Title: PRTRval: a software tool for the validation of E-PRTR emissions data

Authors: Maria Dios; Marta Moran; Fabio Carrera; Cesar Pombo; Jose A. Souto; Juan J. Casares; Agustin Diaz; Aurora Saez

Addresses: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain ' Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain ' Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain ' Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain ' Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain ' Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain ' Laboratorio de Medio Ambiente de Galicia, Consellería de Medio Ambiente, Territorio e Infraestructuras, Xunta de Galicia, Spain ' Laboratorio de Medio Ambiente de Galicia, Consellería de Medio Ambiente, Territorio e Infraestructuras, Xunta de Galicia, Spain

Abstract: The European pollutant release and transfer register (E-PRTR) is the Europe-wide emissions register that provides accessible environmental information about industrial facilities. Reporting of E-PRTR data to the European Commission requires that the member states assess the quality of their data. The errors and omissions in these data should be detected during the review process and corrected, claiming accurate and additional information to the industrial sources. In order to validate E-PRTR data, PRTRval software tool was developed and applied to the Galician industrial facilities. It provides a systematic procedure for the validation of emissions, based on a bottom-up approach to obtain a reference inventory that combines both standard and specific emission factors, and the activity factors yearly reported. The application of this validation procedure to the air pollutants 2010 E-PRTR dataset in Galicia shows that 54% of the emissions need correction or complementary information. The lack of information represented 24% of the errors.

Keywords: environmental pollution; emissions inventory; European pollutant release and transfer register; E-PRTR; bottom-up approach; data validation; air pollution; air quality; Spain.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2014.065901

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2014 Vol.55 No.1/2/3/4, pp.22 - 30

Published online: 17 Dec 2014 *

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