Iqbal Hossan¹, Hongbo Du¹, Raghava R. Kommalapati^1,2*

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¹ Center for Energy & Environmental Sustainability, Prairie View A & M University, Prairie View, USA.
² Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Prairie View A & M University, Prairie View, USA.
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Abstract: The Houston-Galveston-Brazoria (HGB) area of Texas has historically experienced severe air pollution events with high concentrations of ozone (O₃) during the summer season. This study evaluates the contribution of different anthropogenic sources to ozone formation in the HGB area. The Emission Processing System (EPS3) is used to process emission files in four different scenarios (Base case as including All emission sources (BC), All sources— Area sources (AMA), All sources—Point sources (AMP), and All sources— Mobile sources (AMM). These files are used as input in photochemical modeling with the Comprehensive Air Quality Model with Extensions (CAMx) to simulate ozone formation. The data is analyzed for daily maximum ozone concentrations and contribution of source categories at three air quality monitoring locations (La Porte Sylvan beach-C556, Houston Texas avenue-C411, and Texas city in Galveston-C683) for a study period of June 1-June 30, 2012. The contribution of the point sources to ozone formation is dominated at all three locations, followed by mobile sources and area sources on high ozone days. The relative contributions of point sources are 27.51% ± 3.53%, 21.45% ± 7.36%, and 30.30% ± 9.36%; and mobile sources are 18.27% ± 2.22%, 20.60% ± 6.89%, and 18.61% ± 7.43%; and area sources were 4.2% ± 1.65%, 5.21% ± 1.59%, and 3.72% ± 1.52% at C556, C411, and C683, respectively. These results demonstrate the importance of regulatory focus on controlling point and mobile source emissions for NAAQS attainment in the study region.

Keywords: Anthropogenic Sources, CAMx, Model Sensitivity, Ozone Precursors

Cite this paper: Hossan, I. , Du, H. and Kommalapati, R. (2021) Anthropogenic Source Contributions to Ozone Formation in the Greater Houston Area. Journal of Environmental Protection, 12, 249-264. doi: 10.4236/jep.2021.124016.

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