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Photocatalytic abatement results from a model street canyon

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Abstract

During the European Life+ project PhotoPAQ (Demonstration of Photocatalytic remediation Processes on Air Quality), photocatalytic remediation of nitrogen oxides (NOx), ozone (O3), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and airborne particles on photocatalytic cementitious coating materials was studied in an artificial street canyon setup by comparing with a colocated nonactive reference canyon of the same dimension (5 × 5 × 53 m). Although the photocatalytic material showed reasonably high activity in laboratory studies, no significant reduction of NOx, O3, and VOCs and no impact on particle mass, size distribution, and chemical composition were observed in the field campaign. When comparing nighttime and daytime correlation plots of the two canyons, an average upper limit NOx remediation of ≤2 % was derived. This result is consistent only with three recent field studies on photocatalytic NOx remediation in the urban atmosphere, whereas much higher reductions were obtained in most other field investigations. Reasons for the controversial results are discussed, and a more consistent picture of the quantitative remediation is obtained after extrapolation of the results from the various field campaigns to realistic main urban street canyon conditions.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the European Commission through the Life+ grant LIFE 08 ENV/F/000487 PHOTOPAQ. The authors also want to thank Mr. Daniele Salvi for his technical help during the campaigns at the Petosino site.

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Author notes

  1. R. Ciuraru

    Present address: University of Bordeaux, EPOC UMR 5805, F-33405, Talence cedex, France

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physikalische und Theoretische Chemie/FB C, Bergische Universität Wuppertal (BUW), Gaußstr. 20, 42119, Wuppertal, Germany

    M. Gallus, S. Ifang, R. Kurtenbach & J. Kleffmann

  2. Université de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, UMR5256, IRCELYON, Institut de recherches sur la catalyse et l’environnement de Lyon, Villeurbanne, F-69626, France

    R. Ciuraru, F. Bernard, A. Boréave, N. Charbonnel, Y. Dupart & C. George

  3. Leibniz-Institut für Troposphärenforschung e.V. (TROPOS), Atmospheric Chemistry Department, Permoserstraße 15, 04318, Leipzig, Germany

    F. Mothes, H. Herrmann & L. Poulain

  4. Laboratory of Heat Transfer and Environmental Engineering (LHTEE), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Box 483, GR 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece

    V. Akylas, F. Barmpas & N. Moussiopoulos

  5. Belgian Road Research Centre (BRRC), Woluwedal 42-1200, Brussels, Belgium

    A. Beeldens & E. Boonen

  6. Institut de Combustion, Aérothermique, Réactivité et Environnement (ICARE), CNRS (UPR 3021)/OSUC, 1C Avenue de la Recherche Scientifique, Orléans, France

    M. Cazaunau, H. Chen, V. Daële, B. Grosselin & A. Mellouki

  7. LISA, UMR CNRS 7583, Université Paris Est Créteil et Université Paris Diderot, Institut Pierre Simon Laplace, Créteil, France

    C. Gaimoz, M. Maille, I. Marjanovic, V. Michoud, K. Miet, P. Zapf & J. F. Doussin

  8. CNRS, EPOC UMR 5805, F-33405, Talence cedex, France

    R. Ciuraru

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  1. M. Gallus
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Correspondence to J. Kleffmann.

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Gallus, M., Ciuraru, R., Mothes, F. et al. Photocatalytic abatement results from a model street canyon. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 18185–18196 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4926-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4926-4

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