Impact of the different vehicle fleets on PM10 pollution: Comparison between the ten most populous Italian metropolitan cities for the year 2018

Fabrizio Pini; Giuseppe Piras; Davide Astiaso Garcia; Paolo Di Girolamo

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145524

Impact of the different vehicle fleets on PM10 pollution: Comparison between the ten most populous Italian metropolitan cities for the year 2018

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Jun 15:773:145524. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145524. Epub 2021 Feb 1.

Authors

Fabrizio Pini¹, Giuseppe Piras², Davide Astiaso Garcia³, Paolo Di Girolamo⁴

Affiliations

¹ Interdepartmental Centre for Landscape, Building, Conservation, Environment (CITERA), Sapienza University of Rome, Via A. Gramsci, 53, 00197 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: fabrizio.pini@gmail.com.
² Department of Astronautics, Electrical and Energy Engineering (DIAEE), Sapienza University of Rome, Via Eudossiana, 18, 00184 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: giuseppe.piras@uniroma1.it.
³ Department of Astronautics, Electrical and Energy Engineering (DIAEE), Sapienza University of Rome, Via Eudossiana, 18, 00184 Rome, Italy; Department of Planning, Design, and Technology of Architecture (PDTA), Sapienza University of Rome, Via Flaminia 72, 00196, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: davide.astiasogarcia@uniroma1.it.
⁴ Scuola di Ingegneria, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, Viale dell'Ateneo Lucano, 10, 85100 Potenza, Italy. Electronic address: paolo.digirolamo@unibas.it.

PMID: 33592474
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145524

Abstract

The main aim of this research effort is to assess the impact of the different circulating vehicle fleets on PM10 pollution, comparing the results from the ten most populated metropolitan cities in Italy. Circulating diesel vehicles have been categorized in different groups depending on the vehicle type (car or Light Commercial Vehicle - LCV) and European emission standard. The annual mileage and the total PM10 emission for each category has been determined based on several data sources. Estimated overall annual emissions of PM10 particles have been compared with PM10 concentration measurements from distributed ground monitoring stations. A new index, named SoP (Strength of Pollution), has been defined in order to quantify the contribution of each fleet category to the overall PM10 pollution. The index has been computed for the ten most populated Italian metropolitan cities, i.e. all cities with more than 300.000 inhabits: Rome, Milan, Naples, Turin, Palermo, Genoa, Bologna, Florence, Bari and Catania. Results in terms of SoP estimates for year 2018 reveal the presence in these Italian cities of emission clusters with heterogeneous characteristics, which impose the adoption of different PM10 pollution mitigation approaches in the different cities. For example, in Naples, Catania and Palermo, Euro 0 car fleets emit a total PM10 mass which is respectively 19, 10 and 5 times the mass emitted by Euro 6 vehicles, and consequently a reduction of this fleet is desirable for pollution mitigation purposes. Conversely, in Rome, Genoa and Bari, Euro 3 and 4 car fleets emit a total PM10 mass which is 3-6 times the one emitted by Euro 6 vehicles, which calls for a reduction of these fleets. Thus, the extension to the entire national territory of the results obtained in a specific metropolitan city may be strongly misleading and produce limited effects in terms of pollution mitigation.

Keywords: 2018; Cars fleets impact on PM10; Italy; LCVs (light commercial vehicle) fleets impact on PM10; PM10 pollution.