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Environments
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Editorial Board Members' Collection Series: Air Quality Assessment and Management
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Editorial Board Members' Collection Series: Air Quality Assessment and Management

A special issue of Environments (ISSN 2076-3298).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 July 2024) | Viewed by 25495

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. William A. Anderson

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
Interests: air pollution control; photocatalysis; UV disinfection; biofiltration
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Ching-Yuan Chang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
Interests: resource recovery and utilization; pyrolysis; air pollution control; advanced oxidation processes; waste treatment; waste to energy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Air quality and its management continues to be a significant scientific and environmental policy issue around the world at local, national, and international scales. Degraded air quality is now recognized to have many health, environmental, and economic impacts, leading to increasingly urgent efforts to understand and mitigate these effects. Broadly, these concerns encompass greenhouse gases, fine particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, nitrogen and sulfur oxides, tropospheric and stratospheric ozone, atmospheric transport and chemistry, and indoor aerosolized pathogens. Research and its dissemination continue to be needed in these and related interacting fields to facilitate continuing advances in air quality improvements around the world.

This Special Issue is interested in contributions focused on the understanding and improvement of air quality in any context, including a reduction in infection transmission. This may be through modelling of the chemistry and transport of pollutants, analysis of air pollution impacts, new source reduction or emission control technologies, the identification and quantification of diverse sources of air pollutants, or policy developments that impact air quality. Advances in any of these areas are welcome as interest grows in mitigating health effects in indoor environments.

Prof. Dr. William A. Anderson
Prof. Dr. Ching-Yuan Chang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Environments is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • indoor air quality
  • atmospheric chemistry
  • health and environmental air pollution impacts
  • particulate matter
  • mercury and other metals
  • dioxins and furans
  • atmospheric and secondary organic aerosols
  • bioaerosols
  • volatile organic compounds
  • air pollution control
  • emissions reduction
  • air quality monitoring
  • air quality policy, management, and regulation
  • NOx and Sox
  • ozone, tropospheric, and stratospheric
  • source attribution
  • greenhouse gases
  • global warming

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Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

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19 pages, 5054 KiB  
Article
Impact of Air Conditioning Type on Outdoor Ozone Intrusion into Homes in a Semi-Arid Climate
by James D. Johnston, Seth Van Roosendaal, Joseph West, Hanyong Jung and Darrell Sonntag
Environments 2024, 11(10), 219; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments11100219 - 7 Oct 2024
Viewed by 940
Abstract
Outdoor ozone (O3) is elevated on hot, sunny days when residential air conditioning is used most. We evaluated the impact of direct evaporative coolers (ECs) and vapor-compression air conditioners (ACs) on indoor O3 concentrations in homes (N = 31) in [...] Read more.
Outdoor ozone (O3) is elevated on hot, sunny days when residential air conditioning is used most. We evaluated the impact of direct evaporative coolers (ECs) and vapor-compression air conditioners (ACs) on indoor O3 concentrations in homes (N = 31) in Utah County, Utah, United States of America. Indoor and outdoor O3 concentrations were measured for 24 h at each home using nitrite-impregnated glass-fiber filters. AC homes (n = 16) provided a protective envelope from outdoor O3 pollution. Only one AC home had O3 levels above the limit of detection (LOD). Conversely, EC homes (n = 15) provided minimal protection from outdoor O3. Only one EC home had O3 levels below the LOD. The average indoor O3 concentration in EC homes was 23 ppb (95% CI 20, 25). The indoor-to-outdoor (I/O) ratio for O3 in EC homes was 0.65 (95% CI 0.58, 0.72), while the upper bound for the I/O ratio for AC homes was 0.13 (p < 0.001). Indoor exposure to O3 for residents in EC homes is approximately five times greater than for residents of AC homes. Although ECs offer energy and cost-saving advantages, public health awareness campaigns in O3-prone areas are needed, as well as research into O3 pollution controls for direct ECs such as activated carbon filtration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Editorial Board Members' Collection Series: Air Quality Assessment and Management)
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17 pages, 1601 KiB  
Article
Initial Insights into Teleworking’s Effect on Air Quality in Madrid City
by Jorge Bañuelos-Gimeno, Natalia Sobrino and Rosa Arce-Ruiz
Environments 2024, 11(9), 204; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments11090204 - 18 Sep 2024
Viewed by 906
Abstract
Commuting to work by private vehicle is one of the main sources of air pollution in cities, mainly from NO2 and particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10). With the spread of telework, traffic congestion during peak hours is reduced on [...] Read more.
Commuting to work by private vehicle is one of the main sources of air pollution in cities, mainly from NO2 and particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10). With the spread of telework, traffic congestion during peak hours is reduced on certain days of the week, improving air quality. This study analyzes the relationship between the improvement of air quality and urban traffic resulting from teleworking activities after the COVID-19 pandemic in Madrid, Spain. This article considers road traffic and teleworking before the COVID-19 pandemic (2018 and 2019), during the pandemic (2020 and 2021) and in the period after (2022 and 2023) in the city center and the influence on certain environmental factors. Daily NO2, PM2.5, PM10, and O3 concentration data were collected at air quality stations in Madrid municipality, and traffic data and some meteorological variables such as wind speed, precipitation and temperature were considered. When conducting correlation and regression analysis among the variables, there is a clear association between NO2 and traffic before the pandemic, which is lower for both PM and O3. This correlation was maintained during the pandemic, except for O3, the association of which increased during this period and then decreased in the later period due to various motives. These results seem to indicate the existence of a relevant relationship between urban mobility and air quality and an especially relevant relationship with telework, suggesting the need for policies aimed at promoting sustainable mobility in the future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Editorial Board Members' Collection Series: Air Quality Assessment and Management)
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14 pages, 5954 KiB  
Article
A Framework for the Estimation of Air Quality by Applying Meteorological Images: Colours-of-the-Wind (COLD)
by Kenneth Chan, Paul Matthews and Kamran Munir
Environments 2023, 10(12), 218; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments10120218 - 11 Dec 2023
Viewed by 1829
Abstract
This paper presents a new framework, “colours-of-the-wind” (COLD), which is designed to estimate air quality based on images from meteorological cameras, data analytics techniques, and the application of deep learning. Existing air quality estimation systems mainly rely on physical monitoring stations, which are [...] Read more.
This paper presents a new framework, “colours-of-the-wind” (COLD), which is designed to estimate air quality based on images from meteorological cameras, data analytics techniques, and the application of deep learning. Existing air quality estimation systems mainly rely on physical monitoring stations, which are limited by the monitoring stations’ physical constraints. Instead of collecting data from environmental monitoring stations, COLD collects air quality data from meteorological cameras. This approach can collect data from any location where a camera could capture a reliable image, which is otherwise not collectable by the physical environmental monitoring station(s). This approach can also avoid bias due to the location of data collection. The system is evaluated by building a prototype based on the Air Quality Health Index from the Hong Kong Observatory. This is one of the unique data-analytic frameworks based on such air quality measurement. The COLD’s air quality estimation is also based on AQHI, the first machine learning-based estimation framework that generates AQHI as the proposed output. Experimental results suggest that the approach adopted by the COLD prototype is feasible and has some promising outcomes. The results also suggest possible parameters for the CNN model used for the training and analyses of the images. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Editorial Board Members' Collection Series: Air Quality Assessment and Management)
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24 pages, 1395 KiB  
Article
The Burden of Respiratory Disease from Formaldehyde, Damp and Mould in English Housing
by Sierra N. Clark, Holly C. Y. Lam, Emma-Jane Goode, Emma L. Marczylo, Karen S. Exley and Sani Dimitroulopoulou
Environments 2023, 10(8), 136; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments10080136 - 2 Aug 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 5646
Abstract
Quantifying the burden of disease from exposure to poor indoor air pollution can support policy development. In England, there is current regulatory and public attention on the health implications of residential exposure to formaldehyde, damp and mould. However, there is scarce information on [...] Read more.
Quantifying the burden of disease from exposure to poor indoor air pollution can support policy development. In England, there is current regulatory and public attention on the health implications of residential exposure to formaldehyde, damp and mould. However, there is scarce information on these health impacts at the population scale. As such, we assessed the burden of key respiratory diseases from residential formaldehyde, damp and/or mould for the English population aged 0–14 and 15–49. We obtained data on the percentage of dwellings affected by damp and/or mould from the English Housing Survey and estimated the distribution of residential formaldehyde concentrations (annual average (μg/m3)) by pooling data from monitoring studies conducted in England. Exposures were combined with epidemiological relationships and national health data to estimate Population Attributable Fractions (PAFs), disease incidence, and Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) lost associated with residential formaldehyde or damp and/or mould exposure in England. We made estimates for the year 2019 but also looked back several years in time. Exposure to formaldehyde was associated with approximately 4000 new cases of childhood asthma (~800 DALYs lost) in 2019, though the estimates were sensitive to the placement of the lower exposure threshold. Exposure to damp and/or mould was associated with approximately 5000 new cases of asthma (~2200 DALYs) and approximately 8500 lower respiratory infections (~600 DALYs) among children and adults in 2019, though the PAFs were unequally distributed across dwellings based on income and ethnicity. Alternative data sources suggest that the percentage of dwellings affected by damp and/or mould may even be higher, resulting in a possible 3–8-fold greater number of cases and DALYs. Our assessment emphasizes a potential respiratory health burden in England associated with residential formaldehyde as well as damp and/or mould, further highlighting the public health importance of good indoor air quality and good quality housing. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Editorial Board Members' Collection Series: Air Quality Assessment and Management)
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15 pages, 3485 KiB  
Article
Emissions and By-Products from Producing Torrefied Solid Recovered Fuel Using Pulp Industry Waste
by Min-Hao Yuan, Chia-Chi Chang, Michael Huang, Je-Lueng Shie, Chao-Hsiung Wu, Ching-Yuan Chang, Yi-Hung Chen, Far-Ching Lin, Cheng-Fang Lin, Chang-Ping Yu, Yen-Hau Chen, Wei-Ren Chang, Tzu-Yi Yang and Bo-Liang Liu
Environments 2023, 10(8), 135; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments10080135 - 2 Aug 2023
Viewed by 1902
Abstract
Emissions and by-products from manufacturing torrefied solid recovered fuel using pulp industry waste containing wood waste with pulp sludge (WPS) were studied. Two batches of WPS1 and WPS2 were tested. The torrefaction of WSP1 and WPS2 were performed at their respectively optimal temperature [...] Read more.
Emissions and by-products from manufacturing torrefied solid recovered fuel using pulp industry waste containing wood waste with pulp sludge (WPS) were studied. Two batches of WPS1 and WPS2 were tested. The torrefaction of WSP1 and WPS2 were performed at their respectively optimal temperature of 573 and 593 K and time of 20 min, referred as cases WPST1-573-20 and WPST2-593-20, respectively. WPS1 contained higher fixed carbons and volatile matters but lower ash content than WPS2. The results showed that the solid yields of 56 and 61 wt.%, gas yields of 16 and 16 wt.% and liquid yields of 28 and 24 wt.% for WPST1-573-20 and WPST2-593-20, respectively. The maximal concentration of emissions for WPST1-573-20 and WPST2-593-20 are about 1952.5 and 3743.5 ppmv for CO, 26.5 and 156 ppmv for NOx and 31.5 and 392 ppmv for SO2, respectively. The CCO exceeded the emission standard and required further action. The collected non-condensable gases consisted of hydrocarbons ranging from C1-HC to C6-HC, with C4-HC being the predominant component. Here, Cn-HC represents hydrocarbons with a carbon atom count of n. The GC-MS analysis revealed the primary liquid byproducts. The liquid products can be used directly as pyroligneous liquor in agriculture. Furthermore, with refining techniques, these liquid byproducts can be transformed into high-quality chemicals for applications such as fungicides, pesticides, solvents, surfactants, and as precursors or monomers in the synthesis of other chemicals. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Editorial Board Members' Collection Series: Air Quality Assessment and Management)
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17 pages, 4565 KiB  
Article
How the Presence of CO2 Absorption Promoters and Composition of the Choline Chloride/Amine/Molecular Solvent Mixtures Influence Its Thermophysical Properties and Ability to Absorb Carbon Dioxide
by Olga V. Kazarina, Anna A. Golovacheva, Zakhar A. Markin, Anton N. Petukhov, Alexander S. Kazarin, Artem A. Atlaskin, Tatyana S. Sazanova, Artyom N. Markov, Alexander A. Kapinos, Alexandra V. Barysheva, Sergey S. Suvorov, Egor S. Dokin, Ilya V. Vorotyntsev and Andrey V. Vorotyntsev
Environments 2023, 10(5), 88; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments10050088 - 18 May 2023
Viewed by 2759
Abstract
The present research provides data on the density (ρ), viscosity (η) and ability to absorb carbon dioxide of systems containing amine, molecular solvent (MS) and choline chloride (ChCl), with the investigation of the physical properties of both neat amine/MS/ChCl [...] Read more.
The present research provides data on the density (ρ), viscosity (η) and ability to absorb carbon dioxide of systems containing amine, molecular solvent (MS) and choline chloride (ChCl), with the investigation of the physical properties of both neat amine/MS/ChCl mixtures and their samples after complete CO2 saturation. The effect of the mixture composition was studied by varying amine from primary (monoethanolamine, MEA) to secondary (diethanolamine, DEA) and tertiary (triethanolamine, TEA) amine, and the degree of its substitution from a mono- (MEA, DEA and TEA) to a doubly-substituted (ethylenediamine, EDA) compound. The role of an MS was investigated via the exchange of ethylene glycol (EG) with water and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO). In addition, the influence of the CO2 absorption promoters present in the ternary MEA/EG/ChCl mixture at an amount of 5 wt. % was also investigated. We show that an increase in ρ and η in the amine/EG/ChCl mixture affects the properties of neat amines. This suggests that in the studied ternary mixtures, the nature of the interspecies interactions is very similar to those in the previously studied MEA/EG/ChCl system. When EG was exchanged for H2O or DMSO, a decrease in ρ and an increase in η were observed. A comparison of the data with the corresponding properties of the systems composed of each pair of the mixture components indicates that the intensity and/or number of interspecies interactions in the present ternary mixtures were stronger than those in pure H2O, DMSO and MEA. While in the presence of promoters no significant changes in the studied properties were found, for the corresponding CO2-saturated samples, the ρ and η increased proportionally to the amount of absorbed gas. This was also the case for all the systems studied in the present research. The overall CO2 absorption of the EG-based mixtures decreased when going from primary to secondary and tertiary amines; it was 21% higher for the MEA/H2O/ChCl system compared to the mixtures containing EG and DMSO, which, in turn, showed similar absorption capacities. When the promoters were added to the MEA/EG/ChCl mixture, the highest capacity was found for the piperazine-containing system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Editorial Board Members' Collection Series: Air Quality Assessment and Management)
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12 pages, 5469 KiB  
Article
Particulate Pollution from New Year Fireworks in Honolulu
by Peter Brimblecombe and Yonghang Lai
Environments 2023, 10(4), 68; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments10040068 - 19 Apr 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3369
Abstract
Fireworks have long been a problem in Hawaii despite restrictions on their use. They cause accidents and high levels of noise and air pollution and are accompanied by admissions to hospitals from accidents and breathing difficulties. There was some initial success in reducing [...] Read more.
Fireworks have long been a problem in Hawaii despite restrictions on their use. They cause accidents and high levels of noise and air pollution and are accompanied by admissions to hospitals from accidents and breathing difficulties. There was some initial success in reducing injuries and particulate concentrations after the implementation of the permit requirements from New Year of 2012, but the recent years of 2022 and 2023 have witnessed elevated air pollution at New Year. It seems unlikely that this arises from weather conditions as a random forest analysis suggests that the effects of local climate are quite small, and particulate pollution at New Year arises from fireworks. The pollution does not seem related to the purchase of the permitted 5000 firecrackers. Locally, there is suspicion that injury and pollution more likely arises from illegally purchased aerial fireworks. Regulatory authorities have found it difficult to estimate the quantity of illegal fireworks, and preventing their import has proved a difficult task. Such problems mean that it is important to enhance our understanding of local environmental problems caused by fireworks and improve compliance with the regulations, without diminishing enjoyment of the New Year celebration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Editorial Board Members' Collection Series: Air Quality Assessment and Management)
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Review

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19 pages, 1015 KiB  
Review
A Scoping Review of the Effects of Ambient Air Quality on Cognitive Frailty
by James Robert Hodgson, Charlotte Benkowitz, Brian C. Castellani, Amanda Ellison, Rammina Yassaie, Helen Twohig, Roshni Bhudia, Otto-Emil Ilmari Jutila and Sally Fowler-Davis
Environments 2024, 11(1), 4; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments11010004 - 20 Dec 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3300
Abstract
Environmental and public health research has given considerable attention to the impact of air quality on brain health, with systematic reviews being widespread. No literature review has been conducted for cognitive frailty—a multidimensional syndrome combining physical frailty and cognitive impairment and their apparent [...] Read more.
Environmental and public health research has given considerable attention to the impact of air quality on brain health, with systematic reviews being widespread. No literature review has been conducted for cognitive frailty—a multidimensional syndrome combining physical frailty and cognitive impairment and their apparent co-dependence, linked to increased vulnerability and adverse health outcomes, including dementia. Instead, cognitive decline and frailty are implicitly explored through research on air quality and comorbid cognitive and physical decline in elderly populations. A scoping review was conducted to explore the need for a systematic review. Combining the Arksey and O’Malley, and PRISMA-ScR checklist, a scoping review of SCOPUS using ‘cogniti*’ + ‘resilience’ + ‘air quality’ or ‘cogniti*’ + ‘ageing’ + ‘air quality’ resulted in n = 2503 articles, screened and reduced using inclusion and exclusion criteria, to n = 16 articles. Air quality appears to be a critical risk factor for cognitive decline, even at air quality levels below WHO targets. Moderate long-term ambient air pollution appears linked to increased risk of cognitive frailty, suggesting earlier and more active interventions to protect older people. There are varied effects on cognition across the life course, with both emotional and functional impacts. Effects may be more detrimental to elderly people with existing conditions, including economic and health inequalities. Generalisation of results is limited due to the absence of a dose–response, variations in methods, controlling for comorbid effects, and variance across studies. No literature review has been performed for cognitive frailty, largely due to the fact that it is not presently treated as an explicit outcome. The findings support the need for more research and a more extensive summary of the literature but suggest that there is worsening cognitive function over the life course as a result of increased PM2.5 concentrations. Furthermore, air quality appears to be a critical risk factor even at levels below World Health Organisation targets. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Editorial Board Members' Collection Series: Air Quality Assessment and Management)
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20 pages, 6741 KiB  
Review
Adoption of SIFT-MS for VOC Pollution Monitoring in South Korea
by Vaughan S. Langford, Minyoung Cha, Daniel B. Milligan and Jihoon Lee
Environments 2023, 10(12), 201; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments10120201 - 23 Nov 2023
Viewed by 3440
Abstract
The pollution of air and water with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), both hazardous and odorous, is of significant concern due to impacts on human health and quality of life, as well as the environment. South Korea is a highly industrialized and densely populated [...] Read more.
The pollution of air and water with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), both hazardous and odorous, is of significant concern due to impacts on human health and quality of life, as well as the environment. South Korea is a highly industrialized and densely populated nation and suffers from significant VOC and ozone pollution. In recent years, South Korea has implemented more stringent controls on industry to address air and water pollution, requiring more real-time and on-site analysis. The selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS) technique has been increasingly adopted to monitor source emissions and their dispersion, enabling a more rapid response to pollution incidents. To this end, the flexibility of SIFT-MS instrumentation for both laboratory- and field-based analysis, including in mobile laboratories, has been valuable. SIFT-MS has been applied to emission source characterization, fenceline monitoring, ambient monitoring, pollution mapping, and incident response (including the use of drone-based sampling) for hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), odor nuisance species, and compounds that have high ozone formation potential (OFP) and/or contribute to secondary aerosol (SOA) formation. This review summarizes the South Korean application of SIFT-MS to the monitoring of VOC pollutants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Editorial Board Members' Collection Series: Air Quality Assessment and Management)
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