SERDP and ESTCP have launched a webinar series to promote the transfer of innovative, cost-effective and sustainable solutions developed through projects funded in five program areas. The webinar series targets Department of Defense and Department of Energy practitioners, the regulatory community and environmental researchers with the goal of providing cutting edge and practical information that is easily accessible at no cost.

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Webinar #67 (02/08/2018)

Improved Methods to Evaluate Aerial Emissions and Develop Pollutant Emission Factors

Dr. Brian Gullett, United States Environmental Protection Agency

Dr. Kevin L. McNesby, United States Army Research Laboratory

February 8, 2018

12:00 PM ET (9:00 AM PT)

Presentation Slides

Abstract

“Development and Application of Aerial Emissions Sampling Methods” by Dr. Brian Gullett

Quantification of emissions from open area sources is extremely difficult due to inherent hazards to equipment and personnel while obtaining samples. Applications that require accurate emission characterization include prescribed fires for installation management, and open burning and open detonation for demilitarization operations. With Department of Defense (DoD) sponsorship, EPA’s Office of Research and Development has developed lightweight, gas sampling instrument systems capable of being carried aloft by tethered, helium-filled aerostats (balloons) and, more recently, by unmanned aerial systems (UASs or “drones”). The aerostat system has the ability to sample for an extended duration while the UAS system (a National Aeronautics and Space Administration owned and operated multicopter commissioned by DoD) provides greater flexibility of movement, albeit at shorter duration. Advances in computer miniaturization, sensor development, data telemetry, and methods development have made safe, plume emission characterization possible for the first time under real, in-use applications. An extensive array of pollutants can be sampled leading to emission factors which relate the amount of a pollutant to the amount of combusting material. This information is critical for installation air permits, range use assessments, inhalation hazard determinations, and land management practices. These instrument systems have successfully sampled open combustion plumes at fifteen DoD sites since 2010. 

"Development of Methodologies for Evaluating Emissions from Metal-Based Energetic and Pyrotechnic Formulations" by Dr. Kevin L. MnNesby

Experiments were performed to develop methodologies that will allow determination of pollutant emission factors for gases and particles produced by exploding metal-containing energetic materials. Materials studied included medium-sized (660 grams) charges of TNT (trinitrotoluene, C₇H₅N₃O₆) and TNT/Mg (magnesium)/B (boron), (80:4:16 by weight); and M855 ammunition (nitrocellulose/ nitroglycerin propellant) fired using an M4 carbine shoulder-fired weapon. For all experiments, thermodynamic and kinetic simulations were performed to predict emission factors for gases and particles. The simulations were based on the experimentally determined stages of energy release for each event. Results of experiment and calculation are compared, and recommendations made to improve both methods.

Speaker Biographies

Dr. Brian Gullett is a Scientific and Technical Professional and Senior Research Engineer with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Office of Research and Development, located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. He has served as an Embassy Science Fellow with the Department of State in Stockholm, Sweden and he has been a Visiting Scientist for one year with the United States Navy’s Naval Surface Warfare Center in Annapolis, Maryland. Currently he is the Acting Division Director for the Air and Energy Management Division. He has been affiliated with SERDP since 2005 as a Scientific and Technical Committee member, Principal Investigator, and the EPA’s Executive Working Group representative. He is the author of over 140 peer reviewed journal articles, holds four patents, and has received over 20 EPA Scientific and Technological Achievement Awards. He has a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering and a Master’s of Engineering Management both from Duke University.

Dr. Kevin L. McNesby is a member of the Explosives Technology Branch (ETB), Lethality Division (LD), Weapons and Materials Research Directorate (WMRD), US Army Research Laboratory (ARL). Since 2010 he has been Team Leader, Detonation Science, ETB/LD/WMRD and is currently serving as Acting Chief, ETB. He served as program coordinator for the WMRD Disruptive Energetics effort from 2010 to 2012, and is a principal investigator on a SERDP program to characterize emissions from metal containing explosives and propellants (2016-17). Kevin served as Program Manager for Propulsion and Energetics at the Army Research Office (ARO) from 2005-2006 in Durham, North Carolina. From 1998-1999, Dr. McNesby was a Visiting Researcher at the University of California at Davis. Following a year as an instructor in General Chemistry at the U.S. Naval Academy, Dr. McNesby was a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the Ballistic Research Laboratory (BRL). He joined the permanent technical staff of the BRL (now ARL) in 1989. He has published 54 Government Technical Reports, 50 peer reviewed manuscripts, 34 JANNAF papers, 45 Proceedings Papers (SPIE, etc.) and 3 book chapters. Dr. McNesby received a B.S. in Chemistry from Washington College (1981) and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Georgetown University in 1987. 

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