AAAR 31st Annual Conference
October 8-12, 2012
Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
Status of Air Quality: Experience in Bangladesh
BILKIS ARA BEGUM, Philip K. Hopke, Andreas Markwitz, Atomic Energy Centre
Abstract Number: 177 Working Group: Source Apportionment
Abstract In Dhaka, Bangladesh particular matter (PM) among the measured criteria pollutants, is most harmful to the public and the environment. From For the last couple of years, the Government is trying to control PM emission originating from anthropogenic sources. It has been found that 30-50% of the PM10 mass in Dhaka is fine particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 µm. These fine particles are mainly of anthropogenic origin and come predominately from transport related sources. However, during wintertime, local air pollution is enhanced by transboundary air pollution which results in an increase in PM concentrations significantly above the Bangladesh National Ambient Air Quality Standard (BNAAQS). It has been found that black carbon amounted to approximately 50% of the total fine PM mass before adoption of control policies. The Government has taken several steps to reduce PM and BC for the last few years. As a positive result of the legislation, PM emissions and BC concentrations did not increased linearly compared to the contributions from combustion sources such as motor vehicles, diesel power generators or brick kilns. Positive matrix factorisation modeling was performed on fine PM data set starting from January 2007 to February 2009. A key result of the analysis is that motor vehicles contributed less BC compared to the brick kiln industry. This is a good achievement of the Government policy interventions. Black carbon is often transported over long distances, mixing with other aerosols along the way. Transboundary transport of air pollution in the South Asian region has been an issue of increasing importance over the past several decades. Long-range transport of anthropogenic pollution is contrasted with that of pollution produced by natural processes such as dust storms or natural forest fires.
Keywords: Particulate matter, black carbon, transboundary transport