Abstract: Fugitive emissions of particulate matter (PM) on traffic roads can represent significant portions of atmospheric emissions that occur in various productive sectors and in urban environments. Quantifying PM emission rates on roads through resuspension is a complex task that sometimes challenges those who study atmospheric emissions and managers responsible for controlling these emission sources. EcoSoft has been working on developing an integrated solution (hardware and software) capable of measuring PM emission factors and PM emission rates on industrial and urban traffic roads, paved and unpaved, in real time. RAMP Roads is a system capable of measuring fugitive PM emissions caused by the movement of light and heavy vehicles while traveling on a road. The system consists of a set of sensors strategically positioned in a vehicle, which measure the concentration gradients of total suspended particles caused by the movement of the vehicle itself every 2 seconds. The system also measures the spatial position, vehicle speed and other auxiliary variables, sending the data in real time to the SSED Ambion system (Diffuse Emissions Supervisory System – Ambion) hosted in the cloud, which interprets and calculates the emission factors (g/km) of particulate matter and displays on a georeferenced image. The particle monitors that equip RAMP Roads are calibrated by intercomparison with traceable standards, based on PM concentration analyzers approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). Calibration guarantees the metrological quality of the RAMP Roads system. The SSED Ambion also receives and processes images of traffic roads, which are analyzed by artificial intelligence to count the flow of light and heavy vehicles, generating information on the average distance traveled (DMT) at hourly intervals for each monitored road. Based on the PM emission factors measured by the sensor vehicle and the DMT (km/h), the PM emission rates (kg/h) are calculated for each section of monitored traffic road. Emissions from monitored roads can be viewed in real time through a web application called Ambion. In events of dust emission above a certain pre-established value, RAMP Roads can send alerts to those responsible for the affected road, enabling measures to be taken to neutralize or mitigate the problem, in real time. RAMP Roads also enhances the control of PM emissions, guiding and optimally directing available control efforts (water trucks, polymers, sweepers, etc.) to those roads with the highest emissions, reducing the consumption of water, fuel and other inputs . This is an innovative solution that has helped companies in one of the most complex tasks of environmental management, which is the effective control of fugitive dust emissions from roads. In addition to improving the management of atmospheric emissions in the short term, RAMP Roads makes it possible to establish the real gains from implementing control actions, evaluating the long-term evolution of emission factors or emission rates on monitored roads. This article presents the results of measurements of RAMP Roads applied to the environmental management of an Industrial Complex and a Mining Plant containing several roads emitting fugitive PM. It also presents a comparison of the emission factors calculated by conventional means (AP-42 USEPA) and those calculated by RAMP Roads on the same roads.

Keywords: PM fugitive emissions, dust control on traffic roads, management tool, real-time monitoring.