Evaluating the Impact of a Wall-Type Green Infrastructure on PM<sub>10</sub> and NOx Concentrations in an Urban Street Environment
Nature-based solutions can represent beneficial tools in the field of urban transformation for their contribution to important environmental services such as air quality improvement. To evaluate the impact on urban air pollution of a CityTree (CT), an innovative wall-type green infrastructure in pas...
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doaj-18040f1dafd3470f9422be4ee8ea09572021-07-23T13:30:34ZengMDPI AGAtmosphere2073-44332021-06-011283983910.3390/atmos12070839Evaluating the Impact of a Wall-Type Green Infrastructure on PM<sub>10</sub> and NOx Concentrations in an Urban Street EnvironmentMaria Gabriella Villani0Felicita Russo1Mario Adani2Antonio Piersanti3Lina Vitali4Gianni Tinarelli5Luisella Ciancarella6Gabriele Zanini7Antonio Donateo8Matteo Rinaldi9Claudio Carbone10Stefano Decesari11Peter Sänger12ENEA, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, SSTP-MET-INAT, 40129 Bologna, ItalyENEA, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, SSTP-MET-INAT, 40129 Bologna, ItalyENEA, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, SSTP-MET-INAT, 40129 Bologna, ItalyENEA, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, SSTP-MET-INAT, 40129 Bologna, ItalyENEA, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, SSTP-MET-INAT, 40129 Bologna, ItalyARIANET S.r.l., Via Gilino n.9, 20128 Milano, ItalyENEA, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, SSTP-MET-INAT, 40129 Bologna, ItalyENEA, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, SSTP-MET-INAT, 40129 Bologna, ItalyIstituto di Scienze dell’Atmosfera e del Clima, ISAC-CNR, 73100 Lecce, ItalyIstituto di Scienze dell’Atmosfera e del Clima, ISAC-CNR, 40129 Bologna, ItalyENEA, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, TERIN-PSU-ABI, 40129 Bologna, ItalyIstituto di Scienze dell’Atmosfera e del Clima, ISAC-CNR, 40129 Bologna, ItalyGreen City Solutions GmbH, 15741 Bestensee, GermanyNature-based solutions can represent beneficial tools in the field of urban transformation for their contribution to important environmental services such as air quality improvement. To evaluate the impact on urban air pollution of a CityTree (CT), an innovative wall-type green infrastructure in passive (deposition) and active (filtration) modes of operation, a study was conducted in a real urban setting in Modena (Italy) during 2017 and 2018, combining experimental measurements with modelling system evaluations. In this work, relying on the computational resources of CRESCO (Computational Centre for Research on Complex Systems)/ENEAGRID High Performance Computing infrastructure, we used the air pollution microscale model PMSS (Parallel Micro-SWIFT-Micro SPRAY) to simulate air quality during the experimental campaigns. The spatial characteristics of the impact of the CT on local air pollutants concentrations, specifically nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM<sub>10</sub>), were assessed. In particular, we used prescribed bulk deposition velocities provided by the experimental campaigns, which tested the CT both in passive (deposition) and in active (filtration) mode of operation. Our results showed that the PM<sub>10</sub> and NOx concentration reductions reach from more than 0.1% up to about 0.8% within an area of 10 × 20 m<sup>2</sup> around the infrastructure, when the green infrastructure operates in passive mode. In filtration mode the CT exhibited higher performances in the abatement of PM<sub>10</sub> concentrations (between 1.5% and 15%), within approximately the same area. We conclude that CTs may find an application in air quality hotspots within specific urban settings (i.e., urban street canyons) where a very localized reduction of pollutants concentration during rush hours might be of interest to limit population exposure. The optimization of the spatial arrangement of CT modules to increment the “clean air zone” is a factor to be investigated in the ongoing development of the CT technology.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/12/7/839urban air pollutionnature-based solutionsgreen infrastructurePMSS Lagrangian modelNOxPM<sub>10</sub> |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Maria Gabriella Villani Felicita Russo Mario Adani Antonio Piersanti Lina Vitali Gianni Tinarelli Luisella Ciancarella Gabriele Zanini Antonio Donateo Matteo Rinaldi Claudio Carbone Stefano Decesari Peter Sänger |
spellingShingle |
Maria Gabriella Villani Felicita Russo Mario Adani Antonio Piersanti Lina Vitali Gianni Tinarelli Luisella Ciancarella Gabriele Zanini Antonio Donateo Matteo Rinaldi Claudio Carbone Stefano Decesari Peter Sänger Evaluating the Impact of a Wall-Type Green Infrastructure on PM<sub>10</sub> and NOx Concentrations in an Urban Street Environment Atmosphere urban air pollution nature-based solutions green infrastructure PMSS Lagrangian model NOx PM<sub>10</sub> |
author_facet |
Maria Gabriella Villani Felicita Russo Mario Adani Antonio Piersanti Lina Vitali Gianni Tinarelli Luisella Ciancarella Gabriele Zanini Antonio Donateo Matteo Rinaldi Claudio Carbone Stefano Decesari Peter Sänger |
author_sort |
Maria Gabriella Villani |
title |
Evaluating the Impact of a Wall-Type Green Infrastructure on PM<sub>10</sub> and NOx Concentrations in an Urban Street Environment |
title_short |
Evaluating the Impact of a Wall-Type Green Infrastructure on PM<sub>10</sub> and NOx Concentrations in an Urban Street Environment |
title_full |
Evaluating the Impact of a Wall-Type Green Infrastructure on PM<sub>10</sub> and NOx Concentrations in an Urban Street Environment |
title_fullStr |
Evaluating the Impact of a Wall-Type Green Infrastructure on PM<sub>10</sub> and NOx Concentrations in an Urban Street Environment |
title_full_unstemmed |
Evaluating the Impact of a Wall-Type Green Infrastructure on PM<sub>10</sub> and NOx Concentrations in an Urban Street Environment |
title_sort |
evaluating the impact of a wall-type green infrastructure on pm<sub>10</sub> and nox concentrations in an urban street environment |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Atmosphere |
issn |
2073-4433 |
publishDate |
2021-06-01 |
description |
Nature-based solutions can represent beneficial tools in the field of urban transformation for their contribution to important environmental services such as air quality improvement. To evaluate the impact on urban air pollution of a CityTree (CT), an innovative wall-type green infrastructure in passive (deposition) and active (filtration) modes of operation, a study was conducted in a real urban setting in Modena (Italy) during 2017 and 2018, combining experimental measurements with modelling system evaluations. In this work, relying on the computational resources of CRESCO (Computational Centre for Research on Complex Systems)/ENEAGRID High Performance Computing infrastructure, we used the air pollution microscale model PMSS (Parallel Micro-SWIFT-Micro SPRAY) to simulate air quality during the experimental campaigns. The spatial characteristics of the impact of the CT on local air pollutants concentrations, specifically nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM<sub>10</sub>), were assessed. In particular, we used prescribed bulk deposition velocities provided by the experimental campaigns, which tested the CT both in passive (deposition) and in active (filtration) mode of operation. Our results showed that the PM<sub>10</sub> and NOx concentration reductions reach from more than 0.1% up to about 0.8% within an area of 10 × 20 m<sup>2</sup> around the infrastructure, when the green infrastructure operates in passive mode. In filtration mode the CT exhibited higher performances in the abatement of PM<sub>10</sub> concentrations (between 1.5% and 15%), within approximately the same area. We conclude that CTs may find an application in air quality hotspots within specific urban settings (i.e., urban street canyons) where a very localized reduction of pollutants concentration during rush hours might be of interest to limit population exposure. The optimization of the spatial arrangement of CT modules to increment the “clean air zone” is a factor to be investigated in the ongoing development of the CT technology. |
topic |
urban air pollution nature-based solutions green infrastructure PMSS Lagrangian model NOx PM<sub>10</sub> |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/12/7/839 |
work_keys_str_mv |
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