Pilot monitoring of black carbon concentrations in some high rise apartments in Hanoi
Abstract
Black Carbon (BC) is an important byproduct resulted from the incomplete combustion of biomass and fossil fuels commonly referred to as soot. BC pollution not only contributes to the climate change but also impacts seriously to human health. In Vietnam, due to strong urbanization process, the number of vehicles is increasing rapidly and vehicle emission becomes the major cause of air quality degradation in major cities, including Hanoi. Several studies have been mentioned to air pollutants in Hanoi. However, to our knowledge, no research has been attempted on to measure levels of BC in Hanoi residential buildings. Therefore, in this pilot study, two state_of_art instruments-AethLabs model AE51, for the first time, have been used to simultaneously and continuously measure both indoor and outdoor BC concentrations at two high rise apartments in Hanoi to quantify and initially develop the understanding of factors driving BC levels. Daily average indoor and outdoor BC concentrations ranged from 4028 to 4578 ng/m3 and from 4206 to 4984 ng/m3, respectively. Statistic analysis and the subsequent inspection of time series of BC concentrations and their I/O ratios showed that outdoor BC concentrations were strongly influenced by the outdoor vehicle emissions, especially heavy diesel power trucks, while indoor BC concentrations were contributed by both indoor and outdoor sources.
Keywords: Black Carbon, high rise apartment, traffic emission, wind direction, cooking activities.
Received: September 25th, 2017; revised: October 20th, 2017; accepted: November 2nd, 2017
Downloads
1. The Author assigns all copyright in and to the article (the Work) to the Journal of Science and Technology in Civil Engineering (JSTCE) – Hanoi University of Civil Engineering (HUCE), including the right to publish, republish, transmit, sell and distribute the Work in whole or in part in electronic and print editions of the Journal, in all media of expression now known or later developed.
2. By this assignment of copyright to the JSTCE, reproduction, posting, transmission, distribution or other use of the Work in whole or in part in any medium by the Author requires a full citation to the Journal, suitable in form and content as follows: title of article, authors’ names, journal title, volume, issue, year, copyright owner as specified in the Journal, DOI number. Links to the final article published on the website of the Journal are encouraged.
3. The Author and the company/employer agree that any and all copies of the final published version of the Work or any part thereof distributed or posted by them in print or electronic format as permitted herein will include the notice of copyright as stipulated in the Journal and a full citation to the Journal as published on the website.
