Maryam saberiyansani; Yousef Rashidi; Seyed Hossein Hashemi
Abstract
AbstractBackground and purpose:Estimating the production of air pollution from mobile and stationary sources is one of the main pillars of air quality management, and considering the performance of cars in different conditions, calculating the number of emissions of pollutants from mobile sources is ...
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AbstractBackground and purpose:Estimating the production of air pollution from mobile and stationary sources is one of the main pillars of air quality management, and considering the performance of cars in different conditions, calculating the number of emissions of pollutants from mobile sources is one of the challenges of compiling the emission list. The international vehicle emission modeling software (IVE) is used in the studies of compiling the country's air pollution emission list.materials and methods:In this research, in order to investigate the deviation of the model values from the reality, a comparison between the IVE model and the emission measurement of domestic passenger cars at 0 km in the ISQI laboratory dynamometer chassis test based on the Euro 4 emission standard and the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) has been carried out.Results and discussion:Comparison of domestic car dynamometer chassis test emission data for three important gases, NOx, CO, HC, with emission results modeled by IVE model showed different values, except for one case in NOx emission, where the model was equal to the Quick car, so that NOX emission It was in the range of 0.01 to 0.05, and the model showed the number of 0.03, and in the case of CO, it was in the range of 0.26 to 0.96, which the model showed the number of 0.48, and also HC is in the range of 0.03 to 0.08, which the model results are equal to 0.03Conclusion:Based on the comparison of the results, although the IVE model is somewhat close to the reality, but relying on the hypothetical conditions to estimate the amount of passenger car pollutants is unreliable, and the results of the model cannot be considered a correct estimate of the emissions, but by applying appropriate correction coefficients for each The car is usable.key wordsAir pollution, IVE model, motor vehicles, NEDC cycle, dynamotor chassis
Elham Pourmaafi Esfahani; Ali Almodaresi; Mohammad Mousaei Sanjerehei; Hamed Hghparast
Abstract
Introduction: Today, dust phenomena are among the most important environmental hazards and pose a serious threat to human health and the environment. Dust in barley as one of the pollutants has various adverse effects and negative consequences, among which can be reduced growth and yield of agricultural ...
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Introduction: Today, dust phenomena are among the most important environmental hazards and pose a serious threat to human health and the environment. Dust in barley as one of the pollutants has various adverse effects and negative consequences, among which can be reduced growth and yield of agricultural products, intensification of damage caused by pests and plant diseases, increased road accidents due to reduced visibility, The cancellation of flights and the resulting financial losses, increased treatment costs, closure of industrial units, pollution of water resources, increased erosion of buildings, decreased efficiency of solar photovoltaic systems due to turbidity.Objective: Therefore, due to the importance of dust and in order to predict how dust is spread, the artificial neural network model was used. This model can be useful and cost-effective information for future implementation of air pollution control strategies and cost reduction.Material and methods: To model the dust distribution using artificial neural network model, statistics and meteorological information of Kashan synoptic station, which were recorded daily by the Environment Department in 1996, were used. The proposed neural network model has four input layers that include humidity, temperature, wind speed, wind direction and an output layer, the daily concentration of suspended particles is 2.5 micrometers per cubic meter. The model training process was performed using multilayer perceptron neural network and post-diffusion rule and using sigmoid membership function in Matleb software environment. In the neural network model, the number of neurons in the hidden layer and the appropriate number of rounds or IPAC to achieve the best neural network structure, with the least error for each model, were determined using trial and error. The number of neurons and apex for the model in 2017 is 15 and 37,000, respectively.Results and discussion: The correlation coefficient of the model for predicting PM2.5 concentration is equal to 0.80 which is obtained by comparing real data with simulated data. The validation results of the model with real data are close to 80%, so the neural network model can be used to predict PM2.5 concentration. According to the average regression diagram, the predicted values obtained from the model are closer to the diagonal axis and have no dispersion. Also, based on the results of the step-by-step regression method, it was determined that among the four variables used for relative humidity modeling, it has the most impact and importance in dust emission modeling.Conclusion: According to the accuracy and the results, this method can be used to predict the air pollution of Kashan caused by suspended particles. Due to the high capability of the perceptron neural network in predicting the concentration and distribution of dust, the application of this model can be a suitable and fast solution for predicting the amount and spread of dust.
Kimia Fotovvat; Leila Khazini; Yousefali Abedini; Mohammadreza Yousefi
Abstract
Introduction: Today, with the expansion of the activity of industrial units, the concentration of pollutants in the air has increased and humans are exposed to them through inhalation, ingestion, and dermal absorption. Among all pollutants, heavy metals have received a great deal of attention from environmentalists ...
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Introduction: Today, with the expansion of the activity of industrial units, the concentration of pollutants in the air has increased and humans are exposed to them through inhalation, ingestion, and dermal absorption. Among all pollutants, heavy metals have received a great deal of attention from environmentalists due to their toxic nature. High concentrations of heavy metals in the environment can increase the risk of adverse effects on human health. Activity of copper casting units and its alloys made Naji Industrial Town of Zanjan as a main source of heavy metals in the atmosphere; therefore, evaluating the concentration and health effects of heavy metals emitted from the town is of particular importance.Material and methods: To evaluate the concentration and health effects of heavy metals emission from the industrial units of Naji Industrial Town, sampling of total suspended particles in the town and its adjacent areas (10 stations) was performed in January and May 2021. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to identify heavy metals. The risk of cancer and non-cancerous diseases due to respiration, ingestion and skin absorption of heavy metals in total suspended particles was also evaluated for both age groups of children and adults.Results and discussion: In this analysis heavy metals e.g. silver, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, iron, lead, antimony, vanadium and zinc were identified. The concentrations of detected heavy metals were compared with national ambient air quality standards. The concentration of chromium and iron in all stations within Naji Industrial Town was higher than the standard level. Also, the concentrations of silver, cadmium, chromium, copper, iron, antimony, vanadium, and zinc in all stations adjacent to the Industrial Town was higher than the standard. The results of assessing the risk of non-cancerous diseases by exposure to heavy metals in total suspended particles, both in winter and spring, showed that exposure to heavy metals in all stations does not pose a risk to public health. The highest risk of cancer in winter and spring was due to exposure to the arsenic (at station 2, inside the industrial town) and cadmium (at station 4, inside the industrial town), respectively. In spring, the risk of cancer due to exposure to arsenic and cadmium was higher in all stations except station 2 than in winter. However, in the spring, the risk of cancer in all stations was lower than in the winter. The risk index values for the age group of children were higher than the age group of adults; therefore, children are more at risk for various types of cancer and non-cancerous diseases while exposing to heavy metals in the air.Conclusion: The results of the assessment of exposure to heavy metals released from Naji Industrial Town on human health show that the risk of non-cancerous diseases does not threaten the people of the study area; but the risk of cancer caused by the arsenic and cadmium is high at most of the surveyed stations.
Mohammad Amin Ghannadi; Matin Shahri; Amirreza Moradi
Abstract
Introduction: Air pollution and its negative effects on human health have become a major issue around the world, especially in developing countries and Iran. Contaminants such as nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and aerosols, in addition to having significant negative health consequences, ...
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Introduction: Air pollution and its negative effects on human health have become a major issue around the world, especially in developing countries and Iran. Contaminants such as nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and aerosols, in addition to having significant negative health consequences, cause to damage vegetation and contribute to global climate change. Therefore, the comprehensive monitoring of pollutants and, consequently, appropriate management decisions to address the issue is required. Remote sensing methods, especially Sentinel-5, the European Space Agency's most recent project (in collaboration with the Netherlands), which allows for the capture of images in various spectral bands using a TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) sensor, are recognized as a useful tool for monitoring various types of air pollutants.Material and methods: In this analysis, the most significant air contaminants such as nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and aerosol were monitored using Sentinel-5 satellite images for 20 major industrial cities in Iran in 2019 and 2020. A large number of level-3 images collected from Google Earth Engine were used in this research. Ground-based stations were used to verify the monitoring process.Results and discussion: The results show that monitoring values obtained using Sentinel-5 satellite images are at least 78 percent correlated with ground-based station values. As a result, it has been demonstrated that Sentinel-5 satellite images can be successfully used in management studies with the aim of reducing air pollution. Based on the results, it can also be inferred that, Tehran and Zanjan are respectively the most and the least polluted city in terms of total carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and dust in 2019. The same is true for 2020. It is also clear that air pollution levels in Karaj and Kermanshah increased significantly in 2020 compared to 2019. Another significant finding is that, in general, air pollution levels in 2020 are lower than in 2019. One significant explanation may be the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, which resulted in a decrease in industrial activity and reduced traffic and congestion on the roads.Conclusion: In general, the results of this research showed that it is possible to systematically monitor the air pollutants using images captured by TROPOMI sensor on the Sentinel-5 satellite with acceptable accuracy. The results of this study can help researchers and urban managers for appropriate management in metropolitan areas.
elnaz asadi; abolfazl deylami; ali keramatzadeh
Abstract
Introduction: In recent decades, global economic growth and industrialization have increased the demand for the consumption of energy . The increasing energy demand is met by burning fossil fuels, which emit air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. After the industrial revolution, energy generation ...
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Introduction: In recent decades, global economic growth and industrialization have increased the demand for the consumption of energy . The increasing energy demand is met by burning fossil fuels, which emit air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. After the industrial revolution, energy generation abnormally increased the amount of greenhouse gases emission, critically damaging the environment. In this regard, the purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants of carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) as an indicator of environmental quality and air pollution.Material and methods: This study has proposed a long-run relationship between CO2, economic growth, energy consumption, trade openness, financial development, and urbanization for a global panel of 11 countries spanning the period 2000–2015 using Fully Modified Ordinary Least Square (FMOLS) and Dynamic Ordinary Least Square (DOLS). In the first step, the LLC and IPS unit root tests were performed to examine the non-stationarity properties of the dataset. Then, Pedroni and Kao co-integration tests were applied to identify if there is a correlation between variables in the long term. In addition, the F (Chow) test was used to detect the best model. The software package used for estimation and analysis of the models was Eviews 10.Results and discussion: This paper first performed a panel unit root test proposed by Levin, Lin, and, Chu (LLC) and Im, Pesaran and, Shin (IPS) to examine the null hypothesis that all the series have a unit root. The results of IPS test indicated that the null hypothesis was rejected only for urbanization, implying that this variable was stationary. However, all tests confirmed that variables were stationary after the first-difference. It is hereby informed that variables were first-difference stationary. Our results suggest that there is a need to examine co-integration among variables. In addition, we conduct Pedroni and Kao co-integration tests, the results of which rejected the null hypothesis of no co-integration. The results of the F-test indicated that the panel model was the right choice. To help us choose between the fixed effects or random effects estimators, we conduct the Hausman test, where the null hypothesis was that the preferred model has random effects. Our results from the Hausman test did not reject the null hypothesis, suggesting that the random effects estimator was more appropriate for our data than the fixed effects estimator. The results from the FMOLS and DOLS estimations indicated that energy consumption from renewable sources, trade openness, financial development, and urbanization had a negative impact on CO2 emissions, while the energy consumption from non-renewable sources had a positive impact.Conclusion: The results of the research imply that policymakers should focus more on public awareness of renewable energy, mainly in solar and wind power to alleviate environmental pressure and CO2 emission. The findings also suggest that the governments should set a price per ton on carbon i.e. a carbon tax. Furthermore, developed countries should transfer sophisticated technology to emerging and undeveloped countries to generate electricity and avoid unsafe climate change .
Koohzad Raispour; younes khosravi
Abstract
Introduction: The atmosphere is a dynamic and complex natural gas system whose pollution kills humans more than others. Air pollution occurs when large amounts of suspended particles or harmful substances enter the atmosphere. Suspended particles with a diameter of fewer than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) are among ...
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Introduction: The atmosphere is a dynamic and complex natural gas system whose pollution kills humans more than others. Air pollution occurs when large amounts of suspended particles or harmful substances enter the atmosphere. Suspended particles with a diameter of fewer than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) are among the most important air pollutants. Black carbon (BC) particles are one of the most important and dangerous components of PM2.5 suspended particles. The aim of this study was to analyze the behavior and time-space distribution of BC pollutants in Iran using the data of the MERRA-2 base model during a statistical period of 40 years (1980-2019).Material and methods: In this study, black carbon data in NetCDF format with initial monthly and spatial time steps of 0.5° x 0.625° were first extracted from the Earth data website. After extracting the data, qualitative control, pre-processing and, processing operations were performed. Then, the calculations were performed on monthly and seasonal matrices (on 740 pixels or networked points) using the facilities that the user's software applications ArcGIS, Grads, and Origin pro provide. In the last step, steps were taken to create raster, vector, charts layers and, information tables and the desired outputs were prepared.Results and discussion: The use of MERRA-2 base model data has provided very good results of the spatio-temporal distribution of BC in Iran. The results of the study showed that the monthly and seasonal differences were significant. In terms of monthly differences, the highest amount of BC was estimated in December and the lowest in June. Among seasons, the highest and lowest levels of BC were related to the winter and summer. Spatially, the highest distribution of BC was observed in the western half of Iran, especially in the metropolises of Tehran and Ahvaz. Analysis of the time series of BC concentrations in the Iranian atmosphere showed that the concentration of this pollutant increased during the statistical period and this increase occurred especially from 2000 AD onwards. Also, in the study of meteorological parameters affecting the concentration of BC, the results showed a significant positive correlation between the concentration of BC and air pressure and a significant negative correlation with wind speed.Conclusion: The results showed a clear understanding of the concentration of BC in the Iranian atmosphere. We showed that BC pollution is affected by some meteorological parameters such as air pressure and wind speed. In general, regardless of the mechanisms of development, nature, and emission of this pollutant in different parts of Iran, the behavior of the concentration of this pollutant in the context of time indicates the warning of its danger in large parts of Iran. Therefore, it is necessary to take the necessary management and executive measures to reduce this pollution, especially in metropolitan areas with high concentrations of BC.
Zohreh Khorasanian; Naghmeh Mobarghaee Dinan; Saeed Soufizadeh; Reihaneh Rasoolzadeh
Abstract
Introduction: Population growth, traffic jam, and industrial development generate air pollution in metropolises such as Tehran. Regarding the fact that air pollution can cause serious damage to the health of citizens, various studies have been conducted at the national and international levels. Undoubtedly, ...
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Introduction: Population growth, traffic jam, and industrial development generate air pollution in metropolises such as Tehran. Regarding the fact that air pollution can cause serious damage to the health of citizens, various studies have been conducted at the national and international levels. Undoubtedly, one of the most important ways to reduce environmental pollution is the use of control programs and measures. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of some plans and programs to reduce the air pollution of a metropolis (Tehran). Material and methods: To determine the annual fluctuations in air pollutants (Carbon Monoxide (CO), Particulate Matter of 10 microns in diameter or smaller (PM10), Ozone (O3), Sulfur Oxides (SOX), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), and Nitrogen Monoxide (NO)), the concentration of these parameters was investigated in Tehran from 2005 to 2012. Pearson correlation analysis and stepwise regression (SAS software) were used to evaluate the relationships between air pollution, number of vehicles and fuel consumption in Tehran. Results and discussion: From 2005 to 2012, the trend of annual changes in CO concentration was decreased. The highest concentration of this pollutant (2006) was 5 mg/l and the lowest concentration (2011) was about 2 mg/l. During the same period, the annual trend of PM10 increased from 100 to140 μg/m3. In these years, the annual trend of ozone decreased from 0.03 mg/l to 0.02 mg/l. Meanwhile, the annual concentration of sulfur dioxide decreased from 0.055 to 0.03 mg/l. Changes in annual NO2 and NO concentration decreased during the mentioned years from l0.07 to 0.2 mg/l and from 0.05 to 0.010 mg/l, respectively. Conclusion: Results show that the trend of annual change in the concentration of pollutants was decreasing for all pollutants (except for suspended particles) from 2005 to 2012. Eliminating eroded cars, and using hybrid and gas-fueled vehicles played an important role in reducing air pollution in Tehran. Also, due to the results of the correlation analysis and the significance of the effect of eroded cars on atmospheric pollutants, the impact of this policy on reducing emissions was significant. The results of stepwise regression analysis from 2005 to 2012 showed that eliminating the eroded cars and replacing them with dual-fuel ones had the most significant effect on reducing carbon monoxide emissions in Tehran.
Parya Broomandi; Yousef Rashidi
Volume 16, Issue 2 , July 2018, , Pages 49-64
Abstract
Introduction: Airborne particles are considered to be an important indicator of air quality and high concentrations of these particles cause many health problems. Around the world, it is impossible to avoid contact with bio-aerosol contamination in urban life. The presence of pathogenic microorganisms ...
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Introduction: Airborne particles are considered to be an important indicator of air quality and high concentrations of these particles cause many health problems. Around the world, it is impossible to avoid contact with bio-aerosol contamination in urban life. The presence of pathogenic microorganisms in dust storms can cause diseases such as pneumonia, asthma, and other respiratory infections. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between airborne particles with airborne microorganisms in normal and dusty days. Materials and methods: The sampling method was quick take 30 equipped with a single-stage sampler at the elevation of 1.5 to 2 meters above the ground. Air flow was 14.3 L/min and its duration was 5 min. The original samples were diluted several times (10-5 - 10-4) to reduce the microbial population sufficiently to obtain separate colonies upon plating. All cultures were incubated at environmental temperature (25 ± 2 °C) for 3 to 5 days and repeated twice. Any increase in PM10 concentrations were in agreement with an increase of bacterial and fungal concentrations during dusty days in Ahvaz city during the warm period (April to September) in 2011. Results and discussion: The concentration of particles in June, July and August was greater than the standard value. The results of the present study illustrated that the average number of bacteria and fungi, respectively, in dusty days was 5 and 1.7 times that of normal days. Also, the predominant species of bacteria and fungi during the occurrence of dust storms were Bacillus sp. (45% of total bacteria) and Aspergillus sp. (44% of total fungi), respectively. Therefore, any increase in the number of airborne microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) during dust storms can cause biologically harmful effects on human health. Conclusion: Based on the annual and seasonal changes in meteorological parameters and HYSPLIT, it can be seen that the probable origin of airborne particles are neighbouring countries to southwestern Iran, especially the northwestern parts of Iraq and the eastern parts of Syria.
Amin Hajivand; Alireza Mirkamali; Farshid Safari; Omid Sarvai Sarmidani
Volume 16, Issue 2 , July 2018, , Pages 65-82
Abstract
Introduction: A study of research evidence clearly reveals that the recognition of criminal responsibility for the state as the most prominent and most significant legal person is one of the concerns of the criminal justice system, and the lack of recognition of criminal liability for the state as one ...
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Introduction: A study of research evidence clearly reveals that the recognition of criminal responsibility for the state as the most prominent and most significant legal person is one of the concerns of the criminal justice system, and the lack of recognition of criminal liability for the state as one of the problems of legal systems. The mandates in the Note to section 20 (1)of the Islamic Penal Code )1392( did not identify criminal responsibility for the state, and no theorizing has been made regarding the grounds for criminalizing state actions in the field of environmental crimes. The aim of the authors is to identify and justify the necessity of criminalization of and assigning criminal liability to the Government in environmental crimes. Materials and methods: In this research, analytical, descriptive and library sources are used to analyze the reasons for the necessity of identifying criminal responsibility for the state, state environmental crime, the existing challenges in the field of criminal responsibility of the state, and providing appropriate solutions have been taken. Results and discussion: Identification of criminal liability for the Government in environmental crime is of great importance in all countries, especially in countries dependent on the oil and gas industry since the pollution occurring in these areas is often caused by the public sector. Therefore, identifying criminal liability for the state can be a positive step towards full environmental protection. Conclusion: Given the fact that the Government is the most important legal person and that it pollutes the environment, this weakens the government as based on rationality and legal reasoning, including the Law on the Administration of Civil Services of 1386 where it is stipulated in section 8 of this law that the environment is protected from acts of sovereignty. Therefore, the principle of equal treatment and equality of all before the Constitution requires that the state also has criminal responsibility, of course with appropriate deterrents for the Government that would undermine the sovereignty and impediment of governance.
Maryam Sharifi Sadeh; Mozhgan Ahmadi Nadoushan
Volume 16, Issue 2 , July 2018, , Pages 203-216
Abstract
Introduction: The rapid growth of technology has led to an increase in air pollution in most countries of the world. One of the most serious problems that metropolitan cities such as Esfahan encounter is air pollution. The most important pollutants that should be mentioned are PM, O3, SO2, CO and NOX. ...
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Introduction: The rapid growth of technology has led to an increase in air pollution in most countries of the world. One of the most serious problems that metropolitan cities such as Esfahan encounter is air pollution. The most important pollutants that should be mentioned are PM, O3, SO2, CO and NOX. The main objective of this study is to analyze the land use effects and other effective parameters such as traffic on the air quality of Esfahan and evaluating the spatial dispersion of PM, O3, SO2, CO and NOX. LUR offers an improved level of detail at which pollution variability is observed. Numerous studies have shown that land use regression (LUR) models can be applied to obtain accurate, small-scale air pollutant concentrations without a detailed pollutant emission inventory. Materials and methods: Land use regression modelling is used as a useful method for estimating changes in the concentrations of air pollutants in cities. Thus, LUR predicts the concentrations of pollution based on surrounding land use and traffic characteristics within circular areas (buffers) as predictors of measured concentrations. Moreover, the enhancement of geographic information system (GIS) techniques has contributed to the dissemination of the LUR method. Since the air pollution is in relation to factors such as population, traffic, land use, height, road length and public transportation as the most effective factors in producing these pollutants have prepared using ArcGIS 10.2 and modeled by LUR method. The regression model was run using SPSS 19. Results and discussion: With the usage of the LUR method, the most important and effective factors could be determined and modelled. It should be mentioned that among different types of land uses, residential areas and industrial regions cause the maximum effects on air pollution. Conclusion: The results of the LUR model have revealed that traffic volume, population and land use are the most important factor affected on pollutants production.
Ali Farmanesh; Seyed Saeid Mohtasebi; Mahmoud Omid
Volume 15, Issue 4 , January 2018, , Pages 15-28
Abstract
Introduction: Industrial activities growth and increasing emissions getting attention to environmental problems in the world. Unpleasant smell (malodor) can be classified as pollutants that had negative impact on quality of life. About one third to half of animal products that are unusable for humans ...
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Introduction: Industrial activities growth and increasing emissions getting attention to environmental problems in the world. Unpleasant smell (malodor) can be classified as pollutants that had negative impact on quality of life. About one third to half of animal products that are unusable for humans are used as raw materials in the processing and recycling industry. One of the most important features of slaughterhouse rendering plants is the release of volatile compounds and unpleasant odors, which disturb the working people and the adjacent inhabitants of this industry. The purpose of this study was to evaluate an electronic nose system as a tool for displaying vapors from a slaughterhouse rendering plant, select an array of appropriate sensors and determine the fingerprint for this pollutant unit. Material and methods: The batch cooking was carried out at temperature 140 ° C under pressure 3 bar for 4 hours and uniformly stirred at a speed of 20 rpm (ISIRI 2389, 1995). A total of 30 liquid samples, each one with volume of 10 ml, were obtained from condensed vapors of batch cooker. Samples were transferred to the laboratory located at the Agricultural Machinery Department of the University of Tehran, and an electronic nose system was used for analysis and investigation. The electronic nose system was based on metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) sensors and included an array of six gas sensors. The principal component analysis (PCA) method was used to evaluate the sensors and select appropriate array of sensors. Results and discussion: Observation of sensor’s response until steady state with aim of reducing consumption of time and oxygen, showed that 30 seconds to reach sensors to their baseline (baseline time), 100 seconds to contact the vapors with sensors (injection and response time) and 40 seconds to clear the sensors (purging time) were suitable . Correlation analysis of the sensors showed that some of the sensors had a correlation higher than 0.85. The analysis of variance distribution of two primary principal components showed that these two components comprises for more than 99% of the total variance, and the primary component (PC-1) comprise over than 98% of the total variance. The highest effect on the first component was related to the MQ135 sensor, after that MQ136, MQ9, MQ131, MQ5 and finally MQ3 sensors were effective. The analysis of the principal components showed that MQ135 and MQ136 sensors with high sensitivity to ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and benzene were the most suitable sensors for detecting the unpleasant smell released from the poultry slaughterhouse waste batch cooking (rendering plant). Selection of MQ135 and MQ136 sensors as an array can be used to distinguish between pollutants from poultry rendering plant and pollutants released from other industries, and these sensors can be used to determine the fingerprint of the odor emitted from poultry rendering plant. Conclusion: According to the results of this research, the electronic nose system with array of MQ135 and MQ136 can be used to monitor and control the quality of pollutants from poultry rendering plant. Also, with referring to this fact that unpleasant smell in air quality control is not defined standardly in Iran, an electronic nose system could be used to control the air quality in terms of the presence of unpleasant odors in the environment.
Balal Oroji; Eisa Solgi; Asghar Sadighzadeh
Volume 15, Issue 4 , January 2018, , Pages 79-100
Abstract
Introduction:
Despite past improvements in air quality, very large parts of the population in urban areas breathe air that does not meet European standards let alone the health-based World Health Organisation Air Quality Guidelines. Over the last 10 years, there has been a substantial increase in findings ...
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Introduction:
Despite past improvements in air quality, very large parts of the population in urban areas breathe air that does not meet European standards let alone the health-based World Health Organisation Air Quality Guidelines. Over the last 10 years, there has been a substantial increase in findings that particulate matter (PM) air pollution is not only exerting a greater impact on established health endpoints, but is also associated with a broader number of disease outcomes.
Materials and methods:
Recently, relatively good research has been done on the understanding of the nature of particles and their role in creating a problem in humans. A comprehensive study of this research and the analysis of their results, along with the comparison of the results of the research on health impact assessment were evaluated in Tehran.
Results and discussion:
Data strongly suggest that effects have no threshold within the studied range of ambient concentrations, can occur at levels close to PM2.5 background concentrations and that they follow a mostly linear concentration-response function. Having firmly established this significant public health problem, there has been an enormous effort to identify what it is in ambient PM that affects health and to understand the underlying biological basis of toxicity by identifying mechanistic pathways-information that in tum will inform policy makers how best to legislate for cleaner air. Another intervention in moving towards a healthier environment depends upon the achieving the right public attitude and behavior by the use of optimal air pollution monitoring, forecasting and reporting that exploits increasingly sophisticated information systems.
Conclusion:
Improving air quality is a considerable but not an intractable challenge. Translating the correct scientific evidence into bold, realistic and effective policies undisputedly has the potential to reduce air pollution so that it no longer poses a damaging and costly toll on public health.
Reyhaneh Sadat Ghazi Marashi; Omid Noori; Reza Deihimfard; Amir Salemi
Volume 15, Issue 4 , January 2018, , Pages 113-124
Abstract
Introduction:
Urbanization and population growth, in addition to its rapid development across the world, has caused a major demand for the food security and the self-sufficiency in terms of food production in many cities. According to the aforementioned circumstances, the activities in the basis of ...
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Introduction:
Urbanization and population growth, in addition to its rapid development across the world, has caused a major demand for the food security and the self-sufficiency in terms of food production in many cities. According to the aforementioned circumstances, the activities in the basis of urban agriculture with different traditional methods (e.g. planting on the ground surface with a soil bedding) or the modern ones (e.g. rooftop gardening with hydroponic cultivation methods) have been emerged and numerous studies regarding these methods have been accomplished. Likewise, a large number of farms in the urban areas came into existence worldwide. Nonetheless, there are yet various challenges to develop this type of agriculture. Moreover, only few numbers of studies were carried out to monitor the health and hygiene condition of the food productions grown in such places, especially in terms of air pollutants accumulation. The objective of this research was to study the hygiene of the plants cultivated in urban environment (rooftops and courtyards), and to determine the accumulation rates of pollutants in the eggplant fruit (Solanum Melongena var. depressum (L.)) and bell peppers (Capsicum fruitescens var. grossum (Mill.)).
Materials and methods:
Two types of vegetables; bell pepper and eggplant were cultivated in the rooftop and courtyard of a five story building in the 7th district of Tehran. The seeds were planted on the basis of a completely randomized design system using six times repetitions. Besides, in order to compare the hygiene of these fruits with those of the fruits cultivated in the countryside, similar samples of the same products were used in the farms located in the environs of Varamin and Karaj. Densities of heavy metals such as molybdenum, chrome, copper and manganese ( Mn, Mo, Cr and Cu) included in the fruits of belle pepper and eggplants cultivated in the urban areas of Tehran were compares with their amounts in the fruits cultivated in the farms located outside of the towns. Additionally, the amounts of heavy metals Lead and Cadmium (Cd, Pb) in the samples related to the city of Tehran were compared to the European Union Standards and the Iranian National Standard. The sample digestion was carried out using Microwave, and in order to analyse and measure the results, the device of ICP-MS was used. Data was analysed by the SAS and Microsoft Excel software and the means comparison was done through standard error.
Results and discussion:
The resulted data demonstrate that the densities of heavy metals in the most of the fruits grown in city showed significantly higher numbers in the range of 5% than those of plants grown in countryside, except the contents of chrome in eggplant which is higher in the samples of the farms located in the countryside than those of both urban areas. Moreover, the heavy metal pollutants of copper in both eggplant and bell pepper from the farms located in countryside were higher than the samples of the rooftop. The chrome density in the eggplants cultivated in farmland was 1.56 times more than that of courtyard, and 1.58 times more than that of rooftop. Densities of copper in the eggplant and bell pepper of countryside farm are respectively 1.22 and 1.24 times more than the samples of rooftop. Furthermore, except lead contents (Pb) being observed at three different levels 0.18, 0.63 and 0.14 milligrams per one kilogram of dry weight (mg/kgDW) in some samples, respectively for rooftop eggplants, rooftop bell peppers and bell peppers of courtyard, which showed significant variances to the permissible limits (in the range of 5%), other samples indicated acceptable amounts of lead and cadmium with respect to the European Union Standard and Iranian National Standard (under the limits of 5%).
Conclusion:
In general it can be concluded that all the samples cultivated in the urban areas of 7th district of the city of Tehran were healthy in terms of allowable amounts of Cadmium as an heavy metal. These density ratios fully complied with international standards, and were similar to those of the samples cultivated in the countryside. In contrast, most of the aforementioned samples contained the impermissible amounts of lead heavy metal. Likewise, the densities of other heavy metals included in products of urban farms were much higher than those of the city exteriors. As a matter of fact, this difference might be resulted from the effects of heavy traffic flow, geographic position and the unsuitable climate conditions on the air quality of urbanized areas.
Razieh Ghanbari Fard; Ali Akbar Safavi; Peyman Setoodeh
Volume 15, Issue 1 , April 2017, , Pages 157-174
Abstract
Introduction: Transportation and traffic flows are the main factors of air pollution in Iran. Therefore it is essential to investigate their effects on the air quality of urban areas to forecast more accurately and manage better traffic and pollution. Unfortunately, not much research has been conducted ...
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Introduction: Transportation and traffic flows are the main factors of air pollution in Iran. Therefore it is essential to investigate their effects on the air quality of urban areas to forecast more accurately and manage better traffic and pollution. Unfortunately, not much research has been conducted on this issue in Iran. Identification of pollutant sources is the most important and time-consuming stage of air pollution modelling. We cannot consider only one variable for air pollution modelling in a single region. Hence, different variables should be taken into account, studied and planned. Some measures make significant changes in the air pollution of a metropolis. Hence, undertaking a series of measures can reduce the air pollution, and adopting new methods to evaluate the air pollution is one of these measures. The main goal of this research is to offer a smart model by which concentration of pollutants such as CO can be estimated with the appropriate accuracy and, by examining the causes of these pollutants and predicting the air pollution, the necessary actions to manage and control the air pollution can be planned (Hassan and Croether, 1998). Materials and methods: In this paper, a neural network model and a nonlinear state space model were designed based on urban traffic in Shiraz. In these models the concentrations of CO, NO2 and SO2 pollutants were analyzed and also estimated using a Kalman Filter for a 24 hour cycle. The models are based on the correlation between the volume of pollution, traffic, initial pollution and meteorological information. The extended Kalman Filter algorithm was used to analyse and predict the air pollution in Shiraz over a 24 hour period. A key factor of the proposed system is its adaptation with the short time pollution changes (Safavi, 2008; Brown et al., 2007). Result and discussion: In this research, traffic and pollution data caused by pollutant concentrations has been studied, then an attempt was made to match these air pollution data with significant parts in Shiraz city and many traffic and pollution data were excluded due to a mismatch in terms of location. Finally, modelling was updated based on this data and the result was adapted to real data. This nonlinear model structure offers the advantage of being evolutionary and sufficiently flexible, in the sense that the overall evaluation of the model performance can easily be undertaken by excluding or adding input variables. On the other hand, if the corresponding data of each new station is available, the study can be extended to other parts of Shiraz city. So, if traffic data is available in some parts of the city, the pollution can be extended to some other parts and be reduced in critical areas using certain traffic strategies. Conclusion: The neural network method and the Kalman Filter were tested on Shiraz pollution data which revealed that the models, specially the Kalman Filter, work reasonably well.
Vahid Esfahanian; Mahmoudreza Momeni,; Kamran Mahoutchi saeid; Khosro Ashrafi; Ali Badiei
Volume 12, Issue 3 , October 2014
Abstract
n this study, external costs due to air pollution in the city of Tehran are estimated for CO2, SO2, NOXand PM pollutants in 1390. In the first step, employing up to down procedure, these pollutants’ emission from oil products, liquid gas and natural gas fuel from transportation, industrial, household ...
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n this study, external costs due to air pollution in the city of Tehran are estimated for CO2, SO2, NOXand PM pollutants in 1390. In the first step, employing up to down procedure, these pollutants’ emission from oil products, liquid gas and natural gas fuel from transportation, industrial, household and commercial, army and departments, plants and refineries are estimated. Then the external costs due to these emissions have been computed based on presented Expenditure in universal bank and Iran’s environment organization report at 1381. The results show that external costs due to four mentioned air pollutants are approximately 18/06 thousand billion Rials (based on constant prices in 1981) in Tehran city in 1390. The maximum external costs are 83 percent for PM pollutant, 94 percent for transportation and 72 percent for gasoil fuel from point of views of pollutants type, pollutants producing section and the type of fuel consumed, respectively. Also, the total air pollution external costs due to these four pollutants are 0.18 and 0.71 percent with respect to Gross Domestic Production (GDP) of Iran and Tehran,respectively. In this study, realization of external costs is done under the light of Cost Plus method by inflation andexchange rates. In the first approach, external costs are estimated to be 24.88 thousand billiard Rials and in the second approach, they are found to be approximately 66.74 thousand billiard Rials.
Gholamreza Rowshan; Faramarz Khosh Akhlagh; Saeed Negahban; Jafar Mirkatouly
Volume 7, Issue 1 , October 2009
Abstract
The expansion of urbanisation and the development of cities along with increasing population and expansion of industrial activities and irregular consumption of fossil fuels have given rise to pollution. At the first stage, its consequences impact on citizens in terms of respiratory illness and increased ...
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The expansion of urbanisation and the development of cities along with increasing population and expansion of industrial activities and irregular consumption of fossil fuels have given rise to pollution. At the first stage, its consequences impact on citizens in terms of respiratory illness and increased intensity of heart and lung diseases and, at the second stage, it plays a role in increasing climate fluctuations and environmental impacts. In the current study, two types of data are used in investigating the relationship between parameters and elements. The first data under study are the climate parameters during a statistical period of 51 years from 1952 to 2003, divided into three 17-year periods - a clean period (1952-69), an intermediate period (1970-86) and a polluted period (1987-2003) - whose fluctuations and climate vicissitudes are compared. The second variable or data under study are the type and amount of pollutants in Tehran cityduring 1997 to 2003, taken as an annual average. Totally, after various calculations, the conclusion was that during the polluted period the climate of Tehran has more fluctuations than in the two previous periods and, during the polluted period, the fluctuations of the region were seen in temperature increases, increasing potential for flooding and change in climate towards a warmer and more humid state.
