AAAR 37th Annual Conference October 14 - October 18, 2019 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon, USA
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Low Cost, High Quality Sensors for Measuring Particle Mass and Size Distribution in a Megacity Delhi
JAI PRAKASH, Shruti Choudhray, Ramesh Raliya, Tandeep Chadha, Jiaxi Fang, Pratim Biswas, Washington University in St. Louis
Abstract Number: 251 Working Group: Air Quality Sensors: Low-cost != Low Complexity
Abstract In India, one of the major hotspots of air pollution is Delhi, and its inhabitants are exposed to high PM concentrations. In order to plan for mitigation strategies, the variability of aerosol mass concentration and their size distribution are to be mapped. A newly developed low-cost and high-quality sensor by Applied Particle Technology (APT) which measures particle mass (PM1.0, PM2.5, and PM10) and particle size distribution (0.3 µm to 10 µm) will be deployed in this study. It has customized calibration and advanced data inversion algorithms which provides accurate air quality measurements in real-time.
In the present study, APT low-cost sensor performance in the field was validated by comparison to a reference instrument (Beta attenuation monitor, BAM). The sensors are deployed at multiple locations in Delhi. After the validation of the performance, the following are the other objectives of the study: 1) temporal variation of PM1.0, PM2.5, and PM10; 2) episodic concertation during dust storm; 3) determination of parameters that impact the size distribution characteristics of aerosols; 4) identification of local and regional sources using conditional probability function (CPF), back trajectory cluster, and potential source contribution function (PSCF). This study highlights that the low-cost sensors work effectively in the low and high polluted zones of an urban center, Delhi. The impact on urban air quality, public awareness, and policy decision makers will be presented. Results of this deployment study and the potential of the low-cost sensors will be discussed.