This study estimates the effect on air quality of retrofitting SCRT on about 300 urban buses in Copenhagen from September 2015 to March 2016. The retrofitted buses were of Euro III, Euro IV and EEV emission standards. The specific SCRT technology applies ammonia as injected into the exhaust as a gas as opposed to normally as a liquid (urea). This technology is more efficient in reducing NOx emissions, especially under urban driving conditions with relatively low exhaust temperatures. The estimation of the effect is based on air quality model calculations for 98 selected busy streets in Copenhagen for 2015 based on, among others, information from the Zealand public transport agency about buses with and without retrofitted SCRT. More detailed analyses were conducted for two of the streets where fixed air quality measuring stations are located in Copenhagen. Furthermore, a before-after analysis of the development of measured concentrations at fixed measuring stations was carried out to isolate the effect of the retrofitted SCRT. The model calculations showed substantial reductions in emissions of NOx and exhaust particles from each bus (90%) but low reductions in concentrations of NO2, PM2.5 and PM10, respectively 3% for 98 streets on average for NO2, and 0.1%[0.2%] for PM2.5 and 0.07%[0.1%] for PM10 for H.C. Andersen Boulevard and [Jagtvej]. Based on the analysis of trends in the measurements it was not possible to isolate an effect of SCRT on urban buses in Copenhagen probably due to the large variations in meteorology affecting the variations in concentrations.
Keywords: SCRT; air quality; modelling; retrofit; urban bus.