February 1998
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EBTC Plays Key Role in Mercury Reduction The Environmental Business and Technology Center (EBTC) is working closely with the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority (MWRA), local businesses and three area hospitals to reduce the amount of mercury being pumped into local waters.
Housed in the College of Management, the EBTC mercury reduction project is also in partnership with the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs and the Massachusetts Office of Business Development.
"Mercury is probably the most toxic heavy metal pollutant," said David Cooper, program manager/technology analyst of the EBTC. Toxic when breathed (as a gas), absorbed (as a liquid through skin contact) or ingested (eaten in contaminated fish and other foods), mercury can cause blurred vision, hearing loss, slurred speech, kidney failure and other ailments.
According to a December report issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an estimated 158 tons of mercury were emitted as a result of human activities in the U.S. in 1994-1995. About 87 percent of these emissions are from combustion sources, such as waste and fossil fuel combustion, the report said. Among the specific source categories, medical waste incinerators account for 10 percent of the total mercury emitted due to human activity, the study said.
The EPA has set mercury emission limits for municipal waste combustors and medical waste incinerators. When fully implemented, these limits will "reduce mercury emissions from these sources by an additional 90 percent over 1995 levels," the report reads.
To comply with regulations, organizations must often adopt expensive equipment and procedures. With this in mind, the EBTC has set out to assist hospitals in finding ways to decrease the amounts of mercury emitted as close to the source as possible.
The EBTC works with Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Tufts Human Nutrition Research Center (of the New England Medical Center), and Brigham and Women's Hospital.
"This project will help the campus showcase its expertise," said William Brah, EBTC director. The EBTC works with other campus departments, including Chemistry, Environmental Sciences, and Management. "We routinely analyze mercury levels in water. We're the only place in the region to do this," Brah said.
In addition to working with hospitals, the EBTC has established a unique position of bringing into the picture small businesses that offer mercury reduction technology. This inclusion helps solidify the companies' footing in the commonwealth's $6 billion environmental industry. Prospective participants include the following: ICET of Norwood; SolmeteX of Walpole; Aqua Terra Aero of Cleveland, Ohio; Prosys of North Billerica; and Dubois Chemicals of Providence, R.I.
The EBTC has brainstormed extensively with the MWRA and the Office of Technical Assistance. "They turned to us, because they knew we worked with companies that have solutions to their problems," Brah said.
"They also felt that we had expertise within the university É in terms of objectively looking at the problem and in a design sense," Cooper added.
Working closely with the EBTC are Gordon Wallace of Environmental, Coastal and Ocean Sciences and Bhatt Vadlamani of Management and Marketing.