Impact of ambient air filters on PM concentration levels at an urban traffic hotspot (Stuttgart, Am Neckartor)

Air pollution can have severe impacts on public health. A novel approach to lower the local particle concentrations at urban hotspots is ambient air filtration. This study presents experimental investigations into the effectiveness of air filters to lower ambient particle concentration levels at two different locations. Seventeen outdoor filtration devices with a total flow rate of 170.000 m3/h were installed beside federal highway B14 at Stuttgart "Am Neckartor" targeting to reduce PM10 concentration levels within a 300 m x 50 m area around the urban pollution hotspot. Further measurements were conducted at the residential area "Bleyle Areal" to show the capabilities of a single filter device under relatively defined conditions. By periodically switching the filters on and off while monitoring the particle mass concentrations with optical particle counters, the effects of the filters on the PM10 and PM2.5 concentration levels were determined. A long term investigation at the Neckartor installation site (466 h) yielded an average PM10 reduction of 10.4% (6.3 mu g/m3) at the official Neckartor measurement station. Additional in situ measurement campaigns showed that the PM reduction effect decreases with increasing distance to the filter devices. However, the effect is clearly measurable in the walkway areas across the installation site.