Emission inventory for Central Florida

Keywords

Air pollution control

Abstract

This paper presents an air emissions inventory of VOC and NOx for the Orlando metropolitan region, also referred to as Central Florida. The report is prepared under contract with Metroplan Orlando, which is the transportation planning partnership for Orange, Osceola, and Seminole counties - the Orlando metropolitan region. An emission inventory for the three-county area was conducted in 1996, but because of the significant growth of the area and the revised, more stringent standards for ground-level ozone, an update of the old report is needed. Ozone can be either "bad" or "good" depending on its location in the atmosphere. Ozone in the upper atmosphere, the ozone layer, occurs naturally and protects life on earth by filtering out ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Ground level ozone is the major component of smog and is toxic. It is created by chemical reactions between volatile organic compounds (VOC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) and reacts with the intensity of the sun and the heat. The ozone season is usually defined as the three months of June, July, and August; however, in the southern states, such as Florida, the ozone season is usually longer because of the climate. Ozone may adversely affect human health and have negative effects on plants and ecosystems even at low

concentrations, and it has become the primary air pollutant problem in many cities across the United States. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed to revise its national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for ground level ozone in 1997 , from a I-hour primary ozone standard of 0.12 ppm (health based) to a new 8-hour standard of 0.08 ppm, to protect against longer exposure periods. EPA determined that the new standards are necessary to protect human health and the environment. However, due to federal-level law suits, the I-hour standard is still in effect. The sources of voe and NOx are classified as mobile, point, and area sources. The purpose of this paper is to present and to estimate the total emissions ofNOx and VOC during 2002, by source, in Orange, Osceola, and Seminole counties. The

results of the paper are that in Central Florida the emissions of voe and NOx are similar in magnitude. The emissions of each pollutant are approximately 80,000 tons/year. However, the VOC emissions have increased by only 13 percent since 1996, while the NOx emissions are almost 64 percent higher than the emissions estimated in 1996. The biggest source of emissions are the omoad mobile sources. Since 1996 the VOC emissions from omoad mobile sources have increased by 28 ' percent and the NOx emissions from omoad mobile sources have increased by 72 percent.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2003

Advisor

Cooper, C. David

Degree

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Engineering

Department

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Format

PDF

Pages

226 p.

Language

English

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Identifier

DP0029129

Subjects

Engineering -- Dissertations, Academic

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