Construction of copper, iron and manganese anthropogenic emission inventories for Europe

Trace metal elements in atmospheric particulate matter (PM) have significant adverse health effects. However, emissions of some metals, such as copper (Cu), are not yet consistently reported to the EMEP program by European countries under the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP), as their reporting is only encouraged but not mandatory. Other unregulated metals such as iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn), are not considered at all. In this study, we improved the current European Cu inventory by correcting and adjusting existing data and completing the inventory through gap-filling. In addition, we developed the first European anthropogenic inventories for Fe and Mn, considering key anthropogenic sources such as brake wear, road abrasion, engine lubricant combustion, fuel combustion, waste incineration and rail wear. These emissions were geographically distributed based on the spatialization of PM 10 emissions proposed in the reference inventories. For Cu, our new inventory shows that the heterogeneity of emissions between different countries is greatly reduced; for Fe and Mn, the inventory confirms the importance of abrasion processes in the rail and road traffic sectors, as well as that of combustion processes. To evaluate the emission inventory, the Fe/Cu and Mn/Cu ratios in the emissions were directly compared to ambient measurements. The results indicate an underestimation of Fe and Mn emissions compared to Cu, potentially due to the omission of certain emission sources, such as industrial activities or resuspension by traffic, or to contributions from natural sources such as desert mineral dust. We also compared our inventory with existing national and global inventories. This comparison suggests an underestimation of emissions from industrial activities in our inventory but also a potential misrepresentation of road traffic (or railway) sources in other inventories. Further work, including simulations using a chemistry and transport model, and comparison with extended concentration data, is needed to better assess and improve the accuracy of these inventories. • We developed a new Cu emission inventory for Europe • We created European emission inventories for Fe and Mn • Abrasion sources dominate anthropogenic emissions for Cu and Fe • The Cu inventory is reliable. • Strong negative biases appear for Fe and Mn inventories