Monographs of Topical Drugs that Have Caused Contact Allergy/Allergic Contact Dermatitis
Anton C. de Groot in Monographs in Contact Allergy, 2021
Coal tar is one of the by-products when coal is carbonized to make coke or gasified to make coal gas. It is a brown or black liquid of extremely high viscosity. Coal tars are complex and variable mixtures of phenols, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and heterocyclic compounds. Coal tar products are used to relief itch, irritation, redness, dryness, scaling, and flaking of the skin caused by certain skin diseases. Coal tar ointment is a keratolytic. It works by slowing bacterial growth and loosening and softening scales and crust. Indeed, topical coal tar products are widely used in the treatment of psoriasis and atopic dermatitis, although the level of evidence of their efficacy is not strong (3) and people dislike their odor, messy application, and staining of clothing. The short-term side effects of coal tar pharmaceutical preparations are folliculitis, irritation, phototoxicity and contact allergy. Occupational dermal exposure to coal tar and coal tar pitches can be the cause of phototoxic reactions, irritation and burn, allergic dermatitis, folliculitis, occupational acne, atrophy of the epidermis, hyperpigmentation, and malignancies (22).
Epidemiology
Samuel C. Morris in Cancer Risk Assessment, 2020
Finally, there are two principal considerations in applying the results: exposure and the character of the population. Because combustion-related air pollution is a common problem which appears in many circumstances, dose-response functions derived from coke-oven workers or gas-retort workers find many applications. In addition to being at much lower concentrations, the air pollution mix in each case is qualitatively different. Sometimes these differences can be of great importance. Samples taken at modern coal gasification plants have had few or none of the 4-and 5-ring polycyclic compounds in the CTPV samples which were believed to be the active agents in the coke-oven case. In diesel exhaust, the nitro-aromatic compounds seem likely to be the more important agents. Both of these situations might well result in poor predictions of cancer risk when estimated directly from coke-oven worker dose-response functions. Even when applied to the “same” situation there can be problems. Because of the pollution controls and other safeguards in place at coke ovens today, the exposure to coke-oven workers is not only lower than before, but undoubtedly different qualitatively. Even in applying the ecological study results of BaP and air pollution, one finds that in the past 20 years BaP levels have decreased considerably although some other components of the organic mix have not (Nisbet et al., 1983). A method of “tailoring” the epidemiologically derived dose-response functions using results of short-term bioassays is described in Chapter 12.
ILVA: A Case of Shared Responsibilities for the Protection of the Environment and Public Health
Stefania Negri in Environmental Health in International and EU Law, 2019
The main consequences of this situation entail air pollution, damage to agricultural production (and hence food safety issues), landscape degradation, soil contamination, poisoning of surface water and aquifers, including the deterioration of water quality. The major pollutants released into the environment include PAH, benzopyrene, dioxins, metals and harmful powders. These have been detected in the coke ovens, the mining area, the agglomerated area and the steelworks area.10 Investigations have also reported an illicit activity of production and discharge of toxic and dangerous waste, along with scattering of toxic sludges contaminated by micro-pollutants without authorization.11
Occupational health risk assessment of volatile organic compounds emitted from the coke production unit of a steel plant
Published in International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics, 2020
Fateme Dehghani, Fariborz Omidi, Omidreza Heravizadeh, Saied Barati Chamgordani, Vahid Gharibi, Akbar Sotoudeh Manesh
Processes involved in iron and steel making are classified into three stages: iron making, steel making and casting, and steel forming [1]. The major installations in the steel plant are the coke oven, the blast furnace (BF), sintering, basic oxygen steel making (BOS), casting and rolling equipment [2]. The coke production unit is one of the leading emitters of contaminants. The coke production unit pollutants are mainly generated when coal is fed into the coke oven and heated at high temperatures until it is moved directly to the iron melting furnace or into storage for future use [3]. Obtained data indicate non-methane hydrocarbons generated from coke ovens and metal ore roasting or sintering facilities are the primary pollutants [4]. The major volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitting from the coke production unit are benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX) [3]. In recent years, various studies have been carried out to characterize the VOC composition and concentration in the steel production processes [1,5–7]. BTEX have also been detected in previous studies on the risk of exposure to VOCs in other similar industries. Occupational exposure to VOCs may lead to acute and chronic health problems such as eye and throat irritation, neurological damage, lung cancer and respiratory problems [8,9]. Among VOCs, benzene has been classified as a known human carcinogen by the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and as a group 1 human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) [10,11].
Lung cell toxicity of co-exposure to airborne particulate matter and extremely low-frequency magnetic field
Published in Xenobiotica, 2022
Zahra Panjali, Parviz Abdolmaleki, Behnam Hajipour-Verdom, Omar Hahad, Rezvan Zendehdel
The present study investigated the toxicity mechanisms and cell responses to the natural composition of particles emitted from metal casting furnaces and exposure to ELF-MF. Several studies have analysed the emissions from organic compounds and PAHs generated by coke fuel burning (Pan et al. 2008; Li et al. 2018). Since the coke fuel burning has numerous environmental issues, they were recently replaced with inductive furnaces in metal smelting industries. Nonetheless, the electrical field creates potential occupational hazards, such as ELF-MF exposure (Mediano and Suárez 2013). Several epidemiological studies revealed the adverse effects (Wilson 1988; Schüz 2011; Chen et al. 2013; Zendehdel et al. 2019) and benefits (Raggi et al. 2008; Garip and Akan 2010; Cichoń et al. 2017; Cichoń et al. 2018) of ELF-MF exposure on biological systems.
Identification and evaluation of maintenance error in catalyst replacement using the HEART technique under a fuzzy environment
Published in International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics, 2022
Mostafa Mirzaei Aliabadi, Iraj Mohammadfam, Keyvan Salimi
The catalyst reforming unit is one of the downstream units in refining and distillation refineries that raises the octane number of gasoline. The feed to this unit consists of a mixture of gasoline and heavy naphtha with low octane content and low aromatics. The compounds present in naphtha are converted to a compound with a high octane number after heating and reaction in the presence of hydrogen on the catalyst. This unit has a series of three fixed-bed reactors that are platinum/rhenium-based alumina catalysts with axial fluid flow. Figure 1 shows a sketch of the reforming unit. Many factors cause the gradual loss of catalyst activity, so-called spent, such as poisoning, structural changes, overheating or the presence of external substances such as coke. When hydrocarbons move through the catalysts consisting of a metal base and an acid base, the production of coke on the catalytic substrate is the main cause of loss or reduction of catalyst activity. In other words, the coke formation process is the result of the hydrogenation reaction of the hydrocarbons. Reforming unit catalysts need to be regenerated or replaced after they are spent, usually during overhaul.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Air Pollution
- Charcoal
- Coal Tar
- Iron
- Petroleum
- Carbon
- Destructive Distillation
- Coking
- Oil Refinery
- Coal Gas