Title: Synergistic effects of pollutants on air quality

Authors: Ivo Kusijanovic, Kau-Fui V. Wong

Addresses: Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33124, USA. Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33124, USA

Abstract: The Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) was developed in the USA to give the public an overall assessment of the air quality on a regular basis. Currently, the PSI does not include the synergistic effects of the major air pollutants. Synergism applies when the damage caused by two or more pollutants, either to human health or property, is greater than the effect or damage caused by each individual pollutant acting alone. The purpose of this work is to develop a methodology that would take into account the synergistic effects of the priority air pollutants, and therefore give us a better understanding of the severity of the damage caused by these pollutants. The equation suggested is D(P1,P2,P3,P4,P5) = C1^A C2^B C3^C C4^D C5^E. If it is assumed that the weight constants A to E are equal to one (all pollutants contribute equally to the damage), the equation becomes D (P1,P2,P3,P4,P5) = K·C1·C2·C3·C4·C5 where the constant K represents a conversion factor between the PSI scale and the new Synergistic Theory scale. The value of K is to be determined experimentally by finding the threshold value in the synergistic scale and dividing the threshold value of the PSI scale (100) by this number K = 100/SSC1_threshold where SS_threshold is the Synergistic Scale threshold value.

Keywords: combined consequence; priority contaminants.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.1999.002286

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 1999 Vol.12 No.1, pp.91-96

Published online: 13 Aug 2003 *

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