Toxicological Assessment of Green Petroleum Coke

Abstract

Green petroleum coke is primarily inorganic carbon with some entrained volatile hydrocarbon material. As part of the petroleum industry response to the high production volume challenge program, the potential for reproductive effects was assessed in a subchronic toxicity/reproductive toxicity screening test in rats (OECD 421). The repeated-dose portion of the study provided evidence for dust accumulation and inflammatory responses in rats exposed to 100 and 300 mg/m 3 but there were no effects at 30 mg/m 3 . In the reproductive toxicity screen, the frequency of successful matings was reduced in the high exposure group (300 mg/m 3 ) and was not significantly different from control values but was outside the historical experience of the laboratory. The postnatal observations (external macroscopic examination, body weight, and survival) did not indicate any treatment-related differences. Additional tests conducted to assess the potential hazards to aquatic (fish, invertebrates, and algae) and soil dwelling organisms (earthworms and vascular plants) showed few effects at the maximum loading rates of 1000 mg coke/L in aquatic studies and 1000 mg coke/kg soil in terrestrial studies. The only statistically significant finding was an inhibition of algal growth measured as either biomass or growth rate.

Human health risk characterization of petroleum coke calcining facility emissions

“…Similarly, the tests done on plant growth (variety of corn, radish and soybean) showed no evidence of stunted growth when these were exposed to petcoke for a period of 21 days. (Mckee et al, 2014). In another study, when species of plants were exposed to pure petcoke and were exposed to real life scenario of exposure due to petcoke dispersal, no changes were observed on germination of seeds but stress symptoms were seen resulting in stunted growth and abnormal physical properties including lowered transpiration (Nakata et al, 2011).…”

“…On the other hand, the coke calcining industry usually refers to the standalone process of producing calcined coke from green coke. For most purposes, green coke is an inert substance and the health hazards assigned to green coke are mostly associated with the Particulate Matter (PM) exposures produced during calcination (McKee et al, 2014). The high temperatures required for the process of calcination and the further processing of the gases in a combustion chamber, sometimes referred to as a pyro scrubber, provides sufficient heat that eliminates the majority of the emissions including volatile organic compounds and combustible particles.…”

A case study of potential human health impacts from petroleum coke transfer facilities

“…We have used the toxicity of green coke in our assessment as well. Consistency of toxic effect is evident across studies and species, however, regardless of composition of the petcoke that was tested (HLS, 1999;Klonne et al, 1987;McKee et al, 2013). All the forms of petcoke (green and calcined) tested exhibited portal of entry effects.…”

Measures to reduce air pollution caused by fugitive dust emissions from harbour activities

“…%), which includes heavy metals, such as vanadium (V) or nickel (Ni) [2,4]. Some toxicological studies have been performed [3,5], suggesting that, in general, petcoke acts as an inert dust with human health risks associated to long-term dust inhalation, such as chronic pulmonary inflammation or respiratory tract irritation [4,5]. Additionally, particulate matter exposition, such as PM2.5 and PM10, i.e.…”