Anthropogenic Emission Inventory of Criteria Air Pollutants of an Urban Agglomeration - National Capital Region (NCR), Delhi

ABSTRACT

This study aims to develop a spatial high-resolution emission inventory (2 km × 2 km) of criteria air pollutants (CO, NO_x, SO₂ and PM₁₀) for National Capital Region (NCR), Delhi. The inventory is centered at the metropolitan area of Delhi, and includes adjoining parts of the neighboring states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh within an area of 70 km by 70 km for the year 2010. The bottom-up gridded emission inventory has been prepared taking into account land use pattern, population density as well as industrial areas which includes major emission sources of the region, namely vehicular exhaust, road-dust re-suspension, domestic, industrial, power plants, brick kilns, aircrafts and waste sectors. Data corresponding to various sectors along with related emission factors have been acquired from literature and various regulatory bodies for the study domain. The results reveal that total estimated emissions from vehicular exhaust, road dust and power plants contribute nearly 52%, 83%, 74% and 54% of PM₁₀, SO₂, NO_x and CO emission respectively. Transport sector has been found as the bulk contributor towards CO and NO_x emissions. Coal-fired power plants corresponds to the most polluting sector with regard to SO₂ contributing ~67%. Power plants Badarpur, Rajghat, Indraprastha and Faridabad power plant emerged as the primary hotspots for SO₂ and PM₁₀ emissions. Further, Primary and secondary emission hotspots for each criteria pollutant has been identified and discussed in detail for the year 2010. In addition to it, forward trajectory analysis has been performed to assess the impact of emissions over the regional scale. Finally, a qualitative approach has been employed to assess the uncertainty in the emission estimates.