Local air pollution in fast developing countries (technical report)

Abstract

Local air pollution is one of the most pressing environmental problems in developing countries.The patterns of local air pollution are similar in many countries. In the initial stages of economic development the demand for energy, coupled to economic expansion, rises sharply. This increased consumption of power for heating, electricity, industrial processes etc. must lead to an increase of emissions. Dust, SO2and secondary products like sulphuric acid are responsible for severe impairments of human health and large scale damage to nature and buildings. Many developing countries have reached this stage of local air pollution or will be exposed to this type of environmental hazards in the near future. Economically developed countries, like the US, Japan and many countries in Western Europe have passed this stage one to three decades ago.In the next phase of economic development transportation, especially by means of lorries and cars becomes a determining factor in local air pollution and cause high concentrations of ozone, peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) and other oxidants are present as secondary products of traffic emissions. A number of developing countries are now entering the stage when this “Los Angeles” type of smog starts to become an important environmental problem. Developing countries should benefit from transfer of knowledge obtained in research programs and development of abatement policies in countries, which have been exposed to these problems in the past. But exchange of ideas between developing countries, regarding assessment of air pollution and implementation of emission controls is also very useful to derive optimal abatement strategies. optimized abatement strategy. Estimates of emissions are often quite uncertain, e.g. in estimates of biogenic emissions and car emissions. Effective abatement should be based on a careful evaluation of local conditions regarding oxidant formation. Some control strategies are effective in one place, but not in another. A good example offers control by means of limiting of hydrocarbons. This strategy is not effective in regions where large emissions of biogenic hydrocarbons are encountered. The non—linear chemistry, resnonsible for ozone formation poses problems in developing an have been measured by means of the enclosure sampling method and GC-FID analysis. The measurement results show a diurnal and seasonal variation of the emission with peaks at noon and in summer months, which are closely related to temperature and irradiation. Average emission rates for Pine, Cypress, Poplar and Scholar, the primary trees in Beijing and China, are measured to be 2.7, 0.009, 4.7 and 1.3 μg.g−1h−1respectively. Annular amount of HCs emitted from the 4 type of trees are estimated to be 9.lxl03and 8.3x106 for Beijing city and China respectively. The emission of terpenes and isoprene from 15 types of trees, bamboo, grass and paddy rice means of pumps, can offer attractive possibilities for monitoring ambient air. Comparison of passive samplers with commonly applied monitors indicates that passive samplers can provide cheap methods for ambient monitoring. But insufficient work has been performed to optimise the methodology and to validate the results for most compounds. Diffusive samplers, devices which sample air controlled by diffusion processes and not by predictions. The NAPAP emission inventories have been prepared for modeling acid deposition and regionally elevated ozone in eastern North America but have rarely been evaluated on a regional scale. In the present paper, to evaluate area emission ratios in the NAPAP inventories, a principal component analysis technique was tested against simulated data and then applied to measurement results at a site in rural North America. The test suggests that the technique is appropriate to derive emission ratios given suitable field data. The area emissions have the following ratios: NOy/CO = 0.11 ± 0.04, HCHO/CO = 0.0056 ± 0.0022, HCHO/NOy= 0.05 ± 0.007, and SO2/CO = 0.005 ± 0.003. In comparison, the first three ratios in the NAPAP area emission inventories are in excellent agreement, but the SO2/CO ratio is three times higher than the field results. Accurate pollutant emission inventories are needed in regional air quality models for reliable different materials, copper, bronze, marble etc. under indoor and outdoor conditions. Different corrosion products are formed, depending on the local pollution climate. Especially the ratio between SO2and NOxis important. Rates of damaged have been assessed and are proven to be significant. The impact of local wet and dry deposition of acid compounds was investigated by means of exposure of took place in the former german Democratic Republic after unification with the Federal Republic of Germany (Western Germany), have caused a tremendous shift in emissions of pollutants. Most emissions, notably of SO2, CO, VOC (Volatile Organic Carbon) and dust have been reduced considerably, but NOxemissions are increased, due to traffic. Formerly smog periods of the “London kind”, characterised by high concentrations of sulfur compounds and dust, were frequently observed in the area of the former GDR. This kind of smog is now being replaced with “Los Angeles kind”, caused by high concentrations of oxidants. The large changes in power production, industrial production agriculture and traffic, which Maoer Mountain district during the spring of 1988. The measurement results show that the precipitation is seriously acidified during spring season in this area, and that acidity of precipitation increases with lower altitudes. The average pH value of rainwater and cloud water over Maoer mountain and of Guilin rainwater were 4.85, 4.34 and 3.91 respectively. Sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, calcium and hydronium were the principal ionic species. Sulfate was the major contributor to acidity, while calcium was the important neutraliser in the rainwater samples in this area. Samples of cloud water, rainwater and ambient aerosol were collected in Guilin downtown and coal and of stagnant meteorological conditions is responsible for high pollutant concentrations in Cheng De. As this city is famous for its Mountain Resort, an array of temples and palaces of great historical value, assessment of air pollution and of the contribution of different sources and the development of abatement measures is necessary. Control schemes to prevent health problems and damage to buildings are proposed. The combination of unfavourable sitina of industry and housing areas, of the use of low grade monitoring of both energy consumption and air quality, a detailed quantitative study is made on the influence of different pollutant sources on the air quality. NOxis the main air pollutant with an estimated contribution of about 70%. Vehicles are the main pollutant source contributing 46%, of which NOxis 64% expressed as mass. The contribution of point sources to NOxemissions is of a second order but point sources are responsible for most of the SO2emissions. Area sources have only a limited impact. Key words: Pollutant source, energy structure, air quality. Based on the latest two-years' survey of sources of pollutants and the results of continuous February 1994. Optical properties, meteorological parameters, and particle characteristics were measured. The data indicate that light scattering by particles is the dominant process in light extinction. Fine particle mass concentration and the fraction of sulfate, nitrate, and ammonium ions in the particles are the major variables which determine the occurrence and characteristics of a smog episode in Seoul. Characteristics of visual air quality in Seoul have been investigated from March 1993 to Croatia and systematically since 1989 in the cadre of the EUROTRAC subproject TOR (Tropospheric Ozone Research). The results of measurements at different locations indicate that the diurnal behaviour of ozone concentrations is dependent on local air pollution. Urban sites show diurnal variations of a factor 10 or more, rural sites of a factor 2 to 5 and less than a factor of 2 is observed above the boundary layer. The levels of oxidants and precursors have incidentally been monitored for a long period in quality of air has deteriorated substantially, especially in large cities and industrial complexes. In the past the major source was the combustion of fuels, the amount of which rapidly increased with economic development and industrialization, and sulfur dioxide was the major pollutant in the air. However, as the number of automobiles have increased in recent years, automobile exhausts have become the main source of air pollution. Increasing public awareness leads to a consensus of sustainable development in Korean industries. The Government is formulating abatement policies and forces industry to comply to these measures. Investment in the facilities and R&D on environment should be increased, and international cooperation accelerated. During the nast three decades ranid ecnnomic development has taken nlare in Korea and the established in China in 1992. This paper describes the application of AMS in source identification for atmospheric aerosols which was part of the national project of AMS application in environmental research. For comparison, sources were studied using multivariate analysis models such as correspondence factor analysis, principal factor analysis and pattern recognition analysis. The results of the samples collected in suburb of Beijing, analysed by factor analysis, showed that the predominant TSP source was soil which contributed more than 50% to atmospheric particles. However, the AMS results demonstrated that carbonaceous aerosols have quite different emission sources. For carbonaceous aerosols of Beijing, Hunan and Shandong, the contribution to ambient particles from fossil fuel was nearly 2/3, and as human activities (coal-burning, etc.) increases, the fossil part contributes more. Therefore, it is significant to combine the method of factor analysis and AMS in the study of atmospheric aerosols. Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) is a new physical technique and it was successfully near Yeochun causes more frequent exceedence of the allowable limit of oxidant concentration. This increase of oxidant concentration is aggravated by local meteorological conditions. Analysis of the trends in oxidant concentration indicates that increased emissions of precursors polluted cities of the world and leading the list is the national capital Dilli. Exponential increase of the number of automobiles, particularly two- and three-wheelers, a number of industries and thermal power plants in the proximity of cities, the high population growth rate, poverty, unawareness and general apathy to the needs of environmental safety measures are mainly responsible for the current scenario. Considering the menace of air pollution which is new compared with other pressing problems such as those related to sanitation, drinking water etc., a significant amount of air pollution monitoring has taken place during the last one and a half decade. Needless to say, that a lot has to be done yet, but at the same time it must be added that currently serious efforts are being made on both government and public levels to meet the challenge of air pollution problems in India. The Indian megacities have achieved the dubious distinction of being some of the most smog. Data from monitoring stations show increased exceedence of the maximum allowable concentration of 80 ppb. Trajectory analysis during photochemical smog episodes show that highways and areas characterised by dense traffic contribute significantly to this problem. The large increase in traffic density in Beijing has created problems regarding photochemical human health and damaging buildings such as the Victoria Memorial Hall in Calcutta. Ambient concentrations have been monitored around this building and a model has been developed which describes concentration and deposition patterns as function of traffic emissions and abatement measures. Planting a green belt is the most effective counter measure to abate the impact of local emissions on Victoria Memorial Hall. Traffic emissions in Calcutta have increased sharply and the resulting impact is threatening matter in Beijing. Increased intensity of traffic contributes to the emission of especially smaller particles at an increasing rate. The fraction of inhalable and respirable particulate matter in the total amount of suspended particulate matter has increased substantially. The use of coal as fuel was. until recently, by far the most important source of particulate induce and other abatement policies which will effectively improve air quality in Guiyang, based on the monitoring data in recent years. The result is that air pollution control in Guiyang should be focussed on area sources with an average height of chimneys of 28m, and that the use of fuel must be changed. Industrial briquet with low sulfur content will be burned in boilers, with a capacity below 4 tons of coal per hour. An assessment of pollution, regarding SO, and TSP in Guiyang is made. This assessment will measured and statistical analysis has been applied to these results in order to assess the contribution of different sources. This approach leads to coherent results and indicates that soil is the major source of particulate material, followed by emissions of coal combustion and, depending on the season, either emissions due to construction or oil combustion. The chemical composition of particulate matter, sampled near Dagang oil field gas been carried out in the Bo Sea in March, 1993 and April, 1994. DMS concentrations in the Bo Sea in the end of winter were between 7 and 163 ng/1, 81 ng/1 on average. A seasonal variation of DMS concentrations was observed in the Gulf of Jiaozhou by a factor of 4 between spring and winter with mean concentrations of 363 ng/1 and 408 ng/1 in the spring seasons of 1993 and 1994 and 87 ng/1 in the 1993 winter season. The flux of DMS from the sea to the air also showed a seasonal variation. Key words: Dimethyl sulfide, Flux, seawater, atmosphere. Measurements of the concentration of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) in surface waters have been. © 1995 IUPAC