Exploring Personal Exposure to Airborne Microplastics across Various Work Environments in Pathum Thani Province, Thailand.

This study used personal air samplers to assess the concentration of airborne microplastics exposed by different occupational groups during their working hours. The personal air sampler was placed in the "breathing zone" of the worker during working hours to collect microplastic exposure data. Occupations examined included housekeepers, laundromat staff, office workers, van drivers, street vendors, maintenance technicians in wastewater treatment plants, and waste segregation officers in the university and market. The level of airborne microplastic exposure was found to be influenced by the daily activities and environmental conditions of the workplace. Waste segregation officers in the university and market exhibited the highest levels of exposure to airborne microplastics, at 3964 ± 2575 microplastics per cubic meter (n/m3) and 3474 ± 678 n/m3, respectively. Further analysis focused on airborne microplastics less than 10 µm in size which can be taken in through inhalation. During the 8 h working period, the waste segregation officer in the university recorded the highest 10 µm airborne microplastic intake, at 5460 pieces, followed by the waste segregation officer in the market at 3301 pieces, housekeepers at 899 pieces, van drivers at 721 pieces, maintenance technicians in WWTPs at 668 pieces, laundromat staff at 454 pieces, street vendors at 249 pieces, and office workers at 131 pieces.

Bi-decadal trend of atmospheric emissions from thermal power plants in Mainland Southeast Asia: Implications on acid deposition and climate change Mitigation.

Steady increase in electricity generation and heavy reliance on coal in Mainland Southeast Asia (M-SEA) create huge pressure on the environment. This study used information collected from individual thermal power plants (TPPs) in M-SEA to calculate emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases (GHG) for 2010, 2015 and 2019. The emissions were projected to 2030 following the latest national Power Development Plans. The emission results were analyzed in relation to the power development by country and fuel type, and environmental impacts. The region collective annual TPP emissions in 2019, in Gg/yr, were 27 PM2.5, 77 PM10, 0.7 BC, 4.9 OC, 255 SO2, 451 NOx, 91 CO, 12 NMVOC, 0.4 NH3, 260 CO2, 13 CH4, and 26 N2O. Coal-fired TPPs dominated the emissions of most species while NG-fired contributed the largest amounts of NH3 and CH4. Bi-decadal increase in energy production from TPPs of nearly 3 times is accompanied by 2.7 times increase in emissions. The 2010-2019 period saw average emissions increase by 1.9 times (TPPs' energy production increased 1.6 times), slightly higher than the rate of 1.4 times projected for 2019-2030 (double TPPs' energy production). The current intrusion rate of renewable energy accompanied by phasing-out of old TPPs are still by far insufficient to reverse the emission trend. Aggressive power development in Vietnam with its heavy coal reliance made it the largest emitter in 2019 and the projected for 2030, followed by Thailand. Spatially, higher emissions are seen over locations of large coal-fired TPPs in Vietnam and Thailand. Available rainwater composition monitoring data showed higher deposition amounts of sulfate and nitrate in areas located near or downwind of large TPPs. Significant GHG emissions projected for TPPs in 2030 indicated that TPPs should be the priority for emission reduction to achieve Nationally Determined Contribution targets. Emission database produced by this study can be used in dispersion modeling studies to assess impacts of TPPs on air quality, health, and acid deposition.

Numerical simulations of the effects of green infrastructure on PM2.5 dispersion in an urban park in Bangkok, Thailand.

Traffic emission has been identified as one of the dominant sources of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in Thailand, and urban green spaces have the capacity to mitigate air pollution. Taking Bangkok as the study area, one of the most polluted cities in Thailand, this study investigated the effect of vegetation on PM2.5 concentration at three different sites with different vegetation characteristics in Chatuchak Park, an urban park located in Bangkok. Sensors were installed at the park to measure PM2.5 and metrological parameters at the roadside and different distances inside the park away from the road, and the ENVI-met model was run to simulate PM2.5 concentration in the three study sites. The result shows that PM2.5 concentration behind the vegetation barrier was reduced 34% on average compared to the concentration next to the road at the three sites. The effect of vegetation on meteorological factors was clearly seen near the park border with a hedgerow grown along the border. The order of influence of meteorological factors on PM2.5 concentration was relative humidity > potential temperature > wind speed > wind direction. Two scenarios including changes in weather patterns and types of vegetation that affect PM2.5 concentration were studied. Changing in the wind direction from oblique to perpendicular to the park had no significant effect on PM2.5 concentration as long as there is a dense hedgerow along the park border. Comparing to the current vegetation, sparse vegetation with less leaf area density and higher crown base heights had lower impact to mitigate PM2.5 concentration in the park. Our study provides information on vegetation and landscape strategies which can provide good air quality in the urban parks for better park design in the future.

Fate identification and management strategies of non-recyclable plastic waste through the integration of material flow analysis and leakage hotspot modeling.

Low priority on waste management has impacted the complex environmental issue of plastic waste pollution, as evident by results of this study where it was found that 24.3% of waste generation in Jakarta and Bandung is emitted into the waterway due to the high intensity of human activity in the urban area. In this study, we investigated the viable integration between material flow analysis and leakage hotspot modeling to improve management strategies for plastic pollution in water systems and open environments. Using a multi-criteria assessment of plastic leakage from current waste management, a material flow analysis was developed on a city-wide scale defining the fate of plastic waste. Geospatial analysis was assigned to develop a calculation for identification and hydrological analysis while identifying the potential amount of plastic leakage to the river system. The results show that 2603 tons of plastic accumulated along the mainstream of the Ciliwung River on an annual basis, and a high-density population like that in Bandung discarded 1547 tons in a one-year period to the Cikapundung River. The methods and results of this study are applicable towards improving the control mechanisms of river rejuvenation from plastic leakage by addressing proper management in concentrated locations.

Access to Digital Information and Protective Awareness and Practices towards COVID-19 in Urban Marginalized Communities.

Due to digital inequality, poor living, and health care conditions, marginalized people are the most vulnerable group to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examined how digital information influences knowledge, practices, threat appraisals, and motivation behaviors of urban marginalized communities. It examined slum people's digital competencies, their access to COVID-19 online information, and their trust in COVID-19 information provided by both online and offline media. A total of 453 slum people in Bangkok city, Thailand were surveyed, and multiple regression was performed to examine whether socio-demographic factors influence the access to online communication of slum people. We hypothesized that access to online information might affect marginalized people's awareness of COVID-19 and resulted in greater levels of their practices and protective behaviors. The finding showed that slum people who had access to online information tended to have a better awareness of self-protection against COVID-19, while elderly, female, and foreign migrant workers faced a number of constraints in accessing COVID-19 online information. Such results are important considering the pandemic is compelling societies to turn toward digital technologies to confront the COVID-19 pandemic and address pandemic-related issues. We also discuss how to enhance the role of digital communication in helping urban marginalized communities during and after the pandemic.

Efficient photocatalytic oxidation of gaseous toluene in a bubbling reactor of water.

Conventional gas-solid photocatalytic oxidation (SPCO) of VOCs has drawbacks such as accumulation of intermediates and catalytic deactivation. In this study, gas-liquid photocatalytic oxidation (LPCO) was exploited to improve the catalytic activity and stability by continuously bubbling VOCs into water. Toluene and commercial TiO2 (P25) were chosen as the representative VOC pollutant and photocatalyst, respectively. Toluene removal efficiency in LPCO was about 6 times of that in conventional SPCO, and no intermediates were detected in the exhaust of LPCO probably due to its high degradation and mineralization rates. However, plentiful intermediates were identified by GC-MS and ITMS both in the gas outlet and on the surface of catalyst in SPCO, which may lead to photocatalytic deactivation. Moreover, LPCO exhibited superior catalytic activity towards typical soluble VOCs such as formaldehyde compared to SPCO. The soluble intermediates formed from toluene degradation can be easily removed by sustaining UV irradiation to avoid water pollution and the water after purification can be reused in LPCO. This study provides a novel gas-liquid photocatalytic oxidation to replace conventional gas-solid photocatalytic oxidation for the sake of better catalytic activity and fewer by-products.

Sources of Black Carbon Deposition to the Himalayan Glaciers in Current and Future Climates.

WRF-Chem and a modified version of the ECLIPSE 5a emission inventory were used to investigate the sources impacting black carbon (BC) deposition to the Himalaya, Karakoram, and Hindu Kush (HKHK) region. This work extends previous studies by simulating deposition to the HKHK region not only under current conditions, but also in the 2040-2050 period under two realistic emission scenarios and in three different phases of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Under current conditions, sources from outside our South Asian modelling domain have a similar impact on total BC deposition to the HKHK region (35-87%, varying with month) as South Asian anthropogenic sources (13-62%). Industry (primarily brick kilns) and residential solid fuel burning combined account for 45-66% of the in-domain anthropogenic BC deposition to the HKHK region. Under a no further control emission scenario for 2040-2050, the relative contributions to BC deposition in the HKHK region are more skewed toward in-domain anthropogenic sources (45-65%) relative to sources outside the domain (26-52%). The in-domain anthropogenic BC deposition has significant contributions from industry (32-42%), solid fuel burning (17-28%), and diesel fuel burning (17-27%). Under a scenario in which emissions in South Asia are mitigated, the relative cotribution from South Asian anthropogenic sources is significantly reduced to 11-34%. The changes due to phase of ENSO do not seem to follow consistent patterns with ENSO. Future work will use the high-resolution deposition maps developed here to determine the impact of different sources of BC on glacier melt and water availability in the region.

Light absorption properties and radiative effects of primary organic aerosol emissions.

Organic aerosols (OAs) in the atmosphere affect Earth's energy budget by not only scattering but also absorbing solar radiation due to the presence of the so-called "brown carbon" (BrC) component. However, the absorptivities of OAs are not represented or are poorly represented in current climate and chemical transport models. In this study, we provide a method to constrain the BrC absorptivity at the emission inventory level using recent laboratory and field observations. We review available measurements of the light-absorbing primary OA (POA), and quantify the wavelength-dependent imaginary refractive indices (kOA, the fundamental optical parameter determining the particle's absorptivity) and their uncertainties for the bulk POA emitted from biomass/biofuel, lignite, propane, and oil combustion sources. In particular, we parametrize the kOA of biomass/biofuel combustion sources as a function of the black carbon (BC)-to-OA ratio, indicating that the absorptive properties of POA depend strongly on burning conditions. The derived fuel-type-based kOA profiles are incorporated into a global carbonaceous aerosol emission inventory, and the integrated kOA values of sectoral and total POA emissions are presented. Results of a simple radiative transfer model show that the POA absorptivity warms the atmosphere significantly and leads to ∼27% reduction in the amount of the net global average POA cooling compared to results from the nonabsorbing assumption.

Climate-relevant properties of diesel particulate emissions: results from a piggyback study in Bangkok, Thailand.

A "piggyback" approach is used to characterize aerosol emissions to obtain input for large-scale models of atmospheric transport. Particulate and gaseous emissions from diesel trucks, light-duty vehicles, and buses were measured by the Bangkok Pollution Control Department as part of the Developing Integrated Emissions Strategies for Existing Land Transport (DIESEL) project. We added filter-based measurements of carbonaceous composition, particulate light absorption, and water uptake. For 88 "normal" diesel vehicles (PM emission rate < 4.7 g/kg), our best estimate of the average PM2.5 emission rate is 2.2 +/- 0.5 g/kg, whereas for 15 high emitters, it is 8.4 +/- 1.9 g/kg. The effect of Euro standards on PM emission rates was apparent for heavy-duty vehicles, but not for light-duty vehicles. Carbonaceous composition appears relatively consistent, with particulate (artifact-corrected) OC at 17 +/- 1% and EC at 40 +/- 8% of PM for 103 pickups, vans, heavy-duty trucks and buses. The median absorption cross-section for EC is 10.5 m2/g at 532 nm. The history of average emission rate and chemical composition during the project suggests that about 25 vehicles can provide a regional PM emission rate for normal vehicles. Other studies such as remote sensing measurements will be required to estimate the important contribution of high-emitting vehicles.