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EPA’s SPECIATE 4.4 Database - Development and Uses
Citation:
Kosusko, M., P. Bhave, A. Zubrow, Y. Hsu, J. Dorn, AND F. Divita. EPA’s SPECIATE 4.4 Database - Development and Uses. In Proceedings, Air & Waste Management Association 2015 Annual Conference and Exhibition, Raleigh, NC, June 21 - 25, 2015. Air and Waste Management Association, Pittsburgh, PA, 7 pg, (2015).
Impact/Purpose:
SPECIATE is an important foundational component for the development of emission inventories used in air quality management and demonstrating attainment of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). MOVES2014, the onroad/nonroad emissions inventory model required for state implementation plan (SIP) development, directly incorporates speciation profiles. The use of detailed profiles in emission inventories and air quality models improves their accuracy and ultimately enhances the effectiveness of air quality management strategies. The source profiles in SPECIATE are used to: 1) create speciated emissions inventories for regional haze, PM, greenhouse gas, and photochemical air quality modeling; 2) estimate hazardous and toxic air pollutant emissions from total PM and total organic gas (TOG) primary emissions; 3) provide input to chemical mass balance (CMB) receptor models; and 4) verify profiles derived from ambient measurements using multivariate receptor models (e.g., factor analysis and positive matrix factorization). These applications require information on the individual species and compounds which comprise the volatile organics and PM mass. SPECIATE emission profiles also underpin the newest data set used by OAQPS to run its emission inventory and other models [the 2011 National Emissions Inventory (NEI) modeling platform]. Moreover, improvements to speciated emission inventories are tied in with EPA’s ability to make more informed co-benefits decisions in a multi-pollutant framework. • OAQPS recently developed composite source profiles for the pulp and paper industry using SPECIATE 4.4 profiles rather than a default speciation profile based on all of the emission sources contained in SPECIATE 3.2. The default profile is not a good fit for many source categories. The 2011 NEI Platform has over 150,000 tons of volatile organic gases that are speciated using the default profile, providing a great opportunity to improve the inventory.
Description:
SPECIATE is the EPA's repository of TOG, PM, and Other Gases speciation profiles of air pollution sources. It includes weight fractions of both organic species and PM and provides data in consistent units. Species include metals, ions, elements, and organic and inorganic compounds. The Other Gases category contains speciated mercury, nitrogen oxides (NOx), and semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOC), which do not fall into TOG or PM profile categories. The latest published version of SPECIATE, SPECIATE Version 4.4 (SPECIATE 4.4), includes 5,728 profiles for PM, TOG and Other Gases. Data used to create these profiles are obtained from a variety of sources including peer-reviewed journal articles and emissions testing conducted primarily by the EPA. The weight fractions of individual volatile organic species are used in atmospheric chemistry mechanisms within air quality models to predict ozone concentrations in the atmosphere. The profiles of particulate matter (PM) species weight fractions are specific to particle size ranges and are used to support air quality modeling for PM and visibility. SPECIATE provides a repository of compounds searchable by source category and pollutant. SPECIATE 4.4 was developed collaboratively with Abt Associates in a cooperative effort involving EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) and Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards (OAQPS) in Research Triangle Park, NC, and EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality (OTAQ) in Ann Arbor, MI.