Suitability of using carbon dioxide as a tracer gas for studying vehicle emission dispersion in a real street canyon

High-rise buildings form deep urban street canyons and restrict the dispersion of vehicle emissions, posing severe health risks to the public by aggravating roadside air quality. Field measurements are important for understanding the dispersion process of tailpipe emissions in street canyons, while a major challenge is the lack of a suitable tracer gas. Carbon dioxide (CO₂), which is safe to the public and inexpensive to obtain, can be reliably measured by existing gas analysers. This study investigated the suitability of using CO₂ as a tracer gas for characterising vehicle emission dispersion in a real-world street canyon. The tracer gas was released via a line or point source, whose dispersion was characterised by a sensors network comprising low-cost air quality sensors. The results showed that the CO₂ contained in the exhaust gas of a test vehicle itself had unmeasurable effect at roadsides. Both the line and point sources produced obvious CO₂ level elevations at approximately 30 s after the test vehicle passed by. In addition, for both line and point sources, the CO₂ elevations were much more distinct at the roadside next to tailpipe exit than the opposite side, and were higher at 0.8 m than 1.6 m above the ground. The present study demonstrated that using CO₂ as a tracer gas is feasible for investigating vehicle emission dispersion in real-world street canyons. Future studies are needed to improve the gas release rate of the developed tracer gas systems for more reliable measurements and larger street canyons.