Unpaved road particulate matter emission rates and vehicle-induced transient plume characteristics.

ABSTRACT: Particulate matter (PM) emitted from unpaved rural roads presents a potential inhalation hazard to people living and working near them. In the absence of site-specific exposure data, plume dispersion modeling can be used to predict ambient particulate concentrations in the vicinity of the unpaved roads. Hourly averaged PM₁₀ concentrations were measured near a gravel road using an EPA reference method resulting in a geometric mean of 50 μg m^-3. With these ambient concentrations, the AERMOD plume dispersion model was used to derive a PM emission factor of 444 g/VKT (grams per vehicle kilometer travelled). This result was lower than the emission factor calculated using the EPA's AP-42 guidance for unpaved roads (795 g/VKT). The transient nature of the plume of PM concent

SUBMITTER: Kacer J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11342916 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature