Pesticide Biomonitoring in Florida Agricultural Workers

This descriptive study evaluates the blood serum levels of relevant pesticides in fern/ornamental and tomato agricultural workers in central and south Florida whose work activity is related to pesticide application or crop maintenance. The objectives of this study are to broadly evaluate pesticide absorption in agricultural workers, assess personal protective equipment (PPE) use and their potential relevance to pesticide absorption, and to evaluate the feasibility of using primary biomonitoring as a method of exposure assessment for long-term epidemiological investigations. Three rounds of sampling were conducted where 41 subjects provided serum samples analyzed for individual pesticides and responded to a survey regarding PPE use. Serum samples yielded quantifiable detections of DDE, Methiocarb, Malathion, Chlorpyrifos, and Endosulfan in select subjects. The personal protective equipment survey did not demonstrate association with positive serum samples. These results demonstrate that the evaluated workers are effectively protected against exposures known to result in acute toxicity. Biomonitoring for parent compounds and primary metabolites may have limited utility in long-term epidemiological studies to evaluate chronic toxicity where workers are exposed to a great diversity of workplace chemicals (fern/or- namental workers) compared to agricultural sectors where workplace chemical diversity is more limited (tomato workers).

Investigation of Combustion of Emulated Biogas in a Gas Turbine Test Rig

Combustion of biogas in gas turbines is an interesting option for provision of renewable combined heat and power from biomass. Due to an increasing share of fluctuating renewable energies in the power grid(especially from wind and solar power), flexible power generation is of increasing importance. Additionally, with an increasing share of agricultural and municipal waste in biogas production, biogas composition is expected to be within a broader range. In this paper, the combustion of synthetic biogas(carbon dioxide and methane) in a combustion test rig with a swirl burner and a high pressure optical chamber is researched at different conditions. Results are compared to a CHEMKIN-PRO simulation using a detailed reaction mechanism. The results show that within the researched experimental matrix, stable biogas combustion for gas turbines can be achieved even with significantly changing gas composition and nominal power. Carbon dioxide concentration is varied from 0 to 60%. CO concentrations(normalized to 15% O_2) in the flue gas do not change significantly with increasing carbon dioxide in the fuel gas and, for the researched conditions, stayed below 10 ppm. NO_x concentration is below 10 ppm(normalized to 15% O_2) for pure methane, and is further decreasing with increasing carbon dioxide share in the fuel gas, which is mainly due to changing reaction paths as reaction analysis showed. Thermal load of the combustor is varied from 100% to 20% for the reference gas composition. With decreasing thermal load, normalized carbon monoxide flue gas concentration is further reduced, while NOx concentrations are remaining at a similar level around 5 ppm(normalized to 15% O_2).