Technology and Strategy for Reduction of Atmospheric Pollution in Big Cities

Abstract

Atmospheric pollution produced in an urban area is essentially caused by emissions from domestic heating and motor traffic. Due to the measures set up to reduce the emissions of pollutants, air quality has improved appreciably in recent years in many urban agglomerations. Nevertheless, while the problems of air pollution posed by domestic heating have nowadays been solved to a great extent, the considerable emissions of pollutants by motor vehicles remain worrying. The gradual obligation to adopt catalytic exhausts is certainly a beneficial measure. On the other hand, the constant growth in the number of motor vehicles constitutes a further threat. Traditional pollution by sulphur dioxide and “black smoke” is nowadays supplanted by that of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds, both precursors of photochemical pollution and responsible for summer smog and high concentrations of ozone in the low levels of the atmosphere.