Assessment and management of urban air pollution: a new ...€¦ · Assessment and management of urban air pollution: a new project in Shanghai F. Costabile, L. Paciucci & I. Allegrini

Assessment and management of urban air pollution: a new project in Shanghai

F. Costabile, L. Paciucci & I. Allegrini Institute for Atmospheric Pollution, National Research Council, Rome, Italy

Abstract

With the rapid rise of means of transport, the emission of the motor vehicle has become a prime source of air pollution in many cities. The result of air quality monitoring says that the air in 70 percent of Chinese cities does not meet standards. In 2003, the total amount of hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide emission reached about 2.5 times, 2.0 times and 3.0 times that of 1995 respectively. In the same period, the emission of other air pollutants like sulphur dioxide, soot and industrial dust dropped by 15 percent. This paper focuses on the application to an ongoing project in Shanghai about “Motor Vehicle Emission Urban Pollution” (MoVE-UP). In the framework of the Sino-Italian Cooperation Program for environmental protection, the Institute for Atmospheric Pollution of the Italian CNR is assessing the future trends in emissions and air quality in the urban area of Shanghai. The main topic is establishing a consistent framework in order to reduce emissions using the principles of cost-effectiveness, sound science and transparency, and to provide a foundation (in terms of data and modelling tools) for the transition towards longer-term air quality studies covering all emission sources. Priority has been given to a quantitative analysis of traffic emission and its effects on the urban environment of Shanghai, with the supply of a comprehensive strategy for vehicle-based pollution control. Besides the main “conventional” pollutants investigation, air quality modelling at urban and local scale have been employed to predict roadside air quality and to mitigate impacts. Other important aims of the project are the comparison with sources other than road transport, and the evaluation of the benefits of reducing emissions. Keywords: emissions, air pollution, road transport.

© 2005 WIT Press WIT Transactions on The Built Environment, Vol 77, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3509 (on-line)

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1 Introduction

Reduction of pollution global impact and protection from atmospheric pollutants in urban areas is whether the preoccupation or the most stressing challenge of scientific community, addressed to the general protection of population from adverse effects, which may be caused by airborne toxic gases and particulate matter. According to the European Environment Agency’s 1999 report “Environment in the European Union at the turn of the century”, nearly 40 million people living in the 115 larger European cities still experience exceedences of the WHO’s air quality guidelines for at least one pollutant. And in China this number is absolutely bigger! The environmental issue is also a technological challenge. In spite of a great technological development, it’s still necessary a further knowledge increase in order to improve the actual situation. The conventional approach to the management of air pollution in urban areas has been recognized to be ineffective and new technologies and science improvements are now needed. In the past the dominant sources of air pollution have been industry and energy production. The switch to cleaner fuels and more efficient combustion, however, has driven down emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2) and particulates over the last few decades [8]. However, as emissions of some pollutants have been falling for some time, emissions of other pollutants have, at least until recently, been rising. Only since around 1990 have emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) begun to decline. Both the rise and fall in emissions of these pollutants have been strongly influenced by road traffic. Until the early 1990s the growth in traffic had tended to outpace the benefits of efforts to improve the emissions performance of individual vehicles. But more recently, the introduction of catalysts and other emission control technologies has begun to make significant in-roads into the problem [8]. It has been possible to demonstrate that the link between traffic growth and air pollution (though not necessarily other environmental effects) can be broken [10, 12]. The questions now are how far and how fast do these improvements need to be made, and how best should responsibility for improvement be shared between the policy-makers, public Authorities, vehicle manufacturers, refining industries, scientists or, indeed, other policy instruments and sectors.

2 Methodology

The conventional approach for managing air quality and controlling air pollution mainly due to traffic sources in urban areas is mainly based on automatic monitoring; as before said, it seems to be not sufficient to face up to all the environmental issues, both for technical-scientific and economic reasons. Our research work during the last years has aimed at defining a more comprehensive approach scheme [15, 16, 18, 20, 6]. Our investigation has been broadly developed according to the following approach: (1) identification of environmental objectives for air quality; (2) establishment of emission reduction


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targets or appropriate functional relationships; (3) forecast of future emissions and air quality; (4) collection of input data on effects of potential measures to reduce emissions; (5) carrying out a (cost effectiveness) assessment as a basis for a future air quality strategy. The environmental air quality objectives and the emission reduction targets are mainly identified by means of the legislation. The outline for the assessment and management of air quality is described in the Framework Directive (FWD) 96/62/EC and the limit values for the air pollutants: (1) nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, lead and particulate matter are set out in the first daughter Directive 99/30/EC; (2) carbon monoxide and benzene are set out in the second daughter directive 2000/69/EC; (3) ozone is set out in the third daughter directive 2002/3/EC; (4) PAH, Ni, Cd, Ar and Hg are going to be set up in the fourth daughter directive [3]. Releases of CO, hydrocarbons, NOx and particulates from vehicles are covered under the Euro standards. These are all measured separately for petrol and diesel cars as well as light and heavy goods vehicle classes, and contain maximum permitted mean emissions. There are four stages for cars and LCVs (Light Commercial Vehicles) and five (plus EEV) for HDVs (Heavy Duty Vehicles), which have progressively tighter emissions limits. Progress is also being made on an Environmentally Enhanced Vehicle (EEV) classification for light duty vehicles and also plans for a future Euro 5 standard. Motor vehicle emissions are regulated by Directive 70/220/EEC (light vehicles) and 88/77/EC (heavy vehicles) and amendments to those directives. A whole series of amendments have been issued to stepwise tighten the limit values. In addition legislation has been implemented on the use of on-board diagnostic systems (OBD) which will tell vehicle owners if the emissions of the vehicle is too high and a light on the instrument panel will indicate that there is a need to repair the vehicle. Also for vehicle in use there is legislation on periodic inspections at which the vehicle owners maintenance of the vehicle is checked (Directive 96/96/EC). To reduce emissions during short trips, when the catalytic converter is less effective, and driving during wintertime, a separate requirement on "cold start emissions" was introduced. This part of the legislation is of particular importance for city driving where the average trip normally is very short. By amending Directive 1999/24/EC the emissions from motorcycles will be lowered as well. The system of Chinese vehicle emission standards was following the European’s regulations. SEPA (State Environment Protection Administration), MOST (Ministry of Science and Technology) and NMA set up a national technical strategy for vehicle emission control (“Technical strategy of vehicle emission control “) in 1999. The targets of emission control for LDV, HDV and MC are regulated as following: (a) 2000- 2001 Euro I, (b) 2004 - 2005 Euro II, (c) 2010 reach the advanced international level. The functional relationship linking air quality and air pollution from transport and other sources has been investigated and is still an open target in our research work. Improvements in technology above all else appeared to be capable of


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staying ahead of the effects of traffic growth [12]. Similar reductions could not be expected for CO2 emissions from road transport. A further improvement in the knowing of this relationship is needed. One of the most stressing parameter driving this link is, however, the local climatic conditions, which could impair the effectiveness of emission reductions for the reactive pollutants [13]. The knowledge of the dilution properties of the lower air layers is an essential tool for understanding the accumulation of pollutants and, in general, the time evolution of all pollution processes. Useful information about the dilution potential of the planetary boundary layer, which is not directly measured by any standard meteorological procedure, can be obtained by monitoring Radon and its short-lived decay products (Radon progeny), a ground emitted and chemically stable compound whose emission rate can be considered to be constant in the space and time scale of our observations [11]. Natural radioactivity has been investigated by means of automatic stability monitors that consists of a particulate matter sampler equipped with a Geiger–Muller counter for determining the total beta activity of the short-lived radon progeny over an integration time of 2 hours. Measurements should be carried out at an urban background station not directly influenced by emission sources.

DATA of Motor DATA of Motor Vehicle Vehicle Air Air PollutionPollution

INFORMATION INFORMATION for improvingfor improving air air qualityquality

DATA DATA ANALYSISANALYSIS

ACTIONS ACTIONS & &

POLICIESPOLICIES

DATA DATA INTERPRETATION INTERPRETATION

SCHEMESCHEME

Results Results of of actions actions & & policies aimed policies aimed at at emission reductionemission reduction

Information Information on on pollution pollution source source and and distributiondistribution

Data of air Data of air pollutionpollution, , meteorological conditions meteorological conditions and and atmospheric stabilityatmospheric stability

Backward information Backward information on on thethe validityvalidity of of actions actions and and policiespolicies

DATA of Motor DATA of Motor Vehicle Vehicle Air Air PollutionPollution

INFORMATION INFORMATION for improvingfor improving air air qualityquality


ACTIONS ACTIONS & &

POLICIESPOLICIES


SCHEMESCHEME






ACTIONS ACTIONS & &

POLICIESPOLICIES


SCHEMESCHEME





Figure 1.

The forecast of future emissions and air quality, the collection of input data and the assessment of strategy and policies to reduce emissions and improve air quality can only be obtained by means of integrated systems. These systems should be appropriately integrated to collect data of air quality and emissions (monitoring system), forecast possible scenarios and interpret the situation to produce information related to actions and policies. According to the EU FWD, the type of information to be collected about air quality are: (a) monitoring data, (b) spatial concentration distribution, (c) causes of pollution, (d) documentation of assessment methods, (e) solutions to air quality problems and action plans, (f) administrative information on implementation.


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3 Results According to the methodology before exposed, our work has been addressed to two focal points: (1) identification of environmental objectives for air quality and establishment of emission reduction targets; (2) forecast of future emissions and air quality, the collection of input data and the assessment of strategy and policies to reduce emissions and improve air quality. The choice of air quality objectives and emission targets involve the data flow of the system. Different data involve different monitoring technologies and analysis methodologies. A list of pollutants to be considered has been investigated, considering that: (a) as before said, air quality objectives are legislation-oriented, derived mainly from recently proposed or adopted directives, which set limit or target values for air quality; (b) a number of non-regulated pollutants also are of importance, including PM2.5, 1,3 butadiene and PAH; (c) CO2 is treated as one of the policy drivers to look for any potential synergies in the assessment of both technical and non-technical measures; (d) the European national emission ceilings for NOx and VOCs are taken into consideration as emission reduction targets for “regional” ozone; (e) Kyoto Protocol suggests the pollutants to be regarded as emission sources; (f) monitoring techniques present some constraints. Therefore, the assessment and management of urban air pollution should target the following pollutants: (i) SO2: stated by FWD 96/62/EC and D 2001/81/EC; (ii) NO2: stated by FWD 96/62/EC; (iii) NO: stated by FWD 96/62/EC; (iv) NOX: stated by FWD 96/62/EC and D 2001/81/EC; (v) PM10: stated by FWD 96/62/EC; (vi) Pb: stated by FWD 96/62/EC; (vii) CO: stated by FWD 96/62/EC; (viii) Benzene: stated by FWD 96/62/EC; (ix) O3: stated by FWD 96/62/EC; (x) PAH (BaP): stated by FWD 96/62/EC; (xi) Ni: stated by FWD 96/62/EC; (xii) Cd: stated by FWD 96/62/EC; (xiii) As: stated by FWD 96/62/EC; (xiv) Hg: stated by FWD 96/62/EC; (xv) PM2.5: non regulated pollutant; (xvi) Toluene, suggested by passive sampling technique; (xvii) Xylene, suggested by passive sampling technique; (xviii) HC-hexane, suggested by remote sensing technique [4]; (xix) CO2 : stated by Kyoto Protocol and suggested by remote sensing technique; (xx) CH4 : stated by Kyoto Protocol; (xxi) N2O : stated by Kyoto Protocol; (xii) HFC: stated by Kyoto Protocol; (xiii) PFC: stated by Kyoto Protocol; (xiv) SF6: stated by Kyoto Protocol; (xv) VOC stated by D 2001/81/EC; (xvi) NH3 stated by D 2001/81/EC. As before said, the second focal point of our investigation has been addressed to integrated systems. According to the methodology before discussed, such systems should consider the following wide-ranging list of deliverables: (a) preliminary assessment [2, 19], (b) emission inventory, (c) saturation monitoring network [1, 17, 20], (d) automatic monitoring network, (e) mobile units, (f) mobile source monitoring network, (g) data quality control centre, (h) chemical laboratory, (i) modelling tools, (l) data interpretation scheme, (m) indoor monitoring network, (n) backbone IT. These deliverables should be coupled with the following basic activities: (o) preliminary recognition, (p) optimisation of existing AQMS, (q) training program, (r) technical assistance and (s) maintenance programs. Here it follows some applied schemes of system design:


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Figure 2: Applied schemes of system design.

Figure 3: Deliverables.

As indicated by the FWD 96/62/EC, the methods to generate information about emissions data for air quality calculation/modeling are grouped according to their output, into four categories: (1) definition of zones; (2) measurement of concentration; (3) determination of spatial concentration distribution; (4) assessment of causes of air quality problems; (5) other policy instruments and sectors. With reference to the deliverables before mentioned:


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(1) item 1 is performed by means of the preliminary recognition, the preliminary assessment and the model application; (2) item 2 is performed by means of the AQMS, the TEMS, the mobile units and the indoor network; (3) item 3 is performed by means of the model application and data interpretation; (4) item 4 is performed by means of the data interpretation activity and the model application.

4 Application

In the framework of the Sino-Italian Cooperation Program for environmental protection managed by the Italian Ministry of Environment and Territory, a new project for the management and control of Shanghai Air Pollution due to mobile vehicles is going to be implemented by our Institute. Having in mind the previous construction scheme, it is possible to resume the project structure in the following design.

Preliminary Assessment

EmergencyMobile Station

Saturation Stations

New Fixed

Stations

DATA

VALIDATION

Mobile Stations(Unconventional)

Existing fixed station

Preliminary Recognition

Modelling

Data interpretation

Figure 4: Project structure.

A preliminary recognition provides basic data about pollution levels, time and space distribution, meteorological situation, pollution sources and expected emission time and space evolution. Such evaluation does not need to be very detailed since it is used as a general assessment of the present situation. The preliminary recognition is followed by the preliminary assessment, that requires extended measurements in space by means of supplementary monitoring techniques (Passive samplers, small fine particle monitors, solid state sensors, etc), able to perform the so called “Saturation Monitoring” which mean air pollution assessment in several sampling locations as to obtain a detailed map of the space distribution of air pollution. According to the results of the previous assessment, the optimisation of Shanghai AQMS is carried out by means of: integration of existing instruments for AQM with new apparatuses both conventional and non conventional, relocation of monitoring stations, setting up new stations where needed, monitoring of new pollutants, implementation of the reference monitoring station, optimisation of QA/QC procedures with a properly equipped mobile unit. A mobile unit for emergency is used to provide effective tools to manage environmental emergencies for rapid on site intervention and identification of environmental problems. The optimisation step proceeds in


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parallel with the activity dealing with data interpretation, which is based upon proper procedures to provide, from data generated by the AQMS, information related to polluting sources, distribution of pollutants and to provide the basis for actions toward an effective reduction of emissions [5, 9, 14]. Among these, it is expected that secondary pollution, mainly due to particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and ozone, will become important for the next years as the result of limitations in primary polluting sources (industry) and increase in traffic related pollution. A proper data interpretation scheme is the key for understanding in a short time basis the results of actions aimed to emission reduction. This part of the work takes in proper consideration the relationship between meteorological conditions and air pollution as far as the atmospheric stability is concerned. Models are important tools for the planning of atmospheric resources since they may provide results from different emitting scenarios, helping local authorities in finding out the best reduction processes according to needs for public mobility and of economics [12]. Since it is expected that most emissions in the near future will be generated by mobile sources, a traffic emission monitoring system is necessary is necessary to provide tools to better evaluate such contribution by reaching the following goals: (i) to characterize the vehicle emissions in Shanghai city, (ii) to evaluate the space and time evolution of mobile emissions, (iii) to identify heavy polluting vehicles, (iv) to verify that restrictions to sensible areas of the City (pollution restrictions) are met. An important role in any atmospheric pollution related project is the assessment of population exposure to pollutants. Such exposure may take place in outdoor environments, but very often it is mostly related to exposition of pollutants emitted in the indoor environment to start the characterisation of indoor pollution in buildings, homes and other closed environments in the city of Shanghai. On site assistance to Municipality of Shanghai is required since most apparatuses and techniques intended for the project are characterised by relatively high technical content. Thus, an effective training program, based on laboratory, filed and management assistance is developed.

5 Conclusions

The problem of air quality in urban areas has been still not solved in European Countries and not only: cleaner vehicle technology by itself is not sufficient and comparable effort must now go into integrated approaches balanced by major political initiatives and joint commitments between research, policy and market. Transport and air quality must be better integrated in long-term solutions involving major infrastructure, resources, and altered priorities. Each major metropolitan area should undertake a specific integrated assessment of air quality. More comprehensive systems for the management of air quality and control of mobile vehicle pollution can be efficiently integrated for the long-term management of traffic pollution in urban areas, allowing the possibility to investigate the direct link existing between traffic emissions and measured concentrations that is still an open problem in the research and


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development field. The difficulty to select the target pollutants in such a systems is not so easy to be faced up: actually, there is some discrepancy between legislation related to air quality and air emissions in urban area. This work has analyzed this concern providing a wide list of targeted pollutants, considering EU FWD on Air Quality, Kyoto Protocol, Directive on eutrophization and acidification, the monitoring techniques constraints and some non-conventional pollutants. The complexity of air pollution in urban areas due to traffic sources must now consider scientifically advanced air quality management systems: these are still a technological challenge, being conventional approach necessary limited especially in developing countries and supplementary techniques now required and also stated from EU. The design of such systems must consider a wide-range of deliverables needed to collect validated data and transform them into correct policies aimed at emission reduction. This work provides a widespread analysis of deliverables and system designs. The questions now are how far and how fast do these improvements need to be made, and how best should responsibility for improvement be shared between the policy-makers, public Authorities, vehicle manufacturers, refining industries, scientists or, indeed, other policy instruments and sectors. The follow-up of this work will be to deepen knowledge into: (i) monitoring of each air pollutant in urban environment in a scientific way; (ii) scientific investigation of the relation linking each traffic emission to the related air quality concentration; (iii) tuning engine features according to the desired emissions.

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Assessment and management of urban air pollution: a new ...€¦ · Assessment and management of urban air pollution: a new project in Shanghai F. Costabile, L. Paciucci & I. Allegrini