Air pollution is a public health issue, and traffic is one of the main sources of pollutants such as NO2, PM10 and PM2.5. Consequently, European cities have been implementing low-emission zones (LEZs) by defining regulated areas, where the most-polluting vehicles are prohibited from driving. Such measure has been proven to mostly accelerate local fleet renewal rates, thus decreasing emissions and overall pollutant concentrations, provided that restrictions were strict enough. The 2019 mobility-orientation law in France made mandatory for some territories to set up action plans for tackling air pollution issues. With only four currently implemented LEZs in France, feedback from similar territories within the country may be lacking for decision-makers. The goal of this thesis was therefore to aggregate past experiences of already-implemented LEZs in Europe in order to provide recommendations for a large-scale implementation of such policy in France. Relevant city-specific indicators were identified, and K-Means clustering was implemented in order to classify European cities currently implementing LEZs. Such typology was applied to French territories that may face an obligation to implement a LEZ. Recommendations regarding the most relevant strategies were thus formulated. Four city archetypes were identified – public transport metropoles, cycling cities, car-oriented cities, and walkable-impoverished cities. LEZ strategies applied in Berlin, Brussels and Lisbon were respectively the identified best practices associated with the first three clusters. Moreover, out of the 263 French territories targeted in the mobility-orientation law, 54 of them were classified according to the developed typology. More specifically, the majority of them fell into the car-oriented archetype and 20 agglomerations could hence reasonably adapt the Lisbon strategy to their local specificities. Six territories at the outskirts of Paris, associated with public transport metropoles, could also investigate how the current Greater Paris LEZ affect their inhabitants. This thesis is the first to propose a typology tailored for LEZ evaluation. By incorporating modal shares within the classification indicators, potential synergies between LEZs and existing transportation networks were highlighted. Additionally, this thesis shows that future research should focus on investigating impacts of LEZs on traveling patterns and mode choices (vehicle purchases, modal shifts, etc.). This would help future ex-ante evaluations to better calibrate hypotheses regarding direct effects of LEZs.

The need for sustainability has been on the rise. Municipalities are finding ways of reducing waste, but also finding ways to reduce energy costs. Waste-to-energy is a sustainable method that may reduce bio-solids volume while also producing energy. In this research study bio-solids enters a bubbling bed gasifier and within the gasifier a synthesis gas is produced. This synthesis gas exits through the top of the gasifier and enters a thermal oxidizer for combustion. The thermal oxidizer has an innovative method of oxidizing the synthesis gas. The thermal oxidizer has two air injection sites and the possibility for aqueous ammonia injection for further NOx reduction. Most thermal oxidizers already include an oxidizer such as air in the fuel before it enters the thermal oxidizer; thus making this research and operation different from many other thermal oxidizers and waste-to-energy plants. The reduction in waste means less volume loads to a landfill. This process significantly reduces the amount of bio-solids to a landfill. The energy produced from the synthesis is beneficial for any municipality, as it may be used to run the waste-to-energy facility. The purpose of this study is to determine methods in which operators may configure future plants to reduce NOx emissions. NOx mixed with volatile organic compounds (VOC) and sunlight, produce ozone (O3) a deadly gas at high concentrations. This study developed a model to determine the best methods to reduce NOx emissions. Results indicate that a fuel-rich then fuel-lean injection scheme results in lower NOx emissions. This is because at fuel-rich conditions not all of the ammonia in the first air ring is converted to NOx, but rather a partial of the ammonia is converted to NOx and N2 and then the second air ring operates at fuel-lean which further oxidizes the remaining ammonia which converts to NOx, but also a fraction to N2. If NOx standards reach more stringency then aqueous ammonia injection is a recommended method for NOx reduction; this method is also known as selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR). The findings in this study will allow operators to make better judgment in the way that they operate a two air injection scheme thermal oxidizer. The goal of the operator and the organization is to meet air quality standards and this study aims at finding ways to reduce emissions, specifically NOx.

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