Emissions of gaseous nitrogen species from manure management: a new approach

A procedure for the assessment of emissions of nitrogen (N) species (ammonia, nitrous oxide, nitric oxide, di-nitrogen) from the manure management system is developed, which treats N pools and flows including emissions strictly according to conservation of mass criteria. As all relevant flows in the husbandry of mammals are depicted, the methodology is considered a Tier 3 approach in IPCC terminology or a detailed methodology in UN ECE terminology. The importance of accounting for all N species is illustrated by comparing emission estimates obtained using this approach with those obtained from the application the present detailed/Tier 2 methodology.     

An estimation of the spatial and temporal distribution of biogenic non-methane hydrocarbon emissions in Greece

The present study presents the first detailed inventory for non-methane hydrocarbon emissions from vegetation over Greece. The emission inventory, based on a Geographic Information System (GIS), has a spatial resolution of 5×5 km² and a time resolution of 1 h. For the area under study, the calculated yearly monoterpene emissions are higher than the corresponding isoprene ones. In addition to the methodology presented here, the CORINAIR methodology was also applied for the calculation of emission rates. This resulted in orders of magnitude differences in the calculated emission rates. The CORINAIR methodology is judged to lead to unrealistically high values of biogenic NMHC emission rates. The temperature dependence of the CORINAIR correction factors seems to affect most the emissions, together with grazing land emission factors.     

Validity and uncertainty in the calculation of an emission inventory for ammonia arising from agriculture in Great Britain

Emissions of ammonia have received increasing attention recently, following concern about the environmental consequences, especially in The Netherlands where levels are high due to intensive livestock farming. Direct local effects and more widespread consequences for a range of ecosystems have been attributed to ammonia emissions. As the most prevalent alkaline gas in the atmosphere, ammonia interacts with acidic species, changing their characteristics, chemical and physical behaviour, and enhancing their potential for acidification of soils. Ammonia also forms an important component of the nitrogen cycle and of nitrogen deposition. In the UK, as in many other European countries, there has been a considerable increase in the emission of ammonia within the last 30 years, estimated at about 50%. This results mainly from increases in agricultural production based on the steadily rising number of livestock and increasing fertilizer consumption. This paper discusses the various sources to emissions of ammonia from agricultural sources in the United Kingdom, and some of the uncertainties involved in constructing a national emissions inventory.     

Reflecting on progress since the 2005 NARSTO emissions inventory report

Emission inventories are the foundation for cost-effective air quality management activities. In 2005, a report by the public/private partnership North American Research Strategy for Tropospheric Ozone (NARSTO) evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of North American emissions inventories and made recommendations for improving their effectiveness. This paper reviews the recommendation areas and briefly discusses what has been addressed, what remains unchanged, and new questions that have arisen. The findings reveal that all emissions inventory improvement areas identified by the 2005 NARSTO publication have been explored and implemented to some degree. The U.S. National Emissions Inventory has become more detailed and has incorporated new research into previously under-characterized sources such as fine particles and biomass burning. Additionally, it is now easier to access the emissions inventory and the documentation of the inventory via the internet. However, many emissions-related research needs exist, on topics such as emission estimation methods, speciation, scalable emission factor development, incorporation of new emission measurement techniques, estimation of uncertainty, top-down verification, and analysis of uncharacterized sources. A common theme throughout this retrospective summary is the need for increased coordination among stakeholders. Researchers and inventory developers must work together to ensure that planned emissions research and new findings can be used to update the emissions inventory. To continue to address emissions inventory challenges, industry, the scientific community, and government agencies need to continue to leverage resources and collaborate as often as possible. As evidenced by the progress noted, continued investment in and coordination of emissions inventory activities will provide dividends to air quality management programs across the country, continent, and world.

Implications: In 2005, a report by the public/private partnership North American Research Strategy for Tropospheric Ozone (NARSTO) evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of North American air pollution emissions inventories. This paper reviews the eight recommendation areas and briefly discusses what has been addressed, what remains unchanged, and new questions that have arisen. Although progress has been made, many opportunities exist for the scientific agencies, industry, and government agencies to leverage resources and collaborate to continue improving emissions inventories.     

Emissions of persistent organic pollutants and eight candidate POPs from UNECE–Europe in 2000, 2010 and 2020 and the emission reduction resulting from the implementation of the UNECE POP protocol

An emission inventory for persistent organic pollutants (POP) is made for the year 2000 based on submissions of emission data from the Parties to the Convention on LRTAP. The inventory covers the UNECE territory except Canada and the United States. For the countries, sources or compounds lacking in official submissions, default emission estimates have been prepared and applied to complete the inventory. An indicative comparison of the year 2000 emissions with the 1990 emission levels from a previous study is presented as well as emission projections for 2010, 2015, 2020 based on activity scenarios developed in the framework of the EU CAFE programme. The key source analysis of the projected emissions assuming full implementation of the UNECE protocols allows identification of remaining source strengths which subsequently are briefly discussed in terms of their potential for (further) reduction. A number of chemicals are currently being investigated for inclusion on the UN/ECE POPs protocol list of priority compounds but for these substances emission estimation methodologies are scarce or non-existent. For eight of these substances (dicofol, edosulfan, hexachlorobutadiene (HBU), pentabromodiphenyl ether (PBDE), pentachlorobenzene (PCBe), pentachlorophenol (PCP), polychloronated naftalenes (PCN) and short chained chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs)) an emission estimation methodology is proposed and a preliminary emission inventory for the year 2000 is presented.     

Methodologies for estimating disaggregated anthropogenic emissions--application to a coastal Mediterranean region of Spain

Regional estimates of both anthropogenic and biogenic emissions are important inputs for models of atmospheric chemistry. A disaggregated emissions inventory of all relevant pollutants for an area of 100 x 100 km2 centered in Burriana (Castellon, Spain) has been worked out. Time and spatial resolutions were hourly and 1 x 1 km2, respectively. Estimates were made for all relevant sources of anthropogenic emissions. The pollutants considered were SO2, NOx, NMVOCs (nonmethane volatile organic compounds), CH4, CO, CO2, N2O, and NH3. Thus, the emissions inventory includes up to 18 different NMVOCs. Emissions were computed for a typical sunny workday in June when strong photochemical activity could be expected. A "top-down" methodology was applied, taking as a starting point official annual and provincial estimates based on CORINAIR emission factors. This procedure is a very useful tool, particularly for those cases where a lack of sufficient local detailed information about the main emission-generating activities, such as road traffic, makes the use of a "bottom-up" approximation inadvisable. Moreover, updating these emission inventories is easier and they could be used to evaluate the impact of possible abatement strategies.     

Comparison of European national legislation efficiency on the reduction of air pollutant emissions

Since 1995, the Institute for Environment and Development in Portugal has obtained >300 stack samples from various point sources of Portuguese industries. A coherent database was made with the collected results. The limit values fixed by several European legal documents consulted, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, and Dutch emission legislation, were applied to the Institute for Environment and Development stack sampling inventory (from 1995 to 2000) to evaluate the efficiency of these standards in promoting the control and reduction of atmospheric pollutants emissions, especially regarding nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter. The conclusion was that the original Portuguese legislation was not restrictive enough and not very efficient regarding emissions reduction. In contrast, the Dutch and Italian legislations are quite restrictive but very efficient concerning emission control for the three pollutants analyzed. One of the outcomes of this study was the publication of a new law in Portugal regulating the emissions of atmospheric pollutants. The strategy of this emissions control law follows the conclusions found in this study including the concept of a mass flow threshold and different approaches depending on source dimension.     

Development of a United States-Mexico Emissions Inventory for the Big Bend Regional Aerosol and Visibility Observational (BRAVO) Study

The Big Bend Regional Aerosol and Visibility Observational (BRAVO) Study was commissioned to investigate the sources of haze at Big Bend National Park in southwest Texas. The modeling domain of the BRAVO Study includes most of the continental United States and Mexico. The BRAVO emissions inventory was constructed from the 1999 National Emission Inventory for the United States, modified to include finer-resolution data for Texas and 13 U.S. states in close proximity. The first regional-scale Mexican emissions inventory designed for air-quality modeling applications was developed for 10 northern Mexican states, the Tula Industrial Park in the state of Hidalgo, and the Popocatépetl volcano in the state of Puebla. Emissions data were compiled from numerous sources, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission (now Texas Commission on Environmental Quality), the Eastern Research Group, the Minerals Management Service, the Instituto Nacional de Ecología, and the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica Geografía y Informática. The inventory includes emissions for CO, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), ammonia, particulate matter (PM) < 10 microm in aerodynamic diameter, and PM < 2.5 microm in aerodynamic diameter. Wind-blown dust and biomass burning were not included in the inventory, although high concentrations of dust and organic PM attributed to biomass burning have been observed at Big Bend National Park. The SMOKE modeling system was used to generate gridded emissions fields for use with the Regional Modeling System for Aerosols and Deposition (REMSAD) and the Community Multiscale Air Quality model modified with the Model of Aerosol Dynamics, Reaction, Ionization and Dissolution (CMAQ-MADRID). The compilation of the inventory, supporting model input data, and issues encountered during the development of the inventory are documented. A comparison of the BRAVO emissions inventory for Mexico with other emerging Mexican emission inventories illustrates their uncertainty.     

Quality considerations of European PM emission inventories

This paper reviews information on emission inventories of particulate matter (PM) in Europe. A large body of scientific literature is available to cover many different aspects. Studies focus on specific sources or source sectors (road transport as well as off-road machinery, domestic heating, industry, agriculture, and natural sources), among which especially road transport emissions are clearly best established. Emission inventories comprising all sources are available for specific European regions, often pointing out regional differences, but also for the entire continent. Still these inventories often are not able to satisfy the needs. Due to PM specific circumstances such as the large number of sources, very different release pathways and differences of the individual particles in terms of chemical composition or size, it is very difficult to appropriately handle measurement conditions to arrive at adequate emission factors, especially when emission points cannot be defined clearly. Information on fugitive emissions (caused by wind shear, material transfer processes or other mechanical forces from non-point sources) is sparse, except for road traffic emissions where recent data seems to converge. The problem of data gaps concerns activities in industry (quarries), agriculture, but also natural particles like sea salt and wind-blown dust. Comparing complete inventories to independent efforts in assessing emissions, e.g. atmospheric measurements combined with source apportionment, allows to better understand and quantify the reliability of inventory data. Methodological improvements and harmonization currently under way in Europe will focus efforts and allow for more reliable PM inventories in the near future.     

Air quality impacts of distributed energy resources implemented in the northeastern United States

Emissions from the potential installation of distributed energy resources (DER) in the place of current utility-scale power generators have been introduced into an emissions inventory of the northeastern United States. A methodology for predicting future market penetration of DER that considers economics and emission factors was used to estimate the most likely implementation of DER. The methodology results in spatially and temporally resolved emission profiles of criteria pollutants that are subsequently introduced into a detailed atmospheric chemistry and transport model of the region. The DER technology determined by the methodology includes 62% reciprocating engines, 34% gas turbines, and 4% fuel cells and other emerging technologies. The introduction of DER leads to retirement of 2625 MW of existing power plants for which emissions are removed from the inventory. The air quality model predicts maximum differences in air pollutant concentrations that are located downwind from the central power plants that were removed from the domain. Maximum decreases in hourly peak ozone concentrations due to DER use are 10 ppb and are located over the state of New Jersey. Maximum decreases in 24-hr average fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations reach 3 microg/m3 and are located off the coast of New Jersey and New York. The main contribution to decreased PM2.5 is the reduction of sulfate levels due to significant reductions in direct emissions of sulfur oxides (SO(x)) from the DER compared with the central power plants removed. The scenario presented here represents an accelerated DER penetration case with aggressive emission reductions due to removal of highly emitting power plants. Such scenario provides an upper bound for air quality benefits of DER implementation scenarios.     

Emission inventory for the road transport sector in Sardinia (Italy)

Atmospheric emission inventories are important tools for studying air quality and to set up possible remediation plans in areas characterised by nonattainment of the limit values established by legislation. In industrialised countries a considerable fraction of the emissions is due to road traffic, in particular in urban areas. For this reason emissions from road traffic must be estimated as accurately as possible, a task that can be performed, for the European vehicle fleet, thanks to the availability of the COPERT III methodology. This methodology is powerful and accurate, even if its algorithms can be difficult to apply in a regional emission inventory; moreover the collection of the necessary input data requires a lot of resources and time. This paper describes the road traffic emission inventory estimated for Region Sardinia (Italy) with a bottom-up approach. The estimation has been done by means of a software tool (EMITRA—EMIssions from road TRAnsport) which implements the COPERT III methodology. The resulting emission inventory has been compared against another emission inventory for Sardinia and against emission inventories for other Italian regions, to evaluate its reliability.     

Air Quality Impacts of Distributed Energy Resources Implemented in the Northeastern United States

Abstract

Emissions from the potential installation of distributed energy resources (DER) in the place of current utility-scale power generators have been introduced into an emissions inventory of the northeastern United States. A methodology for predicting future market penetration of DER that considers economics and emission factors was used to estimate the most likely implementation of DER. The methodology results in spatially and temporally resolved emission profiles of criteria pollutants that are subsequently introduced into a detailed atmospheric chemistry and transport model of the region. The DER technology determined by the methodology includes 62% reciprocating engines, 34% gas turbines, and 4% fuel cells and other emerging technologies. The introduction of DER leads to retirement of 2625 MW of existing power plants for which emissions are removed from the inventory. The air quality model predicts maximum differences in air pollutant concentrations that are located downwind from the central power plants that were removed from the domain. Maximum decreases in hourly peak ozone concentrations due to DER use are 10 ppb and are located over the state of New Jersey. Maximum decreases in 24-hr average fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) concentrations reach 3 μg/m3 and are located off the coast of New Jersey and New York. The main contribution to decreased PM_2.5 is the reduction of sulfate levels due to significant reductions in direct emissions of sulfur oxides (SO_x) from the DER compared with the central power plants removed. The scenario presented here represents an accelerated DER penetration case with aggressive emission reductions due to removal of highly emitting power plants. Such scenario provides an upper bound for air quality benefits of DER implementation scenarios.     

Quantification of variability and uncertainty in air pollutant emission inventories: method and case study for utility NOx emissions

The quality of stationary source emission factors is typically described using data quality ratings, which provide no quantification of the precision of the emission factor for an average source, nor of the variability from one source to another within a category. Variability refers to actual differences caused by differences in feedstock composition, design, maintenance, and operation. Uncertainty refers to lack of knowledge regarding the true emissions. A general methodology for the quantification of variability and uncertainty in emission factors, activity factors, and emission inventories (EIs) is described, featuring the use of bootstrap simulation and related techniques. The methodology is demonstrated via a case study for a selected example of NOx emissions from coal-fired power plants. A prototype software tool was developed to implement the methodology. The range of interunit variability in selected activity and emission factors was shown to be as much as a factor of 4, and the range of uncertainty in mean emissions is shown to depend on the interunit variability and sample size. The uncertainty in the total inventory of -16 to +19% was attributed primarily to one technology group, suggesting priorities for collecting data and improving the inventory. The implications for decision-making are discussed.     

A highly resolved temporal and spatial air pollutant emission inventory for the Pearl River Delta region, China and its uncertainty assessment

A highly resolved temporal and spatial Pearl River Delta (PRD) regional emission inventory for the year 2006 was developed with the use of best available domestic emission factors and activity data. The inventory covers major emission sources in the region and a bottom–up approach was adopted to compile the inventory for those sources where possible. The results show that the estimates for SO₂, NO_x, CO, PM₁₀, PM_2.5 and VOC emissions in the PRD region for the year 2006 are 711.4 kt, 891.9 kt, 3840.6 kt, 418.4 kt, 204.6 kt, and 1180.1 kt, respectively. About 91.4% of SO₂ emissions were from power plant and industrial sources, and 87.2% of NO_x emissions were from power plant and mobile sources. The industrial, mobile and power plant sources are major contributors to PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 emissions, accounting for 97.7% of the total PM₁₀ and 97.2% of PM_2.5 emissions, respectively. Mobile, biogenic and VOC product-related sources are responsible for 90.5% of the total VOC emissions. The emissions are spatially allocated onto grid cells with a resolution of 3 km × 3 km, showing that anthropogenic air pollutant emissions are mainly distributed over PRD central-southern city cluster areas. The preliminary temporal profiles were established for the power plant, industrial and on-road mobile sources. There is relatively low uncertainty in SO₂ emission estimates with a range of −16% to +21% from power plant sources, medium to high uncertainty for the NO_x emissions, and high uncertainties in the VOC, PM_2.5, PM₁₀ and CO emissions.     

A methodology and a database for forecasting anthropogenic atmospheric emissions in Europe

A methodology developed for technology-oriented emission forecasts is outlined. It comprises predictions of activity rates for all anthropogenic emission sources as well as assessment of the ageing and technology substitution processes of individual installations or equipment, and combines these with submodules that calculate emissions for each subsector on an annual basis. All data necessary to apply this methodology for the pre-1995 12 European Union member states (i.e. Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Spain, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom) have been collected and are included in databanks of a computer model called CASPER. The results of a run performed with the model according to a realistic base case scenario are presented and discussed.     

Resolving local-scale emissions for modeling air quality near roadways

A large body of literature published in recent years suggests increased health risk due to exposure of people to air pollution in close proximity to roadways. As a result, there is a need to more accurately represent the spatial concentration gradients near roadways to develop mitigation strategies. In this paper, we present a practical, readily adaptable methodology, using a "bottom-up" approach to develop a detailed highway vehicle emission inventory that includes emissions for individual road links. This methodology also takes advantage of geographic information system (GIS) software to improve the spatial accuracy of the activity information obtained from a Travel Demand Model. In addition, we present an air quality modeling application of this methodology in New Haven, CT. This application uses a hybrid modeling approach, in which a regional grid-based model is used to characterize average local ambient concentrations, and a Gaussian dispersion model is used to provide texture within the modeling domain because of spatial gradients associated with highway vehicle emissions and other local sources. Modeling results show substantial heterogeneity of pollutant concentrations within the modeling domain and strong spatial gradients associated with roadways, particularly for pollutants dominated by direct emissions.     

The emission inventory of PCDD/PCDF in Taiwan

Establishment of a country or region-based dioxin inventory was considered a crucial step toward elimination of worldwide dioxins/POPs contaminations, although no harmonized method for the preparation of an inventory is available at present. In this study, we used limited data and information to generate an inventory of dioxin emissions from some major sources in Taiwan. A total of 67.25 g I-TEQ of dioxins released annually was estimated. Unlike most of the industrialized countries, municipal waste incineration is not the highest contributor for dioxins released into the atmosphere. In contrast, secondary copper smelting accounts for more than 39% of the total dioxin emissions, and is higher than those from all waste incinerators combined (23.7%). Cement kilns and electric arc furnaces for steels also produced significant portion (both >10%) of dioxins into the environment, followed by secondary aluminum smelting (6.53%), industrial oil combustion (5.02%) and power plants fueled by coal (5.01%). Other known sources are either insignificant with respect to their dioxin emissions or not included in this inventory due to lack of information or uncertainty of the results. Data presented in this report provide a general picture of dioxin emissions in Taiwan, but were mostly based on less reliable or representative information, especially with respect to emission factors from different emission sources. It is necessary to establish background information relative to our own environment at present. Upon available, the inventory should be updated accordingly for proper environmental management on dioxins.     

Air emission inventories in North America: a critical assessment

Although emission inventories are the foundation of air quality management and have supported substantial improvements in North American air quality, they have a number of shortcomings that can potentially lead to ineffective air quality management strategies. Major reductions in the largest emissions sources have made accurate inventories of previously minor sources much more important to the understanding and improvement of local air quality. Changes in manufacturing processes, industry types, vehicle technologies, and metropolitan infrastructure are occurring at an increasingly rapid pace, emphasizing the importance of inventories that reflect current conditions. New technologies for measuring source emissions and ambient pollutant concentrations, both at the point of emissions and from remote platforms, are providing novel approaches to collecting data for inventory developers. Advances in information technologies are allowing data to be shared more quickly, more easily, and processed and compared in novel ways that can speed the development of emission inventories. Approaches to improving quantitative measures of inventory uncertainty allow air quality management decisions to take into account the uncertainties associated with emissions estimates, providing more accurate projections of how well alternative strategies may work. This paper discusses applications of these technologies and techniques to improve the accuracy, timeliness, and completeness of emission inventories across North America and outlines a series of eight recommendations aimed at inventory developers and air quality management decision-makers to improve emission inventories and enable them to support effective air quality management decisions for the foreseeable future.     

Global emission of mercury to the atmosphere from anthropogenic sources in 2005 and projections to 2020

This paper presents the 2005 global inventory of anthropogenic emissions to the atmosphere component of the work that was prepared by UNEP and AMAP as a contribution to the UNEP report Global Atmospheric Mercury Assessment: Sources, Emissions and Transport (UNEP Chemicals Branch, 2008).It describes the methodology applied to compile emissions data on the two main components of the inventory – the ‘by-product’ emissions and the ‘intentional use’ emissions – and to geospatially distribute these emissions estimates to produce a gridded dataset for use by modelers, and the results of this work.It also presents some initial results of work to develop (simplified) scenario emissions inventories for 2020 that can be used to investigate the possible implications of actions to reduce mercury emissions at the global scale.     

Evaluation of non-methane hydrocarbon (NMHC) emissions based on an ambient air measurement in Tokyo area,Japan

Non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) are known to have an important role on air quality due to their high reactivity. NMHC analysis has been performed on 148 ambient air samples collected at five different sites in the Kanto area (Tokyo metropolitan area and surrounding six prefectures) of Japan in summer and winter of 2008, and fifty NMHCs have been determined and quantified. A field measurement campaign has been conducted at one of the busiest intersections in Tokyo metropolitan area in winter of 2008. NMHC emissions are evaluated through comparison of distributions of individual NMHCs emitted from motor vehicles, which are estimated from the measurements, with those determined from the current emissions inventory. The comparison revealed that the measured distributions of acetylene, ethylene and toluene showed a good agreement with those estimated from the emissions inventory (the values estimated from the measurements are a factor of 1.5, 0.56 and 2.3 larger than the emissions inventory in median, respectively), however, propane and isobutane are found to be significantly underestimated in the emissions inventory (the measured values were a factor of 18 and 5.1 larger than the emissions inventory, respectively). The significant underestimate of propane can be explained by that the current emissions inventory does not consider emissions from liquefied propane gas (LPG) fueled vehicles. However, for isobutane, reasons for the underestimate are still unclear. Another field measurement has been conducted in summer of 2008, where the air samples have been collected at three different sites on the ground and by a helicopter as well. Remarkable high concentrations of 1-butene and cis- and trans-2-butenes have been sporadically observed in the samples collected at Urayasu in the coastal area of Tokyo bay. Calculated propylene equivalent (PE) concentrations of butenes revealed that those have a significantly important role in ozone formation when the air plume is affected by emissions from their emission sources. The PE concentrations of butenes varied from 0.1 to 39 ppbC, and accounted for 1.5–75% of total PE concentrations at Urayasu. Most of the continuous air quality monitoring stations does not record concentrations of individual hydrocarbons, therefore, the importance of reactive and low concentration hydrocarbon such as butenes might be overlooked in the current emissions inventory and/or air quality model. In this paper, the reliability of NMHC emissions is evaluated based on the field measurements. Their possible impacts on air quality in the Kanto area are discussed as well, based on the calculated propylene equivalent concentrations.