Analysis of air pollution from three main transportation vehicles: a case study

ABSTRACT

The environmental effects of transportation vehicles have been steadily increasing for decades. In high traffic regions, the gases released into the atmosphere have become a big threat for all living creatures. In this study, emissions from aircrafts, cars and ships on Tuzla region which include Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport were calculated and the emission estimation for the next 50 years (between 2022 and 2072 years) was made considering the current situation with linear regression method. In the study, considering environmental concerns, changes in these emissions with alternative fuel use were also evaluated. In addition, the emission changes of an aircraft during the flight were calculated. The emission amounts of aircraft, ships and cars in Tuzla region per hour were 389.8 µg/m³ CO₂, 0.454 µg/m³ CO, 0.68297 µg/m³ NO_x, 0.00374 µg/m³ SO_x., 0. 687 µg/m³ SO_x+NO_x, 169 µg/m³ H₂0. It was found that in Istanbul, 13.589 ktons/year of CO₂ and 121.526 tons/year of NO_x, SO_x emissions arise. SO_x + NO_x emission from vehicles at Sabiha Gökçen Airport was calculated as 24.2 kg/h and CO₂ emission was calculated as 455.27 kg/h. It was found that the biggest source of CO was related with LPG vehicles. When the calculated values were compared with the current emissions, it was seen that these emission values were significantly reduced by using alternative fuels. In conclusion, if gasoline is used; CO emissions can be reduced by 6.5%, NO and NO₂ emissions by 27.488%, SO_x+ NO_x emissions by 50.7%. If biodiesel is used, CO₂ emissions can be reduced by 65%. Emissions will increase by 143.7% after 50 years.

KEYWORDS:

• Vehicle emission
• aircraft emission
• high traffic region
• air pollution
• fuel combustion
• alternative fuels

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Tahsin ISTANBULLU, Fly Pegasus Maintenance and Repair Manager, who assisted in providing the fuel data related to the aircraft from Fly Pegasus, and Aydın BOZKURT, Ship Machinery Operations Engineer at Tuzla Port Cooperation, who assisted in obtaining the number and size of ships transiting to Tuzla port. I would like to thank Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ali TÜRKCAN for his comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Munir Suner

Munir Suner his PHD degree from Kocaeli University. Currently he works at Tarsus University. His research interests are Hydrodynamic design, Energy efficiency, air pollution.