Design and demonstration of a next-generation air quality attainment assessment system for PM2.5 and O3

Due to the increasingly stringent standards, it is important to assess whether the proposed emission reduction will result in ambient concentrations that meet the standards. The Software for Model Attainment Test—Community Edition (SMAT-CE) is developed for demonstrating attainment of air quality standards of O₃ and PM_2.5. SMAT-CE improves computational efficiency and provides a number of advanced visualization and analytical functionalities on an integrated GIS platform. SMAT-CE incorporates historical measurements of air quality parameters and simulated air pollutant concentrations under a number of emission inventory scenarios to project the level of compliance to air quality standards in a targeted future year. An application case study of the software based on the U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) shows that SMAT-CE is capable of demonstrating the air quality attainment of annual PM_2.5 and 8-hour O₃ for a proposed emission control policy.     

Design and demonstration of a next-generation air quality attainment assessment system for PM2.5 and O3

Due to the increasingly stringent standards, it is important to assess whether the proposed emission reduction will result in ambient concentrations that meet the standards. The Software for Model Attainment Test—Community Edition (SMAT-CE) is developed for demonstrating attainment of air quality standards of O₃ and PM_2.5. SMAT-CE improves computational efficiency and provides a number of advanced visualization and analytical functionalities on an integrated GIS platform. SMAT-CE incorporates historical measurements of air quality parameters and simulated air pollutant concentrations under a number of emission inventory scenarios to project the level of compliance to air quality standards in a targeted future year. An application case study of the software based on the U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) shows that SMAT-CE is capable of demonstrating the air quality attainment of annual PM_2.5 and 8-hour O₃ for a proposed emission control policy.     

Using the Flow Cytometry to Quantify the Giardia Cysts and Cryptosporidium Oocysts in Water Samples

The flow cytometry (FC) has been used to detect Giardia cysts and Cryptosporidium oocysts quantitatively and instantaneously in this study. The experimental results showed that FC is potential to become a more precise method for the detection of Giardia and Cryptosporidium in water. This study also evaluated the staining efficiencies for three commercial antibodies. After staining Cryptosporidium oocysts with direct immunofluorescent antibodies in water samples, two populations were detected in the scatter-plots (FL1 versus SSC) of the FC. The Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia cysts are significantly separated from other particles while stained with direct immunofluorescent antibodies produced by Meridian Diagnostics and Waterborne^TM Inc.     

A case study of development and application of a streamlined control and response modeling system for PM2.5 attainment assessment in China

This article describes the development and application of a streamlined air control and response modeling system with a novel response surface modeling-linear coupled fitting method and a new module to provide streamlined model data for PM_(2.5) attainment assessment in China.This method is capable of significantly reducing the dimensions required to establish a response surface model,as well as capturing more realistic response of PM_(2.5) to emission changes with a limited number of model simulations.The newly developed module establishes a data link between the system and the Software for Model Attainment Test—Community Edition(SMAT-CE),and has the ability to rapidly provide model responses to emission control scenarios for SMAT-CE using a simple interface.The performance of this streamlined system is demonstrated through a case study of the Yangtze River Delta(YRD) in China.Our results show that this system is capable of reproducing the Community Multi-Scale Air Quality(CMAQ) model simulation results with maximum mean normalized error 3.5%.It is also demonstrated that primary emissions make a major contribution to ambient levels of PM_(2.5) in January and August(e.g.,more than50%contributed by primary emissions in Shanghai),and Shanghai needs to have regional emission control both locally and in its neighboring provinces to meet China's annual PM_(2.5)National Ambient Air Quality Standard.The streamlined system provides a real-time control/response assessment to identify the contributions of major emission sources to ambient PM_(2.5)(and potentially O_3 as well) and streamline air quality data for SMAT-CE to perform attainment assessments.     

Synthesis of mesoporous magnesium oxide: Its application to CO2 chemisorption

Mesoporous magnesium oxide (MgO) was synthesized using mesoporous carbon CMK-3 obtained from mesoporous SBA-15 as exotemplate. P123 was used as the structure-directing template and rice husk ash (RHA) as the silica source for the synthesis of SBA-15, which was subsequently treated with sucrose and sulphuric acid to obtain mesoporous carbon (CMK-3). X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) results and the type-IV adsorption isotherm with H1 hysteresis obtained by N₂ adsorption/desorption study for SBA-15, CMK-3 and mesoporous MgO suggests its resemblance with materials synthesized using conventional silica sources. Mesoporous MgO was subjected for CO₂ adsorption study in TGA; adsorption was 8 and 10 wt% at 25 and 100 °C, respectively. Finally, mesoporous MgO is selective to CO₂ gas, thermally stable and regenerable. Thus, this study contributes a better route to enhance CO₂ gas adsorption and use ecological waste rice husk for the synthesis of such efficient mesoporous materials.     

空气污染与健康效益评估工具BenMAP CE研发

为了评估空气污染带来的健康冲击、评估健康效益,克服现有评估工具(BenMAP V4.0)计算速度缓慢及用户体验较差等问题,受美国环保署委托,设计并研发了新一代空气污染与健康效益评估工具BenMAP CE,搭建了BenMAP CE的框架,进行了详细功能设计,并利用美国环保署提供的数据进行了实测.测试结果表明,基于相同的输入文件和设置,BenMAP CE能重现BenMAP V4.0的计算结果,相比现有的评估工具,BenMAP CE具有良好的用户体验、强大的GIS展示功能及大幅提高的计算速度.BenMAP CE是考虑了污染物环境浓度削减、人口密度、收入差异等经济因素的综合性评估工具,能为决策者评估空气污染控制措施所带来的健康效益提供辅助决策依据.     

Development and case study of a science-based software platform to support policy making on air quality

This article describes the development and implementations of a novel software platform that supports real-time, science-based policy making on air quality through a user-friendly interface. The software, RSM-VAT, uses a response surface modeling (RSM) methodology and serves as a visualization and analysis tool (VAT) for three-dimensional air quality data obtained by atmospheric models. The software features a number of powerful and intuitive data visualization functions for illustrating the complex nonlinear relationship between emission reductions and air quality benefits. The case study of contiguous U.S. demonstrates that the enhanced RSM-VAT is capable of reproducing the air quality model results with Normalized Mean Bias < 2% and assisting in air quality policy making in near real time.     

大气污染防治综合科学决策支持平台的开发及应用

大气污染防治和环境治理的紧迫性和复杂性需要科学有效的决策,而以费效评估为标志的综合决策评估模型是支撑环境决策和管理的重要工具.当前以ABaCAS（Air Pollution Control Cost-Benefit and Attainment Assessment System,空气污染控制成本效益与达标评估系统）为代表的综合决策评估模型可以实现对特定减排方案的费效评估,然而无法支持开展基于费效的达标路径优化,以及对应不同环境目标下减排策略的优化制定.针对上述问题,建立了大气污染防治综合科学决策支持平台.该平台以ABaCAS的4个核心模块为基础,建立了新的基于环境目标的反算技术（LE-CO）及优化集成运行模式（ABaCAS-OE）,实现了对不同环境目标要求的减排量反算,并对优化的减排策略下的空气质量改善效果、目标可达性、控制成本及健康收益进行快速估算.将大气污染防治综合科学决策支持平台应用到京津冀及周边地区"2+26"城市,反算了2035年达标要求下的减排情景,以及对应减排方案的费用与效益.结果表明,相较于2015年,预测了2035年京津冀及周边地区的PM_2.5、SO₂、NO_x、VOCs、NH₃排放量需分别减排70%~87%、49%~85%、66%~74%、51%~66%、0~40%才可达标,并且该情景可以带来可观的效益,费用-效益比达3.7.未来大气污染防治综合科学决策支持平台的研究将进一步面向多目标、多行业、多组分、多区域的精细化调控技术,实现经济、能源、排放、浓度、成本、健康、生态、气候一体化的综合决策,以全面支撑我国大气污染防治的综合科学决策.      

Source attribution for mercury deposition in the contiguous United States: regional difference and seasonal variation

Quantifying the contribution of emission sources responsible for mercury deposition in specific receptor regions helps develop emission control strategies that alleviate the impact on ecosystem and human health. In light of the maximum available control technology (MACT) rules proposed by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the ongoing intergovernmental negotiation coordinated by United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) for mercury, the Community Multiscale Air Quality Modeling System (CMAQ-Hg) was applied to estimate the source contribution in six subregions of the contiguous United States (CONUS). The considered source categories include electric generating units (EGU), iron and steel industry (IRST), other industrial point sources excluding EGU and IRST (OIPM), the remaining anthropogenic sources (RA), natural processes (NAT), and out-of-boundary transport (BC). It is found that, on an annual basis, dry deposition accounts for two-thirds of total annual deposition in CONUS (474 Mg yr(-1)), mainly contributed by reactive gaseous mercury (about 60% of total deposition). The contribution from large point sources can be as high as 75% near the emission sources (< 100 km), indicating that emission reduction may result in direct deposition decrease near the source locations. Out-of-boundary transport contributes from 68% (Northeast) to 91% (West Central) of total deposition. Excluding the contribution from out-of boundary transport, EGU contributes to about 50% of deposition in the Northeast, Southeast, and East Central regions, whereas emissions from natural processes are more important in the Pacific and West Central regions (contributing up to 40% of deposition). This suggests that the implementation of the new EPA MACT standards will significantly benefit only these three regions. Emission speciation is a key factor for local deposition. The source contribution exhibits strong seasonal variation. Deposition is greater in warm seasons due to stronger Hg0 oxidation. However, the contribution from anthropogenic sources is smaller in warm seasons because of larger emissions from natural processes and stronger vertical mixing that facilitates transport.     

长江三角洲地区大气O3和PM10的区域污染特征模拟

以TRACE-P污染源资料及上海市地方排放清单为基础,采用Models-3/CMAQ环境空气质量模型和中尺度气象模式MM5,模拟研究了2001-01和2001-07长三角近地面二次污染物O₃及PM₁₀的浓度分布及输送状况,并以上海市国控点2001年冬、夏季各10 d的小时监测数据对模型进行了验证.验证结果显示,Models-3/CMAQ对O₃和PM₁₀的模拟结果与监测值的相关系数分别为0.77和0.52;一致性指数分别达到0.81和0.99.模型对O₃小时最高浓度的估算偏低27%,标准偏差为-3.1%;对PM₁₀小时平均浓度的估算偏低10%,标准偏差为46%.模型已具备再现和模拟长三角大气污染输送过程的能力,且误差落在可接受的范围之内.模拟结果显示,2001-07长三角区域16个主要城市中,有14个城市O₃小时最大浓度超过国家二级标准,高浓度O₃可覆盖苏南和浙北广大区域.2001-01泰州、扬州、南京、镇江、常州等城市受本地排放源和北部大气污染输送的影响显著,大气PM₁₀日均浓度超过PM₁₀国家二级标准.长三角地区环境空气质量与污染类型受大气污染传输与化学转化的影响十分明显.夏季太阳辐射较强时,南部城市排放的污染物常以二次污染物的形式影响下风向城市;太阳辐射较弱的情况下,则以一次污染物输送为主的形式影响周边地区.冬季长三角区域颗粒物污染总体水平较高,这与我国北方地区排放的颗粒物在西北风作用下向长三角输送造成的影响密切相关.长三角地区的大气污染已逐渐从局地转为区域问题.