Transport, Transformation and Mitigation of Air Pollutants

A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Air Pollution Control".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 May 2025 | Viewed by 1843

Special Issue Editor

Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210-1057, USA
Interests: air quality; biosecurity and disease control; controlled environment agriculture; environmental management

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Good air quality is essential for sustaining life. With a growing global population, industrial production, and transportation methods, air pollution is becoming increasingly important. Air pollution affects overall human health and well-being, as well as the quality of the environment and its ecosystems. Common air pollutants include carbon monoxide, lead, ground-level ozone, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, and sulfur dioxide. It is imperative to develop cost-effective methods to measure and reduce air pollution resulting from agricultural production, manufacturing facilities, transportation, and other stationary or mobile sources. Monitoring and modeling efforts in understanding the transmission and implications of air pollutants are also vital in assisting decision making on mitigation strategies.

We are pleased to invite original research and review articles from around the globe. Contributing papers are expected to address one or more area of advancement with respect to air pollutant measuring and monitoring, as well as the modeling of its transmission and implications, developments in and applications of technologies or methodologies for mitigating air pollutants at their source, and exploring management, policy making, and public awareness in improving air quality.

Dr. Peiyang Li
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • air quality
  • air pollution control
  • airborne transmission
  • air pollution modeling
  • atmospheric deposition
  • particulate matter
  • air pollution reduction
  • environmental quality
  • AERMOD
  • ozone
  • nitrogen dioxide

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 7880 KiB  
Article
The Impact of Farming Mitigation Measures on Ammonia Concentrations and Nitrogen Deposition in the UK
by Matthieu Pommier, Jamie Bost, Andrew Lewin and Joe Richardson
Atmosphere 2025, 16(4), 353; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos16040353 - 21 Mar 2025
Viewed by 320
Abstract
Ammonia (NH3) is an important precursor to airborne fine particulate matter (PM2.5) which causes significant health issues and can significantly impact terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems through deposition. The largest source of NH3 emissions in the UK is agriculture, [...] Read more.
Ammonia (NH3) is an important precursor to airborne fine particulate matter (PM2.5) which causes significant health issues and can significantly impact terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems through deposition. The largest source of NH3 emissions in the UK is agriculture, including animal husbandry and NH3-based fertilizer applications. This study investigates the impact of mitigation measures targeting UK NH3 emissions from farming activities, focusing on their implications for air quality and nitrogen deposition in 2030. A series of mitigation scenarios—low2030, medium2030, and high2030—were developed through engagement with stakeholders, including farmers, advisers, and researchers, and their impact was modelled using the CMAQ air quality model. These scenarios represent varying levels of the uptake of mitigation measures compared to a baseline (base2030). The results indicate that reductions in total NH₃ emissions across the UK could reach up to 13% under the high2030 scenario (but reaching nearly 20% for some regions). These reductions can lead to significant decreases in NH₃ concentrations in some parts of the UK (up to 22%, ~1.2 µg/m3) but with a mean reduction of 8% across the UK. However, the reductions have a limited effect on fine ammonium particulate (NH4+) concentrations, achieving only modest reductions of up to 4%, with mean reductions of 1.6–1.9% due to a NH3-rich atmosphere. Consequently, the mitigation measures have minimal impact on secondary inorganic aerosol formation and PM2.5 concentrations, aligning with findings from other studies in Europe and beyond. These results suggest that addressing the primary sources of PM2.5 or other PM2.5 precursors, either alone or in combination with NH3, may be necessary for more substantial air quality improvements. In terms of nitrogen (N) deposition, reductions in NH3 emissions primarily affect NH3 dry deposition, which constitutes approximately two-thirds of reduced nitrogen deposition. Total N deposition declines by 15–18% in source regions depending on the scenario, but national average reductions remain modest (~4%). While the study emphasizes annual estimates, further analyses focusing on finer temporal scales (e.g., daily or seasonal) could provide additional insights into exposure impacts. This research highlights the need for integrated mitigation strategies addressing multiple pollutants to achieve meaningful reductions in air pollution and nitrogen deposition. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Transport, Transformation and Mitigation of Air Pollutants)
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16 pages, 1131 KiB  
Article
Study on Green Airport Construction and Aviation Pollution Control: A Case Study of Four International Airports
by Shiguo Deng, Shuolei Zhou, Li Zhang and Jiani Zhao
Atmosphere 2025, 16(3), 261; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos16030261 - 24 Feb 2025
Viewed by 403
Abstract
In the era of globalization and information technology, the aviation industry has experienced rapid growth. However, the increase in flight numbers has exacerbated environmental issues such as exhaust emissions and noise pollution, raising significant concerns across society. This paper aims to explore the [...] Read more.
In the era of globalization and information technology, the aviation industry has experienced rapid growth. However, the increase in flight numbers has exacerbated environmental issues such as exhaust emissions and noise pollution, raising significant concerns across society. This paper aims to explore the current state of environmental pollution within the aviation industry and propose solutions to promote the development of green airports and effective pollution control measures. This study primarily employs a literature analysis. Initially, a preliminary evaluation index system was established to represent various aspects of aviation pollution. The system was then refined and optimized using the entropy weight method. Subsequently, kernel density estimation and Moran index methods are applied to analyze the temporal and spatial trends in the evaluation indicators. An empirical study is conducted to investigate the degree of endogenous correlation and lag effects among the indices. The results are as follows: (1) Regional neutrality in pollution indicators. The spatial autocorrelation test reveals a lack of significant spatial correlation among the studied aviation environmental pollution indicators, indicating that these variables maintain a degree of regional neutrality. (2) Cargo throughput affects aviation environmental pollution. The PVAR model analysis highlights that cargo throughput has a significant self-impact on aviation environmental pollution, indicating that monitoring and managing cargo operations could be crucial in predicting and mitigating future pollution levels. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Transport, Transformation and Mitigation of Air Pollutants)
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24 pages, 10463 KiB  
Article
Experimental and Computational Characterization of a Modified Sioutas Cascade Impactor for Respirable Radioactive Aerosols
by Yadukrishnan Sasikumar, Vineet Kumar, Rose Montgomery and Prashant Jain
Atmosphere 2025, 16(2), 156; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos16020156 - 31 Jan 2025
Viewed by 582
Abstract
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is collecting and characterizing aerosols released when spent nuclear fuel (SNF) rods are fractured in bending. An aerosol collection system was designed and tested to collect respirable sized (<10 μm aerodynamic diameter [AED]) particulates inside a hot cell facility. [...] Read more.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is collecting and characterizing aerosols released when spent nuclear fuel (SNF) rods are fractured in bending. An aerosol collection system was designed and tested to collect respirable sized (<10 μm aerodynamic diameter [AED]) particulates inside a hot cell facility. The setup is a modified version of the commercially available Sioutas cascade impactor, to which additional stages were added to expand the aerosol collection range from 2.5 to ~15 μm AED. To accommodate the additional stages and specific test conditions, the operating flow rate for aerosol collection was reduced, and testing was conducted by using pressure drop measurements, surrogate dust collection, and particle size characterization. The fluid flow distribution within the cascade and its stages was simulated in STAR-CCM+, and the stage-wise pressure drops obtained using the computational fluid dynamics model were then compared to experimental data. Lagrangian particle simulations were also performed, and stage-wise collection statistics were obtained from the simulation for comparison with the experimental data obtained using SNF-surrogate dust particles. The results provide valuable insights into the stage-wise particle collection characteristics of the modified cascade impactor and can also be used to improve the prediction accuracy of the manufacturer-determined analytical correlations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Transport, Transformation and Mitigation of Air Pollutants)
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