Improved air pollution monitoring
Challenge
Pollution from road vehicles is regulated to protect ambient air quality and new passenger cars must meet the Euro emissions standards before they can be approved for sale in the EU. However, congested areas such as city centres still suffer from elevated levels of certain pollutants - in particular NO2 , which is associated with adverse effects on health including reduced life expectancy. More accurate real-time roadside measurements are required to enable vulnerable members of the public to minimise health risks by, for example, avoiding cycling on congested city centre roads.
Pollution from road vehicles is regulated to protect ambient air quality and new passenger cars must meet the Euro emissions standards before they can be approved for sale in the EU. However, congested areas such as city centres still suffer from elevated levels of certain pollutants - in particular NO2 , which is associated with adverse effects on health including reduced life expectancy. More accurate real-time roadside measurements are required to enable vulnerable members of the public to minimise health risks by, for example, avoiding cycling on congested city centre roads.
Solution
The EMRP project Metrology for Chemical Pollutants in Air (MacPoll) developed a test protocol for micro-sensors using a specially-designed chamber at JRC Ispra, enabling microsensor measurements to be linked to the traceable reference instrumentation operated by national air monitoring networks. The facility can be used to evaluate sensor performance at pollutant levels specified in the Air Quality Directive, under typical field conditions, where variations in temperature, humidity and gas composition can easily effect measurements.
Impact
Through participation in the project Alphasense, a developer and manufacturer of gas sensors, has revised and improved its innovative NO2 micro-sensors for roadside monitoring measurement platforms.
Tests carried out within the project using the facility at JRC Ispra indicated that micro-sensor measurements of NO2 at the levels typically encountered in the environment are affected by ozone. Nevertheless, Alphasense’s new sensor has the sensitivity, selectivity and stability needed to reliably measure NO2 pollution in the presence of ozone at typical monitoring conditions. Using Bluetooth or SIM card technology, the new sensors can relay highaccuracy data to air quality monitoring databases in near real time, providing a cost-effective method of implementing a traceable pollution monitoring network.
Alphasense’s new product will help to improve monitoring of air pollution by enabling the use of cheaper indicative sensors, traceable to national standards, at numerous roadside locations. Sales of around 5,000 are anticipated in the first year, with this figure expected to rise to 20,000 over the next three years, as demand for indicative measurements in support of the Air Quality Directive increases.
By establishing traceability to national standards, this project has enabled micro-sensors such as Alphasense’s to be used in support of the Air Quality Directive, validating their use as a robust yet costeffective technology for real-time air pollution monitoring. This confidence is crucial to the expansion of Europe’s air monitoring networks, and an important step towards more comprehensive pollution monitoring and the effective protection of our citizens.
- Category
- EMRP,
- Environment,