Analyzing Precipitation Acidity Changes Post Train Derailment and Vinyl Chloride Release in East Palestine, Ohio: Exploring Biomedical and Environmental Ramifications

This study investigates the aftermath of a significant train derailment and vinyl chloride release incident in East Palestine, Ohio, with a particular focus on the analysis of precipitation acidity changes and the concentration of vinyl chloride in samples. The research seeks to elucidate the complex relationship between industrial accidents, atmospheric chemistry, and their potential implications for human health and the environment. Through meticulous examination of variations in precipitation acidity patterns, this study provides valuable insights into the dispersion and impact of toxic agents in the environment following industrial mishaps. The results underscore the intricate interplay between these factors, highlighting the need for a multidisciplinary approach that bridges the realms of environmental science and biomedical concerns. This research contributes to a growing body of knowledge that addresses the broader consequences of industrial incidents on public health. It underscores the importance of proactive measures, such as enhanced monitoring and surveillance, risk assessment, public education, and regulatory reform, to mitigate the environmental and health risks associated with industrial activities involving hazardous materials. By fostering collaboration between experts and stakeholders, this study advocates for a holistic approach to safeguarding both our environment and the well-being of communities affected by industrial accidents.

Rare Earth Stearates as Thermal Stabilizers for Rigid Poly(vinyl chloride)

A series of stearates with different rare-earth ion were investigated as thermal stabilizers for rigid PVC at 180 ℃ in air. Their stabilizing efficiency was based on measuring the rate of dehydrochlorination. The resulted revealed the higher stabilizing efficiency of the investigated rare-earth stearates as thermal stabilizers for rigid PVC compared with the thermal stabilizers for industry: calcium stearate, zinc stearate, butyl stannum mercaptide, phosphite esters, β-diketone and epoxidized sunflower oil. This was well illustrated by longer incubation period (T_S) values and lower rate of dehydrochlorination. The stable efficiency was affected by the nature of rare-earth element's individual electronic shell. The mechanism for the stabilizing effect of rare-earth stearates was proposed. The result was experimentally proved based on IR spectrum.

Nitrogen doped carbon catalyzing acetylene conversion to vinyl chloride

Commercial production of vinyl chloride from acetylene relies on the use of HgCla as the catalyst, which has caused severe environmental problem and threats to human health because of its toxicity. Therefore, it is vital to explore alternative catalysts without mercury. We report here that N-doped carbon can catalyze directly transformation of acetylene to vinyl chloride. Particularly, N-doped high surface area mesoporous carbon exhibits a rather high activity with the acetylene conversion reaching 77% and vinyl chloride selectivity above 98% at a space velocity of 1.0 mL.min-l.g-1 and 200 ~C. It delivers a stable performa℃nce within a test period of 100h and no obvious deactivation is observed, demonstrating potentials to substitute the notoriously toxic mercuric chloride catalyst.

PARTICLE MORPHOLOGY OF POLY(VINYL CHLORIDE)RESIN PREPARED BY SUSPENDED EMULSION POLYMERIZATION

Suspended emulsion polymerization was used to prepare poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) resin. Fine PVC particleswere formed at low polymerization conversions. The amount of fine panicles decreases as conversion increases anddisappears at conversions greater than 30%. Scanning electron micrographs show that PVC grains are composed of looselycoalesced primary particles, especially for PVC resins prepared in the presence of poly(vinyl alcohol) dispersant. The size ofprimary particles increases and porosity decreases with the increase of conversion. In view of the particle features of PVCresin, a particle formation mechanism including the formation of primary particles and grains is proposed. The formationprocess of primary particles includes the formation of particle nuclei, coalescence of particle nuclei to form primary particles,and growth of primary particles. PVC grains are formed by the coagulation of primary particles. The loose coalescence ofprimary particles is caused by the colloidal stability of primary particles and the low swelling degree of vinyl chloride in the primary particles.

Creep Behaviour of Wood Flour/Poly(vinyl chloride) Composites

The experimental creep data were focused on wood-flour （WF）/poly vinyl chloride （PVC） composites with the variations in additive concentrations of wood flour, silane coupling agent, organomodified montmorillonite （OMMT） and nano-cacium carbonate （nano-CaCO3）. Their effects were analyzed using the Four-element Burger Model incorporating microscopic mechanisms. Total creep strain was low with increasing WF while elastic strain was high and plastic flow strain was low in modeling. Modification of WF with silane was beneficial to creep resistance, so did adding low ratio of OMMT （1.5 wt%） and nano-CaCO3 in composites. Thus, it was effective in reducing creep either by stiffening the PVC matrix using rigid nano-particles or by improving their adhesion with resin. However, superfluous quantity of any additament did not benefit the improvement owing to either earlier destruction of their agglomerates or stress-concentrated cracks in the over-incrassated interface.

Antiplasticizing Effect of MOCA on Poly(vinyl chloride)

An obvious antiplasticizing effect has been observed in PVC with small amount of MOCA, 3,3’-dichloro-4,4’-diamino-diphenylmethane. PVC-MOCA interaction and crystallization behavior of PVC/MOCA blends were investigated in detail to explain the mechanism of antiplasticization on the basis of a series of techniques including DMA, FTIR, and DSC. The results of mechanical properties tests show that the tensile strength of PVC with 5 phr of MOCA reaches a maximum value, 69.5 Mpa, which is about 23 % higher than that of pure PVC. The rise in tensile strength was attributed to an antiplasticizing effect of MOCA on PVC as confirmed by DMA measurements. The evidences from FTIR reveal that a strong hydrogen-bonding interaction takes place between the nitrogen atom of –NH2 groups in MOCA and the methine proton of PVC repeat units. The results of DSC analysis indicate that crystallization behavior of MOCA is suppressed completely and the crystallinity of PVC decreases with the increase of MOCA amount.

Influence of Annealing and Additives on the Crystallization Behavior and Properties of Poly(vinyl chloride)

Acetanilide （AC）, adipic acid （AA） and potassium hydrogen phthalate （PHP） were chosen as additives to accelerate PVC crystallization and improve its mechanical properties. The influences of the additives and annealing on the crystallization behavior, micromorphology and the tensile properties were investigated by the thermal analysis, scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and the tensile test. Based on the analysis results, it was concluded that the melting peaks ranging from 110 to 200 ℃ and 200 to 240 ℃ were caused by the fusion of the fringed micelle crystals and chain-folded crystals respectively. AC advanced the fringed micelle crystal to develop, while AA and PHP promoted obviously the chain-folded crystal to grow. The addition of the foreign additives did not change the growth pattern ofPVC crystallites, the growth of the micelle crystal was favorable at 110 ℃, and the chain-folded crystal was developed at higher temperature. For PVC/ AA and PVC/PHP, when annealed at 110 ℃, a regular nest like network was formed, the crystallinity and the crystallite size were increased as well, and as a result, the tensile strength, Young＇s modulus and the elongation at break point were improved simultaneously and greatly.

Synthesis of Bio-Plasticizer from Soybean Oil and Its Application in Poly(Vinyl Chloride) Films

Herein,epoxidized soybean oil methyl ester(ESOM)plasticizer was synthesized for the preparation of plasticized poly(vinyl chloride)(PVC)films by the alcoholysis and epoxidation.The chemical structure of ESOM was investigated by infrared spectrum and 1 H nuclear magnetic resonance.The effect of content of ESOM and petroleum based plasticizer di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate(DEHP)on the performance of plasticized PVC films was studied.The result showed that substituting DEHP with ESOM can improve the thermal stability of plasticized PVC films.When the weight ratio of ESOM and PVC is fixed at 1:2,plasticized PVC film presents higher elongation at break(350.8%vs.345.1%)and lower tensile strength(14.21 MPa vs.15.8 MPa)compared with PVC plasticized with DEHP.ESOM showed less weight loss than DEHP in all solvents.The excellent migration resistance of ESOM is helpful to improve stability of plasticized PVC films.In all,the obtained bio-based plasticizer will be potential to replace petroleum based plasticizer DEHP in flexible PVC materials.

PHASE EQUILIBRIUM FOR THE TERNARY SYSTEM VINYL CHLORIDE-CHLORINATED POLYETHYLENE-POLY(VINYL CHLORIDE)

Swelling capacity of vinyl chloride (VC) in chlorinated polyethylene (CPE) with 25—40 wt% Cl at temperature 30—57℃ was studied and their relationships were correlated with Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption equations. A ternary phase diagram for VC-CPE-PVC was also established. In-situ polymerization conditions of CPE-g-VC were proposed and CPE content control was analyzed for the manufacturing process of CPE-g-VC graft product based on results of phase equilibrium study.

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Poly (Vinyl Chloride) Modified by Silica Fume /Acrylic Core-Shell Impact Modifier Blends

This research explored replacing acrylic core-shell impact modifier （AIM） by silica fume to toughen PVC. 100%, 75%, 50% and 25% of AIM （8 phr） were substituted by silica fume in PVC respectively, and then processed by dry blending and twin-screw extrusion. Severe silica fume agglomeration was observed by scanning electron microscope （SEM） in the PVC matrix when 8 phr pure silica fume was used and processed by screw speed of 20 rpm. Its tensile strength was thereby reduced by 38% comparing to unmodified PVC. The silica fume was successfully dispersed while the screw speed was slowed down to 10 rpm to give a stronger screw torque and a longer melt residential time in the extruder. The tensile strength was ’recovered’ to a level comparable to unmodified PVC. Impact test were performed on all formulations extruded at 10 rpm screw speed and synergetic toughening effect was found with 50% substitution and it had the impact strength that was comparable to 8 phr pure AIM toughened PVC.

Microwave Synthesis of Inulin Acetate as Potential Bio- Based Additive for Poly(Vinyl Chloride)

The paper presents the findings of an experimental study on the microwave synthesis (MW) of inulin acetateand its possible application as bio-additive in poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC). The obtained inulin acetate has beenidentified and characterized by spectroscopic methods. Advantages of the MW compared with the conventionalsynthesis were defined. In order to evaluate possible application of the product as bio-based additive forpolymers, effect of the inulin ester on PVC behavior and characteristics has been investigated by differentialscanning calorimetry (DSC) and deformation upon extension. Experimental results show that in concentrationrange up to 30.0 wt. % the inulin ester influences positively the properties of PVC causing effect similar toplasticizing one. At concentration over 30 wt.% the ester shows more specific behavior, which will be furtherinvestigated. Conclusions about potential application of MW synthesized inulin acetate as bio-based additive forPVC have been drawn.

Development of a Poly(vinyl chloride)-based Nitrate Ion-selective Electrode

The authors developed a nitrate ion-selective electrode（ISE） based on poly（vinyl chloride）（PVC） membrane with methyltrioctylammonium nitrate as a carrier and 1-decanol as a plasticizer.The performance of the nitrate-sensitive membranes was optimized by tuning the composition of components.The electrode exhibits a linear response with a Nernstian slope of（52±1.0） mV per decade for the nitrate ion concentration ranging from 5.8×10-5 mol/L to 1.0 mol/L.The electrode can be used to detect a low concentration of nitrate ions down to 3×10-5 mol/L in a pH range of 2.1―11.5 without any compensation.The advantage of the electrode includes simple preparation,short response time and good repeatability.The detection performance of the novel electrode on nitrate ions has been tested for water samples.

DFT study on the selective oxidation of vinyl chloride on different metal surfaces

Selective epoxidation of vinyl chloride on Ag（111）, Pt（111） and Rh（111） with pre-adsorbed atomic oxygen has been studied by density functional theory （DFT） calculation with the periodic slab model. The reaction energies and activation energies of the epoxidation reaction are determined. Because of the asymmetry of vinyl chloride, three competitive reaction pathways are investigated. The results indicate that the most possible reaction pathway is pathway III. Compared the activation energies of the epoxidation reaction on Ag（111）, Pt（111） and Rh（111）, it is obvious that the reaction via OMMC（3） on Ag（111） is the most possible process. However, the selectivity to the target product over Ag（111） is the lowest among the three metals. The results also indicate that the formation of chloroacetaldehyde is more favorable than that of chloroepoxide.

Surface Modification of Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) Using Low Pressure Argon and Oxygen Plasma

In this study, commercial poly vinyl chloride （PVC） films were treated by oxygen and argon plasmas in a cylindrical glass tube which was surrounded by a DC variable magnetic field, with different sample positions in the plasma reactor and also different exposure durations. Effects of the plasma treatment on the hydrophilic properties of the films were studied by mea- suring the water drop contact angle on the surface of the samples. The surface topography of the untreated and plasma treated films was analyzed and compared by atomic force microscopy （AFM）. The optical characteristic changes in treated samples were investigated using reflective spectrophotometry. Also, the chemical changes which appeared on the surface of the samples were investigated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy （FTIR）. The results show that the plasma treated PVC becomes more hydrophilic with an enhanced wettability. A sharp de- crease in the water contact angle may also be a consequence of the surface texturization. The aging effect on wettability of the samples was also investigated. The results show that the effect of oxygen plasma on the surface properties of the samples is more pronounced compared with that of argon plasma.

PRODUCTION OF VINYL CHLORIDE IN THE INFRARED LASER INDUCED PHOTOSENSITIZED CHAIN REACTION OF 1,2-DICHLOROETHANE

The chain reaction of 1,2-dichloroethane was initiated by photosensitization of SF_6 under the selective excitation using a cw CO_2 laser.Vinyl chloride with high purity was produced in the reaction process.The initiation of the photosensitized chain reaction depends on the irradiated laser frequency.The mechanism of intermolecular resonant transfer of vibrational energy has been discussed.

The Study of Health Effects of Vinyl Chloride AirPollution on Population

A series of indicators, including serum lysozyme activity, G-banding chromosome aberration (G-banding CA) analysis, sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs), chromosome aberration (CA), T-lymphocyte transformation rate (TcTR),-GT, GPT and AKP, were employed in the present survey among occupationally vinyl chloride (VC) exposed workers and inhabitants living in VC polluted area in a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) factory. The results showed that the serum lysozyme (S-LZM) activities in Group 3 (adult inhabitants exposed to 0.20 mg/m3 VC for at least 8 years), Group 2 (workers exposed to 4.1 mg/m3for at least 7 years occupationally), Group 1 (workers exposed to 25.7 mg/m3 for at least 2 years) were significantly higher than control. G-banding CA analysis showed that the total chromosome breakage rates in both Groups 1 and 2 were higher, but no difference existed between Group 3 and control. Only Group 1 was observed having higher SCEs, CA level and lower TcTR than control. AKP levels in Groups 1 and 2 were higher than control,but noγ-GT and GPT differences were found among groups. The study also suggests that G-banding CA analysis is more sensitive than CA and SCEs

Insight of chemical environmental risk and its management from the vinyl chloride accident

The combustion of vinyl chloride(VC)after the train derailment accident in Ohio,USA in February,2023 has caused widespread concern around the world.This paper tried to analyze several issues concerning the accident,including the appropriateness of the VC combustion in the emergency response in this accident,the meanings of so-called“controlled combustion”,the potential environmental risks caused by VC and combustion by-products,and follow-up work.In our view,this accident had surely caused environmental and health risks to some extent.Hence,a comprehensive environmental risk assessment is necessary,and then the site with risk should be comprehensively remediated,hazardous waste should be harmlessly treated as soon as possible.Finally,this accident suggests that further efforts should be taken to bridge the gap between chemical safety management and their environmental risk management.

Synthetic Features and Mechanism for the Preparation of Vinyl Chloride-co-Butyl Acrylate-co-Vinyl Acetate Terpolymer via Precipitation Polymerization

Without any type of su rfactant or dispersing agent,precipitation polymerization has great superiorities in both polymer synthesis and applications.In the present work,the polymerization of vinyl chloride(VC),n-butyl acrylate(BA),and vinyl acetate(VAc)are conducted in the precipitation polymerization system and series of their random terpolymers poly(vinyl chloride-co-n-butyl acrylate-co-vinyl acetate)(PCBV)are synthesized successfully.The effects of various polymerization conditions,including solvent polarity,temperature,initiator concentration,and monomer feed ratios on the polymerization kinetics,number-average molecular weight(M_(n)),and terpolymer composition are investigated systematically.The solvent and the monomer feed ratio are crucial factors not only for the polymer morphology,but also for the reaction kinetic.In the non-polar solvent such as n-hexane,the PCBV displays particle morphology when the composition of BA ratio lower than 10 wt%.Otherwise,the PCBV forms a uniform polymer phase and precipitates out from the mixture.In the polar solvent,e.g.,dimethyl carbonate(DMC)and ethanol,the PCBV polymer maintains a slurry state either in low or in high monomer feed ratio.Impressively,VC based ternary copolymer that obtained in n-hexane has much lower M_(n)(<20 kDa)and much higher BA units mass fraction(>40 wt%)compared with emulsion and suspension polymerization.Additionally,the terpolymer can be easily sepa rated by simple centrifugation.

Enhanced Mechanical Properties of Multi-layer Graphene Filled Poly(vinyl chloride) Composite Films

In order to improve mechanical properties of soft poly(vinyl chloride)(PVC) films,we used commercial multi-layer graphene(MLG) with large size and high structural integrity as reinforcing fillers,and prepared MLG/PVC composite films by using conventional melt-mixing methods.Microstructures,static and dynamic mechanical properties of the MLG/PVC composite films were investigated.The results showed that a small amount of MLG loading could greatly increase the mechanical properties of the MLG/PVC composites.The tensile modulus of the 0.96 wt%MLG/PVC composites was up to 40 MPa,increasing by31.3%in comparison to the neat PVC.Such a significant mechanical reinforcement was mainly attributed to uniform dispersion of the large-size MLG,good compatibility and strong interactions among MLG and plasticizers and PVC.

Metal lanolin fatty acid as novel thermal stabilizers for rigid poly(vinyl chloride)

The synergistic stabilization effect of different metal lanolin fatty acids as natural-based thermal stabilizers for poly（vinyl chloride） （PVC） including calcium lanolin fatty acid （Calan2）,zinc lanolin fatty acid （Znlan2） and lanthanum lanolin fatty acid （Lalan3） were studied through Congo red testing,color measurements,FTIR analyses and thermal behavior in this paper. The results showed that Lalan3/Calan2/Znlan2 stabilizers exhibited more excellent thermal stabilization efficiency to PVC than Calan2/Znlan2 thermal stabilizers,and the optimal mass ratio of Lalan3/Calan2/Znlan2 was 8：9：3. At last,the effect of degradation mechanism on PVC and synergistic stabilization was also investigated by FTIR analyses and thermal behavior.