Newly graduated (May 2009) Miss Mai Thi Thuy Phuong
(left) has co-authored a paper with Dr. Nguyen Thi Kim
Oanh (right), of the School of Environment, Resources and
Development (SERD), which received the winning student paper award of
the West Coast Section of the Air Pollution Control Association in
Hanoi, Vietnam. Her paper titled “Emission Inventory for
Motorcycles” also earned her a cash award of US$1500 and an
invitation to present the paper at the 2009 Annual Conference and
Exhibition of the Air and Waste Management Association (AWMA), which
will be taken place in Detroit, United States, June 16-19, 2009.
“I am really happy to be recognized with this award. It's a good
step for continuing my studies further. I also feel glad to contribute
to the academic reputation of the AIT,” said Ms. Phuong on
receiving this award.
“The award also reflects the hard work, continuous efforts, support,
encouragement and guidance of my advisor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh,
who enabled me to accomplish my research and achieve this honor. I also
would like to thank AIT staff members and my colleagues for their
support, she added.
Based on her master’s thesis, Ms. Phuong’s paper focuses on
the research that addresses existing air pollution in
Hanoi caused by motorcycles, which has become a pressing issue due to
the rapid growth in the number motorcycles plying
the city's streets. Making up more than 95% of the motor
vehicle population, motorcycles are the largest single contributor of
emissions from mobile sources in Hanoi.
The research collected local specific data (using video camera, GPS
logger and interviews) to estimate current and future motorcycle
emissions in Hanoi using the International Vehicle Emissions (IVE)
Model, with a projection time to 2025. Eleven chemicals,
including toxic pollutants and climate forcing agents were considered.
The study has produced for the first time a detailed database of
motorcycles' activities and related emissions for the city. The
developed emission factors and emission inventory are important to
design appropriate vehicular emissions control strategies in Vietnam.
The data produced can also be used to analyze potential impacts of
various management strategies on air quality in the city.
According to Dr. Kim Oanh, the daily emissions model of output agrees
well with the temporal variation of roadside measurements of volatile
organic compounds and carbon monoxide. This suggests that
motorcycles are the main sources of these pollutants in
Hanoi. Adopting at once the tighter EURO-3 emissions
standard would be more cost-effective to reducing emissions than
the step-wise implementation of EURO-2 to EURO-3 for Hanoi, she
said.