Over the Copernicus Roundabout in Poznan, which is one of the largest cities in Poland, an automatic measuring system OPSIS has been installed to measure on-line the concentration of pollutants in the air. The Copernicus Roundabout is located in the city centre, close to the International Poznan Fair and near the main railway station Poznan Central. Five main streets cross here and the traffic congestion here is the greatest in the city. The concentration of benzene and aromatic hydrocarbons taken by OPSIS are at alarmingly high levels close to permissible values or even exceeding them. Because of that the Department of Environment Protection of City Council in Poznan decided to create a special team of experts to examine and explain this phenomenon and find all possible solutions. The team's research proved that it is gasoline vehicles that are responsible for high concentrations of benzene and aromatic hydrocarbons at the Copernicus Roundabout and at many other crossroads in Poznan. This paper describes the results of the team's work, which are as follows: measurements of benzene and aromatic hydrocarbons concentration at chosen crossroads of Poznan, sources of benzene and aromatic hydrocarbons emission and the conditions that enable this emission to spread, the analysis of city traffic conditions promoting greater emission of benzene and aromatic hydrocarbons, the inspection of benzene and aromatic hydrocarbons content in gasoline available at Poznan filling stations, possible ways of reducing the benzene and aromatic hydrocarbons concentration in the air in the vicinity of crossroads with great intensity of city traffic. For the covering abstract see ITRD E120462.
Abstract