Air quality expert group - Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in ... - Defra

PM2.5 emissions and receptor modelling
measures. These measures are not primarily aimed at reducing PM2.5 but
will effectively do so. The Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC)
Directive (2008/1/EC) essentially requires operators of industrial installations to
control dust emissions from plant and installations covered under the Directive,
with operators demonstrating that they use best available techniques to prevent
or reduce pollution. A range of installations falls under the Directive from
energy production, metals and minerals production and processing, chemical
production and waste management, to smaller operations in, for example,
paper production and poultry farming. Similarly, the Large Combustion Plants
Directive (2001/80/EC) and Waste Incineration Directive (2000/76/EC) set
emission limits for dust as well as for PM precursor gases. These Directives
have been brought together in various forms of national legislation to control
emissions from industrial processes in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern
Ireland, with regulations enforced by the Environment Agency (England and
Wales), Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Environment Agency
Northern Ireland. Local authorities have responsibilities for regulation and
control of air pollution under the Clean Air Acts covering the prohibition of
smoke from chimneys, control of dust, smoke and fumes from furnaces, and
the designation of smoke control areas.
11. Fugitive dust emissions are generally controlled by national legislation related
to statutory nuisance and are regulated for industrial and waste management
sites and pig and poultry farms. Local authorities control dust emissions from
construction sites via the planning process.
12. AQEG (2005) described a number of abatement options for mitigating PM
emissions from stationary sources, categorised as process change measures,
process management and end-of-pipe abatement. Process change involves
modification to raw materials, process technologies and operations, and the
use of cleaner fuels. Process management involves improvement to operations
such as cleaning up dust spillages, preventing dust escaping to ambient air
and introducing more efficient combustion. Practices involving surface wetting
are used to control PM emissions from the resuspension of dust from road
surfaces in and around quarries and construction sites. End-of-pipe controls are
widely used to reduce dust in waste streams through the use of electrostatic
precipitators, fabric filters, scrubbers and cyclones.
13. Exhaust emissions of PM from mobile sources with diesel engines are
regulated by a series of European vehicle emission directives, complemented
by directives on fuel quality and the regulation of emissions from non-road
mobile machinery, railway locomotives and vessels on inland waterways. For
road vehicles, emission factors take into account vehicles equipped with diesel
particulate filters, either on new vehicles to meet vehicle emission directives
or as retrofits. These measures have resulted in a significant reduction in PM
emissions (> 95%). Other methods for reducing PM emissions from vehicle
exhausts include diesel oxidation catalysts, which are also used on diesel vehicles
to help reduce carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbon emissions, and a variety
of fuel additives. The use of sulphur-free diesel, biofuels and alternative fuels
such as compressed natural gas also help to reduce PM emissions.
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