Measurement of re-suspended road dust emission factor using mobile laboratory and flux tower

Abstract

Re-suspended road dust is one of the main urban atmospheric pollutants. Thus, systematic management of polluted roads is essential, which requires precise measurement of re-suspended road dust emission factors. A mobile laboratory (ML) and a flux tower (FT) were used to measure re-suspended road dust. Re-suspended road dust concentration was measured while driving the ML at speeds of 40, 50, and 60 km/h along straight sections of five different roads in Incheon City, Korea. The correlation between measurements using the ML and the FT was anlyzed according to the ML speed. The results revealed a linear relationship between the mass concentration measured by the ML and the emission factor obtained from the FT. At faster ML speeds, the same emission factor was associated with higher concentrations measured by the ML. Thus, if the ML measurements are adjusted for the ML speed by employing the methods of this study, re-suspended road dust emission factors can be measured more accurately. Based on these findings, it is expected that the use of the MLs will contribute to reducing re-suspended road dust by enabling more effective management of road pollution levels.