Particulate Matter in Urban Air: Health Risks, Instrumentation and Measurements,and Political Awareness

摘要

One of the major sources of Particulate Matter (PM) in an urban environment isthe vehicular traffic. The mobile sources emit large quantities of primary particles, composed mostly of soot and organic material, as well as gases that can act as precursors for new particle formation or can assist the growth of existing particles. The emitted PM has a larger proportion of ultra-fine particles and contain a number of other possible causative agents, such as policyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and toxic metals. However, there are still few data on the emission factors for these PM characteristics. The influence of traffic on the presence of PM in air within large urban agglomerations and along busy motorways is the major issue of this study. This study consists of four parts: first, it describes the outcome of a literature study on the relationships between the adverse health effects and the physical and chemical characteristics of PM in air (chapter 2). The concern about the health effects is the determining factor for current and future scientific research (and associated financial funding). The second part (chapter 3) deals with further refinements of (existing) measuring techniques that were used in two experimental campaigns to be described in the third part (chapter 4 and 5).