Quantifying Aircraft Lead Emissions at Airports

Abstract

One primary objective of ACRP Project 02-34, “Quantifying Aircraft Lead Emissions at Airports,” was to review and improve upon existing methodologies to quantify and characterize aircraft-related lead (Pb) emissions at airports with significant populations of aircraft that use leaded aviation gasoline. The study involved the five major phases: 1) A review of existing methodologies for quantifying aircraft-related Pb emissions; 2) Development of a refined methodology for estimating aircraft-related Pb emissions inventories that addresses shortcomings with existing methodologies identified during the critical review; 3) Conducting month-long field studies at each of three selected airports to gather site-specific data regarding aircraft activity, the lead content of aviation gasoline used at the airport, and data regarding ambient Pb concentrations, Pb particle size distributions, and Pb isotope ratios; 4) Application of the refined methodology to develop Pb emission inventories for three selected airports using both readily available activity data as well as the site-specific data; and 5) Validation of the refined methodology through comparison of dispersion modeling results based on the inventory computed using site-specific data with ambient Pb measurements made during the field study.