air quality management

Dr. Wesam Al Madhoun

•Designing and implementing methods and technologies

for tracking changes in pollutant emissions, pollutant

concentrations, and human health and welfare outcomes

to document and ultimately improve the effectiveness of

air pollution mitigation activities.

•The aforementioned contributions of science and

technology are made through monitoring, analysis,

research, and development.

What is air quality management?

Air quality management (AQM) refers to all the activities

a regulatory authority undertakes to make sure that the

air we breathe is safe, both outdoors and indoors.

•The AQM process is the system of understanding the

sources that contribute to pollution in the air and the health

and environmental effects of the pollutants, and then taking

steps to reduce or control the sources to reach or maintain

agreed upon target pollution levels in the air.

•These levels may vary from country to country, but the

overall system for planning, assessing, characterizing,

mitigating, and implementing control strategies is similar.

•AQM is generally handled at the national government

level, regional and local governments, industry, and the

public , all have important roles to play in this system.

•Each AQM activity is related to the others. It is also

important to recognize that the entire AQM process is

dynamic - there is a continuous review and assessment of

standards and strategies based on their effectiveness and

new research on health and environmental effects.

Air Quality Goal Settings

Emission Inventory

Monitoring

Control Strategies

Legistlation, Regulation & Implementation

Compliance & Enforcement

Public Involvement

Air Quality Modeling

Human & Environmental Assessment

Integrated Air Quality Management SystemIntegrated Air Quality Management System

Institutional mechanism: Local, regional, national,

global

Assessment of air quality

Monitoring

Emission inventory

Source apportionment

Air pollution Exposure and damage

Evaluation of control strategies.

Development of AQM integrated strategy action

plan

Strong implementation

• Mitigate potentially harmful ambient concentrations of six “criteria” pollutants: carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, ozone , particulate matter (PM), and lead.

• Limit sources of exposure to hazardous air pollutants - HAPs.

• Protect and improve visibility in wilderness areas and national parks.

• Reduce emissions of substances that cause acid deposition,

specifically sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.

• Curb use of chemicals that have the potential to deplete the stratospheric ozone layer.

Criteria PollutantsCriteria PollutantsU.S. EPA uses six "criteria pollutants" as indicators of air quality, and has established for each of them a National Ambient Air Quality Standards:

Particulate matter

Ground-level ozone

Nitrogen dioxide

Carbon monoxide

Sulfur dioxide

Lead

When an area does not meet the air quality standard for

one of the criteria pollutants, it may be defined as non-

attainment (especially for ozone, carbon monoxide, and

some particulate matter).

Non-attainment classifications may be used to specify what

air pollution reduction measures an area must adopt, and

when the area must reach attainment.

• A control strategy is a set of discrete and specific

measures identified and implemented to achieve

reductions in air pollution. 

• These measures may vary by source type, such as

stationary or mobile, as well as by the pollutant that is

being targeted. 

• The purpose of these measures is to achieve the air

quality standard or goal. Costs and benefits are

assessed in the development of the control strategy.

• Control strategy development - How to determine the best

approach to provide the emission reductions necessary to achieve

the air quality goal. 

• Three primary considerations in designing an effective control

strategy are:

(1) Environmental:Environmental: factors such as equipment locations, ambient

air quality conditions, adequate utilities (i.e., water for scrubbers),

legal requirements, noise levels, and the contribution of the control

system as a pollutant;

(2) Engineering:Engineering: factors such as contaminant characteristics

(abrasiveness, toxicity, etc.), gas stream characteristics, and

performance characteristics of the control system; and

(3) Economic:Economic: factors such as capital cost, operating costs, equipment

maintenance, and the lifetime of the equipment. 

Pollution prevention should also be considered (eliminating pollution

emissions at the source, substituting toxic raw materials, alternative

processes, …)

• Controls should cover stationary, mobile, and area

sources.

• Utilize reasonably available control technology. 

• For mobile sources, examples include tighter emission

controls for vehicles and low-sulfur fuel standards. 

• For major stationary sources apply permits for

emission limits (new vs existing(. 

•The basic types of emission control technology are

mechanical collectors, wet scrubbers, bag houses,

electrostatic precipitators, combustion systems (thermal

oxidizers), condensers, absorbers, adsorbers, and

biological degradation. 

•Selection should be based environmental, engineering, and economic considerations.

•First steps in air quality management process - focus on obvious sources of air pollution and the quickest means of control.

• More sophisticated innovative and comprehensive strategies (emissions trading, banking, and emissions caps) can be incorporated as a further refinement as the strategy continues. 

•Local and regional control measures are both necessary for a successful strategy.

•Successful control strategies are usually adopted into a regulatory program with implementation deadlines and mechanisms for enforcement. 

•The goal for all control strategies is to achieve real and measurable emission reductions.

• Sources of emission, represented in various emission

inventories for industrial, commercial, or domestic

sources and the transportation system, as well as land-

use related sources (biogenic emissions of VOCs,

particulate matter from soils and street surfaces).

• Monitoring system observing ambient air quality and

historical trends with emphasis on the peak values that

may exceed regulatory standards.

• Dispersion and transformation processes, driven by

emissions, meteorology, and local topography, that

translate emissions into the ambient concentrations,

represented by air quality simulation models.

• Impact assessment, which translates the ambient

concentrations into costs in a general sense (e.g., in

terms of public health and environmental damage.(

• Control strategies which basically attempt to limit emissions,

relocate them, or mitigate impacts where that is possible, with

fuel quality constraints, end of pipe technologies, or temporary

traffic restrictions being of the more noticeable instruments .

• Communication tasks including various levels of regular

reports, event driven warnings such as smog alarms, as well as

the continuous information of the public on ambient air quality.

(1)Determine priority pollutants - based on health effects

and the severity of the air quality problem.

(2) Identify control measures. For specific source

categories, choose the appropriate controls.

(3)Incorporate the control measures into a plan - written plan

with implementation dates to formalize the strategy. It is

important to adopt a regulatory program and include it in

the plan so that control measures will be enforceable.

(4) Involve the public. As with the other management activities

related to the AQM process, it is critical to contact the

regulated community and other affected parties, as the

public should be consulted as part of the strategy

development process. This early consultation reduces later

challenges and streamlines implementation.

•Air quality modeling is the necessary substitute/supplement for air quality monitoring.

•Models can be used to predict the impacts from a potential emitter.

•Models can be applied for the simulation of ambient pollution concentrations under different policy options.

• Air Quality modeling is the mathematical prediction of ambient concentrations of air pollution, based on measured inputs.

How do I do air quality modeling?

•The choice of model depends on a combination of the available data and the needs of the researcher (see U.S. EPA's detailed recommendations).

•Models can be used to determine the relative contributions from different sources as a tool for tracking trends, monitoring compliance, and making policy decisions.

•Modeling for air quality management purposes typically falls into two broad categories: dispersion modeling and receptor-based modeling (

• Determining how various pollutants may impacts human

health and the environment requires input from a range of

disciplines, such as toxicology, public health, health

sciences and epidemiology.

• Effects directly on human health can include increases

in the risk of death or increases in adverse health effect.

Adverse health effects: acute effects (headaches or eye

irritation), and chronic effects (asthma).

• Environmental effects, including those causing

indirect damages to humans (aesthetic damages,

problems of odor, noise, and poor visibility, productivity

of farmland, forests, and commercial fisheries(.

• Environmental effects also encompass damages

associated with preserving, protecting, and improving

the quality of ecological resources.

• Another aspect of human and environmental

assessment is risk assessment.

•Risk assessment is the scientific process of evaluating

adverse effects and is usually geographically limited,

though the defined geography can vary tremendously,

for example local, regional and global.

Legislation, Regulation & ImplementationLegislation, Regulation & Implementation

RegulationRegulation - - regulations are developed by a governing

authority and usually provide more specific information

for how the broad legislative objectives will be met.

ImplementationImplementation - The process of developing detailed

plans, procedures and mechanisms needed to ensure

legislative and regulatory requirements are achieved.

• Compliance involves actions and programs designed to

ensure the environmental laws of the land are followed. 

• Enforcement is focused on those situations when the

law is not followed to ensure a rapid return to

compliance with these laws.

• Compliance and enforcement are very complex issues,

involving different aspects of a country's legal and policy

framework.

• As such, there is no clear cut method for establishing a

program.

• Compliance Inspections are a key element of a

compliance program.

• Ambient Monitoring is the systematic, long-term

assessment of pollutant levels by measuring the

quantity and types of certain pollutants in the

surrounding, outdoor air.

• Emissions Measurement is the process of monitoring

particulate and gaseous emissions from a specific

source.

Ambient Air Monitoring and Emissions MeasurementAmbient Air Monitoring and Emissions Measurement

Air quality monitoring is carried out to:

assess the extent of pollution,

ensure compliance with national legislation,

evaluate control options, and,

provide data for air quality modeling.

There are a number of different methods to

measure any given pollutant, varying in

complexity, reliability, and detail of data.

These range from:

simple passive sampling techniques, to,

highly sophisticated remote sensing devices.

A monitoring strategy should

carefully examine the options to

determine which methodology is most

appropriate, taking into account

initial investment costs, operating

costs, reliability of systems, and ease

of operation.

• The locations for monitoring stations depend on the

purpose of the monitoring.

• Most monitoring networks are designed with human

health objectives in mind, and monitoring stations are

therefore established in population centers.

• Many governments (local, regional or national) give

specific guidelines on where to monitor within these

areas - next to busy roads, in city center locations, or at

a location of particular concern (e.g., a school,

hospital).

• Background monitoring stations are also established,

to act as a "control" when determining source

apportionment.

•An emissions inventory is a database that lists, by

source, the amount of air pollutants emitted into the

atmosphere of a community during a given time

period.

• Emission inventories are used to help determine

significant sources of air pollutants, establish emission

trends over time, target regulatory actions, and estimate

air quality through computer dispersion modeling.

• An emission inventory includes estimates of the

emissions from various pollution sources in a specific

geographical area.

• Methods for calculating the emissions inventories may

include: continuous monitoring to measure actual

emissions; extrapolating the results from short-term

source emissions tests; and using published emission

factors (US AP-42).

• Emission factors may be used to estimate emissions. In most cases, these factors are simply averages of all available data of acceptable quality, and are generally assumed to be representative of long-term averages for all facilities in the source category.

• Variations in the conditions at a given facility, such as the raw materials used, temperature of combustion, and emission controls, can significantly effect the emissions at an individual location.

• Whenever possible, the development of local emission factors is highly desirable.