TERC - Project H013.2003

Project H013.2003
Inventories of HR VOC Emissions & Impact of Emission Magnitude & Variability on Ozone Formation in H/G Area

Project Period:	08/01/2003 - 07/31/2004
Total Budget:	$499,670
Sub-Contractors:	University of Texas at Austin - David Allen ($499,670)

Select Related Documents

Executive Summary

Adobe PDF (151 KB)

Final Report

Adobe PDF (3.92 MB)

Final Report - Appendix A

Adobe PDF (382 KB)

Final Report - Appendix B

Adobe PDF (1.05 MB)

Final Report - Appendix C

Adobe PDF (682 KB)

Final Report - Appendix D

Adobe PDF (9.54 MB - Large File)

One of the most critical issues in the mid-course review of the State Implementation Plan (SIP) for the Houston-Galveston area is identifying the magnitude of reductions in Highly Reactive Volatile Organic Compounds (HRVOCs) that will be required to demonstrate attainment of the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone (based on both 1 hour and 8 hour standards). This issue is particularly difficult for the following reasons:

Emissions of HRVOC are not well defined – unless it is clear what emission baseline will be used it will be extremely difficult to evaluate control strategies.
Emissions of HRVOCs from any single facility are not constant, but vary significantly, by a factor of 100 (10,000%) or more, from day to day. Daily variations in emissions in relatively confined regions can lead to variations of the NAAQS for ozone. Therefore, using data from just a few days where extensive aircraft data are available may not result in effective control strategies.

This project addresses these critical issues. A calculation tool for estimating HRVOC emissions, and their variation from day to day is developed. The tool is evaluated using ambient data (both ground and aircraft). The HRVOC inventories are used with air quality models to evaluate the effectiveness of various HRVOC control strategies. The tool development and modeling portion of this project are completed for use in the mid-course review.

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