Stringent policies necessary to restrict vehicular pollution: IIT Bombay study

Stringent policies to restrict vehicular pollution are imperative to tackle the problems of increasing urban air pollution a major health concern in the country said Indian Institute of Technology IIT Bombay researchers in a study on WednesdayEmissions from motor vehicles are major contributors to urban air pollution in IndiaThe longer time vehicles spend on the roads leads to a large amount of fuel being burned thus resulting in more pollutionHowever the polluting characteristics of all vehicles are not the same as some vehicles release disproportionately higher amounts of pollutantsThe study investigated factors determining the characteristics of highemitting vehicles also known as superemittersldquoUntil now there has been no study in India that has examined the share of superemitters in realworld vehicular fleets The previous studies assumed their share based on literature from other countries or secondary data The motivation was to reduce uncertainty in the emission estimation from realworld vehicular fleetsrdquo said Sohana Debbarma a researcher who conducted the studyThe researchers explained that superemitters were vehicles that were either old poorly maintained overloaded heavyduty vehicles or all of themThey release significantly higher amounts of pollutants compared to other vehicles in the fleetAccording to the IITBombay study for lightduty vehicles vehicles that weigh less than 3500 kg such as cars twowheelers threewheelers and light commercial goods vehicles the age of the vehicles and the maintenance of the engine potentially determines whether the vehicle is a superemitterIn the case of heavyduty vehicles vehicles that weigh more than 3500 kg such as buses and trucks the overloading condition along with the age and maintenance of the vehicles contribute to the disproportionately high pollutant emissionsFor the study the team set up their pollutantmeasuring equipment at the entry and exit of the KamshetI tunnel located on the MumbaiPune ExpresswayAlong with exhaust emissions resulting from incomplete combustion of fossil fuels nonexhaust emissions resulting from brake wear tyre wear road surface wear and resuspension of road dust were also collectedThe traffic data was collected using highdefinition video cameras and the vehicle registration numbers data collected manuallyThe study collected data over two weeksThe researchers identified superemitters through manual inspection based on the video surveillance records of the traffic passing through the tunnelldquoVehicles that emitted a visible plume of smoke or appeared to be overloaded were identified as superemitters It was also validated using the information on the age of the vehicles and type of emission technology Bharat Stages BS II III and IV the study was conducted in 2019 when there were no BS VI vehicles and the type of fuel petrol diesel and CNGrdquo the team saidAlso ReadClimate change caused Earths axis to meander 10 metres in 120 years Studies