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Environments
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Air Pollution Control
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Air Pollution Control

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2017) | Viewed by 35521

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Zhongchao Tan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
2. Executive Director, Tsinghua University–University of Waterloo Joint Research Center for Micro/Nano Energy and Environment Technology, Beijing, China
Interests: green energy; air emission control; indoor air quality; aerosol; nanotechnology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Air pollution has become a global challenge in relation to health, economy, politics, science, engineering, and so on. Effective air pollution control will have positive impact on human society overall, protecting people and the environment. This Special Issue is seeking original, unpublished papers that describe recent advances and efforts in air pollution control in relation to changing environments, from both technical and nontechnical communities. This Special Issue invites research papers addressing the state-of-the-art in developing the concepts and tools for an effective air pollution control analysis at different scales and perspectives. Papers selected for this Special Issue will be subjected to a rigorous peer-review procedure with the aim of rapid and wide dissemination of research results, developments, and applications in the area of the environment.

Prof. Dr. Zhongchao Tan
Guest Editor

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

  • Air pollution
  • Pollution control
  • Changing environments

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

8341 KiB  
Article
L’Aquila Smart Clean Air City: The Italian Pilot Project for Healthy Urban Air
by Alessandro Avveduto, Francesco Ferella, Marina De Giovanni, Valentina Innocenzi, Lorenzo Pace and Paolo Tripodi
Environments 2017, 4(4), 78; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments4040078 - 3 Nov 2017
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 6814
Abstract
Exposure to atmospheric pollution is a major concern for urban populations. Currently, no effective strategy has been adopted to tackle the problem. The paper presents the Smart Clean Air City project, a pilot experiment concerning the improvement in urban air quality. Small wet [...] Read more.
Exposure to atmospheric pollution is a major concern for urban populations. Currently, no effective strategy has been adopted to tackle the problem. The paper presents the Smart Clean Air City project, a pilot experiment concerning the improvement in urban air quality. Small wet scrubber systems will be operating in a network configuration in suitable urban areas of L’Aquila city (Italy). The purpose of this work is to describe the project and show the preliminary results obtained in the characterization of two urban sites before the remediation test; the main operating principles of the wet scrubber system will be discussed, as well as the design of the mobile treatment plant for the processing of wastewater resulting from scrubber operation. Measurements of particle size distributions in the range of 0.30–25 µm took place in the two sites of interest, an urban background and a traffic area in the city of L’Aquila. The mean number concentration detected was 2.4 × 107 and 4.5 × 107 particles/m3, respectively. Finally, theoretical assessments, performed by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes, will show the effects of the wet scrubber operation on air pollutants under different environmental conditions and in several urban usage patterns. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Pollution Control)
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2126 KiB  
Article
Incorporating Air Quality Improvement at a Local Level into Climate Policy in the Transport Sector: A Case Study in Bandung City, Indonesia
by Helmi Gunawan, Hans Bressers, Nthabiseng Mohlakoana and Thomas Hoppe
Environments 2017, 4(3), 45; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments4030045 - 24 Jun 2017
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 7481
Abstract
Climate policy has a strong influence on policy processes at national levels in Indonesia, while other policies with a focus on air quality improvement are being implemented at local levels. Indonesia as a developing country has committed to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions [...] Read more.
Climate policy has a strong influence on policy processes at national levels in Indonesia, while other policies with a focus on air quality improvement are being implemented at local levels. Indonesia as a developing country has committed to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 29 percent by the year 2030. This calls into question the extent to which cities and local governments can cope with the challenges of climate change mitigation. The purpose of the research is to find out the extent to which local air pollution reduction policies can contribute to the climate change mitigation program. The research design involved an empirical case study on governance and policy relevant to climate change efforts to lower GHG in Bandung City, Indonesia. The study evaluated the air quality improvement and the climate change mitigation programs using the actor-based framework of the Contextual Interaction Theory (CIT). The governance and stakeholder characteristic of climate change mitigation were also analysed using the structural context part of the CIT framework. The result shows that air quality improvement policy is implemented separately from climate policy; the latter operates at the national level and the former at the local level. By looking at the actor interaction analysis, the study concludes that a more holistic environmental policy approach would be more efficient at reducing local air pollution and contributing to the mitigation of climate change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Pollution Control)
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1525 KiB  
Article
Enhanced Adsorption of Organic Compounds over an Activated Carbon Cloth by an External-Applied Electric Field
by Mattia Pierpaoli, Maria Letizia Ruello and Gabriele Fava
Environments 2017, 4(2), 33; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments4020033 - 12 Apr 2017
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 7518
Abstract
Adsorption of pollutants on activated carbon is an effective air pollution control technique. In this study, a strong and non-uniform electric field was applied over an activated carbon fiber cloth. The adsorption kinetic of several organic compounds (Acetone, Acetaldehyde, Benzene, Cyclohexane, Ethanol, Methyl [...] Read more.
Adsorption of pollutants on activated carbon is an effective air pollution control technique. In this study, a strong and non-uniform electric field was applied over an activated carbon fiber cloth. The adsorption kinetic of several organic compounds (Acetone, Acetaldehyde, Benzene, Cyclohexane, Ethanol, Methyl Ethyl Ketone, Toluene, 1-Propanol) on the activated carbon cloth was evaluated in the presence and in the absence of an electric field. Results suggest that its application enhances the adsorptive process. A linear correlation was found between such enhancement and the specific heat of liquefaction of the organic compounds. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Pollution Control)
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5153 KiB  
Article
Modelling of Urban Near-Road Atmospheric PM Concentrations Using an Artificial Neural Network Approach with Acoustic Data Input
by Bastian Paas, Jonas Stienen, Michael Vorländer and Christoph Schneider
Environments 2017, 4(2), 26; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments4020026 - 26 Mar 2017
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 7101
Abstract
Air quality assessment is an important task for local authorities due to several adverse health effects that are associated with exposure to e.g., urban particle concentrations throughout the world. Based on the consumption of costs and time related to the experimental works required [...] Read more.
Air quality assessment is an important task for local authorities due to several adverse health effects that are associated with exposure to e.g., urban particle concentrations throughout the world. Based on the consumption of costs and time related to the experimental works required for standardized measurements of particle concentration in the atmosphere, other methods such as modelling arise as integrative options, on condition that model performance reaches certain quality standards. This study presents an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) approach to predict atmospheric concentrations of particle mass considering particles with an aerodynamic diameter of 0.25–1 μm (PM(0.25–1)), 0.25–2.5 μm (PM(0.25–2.5)), 0.25–10 μm (PM(0.25–10)) as well as particle number concentrations of particles with an aerodynamic diameter of 0.25–2.5 μm (PNC(0.25–2.5)). ANN model input variables were defined using data of local sound measurements, concentrations of background particle transport and standard meteorological data. A methodology including input variable selection, data splitting and an evaluation of their performance is proposed. The ANN models were developed and tested by the use of a data set that was collected in a street canyon. The ANN models were applied furthermore to a research site featuring an inner-city park to test the ability of the approach to gather spatial information of aerosol concentrations. It was observed that ANN model predictions of PM(0.25–10) and PNC(0.25–2.5) within the street canyon case as well as predictions of PM(0.25–2.5), PM(0.25–10) and PNC(0.25–2.5) within the case study of the park area show good agreement to observations and meet quality standards proposed by the European Commission regarding mean value prediction. Results indicate that the ANN models proposed can be a fairly accurate tool for assessment in predicting particle concentrations not only in time but also in space. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Pollution Control)
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1808 KiB  
Article
Estimating Ambient Ozone Effect of Kansas Rangeland Burning with Receptor Modeling and Regression Analysis
by Zifei Liu, Yang Liu, James P. Murphy and Ronaldo Maghirang
Environments 2017, 4(1), 14; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments4010014 - 9 Feb 2017
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 5700
Abstract
Prescribed rangeland burning in April is a long-standing practice in the Flint Hills region of eastern Kansas to maintain the tallgrass prairie ecosystem. The smoke plumes originating from these fires increases ambient PM2.5 concentrations and potentially contributes to ozone (O3) [...] Read more.
Prescribed rangeland burning in April is a long-standing practice in the Flint Hills region of eastern Kansas to maintain the tallgrass prairie ecosystem. The smoke plumes originating from these fires increases ambient PM2.5 concentrations and potentially contributes to ozone (O3) exceedances in downwind communities. Source apportionment research using Unmix modeling has been utilized to estimate contributions of Kansas rangeland burning to ambient PM2.5 concentrations. The objective of this study was to investigate the potential correlations between O3 and various sources of PM2.5 that are derived from receptor modeling, and then to specifically estimate contributions of Kansas rangeland burning to ambient O3 concentrations through regression analysis. Various daily meteorological data were used as predictor variables. Multiple regression models were developed for the eight-hour daily maximum O3 as well as the daily contributions of the five PM2.5 source categories that were derived from receptor modeling. Cross correlation was analyzed among residuals of the meteorological regression models for O3 and the daily contributions of the five PM2.5 source categories in order to identify the potential hidden correlation between O3 and PM2.5. The model including effects of meteorological variables and episodic contributions from fire and industrial emissions can explain up to 78% of O3 variability. For non-rainy days in April, the daily average contribution from prescribed rangeland burning to O3 was 1.8 ppb. On 3% of the days in April, prescribed rangeland burning contributed over 12.7 ppb to O3; and on 7% of the days in April, burning contributed more than 7.2 ppb to O3. When the intensive burning activities occur in days with high O3 background due to high solar radiation or O3 carryover from the previous day, the contributions from these episodic fire emissions could result in O3 exceedances of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The regression models developed in this study demonstrated that the most valuable predictors for O3 in the Flint Hills region include the O3 level on the previous day, total solar radiation, difference between daily maximum and minimum air temperature, and levels of episodic fire and industrial emissions. The long term goal is to establish an online O3 forecasting tool that can assist regulators and land managers in smoke management during the burning season so that the intensive burning activities can be planned to avoid forecasted high O3 days and thus prevent O3 exceedance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Pollution Control)
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