Oil and Gas exploration and production industries potentially have variety of impacts on the environment. They include atmospheric, aquatic, terrestrial and biosphere impacts. These are potential impacts and with proper and integrated plans and practices, can be minimized, avoided or mitigated. This proper and integrated plans and practices are incorporated in a system which is “environmental management”. The purpose of this project is to develop environmental management in oil and gas exploration and production of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). In this regard three operation sites are selected as pilots to examine the developed environmental management system practically. This project is sponsored by NIOC in a contract with Sharif Energy Research Institute (SERI). This project includes several steps and tasks, which includes:
- Gathering and processing environmental data
- Producing environmental data bank
- Environmental measurement and auditing
- Estimating pollutants emission
- Developing “Environmental Flow Diagram” software
- Identifying, assessing and proposing practical solutions for pollutants emission reduction
- Economical and feasibility study of proposed pollutants control practices
- Preparing related environmental instructions and manuals
- Reducing environmental impacts in line with reducing energy consumption rate
- Executing and examining the proposed practices and system in pilots

Several dust storms originated from deserts of Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Iran hit different cities in Iran and elevate PM10 concentrations to levels above 1000 g/m3. The trend and intensity of these storms have been studied. The deserts of potential dust sources have been identified and their contribution to PM10 concentration have been investigated. The PM10 data collected over a 5 year period from 2005 to 2009 at 5 monitoring stations in western and central part of Iran were used. A statistical approach was implemented in order to determine the trend and characteristics of aerosol levels at each site. Occurrence of dust outbreaks was detected with the previous statistical tool, coupled with the information from the TOMS-NASA aerosol index maps. The intensity and trend of dust storms and their effect on measured PM10 at receptor sites were determined. The Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model (HYSPLIT) has been used to determine the proportions of dust originated from deserts in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Iran. Daily back trajectories were calculated at receptor points during dust outbreaks in order to find and confirm the potential sources. After the model was configured and the potential sources were all detected, the model has been run for individual scenarios to find the contribution of desert dust and each possible contributor area to the PM10 levels measured at the monitoring stations. This study is still ongoing to determine the major dust area sources and contribution of each source to measured PM10 concentration in Iran.

Tehran is one of the most polluted megacities in the world and based on different studies vehicular sources are responsible for more than 70% of the criteria pollutant emissions in this city. Use of feasible new powertrain technologies for vehicles in the city and their projected reduction of pollutant emissions over the next decade were investigated in this study. Four technology strategies capable of improving new personal vehicle emissions were evaluated up to year of 2020: packages of individual gasoline vehicle technologies, advanced diesel engines, gasoline electric hybrids, and diesel electric hybrids. The current fuels used by vehicles in Tehran which were considered in existing emission calculations are gasoline, diesel, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and compressed natural gas (CNG). The pollutants of concern in the present study include SO2, NOx,CO, PM10 and Total Hydrocarbon. Roadlink-based emission factors are developed using modal fuel use and emission rates applied to facility specific to road situation, meteorological condition and speed driving cycles. These emission factors were coupled with estimated trend of road trips for the target year to project the vehicular emissions. The projected emission of these pollutants based on feasible scenarios of implementing four abovementioned control strategies is calculated and compared to extension of current emission trend to year 2020. The required data has been collected from national emission inventories, department of statistics and transportation organization. The emission calculations, projections and comparisons are still in progress. The results would be highly valuable in assisting policy makers for targeting control strategies to protect human health and environment.

Considering the type of activities in steel industries, there are many potential to impact environment particularly by polluting the surrounding atmosphere. Khuzestan Steel Company (KSC) which is close to city of Ahwaz aimed to reduce its air pollutants emission, particularly dust emission. Major fundamental sources which required control practices of dust were EAF shop, stockyards and materials transfer sections throughout plant. This project was supported by KSC in a contract with Sharif Institute of Water and Energy and aimed to reduce the pollutants emission through an extensive plan. The project consists of the following steps:
- Air pollution ambient and source measurement
- Pollution levels determination
- Dispersion modeling of pollution
- Proposing, evaluation and designing pollutants control practices and devises
- Continuous control and monitoring

to be added

The main goal of this research project was to provide information on the physico-chemical and toxicological characteristics of semi-volatile fraction of the diesel exhaust particles compared to the non-volatile (refractory), mostly carbonaceous fraction, collected from a variety of different diesel vehicle engines. The vehicles were operated under different driving conditions and retrofitted with advanced emission control devices (such as SCRT, CRT, DPX etc) targeted to meet 2007 New emission standards in dynamometer facilities at the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) heavy-duty diesel emission testing laboratory (HDETL) in downtown Los Angeles.

The Cardiovascular Health and Air Pollution Study (CHAPS), is a multidisciplinary project which designed to investigate the effects of micro- environmental exposures to PM on cardiovascular outcomes in elderly retirees affected by coronary artery disease (CHD). The elderly population with CHD is likely to be among the most vulnerable to the adverse effects of particulate air pollutants. In this regard, four sampling sites located in retirement communities in Southern California were studied. In all sites two stations: one indoors and one outdoors were set up. Sampling and analysis were performed at two phases, one in colder period of year and the other one in warmer period. Warmer phase was from July-Oct 2005 and July-Oct 2006 and colder phase was Oct 2005-Feb 2006 and Oct 2006-Feb 2007, lasting 6 weeks each. Besides online or continues pollutants measurements, 24h sampling from Monday to Friday were performed at each site. In addition personal 24h samples were collected for 67 nonsmoker subjects with coronary heart diseases simultaneously. Online measurements included these parameter: PM, EC, OC, PN, NO, NO2, CO, O3 . The 24h samples were analyzed for 92 organic compounds, 52 Elements and Toxicity Analysis. Also biomarkers of inflammation and thrombosis were determined for subjects. The main purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of micro- environmental exposures to PM on cardiovascular outcomes in elderly retirees affected by coronary artery disease. Indoor PM of outdoor origin (mostly from combustion sources) was more significantly associated with systemic inflammation, platelet activation, and decreases in erythrocyte antioxidant activity than uncharacterized indoor PM that included particles of indoor origin. Moreover, this project aimed to evaluate the composition and characteristics of particulate matters in both indoor and outdoor environments, to identify the most important sources of these pollutants, and to quantify their contribution to the total PM mass concentrations in both indoor and outdoor environments. This project was funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), National Institutes of Health, the National Center for Research Resources, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the California Air Resources Board.

The Los Angeles – Long Beach harbor is the busiest port in the US. Levels of particulate matter (PM) are relatively high in this area, since it is affected by multiple PM sources. Winter measurements were obtained during a 7-week period between March and May 2007, and summer measurements corresponded to a 6-week period between July and September 2007. A Chemical Mass Balance (CMB) model was applied to speciated chemical measurements of quasi-ultrafine and fine particulate matter from seven different sites. Four of the sites were located within the communities of Wilmington and Long Beach, two sites were located at a background area in the harbor of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and one more site was located further downwind, near downtown Los Angeles, representing urban downtown LA, influenced by mostly traffic sources. The samples were analyzed for organic (OC) and elemental (EC) carbon content, organic species, inorganic ions, water soluble and total elements. The sources included in the CMB model were: light duty vehicles (LDV), heavy duty vehicles (HDV), road dust (RD), biomass burning and ship emissions. This research was supported by the Southern California Particle Center (SCPC), funded by EPA under the STAR program.

The carbonaceous component of atmospheric particulate matter (PM) is considered very important with respect to the observed adverse health effects of PM. Elemental carbon (EC) is emitted from incomplete combustion occurring in sources such as diesel engines and biomass burning, while organic carbon (OC) is a component of particles emitted from almost every primary particle source. A significant fraction of particulate organic carbon can also be secondary organic aerosol (SOA), formed by atmospheric photochemical reactions of organic vapor precursors. The OC and EC components of PM have traditionally been measured off-line subsequent to daily, time-integrated particle collection on filters. However, the sub-daily or hourly variability of EC and OC can help to assess the variability of sources, ambient levels, and human exposure. In this study, the performance of the Sunset Laboratory Inc. semi-continuous EC/OC monitor was assessed in a field setting. The monitors were deployed near downtown Los Angeles, in a location representing typical urban pollution. By changing the inlet configurations of one of the monitors (adding a denuder, a Teflon filter, or both), the influences of positive and negative sampling artifacts were investigated. A comparison of different temperature profiles, including a fast 3-minute analysis using optical EC correction, showed good agreement among methods. Finally, a novel configuration using a size selective inlet impactor removing particles greater than 250 nm in diameter allowed for semi-continuous size-fractionated EC/OC measurements. This research was supported by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the California Air Resources Board.

to be added

to be added

to be added

The performed studies by Southern California Airborne Particulate Matter Center (SCAPMC) investigates aerosol chemical and physical properties in Los Angeles, processes leading to aerosol formation and transformation, and individual exposure to specific particulate components. The proposed research applies a broad range of experimental and numerical tools to study, systematically and comprehensively, ambient particulates, and their components, suspected of causing adverse health effects. This research is guided by hypotheses that link particles with specific health effects observed in epidemiological studies. Of particular importance to our center are particles (and adsorbed vapors) emitted from mobile sources, which constitute by far the major source of air pollution in the LA Basin. Intensive aerosol measurements are coordinated with routine monitoring at sites established for ongoing research into the impacts of air quality on residents in the Los Angeles Basin. This Center is funded under the Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

to be added

to be added