Urban Form and Chemical Emissions

This chapter reviews the sources and types of POPs emissions in urban areas and ensuing environmental effects, examines some of the chemical interactions and transformations that occur within complex chemical mixtures that are found in urban areas and discusses some of the links between urban form and chemical emissions. We identify gaps, of which there are many, in the scientific understanding of contaminant dynamics in urban areas. We conclude by discussing the implications of urban contaminants on health and recommend ways to maximize the health benefits afforded by urban areas. 

Economic Activity, Urban Form and Chemical Emissions... 

Developing control strategies for ozone is very different than for relatively unreactive species such as CO. In the latter case, the concentrations in air are a direct result of the emissions, and all things being equal, a reduction in emissions is expected to bring about an approximately proportional reduction in concentrations in ambient air. However, because O, is formed by chemical reactions in air, it does not necessarily respond in a proportional manner to reductions in the precursor emissions. Indeed, as we shall see, one can predict, using urban airshed or simple box models, that under some conditions, ozone levels at a particular... 

Particleboard and other products made with isocyanates emit only little formaldehyde (IJ, but these adhesives are expensive and require expensive manufacturing procedures. In contrast, phenolic soft wood plywood is a well established product that is predominantly used for exter i or appIi cat i ons. It conta i ns forma Idehyde i n chemically strongly bonded form and also emits little formaldehyde, as shown in a later chapter in this book. In fact, under almost all common use conditions this type of board contributes not much more formaldehyde than is already present in ambient air in many urban areas. The same is true for waferboard, which has recently become popular for replacing plywood. Likewise, phenolic particleboard emits little forma Idehyde, unIess the phenoIi c res in is bIended w i th UFR. Normally, the products with highest potential for formaldehyde emission are those bonded with UFR. During the past year, approximately 300,000 metric tons of UFR have been used for panel manufacturing in the U.S. 

Particulate carbon in the atmosphere exists predominantly in three forms elemental carbon (soot) with attached hydrocarbons organic compounds and carbonates. Carbonaceous urban fine particles are composed mainly of elemental and organic carbon. These particles can be emitted into the air directly in the particulate state or condense rapidly after Introduction into the atmosphere from an emission source (primary aerosol). Alternatively, they can be formed in the atmosphere by chemical reactions involving gaseous pollutant precursors (secondary aerosol). The rates of formation of secondary carbonaceous aerosol and the details of the formation mechanisms are not well understood. However, an even more fundamental controversy exists regarding... 

Several types of models are commonly used to describe the dispersion of atmospheric contaminants. Among these are the box, plume, and puff models. None are suitable, however, for describing the coupled transport and reaction phenomena that characterize atmospheres in which chemical reaction processes are important. Simulation models that have been proposed for the prediction of concentrations of photochemically formed pollutants in an urban airshed are reviewed here. The development of a generalized kinetic mechanism for photochemical smog suitable for inclusion in an urban airshed model, the treatment of emissions from automobiles, aircraft, power plants, and distributed sources, and the treatment of temporal and spatial variations of primary meteorological parameters are also discussed. 

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