Two types of nitrogen have been studied in this report, nitrate and ammonium. Nitrate mainly originates from incomplete combustion like fossil fule combustion from sea traffic, land traffic and energy use. Ammonium mainly origins from farming like fertilizers and animal waste. Nitrate and ammonium are water soluble and can be transported long distances in the atmosphere before depositing with precipitation. In order to record the nitrogen deposition, precipitation was collected and the amount of nitrogen was measured. This was done in 6 places in Eastern Svealand over a two month period, middle of March to middle of May 2014. The source regions of the precipitation was studied and it was found out that if the precipitation originated from areas north of Sweden the amount of deposited nitrogen was significantly lower then if the air masses originated from areas south, south east and south west of Sweden. The results from the measurements shows a decrease in nitrogen deposition with distance from the pollution source and that there is a higher amount of nitrogen in the precipitation in urban areas. / I denna rapport har två typer av kväve studerats, nitrat och ammonium. Nitrat har främst sitt ursprung från förbränningar, till exempel förbränning av fossila bränslen från sjöfart, fordonstrafik och energiförbrukning. Ammonium har framför allt källor från jordbruk, till exempel gödsling och djuravföring. Nitrat och ammonium är vattenlösliga och kan transporteras långa sträckor för att sedan deponera med nederbörden. Genom att samla in nederbörd och mäta halterna av nitrat och ammonium i proverna kunde depositionen av kväve beräknas. Detta gjordes över en tvåmånaders period, mitten av mars till mitten av maj 2014, på 6 platser i östra Svealand. Luftmassornas ursprung undersöktes och det visade sig att när luftmassorna och nederbörden hade sitt ursprung norr om Sverige innehöll den betydligt lägre halter kväve än när de kom från söder, sydöst och sydväst. Resultaten från mätningarna visade att det är en tydlig minskning av kvävehalten i nederbörden med avståndet från källan och att det är en förhöjd kvävehalt i nederbörden i städerna.

Currently, in the United States, on-road vehicles are primarily powered by petroleum fuels (gasoline and diesel). These vehicles have caused serious climate change effects from emissions of greenhouse gas (GHG) and health and environmental impacts from criteria air pollutant (CAP). The recent success of shale gas development has brought industry interest in using natural gas to power on-road vehicles. In addition to low costs and wide availability of this national fuel source, natural gas is a common feedstock to produce alternative fuels. The question arises of whether using natural gas for transportation could help or hinder the environment. In this dissertation, I study the economic and environmental effects of a wide range of natural gas fuel pathways for a selection of light duty (LDV) and medium and heavy duty (MHDV) vehicle types. I choose to focus on two environmental metrics: GHGs and CAPs emitted over the life cycle of each potential pathway for natural gas use. First in Chapters 2 and 3, I use life-cycle analysis to understand the emissions of GHGs from different natural gas pathway for LDVs and MHDVs. Then in Chapter 4 I focus on the CAP emissions from these vehicles. Overall, I find that none of the natural gas pathways eliminate life cycle air emissions. In fact, only a few pathways reduce life cycle GHG emissions and/or life cycle air pollution damages compared to baseline petroleum fuels (gasoline for light-duty vehicles (LDVs) and diesel for heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs)). For the cases of light duty vehicles (LDVs) and transit buses, battery electric vehicles (BEVs) powered by natural gas-based electricity provide significant reduction in life cycle GHG emissions and life cycle air pollution damages (for almost all counties) compared to the baseline petroleum fuels. However, the actual electricity that charges BEVs may not be natural gas-based electricity in most parts of the U.S. When powered by U.S. grid electricity (using average emission factors for 2010 and 2014), BEVs reduce life cycle GHG emissions to a lesser extent but increase life cycle air pollution damages significantly. Compressed natural gas (CNG), while reducing GHG emissions and CAP emissions (except CO) at tailpipe, are more likely to increase life cycle GHG emissions and increase life cycle air pollution damages in the majority of U.S. counties. For heavy-duty trucks, CNG sparking-ignition (SI) trucks and liquefied natural gas (LNG) high-pressure direct ignition (HPDI) trucks have mixed environmental impacts. While they are unlikely to reduce life cycle GHG emissions compared to diesel, they reduce life cycle air pollution damages in 76-99% of U.S. counties for local-haul tractor-trailers and in 32-71% of U.S. counties for long-haul tractor-trailers. In Chapters 5 and 6, I examine the economic impacts of natural gas fuel pathways for two vehicle types, tractor-trailers and transit buses. I study the economic feasibility of a national natural gas refueling infrastructure for long-haul trucks in U.S., which is a prerequisite for natural gas tractor-trailers. I find that a transition to natural gas fuels in long-haul trucks is more expensive when the shares of natural gas trucks are below 5% because of low refueling demands and over-capacity of the refueling infrastructure to ensure network coverage. At higher shares of natural gas trucks, both the total refueling capacity and the net economic benefits of the national refueling infrastructure increase almost linearly as adoption increases. Finally, in Chapter 6, I provide an economic-technology assessment for transit buses by considering both life cycle ownership costs and life cycle social costs due to GHG emissions and CAP emissions. Transit buses are early adopters of alternative fuel technologies because of funding supports and operation characteristics (such as high fuel consumption and private refueling infrastructure). I find that the availability of external funding is crucial for transit agencies to adopt any alternative fuel option. Without external funding, only rapid-charging battery electric buses (BEBs) have lower ownership & social costs than conventional diesel buses. When external funding is available to reduce bus purchase costs by 80%, BEBs become much more cost-effective. In this case, life cycle ownership and social costs of BEBs are 37-43% lower than conventional diesel buses. Including life cycle social costs does not change the ranking of alternative fuel options. The findings in this dissertation suggest different strategies of using natural gas for different vehicle markets. Natural gas is best used in electric power generation than to produce gaseous or liquid fuels for powering on-road LDVs. The use of CNG and LNG for heavy-duty trucks may continue as there are less alternative fuel options but issues such as methane leakage should be addressed to avoid important climate change effect. Finally, natural gas-based transportation fuels can at best partially mitigate climate change or air pollution damages, so other mitigation strategies in the transportation sector are ultimately needed to achieve sustainable transportation.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the dispersion of ammonia (NH3) from three Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) in western Kentucky, as well as to investigate the Weather Research and Forecasting – Chemistry (WRF-Chem) model’s sensitivity response to initial NH3 concentrations under both wet conditions (significant precipitation) and dry conditions (no precipitation). As expected, pollutant concentrations generally were significantly higher near their points of origin and generally declined away from the sources. Contrary to expectations, ammonia tended to rise through the planetary boundary layer (PBL) regardless of atmospheric conditions. Results showed modeled NH3 pollution levels at the surface generally to be higher under wet conditions. A GIS-based analysis method was developed to investigate model sensitivity to initial NH3 concentrations. Using this method, it was found that WRF-Chem exhibits an exponential relation between initial NH3 concentration and the final amount of NH3 produced by the model.

Denton, Texas consistently reaches ozone nonattainment levels. This has led to a large focus of air pollution monitoring efforts in the region, with long-range transport being explored as a key contributor. For this study, the University of North Texas Discovery Park campus was chosen as a prospective location for an extensive air quality monitoring station. Sixteen years of ozone and meteorological data for five state-run monitoring sites within a 25 mile radius, including the nearest Denton Airport site, was gathered from TCEQ online database for the month of April for the years 2000 to 2015. The data was analyzed to show a historical, regional perspective of ozone near the proposed site. The maximum ozone concentration measured at the Denton Airport location over the 16 year period was measured at 96 ppb in 2001. Experimental ozone and meteorological measurements were collected at the Discovery Park location from March 26 to April 3 and April 8 to April, 2016 and compared to the Denton Airport monitoring site. A time lag in ozone trends and an increase in peak ozone concentrations at the proposed location were observed at the proposed site in comparison to the Denton Airport site. Historical and experimental meteorological data agreed in indicating that southern winds that rarely exceed 20 miles per hour are the predominant wind pattern. Back trajectories, wind roses, pollution roses, and bivariate plots created for peak ozone days during experimental periods support long range transport as a considerable cause of high ozone levels in Denton. Furthermore, a study of the precursor characteristics at the Denton Airport site indicated the site was being affected by a local source of nitrogen dioxide that was not affecting the proposed location. The differences in the Denton Airport site and the proposed site indicate that further monitoring at Discovery Park would be insightful. An outline of an expansive mobile monitoring station and suggestions for effective utilization are provided to guide future studies in Denton and the surrounding North Texas region.

The diploma thesis deals with legal regulation of air protection against pollution from stationary sources especially with the Act no. 201/2012 Coll. on the Protection of Air. The opening chapter introduces to the issues and systematics of the diploma thesis. The second chapter contains the overview of the most important pollutants with their impacts on human health and the environment. The third chapter concerns the international regulation of the air pollution protection including the European Union regulation. The fourth chapter describes the development of the air protection legal regulation in the Czech Republic. The fifth chapter gives attention to the definition of the stationary source of pollution. The sixth chapter deals with the level of pollution and the tools connected with this level. The seventh chapter is about the regulation of the sources of pollution. The final chapter summarizes the previous text and contains the evaluation of the legal regulation of the air protection.

One of the primary modes for pollutants to reach the human body is through their release into the atmosphere and dispersion in the nearby areas. This makes air emissions one of the important components of an environmental assessment. They are frequently of interest to the people living in the vicinity of the site. The analysis carried out in this research provides a framework for atmospheric dispersion modeling of air pollutants using AERMOD, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) approved regulatory model, for modeling port related emissions. There are various sources of emissions from the ports, however for this study, emissions from roadways, small equipment, and marine related sources are considered. AERMOD was used to estimate ambient pollutant concentrations of selective criteria pollutants such as NOx, SO2, CO and PM10 from a hypothetical port.

Deterioration of air quality is a growing concern in the world. Air pollution causes serious health problems and also can sometimes result in death. In order to assess air quality, long term and continuous monitoring of pollutant levels in ambient air are needed, such monitoring is often expensive, cumbersome, and resource intensive and so the monitoring programs often fail to succeed. This research focused on designing an ambient air monitoring system by integrating (1) low-cost sensor with a battery, (2) repurposed materials to fabricate all-weather housing for air monitors, and (3) electronics needed to download the data to an on-site secure digital (SD) card, and to push the data wirelessly to the server. This monitoring system was tested at the selected locations in Harvey and Marrero Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) by monitoring hydrogen sulfide (H2S) levels. Preliminary analysis was done for few days and also, the results were analyzed.

M. Tech. (Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Applied and Computer Science), Vaal University of Technology / The dissertation deals with volatile organic compounds that evaporate from the water-oil separate in the refinery, which causes bad odour around the neighbouring communities, the existence of these compounds are being identified and quantified in different seasons for the year. VOC are emitted whenever wastewater is exposed to the atmosphere. As such, emission points include open drains ditches, manhole sewer outfalls and surface fore bays, separators and treatment ponds. Refinery units such as reactors, fractionators are periodically shutdown and emptied for internal inspection and maintenance. The amount of VOC entering the wastewater is not monitored. The effluent water discharged from the refinery is not checked for the amount ofVOC present. The monitoring of the amount of VOC in wastewater stream may lead to a decrease in the emission. From the quantified results at different season, the summer session has the highest VOC emission due to the heat that causes more vapours. The preparation of a method for determination of VOC's in air presents many difficulties, because of their high volatilities and low concentrations in air. As well, the results of determination are affected by the properties of the sorbent used, mainly its sorption capacity, depending on the properties of the compound under determination. The methods for sampling and analytical procedures for the measurements of volatile organic compounds that are hazardous to air pollution are compendium method T0-14 and sorbent tube method compendium T0-17. Both methods (sorbent tube and canister) differ from each other in their extraction and detection techniques. The well suitable method for the VOC determination is canister method; this method gives more representative sample of the ambient monitoring of 24 hours, where as sorbent tube can do for 2 hours only. The canister method is more advantages due to the sample that will be still remaining for further analyses or re-check. The integrity of API water-oil separator has been improved to cause less evaporation during high temperature season. As the temperature drops from season to season, the VOC also comes down as its being seen in this study that on the winter results that all the VOC were below 90 1-lg/kg. / National Petroleum Refiners of South Africa laboratory

Environmental air pollution is one risk factor associated with the onset and progression of multiple sclerosis (MS). In this project, we investigated the effects of ubiquitous traffic-generated pollutants, namely a mixture of gasoline and diesel vehicle exhaust (MVE), on signaling pathways associated with the pathophysiology of MS in the central nervous system (CNS) of either ovary intact (ov+) or ovariectomized (ov-) female Apolipoprotein (Apo) E-/-. Specifically, we investigated whether a subchronic inhalation exposure to MVE (200 PM μg/m3; 6 hr/d, 7d/wk, 30d) vs. filtered air (FA) controls altered myelination, T cell infiltration, blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity, or production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and expression of neuroinflammation markers in the CNS ov+ and ov- Apo E-/- mice. Our results revealed that inhalation exposure to MVE resulted in increased demyelination and CD4+ and CD8+ T cell infiltration, associated with alterations in BBB integrity. Disruption of the BBB was evidenced by decreased tight junction (TJ) protein expression, increased matrix metalloproteinase (MMPs) activity, and increased permeability of immunoglobin (Ig) G, which were more pronounced in the MVE ov- group. Moreover, MVE-exposure also promoted ROS and neuroinflammatory signaling in the CNS of ov+ and ov- mice, compared to FA groups. To analyze mechanisms that may contribute to MVE-exposure mediated inflammatory signaling in the CNS, we examined the NF-κB signaling pathway components, namely IKK subunits, IKKα, and IKKβ, as well as RelA. MVE -exposure did not alter the expression of either IKKα and IKKβ or RelA. However, increased expression of IKKα and IKKβ mRNA was observed in both FA ov- and MVE ov- groups, indicating female sex steroid hormone signaling involvement. Investigation of hormone receptors expression revealed a reduction in cerebral ERα mRNA expression, compared to ov+ mice; however, MVE-exposure resulted in an even further decrease in expression of ERα mRNA, while ERβ and PRO A/B transcript expressions were unchanged across groups. Collectively, these study findings revealed that subchronic inhalation exposure to MVE mediates alterations in ER expression in the CNS of ApoE-/- female mice, associated with altered cerebrovascular integrity and increased ROS production and inflammatory signaling. These detrimental outcomes in the CNS, resulting from MVE-exposure, are further associated with increased CD4+/CD8+ infiltration and local demyelination in the CNS of female ApoE-/-mice, which are hallmarks of MS. Such findings suggest that exposure to ubiquitous traffic-generated air pollutants may contribute to pathologies that exacerbate demyelinating diseases in the CNS of females.

Luftföroreningar skadar människors hälsa och orsakar miljöproblem. Luftföroreningar kommer från många olika källor och ett stort bidrag står transporter och industrier för. Förbränningsanläggningar är en sorts industrier som bidrar med föroreningar av exempelvis kväveoxider, partiklar och koldioxid. För att motverka att skadliga halter uppkommer finns miljökvalitetsnormerna som innehåller gränsvärden för olika luftföroreningar. För att en verksamhet ska få släppa ut föroreningar måste de utföra en tillståndsansökan. I ansökan ska det bevisas att verksamheten inte kommer bidra till att något av miljökvalitetsnormernas gränsvärden överskrids. Det utförs ofta spridningsberäkningar i form av simuleringar för att beräkna vilket haltbidrag utsläppen kommer generera. Dessa utredningar kan vara tidskrävande och i många fall överflödiga eftersom resultatet ofta visar att haltbidraget blir väldigt litet. Haltbidraget av kvävedioxid från mindre värmeverk och kraftvärmeverk har beräknatsmed hjälp av programmet AERMOD. Simuleringar har utförts för två olika platser i Sundsvall och det har undersökts hur mycket haltbidraget förändras när värden för olika parametrar varierar. Påverkan av rökgasens hastighet och temperatur har studerats tillsammans med egenskaper hos skorstenen i form av skorstenshöjd och diameter. I det här projektet har olika fall där spridningsberäkningar inte är nödvändiga identifierats för att förenkla processen för utredningar. Ett flödesdiagram tagits fram med syfte att kunna användas vid bedömning om beräkningar är nödvändiga eller inte för värmeverk. Beroende på värden för olika parametrar ger flödesdiagrammet en hänvisning om beräkningar krävs, noggrannare utredning behövs utföras eller om beräkningar inte krävs. Efter att olika fall studerats kunde slutsatser dras att för värmeverk och kraftvärmeverk med en skorstensdiameter större än 0,5 m, rökgashastighet över 10 m/s, rökgastemperatur över 50 ◦C och massflöde under 1,2 g/s krävs inga beräkningar då skorstenshöjden är 45 m eller högre. För dessa fall påverkade en förändring av någon parameter haltbidraget ytterst lite och alla haltbidrag blev väldigt låga. När skorstenshöjden var lägre än 15 m ansågs det att beräkningar alltid är nödvändiga eftersom små förändringar av någon parameter gav stora skillnader i haltbidraget. För skorstenshöjder mellan 15 och 45 m ansågs det att beräkningar inte alltid är nödvändiga men att mer noggranna utredningar krävs. Topografins och meteorologins påverkan på haltbidraget har också studerats genom att simuleringar utförts för två platser med olika omgivande topografin. Det kunde konstateras att med en komplex topografi blev haltbidraget överlag högre och sambandet mellan olika parametrar och haltbidraget frångick ibland den allmänna trenden. Slutsatsen drogs att noggranna beräkningar alltid bör utföras om topografin är komplex. / Air pollutions generate health problems to humans and have negative impact on the environment. Environmental quality standards in Sweden are based on requirements on various European Community directives. Combustion is a source for air pollution and a new plant must always prove that the pollution will not exceeded environmental quality standards. An investigation is therefore made and often modeling is performed to calculate how high the contribution from the plant will be. The process can be time consuming and sometimes not necessary because the result often shows that the contribution is very low. In this project a way to simplify the investigation by trying to find cases when calculation is not necessary have been made. The dispersion of nitrogen dioxide from a heating plant have been studied by simulations in the program AERMOD for two different places in Sundsvall. The impact of different parameters as gas velocity, gas temperature, stack height and stack diameter on the result have been studied together with the effect of different topographies. A flow chart has been constructed with the result from the simulations. The flow chart can be used to decide if calculation is necessary or not for different heating plants. From the results the conclusion was that for a heating plant with a stack diameter larger than 0.5 m, a gas velocity higher than 10 m/s, gas temperature over 50 ◦C and a mass flow lower than 1.2 g/s calculations are not needed for a stack higher than 45 m. For these cases the contribution from the plant is very low and also the risk for exceeding limits. A stack height lower than 15 m was considered as a case where calculation always is needed. For a height between 15 and 45 m the conclusion was made that more investigation is needed before a decision can be made. The study of how the topography affecting the dispersion of the pollution resulted in the conclusion that for a complex topography a careful investigation always is needed.