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Selected Research Projects |
| DRI Faculty: | Judith Chow (PI), John Watson |
| Title: | California Regional Particulate Air Quality Study (CRPAQS) |
| Sponsor(s): | San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Study Agency |
| Objectives-Results: | Sponsored by the San Joaquin Valley Joint Power Agency, and administered by ARB, CRPAQS is a study, totaling $28 million that seeks additional, more comprehensive information to explain the nature and causes of particulate concentrations and visibility impairment in and around central California. The CRPAQS programmatic goal is to elucidate the implications of currently planned emissions-reduction strategies and to focus future emissions-reduction efforts in those areas where they will have the greatest benefit on air quality for the least cost. This goal is pursued by obtaining and using ambient data, source emissions data, mathematical simulations, and data analysis methods. Data analysis tasks conducted by DRI include:
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| DRI Faculty: | Johann Engelbrecht (PI), John Bowen |
| Title: | Hungry Valley Air Quality Program |
| Sponsor(s): | Reno Sparks Indian Colony (EPA) |
| Objectives-Results: | This project is in response to the request by the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony (RSIC) for an Air Quality Management Plan for the Tribal residential area of Hungry Valley. This community is particularly concerned about the future impact on the air quality from the planned open cast clay mining and processing operations by the Oil-Dri Mining Corporation. The program as a whole is being funded through the EPA General Assistance Program (GAP). This project includes selecting and setting up of an air quality and meteorological monitoring site, providing a Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP), conducting data interpretation, providing quarterly and annual reports, conducting audits, and providing training to RSIC. |
| DRI Faculty: | Johann Engelbrecht (PI), Steve Kohl |
| Title: | Speciation and Source Apportionment Study |
| Sponsor(s): | Pinal County Air Quality Control District, Arizona (EPA) |
| Objectives-Results: | Pinal County Air Quality Control District (PCAQCD) is conducting a speciation and source apportionment study in the western section of the county. The study will be performed in conjunction with the development of the Pinal County Natural Events Action Plan (NEAP). The objective of this study is to identify and quantify the predominant sources of particulate emissions in the Pinal County agricultural basin. This information will be used to assist in the selection of control requirements that reduce wind-blown dust. Agriculture and a rapid growing human population of the county contribute to elevated levels of particulate matter and the deteriorating air quality in the region. Additional research is required to identify the pollutants and the probable sources of pollution. The study involves the installation and operation of additional PM monitors at five existing air quality-monitoring sites, as well as collection and analysis of soil samples. The ambient data, together with the new and existing source profiles are to be modeled, using the CMB Receptor model to establish source contribution estimates from local and regional sources. |
| DRI Faculty: | John Watson (PI), Peter Barber, Judy Chow, Mark Green, Hans Moosmüller, William Stockwell, Robert Keislar, Norm Robinson, Hampden Kuhns, Vic Etyemezian |
| Title: | Southern Nevada Air Quality Study (SNAQS) |
| Sponsor(s): | US DOT - Federal Transit Administration, State of Nevada Motor Vehicle Division, Clark County Health Department |
| Objectives-Results: | SNAQS is an integrated emissions, meteorological, and ambient air quality study to evaluate the effects of transportation on regulated pollutants in the Las Vegas Valley. Modeling of particulates and oxidants is underway. Specific objectives include: 1) quantify on-road motor vehicle exhaust emissions for directly emitted PM2.5, VOC, and CO and establish methods for identifying high emitters; 2) determine relative contributions to total PM2.5 and O3 from emissions within the planning area and those transported from other areas, especially southern California; and 3) estimate effects of reasonable VOC and NOx emissions reductions from transportation sources, especially high emitters, on PM2.5 and O3 concentrations. |
| DRI Faculty: | Barbara Zielinska (PI), Eric Fujita (Co-PI), John Sagebiel, John Bowen, Kelly Redmond, Wendy Goliff, Alan Gertler, Dave Campbell |
| Title: | Section 211(b) Tier 2 High-End Exposure Screening Study of Baseline and Oxygenated Gasoline |
| Sponsor(s): | American Petroleum Institute |
| Collaborator(s): | Southwest Research Institute |
| Objectives-Results: | In this study, the DRI and Southwest Research Institute are conducting a study of the upper-end distribution of inhalation exposures to evaporative and combustion emissions of baseline- and oxygenated gasoline. First, DRI and SwRI conducted exposure measurements under controlled conditions to establish quantitative relationships between tailpipe and evaporative emissions rates to exposure levels in vehicle cabin and attached residential garage. In the main study, exposures levels are being measured in several high-end exposure microenvironments in Atlanta, Chicago, and Houston during winter and summer conditions. A number of key variables (including CO, BTEX, formaldehyde, 1,3-butadiene, MTBE, ethanol) are measured in ambient air within microenvironments, in subjects’ personal breathing zones and breath. |