The road transport sector in megacities is confronted with pressing local air pollution and carbon dioxide (CO₂) control issues. To determine effective policy instruments for saving energy and the co-control of air pollutants and CO₂, several mainstream measures were examined and compared in Chongqing's road transport sector from 2017 to 2035. An integration assessment framework was developed by combining the Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning (LEAP) system and a set of quantitative methods for evaluating the co-benefits of emission reductions (including the air pollutant equivalent (AP_eq), co-control coordinate system, and pollutant reduction cross-elasticity (Els_a/b)). Results showed that the shifting transportation modes scenario presented the most significant potential for energy-saving and emission reductions, reducing energy use by 30.9% and air pollutants and CO₂ emissions by approximately 27–32% compared with the business as usual (BAU) scenario in 2035. The improving energy efficiency scenario also provided significant co-benefits for reducing air pollutants and CO₂ emissions. Nevertheless, the promoting alternative fuel scenario may increase fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) emissions by 2.2% compared to BAU in 2035 under the cleanness of regional electricity in 2017. Our findings suggest that the shifting transportation modes were effective measures to reduce air pollutants and CO₂ in the short term synergistically, and highlighted the importance of cleaner electricity generation to develop electric vehicles in the medium and long term.

Compressed natural gas (CNG) taxis represent the most ubiquitous and dynamically active passenger vehicles in urban settings. The pollutant emission characteristics of in-use CNG taxis driving on a typical mountain city before and after three-way catalyst (TWC) replacement was examined using a modular on-board portable emissions measurement system (PEMS), the OBS-ONE developed by Horiba. The results showed that the exhaust NO of CNG taxis equipped with deactivation TWC exceeded the emission limits, even higher than gasoline vehicles. The high emission rate of CNG taxis is mainly concentrated on road slopes between a 2% and 6% gradient and a deceleration rate in the interval of [0.5, 4], respectively, which results in higher emissions from CNG taxis traveling in the mountain city of Chongqing than other cities and vehicles. Moreover, the pollutant emission rates of the in-use CNG taxis were highly correlated with the velocity and the vehicle specific power (VSP). After a new TWC replacement, the emission factors of carbon monoxide (CO), total hydrocarbons (THC), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and particle number (PN) decreased by 85.21–89.11%, 68.71–85.49%, 60.91–81.11%, and 62.26–68.39%, respectively. Our results will provide guidance for urban environments to carry out the comprehensive management of in-use vehicles and emphasize the importance of TWC replacement for CNG taxis.

The floc size distribution of activated sludge was simulated successfully by population balance model in the previous study (Population Balance Model and Calibration Method for Simulating the Time Evolution of Floc Size Distribution of Activated Sludge Flocculation. Desalination and Water Treatment, 67, 41‐50). However, nonignorable errors exist in the simulation for the volume percentage of large flocs. This paper describes the application of a modified population balance model in the simulation of the time evolution of floc size distribution in activated sludge flocculation process under shear‐induced conditions. It was found that the application of modified size dependent collision efficiency, modified breakage rate expression by assuming a maximum value, and binominal daughter‐particles distribution function could improve the population balance model for activated sludge flocculation and successfully predict the dynamic changes in volume percentage distribution and mean floc size of activated sludge under different shear conditions. The results demonstrate that the maximum breakage rate was independent on the velocity gradient, and both the collision efficiency and breakage rate coefficient show a power‐law relationship with the average velocity gradient; the former decreases while the latter increases with the rise of the average velocity gradient. These findings would help to understand the dynamics of activated sludge flocculation.

Identifiability analysis is a precondition for reliable parameter estimation. Building on previous work on structural identifiability, this paper focuses on the practical identifiability and optimal experimental design (OED) of the EBPR anaerobic submodel. The nonnegative determinant of the Fisher information matrix (FIM) found in this study clearly demonstrates that the parametersYPO4,KA,qPHA, andXPAOin the submodel are practically identifiable usingSAandSPO4as the measured variables and fixingKPPas the default value. Furthermore, fixingKPPto study the practical identifiability of the other parameters and to estimate their values is shown to be valid. Subsequently, a modeling-based procedure for the OED for parameter estimation was proposed and applied successfully to anaerobic phosphorus release experiments. According to the FIMD-criterion, the optimal experimental condition was determined to be an initialSAconcentration of 300 mg/L. Under the optimal experimental condition, errors in the values ofYPO4,KA,qPHA, andXPAOare all below 20%, and the estimated values were 0.35 ± 0.02 mg P/mg COD, 3.88 ± 0.41 mg COD/L, 3.35 ± 0.27 mg P/(mgCOD⁎d-1), and 1500 ± 72 mg COD/L, respectively. Compared to the results from the nonoptimal experimental condition, the practical identifiability and the estimation precision of the four parameters were improved.

One way of solving population balance model (PBM) in a time efficient way is by means of discretisation of the population property of interest. A computational grid, for example, vi+1=kvi (vi is the volume of particle in class i), could be used to classify the particles in discretisation techniques. However, there are still disagreements in the appropriate number of classes divided by the grids. In this study, the different numbers of classes for solving PBM were compared in terms of accuracy and performance to describe the particle size distribution (PSD) from the flocculation of activated sludge. It is found that the simulated PSDs are similar to the experimental data for all the geometric grids (vi+1:vi≤2), and there is no obvious difference among the values of calibrated parameter, ratio of breakage rate coefficient and collision efficiency, for each velocity gradient. However, the simulation results with less error could be obtained with larger number of classes, and more computational times, which show exponential relationship with the number of classes, are needed. Considering numerical accuracy and efficiency, the classes 35 or a geometric grid with factor 1.6, aligning with the Fibonacci sequence (vi+vi-1≈vi+1), is recommended for the particles in the size range of 5.5~1086 μm.