The air quality in Danish urban areas.

The Danish air pollution abatement is based by and large on emission control. Since the ratification of the international sulfur protocol of 1985, there has been a continuous tightening of the permissible sulfur content in fuels and of the maximum emissions from power plants. As a consequence, the total annual emission of sulfur dioxide (SO2) has been reduced from 450,000 tons in the seventies to 180,000 tons in 1990. This has had a pronounced effect on the SO2 levels in Danish urban areas. Thus, in Copenhagen, the yearly averages have fallen to about 25%. For nitrogen oxides emitted from the power plants, similar regulations are in force. With this legislation, the most important and crucial source of air pollution in Danish urban areas is road traffic. The contribution of nitrogen oxides from national traffic accounts for nearly half the total Danish emission and is increasing steadily; this is consistent with an observed increase of nitrogen oxides in ambient air. The permissible levels of lead in petrol has been reduced drastically. After an introduction of reduced tax on lead-free petrol, it now accounts for more than two-thirds of the total consumption. As a result, the concentration of lead in urban ambient air has been reduced to less than one-sixth. The introduction of 3-way catalytic converters from October 1990 will result in reductions in the emission of a series of pollutants, e.g., lead, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides. In 1980, a Danish air quality monitoring program was established as a cooperative effort between the authorities, the Government, the countries, the municipalities, and the Greater Copenhagen Council.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Physical and chemical processes of sulphur dioxide in the plume from an oil-fired power station.

The Danish contribution to the EUROCOP COST 61a project is described. Work concerned the physical and chemical reactions of sulphur dioxide released from a power station. The investigation was based on the application of two tracers. Inactive, inert SF6 is used to monitor the dispersion of and deposition from the plume; it was intended to use radioactive 35SO2 to determine the degree of oxidation of sulphur released from the stack; so far, however, public reaction has prevented the use of a release of activity in field experiments. The report describes the construction and testing of airborne instruments for continuous registration of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, ozone and the tracer SF6, as well as for measurements of temperature and humidity. Sulphur samples were collected on filter paper in a specially constructed low volume air sampler, and the subsequentchemical analysis in the laboratory is described. Finally, the problem of navigation is treated. It is shown that nitrogen oxides may be used as an internal tracer in plume experiments. Preliminary experiments based on inactive analysis only indicated an overall half-life for SO2 in the plume of about half an hour.