AVENUE COKING WORKS
AIR QUALITY MONITORING PROGRAMME
MONTHLY SUMMARY
October 2004
Casella Stanger have been commissioned by the East Midlands Development Agency (emda) to
undertake a comprehensive air quality monitoring programme at and around the site of the former
Avenue Coking Works. The monitoring is being conducted to monitor the effect, if any, of the site
reclamation works on local air quality.
The monitoring programme consists of a combination of fixed stations and ad hoc targeted
monitoring to determine emissions at source, cross boundary and off-site. Targeted monitoring is
undertaken to monitor both ambient conditions at particular parts of the site when no works are
taking place, and also around specific works thought to have the potential to liberate or generate
airborne contaminants. It is carried out using a combination of pumped samplers and passive
diffusion tubes.
Four permanent monitoring stations are located adjacent to the site boundary to assess crossboundary migration. Seven monitoring stations are located off-site, two of which are sufficiently
remote to be considered representative of baseline air quality. Meteorological conditions are
monitored using a standard Casella NEMESYS weather station, which includes measurement of
wind speed/direction, rainfall, barometric pressure, air temperature, relative humidity and solar
radiation.
The locations of the routine monitoring stations are as follows:
On-site stations
Off-site stations
Sampling
Equipment
APM950
Mini-vol
High
Volume
PUF Sampler
M-Type
Diffusion Tubes
Directional
Gauge
Station A
Station B
Station C
Station D
Station 1
Station 2
Station 3
Station 4
Station 5
Station 6
Station 7
at the NW of site, adjacent to the site village
at the NE of site,
at the SE of site, adjacent to the rail sidings
at the SW of site, to the west of Ruberoid
Press Lane, Old Tupton (Control station)
Hunloke Park Primary School, Wingerworth
Turnoaks Lane Industrial Estate, Chesterfield
Village Hall, Eastwood Park, Hasland
Avenue Farm, Chesterfield
BT Pensions Office, Mill Lane
Nursery School, Stretton (Control Station)
Location
Sample Type
Analysis
Frequency
Stations 1 to 6
and A to D
Station 7
Particulate (PM10)
Continuous
Fortnightly
Fortnightly
Stations 1
and A to D
Stations 1
and A to D
Stations 1
and A to D
Stations 1
and A to D
to 6
Particulate
and vapour
Particulate
PM10
Metals
Metals,
cyanide,
phenols
PAH and phenols
to 7
to 6
to 6
Particulate (PM10)
(PM10)
PAHs,
Fortnightly
Cyanide
Fortnightly
Vapour
Total VOCs and BTEX
Fortnightly
Particulate (Total)
Gravimetric dust analysis,
petrographic analysis and
obscuration
Monthly
RESULTS FOR OCTOBER 2004
The results have been evaluated by comparison with the assessment criteria developed in the
Babtie report 'The Avenue Air Quality Management Programme Strategy Document' Issue 1, June
2002.
1.0
ROUTINE AIR MONITORING PROGRAMME
1.1
Alterations, Downtime and Technical Difficulties

1.2
The Local Authority are working with Jacobs Babtie to find a suitable alternative location for
station 3 equipment which was removed from the Cricket Club in September 2001.
PM10 Levels
No on- or off-site stations recorded concentrations of PM10 above the assessment criteria of 50
µg/m3 per day at any stage during October 2004.
1.3
Metals
The only metal currently falling under the control of the UK Air Quality Strategy is lead, at a
maximum concentration 0.5 g/m3 (quoted as an annual mean). Lead concentrations at all on and
off-site stations were recorded below this objective; the maximum level of lead recorded at any of
the stations was 0.0428 g/m3, which represents a fortnightly total.
Of the other metals monitored, copper, manganese and zinc were found at the highest
concentrations at all stations (max copper = 0.0175 g/m3, max manganese = 0.0187 g/m3, max
zinc = 0.0909 g/m3).
All metals were below the assessment criteria developed for The Avenue site
1.4
Cyanide
No National Air Quality Standard has been developed for cyanide; the assessment criteria
suggested for the Avenue is a maximum concentration of 120 µg/m3 per fortnight. The maximum
concentration recorded on-site was 0.0152 g/m3 at station D during the first monitoring period; the
maximum recorded off-site was 0.0122 g/m3 at station 2 during the first monitoring period.
1.5
Phenol(s)
The assessment criteria limits for phenol and cresol are 48µg/m3 and 525µg/m3 per fortnight,
respectively.
As detailed below, the reporting of phenols is now subject to a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.2
g/m3; no results were reported at or above this level.
1.6
PAHs
The maximum allowable fortnightly concentration of Coal Tar Pitch Volatiles is 0.480µg/m 3, and for
naphthalene is 126.0 µg/m3. None of the on or off-site stations recorded concentrations which
exceeded these criteria. The highest recorded concentration of Total Coal Tar Pitch Volatiles was
0.2571 µg/m3, at station D during the first period.
1.7
BTEX Compounds
The assessment criteria limits for benzene and toluene are 23 µg/m3 and 10.5 mg/m3 per fortnight,
respectively.
Levels of benzene were below detection limits at all stations during October 2004, whilst the
maximum toluene concentration was 0.0286 mg/m3 at station 7 during the second period.
1.8
Directional Gauge Results
The Avenue Air Monitoring Programme - Dust Deposition at all Locations
October 2004
50.00
45.00
Concentration mg/m 2/day
40.00
35.00
North
30.00
South
East
25.00
West
20.00
15.00
10.00
5.00
West
East
South
0.00
A
B
C
D
1
Monitoring Station
2
4
North
5
6
The assessment criteria limit of 200mg/m2/day for dust deposition was not exceeded at any
monitoring station at any point during the month. The highest level of deposition occurred at offsite station 5, being 147.15 mg/m2/day, with the largest amount (approximately 32%) of the dust
collected from the east.
Petrographic analysis of the dust indicates that that collected from the east comprised 30%
unburnt coal, 20% each of amorphous dirt and silicon rich material, 18% plant and animal
fragments, 10% calcium rich material, and 2% iron rich material; from the west the dust comprised
33% unburnt coal, 30% silicon rich material, 22% plant and animal fragments, 10% amorphous
dirt, and 5% calcium rich material.
The fact that the prevailing wind during the month was south-southwesterly, and the largest
proportion of the dust was collected from the east, indicates that the Avenue was not the primary
source of the dust collected at this station.
2.0
QUALITY CONTROL SAMPLES
Quality control samples were submitted in the form of duplicates for all sample media and blanks
for phenols, cyanide, metals, PAHs and BTEX.
2.1
Media Blanks
As reported previously, to address the issue of the apparent contamination of media used for the
sampling and analysis of phenols, reporting of results is now done on the basis of a limit of
detection of 0.2 µg/m3. Analysis of media blanks (unexposed filters) used to collect samples of
BTEX has identified significant contamination in results for toluene and Total VOCs over recent
months. In October, however, the results generated by media blanks were found not to be
problematic.
In an effort to investigate and address these contamination issues Casella Stanger undertook an
audit of both their own and their laboratory’s procedures on 18 and 19 August 2004. The main
findings of this report were that some deficiencies were present in the labelling, general handling
and chain of custody procedures with respect to sampling media. Casella have implemented
corrective actions to address various internal deficiencies, and SAL are also implementing various
procedural improvements.
2.2
Duplicates
Duplicate PM10 samples taken at station A correlated well with original data over the whole
monitoring period, with the exception of the reading for 6 October which was only a quarter of the
original.
Duplicate PAH results from station 1 correlated well with original data over both periods. The only
exception was the first period duplicate acenaphthene result, which was nearly three times the
original result.
No phenols results were reported above the new LOD of 0.2 µg/m3. As a result duplicate results
from station 1 correlated exactly with original results over both periods.
Duplicate cyanide results taken at station A correlated relatively well with original samples over
both periods.
Duplicate metals results from station A displayed relatively poor correlation with original results in
the first period, but good correlation in the second.
Duplicate results for speciated VOCs correlated well with original data for station 6 during both
periods. However, in both periods the duplicate total VOCs results were significantly lower than
original results, being just over a third in the first period and less than a tenth in the second.
3.0
TARGETED AIR MONITORING PROGRAMME
Targeted monitoring is generally undertaken around specific site activities considered to have the
potential to liberate airborne contaminants, and also to monitor ambient conditions when no works
are taking place. Due to the lack of activities considered to have the potential to generate or
liberate contaminants, however, no targeted monitoring was undertaken during this month.