10th International Aerosol Conference September 2 - September 7, 2018 America's Center Convention Complex St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Abstract View
Impact of Vehicular Load on Toxicity Potential of Ambient Air by the Road-side in Northern Indian City
SHUBHAM RATHI, Anubha Goel, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
Abstract Number: 713 Working Group: Aerosol Toxicology
Abstract Toxicity potential, the ratio of the concentration of particle (nanoparticles) bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PPAH) to the surface area of the particles has been suggested as a proxy for air quality. This technique was used to assess the influence of vehicle emissions on air quality by the roadside at two locations with different land use patterns and traffic density (one falls on the highway and other is a residential area) within Kanpur city, India in the year 2015. Regular monitoring of air quality and vehicle count was performed and data used to calculate toxicity potential and examine its relation to traffic flow. Both locations were found to have high toxicity potential (daily avg. >4 ng/mm2) and values recorded varied diurnally with traffic density. It was surprising to note that highway location with higher vehicle density and more four-wheelers had less average toxicity potential (4.08 ng/mm2) as compared to the site near the residential area (4.87 ng/mm2) with the standard deviation of 1.61 and 3.53 respectively. This was primarily due to more number of two-wheelers in the residential area as compared to highway location. Petrol driven two-wheeler emit smaller size particles. Through a questionnaire survey, a high correlation between registered and running vehicle in Kanpur was observed: 95 percent of vehicles running on-road are registered in the city itself among which majority are two-wheelers (71%). The primary objective of the questionnaire survey conducted at 30 different locations (petrol pumps and parking lot areas) of >3000 vehicles was to ascertain the percentage and nature of Kanpur registered the vehicle in whole traffic fleet. The last ten-year registered vehicle data from regional transport office (RTO) of Kanpur city was collected and trendlines for annually registered two-wheelers and the total number of vehicles was calculated. From the trendline, it was found that by the year 2020, registered two-wheelers are predicted to become 1.32 times of current number. The total vehicle count will also increase by 1.29 times during the same time.
With toxicity potential being already high for the year 2015 with the major contribution of 2Ws, and vehicle numbers to increase approximately 32% over the next few years, the impact on air quality and human health risk is likely to increase. Impact of mitigation strategies being promoted by government of India, like introduction of stricter emission norms BS –VI (similar to Euro VI), promotion of alternative fuel sources such as ethanol, which are known to have lower emissions, along with use of vehicles that are charged using solar power or electricity needs to be looked into more critically to ensure further worsening of air quality and resulting health risks are minimized.