Emission of CO2 by the transport sector and the impact on the atmospheric concentration in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Abstract:

The Metropolitan Area of São Paulo (MASP) is impacted by the emission of 7 million vehicles, being 85% light-duty vehicles (LDV), 3% heavy-duty diesel vehicles (HDV)s, and 12% motorcycles. About 55% of LDVs burn a mixture of 78% gasoline and 22% ethanol (gasohol), 4% use hydrous ethanol (95% ethanol and 5% water), 38% are flex-fuel vehicles that are capable of burning both gasohol and hydrous ethanol and 3% use diesel (diesel + 5% bio-diesel). The owners of the flex-fuel vehicles decide to use ethanol or gasohol depending on the market price of the fuel. Many environmental programs were implemented to reduce the emissions by the LDV and HDV traffic; the contribution from the industrial sector has been decreasing as the industries have moved away from MASP, due to the high taxes applied to the productive sector. Due to the large contribution of the transport sector to CO₂, its contribution is important in a regional scale. The total emission is estimated in 15327 million tons per year of CO_2eq (60% by LDV, 38% HDV and 2% motorcycles). Measurements of CO₂ performed with a Picarro monitor based on WS-CRDS (wavelength-scanned cavity ringdown spectroscopy) for the years 2012-2013 were performed. The sampling site was on the University of Sao Paulo campus (22^o34´S, 46^o44´W), situated in the west area of the city, surrounded by important traffic roads. The average data showed two peaks, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon, both associated with the traffic. Correlation analysis was performed between the concentrations and the number of vehicles, as a proxy for the temporal variation of the CO₂ emission. The highest concentration was 430 ppm at 8:00am, associated to the morning peak hour of vehicles and the stable condition of the atmosphere. The average concentration was 406 ±12 ppm, considering all measured data. According to official inventories from the Environmental Agency (CETESB), the emission of CO₂ has increased 39% from 1990 to 2008, associated to the use of liquid, gaseous and solid fossil fuel. The total number of vehicles presented a 60% increase according to official data. The difference between the two estimative can be related to the recycling of the fleet with the substitution of old cars with by vehicles that consume less fuel.