Evolution of SO2 and NOx Emissions from Several Large Combustion Plants in Europe during 2005–2015

The aim of this paper is to investigate the evolution of SO2 and NOx emissions of ten very large combustion plants (LCPs >500 MW) located in the European Union (EU) during 2005–2015. The evolution of NOx and SO2 emissions were analyzed against the EU Directives in force during 2005–2015. The investigation was performed using space-borne observations and estimated emissions collected from the EEA (European Environment Agency) inventory of air pollutant emissions. The power plants were chosen according to their capacity and emissions, located in various parts of Europe, to give an overall picture of atmospheric pollution with NOx and SO2 associated with the activity of very large LCPs in Europe. Satellite observations from OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) are compared with calculated emissions in order to assess whether satellite observations can be used to monitor air quality, as a standard procedure, by governmental or nongovernmental institutions. Our results show that both space observations and estimated emissions of NOx and SO2 atmospheric content have a descending trend until 2010, complying with the EU Directives. The financial and economic crisis during 2007–2009 played an important role in reducing emissions.

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The Use of Artificial Neural Networks to Analyze Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollutant Emissions from the Mining and Quarrying Sector in the European Union

Energies ◽

10.3390/en13081925 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (8) ◽

pp. 1925 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jarosław Brodny ◽

Magdalena Tutak

Keyword(s):

Neural Networks ◽

European Union ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Value Added ◽

Air Pollutant ◽

Pollutant Emissions ◽

Mining Activities ◽

The European Union ◽

Eu Countries ◽

The Eu

The European Union (EU) is considered one of the most economically developed regions worldwide. It was driven by the mining industry for several decades. Despite certain changes in this area, a number of mineral and energy resources are still being mined in the EU. Nevertheless, mining activities are accompanied by many unfavorable phenomena, especially for the environment, such as greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions. The great diversity of the EU countries in terms of the size of the “mining and quarrying” sector means that both the volume and structure of these emissions in individual countries varies. In order to assess the current state of affairs, research was conducted to look at the structure and volume of these emissions in individual EU countries. The aim of the study was to divide these countries into homogenous groups by structure and volume of studied emissions. In order to reflect both the specificity and diversity of the EU countries, this division was based on the seven most important gases (CO2, CH4, N2O, NH3, NMVOC, CO, NOx) and two types of particulate matter (PM 2.5, PM 10) emitted into the atmosphere from the sector in question. The volume of studied emissions was also compared to the number of inhabitants of each EU country and the gross value added (GVA) by the mining and quarrying sector. This approach enabled a new and broader view on the issue of gas and air pollutant emissions associated with mining activities. The artificial Kohonen’s neural networks were used for the analysis. The developed method, the analyses and the results constitute a new approach to studying such emissions in the EU. Research that looks only at the emission of harmful substances into the environment in relation to their absolute values fail to fully reflect the complexity of this problem in individual EU countries. The presented approach and the results should broaden the knowledge in the field of harmful substance emissions from the mining and quarrying sector, which should be utilized in the process of implementing the new European climate strategy referred to as “The European Green Deal”.

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Substantial Nitrogen Oxide Pollution Is Embodied in the Bilateral Trade between China and the European Union

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18020675 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 675

Author(s):

Yan Li ◽

Yigang Wei ◽

Xueqing Wang ◽

Hanxiao Xu

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Nitrogen Oxide ◽

Bilateral Trade ◽

Pollutant Emissions ◽

Nox Emissions ◽

The European Union ◽

Production And Consumption ◽

Petroleum Chemical ◽

Global Pollutant ◽

The Eu

Against the backdrop of globalization and trade facilitation, the products consumed by a country are more and more relying on the importation of those products from other countries. Therefore, the pollutant emissions of products associated are transferred from consuming countries to exporting countries, which significantly changes the spatial distribution of global pollutant emissions. The objective of this research is to analyse the embodied nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions in the trading process between China and the European Union (EU) and to further trace the interindustry and intercountry transfer paths. This study constructs a multiregional input–output (MRIO) model based on the latest EORA global supply chain database. The MRIO model quantitatively analyses the total NOx emissions from the production and consumption ends of China and the EU from 1995 to 2014. Important findings are derived from the empirical results as follows. (1) In 2014, China’s production end emissions were 1824.38 kilotons higher than those of the consumption end. By contrast, the situation in the EU was the opposite, i.e., production end emissions were 1711.97 kilotons lower than those of the consumption end. (2) In the trade between China and the EU, the EU is a net importer of embodied NOx, and China is a net exporter of embodied NOx. In 2014, 2.55% of China’s domestic NOx emissions were transferred to the EU in China-EU trade, accounting for 2.75% of China’s domestic consumption demand. (3) In 2014, Electricity, Gas and Water (397.75 kilotons), Transport (343.55 kilotons), Petroleum, Chemical and non-metallic Products (95.9 kilotons), Metal Products (49.88 kilotons), Textiles and Apparel (26.19 kilotons), are among the industries with the most embodied NOx emissions from China’s net exports during its two-way trade with the EU. (4) In the bilateral trade between the EU and China, many countries are in the state of embodied NOx net import. The top three net importers in 2014 were Germany (169.24 kilotons), Britain (128.11 kilotons), France (103.21 kilotons).

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Perspectives for Mitigation of CO2 Emission due to Development of Electromobility in Several Countries

Energies ◽

10.3390/en13164127 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (16) ◽

pp. 4127 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Karol Tucki ◽

Olga Orynycz ◽

Mateusz Mitoraj-Wojtanek

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

European Union ◽

Power Plants ◽

The United States ◽

Primary Energy ◽

Air Pollutant ◽

Pollutant Emissions ◽

The European Union ◽

Growth Data ◽

Electric Cars

The creep trend method is used for the analysis of the development of electric car production in three regions: The United States, the European Union and Japan. Based on vehicle registration and population growth data for each year the creep trend method using historical data for the years 2007–2017 is applied for forecasting development up to 2030. Moreover, the original method for calculating the primary energy factor (PEF) was applied to the analysis of power engineering systems in the regions investigated. The assessment of the effects of electromobility development on air quality has been performed, reduction values for pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions have been determined, which was the main objective of this manuscript. Mitigation of air pollutant emissions, i.e., carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) was estimated and compared to the eventual expected increase of emissions from power plants due to an increase of the demand for electricity. It can be concluded that electricity powered cars along with appropriate choices of energetic resources as well as electricity distribution management will play the important role to achieve the sustainable energy economy. Based on the emission reduction projections resulting from the projected increase in the number of electric cars, (corrected) emissions will be avoided in 2030 in the amount of over 14,908,000 thousand tonnes CO2 in European Union, 3,786,000 thousand tonnes CO2 in United States and 111,683 thousand tonnes CO2 in Japan.

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A methodology to constrain carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants using satellite observations of co-emitted nitrogen dioxide

10.5194/acp-2019-521 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Fei Liu ◽

Bryan N. Duncan ◽

Nickolay A. Krotkov ◽

Lok N. Lamsal ◽

Steffen Beirle ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Nitrogen Dioxide ◽

Co2 Emissions ◽

Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽

Power Plants ◽

Operating Conditions ◽

Satellite Observations ◽

Nox Emissions ◽

Ozone Monitoring Instrument ◽

Total Uncertainty ◽

Monitoring Instrument

Abstract. We present a novel method to infer CO2 emissions from individual power plants based on satellite observations of co-emitted nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and demonstrate its utility on US power plants, where accurate stack emission estimates of both gases are available for comparison. In the first step of our methodology, we infer nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions from isolated power plants using Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) NO2 tropospheric vertical column densities (VCDs) averaged over the ozone season (May–September) and a "top-down" approach that we previously developed. Second, we determine the relationship between NOx and CO2 emissions based on the direct stack emissions measurements reported by continuous emissions monitoring system (CEMS) programs, accounting for coal type, boiler firing type, NOx emission control device type, and changes in operating conditions. Third, we estimate CO2 emissions of the ozone season for a plant using the OMI-estimated NOx emissions and the CEMS NOx / CO2 emission ratio. We find that the CO2 emissions estimated by our satellite-based method during 2005–2017 are in reasonable agreement with the CEMS measurements, with a relative difference of 8 % ± 41 % (mean ± standard deviation) for the selected US power plants in our analysis. Total uncertainty in the inferred CO2 estimates is partly associated with the uncertainty associated with the OMI NO2 VCD data, so we expect that it will decrease when our method is applied to OMI-like sensors with improved capabilities, such as TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) and geostationary Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring Pollution (TEMPO). The broader implication of our methodology is that it has the potential to provide an additional constraint on CO2 emissions from power plants in regions of the world without reliable emissions accounting. We explore the feasibility by applying our methodology to a power plant in South Africa, where the satellite-based emission estimates show reasonable consistency with other estimates.

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Monitoring residue in animals and primary products of animal origin

Veterinarski glasnik ◽

10.2298/vetgl0806383j ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 62 (5-6) ◽

pp. 383-394 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Sasa Jankovic ◽

Aurelija Spiric ◽

Tatjana Radicevic ◽

Srdjan Stefanovic

Keyword(s):

Veterinary Medicine ◽

Monitoring Program ◽

Analytical Techniques ◽

Animal Origin ◽

Food Hygiene ◽

The European Union ◽

National Monitoring ◽

Primary Products ◽

Eu Directives ◽

The Eu

The objective of control and systematic monitoring of residue is to secure, by the examination of a corresponding number of samples, the efficient monitoring of the residue level in tissues and organs of animals, as well as in primary products of animal origin. This creates possibilities for the timely taking of measures toward the securing of food hygiene of animal origin and the protection of public health. Residue can be a consequence of the inadequate use of medicines in veterinary medicine and pesticides in agriculture and veterinary medicine, as well as the polluting of the environment with toxic elements, dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls, and others. Residue is being monitored in Serbia since 1972, and in 2004, national monitoring was brought to the level of EU countries through significant investments by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management. This is also evident in the EU directives which permit exports of all kinds of meat and primary products of animal origin, covered by the Residue Monitoring Program. The program of systematic examinations of residue has been coordinated with the requirements of the European Union, both according to the type of examined substance, as well as according to the number of samples and the applied analytical techniques. In addition to the development of methods and the including of new harmful substances into the monitoring programme, it is also necessary to coordinate the national regulations that define the maximum permitted quantities of certain medicines and contaminants with the EU regulations, in order to protect the health of consumers as efficiently as possible, and for the country to take equal part in international trade.

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THE INFLUENCE OF THE INTEGRATION IN THE EUROPEAN UNION ON THE ROMANIAN FISCAL LEGISLATION

STUDIES AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCHES ECONOMICS EDITION ◽

10.29358/sceco.v0i13.18 ◽

2008 ◽

pp. 56

Author(s):

Mircea Muntean ◽

Doina Pacurari

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Fiscal Policy ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Value Added ◽

The European Union ◽

European Directives ◽

Eu Directives ◽

Dividend Tax ◽

Excise Duties ◽

The Eu

Fiscal policy constitutes – within the state's economic policy – a system by means of which the taxes and duties owed to the country's consolidated budget are established and collected. Taking into account the role fiscal policy has been playing since Romania's admission in the European Union, one of the goals ceaselessly looked for is its adapting to the international community's acquis through the implementation of the European directives in our context. The EU directives make reference to direct taxes: dividend tax, interest income tax, assets transfer, shares exchange, income taxation for the non-residents, and so on, along with the indirect taxes: value-added tax, excise duties, etc. The paper approaches the main provisions within the contents of the European directives as well as the means of their implementation in the Romanian fiscal legislation regarding various types of taxes. The implementation of the European directives has been simultaneous with the establishing of measures concerning fiscal fraud prevention, frauds liable to have a negative impact on the state's consolidated budget.

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Carbon and air pollutant emissions from China's cement industry 1990–2015: trends, evolution of technologies and drivers

10.5194/acp-2020-631 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Jun Liu ◽

Dan Tong ◽

Yixuan Zheng ◽

Jing Cheng ◽

Xinying Qin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Carbon Dioxide ◽

Large Scale ◽

Air Pollutant ◽

Cement Industry ◽

Pollutant Emissions ◽

Pollutant Emission ◽

Climate Mitigation ◽

Nox Emissions ◽

Cement Production ◽

Control Technologies

Abstract. China is the largest cement producer and consumer in the world. Cement manufacturing is highly energy-intensive, and is one of the major contributors to carbon dioxide (CO2) and air pollutant emissions, which threatens climate mitigation and air quality improvement. In this study, we investigated the decadal changes of carbon dioxide and air pollutant emissions for the period of 1990–2015, based on intensive unit-based information on activity rates, production capacity, operation status, and control technologies, which improved the accuracy of the cement emissions in China. We found that, from 1990 to 2015, accompanied by a 10.9-fold increase in cement production, CO2, SO2, and NOx emissions from China's cement industry increased by 626 %, 59 %, and 658 %, whereas CO, PM2.5 and PM10 emissions decreased by 9 %, 66 %, and 63 %, respectively. In the 1990s, driven by the rapid growth of cement production, CO2 and air pollutant emissions increased constantly. Then, the production technology innovation of replacing traditional shaft kilns with the new precalciner kilns in the 2000s markedly reduced SO2, CO and PM emissions from the cement industry. Since 2010, the growing trend of emissions has been further curbed by a combination of measures, including promoting large-scale precalciner production lines and phasing out small ones, upgrading emission standards, installing low-NOx burners (LNB) and selective noncatalytic reduction (SNCR) to reduce NOx emissions, as well as adopting more advanced particulate matter control technologies. Our study highlighted the effectiveness of advanced technologies on air pollutant emission control, however, CO2 emissions from China's cement industry kept growing throughout the period, posing challenges to future carbon emission mitigation in China.

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Labour Immigration Policy in the European Union: How to Overcome the Tension between Further Europeanisation and the Protection of National Interests?

European Journal of Migration and Law ◽

10.1163/15718166-12340074 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 22 (2) ◽

pp. 198-223

Author(s):

Jean-Baptiste Farcy

Keyword(s):

Immigration Policy ◽

Added Value ◽

The European Union ◽

National Interests ◽

Member States ◽

Eu Member States ◽

Labour Immigration ◽

Eu Directives ◽

The Eu

Abstract This article critically assesses EU harmonisation in the field of labour immigration. It argues that EU directives are limited both in scope and intensity which explains their relatively low effectiveness and added value. Given the current political and institutional context, the article claims that a truly common labour immigration policy is unrealistic. Labour immigration remains a predominantly national prerogative and EU rules have done little to overcome normative competition between EU Member States. Looking forward, the EU should adopt complementary measures to Member States’ policies. The role of the EU in this sensitive policy area should be better defined and justified, in particular in relation to the principle of subsidiarity.

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The ‘puzzle’ of workers’ mobility in Italy

European Labour Law Journal ◽

10.1177/2031952519900997 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 97-108

Author(s):

Massimiliano Delfino

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Case Law ◽

Political Agenda ◽

The European Union ◽

Transnational Mobility ◽

Italian Case ◽

Eu Directives ◽

Italian Legislation ◽

The Eu

In Italy, workers’ mobility is a very complicated puzzle that is composed of different pieces. This paper deals with such different pieces under the perspective of workers' mobility within the European Union and highlights that the term mobility is not a synonym of posting (of workers), since the latter term indicates only one of the types (although the most relevant) of workers’ mobility. The author starts with workers’ mobility within the national border and beyond the European Union. Then, he concentrates his attention on the Italian way of transposing the EU Directives on the transnational posting of workers, which is very problematic, especially with reference to the role of collective bargaining agreements. Special attention is dedicated to the issue of public policy where an important role is played by Italian case law, which is very interesting and not uniform. The paper ends with some predictions about the forthcoming Italian legislation concerning both national and transnational mobility, which will be possibly influenced by the domestic political agenda.

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The Development of Electromobility in Poland and EU States as a Tool for Management of CO2 Emissions

Energies ◽

10.3390/en12152942 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (15) ◽

pp. 2942 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Karol Tucki ◽

Olga Orynycz ◽

Antoni Świć ◽

Mateusz Mitoraj-Wojtanek

Keyword(s):

Carbon Dioxide ◽

European Union ◽

Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽

Power Plants ◽

Primary Energy ◽

Original Method ◽

Pollutant Emissions ◽

The European Union ◽

Car Market ◽

The Impact

The article analyzes the dynamics of the development of the electromobility sector in Poland in the context of the European Union and due to the economic situation and development of the electromobility sector in the contexts of Switzerland and Norway. On the basis of obtained data, a forecast was made which foresees the most likely outlook of the electric car market in the coming years. The forecast was made using the creeping trend method, and extended up to 2030. As part of the analysis of the effect of the impact of electromobility, an original method was proposed for calculating the primary energy factor (PEF) primary energy ratio in the European Union and in its individual countries, which illustrates the conversion efficiency of primary energy into electricity and the overall efficiency of the power system. The original method was also verified, referring to the methods proposed by the Fraunhofer-Institut. On the basis of all previous actions and analyses, an assessment was made of the impact of the development of the electromobility sector on air quality in the countries studied. Carbon dioxide tank-to-wheels emission reductions which result from the conversion of the car fleet from conventional vehicles to electric motors were then calculated. In addition to reducing carbon dioxide emissions, other pollutant emissions were also calculated, such as carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM). The increase in the demand for electricity resulting from the needs of electric vehicles was also estimated. On this basis, and also on the basis of previously calculated primary energy coefficients, the emission reduction values have been adjusted for additional emissions resulting from the generation of electricity in power plants.

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