ARTICLE IN PRESS

Atmospheric Environment 39 (2005) 18911902

www.elsevier.com/locate/atmosenv

Effectiveness of street sweeping and washing for controlling

ambient TSP
Yu-Min Chang, Chih-Mei Chou, Kuo-Tung Su, Chao-Heng Tseng
Graduate Institute of Environmental Planning and Management, National Taipei University of Technology,
Chung-Hsiao E. Rd. Taipei, Taiwan, ROC
Received 9 August 2004; received in revised form 15 November 2004; accepted 9 December 2004

Abstract

Effectiveness of street sweeping and washing (S/W) for controlling ambient total suspended particles (TSP) was
evaluated by TSP measurements and determining silt load from active trafc streets. A modied regenerative-air
vacuum sweeper (RAVS) and a washer were used in this study. The sweeper made a pass followed by the washer. The S/
W efciencies Zs ; ZT were obtained based on the experimental data of silt loading and TSP. It was found that the direct
impact of sweeping on ambient TSP emissions was short-lived lasting no more than 34 h. When a vacuum sweeper and
a washer, respectively, did a good job collecting or cleaning the visible ne particles on roads, the method of S/W tested
in this work was effective at removing the sources of the road dust particles. This paper concludes that street sweeping
followed by washing was found to offer a measurable reduction in TSP emission potentials. Typically, the reduction
efciency of ambient TSP is up to 30%. Finally, correlated with ZS (based on silt loading), a useful equation is proposed
to estimate the S/W efciency, ZT (based on TSP) with a standard error of 720%. It seems feasible to predict the
reduction efciency of ambient TSP controlled by the regenerative-air vacuum sweeper and washer used in this work for
engineering applications. Effects of trafc volume and wind velocity on the S/W efciencies are also discussed in the
paper.
r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Street sweeping; Sweeping efciency; Fugitive dust; TSP

1. Introduction matter sized less than 10 mm (PM10) that would

Recently, there has been growing public concern
about air quality in Taiwan urban areas. Considerable
attention has been focused on particulate matter (PM)
produced from paved road and construction activities
because of its adverse effects on potential air quality.
Kuhns et al. (2001) found that the removal of dust on
the road surface can reduce the ambient concentration
of total suspended particles (TSP), and even particulate
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ymchang@ntut.edu.tw (Y.-M. Chang).
otherwise be available for emission in a long term. Most
domestic studies adequately demonstrate that air pollu-
tion partly comes from suspended particulate matter. A
major source of this urban particulate matter is dust
emissions from paved streets. According to several
studies (e.g. Chow et al., 1990), dust and silt from
paved streets and other trafc-related emissions are
major sources of suspended particulate matter in the
urban areas. Taiwan government extends some strate-
gies to improve its air quality; one of the major
implementations executed by all local governments is
street sweeping and washing to control ambient TSP.

1352-2310/$ - see front matter r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2004.12.010
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
1892 Y.-M. Chang et al. / Atmospheric Environment 39 (2005) 18911902
One possible way to reduce particle emission from
streets is decreasing the silt loading on the road surfaces,
because silt loading is directly related to PM emissions,
which can be estimated by the AP-42 equation. Street
sweepers are often proposed as a means of reducing the
emissions from paved roads, and expected as a TSP, and
even PM10, control measure. In the past years, street
sweeping was the only feasible method to remove dust
from roads in Taiwan. An examination of street
sweeping mechanism for TSP control, and preliminary
tests prior to this study funded by the local government
found that sweeping and washing (denoted by S/W in
this paper) would possibly decrease the ambient TSP
around air pollution monitoring stations (Taiwan
National Science Council, 2002). If S/W can remove
particles that may evolve into TSP, then it may have a
benecial effect on air quality over a long term. It has
been estimated that the emissions from paved roads
could be reduced by approximately one-third with the
implementation of a thorough street sweeping program
(Duncan et al., 1985).
Several types of street sweepers are currently available
including mechanical brooms, vacuum cleaners, or a
combination of the two. However, street sweeping was
often considered ineffective as an emission reduction
strategy for TSP, especially PM10, but these must begin
with a thorough examination of the sweeper itself, prior
to taking ambient samples, to evaluate sweeping
effectiveness. The primary objective of a street sweeper
was to remove debris from the roadways for aesthetics
and safety. Currently, new street sweepers are used to
remove the ne particles on the road in order to prevent
further dust emissions from vehicle trafc and to make
the roadways cleaner.
Previous studies have conducted estimation studies on
sweeping performance as listed in Table 1. For example,
Cowherd et al. (1988) have found that the emission
reduction rate on paved roads was in the range of
3337% when a vigorous street sweeping program was
implemented. Bris et al. (1999) also pointed that solid
cleaning efciency was highly variable (2065%) by
water jet street cleaning procedure. Unfortunately,
Chow et al. (1990) considered that expected reductions
in ambient TSP and PM10 may not be realized when
street sweeping is used for air pollution control. Though
most street sweepers are not designed for ne particle
removal as priority, Duncan et al. (1985) have designed
a function-modied sweeper to remove trash and ner
solids. Besides, they also showed that the improved
street sweeper removes more street solids than the same
sweeper without the improvements for all particles size
fractions. Fitz (1998) suggested that future efforts to
quantify the benets of sweeping should be based on
more extensive measurements of silt loadings of active
trafc lane in order to reduce the uncertainty of
effectiveness assessment. In summary, to develop a
better control strategy and better effectiveness estima-
tion for the sweeping performance, many previous
researchers suggested that wind speed, mechanical
disturbance by vehicles, amount of sprayed water, and
silt loading of the tested road must be considered as the
main factors affecting sweeping performance (US
Environmental Protection Agency, 1995).
This study was designed to undertake extensive
measurements; as suggested by the previous researchers,
they were designed to evaluate the effectiveness of street
sweeping for controlling ambient TSP. The objective of
this study was to evaluate an effective S/W method for
controlling ambient TSP in Taiwan. It applied a
modied regenerative vacuum sweeper (RVAS) and
efcient washer to evaluate the effectiveness of street
sweeping and washing. This study carried out a series of
in situ experiments in which the effects of S/W on
ambient TSP emissions were examined for different
wind speeds, trafc volumes, and silt loading on street
surfaces.
2. Background on collection mechanism and calculation
Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of the mechanisms
of dust pickup and collection for a sweeper, and silt
clean for a washer. There are two cleaning devices, a
sweeper and washer with the latter following the rst.
The main mechanism for controlling ambient TSP is
removing efciently the nes or silt on the paved road by
sweeping and washing, respectively. In general, the fan
in an RAVS establishes vacuum in the hopper which
sucks up the debris through the vacuum hose into the
hopper, where the air loses velocity, and heavy or large
debris falls to the hopper oor. The air is drawn through
a screen to remove paper and leaves, and then enters a
centrifugal separator where large dust particles are
collected and thrown into the hopper. The air is then
drawn into the blower to start another cycle.
In this study, air pollution control devices mounted in
this RAVS were designed to remove dust (30100 mm) by
a high-efcient scrubber, and nes (below 30 mm) by a
fabric lter. The dusty, vented air is cleaned with a wet
scrubber and lter before it is recirculated. A spray
scrubber is originally installed on the RAVS. During
street sweeping, the major source of fugitive dust
emission is the gap between street surface and pickup
head if the pickup head does not seal well against the
street surface. These pickup head emissions were greatly
reduced by venting air out of the regenerative air system
through the leaf bleeder valve and a particle scrubber.
Liquid droplets are produced by spray nozzles and are
allowed to settle through the rising gas stream. The
droplets were in the range of 3001000 mm diameter.
This gives optimum collection efciency and ensures
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Y.-M. Chang et al. / Atmospheric Environment 39 (2005) 18911902 1893

Table 1
A review on previous studies for street sweeping

References Summary

Ellis and Revitt (1982) Street sweeping is particularly efcient in removing solid particles sized more than 250 mm
Duncan et al. (1985) Dust emission from paved streets can be controlled and reduced by approximately one-third by street
cleaning. The broom sweeper removes 20% of the street solids, the vacuum sweeper removes 70% and the
improved street sweeper (ISS) removes 80%
Cowherd (1988) The emission reduction rate of PM10 on paved roads was in the range of 3337% when a vigorous street
sweeping program was carried out
Chow et al. (1990) Street sweeping is proposed to be a way of reducing the emission from paved roads, although street
sweeping is entirely ineffective as an emissions reductions strategy for PM10, because street sweeper, and
its effectiveness measured under controlled situations is insufcient to evaluate them. So, it must begin
with a thorough examination of the sweeper itself prior to evaluating sweeping effectiveness
Fitz (1998) Sweeping may be a cost-effective PM control method, especially for high-trafc roadways. To control PM
emissions from paved roads by street sweeping, creating a good sweeping program which may be effective
in reducing PM concentrations is needed
Bris et al. (1999) The water jet street cleaning procedure used by Paris city workers was tested for its efciency, by
comparison of surface loads before and after the cleaning procedure. The solids cleaning efciency is
highly variable (2065%) and somewhat higher for larger solid particles
Fitz and Bumiller Most sweepers achieved greater than 97% collection efciency on the rst pass. The conclusion is that
(2000) emissions, during the operation of street sweepers to remove nes from a paved road, are not signicant
compared with the benet in reduced emissions provided by a cleaned road
Gromaire et al. (2000) Pollutant load removed from the street surface by cleaning water on a daily basis was found to be similar
to that removed during one rainfall event. Street cleaning by rainfall runoff can preferentially wash away
the suspendable solids and organic matter on road
Kuhns et al. (2001) The new approach of testing re-entrained aerosols kinetic emissions from roads (TRAKER) may be used
to quickly and precisely measure the effectiveness of road dust emission control strategies such as street
sweeping. The experiment also demonstrated that distribution of suspendable material on roadways is
highly variable, and would be affected by the sweeping process
Vaze and Chiew (2002) Particle size distribution of street dust after street sweeping is ner compared to that before sweeping.
Street sweeping may have an adverse impact on pollutant washoff because the street sweeper releases the
ner material but only removes some of them. Therefore, treatment facilities must be able to remove the
ner particle down to 1050 mm
Etyemezian et al. Street sweeping with mechanical or vacuum sweeper was found to offer no measurable reduction in PM10
(2003) emission potentials. If street sweeping can remove particles that may evolve into TSP or PM10, then
sweeping may have a benecial effect on air quality over a long term
Sutherland (2003) Results were signicantly in relation to sediment grain size removal by street sweepers. Environmental
management was also discussed in light of street sweeper performance with sediment grain size removal
efciencies

that most of the droplets will have a settling velocity
greater than the upward velocity of the gas stream,
which is usually about 0.71.5 m s1. Conventional full-
cone spray nozzles are used in this work. In principle, a
spray gas-slid system effectively handles dust ranging in
size from 2 to 10 mm. Liquid droplets designed in the size
range of 5001000 mm are most effective for removal of
particulates in a spray system.
The material lter used in this work is woven fabric
nylon, which was packed in a box with 2 thickness. It
has a low initial collection efciency, but becomes highly
efcient when a dust layer builds up on the fabric. This
porous dust layer supported by the fabric is responsible
for high ltration efciency. The lter was normally
operated at supercial velocity (air-to-cloth) of
1.52.0 cm s1 with pressure drop of 5060 mmH2O.
Basically, the mechanisms of nes collected by the ber
are inertial deposition, interception, diffusion, gravita-
tional settling, and electrostatic attraction. Since theore-
tical analysis is complex, only simplied equations are
presented (Hinds, 1999). Still, these equations are
accurate enough to show the trend of collection
efciency with lter parameters. Wherever possible, the
equations are based on experimentally veried theory
and are valid for our experimental conditions. A lter
after a spray washer is likely to plug rapidly. But it was
not a problem because the lter was cleaned periodically
(normally by shaking) in this study.
To estimate the performance or effectiveness of the
cleaning process by S/W in this study, as listed in Table
2, three denitions of sweeping efciencies were used in
this paper. Respectively, Zd ; represents the collection
efciency of dust (o297 mm ) on the street surface, ZS
represents the collection efciency of silt (o75 mm ) on
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1894 Y.-M. Chang et al. / Atmospheric Environment 39 (2005) 18911902

Clean gas output

Filter
Spray nozzles

Waste gas input water

Re-suspension

Washing Sweeping water spraying

Slit
Dust and Slit

Fig. 1. Mechanism of dust collection and removal by sweeping and washing.

Table 2
Denitions of sweeping and washing (S/W) efciencies used in this study

Notation Denition Remark

 
ZT TSP TSP mg m3 Index on air quality
1  TSP downwindTSP upwind after s=w mg m6  100%
downwind upwind before s=w
 
Zd dust loadingafter s=w g m2 Index on road clean and sanitary
1  dust loading g m 2  100%
before s=w
 
ZS silt loading g m2 Index on emission rate of fugitive particles
1  silt loading after s=w g m2  100%
before s=w

the street surface, and ZT represents the reduction
efciency of TSP in the ambience. Based on equivalent
emission rate of fugitive particles, the trafc volumetric
rate is dened as the number of passenger (or private)
car unit per minute (pcu/min) as follows (US Environ-
mental Protection Agency, 1995):
pcu min1 4  number of truck per min
1  number of car per min
0:2  number of motorcycle per min.
3. Field experiments
3.1. Sweeper and washer
With an engine power of 55 kw, the regenerative air
vacuum sweeper (RAVS), upgraded under our previous
work to improve its sweeping performance, was used in
this work. It used a regenerative air system for dust
pickup. A gutter broom moves the street dirt from the
curb toward the center of the sweeper. To suppress dust,
the RAVS has two water spray nozzles at the front of
the sweeper, three at each end of the pickup head, three
at each gutter broom, and four inside the hopper, which
is likely a scrubber. The total water spray rate was
usually about 75 L h1. A blower forces air through a
slot in the pickup head which rides on and seals against
the street surface. The dirt is then vacuumed up and is
carried to the hopper through a vacuum hose. In the
hopper, paper and leaves are removed from the air
stream by a screen, and large particles are removed by a
centrifugal separator. The vented air then goes through
the fabric lter mounted in the upper sweeper. So, the
air is recirculated after it is cleaned by the wet scrubber
and the lter.
The street washer used in this work has a 15 m3 water
tank with an engine power of 99 kW. It washes the street
surface after picking up dust and silt. It has 2 spray
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Y.-M. Chang et al. / Atmospheric Environment 39 (2005) 18911902 1895

Table 3
Specications and operation conditions for the sweeper and washer used in this study

Sweeper Washer

Item Specication Item Specication

Length (mm) 4230 Length (mm) 5350

Width (mm) 1650 Width (mm) 1650
Height (mm) 2320 Height (mm) 2400
Empty weight (kg) 3500 Empty weight (kg) 7500
Turning circle (m) 8.5 Turning circle (m) 12
Capacity (c.c.) 2776 Capacity (c.c.) 3500
Max. power (kw rpm1) 55 Max. power (kw rpm1) 99
Capacity of water tank (L) 420 Capacity of water tank (m3) 15
Operation condition Operation condition
Water spray rate (L h1) 75 Spray pressure (psig) 10
Sweeping speed (km h1) 58 Spray angle (degree) 60
Spray pressure (psig) 50 Water usage rate (L min1) 80120
Brush speed (rpm) 40 Washing speed (km h1) 58
Max. cleaning capacity (m2 h1) 25,000 Max. cleaning capacity (m2 h1) 10,000

Fig. 2. Illustration diagram of equipment and sampling locations in this study.

nozzles with a high pressure of 10 psig. Table 3 lists the
operation conditions with original specication for the
sweeper and washer used in the study.
3.2. Sweeping and washing method
In this study, streets were chosen on the basis of
accessibility, safety, orientation, and car count. The
accessibility of roads was a factor in order to install
sampling equipments. Safety issues also became appar-
ent, because it would be dangerous if the street sweeper
or dust and slit loading measurements stopped or slowed
trafc. The amount of particles emitted from a paved
street depends on street dirtiness, wind velocity, wind
direction, trafc volume, etc. Car count was also a major
factor because it was used to help determine the
characterization of the street to be sampled. Based on
these factors, Chung-Zheng road and Chung-San road
in Taipei County were selected in the study. These two
roads are oriented from NE to SW, and carry moderate
trafc (average about 50 pcu min1). Both the streets
have four lanes with a width of 20 m or so, and lower
buildings in the neighborhood.
The method used was sweeping by RAVS followed by
washing the street surface. The speed of RAVS, followed
by a washer, is about 5 km h1, which is equivalent to
sweeping velocity. The sweeper picked up large garbage,
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
1896 Y.-M. Chang et al. / Atmospheric Environment 39 (2005) 18911902
dust and silt, and then the washer washed the road. The
volume ow rate of water to wash street is about
58 m3 h1. As shown in Fig. 2, the sweeper and washer
travel in one lane and turn into another lane in the same
sweeping section. They did not work while passing
through the unswept section, where the data of TSP and
silt loading were simultaneously measured and used as
comparative baseline. In general, the traveling distance
between the sweeper and the washer was kept at about
0.5 km.
3.3. Measurements
In this study, the effectiveness of street sweeping for
controlling TSP emissions was evaluated by TSP
measurements and determining silt loadings from active
trafc lanes before and after S/W. All experiments were
carried out on days with no rain, and they were not done
within 2 days after or before rain to avoid the rain effect
on dust loading.
To monitor the dynamic variability of TSP during S/
W, two b-gauge particle monitors (VEREWA, GmbH,
Model: F701) were used for a preliminary investigation
in this work. The instrument was operated at
18.9 L min1. The particles were continuously collected
on a lter tape and detected by 14C-attenuation. They
were installed upwind and downwind, respectively. The
monitoring mechanism of equipments is based on the
US EPA-designed equivalent methods (No. EQPM-
0391-081). Its monitoring method was followed by
Taiwan NIEA 206.10C (based on US EPA 40CFR Part
53, 1994).
A standard high-volume air sampler (Andersens Hi-
Vol. Sampler, Model: G-Series) was used to measure
total suspended particulate (TSP, mg m3). The standard
method with procedure of quality control for the glass
lter was based on the regulation of ROC-EPA NIEA
A102.10A. The accuracy and precision for the collo-
cated samplings are both required to be less than 10%.
Eight TSP samplers were placed in the shoulders (or
pedestrian area) on both sides of the tested roads as
shown in Fig. 2.
Dust or silt loadings were determined by vacuuming
the active trafc lanes and sieving the material collected.
It was performed using the Mitsubishi TC-G50 model
equipped with a Micron Filtration Bag. Shoulders (to
the curb) and active lanes were both sampled simulta-
neously for the dust measurements. It was sometimes
necessary to stop or slow trafc just for a moment
during the dust loading measurements. The sampling
method of dust or silt collection was referred to the
method AP-42 (US Environmental Protection Agency,
1995), by which the vacuumed area of road surface is
10 m2 (0.5 m  20 m). Dust (o297 mm) and silt (o75 mm)
were determined by measuring the proportion of loose
dry surface dust that passes 48 mesh and 200 mesh,
respectively, using the ASTM-C136 method. Generally,
on a sunny day in Taiwan, the wet road surface due to
street washing becomes dry in 12 h, so the samplings of
dust or silt were not inuenced by the foregoing
washing.
A total of 24 (12  2) experimental runs for two streets
were carried out in this study. Each test includes 32
(8  2  2) samples of TSP and 8 (4  2) samples of dust
(or silt). Both the data measured at the two neighboring
TSP samplers and dust loading were averaged to get
mean values. The sampling schedule for both TSP and
dust loading was arranged 1 h before sweeping and 3, 5,
7 h after sweeping, and the samples collected for TSP
were conducted for 1 h with a digital time controller.
Because the upwinddownwind sampling is dependent
on consistent meteorological conditions, the wind speed
and direction must be relatively constant during
sampling. With an anemometer, wind vane was used
to operate the high-volume air sampler through a sector
selector control, which kept the sampling unit on when
the wind was blowing within 151 of the wind direction at
the initiation of the test. Moreover, a digital video
camera (JVC Cybercam) was installed in the side next to
the anemometer and pointed toward the vehicle ow.
4. Results and discussion
A series of TSP and silt loading measurements from
active trafc streets were carried out before and after S/
W. The results with discussion are as follows.
4.1. Dynamic TSP during S/W
Dynamic TSP variability was measured to evaluate of
the S/W effectiveness in this work. As shown in Fig. 3,
the TSP concentration increases temporally at the start
of S/W, and gradually decays. This is the result of
disturbance by the sweeper scrubs. One of the interesting
ndings is that the temporal increase in the TSP
concentrations returned to within 70% of the unswept
levels in approximately 2030 min after S/W. In
principle, part of the silt can be swept, with the
remaining or entrained dust emitted from the silt on a
paved road collected by the modied RAVS mechanism.
This function was described in the section above. The
reduction in the TSP percentage concentration was
2030% in this study. It is emphasized that the silt
reduction is caused by the S/W application and not just
by the RAVS (or the washer). It appears that the S/W
application can control the ambient TSP.
The experimental dynamic TSP measurement results
indicate that the direct impact of sweeping on ambient
PM emissions is short-lived, lasting no more than 34 h

Y.-M. Chang et al. / Atmospheric Environment 39 (2005) 18911902
1400
1200
1000
800
TSP (
g/m3)
600
400
200
0
0 30 60
Fig. 3. Typical dynamic variability of TSP during street sweeping and washing (data relative to No.2 in Table 4, measured by two b-
gauge monitors installed upwind and downwind in Section II).
during S/W processing in this work. When both the
vacuum sweeper and washer did a good job of collecting
or cleaning the visible ne particles on the roads, the
tested S/W process was effective for ambient TSP
control. Although the S/W process initially increased
TSP emissions from the roads, the negative impact on
the ambient air quality occurred for only a short time. It
was possible that silt particles blown to the side of the
road could serve as a long-term reservoir for subsequent
TSP emissions, without street sweeping and washing. It
must be emphasized that the S/W method with the
modied regenerative-air vacuum sweeper used in this
work demonstrated favorable sweeping efciency for
controlling the fugitive dust emitted from a paved road.
4.2. Sweeping efficiencies
As dened by the calculations in the background
section, this study proposed three denitions for Z to
evaluate the S/W effectiveness. The typical experimental
data are listed in Table 4, which shows the original wind
velocity, trafc volume, dust load, silt load, and
measured TSP data. Based on these data, the Zd ; ZS
and ZT were calculated in the range of 52.0100.0%,
10.098.0%, and 0.034.5%, respectively. It was found
that ZT was generally less than Zd and ZS ; and increased
ARTICLE IN PRESS
1897
Downwind
Upwind
C
90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360 390 420 450 480 510 540
Time (min)
with the increase in Zd or ZS : This nding indicates that
the ambient TSP could be controlled by cleaning the ne
particles on a paved road. The fugitive dust or ne
particles are emitted from the pulverization and abra-
sion of surface materials by the mechanical force exerted
from vehicle wheel contact with the road surface. During
street S/W, fugitive dust is emitted by a wide variety of
sources. For example, the quantity of dust emissions
from a given segment of paved road is dependent on the
trafc volume. When a vehicle travels on a paved road,
the force of the wheels on the paved road surface
pulverizes the surface material. Particles are lifted and
dropped from the rolling wheels. The road surface is
exposed to strong turbulent shear air currents. The
turbulent wake behind the vehicle continues to act on
the road surface after the vehicle has passed. A large
portion of the emissions results from trafc over the
roads at the sweeping site. Most TSP comes from the
ne particles entrained in the silt on the paved road.
Therefore, a decrease in silt content on paved roads
will lead to a decrease in the ambient TSP. If street
sweepers and washers can remove the dust in the
roadway, the emission potential should decrease after
S/W. The reason for the decrease in emission potential
after S/W is clear. The particles trapped in the cracks or
pits of the road may be redistributed across the road
surface by the sweeper. These particles would then be
 1898
Table 4
A summary of typical experimental data

No.a Mean trafc Mean wind Weather Ambient RH Time Dust loading (g m2) Zd (%) Silt loading (g m2) ZS (%) TSPsection I (mg m3) TSPsection II (mg m3) ZT
volumetric speed (m s1) temp. (1C) (%) (h) (%)
rate(pcu min1)
Section I Sectrion II Section I Section II Upwind Downwind Upwind Downwind

1 47 0.7 Sunny 30.2 89.4 10 5.60 6.50 1.91 2.11 337.3 365.2 227.5 397.5 b

Y.-M. Chang et al. / Atmospheric Environment 39 (2005) 18911902

3 6.50 1.90 70.8 1.21 0.63 47.9 235.5 265.2 219.6 242.7 22.2
4
5 5.65 2.38 57.9 1.78 1.06 40.4 312.1 425.3 304.9 398.2 17.6
6
6 7.68 3.20 58.3 1.65 0.97 41.2 150.8 185.4 251.3 278.5 21.4
7

2 68 0.7 Sunny 27.1 70.4 10 9.80 9.20 2.20 1.91 383.0 442.5 214.5 411.2 b
3 7.88 4.98 36.8 1.74 1.30 25.3 544.3 707.0 301.2 452.1 7.3
4
5 9.12 6.12 32.9 1.93 1.40 27.5 336.6 386.5 211.6 256.9 9.2

ARTICLE IN PRESS
6
6 9.80 5.23 46.6 1.66 1.07 35.5 453.1 468.9 198.4 212.2 12.7
7

3 96 0.9 Cloudy 27.6 67.1 10 13.22 9.34 8.80 7.80 384.3 624.4 127.6 420.0 b
3 16.12 1.22 92.4 9.87 0.98 90.1 445.8 523.3 160.1 215.0 29.2
4
5 21.22 2.56 87.9 5.66 1.78 68.6 423.9 678.2 174.6 360.5 26.9
6
6 13.20 3.20 75.8 5.52 1.90 65.6 815.5 863.1 528.9 563.5 27.3
7

4 131 1.7 Sunny 31.5 79.5 10 6.80 7.80 1.99 2.11 273.4 338.6 218.8 222.1 b
3 7.88 4.35 44.8 2.01 1.31 34.8 166.2 231.9 141.9 184.8 11.7
4
5 9.87 5.78 41.4 2.48 1.72 30.6 245.3 325.6 241.2 313.2 10.3
6
6 7.23 4.11 43.2 3.01 2.03 32.6 373.0 450.1 378.4 445.3 13.2
7

5 49 2.7 Sunny 28.8 72.4 10 22.60 38.90 6.90 7.50 656.1 602.8 639.4 609.9 b
3 20.40 15.10 5.41 2.11 410.6 450.2 426.5 479.2
4
(33.1)c
5 27.11 1.32 95.1 7.32 0.65 91.1 469.6 645.2 432.1 556.4 29.2
6
6 21.30 5.89 72.3 6.12 3.12 49.0 612.2 650.8 415.6 445.2 23.3
7

6 70 1.6 Sunny 30.2 67.9 10 21.67 19.88 7.40 8.50 483.8 566.9 412.6 438.3 b
3 19.88 12.45 37.4 3.31 2.07 25.0 349.1 570.0 401.1 611.2 4.9
4
5 20.12 13.11 34.7 2.48 1.62 27.9 459.4 588.9 478.9 599.0 7.3
6
6 19.78 11.22 43.3 3.72 2.11 22.7 497.7 568.2 412.3 478.9 5.5
7

Section I is unswept area, Section II is swept area.

a
Those are the part (six of twenty-four) of experimental data obtained in this work.
b
Efciencies are not calculated before sweeping.
c
These experimental data for negative ZT (33.1%) possibly due to excavated soil dropped from passing trucks.
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
Y.-M. Chang et al. / Atmospheric Environment 39 (2005) 18911902 1899

sprayed or washed down by the washer before they are 100

90
available for suspension by the tires and wake of passing 80
vehicles. 70

 d (%)
Unfortunately, ZT would be negative in a few cases. 60
50
The negative ZT implies that the street sweeping followed 40
by washing is inefcient in controlling ambient TSP. By 30
20
carefully looking into the eld measurement procedures 10
for these cases, we found that the Hi-Vol sampler power 100
90
was not turned off while the wind direction was possibly 80
over 151 of the initial. Though the Hi-Vol sampler was 70

 s (%)
on only when the wind direction was within 151 of the 60
50
initial, it was not controlled automatically. This should 40
be considered as an experimental failure. Another 30
20
possibility is the interference of TSP monitoring from 10
other fugitive dust sources, for example, excavated soil 100
90
falling from passing trucks. Therefore, these experi- 80
mental data for negative ZT were not used for the 70

 T (%)
60
assessment of street sweeping effectiveness or for the 50
correlation of ZT in the following section. 40
30
20
4.3. Effects on S/W efficiencies 10
0
0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0
1. Traffic volume: For a trafc volume range of Slit Load (g/m2)
15156 pcu min1 with vehicles traveling at velocities of
3050 km h1, Fig. 4 shows the trafc volume effect on Fig. 5. Effect of silt load on S/W efciencies.
the S/W efciencies. There is no relationship between the
S/W efciency and trafc volume. Some eld investiga-
tions have shown that the emission rate for fugitive dust moisture, average vehicle speed, average vehicle weight,
depends on the road surface texture, road surface and average number of wheels per vehicle (Chang et al.,
1999). Therefore, an increase in trafc volume will
100
increase the ambient TSP before and after S/W.
90 However, according to the denition of ZT used in this
80 study, the trafc volume effect on ZT before and after S/
70
W is cancelled, when compared at the same trafc
 d (%)

60
50 volume level.
40 2. Silt load on paved road: As with most predictive
30
20 models, using the silt content in the road surface
10 material is strongly recommended for estimating the
100
90 emission rate. The fugitive dust emission rate increases
80 with the increase in silt content. In this study, the silt
70
load (g m2) on the road surface was measured in the
 s (%)

60
50 range of 0.638.0 g m2 . The initial silt load effect on
40 the S/W efciencies is shown in Fig. 5. The gure shows
30
20 that Zd is not signicantly dependent on initial silt load.
10 ZS is a function of the initial silt load, and ZT increases
100
90 rapidly when the initial silt load increases for the lower
80 silt load. However, it will increase slowly as the initial
70 silt load increases for the higher silt load. This trend
 T (%)

60
50 cannot be found if the silt load exceeds about 3.5 g m2.
40 This results from the coagulation capability, which is
30
20 relatively enough to overcome the entrainment of ner
10 particles as the silt load increases.
0 3. Wind speed: Most particulate matter arises from
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
Traffic Volumetric Rate (pcu/min) open dust sources involving particles entrained in the
atmosphere by wind force with or without machinery
Fig. 4. Effect of trafc volumetric rate on S/W efciencies. acting on the exposed materials. Thus, fugitive dust
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
1900 Y.-M. Chang et al. / Atmospheric Environment 39 (2005) 18911902

100 100
Wind speed (m/s) = 0.1-3.2
90 90
Traffic volumetric rate (pcu/min) = 15~156
80 80
70 70

 s (%)
60
 d (%)

60
50 50
40 40
30 30
20 20
10
10
0
100 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
90
80  d (%)
70
60
 s (%)

Fig. 7. Relationships between ZS and Zd :

50
40
30
20 70
10 Wind speed (m/s) = 0.1-3.2
60
100 Traffic volumetric rate (pcu/min) = 15~156
90 50
Slit laoding (g/m2) = 0.63-8.0

 T (%)
80 40
70 30
 T (%)

60
50 20
40 10
30 0
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
10
0
 d (%)
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5
Wind Speed (m/s) Fig. 8. Relationships between ZT and Zd :

Fig. 6. Effect of wind speed on S/W efciencies.

50
emission rates have a high degree of temporal and Wind speed (m/s) = 0.1-3.2
Traffic volumetric rate (pcu/min) = 15-156
spatial variability because of the sporadic nature of the 40
wind. Although the fugitive dust emission rate has been
30
 T (%)

found, basically, emission rate comparisons indicate that

the wind velocity effect is not different with and without 20
S/W. The same wind velocity effect occurs on the  T = 5.20/[0.175+2.5 105/( s)4]
10
emission rate with and without S/W application. As a
consequence, the S/W efciency, ZT ; Zd or ZS ; is not a 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
function of the wind velocity as shown in Fig. 6.  s (%)

4.4. Relationships between S/W efficiencies Fig. 9. Relationships between ZT and ZS :

If focusing on controlling the ambient TSP, ZT is

better than Zd and ZS as an index to evaluate the S/W
effect on air quality. However, the relationship between
these efciencies is an interesting issue. Figs. 79 depict
the relationships between ZS and Zd ; between ZT and Zd ;
and between ZT and ZS ; respectively. It appears that ZT is
a good function of ZS : As a consequence, the relation-
ship of the two efciencies can be expressed as
ZT 5:20=0:175 2:5  105 =ZS 4  R2 0:9167.
(A)
Statistically, there is a square correlation coefcient of
0.9167, and a standard error of 720%, if submitted
under a 95% probability limit for Eq. (A). The equation
is practically and easily useful for estimating the
efciency, ZT ; based on the ZS value. The constant,
5.20 (for the cases in this work), might be signicantly
affected by the performances of the sweeper and washer
used. This means that one can estimate ZT by measuring
the silt load on the road before and after S/W.
Eq. (A) also indicates that ZT does not easily increase
as ZS increases for lower levels of ZS ; e.g. ZS less than
20% for our case. In other words, the S/W application
cannot effectively reduce the ambient TSP when the silt
content removal efciency on a paved road is low.
Conversely, S/W application is effective in controlling
the ambient TSP when it removes the silt content very
well. The S/W efciency, ZT ; has a maximum limit even
when removing the silt content very well. In this study,
the maximum ZT was 29.7%. Seventy point three percent
of the TSP, relative to the other variables, will not be
reduced by S/W. This shows that good silt removal does
not improve the ambient TSP very well.
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
Y.-M. Chang et al. / Atmospheric Environment 39 (2005) 18911902
4.5. Application constraints
Many factors, such as the sweeper, washer action
modes and the local meteorological conditions, affect
the entrained dust emission rate on paved roads and
thus the S/W efciency. Hence, it may not be easy to
analyze the complex formation and collection of
entrained dust during the S/W process if one knows
only the S/W effectiveness. An examination of Eq. (A)
suggests that some constraints must be noticed. First, we
do not suggest that these results are applicable to the
following two cases, which may cause the negative ZT :
The rst involves the wind direction not remaining
stable during TSP monitoring. This would result in
reverse TSP values for upwind and downwind condi-
tions. The second is TSP monitoring interference from
other fugitive dust sources, for example, excavated soil
dropping from passing trucks.
Estimating S/W efciencies using Eq. (A) is applicable
only for street-cleaning applications using a vacuum
sweeper and washer similar to those used in this work.
Although the cleaning machines used in this study
represent the typical regenerative-air vacuum sweeper
and washer, other sweeping approaches should be
evaluated. More intensive work on other sweepers and
washers would better verify the results obtained in this
work. This work also suggests that Eq. (A) correlated
using multi-variables regression estimates the S/W
efciency only for short-term assessment (in 8 h after
S/W). One deciency of the correlation is that soil and
time specic data are necessary and especially impor-
tant, because dust emissions are often timely, and
dependent on the dust characteristics. Therefore, it
could still be a subject of controversy for these results
are applied to long-term assessments.
5. Conclusion
Evaluating the effectiveness of street sweeping and
washing for controlling ambient TSP in Taiwan was
studied in this work. The experimental results from TSP
dynamic measurements indicate that the direct impact of
sweeping on ambient PM emissions is short-lived,
lasting no more than 34 h. When both the vacuum
sweeper and washer did a good job collecting or cleaning
visible ne road particles, the S/W process was effective
at removing the sources of road dust particles. The
results indicate that street sweeping followed by washing
offers a measurable reduction in TSP emission poten-
tials.
This study proposed three denitions of Z to evaluate
the effectiveness of S/W. The S/W efciency, ZT ; Zd or
ZS ; did not correlate with the trafc volume and wind
velocity, but was a function of the silt load. It was also
1901
found that ZT does not easily increase with increasing ZS
for lower levels of ZS : In other words, the S/W
application cannot effectively reduce the ambient TSP
when the silt content removal efciency on the paved
road is not high. Conversely, S/W application effectively
controls the ambient TSP when it removes the silt
content very well. However, the reduction efciency is
up to 30% of the ambient TSP. It is therefore extremely
important that good silt removal does not improve
ambient TSP removal very well.
Correlating with ZS (based on the silt load), a useful
equation was proposed to estimate the S/W efciency,
ZT (based on TSP) with a standard error of 720%. It
seems feasible to predict the reduction efciency in
ambient TSP controlled using the regenerative-air
vacuum sweeper and washer used in this work for
engineering applications. Therefore, this correlation can
provide a practical guideline to assess the effectiveness of
S/W for controlling ambient TSP.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the National Science
Council, ROC, for the nancial support of this work
(Grant no. NSC-92-2211-E027-019).
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