Emissions from road transport: monitoring mitigation actions

Dr Teresa Raventos, Prof Paul Monks, Dr Zoe Fleming

Breathe easy – engineering air quality solutions21 October 2016

Department of Chemistry, University of Leicester andNational Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS)

Leicester & Leicestershire Transport

Scheme

Fluid Congestion

Traffic flow

European Regulations on Air Quality: NO2 yearly mean: 40 ug/m3

NO yearly mean: 30 ug/m3

Usual approach with respect to road

traffic: Low Emissions Zones

Ban of through traffic

Ban of heavy vehicles

To measure the potential improvements

of air quality: Use of a small low-cost air quality

monitor (AQMesh)

Concentration of gaseous

pollutants released by car traffic

(NO2, NO, CO and O3) before and after the works.

Transport planning scheme to improve

traffic at the roundabouts of A50 in Leicester

2

Model based on

regulatory variablesPredicted congestion

increase by 60% in 10

years

3

Benchmark of the

importance of

interventions:

Modelled by

councils

Long term

expected

impact at

different levels

Following

national

parameters

(DfT)

Measurement of pollutants in key locations

of road infrastructure interventions

Deployment of small sensors to follow up on road interventions

Assessment of the ‘experimental’ sensors where other traditionalmobile equipment is not suitable due to

geospatial dispersion required & high number of monitors

the length of measurements (months /years) AQMesh

4

Pollution Profiles at the Site 5

The AQMeshes

electrochemical

sensors were

calibrated at the

AURN site

(background

urban)

Four AQMeshes

are installed at the

exits of the

roundabouts 3 Km

from the AURN

station.

Variation of NO and traffic

volume

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

0

1

2

3

4

5

12:00:00 AM 12:00:00 PM 12:00:00 AM

NO

(p

pb

) an

d S

pe

ed

(m

/h)

Nu

mb

er

of

veh

icle

s N

orm

alis

ed

Glenfield Tue 2.06.2015 AQM#3

Number of Vehiclesin all directions

From Leicester (cold engine) To Leicester (hot engine)

Speed NO (ppb)

6

Traffic management

measures against

traffic to reduce

pollution Optimisation of

traffic flow

Change traffic

volume daily profile

Monitoring after

measures are

implemented Measures are

efficient for reduction

of pollution

Stop-start vehicles

has major impact

Spatial and temporal information

allows to understand air pollution in

urban areas

Space for Smarter

Government (UKSA)

Satellite Applications

Catapult

University of Leicester

a web platform to

inform on urban

roads with

concentrations of

pollution

The AQHSM is a bespoke tool using satellite data to

improve local authority information by integrating

state of the art Copernicus MACC II regional air

quality feeds with a range of local data

7

HGV route planner Improving efficiency of heavy goods vehicles movement in urban environments

The Saturn HGV

Route Planner is a

tool for Android

and desktop to

advice HGV of

appropriate routes

and help reduce

congestion and air

pollution spots.

Data from local

authorities.

8

THANK YOU.

Acknowledgements:

University of Leicester :Zoe Fleming, Cedric Dechoux, Brandon Heard, Dr Rebecca Cordell

Environmental Instruments(http://www.env-inst.com/)

Leicester City Council Council Team and Neal Edwards

Leicestershire County CouncilSonny Tolofari, Alex Gray, Duncan Forbes

Transport System Catapult Robin North

9