Marco Cremona, Mosta
Fgura black dust mystery: A suggestion
Martin Seychell (Director, Environment Protection, Mepa, November 30) said that if traces of vanadium, nickel, magnesium and sulphur can be detected in the dust found in the Fgura area then it can "be definitely confirmed that the Marsa power station is the likely source of this nuisance".
However, the problem seems to be the collection of more than 10g of dust - because standard procedure requires this mass of dust for a "proper" analysis. It is understood that although Mepa has been collecting new dust samples since August, the amount collected is nowhere near the amount necessary to conduct proper tests - so it may take many more months before any analysis can be carried out and before we can have a clear indication of the source.
I would like to put forward a suggestion for consideration by Mepa. I believe it may be possible to carry out a wet chemistry test on a very small amount of dust sample (less than one gram); by dissolving the dust in an aqueous solution (water or acid) and then analysing the solute for the four compounds mentioned by Mr Seychell. These tests can be carried out in Malta (the Malta National Laboratory) and we can get a fairly good indicative result of the source within one to two weeks. This innovative approach will allow Mepa to focus its investigations on the most likely source, until a sufficiently large sample can be collected for proper analysis.
A point of clarification: Mr Seychell is incorrect when he says that the precipitators were installed at the Marsa power station in 2000. I was a trainee engineer at the Marsa power station in 1987-1992 and I can confirm that the precipitators were already in place and operational back then.
Popular Stories
In Discussion
11 Comments
Post comment
Please sign in or create your Account to post comments.
D. Xuereb
Dec 30th 2009, 22:37
Everymorning, I find this kind of 'dust' ontop of the roof of my car.. taking a closer look at it after a power wash I could see some of them literally adhesing to the paint and rusting (however none of the mentioned compounds in the article relate to this behaviour). This was experienced by my neighbours aswell.
jo cassar
Dec 30th 2009, 21:11
all this technical jargon,!!!!!!!!! the problem is political the govt. of this tiny island is simply losing control and covering up with delays, talk more talk , silence ,re-opening up long planned plans etc etc etc
j n ebejer
Dec 30th 2009, 16:49
Cannot one have tests on the Power stations emissions and exclude that these are polluting above the any tolerated limit? there can be installed sensors which give real time data on what is coming out of chimneys etc.
Cannot one make exercise on what could be important polluters in the area? We are not in the Ruhr valley were it is that difficult to shortlist these and test emission outlets. The process for product production shold be know and following this one can come to possible pollutants produced along it.
Shurely the possibilities for the sourse of important pollution deposits as those reported could only be a handful and thus checked.
Joe Grima
Dec 30th 2009, 15:48
"the problem seems to be the collection of more than 10g of dust - because standard procedure requires this mass of dust for a "proper" analysis" I looked up my diary to see if the next first was going to be April first or January first. It was January first. So is this an early April fool joke? 10g would be about one spoonful of dust
Galea. L
Dec 30th 2009, 15:12
Could it be coming from volcanic action on Mars?
E.Muscat
Dec 30th 2009, 15:04
@E.A.Mallia:thank you for a very sensible comment.As Mr.Cassar is also saying it is ludicrous to say that 10 grams(or is it 10 kilograms!) cannot be collected.It is easily collected from a typical house yard in the south of Malta when the wind and weather is favourable.We should also not be fooled that the ash needs to have always traces of vanadium,nickel,magnesium and sulphur.The traces to be found will depend on the origin of the fuel and its processing to produce it.
Mr Seychell should understand that he is not the only industrial chemist on the island.
Astrid Vella
Dec 30th 2009, 12:36
Besides causing cancer, air pollution also affects children by retarding their lung development and contributes to Malta having the highest rates of childhood asthma in Europe.
Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar - Friends of the Earth - Birdlife Malta - Din l-Art Ħelwa - Greenhouse - NatureTrust Malta Ramblers’ Association of Malta have launched a petition urging immediate action towards remedying this situation. If you care about your or your children's health, please sign it here:
http://www.petitiononline.com/FAA2009/petition.html
E.A. Mallia
Dec 30th 2009, 12:20
Marco Cremona cannot have missed the Mepa news that at least one precipitator had been switched off between March and August "for operational reasons". That was exactly the period when Mepa was having such great difficulty in collecting samples! Around that time Mepa was also "rubbishing" the 2000 results of U.K.consultants brought in to examine the problem. The reason: that the consultants did not compare their dust sample results with samples taken directly from the power station. A pity Mepa made no reference to the thorough analysis produced by a final-year B.Sc student in 2000. That showed quite unequivocally that the Zabbar-Fgura dustfall came from Marsa P.S.
As for the assertion that pricipitators were installed in 2000, that illustrates the rather cavalier approach sections of Mepa have to facts. The dustfall was not caused by the absence of precipitators before 2000, but by the switch of fuel from coal to fuel oil in 1995-96. Electroprecipitators (EP) work well on solid fuel particles but not so well on liquid fuel ash. Between 1996 and 2000 the EP were inoperative. The outcry led to refurbishment, a completely irrational act if Mepa's rubbishing of consultant results had any value.
Gerard Cassar
Dec 30th 2009, 12:16
What does it mean that experts are unable to collect 10grams, repeat only 10 grams of black dust. It is black dust not gold. If one were to sweep a terrace more than ten grams will be surely collected. If there is some particular difficulty about what kind of dust is to be collected then the matter should be explained clearly and not in a general term of black dust
victor pulis
Dec 30th 2009, 11:43
I still say it's the martians spraying their thick black dust as in H. G. Wells' novel War of the Worlds.
leonardo vince
Dec 30th 2009, 11:25
I have already said that the dust may come from the Vessuvius or else Krakatoa, east of Java.