Environmental Education (EE)

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NNEMS Project 2010-102

Category:
Environmental Policy, Regulation, and Law

Preferred Project Period:
5/10/10 - 8/20/10

Desired Education Level(s):

• Junior
• Senior
• Graduate Student

Project Title:
Estimates of Emissions of Particle Mass and Species

Sponsoring Office:
Office of Air and Radiation, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, Air Quality Assessment Division

Project Overview:
This project will involve looking at emissions of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) within the United States and the speciation into chemical constituents, especially elemental and organic carbon (EC and OC). The focus of the project is to better understand how elemental carbon emissions were derived from PM2.5 estimates. Much of this project involves work with the SPECIATE database, which is EPA’s repository of total organic compound (TOC) and PM speciation profiles of air pollution sources. This work is important in several ways, as carbon emissions play a major role both in PM National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) issues (health) as well as the global climate. This project will build on the findings of earlier work. Specifically, the fellow may investigate the items below, though it is fully understood that the final report may cover only a subset of this list of research and analysis items. Data analysis, collaborative discussions, survey of the literature, and team meetings are all key elements expected to play a role in arriving at a final report for this project.

• Weight emissions by a radiative forcing metric, to obtain a better understanding of how the mass of emissions translates into effects on global climate change and investigate whether this new weighting scheme causes the sectors that are climate friendly for mitigation purposes (as outlined in the final report).
• Investigate and improve the control efficiency data element in the National Emissions Inventory for PM2.5 emissions. Investigate the literature that was used to generate carbon profiles for major source categories and develop documentation on the relevancy of how carbon was estimated from PM2.5 (size fraction, testing, and efficiency issues).
• Use monitoring data to help ensure the quality of elemental carbon emission estimates by sectors that have been implicated as important to climate in the final report mentioned.
• Trace the emission estimates of PM2.5 back to its source to better understand how the testing was done and what impacts it may have on the size fraction that is actually measured, how condensable estimates were developed, and how activity levels were applied to emission factors to arrive at PM2.5 emission estimates. Research done to date clearly shows that the collection efficiency of PM is a function of size fraction collected. This issue should be investigated closely for the electric generating units/boiler sector that EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) currently has under way in this area; that information should be used to check how PM emissions for that sector are estimated in the National Emission Inventory and then translated to black carbon emissions through SPECIATE.

Project Goals:
The student will acquire and enhance his or her knowledge about PM2.5 emissions. It is also expected that the fellow will gain experience working with various EPA offices (ORD, Sector Policies and Programs Division, Health and Environmental Impacts Division, Office of Air and Radiation, Office of Transportation and Air Quality, Office of Administration and Policy) in a collaborative way to obtain information, discuss work plans, and mutually share and discuss work that would be beneficial to the work under this project.

Final Product of the Project:

Expected outputs from this work will include development of maps, tables, and graphs to support work that is being done. A final report is expected to be finished at the end of the project that clearly outlines methods, analyses, final tables, graphs, and maps, and computer code developed to support the work that was completed. The report will encompass the investigations performed and the results of these analyses and may include, but is not limited to:

• A description of the assessment techniques used;
• Findings of the analyses presented in the appropriate format (text, tables, graphs, maps, and related designs); and
• Recommendations for generating future estimates of PM2.5 and species (particularly organic carbon).

Project Location:
EPA Headquarters, Research Triangle Park, NC

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Project Officer Information

Tesh Rao
Office of Air and Radiation, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, Air Quality Assessment Division

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Office Mission/Responsibility

The primary mission of EPA’s Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards (OAQPS) is to preserve and improve air quality in the United States. As a national EPA headquarters office located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, OAQPS compiles and reviews air pollution data; develops regulations to limit and reduce air pollution; assists states and local agencies with monitoring and controlling air pollution; makes information about air pollution available to the public; and reports to Congress on the status of air pollution and the progress made in reducing it.

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