Estimating evaporative vapor generation from automobiles based on parking activities

Environ Pollut. 2015 Jul:202:104-11. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2015.03.010. Epub 2015 Mar 25.

Abstract

A new approach is proposed to quantify the evaporative vapor generation based on real parking activity data. As compared to the existing methods, two improvements are applied in this new approach to reduce the uncertainties: First, evaporative vapor generation from diurnal parking events is usually calculated based on estimated average parking duration for the whole fleet, while in this study, vapor generation rate is calculated based on parking activities distribution. Second, rather than using the daily temperature gradient, this study uses hourly temperature observations to derive the hourly incremental vapor generation rates. The parking distribution and hourly incremental vapor generation rates are then adopted with Wade-Reddy's equation to estimate the weighted average evaporative generation. We find that hourly incremental rates can better describe the temporal variations of vapor generation, and the weighted vapor generation rate is 5-8% less than calculation without considering parking activity.

Keywords: Emission rate; Evaporative vapor generation; Parking distribution.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Air Pollutants / analysis*
  • Automobile Driving
  • Automobiles*
  • Environmental Monitoring / methods*
  • Italy
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Temperature
  • Vehicle Emissions / analysis*
  • Volatile Organic Compounds / analysis*
  • Volatilization

Substances

  • Air Pollutants
  • Vehicle Emissions
  • Volatile Organic Compounds