6.7. Carbon moxide (CO)

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Air Quality in Europe, 1993 - A Pilot Report

6.7. Carbon monoxide (CO)

6.7.1. Behaviour, effects, emissions

Carbon monoxide (CO) exerts its effects on health through its reaction with the haemoglobin of the blood. The affinity of haemoglobin is more than 200 times higher for CO than for oxygen, so that it replaces oxygen in the blood already at low concentrations.

The major sources to CO emissions is combustion of fuels. Poor combustion gives increased CO emissions. In urban areas, road traffic is normally by far the dominant source, and gasoline-powered vehicles (spark ignition engine) is the dominating vehicle group. CO emissions are high at idle and low, intermittent speeds, and decreases rapidly at higher speed. (Emissions increase again substantially at very high speeds, >100 km/h for non-catalyst cars). Other less important sources are biomass combustion, power stations, incineration. CO is slowly oxidised to CO2 in the atmosphere.

Human health effects range from strokes, unconsciousness and death of parts of the brain and the individual itself at very high exposures (as may occur accidentally e.g. in individual car garages), and to milder, behavioural effects (e.g. impaired learning, reduced vigilance, impaired complex task performance, increased reaction time) that may occur at CO levels that may arise in urban areas close to traffic during periods of poor atmospheric dispersion. Increased risk of certain effects on the cardiovascular system can be expected to begin at levels close to such peak ambient concentrations.

6.7.2. Air Quality Limit and Guide Values

There are no EU Limit or Guide values for CO. WHO Guideline values for CO are given in Table 6.27. WHO Guideline values are maximum values.

Table 6.27: WHO Guideline values for CO (mg/m3).

Averaging time	Mean value
10 min	100¹
œ h	60¹
1 h	30¹
8 h	10

1 Exposure at these concentrations should be for no longer than the indicated times and should not be repeated within 8 hours.

6.7.3. Urban and local CO concentrations

Concentrations

In Appendix B CO data from 12 countries are given. The stations are ranged according to the 98 percentile of hourly values. The stations with the highest values are given in Table 6.28. Also the maximum 1h and maximum 8h values are given, if available.

Differences in CO levels are probably due to different exposure to traffic at the monitoring stations. CO levels are shown in Figure 6.65-Figure 6.67.

Table 6.28: Maximum 1 h, maximum 8 h and 98 percentile 1 h CO values for 1993 for European cities ranged according to the 95 percentile values (µg/m3). (

Country	City			CO, year, 1h values
Country	Name	Class	Station	Max. 1h	Max. 8h	98-percentile
Portugal	Lisboa		Benéfica	57.1	18.1	25.3
Portugal	Porto		Fac. Engenharia	38.2	11.4	25.3
Portugal	Faro		Faro	27.4	10.9	21.5
Portugal	Bar./Seixal		Hospital Velho	32.8	11.9	17.9
Greece	Athens	1	Patission 147	33.3	22.6	15.6
Portugal	Lisboa		Entrecampos	24.3	8.7	14
Greece	Athens	1	Pireas Platia Dimotikou	28.9	18.1	11.5
Germany	Wiesbaden	4	W-Ringkirche			10.3
Portugal	Lisboa		Rua da Prata	16.4	5.2	10.2
Portugal	Lisboa		Casal Ribeiro	14.5	5	10.1
Germany	Braunschweig	4	Bohlweg			9.7
Portugal	Lisboa		Olivais	16.3	3.6	9.4
Spain	Barcelona	1	Molina Pl.	23.8	17.3	8.7
Portugal	Porto		Campo Alegre	8.8	7.8	8
Germany	Hannover	3	Sallstrasse			7.9
Germany	Mainz-Mombach	4	Parcusstrasse			7.45
Portugal	Funchal		Funchal	13.3	3.5	7.3
Greece	Athens	1	Smyrni Cementry	26.9	9.7	7.2
Spain	Madrid	1	Cuatro Caminos	17.2	10.3	7.2
Germany	Düsseldorf	3	Düsseldorf-Mörsenbroich	22.8		6.8
Germany	Kassel	4	Kassel-Süd			6.8
Portugal	Lisboa		R. Sèculo	12.6	3.1	6.4
Germany	Hannover	3	Göttinger Strasse			6.4
Germany	München	2	Effnerplatz	18.5		6.3
Germany	München	2	L.Kiesselbach-Platz	21.8		6.2
Spain	Madrid	1	Plaza España	15.1	8.4	6
Germany	Essen	3	Essen-Ost	17.5		5.8
Spain	Madrid	1	Carlos V	15.1	8.6	5.8
Germany	München	2	Pasing	21		5.7
Germany	München	2	Stachus	15.2		5.7
Germany	München	2	Moosach	19.9		5.5
The Netherlands	Utrecht		Witte Vrouwenstraat	14.5	9.4	5.5
Germany	Bremen	3	Bremen-Verkehr I			5.5
Finland	Jyväskylä	5	Lyseo	15.6	9.8	5.3
Germany	Ludwigshafen-Frankental	4	Goerdelerplatz			5.25
Portugal	Lisboa		Beato	9.1	3.1	5.1
Germany	Hamburg	2	Stresemannstrasse	9.7	6	5
Germany	Chemnitz		Chemmitz-Mitte 2			4.99
Spain	Madrid	1	Plaza Castilla	11.1	6.6	4.8
Germany	Düsseldorf	3	Düsseldorf-Reisholz	17.3		4.7
Germany	Essen	3	Essen-Altendorf	15.2		4.7
Portugal	Lisboa		Chelas	8.1	2.1	4.7
Germany	Essen	3	Essen-Vogelheim	18		4.6
Germany	Frankfurt	3	Ffm-Höhenstrasse			4.6
Spain	Barcelona	1	Poblé nov	14.2	6.1	4.4
Spain	Madrid	1	Arturo Soria	25.6	10.6	4.3
Germany	Kassel	4	Kassel-Nord			4.3
Germany	Duisburg	3	Duisburg-Walsum	12.4		4.2
Germany	Leipzig		Leipzig-Mitte 2			4.2
United Kingdom	Belfast	4	Belfast centre	16.9	12.3	4

Figure 6.65: Maximum 1 h, maximum 8 h and 98 percentile 1 h CO values for 1993 for selected stations and cities (µg/m3).

Figure 6.66: CO 1h maximum values in selected cities (µg/m3).

Figure 6.67: CO 8h maximum values in selected cities (µg/m3).

Exceedances

EU has no Limit or Guide values for CO. Table 6.29 shows stations with exceedances of WHO Guideline values. Exceedances of the WHO Guideline values are reported from Greece, Portugal, Spain and the UK

Table 6.29: Exceedances of WHO Guide Values for CO.

Country	City	Station	Max. 1h > 30	Max. 8h > 10
Greece	Athens	Patission 147	33.3	22.6
		Pireas Platia Dimotikou		18.1
Portugal	Bar./Seixal	Hospital Velho	32.8	11.9
	Faro	Faro		10.9
	Lisboa	Benéfica	57.1	18.1
	Porto	Fac. Engenharia	38.2	11.4
Spain	Barcelona	Molina Pl.		17.3
	Madrid	Arturo Soria		10.6
		Cuatro Caminos		10.3
United Kingdom	Belfast	Belfast centre		12.3
	Leeds	Leeds centre		10.4

Trends

Trend figures are presented for the Netherlands, Germany (Bremen) and Greece (Figure 6.68-Figure 6.70). Stations exposed to heavy traffic in Utrecht and Athens show a slightly decreasing trends, except perhaps for maximum 1 h values.

Figure 6.68: CO trend in Rotterdam and Utrecht, the Netherlands 1981-1994 (µg/m3). APIS data.

Figure 6.69: CO trend in Bremen, Germany 1987-1993 (µg/m3) 98 percentile
1 h values from Bremen State report.

Figure 6.70: CO trend in Greece 1983-1993 (µg/m3). APIS data.

Norsk institutt for luftforskning (NILU)
P.O. Box 100, N-2007 Kjeller - Norway

REPORT SERIES			REPORT NO. OR ../95	ISBN-
DATE			SIGN.	NO. OF PAGES 132	PRICE NOK
TITLE				PROJECT LEADER Steinar Larssen
				NILU PROJECT NO. O-95002
AUTHOR(S)				CLASSIFICATION * A
				CONTRACT REF. Gordon McInnes
REPORT PREPARED FOR: European Environmental Agency Kongens Nytorv 6 DK-1050 COPENHAGEN K DENMARK
ABSTRACT Air pollution monitoring data from 21 European countries are summarized, based upon Apis and EoI data and national reports for SO2, NO2, black smoke, SPM/TSP/PM10, O3, CO and Pb. Exceedances of EU Limits, EU Guide Values and WHO Guideline Values are also summarized for each country.
NORWEGIAN TITLE
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ABSTRACT (in Norwegian)
* Classification	A B C	Unclassified (can be ordered from NILU) Restricted distribution Classified (not to be distributed)