A methodology to estimate benzene concentrations in a town through a traffic model

In this work an approach is presented that describes the changes of benzene concentration in the air, in relation with the special traffic characteristics of a road. The dominant input parameters of the model are traffic density and the vehicle’s type distribution according to seven main categories characterized by different emission factors. The dispersion approach used is a semi-empirical relationship that apart from emission rates requires also wind speed and the direction, as well as the geometrical characteristics of the road. The methodology was validated for Ioannina, a Greek medium sized town with special traffic and geographic characteristics presenting high atmospheric pollution values. It is found that the benzene concentrations estimated by the methodology are in a very good agreement with the measurements.