Monday, January 1, 2018
Dr. Kuruvilla John, chair of the Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, has been engaged in air quality research for over 30 years, contributing specifically to the study of ozone, that is. The chemical engineer says he first got his start researching acid rain at the University of Iowa but moved to the more cutting-edge topic of ground-level ozone pollution shortly after his post-graduate studies.
“I was fascinated by acid rain, and I was using complex atmospheric models to study the problem over the Northeast, but at that point in time, the acid rain problem was nearly solved and research funding was waning, so then I shifted my focus studying yet another harmful secondary pollutant: ozone,” said John.
Now, John uses atmospheric modeling and monitoring tools to help identify sources of ozone pollution in the atmosphere. The ozone in the lower atmosphere can cause serious health problems among susceptible populations residing in highly-polluted areas. “Ozone is a primary component of smog in major urban areas and is formed from the photochemical reaction of precursor gases during the warm months,” said John. “When there are high ozone levels in urban areas, people can have trouble breathing and their eyes can become irritated.”
By setting up four ozone monitoring stations strategically located in various locations around urban and rural areas in South Texas, John was able to monitor the air and track the data in minute increments. He then uses the data to run model simulations of various real-world scenarios – such as closing a large emitter of oxides of nitrogen and/or volatile organic compounds within the model to study the impact of emissions on urban and regional air quality – that may not be possible in current everyday life.
“When I started my academic career and was working with the City of Corpus Christi, we learned that ozone was influenced by wind patterns and would carry over into rural areas, affecting the people in those areas just as much as people in urban areas,” he said. “With these monitoring stations, we can see that ozone levels have gone down over the years, and now we also have really good long-term data available to the research community.” But, since moving to UNT in 2009, John is puzzled by a new mystery occurring at UNT’s own Discovery Park campus.
“A few years ago, some of my students set up a station near the Zero Energy Lab to track ozone levels here at Discovery Park,” he said. “What we found interesting was that the levels measured were consistently higher than those measured at a nearby station located at Denton Airport. So, of course, we checked our equipment and ran additional tests, but they kept recording higher levels during the ozone season. So, now, I am intrigued with what is contributing to these higher levels.”
This summer, John plans to run more tests out at Discovery Park to try and solve this mystery. He will be conducting measurements of ozone and fine particulate matter both indoors and outdoors at the Zero Energy Lab. He will also be acquiring instrumentation to measure other smog pollutants, including oxides of nitrogen, volatile organic compounds, ammonia, sulfur dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and nano-particles. This will be a first of its kind, a truly net-zero air quality monitoring station. “I never thought I’d be continuing to study the ozone problem for this long, but 30 years later I’m still doing it.”
“I was fascinated by acid rain, and I was using complex atmospheric models to study the problem over the Northeast, but at that point in time, the acid rain problem was nearly solved and research funding was waning, so then I shifted my focus studying yet another harmful secondary pollutant: ozone,” said John.
Now, John uses atmospheric modeling and monitoring tools to help identify sources of ozone pollution in the atmosphere. The ozone in the lower atmosphere can cause serious health problems among susceptible populations residing in highly-polluted areas. “Ozone is a primary component of smog in major urban areas and is formed from the photochemical reaction of precursor gases during the warm months,” said John. “When there are high ozone levels in urban areas, people can have trouble breathing and their eyes can become irritated.”
By setting up four ozone monitoring stations strategically located in various locations around urban and rural areas in South Texas, John was able to monitor the air and track the data in minute increments. He then uses the data to run model simulations of various real-world scenarios – such as closing a large emitter of oxides of nitrogen and/or volatile organic compounds within the model to study the impact of emissions on urban and regional air quality – that may not be possible in current everyday life.
“When I started my academic career and was working with the City of Corpus Christi, we learned that ozone was influenced by wind patterns and would carry over into rural areas, affecting the people in those areas just as much as people in urban areas,” he said. “With these monitoring stations, we can see that ozone levels have gone down over the years, and now we also have really good long-term data available to the research community.” But, since moving to UNT in 2009, John is puzzled by a new mystery occurring at UNT’s own Discovery Park campus.
“A few years ago, some of my students set up a station near the Zero Energy Lab to track ozone levels here at Discovery Park,” he said. “What we found interesting was that the levels measured were consistently higher than those measured at a nearby station located at Denton Airport. So, of course, we checked our equipment and ran additional tests, but they kept recording higher levels during the ozone season. So, now, I am intrigued with what is contributing to these higher levels.”
This summer, John plans to run more tests out at Discovery Park to try and solve this mystery. He will be conducting measurements of ozone and fine particulate matter both indoors and outdoors at the Zero Energy Lab. He will also be acquiring instrumentation to measure other smog pollutants, including oxides of nitrogen, volatile organic compounds, ammonia, sulfur dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and nano-particles. This will be a first of its kind, a truly net-zero air quality monitoring station. “I never thought I’d be continuing to study the ozone problem for this long, but 30 years later I’m still doing it.”