Air Pollutants Control Technique Trends for Transportation Sources in Korea

The major source of harmful air pollutants in Korea have been shifted as economy grows. Particulate matter(PM) and Sulfur dioxide ($SO_2$) emitted from industries and coal-fired domestic sectors were important pollutants in 1970's and later industrializing period of Korea. Then the characteristic of pollution was changed into so-called "developed country type pollution". Vehicles have been responsible for significant amount of Nitric oxide ($NO_x$) pollution and consequent Ozone formation in urban area since 1990's. Variety of control measures have been introduced to deal with the vehicle emissions in Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA). Emission control technologies have successfully reduced pollutants from vehicles. Three-way catalyst for vehicles fueled by gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), for example, has achieved large amount of pollutants. Compressed natural gas (CNG) urban bus have penetrated existing diesel bus market and reduces PM and $NO_x$ emissions in many Korean cities. However, diesel vehicles are still reaming as a critical emission source of urban area. Diesel vehicles gain more popularity than ever because of their better fuel efficiency and driving power. Unfortunately, it is widely known that the pollutant emissions of diesel vehicles are much larger than those of gasoline and LPG vehicles. In this note, we briefly introduce the trends of emission control strategies which are accomplished by automotive industries for about last ten years. Emission regulation, cleaner fuel, diesel particulate filter (DPF) and other measures are discussed from technical as well as legislative perspectives.

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