The impact of the re-emission of road dust by vehicles passages on particulate matter concentrations – a case study with EMEP MSC-W

In most European countries road transport is the main contributor to airborne particulate matter (PM, PM2.5 and PM10) concentrations. PM from traffic is classified by the method of emission into three groups: 1) an exhaust or tail-pipe component, 2) a non-exhaust component due to the abrasion of tires and brakes and of the road surface, and 3) a non-exhaust component related to the re-emission of road dust by vehicles passages (resuspension). Considering the reduction of the exhaust emissions related to the strict regulations on the cars as well as coming stricter World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations for PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations the role of non-exhaust emission is enhancing. Therefore the aim of this study is to estimate the impact of the re-emission of road dust on PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations.

We used the EMEP MSC-W chemical transport model to calculate air pollution concentrations. The model was run two times for southern Poland for the year 2019. For the first run we had no changes to the emission inventories, which were provided from two databases (no resuspension included):

1) the EMEP[gr1]  emissions data at 0.1^o x 0.1^o spatial resolution for Europe, and 2) emissions from the National Centre for Emissions Management, Institute of Environmental Protection - National Research Institute for Poland (0.005^o x 0.005^o). For the second run, PM emissions from the resuspension was added to the road transport sector. Road resuspension emissions were estimated using the VEIN model. We analysed the results in terms on annual mean and daily PM concentrations and exceedances of  EU limit and WHO recommended values.

 

Acknowledgement: The study was supported by the LIFE Remy [No: LIFE20 PRE/IT/000004 ], LIFE-MAPPINGAIR/PL [No: LIFE17 GIE/PL/000631] and the Polish National Science Centre project [No: UMO-2021/43/B/ST10/01189].