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Non-EXhaust emissions from road Transport: Developing cost-effective measures based on impact on air quality, health and the implications of electric vehicles uptake.
During the last two decades, particulate matter (PM) emissions from vehicles exhaust have been reduced progressively (from 80-90% for Europe) to less than 50%, through the implementation of the EUROx (or similar) directives. Non-exhaust emissions instead (which consist of brake/tire/road wear and road dust resuspension), did not decrease or have even growth due to the lack of policies and increase of transport activity, representing now the dominant source of PM from traffic. The growing concern on non-exhaust PM is aggravated by three relevant aspects:

– the expected small benefit posed by electric vehicles penetration.
– the increase of average curb weight of new vehicles, mostly due to the penetration of SUV
– the expected high toxicity related to the oxidative stress induced by transition metals and redox active organics present in non-exhaust PM.

While immediate and long-run actions are needed in order to reduce their adverse effects, the scientific knowledge on non-exhaust emissions is scarce hampering a proper assessment of these emissions from both the technological and policy points of view. This proposal addresses key aspects where an improved scientific knowledge could be directly transferred to policy makers and industry in order to tackle non-exhaust emissions.

Start Date: 05/05/2022 – End Date: 30/04/2024

Project Leader: Fulvio Amato , Angeliki Karanasiou

Researchers: Angie Steffany Albarracín Melo , Federica Ippolito

Funding: National Project

RI-URBANS

Research Infrastructures Services Reinforcing Air Quality Monitoring Capacities in European Urban & Industrial AreaS

The project aims to demonstrate how service tools from atmospheric research infrastructures can be adapted and enhanced to better address the challenges and societal needs concerning air quality in European cities and industrial hotspots. RI-URBANS responds to urgent needs to substantially reduce air pollution across the European Union by providing enhanced air quality observations in support of advanced air quality policy assessment.

We develop and enhance synergies between Air Quality Monitoring Networks (AQMNs) and research infrastructures in the atmospheric domain and combine advanced scientific knowledge and innovative technologies to develop pilot service tools. These will enhance the AQMNs capacity to evaluate, predict and support policies for abating urban air pollution. RI-URBANS deploys tools and information systems in the hands of citizens and communities to support decision-making by AQ managers and regulators. The focus is on ambient nanoparticles and atmospheric particulate matter, their sizes, constituents, source contributions, and gaseous precursors. RI-URBANS will evaluate novel air quality parameters, source contributions, and their associated health effects to demonstrate the European added value of implementing such service tools.

Funded by the European Commission’s call “European Research Infrastructures capacities and services to address European Green Deal challenges (LC-GD-9-1-2020)”

Start Date: 01/10/2021 – End Date: 30/09/2025

Project Leader: Xavier Querol Carceller

Researchers: Teresa Moreno Pérez , Fulvio Amato , Andrés Alastuey Urós , Angeliki Karanasiou , María Cruz Minguillón , Mar Viana Rodríguez , Marco Pandolfi , Joan Grimalt Obrador , Barend L. van Drooge , Meritxell Garcia i Marlès , Marjan Savadkoohi , Xiansheng Liu

Support: Alicia Arroyo , Ana Sotres Fernández , Alejandro Rodríguez Bermejo , Mercè Ratera Bastardas , Sergio de Campos Paus

Funding: European Project

https://riurbans.eu/

nPETS

Nanoparticle Emissions from the Transport Sector: Health and Policy Impacts

Air pollution in European cities is still threatening human health, even though EU emission directives have been sharpened over the last 25 years. Adverse health effects of airborne particles are strongly linked to their size. A major fraction of outdoor ultrafine particles is traffic generated from road, rail, air, and sea transportation. The story that nPETS aims to communicate is the life of the sub 100 nm emissions from its creation to its potential path to human beings and animals. The nPETS consortium aims to improve the knowledge of transport generated exhaust and non-exhaust nanoparticle emissions and their impacts on health and new public policies.
It aims to monitor and sample with state-of-the-art particle instruments the sub 100 nm transport generated emissions from shipping, road, rail, and aviation both in field and controlled laboratory environments. Both aged and fresh aerosols will be considered, including primary and secondary volatile and non-volatile particles. Characterising the emissions will be done from shipping, road, rail, and aviation by linking their sizes, chemical compositions, and morphologies to its specific emission sources such as engines, brakes, clutches, and tyres to increase the understanding of the mechanisms behind adverse risks posed by different types and sources of the identified sub 100 nm particles. The effects of nanoparticles from various transport modes and fuels, as well as specific emission sources, will be compared with a focus on markers of relevance for carcinogenesis and inflammation. Living cells will be exposed to collected and real-world primary and aged aerosols as well as primary and aged aerosols generated in the laboratory.
Furthermore, it also aims to evaluate the possible future impact of new policies in this area on public health and linking the impacts with specific emission sources. This should lead to an understanding and quantification of the risks posed by different types and sources.

Start Date: 01/06/2021 – End Date: 31/05/2024

Researchers: Fulvio Amato , Benjamí Piña Capó , José Portugal Minguela , Barend L. van Drooge , Xavier Querol Carceller , Andrés Alastuey Urós , Teresa Moreno Pérez , Sharon Ridolfo

Support: Marina Ricarte Aliaga

Funding: European Project

https://www.npets-project.eu/

Next4Mob

Next Generation Tools for advanced mobility solutions

The main goal of Next4Mob is to build the basis for the next generation of innovative methods and an opensource toolset that advances the state-of-the-art in urban transport modelling and prediction, with a high level of applicability for decision-making in the field of transport and urban planning.
IDAEA will lead differents workplans which main objective is: to collect and analyze mobility, demographics, socio-economics, and land use data; to improve our knowledge of air pollutants in the city, to help predict their likely reductions resulting from the implementation of different scenarios that will be considered in the case studies in Next4Mob (such as low emission zones, LEZ) and to calculate the emissions for the whole city of Valladolid and for the low emission zone (LEZ) for different implementation scenarios, with varying types of restrictions.

Priority Line: Smart urban and metropolitan mobility strategies
Participants: IFISC-CSIX; IDAEA-CSIC; IEGD-CSIC; Transyt – Universidad Politecnica de Madrid UPM; Universidad de Cantabria; Autobuses Urbanos de Valladolid.
Funding: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (reference: PLEC2021-007824)

Start Date: 01/06/2021 – End Date: 31/05/2024

Project Leader: Teresa Moreno Pérez

Researchers: Mar Viana Rodríguez , Andrés Alastuey Urós , Fulvio Amato , Inés González de Castro

Funding: European Project

LIFE REMY

Reducing Emission Modelling uncertaintY

REMY project, through a detailed quantitative modelling analysis in three EU critical areas (Po Valley -IT, Catalonia - E, Southern Poland - PL), investigates the impact of uncertainty in pollutants emission and air dispersion models that could negatively affect air quality plan, both on the regional and the local scale, leading to the identification of ineffective emission abatement strategies.

Entidad financiadora: European Commission (LIFE program)

Start Date: 01/05/2021 – End Date: 30/04/2024

Project Leader: Fulvio Amato

Researchers: Federica Ippolito , Teresa Moreno Pérez , Aurelio Tobías Garces , Marco Pandolfi

Funding: European Project

https://liferemy.eu/