Calculation Methods of Emission Factors and Emissions of Fugitive Particulate Matter in South Korean Construction Sites

Abstract

Recently, efforts to effectively reduce particulate matter by identifying its sources and trends have become necessary due to the sustained damage it has caused in East Asia. In the case of South Korea, damage due to fugitive dust generated at construction sites in densely populated downtown areas is significant, and particulate matter in such fugitive dust directly influences the health of nearby residents and construction workers. Accordingly, the purpose of the present study was to develop a method for calculating emission factors for PM10 and PM2.5 emission amounts in the fugitive dust generated in construction sites and to derive emission amount trends for major variables to predict the amounts of generated particulate matter. To this end, South Korean emission factors for PM10 and PM2.5 for different construction equipment and activities that generate fugitive dust were derived and a method for calculating the amount of particulate matter using the derived emission factors was proposed. In addition, the calculated total emissions using these factors were compared to those calculated using construction site fugitive dust equations developed for the United States, Europe, and South Korea, and the trend analysis of total emissions according to the major emission factor variables was conducted.