Title: “Estimating particulate emissions from roads”
Abstract
Resuspended dust, particularly PM2.5 and PM10 from roadways, is a major contributor to particulate emissions in many regions of India.
Accurate estimates of dust emissions are crucial for effective air quality management, yet these estimates often rely on the AP-42 model from the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This model, however, has notable limitations, primarily its dependence on silt loading—a metric
that is challenging to measure on busy roads. Furthermore, the model’s empirical nature can introduce uncertainties in estimating PM2.5
emissions. This talk describes a study aimed at addressing these limitations of the AP-42 model. The first step involved developing a mobile platform capable of measuring PM emission rates on roadways without disrupting traffic. Data collected from several major highways enabled the creation of a new model that enhances the AP-42 framework in two significant ways: 1) it employs a mechanistic approach that extends its applicability, and 2) it removes the need for silt loading as an input variable.
About the Speaker
Dr. Akula Venkatram is a Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Riverside, California, USA. His research is focused on the development and the application of models for the transport and dispersion of air pollutants over urban and regional scales. Dr. Venkatram co-edited and contributed to the “Lectures on Air Pollution Modeling” published by the American Meteorological Society. He was member of the team that developed AERMOD, and was a principal contributor to RLINE, the USEPA model for line sources. He is the recipient of the inaugural award from the AMS Committee on Meteorological Aspects of Air Pollution for “contributions to the field of air pollution meteorology through the development of simple models in acid deposition, ozone photochemistry and urban dispersion”. His research on modeling the air quality impact of transport related emissions was recognized in 2010 by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, through a Scientific and Technological Achievement Award for “expanding and improving the scientific and regulatory communities’ ability to assess the impacts of mobile source emissions”. His research on this topic is summarized in the monograph “Urban Transportation and Air Pollution”.
