waters with no light-limitation) and that photochemical alteration of eDNA may impact microbial respiration rates and the quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)-based detection of eDNA. We therefore encourage future studies to analyze the impact of photochemistry on eDNA degradation and provide suggested research directions that could help improve the accuracy of spatiotemporal inferences from eDNA analyses.</p>","PeriodicalId":37,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Technology Letters Environ.","volume":"11 12","pages":"1284-1295"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11636254/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142826562","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Eliane Ballmer, Kristopher McNeill* and Kristy Deiner*,
{"title":"Potential Role of Photochemistry in Environmental DNA Degradation","authors":"Eliane Ballmer, Kristopher McNeill* and Kristy Deiner*, ","doi":"10.1021/acs.estlett.4c0070410.1021/acs.estlett.4c00704","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00704https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00704","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Given the severe loss of species richness across diverse ecosystems, there is an urgent need to assess and monitor biodiversity on a global scale. The analysis of environmental DNA (eDNA), referring to any DNA extracted from environmental samples and subsequently sequenced, is a promising method for performing such biodiversity related studies. However, a comprehensive understanding of the factors that drive distinct eDNA degradation rates under different environmental conditions is currently missing, which limits the spatiotemporal interpretations that are possible from the eDNA-based detection of species. Here, we explore what role photochemistry may play in the fate of eDNA in aquatic ecosystems. Since few eDNA photodegradation studies have been performed, we extrapolate measured photochemical degradation dynamics from dissolved organic matter (DOM) and cellular DNA to what is expected for eDNA. Our findings show that photochemistry may dominate eDNA degradation under certain environmental conditions (e.g., DOM-rich waters with no light-limitation) and that photochemical alteration of eDNA may impact microbial respiration rates and the quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)-based detection of eDNA. We therefore encourage future studies to analyze the impact of photochemistry on eDNA degradation and provide suggested research directions that could help improve the accuracy of spatiotemporal inferences from eDNA analyses.</p>","PeriodicalId":37,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Technology Letters Environ.","volume":"11 12","pages":"1284–1295 1284–1295"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/epdf/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00704","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142843501","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lian-Jun Bao, Lei Mai, Liang-Ying Liu, Xiang-Fei Sun and Eddy Y. Zeng*,
{"title":"Microplastics on the Planet: Current Knowledge and Challenges","authors":"Lian-Jun Bao, Lei Mai, Liang-Ying Liu, Xiang-Fei Sun and Eddy Y. Zeng*, ","doi":"10.1021/acs.estlett.4c0060310.1021/acs.estlett.4c00603","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00603https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00603","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Microplastic (MP) pollution has become a global issue, attracting attention from stakeholders around the globe. Knowledge of MPs has been substantially advanced in recent years. Newly developed analytical technologies allow better characterization of MPs, but characterizing nanosized plastic particles remains challenging. Transport of plastic debris from land to oceans is a key driver for marine plastic pollution, and the relative contributions from riverine runoff and atmospheric deposition must be further quantified. Another lingering issue is whether MPs can bioaccumulate and biomagnify along a food web, which demands further investigations. Currently there is no health risk assessment for human exposure to MPs, probably due to the lack of reference threshold values. Hence, establishing reference threshold values for MPs should be a long-term and continuing task for the scientific community. Recent progress in quantifying the vertical settling of plastic debris in deep oceans has brightened the prospect of finding the “Missing Plastics”, at least partially. Future efforts are urgently needed in developing novel analytical techniques, conducting additional laboratory and field measurements, and formulating robust models to better understand the occurrence, fate, and effects of MPs on the planet.</p>","PeriodicalId":37,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Technology Letters Environ.","volume":"11 12","pages":"1262–1271 1262–1271"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142843702","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}