Sources of volatile organic compounds in Cairo's ambient air.

The greater Cairo area suffers from extreme levels of gas and particulate phase air pollutants. In order to reduce the levels of ambient pollution, the USAID and the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) have supported the Cairo Air Improvement Project (CAIP). As part of this project, two intensive ambient monitoring studies were carried out during the period of February 22 to March 4 and October 27 to November 27, 1999. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were measured on a 24-h basis at six sampling stations during each of the intensive periods. During the February/March study, samples were collected daily, while in the October/November study samples were collected every other day. The six intensive measurement sites represented background levels, mobile source impacts, industrial impacts, and residential exposure. High levels of NMHC were observed at all locations. NMHC concentrations ranged from 365 ppb C at Helwan to 1,848 ppb C at El Qualaly during winter, 1999 and from 461 ppb C at Kaha to 2,037 ppb C at El Qualaly during fall, 1999. El Qualaly, the site chosen to represent mobile emissions, displayed the highest average NMHC concentrations of any site, by a factor of 2 or more. The highest mobile source contributions were estimated at this site. The major contributors to NMHC at all sites were mobile emissions, lead smelting, and compressed natural gas.

Sources of PM(10) and PM (2.5) in Cairo's ambient air.

A source attribution study was performed to assess the contributions of specific pollutant source types to the observed particulate matter (PM) levels in the greater Cairo Area using the chemical mass balance (CMB) receptor model. Three intensive ambient monitoring studies were carried out during the period of February 21-March 3, 1999, October 27-November 27, 1999, and June 8-June 26, 2002. PM(10), PM(2.5), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were measured on a 24-h basis at six sampling stations during each of the intensive periods. The six intensive measurement sites represented background levels, mobile source impacts, industrial impacts, and residential exposure. Major contributors to PM(10) included geological material, mobile source emissions, and open burning. PM(2.5) tended to be dominated by mobile source emissions, open burning, and secondary species. This paper presents the results of the PM(10) and PM(2.5), source contribution estimates.

Preliminary measurements of summer nitric acid and ammonia concentrations in the Lake Tahoe Basin air-shed: implications for dry deposition of atmospheric nitrogen.

Over the past 50 years, Lake Tahoe, an alpine lake located in the Sierra Nevada mountains on the border between California and Nevada, has seen a decline in water clarity. With significant urbanization within its borders and major urban areas 130 km upwind of the prevailing synoptic airflow, it is believed the Lake Tahoe Basin is receiving substantial nitrogen (N) input via atmospheric deposition during summer and fall. We present preliminary inferential flux estimates to both lake surface and forest canopy based on empirical measurements of ambient nitric acid (HNO3), ammonia (NH3), and ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) concentrations, in an effort to identify the major contributors to and ranges of atmospheric dry N deposition to the Lake Tahoe Basin. Total flux from dry deposition ranges from 1.2 to 8.6 kg N ha-1 for the summer and fall dry season and is significantly higher than wet deposition, which ranges from 1.7 to 2.9 kg N ha-1 year-1. These preliminary results suggest that dry deposition of HNO3 is the major source of atmospheric N deposition for the Lake Tahoe Basin, and that overall N deposition is similar in magnitude to deposition reported for sites exposed to moderate N pollution in the southern California mountains.

On-road emissions of carbonyls from light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles.

Vehicle emissions are a major source of carbonyls, which play an important role in atmospheric chemistry and urban air quality. Yet, little data are available for speciated carbonyls emitted by vehicles and especially by heavy-duty diesel vehicles. On-road vehicle emissions of carbonyls have been measured in May 1999 at the Tuscarora Mountain Tunnel, PA. Ten saturated aliphatic aldehydes, 4 saturated aliphatic ketones, 4 unsaturated aliphatic carbonyls, 4 aliphatic dicarbonyls, and 9 aromatic carbonyls have been identified and their concentrations measured. For light-duty (LD) vehicles, total carbonyl emissions were ca. 6.4 mg/km, and the 10 largest emission factors were, in decreasing order, those of formaldehyde (2.58 +/- 1.05 mg/km, ca. 40% of total carbonyls), acetone, acetaldehyde, heptanal, crotonaldehyde, 2-butanone, propanal, acrolein, methacrolein, and benzaldehyde. For weight class 7-8 heavy-duty diesel vehicles (7-8 HD), total carbonyl emissions were ca. 26.1 mg/km, and the 10 largest emission factors were, in decreasing order, those of formaldehyde (6.73 +/- 2.05 mg/km, ca. 26% of total carbonyls), acetaldehyde, acetone, crotonaldehyde, m-tolualdehyde, 2-pentanone, benzaldehyde, a C5 saturated aliphatic aldehyde isomer, 2,5-dimethylbenzaldehyde, and 2-butanone. Aromatic carbonyls, unsaturated aliphatic aldehydes, and aliphatic dicarbonyls represented larger fractions of the total carbonyl emissions for 7-8 HD vehicles than for LD vehicles. For HD vehicles, formaldehyde and acetaldehyde emission factors measured in this study are ca. 4-5 times lower than those measured in previous work. For LD vehicles, emission factors measured in this study are generally lower than those measured in earlier work and are about the same, within reported uncertainties, as those measured in 1992 in the same highway tunnel.

On-road particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) emissions in the Sepulveda Tunnel, Los Angeles, California.

Total and speciated particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) emission factors from in-use vehicles were measured for a mixed light- (97.4% LD) and heavy-duty fleet (2.6% HD) in the Sepulveda Tunnel, Los Angeles, CA. Seventeen 1-h test runs were performed between July 23, 1996, and July 27, 1996. Emission factors were calculated from mass concentration measurements taken at the tunnel entrance and exit, the volume of airflow through the tunnel, and the number of vehicles passing through the 582 m long tunnel. For the mixed LD and HD fleet, PM2.5 emission factors in the Sepulveda Tunnel ranged from 0.016 (+/-0.007) to 0.115 (+/-0.019) g/vehicle-km traveled with an average of 0.052 (+/-0.027) g/vehicle.km. PM10 emission factors ranged from 0.030 (+/-0.009) to 0.131 (+/-0.024) g/vehicle. km with an average of 0.069 (+/-0.030) g/vehicle.km. The PM2.5 emission factor was approximately 74% of the PM10 factor. Speciated emission rates and chemical profiles for use in receptor modeling were also developed. PM2.5 was dominated by organic carbon (OC) (31.0 +/- 19.5%) and elemental carbon (EC) (48.5 +/- 20.5%) that together account for 79% (+/-24%) of the total emissions. Crustal elements (Fe, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, and Mn) contribute approximately 7.8%, and the ions Cl-, NO3-, NH3+, SO4(2-), and K+ together constitute another 9.8%. In the PM10 size fraction the particulate emissions were also dominated by OC (31 +/- 12%) and EC (35 +/- 13%). The third most prominent species was Fe (18.5 +/- 9.0%), which is greater than would be expected from purely geological sources. Other geological components (Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, and Mn) accounted for an additional 12.6%. PM10 emission factors showed some dependence on vehicle speed, whereas PM2.5 did not. For test runs in which the average vehicle speed was 42.6 km/h a 1.7 times increase in PM10 emission factor was observed compared to those runs with an average vehicle speed of 72.6 km/h. Speciated emissions were similar. However, there is significantly greater mass attributable to geological material in the PM10, indicative of an increased contribution from resuspended road dust. The PM2.5 shows relatively good correlation with NOx emissions, which indicates that even at the low percent of HD vehicles, which emit significantly more NOx than LD vehicles, they may also have a significant impact on the PM2.5 levels.

Comparison and evaluation of chemically speciated mobile source PM2.5 particulate matter profiles.

Mobile sources are significant contributors to ambient PM2.5, accounting for 50% or more of the total observed levels in some locations. One of the important methods for resolving the mobile source contribution is through chemical mass balance (CMB) receptor modeling. CMB requires chemically speciated source profiles with known uncertainty to ensure accurate source contribution estimates. Mobile source PM profiles are available from various sources and are generally in the form of weight fraction by chemical species. The weight fraction format is commonly used, since it is required for input into the CMB receptor model. This paper examines the similarities and differences in mobile source PM2.5 profiles that contain data for elements, ions, elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC), and in some cases speciated organics (e.g., polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons [PAHs]), drawn from four different sources. Notable characteristics of the mass fraction data include variability (relative contributions of elements and ions) among supposedly similar sources and a wide range of average EC:OC ratios (0.60 +/- 0.53 to 1.42 +/- 2.99) for light-duty gasoline vehicles (LDGVs), indicating significant EC emissions from LDGVs in some cases. For diesel vehicles, average EC:OC ratios range from 1.09 +/- 2.66 to 3.54 +/- 3.07. That different populations of the same class of emitters can show considerable variability suggests caution should be exercised when selecting and using profiles in source apportionment studies.

Comparison of PM10 concentrations in high- and medium-volume samplers in a desert environment.

The USEPA replaced TSP with PM10 as the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for particulate matter. The commercially available PM10 sampler is a high-volume model using quartz fiber filters. In certain investigations, such as source apportionment studies, chemical analysis of the filter is necessary, however, many analyses cannot be run on quartz filters. An alternate filter such as Teflon is amenable to XRF and ion chemical analyses but is not amenable to analysis for carbon. To overcome these problems DRI constructed a medium-volume PM10 sampler that is capable of collecting particulates on both Teflon and quartz fiber filters simultaneously. This paper describes the design of the DRI medium-volume PM10 sampler, discusses a method for determining equivalence of two samplers, the results of applying the method to test the equivalence of the medium-volume sampler and a commerical high-volume sampler, and examines differences between PM10 and TSP measurements in a southwestern desert.

Millikan "oil drop" stabilized by growth.

A diffusion cloud chamber has been used to qualitatively study some dynamic properties of liquid drops by suspending them in an electric field at the plane of saturation (p/ps = 1, where p is the actual partial pressure of the vapor at a given elevation and ps is the equilibrium pressure at that temperature characteristic of that elevation). By varying the strength of the electric field, it is possible to change the size of the suspended droplets and even, if desired, to isolate a single drop.