No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The State of Kuwait has three large refineries, namely, Mina Al Ahmadi Refinery, Mina Abdullah Refinery and Shuaiba Refinery. These refineries process and refine Kuwait Crude Oil through different process units. There are many heaters, boilers and flares that form a part of the complicated equipment which enhance the different petroleum processes. Fuel gas is used as a firing fuel for those heaters and boilers. As a result, stack emissions like SO2, NOx, CO are predominantly present in the flue gases and this study focuses on those emissions and their impact on the surrounding residential area. The area of interest will be Umm Al-Hyman residential area. This study accumulates emission inventories from the three refineries and the respective ground level concentration of the pollutants in the neighboring residential area. It also focuses on the impact of emissions from the refinery operations on the ground level concentrations in the surrounding areas by using the inventory model and latest emission factors to provide accurate emission estimates. The models were developed and the results were verified with the actual data from the area of impact. As a result of the findings of the major pollutants, namely SO2, NOx & CO, it is found that SO2 and CO are not exceeding Kuwait EPA Ambient Air Quality Standards for Residential Areas normally. However, NOx is observed to exceed occasionally. Even though, NOx emissions from refineries sources represented by plume models were much less, there is a consistent increase in the measured NOx. Furthermore, in 2007, the measured hourly, daily and annual NOx concentration exceeded the international standard many times. The increasing trend in NOx is attributed to continuous increase in population and the number of motor vehicles. The study will go further step in recommending engineering solutions and best practices to reduce the pollutants concentrations which will help in the reduction of human health risks and protect the environment.

In this study, emission inventory was prepared and pollutant dispersion studies were carried out for the area around &Ccedil / ayirhan Thermal Power Plant to determine the effects of the plant on the environment. Stack gas measurement results were used for the emissions from the power plant and emission factors were used for calculating the emissions from residential sources and coal stockpiles in the study region. Ground level concentrations of SO2, NOx and PM10 were estimated by using EPA approved dispersion models / namely ISCST3 and AERMOD. The ground level concentrations predicted by two models were compared with the results of ambient air pollution measurements for November 2004. Predictions of both ISCST3 and AERMOD were underestimating the ground level SO2 concentrations. However, AERMOD predictions are better than ISCST3 predictions. The results of both models had good correlation with the results of NOx measurements. It has been shown that the contribution of the power plant to SO2, NOx and PM10 pollution in the area studied is minimal.

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第23182号 / 工博第4826号 / 新制||工||1754(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科都市環境工学専攻 / (主査)教授 米田 稔, 教授 高野 裕久, 教授 松井 康人 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DGAM

No description available.

No description available.

La movilidad urbana puede considerarse como un importante recurso social y articulador de la vida en comunidad. Sin embargo, a medida que la población de los centros urbanos crece, se plantea el desafío de adaptar el desarrollo urbano y las necesidades de movilidad, buscando mecanismos para proteger el medio ambiente y garantizar la inclusión social. En este sentido, resulta importante estudiar tanto la movilidad urbana como las emisiones contaminantes asociadas, que son potencialmente de riesgo para la salud humana y el ambiente. Para ello, es necesario recurrir a diversas herramientas como pueden ser mediciones de nivel de flujo vehicular, encuestas ciudadanas, entre otros en el caso de la movilidad, e inventarios de emisiones, programas de monitoreo y modelos de calidad de aire para analizar la contaminación atmosférica asociada a fuentes móviles. De esta manera se puede generar información útil para la implementación de acciones tendientes a mejorar la calidad del aire y mitigar los problemas de circulación vehicular urbana, generando políticas conscientes y sustentables, confeccionadas en base a evidencia. En este contexto, la presente tesis pretende contribuir con información y análisis relevantes sobre movilidad urbana y la contaminación atmosférica asociada para la toma de decisiones basadas en evidencia en Bahía Blanca. Esta es una ciudad mediana portuaria e industrializada de la Argentina, que no cuenta con monitoreo de tránsito ni calidad de aire en su área urbana, la cual presenta problemas de movilidad que merecen ser atendidos desde una óptica tanto global como específica. De allí la importancia de contar con datos de manera continua, siguiendo metodologías científicas. Tal es así que en cada capítulo de esta tesis se estudian las temáticas planteadas, considerando en primer lugar la confección de un inventario de emisiones gaseosas en base a la flota vehicular carretera y no carretera de la ciudad, registradas para el año 2018. Luego, se presenta la recolección de datos del flujo vehicular, obtenidos mediante observación directa de videos de cámaras de seguridad del municipio durante dos años (2020-2022), y el análisis de su segmentación en puntos del microcentro de la ciudad. Estos datos permiten evaluar diversas tendencias, como ser el impacto que tuvo la pandemia de COVID-19 en el tránsito local, así como también, medir el aumento de la micromovilidad sustentable (bicicletas, monopatines eléctricos, etc.). Cabe mencionar, que estos resultados se transfieren a las autoridades locales, para contribuir con la toma de decisiones. Por otro lado, los datos de flujo vehicular se utilizan como dato de entrada en el modelado de calidad de aire con el fin de conocer los niveles de concentración máximos de los contaminantes atmosféricos que se presentan en el microcentro mayoritariamente (CO y NOx), y comparar los mismos con la legislación vigente. Resulta interesante destacar que se desarrolla una validación inicial de la metodología empleada para el modelado, con resultados alentadores según los valores obtenidos de diversas métricas estadísticas planteadas en la bibliografía disponible. Por último, se estudian escenarios alternativos de tránsito y sus emisiones para evaluar su impacto en el nivel de calidad de aire, considerando un enfoque sustentable. Esta tesis no solo genera datos fidedignos para la toma de decisiones en cuanto a la movilidad de la ciudad de Bahía Blanca y la contaminación atmosférica asociada, sino que también abre las puertas para explorar, en trabajos futuros, diversas herramientas y tópicos sobre la movilidad urbana como ser: estudiar la red de ciclovías; investigar sobre el desarrollo orientado al tránsito, las ciudades lentas y las de 15 minutos; simular el tránsito del micro y macrocentro de la ciudad mediante software específico; entre otros. Por último, la metodología propuesta en este trabajo podría considerarse capaz de ser replicada en otras ciudades latinoamericanas de tamaño medio, sobre todo en aquellas que no cuenten con estaciones de monitoreo de tránsito y/o de calidad de aire, como sucede en Bahía Blanca. / Urban mobility is an important social resource and community-life facilitator. However, as the population of urban centres grows, the challenge becomes to adapt urban development and mobility needs, seeking mechanisms to protect the environment and ensure social inclusion. Studying urban mobility and the associated pollutant emissions is important. These are potentially risky for human health and the environment. To this end, it is necessary to resort to various tools, such as vehicle flow measurements and citizen surveys, among others, in the case of mobility and emission inventories, monitoring programmes and air quality models to analyse air pollution associated with mobile sources. In this way, useful information can be generated to implement actions to improve air quality and mitigate urban vehicular traffic problems, generating conscious, sustainable policies based on evidence. This thesis aims to contribute relevant information and analysis on urban mobility and associated air pollution for evidence-based decision making in Bahía Blanca. This is city a medium-sized port and industrialized city in Argentina, with no traffic or air quality monitoring in its urban area, which presents mobility problems that deserve to be addressed from both global and specific perspectives. Hence, continuous data availability, following scientific methodologies, is essential. Thus, in each chapter of this thesis, the issues raised are studied, considering firstly the preparation of an inventory of gaseous emissions based on both road and non-road vehicle fleet of the city, registered for 2018. Then, the data collection about vehicle flow, obtained through direct observation of videos from the municipality's security cameras during two years (2020-2022), and the analysis of their segmentation at points in the city's microcentre is presented. These data allow us to evaluate various trends, such as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on local traffic, and to measure the increase in sustainable micro mobility (bicycles, electric scooters, etc.). It is worth mentioning that these results are transferred to local authorities to contribute to decision-making. On the other hand, the vehicle flow data are used as input data in the air quality modelling to know the maximum concentration levels of the atmospheric pollutants mainly present in the microcentre (CO and NOx) and to compare them with the current legislation. It is interesting to note that an initial validation of the methodology used for the modelling is developed, with encouraging results according to the values obtained for various statistical metrics proposed in the available literature. Finally, alternative traffic scenarios and their emissions are studied to assess their impact on air quality, considering a sustainable approach. This thesis generates reliable data for decision-making on mobility in Bahía Blanca and associated air pollution and considers future work. It opens possibilities to explore various tools and topics on urban mobility, such as studying the network of bicycle lanes, researching transit oriented development, slow cities and 15-minute cities, and simulating traffic in the micro- and macro-centre of the city by employing specific software, among others. Finally, the methodology proposed in this work might be replicable in other medium-sized Latin American cities, especially those without traffic and/or air quality monitoring stations, as in Bahía Blanca city.

State Air Pollution Regulation Agencies (SAPRAs) issue and enforce permits that limit particulate matter emissions from all sources including layer and broiler facilities, cattle feedyards, dairies, cotton gins, and grain elevators. In this research, a process was developed to determine distances from emitting sources to where the estimated concentrations were less than the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). These distances are a function of emission rates and meteorological conditions. Different protocols were used to develop emission factors for cattle feedyards and layer houses. Dispersion modeling with American Meteorological Society/Environmental Protection Agency Regulatory Model (AERMOD) was conducted to determine the emissions of particulate matter. These data were used to determine the distances from the sources to where the concentrations of particulate matter (PM) would be less than the NAAQS. The current air-permitting process requires that concentrations from a source do not exceed the NAAQS at the property line and beyond for the facility to be in compliance with its permit conditions. Emission factors for particulate matter less than 10 micrometers (PM10) were developed for cattle feedyards using a reverse modeling protocol and Tapered Element Oscillating Microbalance (TEOM) sampler data. Corrections were applied to the TEOM measurements to account for TEOM vs. filter-based low-volume (FBLV) sampler bias and over-sampling of PM10 pre-collectors. Invalid concentrations and dust peaks larger than mean ± 3 times the standard deviation were excluded from this study. AERMOD predictions of downwind concentrations at cotton gins were observed for compliance with 24-hour PM10 and PM2.5 NAAQS at property lines. The emissions from three cotton gins were analyzed at 50 m and 100 m distances. TEOM and FBLV samplers were used to collect 24-hour PM10 measurements inside a laying hen house. The distances to the property lines at which the emissions of PM10 were below the 24-hour average PM10 standards were estimated using AERMOD. The results suggested that the special use of the NAAQS for as the property-line concentration not to be exceeded, could be problematic to agriculture. Emission factors that were comparable of published emission factors were obtained in this study. Large distances to property lines were required when minimum flow rate recommendations were not considered. Emission factors that are representative of the emissions in a particular facility are essential; else facilities could be inappropriately regulated.