Biodiversity Loss from Freshwater Use for China’s Electricity Generation

Large-scale CO2 transport and storage infrastructure development and cost estimation in the Netherlands offshore

A plan was developed for large-scale transport and storage of CO2, inspired by the measures in The Netherlands Climate Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere. The main focus was on reduction of CO2 emissions captured from large industrial sources in the Rotterdam harbour area (Rijnmond region). CO2 storage potential is...

Stepwise project: Sorption-enhanced water-gas shift technology to reduce carbon footprint in the iron and steel industry

Industrial processes contribute significantly to global carbon dioxide emissions, with iron and steel manufacturing alone responsible for 6% of the total figure. The STEPWISE project, funded through the European Horizon 2020 (H2020) Low Carbon Energy (LCE) programme under grant agreement number 640769, is looking at reducing CO2 emissions in the...

Long-term monitoring of time-varying sound propagation from a large industrial area

A long-term monitoring project, with 12 months of continuous operation time, is described where the sound sources within a large industrial area as well as the sound levels in the nearby residential area are measured. The sources in the industrial area may give rise to complaints from the neighboring residential areas, at several kilometers...

A multi-model approach to monitor emissions of CO2 and CO from an urban-industrial complex

Monitoring urban-industrial emissions is often challenging because observations are scarce and regional atmospheric transport models are too coarse to represent the high spatiotemporal variability in the resulting concentrations. In this paper we apply a new combination of an Eulerian model (Weather Research and Forecast, WRF, with chemistry)...

Comparison of industrial emissions and carpet dust concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans in a multi-center U.S. study

Proximity to facilities emitting polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD/F) has been associated with increased risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). There is limited information about whether proximity to industrial sources leads to indoor PCDD/F contamination of homes. We measured carpet dust concentrations (pg/g...

Total and size-resolved particle number and black carbon concentrations near an industrial area

Total and size-resolved particle number and black carbon concentrations were investigated in urban areas of the city of Rotterdam (the Netherlands) situated near an industrial area. Several monitoring campaigns were conducted in the period 2011-2014 at three local locations and at a regional background site. Black carbon levels showed minor...

Automated Model Fit Method for Diesel Engine Control Development

This paper presents an automated fit for a control-oriented physics-based diesel engine combustion model. This method is based on the combination of a dedicated measurement procedure and structured approach to fit the required combustion model parameters. Only a data set is required that is considered to be standard for engine testing. The...

Spatial variability of trace elements and sources for improved exposure assessment in Barcelona

Trace and major elements concentrations in PM10 and PM2.5 were measured at 20 sites spread in the Barcelona metropolitan area (1 rural background, 6 urban background, 13 road traffic sites) and at 1 reference site. Three 2-week samples per site and size fraction were collected during 2009 using low volume samplers, adding a total of 120 samples....

Evaluating 4 years of atmospheric ammonia (NH3) over Europe using IASI satellite observations and LOTOS-EUROS model results

Monitoring ammonia (NH3) concentrations on a global to regional scale is a challenge. Due to the limited availability of reliable ground-based measurements, the determination of NH3 distributions generally relies on model calculations. Novel remotely sensed NH3burdens provide valuable insights to complement traditional assessments for clear-sky...

Trend analysis of urban NO2 concentrations and the importance of direct NO2 emissions versus ozone/NOx equilibrium

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...

Application of the emission inventory model TEAM: Uncertainties in dioxin emission estimates for central Europe

This study uses an improved emission inventory model to assess the uncertainties in emissions of dioxins and furans associated with both knowledge on the exact technologies and processes used, and with the uncertainties of both activity data and emission factors. The annual total emissions for the year 2000 in 13 countries in central and eastern...

Risks to health and environment of the use of lead in products in the EU

The EU Commission's Services asked TNO and CML to perform a study into the risks of the present uses of lead over time, as an input to a discussion on the need of a further reduction of the use of this material. The study was set up as a substance flow analysis to analyse trends in uses and emissions of lead in Europe between 2000 and 2030. The...

Default values for assessment of potential dermal exposure of the hands to industrial chemicals in the scope of regulatory risk assessments

Dermal exposure needs to be addressed in regulatory risk assessment of chemicals. The models used so far are based on very limited data. The EU project RISKOFDERM has gathered a large number of new measurements on dermal exposure to industrial chemicals in various work situations, together with information on possible determinants of exposure....

Environmental impacts of products: Policy relevant information and data challenges

The research and analysis presented in this special issue shows that the same limited number of consumption categories are consistently revealed to be responsible for the largest share of environmental impact: mobility (automobile and air transport), food (meat, poultry, fish, and dairy followed by plant-based food), and residential energy use...

Task-based dermal exposure models for regulatory risk assessment

The regulatory risk assessment of chemicals requires the estimation of occupational dermal exposure. Until recently, the models used were either based on limited data or were specific to a particular class of chemical or application. The EU project RISKOFDERM has gathered a considerable number of new measurements of dermal exposure together with...

Comparison of model results obtained with several European regional air quality models

An intercomparison study has been performed with four photo-oxidant dispersion models (EMEP, EURAD, LOTOS and REM3) which are currently capable of performing photo-oxidant formation calculations over larger path of Europe. The models, in principle, were run in the mode in which they are normally used, with their own input data and process...