Publikasjoner

Enhancing air quality monitoring near primary schools using NO2 passive samplers and low-cost sensors: insights from the comobility initiative in Warsaw, Poland

Hassani, Amirhossein; Castell, Nuria; Salamalikis, Vasileios; Nicińska, Anna

Nonexhaust emissions in road tunnels

Markelj, Miha; Weydahl, Torleif; Grythe, Henrik; Lopez-Aparicio, Susana

Suburban dreams to the detriment of the city centre

Grythe, Henrik; Lopez-Aparicio, Susana; Markelj, Miha

Clearing the Air: Navigating Emissions, Incentives, and Sustainability

Lopez-Aparicio, Susana; Grythe, Henrik

A conceptual framework to enable the implementation of circular economy strategies in support of sustainable production and consumption

Müller, Stephanie; Lachat, Ambroise; Francisco Morgado, Joana; Wäger, Patrick; Wewer, Valentin; Mintjes, Berend A.; Fernández, Elena; Bouman, Evert Alwin; Abbasi, Golnoush

Måling av flyktige organiske forbindelser hos Preståsen skole i Nannestad

Håland, Alexander

NILU

Reviderte beregninger av luftkvalitet ved Bjørnheimveien 26

Weydahl, Torleif; Tønnesen, Dag

NILU har blitt engasjert av Prem Partners II A/S for å vurdere utbredelse av luftsoner for dagens situasjon og en framtidig situasjon med foreslått boligblokk i Bjørnheimveien 26. Det er anvendt en Gaussisk spredningsmodell for linjekilder (Hiway-2). Når det tas hensyn til lokal topografi ved det aktuelle området, viser beregningene at den nye bygningen i hovedsak faller utenfor rød luftsone på bakkenivå, med unntak av det sørøstre hjørnet av bygningen som beregningene indikerer at ligger innenfor. Videre viser beregningene at skjermingseffekten for eksisterende bebyggelse av en ny bygning er marginal. Rapporten er en revisjon av NILU-rapport 15/2021.

NILU

Stepping-up accurate quantification of chlorinated paraffins: Successful certification of the first matrix reference material

Ricci, Marina; de Boer, Jacob; Johansen, Jon Eigill; Huiling, Liu; Dumas, Pierre; Warner, Nicholas Alexander; Pērkons, Ingus; McGrath, Thomas Jacob; Borgen, Anders; Bjørneby, Stine Marie; Tomasko, Jakub; Steer, Helena; Lentjes, Anouk; van Velzen, Martin; van Mourik, Louise

Background
Chlorinated paraffins (CPs) are industrial chemicals categorised as persistent organic pollutants because of their toxicity, persistency and tendency to long-range transport, bioaccumulation and biomagnification. Despite having been the subject of environmental attention for decades, analytical methods for CPs still struggle reaching a sufficient degree of accuracy. Among the issues negatively impacting the quantification of CPs, the unavailability of well-characterised standards, both as pure substances and as matrix (certified) reference materials (CRMs), has played a major role. The focus of this study was to provide a matrix CRM as quality control tool to improve the comparability of CPs measurement results.

Results
We present the process of certification of ERM®-CE100, the first fish reference material assigned with certified values for the mass fraction of short-chain and medium-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs and MCCPs, respectively). The certification was performed in accordance with ISO 17034:2016 and ISO Guide 35:2017, with the value assignment step carried out via an intercomparison of laboratories of demonstrated competence in CPs analysis and applying procedures based on different analytical principles. After confirmation of the homogeneity and stability of the CRM, two certified values were assigned for SCCPs, depending on the calibrants used: 31 ± 9 μg kg−1 and 23 ± 7 μg kg−1. The MCCPs certified value was established as 44 ± 17 μg kg−1. All assigned values are relative to wet weight in the CRM that was produced as a fish paste to enhance similarity to routine biota samples.

Significance and novelty
The fish tissue ERM-CE100 is the first matrix CRM commercially available for the analysis of CPs, enabling analytical laboratories to improve the accuracy and the metrological traceability of their measurements. The certified CPs values are based on results obtained by both gas and liquid chromatography coupled with various mass spectrometric techniques, offering thus a broad validity to laboratories employing different analytical methods and equipment.

Elsevier

VKM’s methodology document for health and environmental risk assessments for use in the Panel on Plant Protection Products

Stenrød, Marianne; Bloem, Esther; Boahene, Nana Yaa; Holth, Tor Fredrik; Hofer, Tim; Müller, Mette Helen Bjørge; Rundén-Pran, Elise; Vogelsang, Christian

Vitenskapskomiteen for mat og miljø (VKM) har oppdatert et metodedokument for helse og miljørisikovurderinger av plantevernmidler.

Målet med oppdateringen er å gjenspeile gjeldende regelverk og praksis, og sikre kvaliteten på fremtidige risikovurderinger utført av faggruppen for plantevernmidler i VKM. Det forrige metodedokumentet er fra 2012, og oppdateringen var nødvendig for å tilpasse metodene til nytt EU-regelverk for plantevernmidler, og for å innarbeide nye datakrav og retningslinjer for plantevernmidler og biocider. Ved å oppdatere metodedokumentet, ønsket faggruppen å sikre at risikovurderingene de leverer er i tråd med gjeldende regelverket og vitenskapelig kunnskap. ​

​Viktige endringer
Dokumentet er oppdatert med henvisninger til nye forskrifter og veiledninger, om for eksempel biocider, nye typer plantevernmidler, og forenklet godkjenning/risikovurdering for mikrobielle stoffer. Det nye dokumentet inneholder også veiledning om fareidentifikasjon av stoffer med hormonforstyrrende egenskaper, alternative metoder for å redusere toksikologisk testing hos dyr, og vurdering av ikke-kostholdeksponering av plantevernmidler.

Dokumentet inneholder oppdatert informasjon om metodikk knyttet til vurdering av plantevernmidlers egenskaper og skjebne i miljøet, inkludert norske jord- og klimaforhold, renseanlegg og drikkevannsrenseprosesser. Veiledning om risikovurdering for bier og andre insekter, akvatiske organismer, fugler, pattedyr og andre vertebrater, samt meitemark og andre jordlevende organismer, er også oppdatert. Innen flere av feltene er eller vil det bli etablert spesifikke beskyttelsesmål og trinnvise risikovurderinger.

Samlet sett fungerer det oppdaterte metodedokumentet som en referanse for VKMs risikovurderingsarbeid for plantevernmidler, og sikrer at fremtidige vurderinger gjennomføres i samsvar med gjeldende regelverk og vitenskapelig kunnskap. ​

Metode
VKM har benyttet en semi-systematisk tilnærming, ved å utarbeide et arbeidsdokument for innhenting og sammenstilling av nødvendig informasjon om nye datakrav fra gjeldende regelverk for plantevernmidler og biocider i EU.

Dokumentet er godkjent av VKMs faggruppe for plantevernmidler.

Dechloranes and chlorinated paraffins in sediments and biota of two subarctic lakes

Arriola, Aline; Al Saify, Insam; Warner, Nicholas Alexander; Herzke, Dorte; Harju, Mikael; Amundsen, Per-Arne; Evenset, Anita; Möckel, Claudia; Krogseth, Ingjerd Sunde

Our understanding of the environmental behavior, bioaccumulation and concentrations of chlorinated paraffins (CPs) and Dechloranes (Dec) in the Arctic environment is still limited, particularly in freshwater ecosystems. In this descriptive study, short chain (SCCPs) and medium chain (MCCPs) CPs, Dechlorane Plus (DP) and analogues, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were measured in sediments, benthic organisms, three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) and brown trout (Salmo trutta) in two Sub-Arctic lakes in Northern Norway. Takvannet (TA) is a remote lake, with no known local sources for organic contaminants, while Storvannet (ST) is situated in a populated area. SCCPs and MCCPs were detected in all sediment samples from ST with concentration of 42.26–115.29 ng/g dw and 66.18–136.69 ng/g dw for SCCPs and MCCPs, respectively. Only SCCPs were detected in TA sediments (0.4–5.28 ng/g dw). In biota samples, sticklebacks and benthic organisms showed the highest concentrations of CPs, while concentrations were low or below detection limits in both char and trout. The congener group patterns observed in both lakes showed SCCP profiles dominated by higher chlorinated congener groups while the MCCPs showed consistency in their profiles, with C14 being the most prevalent carbon chain length. Anti- and syn-DP isomers were detected in all sediment, benthic and stickleback samples with higher concentrations in ST than in TA. However, they were only present in a few char and trout samples from ST. Dec 601 and 604 were below detection limits in all samples in both lakes. Dec 603 was detected only in ST sediments, sticklebacks and 2 trout samples, while Dec 602 was the only DP analogue found in all samples from both lakes. While there were clear differences in sediment concentrations of DP and Dec 602 between ST and TA, differences between lakes decreased with increasing δ15N. This pattern was similar to the PCB behavior, suggesting the lake characteristics in ST are playing an important role in the lack of biomagnification of pollutants in this lake. Our results suggest that ST receives pollutants from local sources in addition to atmospheric transport.

Frontiers Media S.A.

Forecasting the Exceedances of PM2.5 in an Urban Area

Logothetis, Stavros-Andreas; Kosmopoulos, Georgios; Panagopoulos, Orestis; Salamalikis, Vasileios; Kazantzidis, Andreas

Particular matter (PM) constitutes one of the major air pollutants. Human exposure to fine PM (PM with a median diameter less than or equal to 2.5 μm, PM2.5) has many negative and diverse outcomes for human health, such as respiratory mortality, lung cancer, etc. Accurate air-quality forecasting on a regional scale enables local agencies to design and apply appropriate policies (e.g., meet specific emissions limitations) to tackle the problem of air pollution. Under this framework, low-cost sensors have recently emerged as a valuable tool, facilitating the spatiotemporal monitoring of air pollution on a local scale. In this study, we present a deep learning approach (long short-term memory, LSTM) to forecast the intra-day air pollution exceedances across urban and suburban areas. The PM2.5 data used in this study were collected from 12 well-calibrated low-cost sensors (Purple Air) located in the greater area of the Municipality of Thermi in Thessaloniki, Greece. The LSTM-based methodology implements PM2.5 data as well as auxiliary data, meteorological variables from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), which is operated by ECMWF, and time variables related to local emissions to enhance the air pollution forecasting performance. The accuracy of the model forecasts reported adequate results, revealing a correlation coefficient between the measured PM2.5 and the LSTM forecast data ranging between 0.67 and 0.94 for all time horizons, with a decreasing trend as the time horizon increases. Regarding air pollution exceedances, the LSTM forecasting system can correctly capture more than 70.0% of the air pollution exceedance events in the study region. The latter findings highlight the model’s capabilities to correctly detect possible WHO threshold exceedances and provide valuable information regarding local air quality.

MDPI

Limits to graphite supply in a transition to a post-fossil society

Barre, Francis Isidore; Billy, Romain Guillaume; Aguilar Lopez, Fernando; Mueller, Daniel Beat

Transitioning to electric vehicles (EVs) powered by lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) aims at reducing emissions in the transportation sector, thereby decreasing fuel oil use and crude oil extraction. Yet, synthetic graphite, a crucial anode material for LIBs, is produced from needle coke, a byproduct of oil refining. This dependency could lead to bottlenecks in battery anode production. We found no obvious supply constraints for synthetic graphite in slow electrification scenarios based on different International Energy Agency scenarios. In contrast, net zero scenarios reveal drastic limitations in synthetic graphite supply, due to fast electrification and declining needle coke production. Natural graphite can mitigate supply limitations but faces environmental concerns, long development time and geopolitical concerns. Securing graphite supply while reaching the net zero goals requires comprehensive strategies combining (1) systematic graphite recycling, (2) overcoming current technical challenges, and (3) behavioral shifts towards reduced vehicle ownership and smaller vehicles.

Elsevier

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in surface sediments of the North-east Atlantic Ocean: A non-natural PFAS background

Boitsov, Stepan; Bruvold, Are Sæle; Hanssen, Linda; Jensen, Henning; Ali, Aasim Musa Mohamed

The extreme persistence and environmental mobility of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) make their presence ubiquitous in the marine environment. Target analysis of 20 most common PFAS revealed the presence of nine perfluoroalkyl acids at low levels in surface sediments from five Norwegian marine areas covering the vast region from the eastern North Sea in the south to the Arctic Ocean north of Svalbard in the north. After correcting for sediment characteristics, no substantial difference in the sum of the nine PFAS (Σ9PFAS) between the five areas was found. Among separate compounds, PFOS, PFOA and PFNA dominate sample composition. Only two compounds, PFOS and PFUnDA, showed a statistically significant difference for one of the areas, the levels of these compounds being somewhat higher in the southernmost area than in the other areas. This may be due to local inputs in the fjords in this area. Open-sea and coastal sediments of the North-east Atlantic outside of locations with significant local sources seem to share a common, anthropogenic “PFAS background”, which may be part of a larger, global pattern.

Elsevier