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New treatment for cyanide waste
Marine Pollution Bulletin
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Safety Whilst Working Near Water ARCO Ltd, the UK's leading supplier of personal protective equipment, announce the introduction of a range of life jackets designed to reduce the risk of drowning, for workers on or near water. The Arco Challenger range includes the Worksafe 150N and Worksafe 275N single chamber lifejackets, with buoyancy ratings of 150 and 275 Newtons respectively, and the Offshore 150N twin-chambered jacket. All are backed by a comprehensive maintenance service. Arco has started to distribute the lifejackets in response to demand created by the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 which require workers to wear a lifejacket if there is a foreseeable risk of drowning. These regulations can apply to many workers, including those working on ships or offshore installations, at harbours, docks, power stations, water authorities, fish farms and sewage works. The recommended style for general usage is the Worksafe 150N which is a low-cost lifejacket suitable for constant wear. Available with either manual or automatic inflation, it is unobtrusive and comfortable. For greater buoyancy, the Worksafe 275N is suitable for those fitted with heavy tool belts or working in severe conditions. Both this and the Worksafe 150N comply with CEN Regulations 396/399. They can be fitted with an optional cover to protect against dirt, paint or other such contaminants and a fire-proof cover is available if, for example, the jacket is to be worn whilst welding. The Offshore 150N, a fully-automatic inflation twinchambered lifejacket, is made for offshore work. When inflated, it provides essential head and neck support to assist survival. As well as complying with CEN Regulation 396 and SOLAS 1986 Regulations, it also has UK DoT approval which is essential when working on ships or offshore installations. It also has a manual option fitted as standard. All three designs are constructed from neon fabric, to give maximum in-water visibility. Retro-reflective tape is also fitted, to facilitate location of users in emergencies and each jacket has a whistle attached, together with a lifting loop. A unique interlocking-lobe
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design ensures that the jackets' inflatable bladders close across the body, diverting water away from the face.
New Treatment for Cyanide Waste The Nihon Wacon Co, Yokohama, Japan, has developed a new method of treating effluent from cyanide-based metal-plating factories whilst generating almost no waste by-products. The effluent is first circulated through a reactor that is bubbled with ozone and irradiated with an air-cooled mercury-vapour lamp. In the reactor, cyanide ions (CN-) are oxidized to cyanate ions (CNO-) by the ozone. The resulting cyanate-containing solution is then fed to a column packed with an acid-type cationexchange resin to produce CO 2 and ammonium ion. The ammonium and any other metal ions present in the effluent are adsorbed onto the ion-exchange resin (IER). The effluent is finally fed to a second IER column employing an anion-type resin that adsorbs chloride, sulphate and any cyanate ions still present. Although treatment is more expensive than conventional methods, the new system produces re-usable deionized water, and copper and ammonium ions.
Flow Meter for Solids A new method of measuring the flow of solid materials online has been developed by Industrial Research Ltd. The system is mechanically simple, has no moving parts and consists of a vertical cylindrical vessel that has one or more vertical slots in the wall. Material falls into the top of the unit and exits through the slots, which restrict the flow so that material piles up to a certain extent in the cylinder. The flowrate is thus proportional to the height (and mass) of the material in the chamber: if the flow increases, the material piles higher; if it slows, the height of the pile drops. The weight of the material in the chamber is measured by a load cell that is calibrated at the start of a product run. Slot dimensions are sized to provide maximum flowrates when the piles reach the top of the slots. In tests with a 70 m t h -1 unit under controlled conditions, accuracies of better than _ 2% have been achieved. Further details are available from Industrial Research Ltd, Lower Hutt, New Zealand.
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@
~]
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Safety Whilst Working Near Water ARCO Ltd, the UK's leading supplier of personal protective equipment, announce the introduction of a range of life jackets designed to reduce the risk of drowning, for workers on or near water. The Arco Challenger range includes the Worksafe 150N and Worksafe 275N single chamber lifejackets, with buoyancy ratings of 150 and 275 Newtons respectively, and the Offshore 150N twin-chambered jacket. All are backed by a comprehensive maintenance service. Arco has started to distribute the lifejackets in response to demand created by the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 which require workers to wear a lifejacket if there is a foreseeable risk of drowning. These regulations can apply to many workers, including those working on ships or offshore installations, at harbours, docks, power stations, water authorities, fish farms and sewage works. The recommended style for general usage is the Worksafe 150N which is a low-cost lifejacket suitable for constant wear. Available with either manual or automatic inflation, it is unobtrusive and comfortable. For greater buoyancy, the Worksafe 275N is suitable for those fitted with heavy tool belts or working in severe conditions. Both this and the Worksafe 150N comply with CEN Regulations 396/399. They can be fitted with an optional cover to protect against dirt, paint or other such contaminants and a fire-proof cover is available if, for example, the jacket is to be worn whilst welding. The Offshore 150N, a fully-automatic inflation twinchambered lifejacket, is made for offshore work. When inflated, it provides essential head and neck support to assist survival. As well as complying with CEN Regulation 396 and SOLAS 1986 Regulations, it also has UK DoT approval which is essential when working on ships or offshore installations. It also has a manual option fitted as standard. All three designs are constructed from neon fabric, to give maximum in-water visibility. Retro-reflective tape is also fitted, to facilitate location of users in emergencies and each jacket has a whistle attached, together with a lifting loop. A unique interlocking-lobe
172
design ensures that the jackets' inflatable bladders close across the body, diverting water away from the face.
New Treatment for Cyanide Waste The Nihon Wacon Co, Yokohama, Japan, has developed a new method of treating effluent from cyanide-based metal-plating factories whilst generating almost no waste by-products. The effluent is first circulated through a reactor that is bubbled with ozone and irradiated with an air-cooled mercury-vapour lamp. In the reactor, cyanide ions (CN-) are oxidized to cyanate ions (CNO-) by the ozone. The resulting cyanate-containing solution is then fed to a column packed with an acid-type cationexchange resin to produce CO 2 and ammonium ion. The ammonium and any other metal ions present in the effluent are adsorbed onto the ion-exchange resin (IER). The effluent is finally fed to a second IER column employing an anion-type resin that adsorbs chloride, sulphate and any cyanate ions still present. Although treatment is more expensive than conventional methods, the new system produces re-usable deionized water, and copper and ammonium ions.
Flow Meter for Solids A new method of measuring the flow of solid materials online has been developed by Industrial Research Ltd. The system is mechanically simple, has no moving parts and consists of a vertical cylindrical vessel that has one or more vertical slots in the wall. Material falls into the top of the unit and exits through the slots, which restrict the flow so that material piles up to a certain extent in the cylinder. The flowrate is thus proportional to the height (and mass) of the material in the chamber: if the flow increases, the material piles higher; if it slows, the height of the pile drops. The weight of the material in the chamber is measured by a load cell that is calibrated at the start of a product run. Slot dimensions are sized to provide maximum flowrates when the piles reach the top of the slots. In tests with a 70 m t h -1 unit under controlled conditions, accuracies of better than _ 2% have been achieved. Further details are available from Industrial Research Ltd, Lower Hutt, New Zealand.