Project

Tunnels

Air treatment solution to reduce traffic emissions to the environment

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At most road tunnels, the tunnel exits also function as ventilation exhaust, meaning that all traffic emissions generated in the tunnel are concentrated at the tunnel exits. As a result, the local (urban) population residing near the tunnel are exposed to significantly elevated levels of air pollution, notably PM and soot, which leads to severely increased health risks.

ENS Clean Air developed a scalable air treatment solution that solely focusses on the tunnel exit to achieve maximum effect. Integration of ENS’ technology at the exit of road tunnel has been proven to be highly effective. Moreover, it will lead to strongly reduced PM exposure and accompanying health benefits for the local (urban) population.

Benefits

checkmarkPrevent emissions from spreading to urban areas
checkmarkValidated effectiveness and scalable for any tunnel size
checkmarkExternally placed system to avoid tunnel safety issues and ease maintenance

Proven technology

The performance of ENS’ positive ionization technology for PM removal was tested for practical validation of the solution, in cooperation with national authorities, at the exit of a Dutch highway tunnel with a very high traffic intensity. The long term testing demonstrated that, when tunnel exhaust air was fully treated by ENS’ technology, the PM concentration in the highly contaminated tunnel air can be reduced by up to 90%. Therefore, if the active air extraction modules are equipped with ENS’ purification technology, the tunnel emissions can be reduced substantially.

Ultimately, the effect of such large scale intervention on the surrounding (urban) population was further investigated, to estimate the achievable PM exposure and health benefits. It showed that a significant PM concentration reduction can be reached in a wide radius surrounding the tunnel exit, which is even amplified when applied to a dense urban context.

Air purification for road tunnels

For every challenge the right solution

Our team of airflow specialist and engineers will advise and guide you in localizing, planning and implementing the optimal application in your process.

1

ANALYSIS

Observation and evaluation of road tunnel geometry, traffic intensity and resulting emissions, existing ventilation characteristics and dispersion of pollutants.

2

CONCEPTION

Determination of the required cleaning capacity and of the expected purifying performance at strategic locations to achieve optimal results.

3

PLANNING

Recommendation and visualization for placement of air purification systems.

4

INSTALLATION

Installation of the air purification systems in close communication with the process engineers and in the shortest time frame possible, to limit or avoid closing down the road.

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