TY - JOUR
T1 - Emission and fate assessment of methyl tertiary butyl ether in the boston area airshed using a simple multimedia box model
T2 - Comparison with urban air measurements
AU - Kawamoto, Katsuya
AU - Arey, J. Samuel
AU - Gschwend, Philip M.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors extend gratitude to John MacFarlane (MIT) for his assistance with MTBE monitoring experiments and drawing of map; Hitomi Imamura (Kanto Gakuin University in Japan) for her assistance with analyzing MTBE; Manny Charles (U.S. Geological Survey) for valuable MTBE air concentration data taken from Glassboro, NJ; Arthur Marin (Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management) for helpful insights into MTBE use in the New England region; Tommy Lisco (MassHighway) for helpful information regarding traffic volume measurements in the Boston area; and Federico San Martini (MIT) for advice on air pollutant transport. We additionally acknowledge Drs. Curt Stanley, Bruce Bauman, and Gerald Raabe at the American Petroleum Institute (API), and John Brophy and Jim Caldwell at EPA for their critical insights regarding policy, legislative interpretation, and industry needs relevant to this topic. This work was supported by the Alliance for Global Sustainability, Environmental Protection Agency/Office of Naval Research/ National Center for Environmental Research and Quality Assurance Science to Achieve Results award R-82902301–0, the Martin Family Society of Fellows for Sustainability, the Ralph M. Parsons Fellowship Foundation, and the Schoettler Scholarship Fund.
PY - 2003/12
Y1 - 2003/12
N2 - Expected urban air concentrations of the gasoline additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) were calculated using volatile emissions estimates and screening transport models, and these predictions were compared with Boston, MA, area urban air measurements. The total volatile flux of MTBE into the Boston primary metropolitan statistical area (PMSA) airshed was calculated based on estimated automobile nontailpipe emissions and the Universal Quasi-Chemical Functional-Group Activity Coefficient computed abundance of MTBE in gasoline vapor. The fate of MTBE in the Boston PMSA was assessed using both the European Union System for the Evaluation of Substances, which is a steady-state multimedia box model, and a simple airshed box model. Both models were parameterized based on the meteorological conditions observed during air sampling in the Boston area. Measured average urban air concentrations of 0.1 and 1 [H9262]g/m3MTBE during February and September of 2000, respectively, were comparable to corresponding model predictions of 0.3 and 1 μg/m3 and could be essentially explained from estimated temperature-dependent volatile emissions rates, observed average wind speed (the airshed flushing rate), and reaction with ambient tropospheric hydroxyl radical (.OH), within model uncertainty. These findings support the proposition that one can estimate gasoline component source fluxes and use simple multimedia models to screen the potential impact of future proposed gasoline additives on urban airsheds.
AB - Expected urban air concentrations of the gasoline additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) were calculated using volatile emissions estimates and screening transport models, and these predictions were compared with Boston, MA, area urban air measurements. The total volatile flux of MTBE into the Boston primary metropolitan statistical area (PMSA) airshed was calculated based on estimated automobile nontailpipe emissions and the Universal Quasi-Chemical Functional-Group Activity Coefficient computed abundance of MTBE in gasoline vapor. The fate of MTBE in the Boston PMSA was assessed using both the European Union System for the Evaluation of Substances, which is a steady-state multimedia box model, and a simple airshed box model. Both models were parameterized based on the meteorological conditions observed during air sampling in the Boston area. Measured average urban air concentrations of 0.1 and 1 [H9262]g/m3MTBE during February and September of 2000, respectively, were comparable to corresponding model predictions of 0.3 and 1 μg/m3 and could be essentially explained from estimated temperature-dependent volatile emissions rates, observed average wind speed (the airshed flushing rate), and reaction with ambient tropospheric hydroxyl radical (.OH), within model uncertainty. These findings support the proposition that one can estimate gasoline component source fluxes and use simple multimedia models to screen the potential impact of future proposed gasoline additives on urban airsheds.
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U2 - 10.1080/10473289.2003.10466320
DO - 10.1080/10473289.2003.10466320
M3 - Article
C2 - 14700130
AN - SCOPUS:0345166913
VL - 53
SP - 1426
EP - 1435
JO - Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association
JF - Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association
SN - 1096-2247
IS - 12
ER -