Health Impact Assessment of Aircraft Particulate Matter

PREM LOBO (1), Elizabeth Black (1), Donald Hagen (1)

(1) Missouri University of Science and Technology

     Abstract Number: 326
     Last modified: November 9, 2009

Abstract
Studies over the last decade have suggested that particulate matter (PM) within certain size ranges deposit in the tracheobonchial and alveolar regions of the lung, and increased mortality and morbidity rates are observed as PM concentrations become elevated. While on-road vehicular PM is typically the dominant source of PM in urban areas, airport operations also contribute to elevated levels of PM in the urban environment. Air quality and health related effects of airport activities, continue to be an important consideration for airports and their surrounding communities. Recent studies of aircraft jet engine emissions reveal that their PM size distributions fall into the size range of particular concern (i.e. <100 nm diameter). Aircraft PM has unique properties with respect to deposition, retention kinetics, and clearance pathways in the human respiratory system, and is composed of sizes that readily travel gas streamlines that penetrate the deepest regions of the lung. The deposited PM in these regions of the lung could also potentially cross the blood-membrane barrier and migrate into the bloodstream. A novel health impact metric, Surface Area Deposition Index (SADI), was developed to quantify the surface area of deposited PM in the lung per kilogram jet fuel burned. SADI couples measured PM emissions data collected down-wind of active runways at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport for various airframe–engine combinations along with the established ICRP lung deposition model. The results of the analysis indicate that statistically significant differences in SADI among emissions from different engine types are not observed, and variations in SADI are not correlated with temporal changes.