TRAFFIC POLLUTION IN THE STREETS OF BELGRADE

IVAN GRETI
Faculty of Mining and Geology, University of Belgrade, uina 7, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
E-mail: grzetic@ptt.yu
Abstract. This paper treats the problem of traffic pollution in Belgrade (Serbia). Although ambience air
quality measurements in Belgrade are regular, there is no evidence on contribution of different vehicles to
the air pollution. Since there are no exact data on the discharges produced by the traffic, there is a way to
make an estimate of it on the basis of emission factors. It was decided to make estimates for cars, busses,
light and heavy duty lories. Furthermore, the oxygen usage was calculated on the bases of predicted total
consumption of fuel. Obtained results for oxygen usage were compared with photosynthesis oxygen
production in the forest of Belgrade and nearby.
Key words: Belgrade traffic, Emission factors, Classes of vehicles, Traffic discharges, Photosynthesis
oxygen production, Oxygen consumption.
INTRODUCTION
Traffic represents the crucial burden factor of the urban environment. Its development is observed by
regular traffic analysis with ever increasing numbers. The general awareness of deficiencies and
disorientation in environmental policy of Belgrade led us to highlight some serious problems concerning
traffic pollution in our capital. Although ambience air quality measurements in Belgrade are regular, there
is no evidence on contribution of different vehicles to the air pollution. Heaving data on ambience does
not meen one can conclude much on discharges produced by traffic. Therefore we have decided to use
emission factors for cars, busses, light and heavy duty lories. On our disposal we had emission factors
generated by US Environment Protection Agency1 and those defined in Berlin Digital Environmental
Atlas2. We coupled them with available data about town traffic from Belgrade municipality3.
METHODS
Emission factors for cars, busses, light and heavy duty lories generated by US Environment Protection
Agency

differ from those defined in Berlin Digital Environmental Atlas 2. Emission factor is a

representative value that attempts to relate the quantity of a pollutant released to the atmosphere with an
activity associated with the release of that pollutant. These factors are usually expressed as the weight of
pollutant divided by a unit weight, volume, distance, or duration of the activity emitting the pollutant.
Such factors facilitate estimation of emissions from various sources of air pollution. In most cases, these
factors are simply averages of all available data of acceptable quality, and are generally assumed to be
representative of long-term averages for all facilities in the source category 1. The main characteristic of
1

the Berlin Digital Environmental Atlas is that it treats the pollution generated in the streets of Berlin
taking in account all weaknesses of urban traffic like low velocity, traffic jams and waiting on red lights.
EPA emission factors represent an average for all kinds of traffic like urban, highway or rural traffic and
therefore are not appropriate for the problem we are dealing with. The emission factors for our purposes
are expressed as weight of pollutant per unit distance.
Oxygen production during photosynthesis by higher green plants is a typical subject of plant physiology 6.
The main idea was to make correlation between oxygen consumption during fuel combustion and green
plant photosynthetic oxygen production necessary to restore consumed oxygen. Specific calculations
concerning this problem are given below.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Our first estimate concerns pollutants emission for different classes of vehicles: passenger cars, heavy
duty lories, light duty lories and scheduled buses (Table 1). These data are generated by application of the
emission factors established during experimental investigations in Berlin recalculated for thedischarges of
various pollutants for the traveled distance of 1000 km.
Table 1. Estimates of pollutants discharges for different classes of vehicles in Belgrade
Pollutants emission
for every 1000 km
Fuel consumption (L)
Fuel consumption (kg)
Hydrocarbons (kg)
Benzene (kg)
Carbon dioxide (kg)
Carbon monoxide (kg)
Nitrogen oxides (kg)
Exhaust particles (kg)
Tire abrasion (kg)
Elementary carbon (kg)
Sulphur dioxide (kg) (minimum)

Passenger
cars
104
73
1.67
0.092
218
9.86
0.864
0.030
0.064
0.028
0.047

Heavy duty
lories
43
30
2.82
0.025
937
4.26
11.5
0.868
0.768
6.41
0.960

Light duty
lories
140
98
1.19
0.054
299
7.04
1.41
0.207
0.112
0.141
0.210

Scheduled
busses
549
386
2.75
0.245
1203
9.84
19.0
1.07
0.768
0.694
1.23

The data from Table 1 are valuable only in case one has data on number of different vehicles in our
capital and information on traveled distances per year. According to Belgrade traffic police department on
the roads of our capital during 2001 there were almost 300,000 passenger cars (1,200,000 in the whole
Serbia), each of them traveled roughly 5,000 km/year in the urban traffic. Besides that, Belgrade traffic
secretariat reported that on the roads of our town during 2001 there were some 1,000 scheduled busses.
Unfortunately, there is no relevant evidence on the number of light and heavy duty lories, so it was not
possible to give any reliable estimate concerning these classes of vehicles.

Utilizing the existing numbers yearly pollutants discharges for scheduled busses and passenger cars in
Belgrade was estimated. They all generate enormous pollution (Table 2). The total traveled distance for
scheduled buses was obtained from Belgrade public transportation company and the total traveled
distance for passenger cars was calculated.
It could be said that the given estimates are optimistic, since the emission factors used consider that the
vehicles are in a proper technical condition. Regrettably, the average age of the vehicles on the Serbian
roads is greater then 15 years. The technical condition of such cars is questionable, so the pollutants
discharges are almost certainly much greater.
Table 2. Estimated yearly pollutants discharges for scheduled busses and passenger cars
Pollutants
Total traveled distance
Fuel consumption (L)
Fuel consumption (kg)
Hydrocarbons (kg)
Benzene (kg)
Carbon dioxide (kg)
Carbon monoxide (kg)
Nitrogen oxides (kg)
Exhaust (diesel) particles (kg)
Tire abrasion (kg)
Elementary carbon (kg)
Sulphur dioxide (kg) (minimum)

Pollutants emission for

scheduled busses
106,390,000 km
46,000,000
32,740,000
293,000
260,000
128,000,000
1,047,000
2,022,000
114,000
81,000
74,000
130,000

Pollutants emission for

passenger cars
1,500,000,000 km
156,000,000
109,500,000
2,505,000
138,000
327,000,000
14,790,000
1,296,000
45,000
96,000
42,000
71,000

Sulphur dioxide emission is mainly dependent on sulphur content in the fuels. Fuels in our country are
produced following two different standard, the first and older one limits the sulfur content to 1 % S in
diesel D2, 0,5 % S in diesel D1 and 0,2 % S in leaded or unleaded gasoline. The second standard, a newer
one, limits the sulfur content to 150 mg/kg (YUS N228-2002) for unleaded gasoline and 350 mg/kg (YUS
N290-2001) for diesel. Although the sulphur content in our fuels is measured by independent and
authorized organization the corresponding reports are not publicly disposed, so it not quite clear which
standard is fulfilled. In case the old standards are still in power then calculated SO 2 emissions in Table 2
are fare to low in comparison with the real disturbing situation1.
Scheduled buses are the heaviest polluting vehicles in any town, according to Tables 1 and 2, so they are
in Belgrade. The number of passenger cares in Belgrade and their traveled distances excide bus pollution
production in case of hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and tire abrasion. The remaining
pollutants, like nitrogen oxides or exhausted particles, in the case of scheduled bases are quite high and
1

It is worth mentioning that in Belgrade, the sulfur dioxide emissions come primarily from burning of coal and oil for heat.

Sulfur dioxide is discharged into the atmosphere as a component of the exhaust gases.

consequently quite dangerous, particularly from the viewpoint of their amount. In spite of that the number
of scheduled buses in Belgrade is still increasing.
The exhausted diesel particles and bezene are the most dangerous pollutants since they are declared to be
carcinogenic 4. Diesel particulates contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), so they are
considered a likely cause of lung and bladder cancer 5.
LEAD POLLUTION
Serbia is a country which uses leaded and unleaded gasoline. On the basis of Serbian oil industry
information during year 2000 Serbia produced some 3,000,000 t of different oil derivates among which
were 280,000 t of unleaded gasoline and 429,000 t of leaded gasoline which contains 0,4 g of Pb per dm3
of fuel (0,5 g/kg of fuel). Combustion of leaded gasoline produces some 230 t of fine particles of leadoxide (formed from 214 t of Pb) suspended in air spread all over the roads in Serbia. Almost 1/4 of this
amount is yearly spread and precipitated in the streets of Belgrade. Since the toxicity of lead is a very
well known fact no further comments are necessary.
OXYGEN - PHOTOSYNTHESIS PRODUCTION AND TRAFFIC CONSUMPTION
En excellent indicator to illustrate and to explain how big the proportions of pollution are, is calculation
of the oxygen consumption for fuel combustion and its comparison to yearly oxygen production by the
forests nearby Belgrade.
Fuel combustion could be represented as follows:
2 C8Hl8 + 25 O2 16 CO2 + 18 H2O

(1)

Total yearly fuel consumption for passenger cars and scheduled buses (Table 2) is 142,240,000 kg. That
corresponds to oxygen consumption of some 499,000,000 kg and carbon dioxide production of some
439,000,000 kg.
Oxygen production of a tree during photosynthetic process is another estimate based on the following
overall reaction:
6 CO2 + 6 H2O C6H12O6 + 6 O2

(2)

The O2-CO2 cycle (photosynthesis oxygen production versus automobile or bus oxygen usage) in
reactions (1) and (2) is not very favorable. Fuel burning consumes 25 O2 and produces 16 CO2, while 16
CO2 in photosynthesis is producing only 16 O2.
Lets calculate how big the forest must be to produce enough oxygen to cover the yearly fuel burning
necessities of Belgrade. According to plant physiology (data for trees)

typical deciduous plant uses 10

mg CO2 or 2.272 x 10-4 mole CO2 per 50 cm2 leaf surface per hour. Typical leaf area for deciduous trees is
40 to 50 cm2. Lets assume that an average leaf area is 50 cm2, and lets presume that each tree has 1,000

leaves. That means that one tree uses 0.2272 moles (10 g) CO 2 per hour. During that hour it produces, as
well, 0.2272 moles O2 or 7.27 g O2. Exact calculations are much more complicated they take in account
plant type, plant age, sunlight per day, light wavelength, water availability, temperature and nutrients.
These factors are beyond the scope of this paper.
Area that is covered by one tree is some 10 m 2, therefore 1 ha, which has some 1,000 trees, produces
7,270 g O2 per hour, or some 64,000 kg per year. Trees use about half of this oxygen for their own
respiration. Therefore, the net oxygen output of 1 ha forest is only 32,000 kg O2 per year.
Simple calculations sowed that Belgrade yearly traffic oxygen consumption for cars and scheduled buses
needs minimum 15,600 ha of forests to produce necessary oxygen. The only question that remains
unanswered is how many hectares of forest do we really have in Belgrade and its suburbs? Some
available sources

stated that Belgrade has only 9,898 ha reserved for sorts and vegetation including

forests. In that case Belgrade breads on the expense of Serbia.

CONCLUSION
Motor vehicle traffic has become the greatest cause of air pollution in Belgrade. The most significant
pollutants discharged by motor vehicles in terms of quantity are carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen
oxide and carbon dioxide. The pollutant quantities of diesel particulates, tire abrasion and benzene are not
very much smaller, but they are important because of their negative health effects. Due to increase of
scheduled bases number in the center of town the trends are expected to a worsening of the situation for
some pollutants and no significant reductions for other pollutants.
This is particularly so for nitrogen oxides and particulates. Diesel particulates have the greatest current
need for action. Hydrocarbon emissions, however, are expected to decline significantly even without
regulatory intervention because:

more and more vehicles are being equipped with 3-way catalytic converters and

fuel quality is improving.

Technical improvements for passenger cars would have significant effects the lead pollution would
decrease constantly. The situation for diesel particulates is different.
There was not any solid evidence to predict pollution emission for light and heavy duty lories. Although it
is known that they generate large pollution, it is not known how large it really is.
The number of buses tends to increase. At the present time buses make up approximately 10 % of total
traveled distances and are responsible for 25 to 30 % of total emissions but they are also responsible for
more than 70 % of carcinogenic diesel particulate emissions in the street of Belgrade. This fact must be
taken into account in the near future, when the time comes to make decision what kind of public
transportation Belgrade really needs.

REFERENCES
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

US EPA - Office of Transportation and Air Quality, Air CHIEF, AP-42, 1999.
Berlin Senate Department of Urban Development, Berlin Digital Environmental Atlas, 2001.
Ecological Bulletin, (in Serbian), Belgrade City Assembly - Environmental secretariat, 2001-2.
NIOSH Current Intelligence Bul, No, 50, Carcinogenic effects of exposure to diesel exhaust, 1988.
U. Kalker, Gesundheitliche Bewertung der verkehrsbedingten Schadstoffe Stickoxide, Benzol und
Dieselru-Partikel, in: Forum Stdte-Hygiene 44, Frankfurt, 1993.
6. H. Lambers, F.S. Chapi, T.L. Pons, Plant physiological ecology, Springer, New York, 1998.
7. Belgrade secretariat for urbanism, Belgrade urbanization plan 2001-2021.

Published in:
I. Greti, (2003), Traffic pollution in the streets of Belgrade. Journal of Environmental Protection and
Ecology, Vol. 4(4), 761-766.