Microbiological and chemical analysis of air was carried out on the area of landfill of wastes other than inert or hazardous. The landfill covers 20 ha and 40 000 Mg of wastes is deposited annually. Municipal waste is not segregated at the landfill. The research was conducted in April, May and November 2012. Number of the psychrophilic and mesophilic bacteria and fungi was estimated by a culture-based method. Quantitative determination of sulfur compounds and meteorological and olfactrometric examinations were also carried out. Chemical analysis was conducted with a Photovac Voyager portable gas chromatograph. Air samples were collected at 5 points. The largest group of microbes were psychrophilic bacteria, especially in summer. The highest concentration of hydrogen sulfide and other odorants was found at leachate tank and landfill body. According to the Polish Standard for the assessment of atmospheric air pollution the air in the area of the landfill is classified as not contaminated and sporadically moderately contaminated. In spring and summer the number of microscopic fungi was increased also in control samples.

The electrical properties and behaviour in constant magnetic field of fourfold expanded GaSe matrix intercalated with SmCl 3 guest were investigated by means of impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry. It was determined that the synthesized GaSe< SmCl 3> clathrate of 4-fold expansion demonstrates the coexistence of mechanisms of generation, transformation and accumulation of electric energy on a quantum level. These mechanisms are driven from external sources of magnetic, thermal and electric field without Faradaic reactions. Therefore, investigated GaSe< SmCl 3> structure is of great attraction in multivoltaics as a prototype of new class of materials. Quantum mechanical model of electro motive force of spin nature is proposed. The main focus of work lies in the prospects of synthesized clathrates for the development of power nanosources and gyrator-free delay nanolines controlled by means of magnetic field.

The public and, above all, scientists clearly emphasize that the cause of global climate change caused mainly by carbon dioxide emissions is, above all, human activity and its combined emission. It is associated with the processes of fuel combustion in the energy, industry and transport, as well as with poverty being the main cause of difficulties in meeting basic energy needs in households and the incorrect way of heating them. The public is often made aware that the climate should be protected and at the same time convinced that global warming has no impact on the everyday lives of Poles. Meanwhile, Poland, due to the high share of coal in the energy sector, is indicated as one of the main culprits of carbon dioxide emissions in the European Union and exposed as a significant shareholder of climate change causing global warming. The aim of the work is to show the opinions of young people aged 15–24, in terms of their awareness of the human impact on climate change and indication of desirable directions of the modern energy policy, defining the level of support for these directions, which will significantly contribute to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.

The research conducted among young people shows that it is aware of the consequences of climate change, especially on a global scale, and to a much lesser extent in Poland, and still less in the Podkarpackie province. The studied youth emphasizes that climate change is currently one of the greatest threats, but it is one of many threats.

The young people emphasize that the energy policy in Poland should aim at the better utilization and reduction of energy consumption as well as increasing the share of energy based on renewable energy sources, associated mainly with public health protection, reduction of air pollution, as well as the energy security of the country. Young people show a lack of determination regarding the use of nuclear power plants, where we see supporters and opponents of this source of electricity in a similar relationship.

Coal in Poland is an available conventional fuel providing energy security and independence of the country. Therefore, conventional energy generation should be based on coal with the optimal development of renewable energy sources. Such a solution secures the energy supply based on coal and the independence of political and economic turmoil of global markets. Polish coal reserves can secure the energy supply for decades. Coal will surely be important for energy security in the future despite the growing share of oil and gas in energy mix. The development of renewable power generation will be possible with the conventional energy generation offsetting volatile renewable power generation as Poland’s climate doesn’t allow for the stable and effective use of renewable energy sources. Considering the policy of the European Union with respect to emission reductions of greenhouse gasses and general trends as reflected in the Paris agreement in 2016, as a country we will be forced to increase renewable energy production in our energy mix. However, this process cannot impact the energy security of the country and stability and the uninterrupted supply of energy to consumers. Therefore seeking the compromise with the current energy mix in Poland is the best way to its gradual change with the simultaneous conservation of each of the sources of energy. It’s obvious that Poland can not be lonely energy island in Europe and in the world, which increasingly develops distributed energy and/ renewable technologies as well as energy storage ones. One can notice that without renewable generation and the reduction of coal’s share in country’s energy mix we will become the importer of electricity with raising energy dependence.

GaSe<CS(NH ₂) ₂<C ₁₄H ₁₀>> clathrate with a hierarchical subhost<host<guest>> type architecture was formed under illumination and its electrically conductive properties were studied. The method of impedance spectroscopy studied the frequency behavior of the real and imaginary parts of the complex total impedance in the range of 10 ^-3-10 ⁶ Hz. The measurements were performed under normal conditions, in a permanent magnetic field (220 kA/m), or under light illumination (for a standard solar spectrum AM 1.5 G total available power is 982 W/m ²). The structure of the impurity energy spectrum at the Fermi level was investigated by the method of thermostimulated discharge in the temperature range from 240 to 340 K. Using Jebol-Pollack theoretical approaches based on impedance spectra, the parameters of the impurity energy spectrum were calculated, such as the density of states at the Fermi level, the jump radius , the scatter of trap levels near the Fermi level and the real density of deep traps. As evidenced by studies, illumination during clathrate synthesis, forms an internal electret polarization, which leads to abnormal behavior of the photoresistive effect and to the appearance of the memristive effect. The imposition of a permanent magnetic field during the measurement of complex resistance leads to the appearance of quantum capacitance.

The chemical fundamentals of one variant of the chelate method of combined removal of sulfur and nitrogen oxides from flue gases were described. Special attention was paid for chemical reactions responsible for production of solid wastes. A flow sheet of the technology was presented and the operation of industrial installation of SO2, NOx and dust from combustion gases of two 29 MW, grate boilers each was described. The material balance of the process was made and the quantity of solid wastes produced during 3 weeks test of the technology was presented.

Proposed is the analysis of steam condensation in the presence of inert gases in a power plant condenser. The presence of inert, noncondensable gases in a condenser is highly undesirable due to its negative effect on the efficiency of the entire cycle. In general, thermodynamics has not provided an explicit criterion for assessing the irreversible heat transfer process. The method presented here enables to evaluate precisely processes occurring in power plant condensers. This real process is of particular interest as it involves a number of thermal layers through which heat transfer is observed. The analysis was performed using a simple, known in the literature and well verified Berman’s model of steam condensation in the presence of non-condensable gases. Adapted to the geometry of the condenser, the model enables, for instance, to recognise places where non-condensable gases are concentrated. By describing with sufficient precision thermodynamic processes taking place in the vicinity of the heat transfer area segment, it is possible to determine the distributions of thermodynamic parameters on the boundaries between successive layers. The obtained results allow for the recognition of processes which contribute in varying degrees to irreversible energy degradation during steam condensation in various parts of the examined device.

In the present paper, the one-dimensional model for heat and mass transfer in fixed coal bed was proposed to describe the thermal and flow characteristics in a coke oven chamber. For the purpose of the studied problem, the analysis was limited to the calculations of temperature field and pyrolytic gas yield. In order to verify the model, its theoretical predictions for temperature distribution during wet coal charge carbonization were compared with the measurement results found in the literature. In general, the investigation shows good qualitative agreement between numerical and experimental data. However, some discrepancy regarding the temperature characteristics at the stage of evaporation was observed.

Detection and identification of toxic environmental gases have assumed paramount importance precisely in the defense, industrial and civilian security sector. Numerous methods have been developed for the sensing of toxic gases in the environment ever since surface acoustic wave (SAW) technology came into existence. Such SAW sensors called electronic nose (E-Nose) sensor use the frequency response of a delay line/resonator. SAW device is focused and given importance. The selective coating between input and output interdigital transducers (IDTs) in the SAW device is responsible for corresponding changes in operating frequency of the device for a specific gas/vapour absorbed from the environment. A suitable combination of well-designed SAW delay lines with selective coatings not only help to improve sensor sensitivity and selectivity but also leads to the minimization of false frequency alarms in the E-Nose sensor. This article presents a comprehensive review of design, development, simulation and modelling of a SAW sensor for potential sensing of toxic environmental gases.

The paper presents current reports on kinetics and mechanisms of reactions with mercury which take place in the exhaust gases, discharged from the processes of combustion of solid fuels (coals). The three main stages were considered. The first one, when thermal decomposition of Hg components takes place together with formation of elemental mercury (Hg0). The second one with homogeneous oxidation of Hg0 to Hg2+ by other active components of exhaust gases (e.g. HCl). The third one with heterogeneous reactions of gaseous mercury (the both - elemental and oxidised Hg) and solid particles of fl y ash, leading to generation of particulate-bound mercury (Hgp). Influence of exhaust components and their concentrations, temperature and retention time on the efficiency of mercury oxidation was determined. The issues concerning physical (gas-solid) and chemical speciation of mercury (fractionation Hg0-Hg2+) as well as factors which have influence on the mercury speciation in exhaust gases are discussed in detail.

The article presents research results of physico-chemical and environmental issues for the dust generated during dedusting of the

installation for the processing and preparation of moulding sand with bentonite. Particular attention was paid to the content of heavy

metals and emission of gases from the BTEX group, which is one of the determinants of the moulding sands harmfulness for the

environment. The analysis of heavy metals in the test samples indicate that there is an increase of the content of all metals in the dust

compared to the initial mixture of bentonite. The most significant (almost double) increase observed for zinc is probably related to the

adsorption of this element on the dust surface by contact with the liquid metal. The study showed, that dust contained more than 20% of

the amount of montmorillonite and had a loss on ignition at a similar level. The addition of 1% of dust to the used moulding sand results in

almost 30% increase in the total volume of gases generated in casting processes and nearly 30% increase of the benzene emission.

The paper presents the results of thermoanalytical studies by TG/DTG/DTA, FTIR and GC/MS for the oil sand used in art and precision foundry. On the basis of course of DTG and DTA curves the characteristic temperature points for thermal effects accompanying the thermal decomposition reactions were determined. This results were linked with structural changes occurred in sample. It has been shown that the highest weight loss of the sample at temperatures of about 320°C is associated with destruction of C-H bonds (FTIR). In addition, a large volume of gases and high amounts of compounds from the BTEX group are generated when liquid metal interacts with oil sand. The results show, that compared to other molding sands used in foundry, this material is characterized by the highest gaseous emissions and the highest harmfulness, because benzene emissions per kilogram of oil sand are more than 7 times higher than molding sand with furan and phenolic binders and green sand with bentonite and lustrous carbon carrier.

Gas atmosphere at the sand mould/cast alloy interface determines the quality of the casting obtained. Therefore the aim of this study was to measure and evaluate the gas forming tendency of selected moulding sands with alkyd resins. During direct and indirect gas measurements, the kinetics of gas evolution was recorded as a function of the temperature of the sand mixture undergoing the process of thermal destruction. The content of hydrogen and oxygen was continuously monitored to establish the type of the atmosphere created by the evolved gases (oxidizing/reducing). The existing research methodology [1, 7, 8] has been extended to include pressure-assisted technique of indirect measurement of the gas evolution rate. For this part of the studies, a new concept of the measurement was designed and tested.

This article presents the results of measurements and compares gas emissions from two sand mixtures containing alkyd resins known under the trade name SL and SL2002, in which the polymerization process is initiated with isocyanate. Studies of the gas forming tendency were carried out by three methods on three test stands to record the gas evolution kinetics and evaluate the risk of gas formation in a moulding or core sand.

Proprietary methods for indirect evaluation of the gas forming tendency have demonstrated a number of beneficial aspects, mainly due to the ability to record the quantity and composition of the evolved gases in real time and under stable and reproducible measurement conditions. Direct measurement of gas evolution rate from the tested sands during cast iron pouring process enables a comparison of the results with the results obtained by indirect methods.

It is contended that, in essence, climate policy is sustainable development policy, given that it postulates the use of renewable resources, and an increase in the effectiveness of use of non-renewable ones. Furthermore, it serves the security of future generations more than present ones; for while unfavourable impacts of climate change are already making their presence felt, truly negative consequences of considerable signifi cance are likely to be more of a matter for the second half of the present century. This is why, in analysing the evolution of the approach to climate policy through the late 20th century and into the 21st, it is also possible to appraise changes in the approach to the sustainable-development concept. This article has therefore sought to offer the author’s analysis of how the approach to sustainable development has evolved, by reference to Poland’s climate policy from 1988 through to 2016. As this is done, an attempt is also made to identify the conditioning that has decided upon and will go on determining the shape of national policy in this domain. Climate policy in Poland has been developing since the early 1990s. At the outset, it was not a source of controversy, with the consequence that the country rather rapidly signed up to and then ratifi ed the Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. However, as early as in the late 1990s, reservations began to be expressed, to the effect that actions to protect the climate might pose a threat to Poland’s economy. A key turning point as regards the approach came with the growing dispute over the EU 2020 Climate and Energy Package. It was also at this time that a thesis began to take shape, holding that the goals of climate policy where at best unfavourable and at worst dangerous for Poland. This approach in fact held sway in successive years, leaving this country’s cooperation with the EU over this matter severely hindered. The main reason for this change of approach to climate policy can be considered to lie in the politicisation thereof, and hence the increasing dominance of the short-term interests of the Polish political elite over either the public interest or the security of future generations.

The issue of mercury emission and the need to take action in this direction was noticed in 2013 via the Minamata Convention. Therefore, more and more often, work and new law regulations are commencing to reduce this chemical compound from the environment. The paper presents the problem of removing mercury from waste gases due to new BREF/BAT restrictions, in which the problem of the need to look for new, more efficient solutions to remove this pollution was also indicated. Attention is paid to the problem of the occurrence of mercury in the exhaust gases in the elemental form and the need to carry out laboratory tests. A prototype installation for the sorption of elemental mercury in a pure gas stream on solid sorbents is presented. The installation was built as part of the LIDER project, financed by the National Center for Research and Development in a project entitled: “The Application of Waste Materials From the Energy Sector to Capture Mercury Gaseous Forms from Flue Gas”. The installation is used for tests in laboratory conditions in which the carrier gas of elemental mercury is argon. The first tests on the zeolite sorbent were made on the described apparatus. The tested material was synthetic zeolite X obtained as a result of a two-stage reaction of synthesis of fly ash type C with sodium hydroxide. Due to an increase, the chemical affinity of the tested material in relation to mercury, the obtained zeolite material was activated with silver ions (Ag+) by an ion exchange using silver nitrate (AgNO3). The first test was specified for a period of time of about 240 minutes. During this time, the breakthrough of the tested zeolite material was not recorded, and therefore it can be concluded that the tested material may be promising in the development of new solutions for capturing mercury in the energy sector. The results presented in this paper may be of interest to the energy sector due to the solution of several environmental aspects. The first of them is mercury sorption tests for the development of new exhaust gases treatment technologies. On the other hand, the second aspect raises the possibility of presenting a new direction for the management and utilization of combustion by-products such as fly ash.

Paper discusses integrated assessment methodology of air pollution and greenhouse gases mitigation. RAINS/CiAINS model developed at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) is described. Its use in policy-relevant analysis is discussed with particular locus on studies for the development of policies of the European Union and under the lJN/ECF: Convention on Long-Range Transhoundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP). Importance of interactions and synergies het ween air pollution and greenhouse gases policies is stressed. Integrated assessment has proven to be an important tool for preparation of air pollution control legislation in Eurore. Although most prominent applications of integrated assessment referred to international policies, recently these methods have been applied in several national studies lor in-depth analyses at subnational regional level. It is advisable to further disseminate applications of the methodology and software tools lor regional assessment.

Multi-purpose reservoirs play an important role in satisfying demands for water supply, irrigation, hydropower, drinking water, flood protection, recreation, navigation, and other purposes. At the same time, they can often have considerable negative impacts on the environment and local biodiversity that remain largely unseen. These “dirty secrets” include sediment deposition, cyanobacteria blooms, and greenhouse gas emissions.

The pot experiment was conducted to access the soil microorganisms biomass (physiological method – Substrate Induced Respiration) and emissions of N2O, CO2 and CH4 (photoacoustic infrared detection method), and grasses biomass (weight method). The obtained results of analysed gases were converted to CO2 equivalent. There was no effect of the microorganisms biomass on the N2O emissions. The increase in CO2 emissions was accompanied by an increase in the microorganisms biomass (r = 0.48) under the conditions of the I swath and acid soil reaction, as well as the II swath and neutral reaction ( r = 0.94). On the other hand, in the case of CH4 emission, such a relationship was noted both swaths under the conditions of neutral reaction ( r = 0.51), but a negative correlation ( r = –0.71) was noted for the acid reaction only at the II swath. The increase in the grasses biomass with the increase in the microorganisms biomass was recorded only at the II swath in neutral reaction ( r = 0.91). In a short period of time, with the neutral soil reaction with the increase in the soil microorganisms biomass, an increase in CO2 sequestration and biomass of cultivated grasses was noted. Information on the determination of the microorganisms groups responsible mainly for the transformation of carbon compounds and CO2 and CH4 emissions from the soils of grasslands would be valuable scientifically.

With rapid population increases, people are facing the challenge to maintain healthy conditions. One of the challenges is air pollution. Due to industrial development and vehicle usage air pollution is becoming a high threat to human life. This air pollution forms through various toxic contaminants. This toxic contamination levels increase and cause severe damage to the living things in the environment. To identify the toxic level present in the polluted air various methods were proposed by the authors, But failed to detect the tolerance level of toxic gases. This article discusses the methods to detect toxic gasses and classify the tolerance level of gasses present in polluted air. Various sensors and different algorithms are used for classifying the tolerance level. For this purpose “Artificial Sensing Methodology” (ASM), commonly known as e-nose, is a technique for detecting harmful gases. SO2-D4, NO2-D4, MQ-135, MQ136, MQ-7, and other sensors are used in artificial sensing methods (e-nose). “Carbon monoxide, Sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon dioxide” are all detected by these sensors. The data collected by sensors is sent to the data register from there it is sent to the Machine learning Training module (ML) and the comparison is done with real-time data and trained data. If the values increase beyond the tolerance level the system will give the alarm and release the oxygen.

The paper presents the results of an investigation of the gases emission of moulding sands with an inorganic (geopolymer) binder with a relaxation additive, whose main task is to reduce the final (residual) strength and improves knocking-out properties of moulding sand. The moulding sand without a relaxation additive was the reference point. The research was carried out using in accordance with the procedure developed at the Faculty of Foundry Engineering of AGH - University of Science and Technology, on the patented stand for determining gas emissions. Quantification of BTEX compounds was performed involving gas chromatography method (GC).The study showed that the introduction of relaxation additive has no negative impact on gas emissions - both in terms of the total amount of gases generated, as well as emissions of BTEX compounds. Among the BTEX compounds, only benzene is emitted from the tested moulding sands. Its emission is associated with the introduction a small amount of an organic hardener from the group of esters.

The paper focuses on investigation of properties of two most widely used self-set sand binder systems APNB and FNB across the Globe, for making molds and cores in foundries to produce castings of different sizes involving wide range of metals and alloys, ferrous and nonferrous. This includes study of compression strength values of samples made out of molding sand at different binder addition level using new, mechanically reclaimed (MR) and thermally reclaimed (TR) sand. Strength values studied include dry strength (at room temperature) at specified intervals simulating different stages of mold handling, namely stripping and pre heating, followed by degraded strength after application of thinner based zircon wash by brush, subsequent lighting of, then checking strength both in warm (degraded strength) & cold (recovered strength) conditions. Throughout the cycle of mold movement from stripping to knock out, strength requirements can be divided into two broad classifications, one from stripping to closing (dry strength) and another from pouring to knock out (hot & retained strength). Although the process for checking of dry strength are well documented, no method using simple equipments for checking hot & retained strength are documented in literature. Attempts have been made in this paper to use some simple methods to standardize process for checking high strength properties using ordinary laboratory equipments. Temperature of 450°C has been chosen by trial & error method to study high temperature properties to get consistent & amplified values. Volume of gases generated for both binders in laboratory at 850°C have also been measured. Nature of gases including harmful BTEX and PAH generated on pyrolysis of FNB and APNB bonded sands are already documented in a publication [1]. This exercise has once again been repeated in same laboratory, AGH University, Poland with latest binder formulations in use in two foundries in India.

Developed a method of a complex estimation of efficiency of the diesel particulate filter according to three criteria: the counting, the surface and the mass concentration of particulate matter considering their dispersion composition. The results of efficiency evaluation of a diesel particulate filter of freight car are presented using the proposed technique.

There are two basic types of coal mine gases: gas from demethanation of coal deposits, and ventilation gas; containing combustible ingredients (mainly methane, CH4). Effective use of these gases is an important technical and ecological issue (greenhouse gas emissions), mainly due to the presence of methane in these gases. Serious difficulties in this area (e.g. using them as the fuel for internal combustion (IC) engine) occur mainly in relation to the ventilation gas, whereas the gas from demethanation of coal deposits can be used directly as the fuel for internal combustion engines. The proposed solution of this problem shows that the simple mixing of these two gases (without supplying of oxygen from ambient air) is the effective way to producing the gaseous combustible mixture, which can be used for the fueling of internal combustion gas engines. To evaluate the energy usefulness of this way produced combustible mixture the process indicator has been proposed, which expresses the share of the chemical energy supplied with the ventilation gas, in the whole chemical energy of the produced fuel combustible mixture. It was also established how (e.g., by appropriate choice of the mixed gas streams) can be achieved significantly higher values of the characteristic process indicator, while retaining full energy usefulness of the gained gaseous mixture to power combustion engines.