Atmospheric Environmenr Vol. 13, pp. 1463-1465. Pergamon Press Ltd. 1979. Printed in Great Britain

SHORT FOLIATION

INROAD ~XENT AIR QUALITY DUE TO LEAD IN PETROL ~G~ATION

Dieter Jest. and Rolf Sartorius

FEDERAL ENVIRONMENTAL AGENCY D - 1 Berlin 33, Bismarckplatz 1

ABSTRACT - The enforcement of the Petrol Lead Law by limiting the maximum lead concentration in petrol from 0.40 g/l to 0.15 g/l effective January 1, 1976, led to a decrease of the total lead emission of about 45% in the Federal Republic of Germany.

The reduction of the lead concentration in the ambient air is strongly influenced by the motor traffic.

The observed, decrease ranges between 65% (main roads, city centers) and 20% (areas under influence of industrial emissions, low traffic).

The Petrol Lead Law (1971) reduced the maximum lead content in gasoline fuels for the Federal Republic of Germany from 0.6 g Pb/l to 0.40 g Pb/l effective January 1, 1972 and further to 0.15 g Pb/l effective January 1, 1976.

The purpose of this law was to improve air quality and reduce the amount of inhaled lead in order to protect public health. Fur thermore, a reduction of the air-borne lead should result in a reduction of lead entering the food chain by decreasing the dustfall of that element, especially near dense traffic.

At the same time, this measure offered the opportunity to get an insight into the contribution of transportation to the total lead concentration in the air in different parts of the country. This is true in particular for the second and more drastic step of the law; during the period when the first step come into force, only a few ambient air lead measurements were being made.

With regard to the high portion of the total lead emission contributed by mOtor traffic (Table 1) an overall emission decrease of roughly 45% could be expected as a result of the second step of the law. In this calculation, the traffic emissions in 1976 are estimated to amount to 3 000 t/year, the other emissions are assumed to have remained constant since 1974.

Results from measurements during the traffic restriction Sundays in Winter 1973 in Germany demonstrate the direct proportionality of lead emission by traffic and ambient air lead level. Thus the reduction of the lead content in petrol by roughly 60% has yielded a lessening of the atnuspheric lead concentration in heavy traffic streets by 55 - 602, as can be seen from Table 2. This indicates that sources for lead other than transportation can be neglected in these areas. In urban streets not exposed to heavy traffic, the lead concentration decreased by only 30%, presumably due to an additional influence of lead sources other than transportation in these areas.

In the Rhine/Ruhr district in Nordrhine-Westphalia, the average lead content at 71 measuring sites of the Landesanstal t ftir Im~ssionsschutz (State Authority Northrhine-Wes tphalia, 1977) in a mean distance of 7 km showed a decrease of only somewhat less than 20%. This may be attributed to the high degree of industrialisation in this area; for example, more than one half of the lead emission due to the production of steel in the Federal Republic of Germany is occurring within this region. Furthermore the measuring sites are not exposed to traffic in order to get representative information on the average load in the area concerned. Siting of monitoring stations does not only influence the absolute value measured, but also the temporal trend caused by measures such as the Petrol Lead Law.

The influence is demonstrated by results within Cologne. In a busy street, the lead concen- tration showed a decrease of about 50% after this measure , whereas at the measuring sites of the Landesanstalt situated within the Cologne area a lead reduction of only ca. 18% was found in accordance with the ocher results of this network.

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There is one district in Germany, where the air quality with respect to lead is dctermincd traditionally by mining, production and processing of lead, this is the Stolberg area. :I s was to be expected, in this area the Petrol Lead Law had no influence on ihe air quali tv, as shown by the results presented in Table 3.

According to investigations of the Associated Octel Company Ltd., London (1977) there has been no significant change in the content of aromatics of German fuels. In line with these findings, preliminary results from ambient air quality measurements show almost no changr of concentration patterns (except for lead-concentrations) for heavy traffic areas (Seifcrt, 1978).

Results of epidemiological studies of the lead content in blood from traffic exposed persons (dustmen, policemen etc.) before and after the second step of the Petrol Lead Control Law will be available later this year.

REFERENCES

Council of experts in environmental affairs (1978) Environmental report 1978 Editor: Federal Minister of the Interior

D. Jest and R. Sartorius (1978) Die Auswinkungen der 2. Stufe des Benxin-Blei-Gesetzes Limwelt 6178, 434 - 439

Landesanstalt fur Immissionsschutz des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen (1977) Schriftenreihe 1974 - 1976

Minister for Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Nordrhein-Westfalen (1977) UrrsJeltprobleme durch Schwermetalle im Raum Stolberg

Petrol Lead Law of 5 Aug. 1971 Bundesgesetzblatt Part I, Page 1234

B. Seifert and D. Ullrich (1978) Kanzentration anorganischer und organischer Luftschadstoffe an einer StraBenkreuzung in Berlin. Staub-Reinhaltung der Luft 3J, 359-364

The associated Octel Company Ltd. (1977) Octel Group Gasoline Survey 1975 - 1977

TABLE 1: Lead Emissions in the Federal Republic of Germany 1974 (Council of experts in environmental affairs, 1978)

Emitter Group Emission (t/a)

Transportation 8 284

Production of iron and steel 2 334

Residential, military, minor industries 308

Power- and heating-plants 2 74

Non-ferrous metal industry 267

0 thers 16

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TABLE 2: Air Quality in Heavy-Traffic Streets (Jest, 1978)

Location Lead-Concentration

(Up/m? before past 2. step Petrol Lead Law

Remarks

Frankfurt /m. Gr. Eschers- heimer Str.

Kdln Neumarkt

Kljln Neumarkt

Berlin-Steglitz 3.10 1.15

Saarbriicken (Weekdays)

SaarbrIicken (Sundays)

2.58 1.04

Continuous survey before: 1973 - 1975

past: 1976 - June

1978

2.90 1.00 measuring campaigns (2 weeks) before: summer 1973

past: summer 1976177

2.35

2.80

1.50

1.10

measuring campaigns (2 weeks) before: winter 1970-75

past: winter 1976177

measuring campaigns (4 weeks)

before: Nov/Dec 1975 past: July 1976,

Nov./Dee. 1977

measuring campaigns (3 months) before: Dec. 1973 -

Feb. 1974

*)past: Oct. 1976 - Dec. 1976

1.70 0.60 *)Change of measuring site

TABLE 3: Lead-Concentration in the Stolberg Area (neighbourhood to industrial sources) (Minister for Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Nordrhein-Westfalen, 1977)

Measuring site

1973

Lead Concentration Annual Average (ug/m3) 1974 1975 1976

1 4.0 2.9 1.95 3.2

2 1.3 2.0 0.9 0'. 7

3 2.7 2.0 1.4 1.5

4 7.6 3.7 4.4 4.3

5 2.1 1.7 1.65 1.7