Title
Trend analysis of urban NO2 concentrations and the importance of direct NO2 emissions versus ozone/NOx equilibrium
Author
Keuken, M.
Roemer, M.
van den Elshout, S.
TNO Kwaliteit van Leven
Publication year
2009
Abstract
The annual air quality standard of NO2 is often exceeded in urban areas near heavy traffic locations. Despite significant decrease of NOx emissions in 1986-2005 in the industrial and harbour area near Rotterdam, NO2 concentrations at the urban background remain at the same level since the end of the nineties. Trend analysis of monitoring data revealed that the ozone/NOx equilibrium is a more important factor than increasing direct NO2 emissions by traffic. The latter has recently been identified as an additional NO2 source due to the introduction of oxy-catalytic converters in diesel vehicles and the growing number of diesel vehicles. However, in Rotterdam over the period 1986-2005 direct NO2 emissions by road traffic only increased 3-4%. Due to the importance of the ozone/NOx equilibrium, it is concluded that local NOx emissions in Rotterdam need substantial reduction to achieve lower NO2 urban background levels. This is a relatively costly abatement strategy and, therefore, a "hotspot" approach aiming at reducing NOx emissions by local traffic measures is more effective to meet European air quality standards. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Subject
Nitrogen dioxide
Air quality standard
Diesel vehicles
Heavy traffics
Hot spot
Nitrogen dioxide
Road traffic
Substantial reduction
Traffic emissions
Traffic measures
Trend analysis
Urban air quality
Urban areas
Urban background
Air quality
Catalytic converters
Diesel locomotives
Nitrogen oxides
Quality control
Industrial emissions
Benelux
Eurasia
Europe
Netherlands
Rotterdam
South Holland
Western Europe
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DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2008.07.043
TNO identifier
241781
ISSN
1352-2310
Source
Atmospheric Environment, 43 (31), 4780-4783
Document type
article