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PARTICULATE EMISSIONS FROM CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES
Citation:
Muleski, G., C. Cowherd, AND J S. Kinsey*. PARTICULATE EMISSIONS FROM CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES. JOURNAL OF THE AIR & WASTE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION. Air & Waste Management Association, Pittsburgh, PA, 55(6):772-783, (2005).
Impact/Purpose:
Information.
Description:
Although it has long been recognized that road and building construction activity constitutes an important source of PM emissions throughout the United States, until recently only limited research has been directed to its characterization. This paper presents the results of PM10 and PM2.5 and emission factor development from the on-site testing of component operations at actual construction sites during the period 1998 to 2001. Much of the testing effort was directed at earthmoving operations with scrapers, because earthmoving is the most important contributor of PM emissions across the construction industry. Other sources tested were truck loading and dumping of crushed rock, and mud or dirt carryout from construction site access points onto adjacent public paved roads. Also tested were the effects (a) of watering for control of scraper travel routes and (b) the use of paved and graveled aprons at construction site access points for reducing mud or dirt carryout. The PM10 emissions from earthmoving were found to be up to an order of magnitude greater than predicted by AP-42 emission factor drawn from other industries. As expected, the observed ratios of PM2.5 and PM10 emission factors reflected the relative importance of the vehicle exhaust and the resuspended dust components of each type of construction activity. An unexpected finding was that PM2.5 emissions from mud/dirt carryout were much less than anticipated. Finally the control efficiency of watering of scraper travel routes was found to closely follow a bilinear moisture model.
