Impact of the leakage of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) on Santiago Air Quality

Tai‐Yih Chen,Isobel J Simpson,Donald R Blake,F Sherwood Rowland

doi:10.1029/2000gl012703

Tai‐Yih Chen, Isobel J Simpson + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1029/2000gl012703

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Abstract

The leakage of unburned liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is a major source of urban nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) in the air of Santiago, Chile. Roughly 5% of the LPG that is sold in Santiago leaks in its unburned form to the atmosphere. Because of the leakage, propane is the most abundant NMHC in Santiago's air, even under heavy traffic conditions. NMHCs are an important precursor to the formation of ground‐level ozone, and the LPG leakage may contribute as much as 15% to the excess ozone levels in Santiago. Improvement to the local air quality may be obtained by lowering the rates of LPG leakage, and by minimizing the use of alkene‐rich LPG formulations.

Highlights

43 sampleswere collectedat the samelocationsat 9 a.m., afterthemorningtraffic activitieshadfully evolved.Santiagois hometo 40% of Chile's inhabitants8, 00,000 A comparisonof the 5 and 9 a.m. resultsrepresentsthe vehicles and 70% of the nation's industries [INE, 1995; effectsof emissionsc, hemistryandmeteorologicatlransport.Romeroet al., 1999].With a populationof 5 million,Santiago In general,the studyarea had stableatmosphericconditions is one of Latin America'smostpollutedcities.The city of andweakwindsw, itha medianwindspeedof 1.1kmhr-Santiagoliesin aninlandclosedbasinandis underpermanent [Chenet al., 1999].The rapiddaytimeboundarylayergrowth subsidenceand thermal inversion layers [Eskeland, 1997; hadnotbegunby 9 a.m., andit is appropriateto comparethe Romero et al, 1999]
Exceedthe 1-hr air qualitystandardof 80 partsper billion by The samples were returned to our laboratory at the volume(ppbv)throughoutthe year,especiallyin the summer Universityof California- Irvine (UCI) andwereanalyzedfor
The three main types of LPG that are used in Santiago ('Propano', 'Butano' and 'Catalytico') were analyzedfor 12 C2-C5hydrocarbonsby Abastibleat their formulationplant

Summary

Introduction

43 sampleswere collectedat the samelocationsat 9 a.m., afterthemorningtraffic activitieshadfully evolved. Asthemostimportantair pollutionsourcesa, ndprogramsare in placeto reduceindustrialandvehicularpollutantemissions Results and Discussion [Romeroet al., 1999; www.conama.cl].,whereas ethene,ethyneandi-pentanearesignaturegasesfor vehicular Composition of Santiago LPG exhaustand gasolineemissionso, ur investigationhas found that Santiago'sair is rich in propane,i-butaneandn-butane. The three main types of LPG that are used in Santiago ('Propano', 'Butano' and 'Catalytico') were analyzedfor 12 C2-C5hydrocarbonsby Abastibleat their formulationplant. Alkanes[Blake and Rowland,1995], and a major component The analysisshowsthat propane,n-butane,and i-butaneare of thenonmethanehydrocarbon(sNMHCs) in Santiago'sair the dominantNMHCs in the SantiagoLPG formulations resultfrom the emissionsof liquefiedpetroleumgas(LPG), whichis usedextensivelythroughouSt antiagofor domestic (Table 1). The percentagesthat Propano,Butanoand Catalyticoeach contribute to LPG's share of the local NMHC burden in NowatInstitutoefEarthScienceAsc, ademiSainicaT,aipei. An averageLPG compositionfor Santiagowas determinedusing these 'burden shares'and the respective compositionsof Propano,Butano and Catalytico(Table 1). Santiagois showna, ndthecompositionosf MexicoCity and mixing ratios, and assumingthat each measuredmedian. LPG wasanalyzedfor 12C2-CNMHCs. The Santiago mixingratioscorrespotnodburdenosf 80,20and12tonsof propane,n-butaneand i-butane,respectivelyl,eaking daily

Propano ButanoCatalyticoAvgLPG CityLPG LPG

Findings

Conclusions