Ozone urban smog pollutant

The most widespread and persistent urban pollution problem is ozone. The causes of this and the lesser problem of CO and PMjq pollution in our urban areas are largely due to the diversity and number of urban air pollution sources. One component of urban smog, hydrocarbons, comes from automobile emissions, petroleum refineries, chemical plants, dry cleaners, gasoline stations, house painting, and printing shops. Another key component, nitrogen oxides, comes from the combustion of fuel for transportation, utilities, and industries. 

Although the original Clean Air Act of 1977 brought about significant improvements in air quality, the urban air pollution problems of ozone (known as smog), carbon monoxide (CO), and particulate matter (PM,o) persist. Currently, over 100 million Americans live in cities which are out of attaimnent with the public health standards for ozone. The most widespread and persistent urban... 

PBM (Photochemical Box Model) is a simple stationary single-cell model with a variable height lid designed to provide volume-integrated hour averages of ozone and otlier photochemical smog pollutants for an urban area for a single day of simulation. 

Burning fossil fuels can release air pollutants such as carbon dioxide, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, ozone, and particulate matter. Sulfur and nitrogen oxides contribute to acid rain ozone is a component of urban smog, and particulate matter affects respiratory health. In fact, several studies have documented a disturbing correlation between suspended particulate levels and human mortality. It is estimated that air pollution may help cause 500,000 premature deaths and millions of new respiratory illnesses each year. 

Air pollutants are divided into two broad categories primary and secondary. Primary pollutants are those emitted directly into the air, in contrast to secondary pollutants, which are created in the atmosphere by the reactions among the primary pollutants, usually in the presence of sunlight. Specifically, a variety of chemical or photochemical reactions (catalyzed by light) produce a wide range of secondary pollutants, especially in urban air. A prime example is the formation of ozone in smog. 

Another driver of a shift to hydrogen is concern about urban air pollution. The transportation sector remains one of the largest sources of such pollution—especially (1) the oxides of nitrogen (nox) that are a precursor to ozone smog and (2) particulates—... 

For NO t > 0-5 ppb (typical of urban and polluted rural sites in the eastern USA and Europe) Equations (3) and (4) represent the dominant reaction pathways for HO2 and RO2 radicals. In this case the rate of ozone formation is controlled largely by the rate of the initial reaction with hydrocarbons or CO (Equations (1) and (2)). Analogous reaction sequences lead to the formation of various other gas-phase components of photochemical smog (e.g., formaldehyde (HCHO) and PAN) and to the formation of organic aerosols. 

The above mentioned urban air pollution in Asian cities drives the tropospheric chemical reactions. This tropospheric chemistry is dominated by the oxidation of trace atmospheric components, as aresult ofwhich organic compounds such as methane and other hydrocarbons are converted into carbon dioxide and water. The consequences of these chemical transformations are known as photochemical smog (photosmog) and the associated problem of ground level ozone. Here we should consider also the effects of particulate matter, one of the major pollutants of urban air in Asia. 

Because PAN is in thermal equilibrium with NO2 and the peroxyacetyl radical, it can act as a means of transporting these more reactive species over long distances. The NO2 released by thermal decomposition of PAN is photolyzed rapidly in the troposphere to form O3 by Reaction 19.1 and Reaction 19.2. Ozone is a criteria air pollutant and is a major health concern. Thus, the PANs play important roles as a chemical means of transporting key species such as NO2 and formaldehyde to remote locations. As such, PANs are globally important atmospheric molecules, as well as urban air pollutants. Since the original observation of PANs in Los Angeles photochemical smog, PANs have been measured in every corner of the world. 

The primary purpose of NO, controls under Title I is to reduce ambient concentrations of ozone. Tropospheric ozone pollution occurs at ground level and is the major component of urban smog. Ozone is a secondary pollutant formed in the atmosphere by reactions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and NO, in the presence of sunlight. The EPA established a national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for ozone in order to protect the public health and welfare. After two decades of efforts to reduce ozone concentrations, primarily through reductions in emissions of VOCs, tropospheric ozone remains a widespread and important problem. A recent study by the National Academy of Sciences and EPA concludes that NO. control is necessary for effective reduction of ozone in many areas. 

Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 A comprehensive set of amendments to the federal law governing U.S. air quality the Clean Air Act was originally passed in 1970 to address significant air pollution problems in US cities, and the 1990 amendments broadened and strengthened the original law to address specific problems such as acid deposition, urban smog, hazardous air pollutants, and stratospheric ozone depletion. 

Fig. 8-3. Relationship between Los Angeles Basin s urban sources of photochemical smog and the San Bernardino Mountains, where ozone damage has occurred to the ponderosa pines. The solid lines are the average daily 1-hr maximum dose of ozone (ppm), )uly-September 1975-1977. Source Adapted from Davidson, A., Ozone trends in the south coast air basin of California, in "Ozone/Oxidants Interaction with the Total Environment.". A ir Pollution Control Association, Pittsburgh, 1979, pp. 433-450.

Existence of the PSS was predicted theoretically by Leighton (61), and experimental studies of this relationship date back almost 20 years. These experiments have been accomplished in smog chambers (62), polluted urban air (63,64,65), rural environments (66), and in the free troposphere (67). The goal of these experiments has been to verify that our understanding of NOjj chemistry is fundamentally correct, and to ver the role of H02 and R02 in ozone formation. Studies in polluted air seem to confirm the dominance... 

Certainly, photochemical air pollution is not merely a local problem. Indeed, spread of anthropogenic smog plumes away from urban centers results in regional scale oxidant problems, such as found in the NE United States and many southern States. Ozone production has also been connected with biomass burning in the tropics (79,80,81). Transport of large-scale tropospheric ozone plumes over large distances has been documented from satellite measurements of total atmospheric ozone (82,83,84), originally taken to study stratospheric ozone depletion. 

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