Impact of the leakage of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) on Santiago Air Quality

The leakage of unburned liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is a major source of urban nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) in the air of Santiago, Chile. Roughly 5% of the LPG that is sold in Santiago leaks in its unburned form to the atmosphere. Because of the leakage, propane is the most abundant NMHC in Sa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical research letters 2001-06, Vol.28 (11), p.2193-2196
Main Authors: Chen, Tai-Yih, Simpson, Isobel J., Blake, Donald R., Rowland, F. Sherwood
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Atmospheric pollution
Chemical composition and interactions. Ionic interactions and processes
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
External geophysics
Meteorology
Pollutants physicochemistry study: properties, effects, reactions, transport and distribution
Pollution
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Summary:The leakage of unburned liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is a major source of urban nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) in the air of Santiago, Chile. Roughly 5% of the LPG that is sold in Santiago leaks in its unburned form to the atmosphere. Because of the leakage, propane is the most abundant NMHC in Santiago's air, even under heavy traffic conditions. NMHCs are an important precursor to the formation of ground‐level ozone, and the LPG leakage may contribute as much as 15% to the excess ozone levels in Santiago. Improvement to the local air quality may be obtained by lowering the rates of LPG leakage, and by minimizing the use of alkene‐rich LPG formulations.
ISSN:0094-8276
1944-8007
DOI:10.1029/2000GL012703