TITLE:
Evaluation of Anthropogenic Air Emissions from Marine Engines in a Coastal Urban Airshed of Texas
AUTHORS:
Zuber M. Farooqui, Kuruvilla John, Neelesh Sule
KEYWORDS:
Marine Engine Emissions; Ozone; Photochemical Modeling; Port Air Quality Management
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.4 No.7,
July
18,
2013
ABSTRACT:
Corpus
Christi, Texas, is a growing urban area with a busy port and a petrochemical industrial
base that is currently in compliance with the US Environmental Protection
Agency’s (EPA) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone.
However, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has classified
this urban airshed as a near non-attainment area. A comprehensive annual air
emission inventory based on marine engines activity was developed for the years
of 2006-2009 for the Port
of Corpus Christi, Texas using recent EPA approved methodology. A regional-scale
photochemical model Comprehensive Air Modeling system with extensions (CAMx)
was used to evaluate the impact of these emissions on the ground level ozone
concentrations by zeroing out the emissions and employing Direct Decoupled
Method (DDM) for sensitivity analysis to estimate the 8-hour ozone sensitivity coefficients
due to NOx and VOC emissions from marine engines. The analysis has
shown a localized increase of up to 7.8 ppb in the 8-hour ozone concentration
very close to the port premises and a decrease of about 1.73 ppb further
downwind. Ozone sensitivity analysis using DDM on the 8-hour ozone
concentrations showed a higher sensitivity to NOx emissions. Thus,
any NOx related controls of marine engines will benefit local urban
and regional ozone levels.