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1. IJIRST –International Journal for Innovative Research in Science & Technology| Volume 1 | Issue 10 | March 2015
ISSN (online): 2349-6010
All rights reserved by www.ijirst.org 68
AMbient Air Quality Analysis using Air Quality
Index – A Case Study of Vapi
Gowtham. Sarella Mrs. Dr. Anjali. K. Khambete
PG Student Associate Professor
Department of Environmental Engineering Department of Environmental Engineering
Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat,
Gujarat, India.
Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat,
Gujarat, India.
Abstract
This study reports the analysis of the ambient air in Vapi city employing air quality index (AQI). An air quality index (AQI) is
proposed for the City of Vapi, India, for simplified public information and data interpretation. The 24-hourly average
concentrations of four major criteria pollutants, viz. Particulate matter PM10, PM2.5, Sulphur Dioxide (SO2), and Nitrogen
Dioxide (NO2) for the year 2013 (March) to 2014 (February) at four different locations in Vapi city were selected. They are
GIDC Estate (industrial), GEB building (industrial), GPCB office (commercial) and Vapi Nagar Palika (residential). The AQIs
were calculated using IND-AQI procedure. It has been observed that the calculated AQIs values SO2 and NO2 fall under „good‟
and „satisfactory‟ categories. The calculated AQIs values of PM10 and PM2.5 fall under all the „satisfactory‟ and „moderately
polluted‟ categories with varying percentages. The overall AQI was found to fall under the category „Moderately Polluted‟
owing to PM10. Thus it is observed that PM10 is critical pollutant at these four locations in Vapi.
Keywords: Air Pollution, Air Quality Index, Particulate Matter PM10 & PM2.5, SO2, NO2
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
I. INTRODUCTION
In India the ambient atmospheric conditions have progressively deteriorated due to urbanization, industrial development, lack of
awareness, poor maintenance of motor vehicles and poor road conditions (Shrinivas.J 2011). Transport vehicles and industrial
emissions are the major sources of pollutants in the Vapi atmosphere. So, there is need to evaluate the air quality improvement in
Vapi. Vapi is second among the list of most polluted areas in india (GPCB Annual Report 2013-14, CPCB Comprehensive
Environmental Assessment of Industrial Cluster, December 2009). Among the various air pollutants from various sources
particulate matter, sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen are having a significant role in effecting the air quality and thereby
causing harm to human health. Hence these parameters were considered to determine the air quality of Vapi. In this paper an
attempt was made to study the air quality status of Vapi, using AQI (Air Quality Index).
AQI is a tool, introduced by Environmental Protection agency (EPA) in USA to measure the levels of pollution due to major
air pollutants. An AQI is defined as an overall scheme that transforms weighted values of individual air pollution related
parameters into a single number or set of numbers (Mukesh Sharma, 2003). In the present study the AQI was calculated using
IND-AQI specified by CPCB. The index has been developed based on the dose-response relationship of various pollutants. AQI
concept transforms weighted values of individual air pollutants into a single number or set of numbers which may be widely used
for air quality communication and decision making. This IND-AQI has 6 categories.
Table - 1:
Various Categories of IND-AQI (National Air Quality Index, CPCB, October 2014)
Category Range
Good 0 - 50
Satisfactory 51 - 100
Moderately Polluted 101 - 200
Poor 201 - 300
Very poor 301 - 400
Severe 401 - 500
II. MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY
The sampling of the above pollutants was recorded continuously for 24-hours on two days in each week using a High Volume
Sampler and Respirable Dust Sampler. The sampling was done at four different locations which are GIDC (Location 1), GPCB
(Location 2), GEB (Location 3), and Nagarpalika (Location 4). The sampling and analysis of the samples was done as per

2. AMbient Air Quality Analysis using Air Quality Index – A Case Study of Vapi
(IJIRST/ Volume 1 / Issue 10 / 016)
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NAAQM Standard methods of sampling and analysis (CPCB, Guidelines for measurement of ambient air pollutants, volume-1).
The particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) were determined by gravimetric method i.e air is drawn through a pre weighed glass
fibre filter paper on 8 hourly basis for 24 hours. Gaseous pollutants (SO2 and NO2) were collected using an absorbing solution on
4 hourly basis for 24 hours by drawing air at a flow rate of 1 LPM. These gaseous pollutants were analysed by West and Geake
method (for SO2) & Jacob and Hochheiser method (for NO2). The concentrations of these methods were expressed in µg/m3
.
The AQI method involves formation of subindices for each pollutant and aggregation of sub-indices. It has been developed on
the dose-response relationship of various pollutants (Prakash Mamta, 2010). The table 2 shows the Linear segmented relationship
for sub-index values and the corresponding pollutant concentrations that are calibrated to Indian conditions.
Table - 2:
Break Points of Various Pollutants (National Air Quality Index, CPCB, October 2014)
(Units: μg/m3
)
AQI Category Range PM10 (24hr) PM2.5 (24hr) SO2 (24hr) NO2 (24hr)
Good (0-50) 00-50 0-30 0-40 0-40
Satisfactory (51– 100) 51-100 31-60 41-80 41-80
Moderately Polluted (101–200) 101-250 61-90 81-380 81-180
Poor (201-300) 251-350 91-120 381-800 181-280
Very Poor (301-400) 351- 430 121-250 801-1600 281-400
Severe (401-500) >430 >250 >1600 >400
The mathematical equations for calculating sub-indices is as follows
( )
 Where IP is AQI for pollutant “P” (Rounded to the nearest integer),
 CP the actual ambient concentration of pollutant “P”,
 BPHI the upper end breakpoint concentration that is greater than or equal to CP,
 BPLO the lower end breakpoint concentration that is less than or equal to CP,
 ILO the sub index or AQI value corresponding to BPLO,
 IHI the sub index or AQI value corresponding to BPHI .
III.RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The daily average concentrations were calculated. The corresponding graphs of concentration of each pollutant with time were
plotted (Figure 1 to Figure 4). The daily AQI values were also calculated and also plotted in graphs (Figure 5). The study show
that the minimum and maximum concentration of PM10 was 66 &135 µg/m3
at GIDC, 50 &122 µg/m3
at GPCB, 55 &121 µg/m3
at GEB, 69 &121 µg/m3
at Nagar Palika and that of PM2.5 was 18 &51 µg/m3
at GIDC, 16 &46 µg/m3
at GPCB, 20 &51 µg/m3
at GEB, 15 &49 µg/m3
at Nagar Palika. The average concentration of SO2 was 10.2 &21.7 µg/m3
at GIDC, 7.4 &20.6 µg/m3
at
GPCB, 8.8 &19.8 µg/m3
at GEB, 8.7 &18.1 µg/m3
at Nagar Palika. The average concentration of NO2 was 11.6 &25.8 µg/m3
at
GIDC, 13.4 &30.1 µg/m3
at GPCB, 12.5 &31.3 µg/m3
at GEB, 13.2 &30.3 µg/m3
at Nagar Palika. The minimum and maximum
daily AQI values were 66 & 124 at GIDC, 50 & 115 at GPCB, 55 & 115 at GEB, 69 & 114 at Nagar palika. The overall AQI
values fall under „moderately polluted‟ category (101 – 200).
Fig. 1: Variation of SO2 at various locations
0.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
80.0
90.0
Location 1
Location 2
Location 3
Location 4
Limit
SO2 (2013-14)

3. AMbient Air Quality Analysis using Air Quality Index – A Case Study of Vapi
(IJIRST/ Volume 1 / Issue 10 / 016)
All rights reserved by www.ijirst.org 70
Fig. 2: Variation of NO2 at various locations
Fig. 3: Variation of PM10 at various locations
Fig. 4: Variation of PM2.5 at various locations
0.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
80.0
90.0
Location 1
Location 2
Location 3
Location 4
Limit
NO2 (2013-14)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
Location 1
Location 2
Location 3
Location 4
Limit
PM10 (2013-14)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Location 1
Location 2
Location 3
Location 4
Limit
PM2.5 (2013-14)

4. AMbient Air Quality Analysis using Air Quality Index – A Case Study of Vapi
(IJIRST/ Volume 1 / Issue 10 / 016)
All rights reserved by www.ijirst.org 71
Fig. 5: Variation of AQI at various locations
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0
20
40
60
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100
120
140
Location 1
Location 2
Location 3
Location 4
Limit
AQI (2013-14)