Analysis and Characterization of the Predominant Pollutants in the Catania's Air Quality Monitoring Stations☆

Abstract It is useful to know about whether one or more pollutants predominate in different parts of a city and contributes to evaluating the efficacy of a variety of counter-measures for lowering pollutants in urban areas. This paper compares Catania (Italy) air quality measured in 2003 with that in 2012. The investigation was carried out at four monitoring stations of the city's Air Quality Monitoring Network (AQMN). The monitoring station locations had not changed from 2003 to 2012. The impact of the city's primary and secondary pollutants was estimated from analyses of the daily concentrations of CO, SO 2 , PM 10 , NO 2 andO 3 , and then by assembling the data into classes by applying Sturge's rule which provides the optimal number of intervals (or classes). Each class provides frequency density to make comparable intervals with different amplitudes. By analysing the frequency density intervals, the prevalence of a pollutant class could be highlighted and consequently linked to a range of representative concentrations in each urban area for each year analysed. Thus, after a decade, the decrease, stability or increase in a given pollutant could be defined providing a general overview of air quality traits in Catania and giving guidelines for pollution control policies

Comparative Analyses of Urban Air Quality Monitoring Systems: Passive Sampling and Continuous Monitoring Stations

Abstract Indicative methods of measurement are an economical and efficient way of preliminarily evaluating urban air quality. In November and December 2012, there was a campaign to measure NO2, C6H6 and O3 around the city of Catania (Italy) using diffusive samplers (Passam model). Placing the samplers at the fixed sampling sites of the city's monitoring network allowed for a comparison of the concentration values measured by continuous samplers (reference method) with those obtained from passive samplers. For the comparison, the time data of the continuous samplers were mediated as a function of the number of hours of diffusive sampler exposure. With the help of meteorological data from the Sicilian Information Agrometeorological Service (SIAS), it was possible to verify and evaluate any uncertainties associated with the passive samples, since the sample amounts are a function of meteorological variables given they are collected by diffusion. Finally, a statistical analysis based on linear regression highlighted a good correlation between the passive samplers and the fixed monitoring stations

Performance Comparison between Low Concentration Photovoltaic and Fixed Angle PV Systems

Abstract This paper focuses on the comparison between two different Photovoltaic systems. Both of them are located in the same place in the south part of Italy - Sicily. The first system is a photovoltaic system (PV) with a fixed tilt angle of 30° and an azimuth orientation of 0° South; its peak power is about 1.63 kWp and its 10 modules are made up of polycrystalline silicon for a total area of 13.13 m 2 . The second system is a low concentration photovoltaic system (LCPV) with a biaxial suntracker and a concentration of 25 suns; its peak power is about 4.65 kWp and its modules are made up of monocrystalline Silicon for a total area of 44.6 m 2 . In order to analyse the behaviour of these two different systems the most common Performance Indexes (YR, Yf, PR and η) has been used for the comparison, starting from the measured radiation data for both systems. The experimental data were treated for almost one year. Moreover it was analysed the thread of these indexes for two typical days in different seasons. Analysis results showed that LCPV has better performances (according the PR index) during the summer months thanks to a greater percentage of direct irradiation, while the efficiency of the fixed angle PV system is higher during the other months

Analysis of the Covenant of Mayors Initiative in Sicily

Abstract In the European scene a breakthrough in the field of environmental sustainability is represented by the innovative model of multi-level governance, introduced by European Community in 2008, well known as the "Covenant of Mayors". It is an initiative that involves countries, cities and regions that voluntarily commit to reducing their emissions of greenhouse gases, through the so-called "20-20-20", that is to reduce by 2020 the 20% of CO2, generating 20% of energy from renewable sources with a reduction of the 20% of energy consumption. The aim of the initiative is to provide a practical tool in order to guide municipalities in the process of drafting a SEAP (Sustainable Energy Action Plan) according to the European Guidelines drawn up by the Covenant of Mayors Office (Co.MO). Since 2012 the new regional government of Sicily has followed carefully the initiative "Covenant of Mayors" by establishing a technical, scientific and organizational structure called "Control room for the Covenant of Mayors". The Control room has been as promoter of cultural activities with information and educational purpose, organizing and following meetings with many delegates of all municipalities in Sicily. This path led to a full participation of many Sicilian municipalities, recovering the previous gap during the early years of the initiative. In this analysis, a general overview about the participation of all regions of Italy is exposed, focusing the attention on on the virtuous path undertaken by the Region of Sicily. A more accurate statistical analysis by using several indexes has been conducted to better understand the strengths and weakness of this initiative

Performance Comparison between Micro-inverter and String-inverter Photovoltaic Systems☆

Abstract This paper focuses on the analysis of the energy production of building integrated photovoltaic systems. All the PV systems are located in the south part of Italy - Sicily. A comparison has been made between two different conversion technologies: string-inverter versus micro-inverter. The two string-inverter systems analyzed have different azimuth angle, no shadowing, different peak power and different types of photovoltaic modules (monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon). The four micro-inverter systems have different shadowing percentage, different azimuth. All systems have fixed tilt angle and fixed azimuth angle. The experimental data were treated for almost one year. In order to analyze the performance of the systems, the most common Indexes (the Energy Yield Y f , the Reference Yield Y R , the Performance Ratio PR and Efficiency η) have been used. This allowed to obtain a correct comparison even with different Irradiance values and different Peak Powers. The main goal of the analysis has been to evaluate the performances of the micro-inverter systems at different shadowing conditions. The results of the comparison have confirmed that micro-inverter systems present better performances both at shadowed and "not-shadowed" conditions. By comparing not-shadowed systems with the two different conversion technologies and similar azimuth and tilt angle it has been shown how, with almost the same values of Irradiance, micro-inverter systems maximize the energy production. Furthermore, the highest percentage of produced energy could justify the more expensive cost of this new conversion technology

Air quality data for Catania: analysis and investigation case study: 2010-2011

Abstract This paper focuses on the principal atmospheric pollutants monitored in Catania (Italy) according to European Directive 50/2008. A couple of years, 2012 and 2013 have been considered as a study period. The monitoring system of Catania is made up of five stations that control the presence of the air pollutants in the most important anthropic areas of the urban territory. First of all the mechanisms of formation of the main pollutants have been summarized in order to identify the main causes and effects in urban environment. The raw data have been collected and validated according the UNI CEI EN ISO/IEC 17025:2005 by the Ecologic and Environmental research unit of the municipality of Catania. The trend of all pollutants during the two cited years have been investigated and the results highlight that the most principal polluting gas is NO 2 confirming the trend of the previous years. A further analysis of what the principal causes of pollution in Catania could be,has been conducted in order to evaluate possible actions to reduce the atmospheric pollution. As a result it has been demonstrated that the principal cause of the atmospheric pollutant emissions is connected to private urban mobility. The experimental results demostrated that the principal cause of the atmospheric pollutant emissions is connected to private urban mobility. A development of realistic mathematical model will be the object of future research works

Exploring the linkages between education sector governance, inequity, conflict, and peacebuilding in South Sudan

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NO2 Concentration Analysis in Urban Area of Catania

Abstract The recent scientific researches have revealed principal causes and trend of Nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), a chemical gas very dangerous for the human respiratory apparatus. The generation of this gas is principally associated to the high temperature combustion processes such as those in internal combustion engines and thermal power plants. In the urban area of Catania there are not thermal power plants so, the most important NO 2 generation is related to the increasing use of vehicles. It is also demonstrated that NO 2 is correlated with other pollutants such as PM 10 and PM 2,5 . The city of Catania is provided by an air quality monitoring network made up of five fixed stations. The principal monitored pollutants are: NO 2 , CO, BTX, PM 10 , O 3 , SO 2 . This paper focuses on the analysis of the big amount of NO2 data recorded by instrument "Philips model 42" in the urban area of Catania. This data has been validated and analysed in order to conduct a multivariate statistical analysis. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Cluster Analysis (CA), have been developed related to the atmospheric parameters (Wind velocity, Air Temperature, Precipitation, Relative humidity, Global Solar Radiation) in the period between 2009 and 2012. This multivariate analysis has been applied to the investigation process about the linear dependence of NO 2 to these parameters. Another important aim of this paper has been to study the trend of NO 2 concentration and the number of times this value has overtook the limits imposed by the Air Quality Directive 2008/50/EC

Second generation bioethanol production from Arundo donax biomass: an optimization method

Abstract In last decades environment has suffered strong and negative consequences resulted by a massive consuming fossil energy. As a result of this process, bioenergy has been intensively increased in recent years. Transportation sector has the largest impact in the use of bioenergy and bioethanol is a type of biofuel which can easily used for transports in place of traditional fossil fuels. Bioethanol production from 1st generation biomass such as corn, sugarcane, has been already commercialized but it is usually not sustainable because it could be seriously damage the food supply. For this reason scientific community has turned his interest to second generation bioethanol from specific energy crops or cultivation of biomass feedstock whose required land for cultivation cannot be used for food cultivations. The case arboreal lingo-cellulose Arundo donax is an example of the latter group. The present paper deals with a simulation method to optimize the performances of second generation bioethanol production by using Arundo donax as feedstock. The bioethanol production was analyzed by means of a life cycle assessment (LCA). The total energy consumption was calculated thanks to Monte Carlo method. The simulation of this second-generation biomass technology was optimized by considering the reuse of light components and of the energy recovery for the agriculture and industrial process. Thanks to these optimizations it was obtained an Energy Return On Investment (EROI) = 1,52 revealing that this technology may certainly be convenient from the energetic point of view