POCP for individual VOC under European conditions

Ground level ozone has been recognised as one of the most important environmental threats on the regional scale in Europe. Ozone is today considered to be harmful to human health already at the relatively low concentrations present in southern Scandinavia. The fact that ozone has the potential to damage vegetation at these concentrations is already well known. Ozone also gives rise to degradation of materials and is one of the gases which adds to the greenhouse effect. Ground level ozone is formed from nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of sunlight. The only way to reduce ozone is therefore to reduce the emissions of the precursors. Ranking individual VOC by their ozone formation potential can make emission reductions more environmentally efficient and save time and money. POCP values give a ranking of the ozone formation ability of an individual VOC relative to other VOC. A critical analysis of the POCP concept has been performed which shows that the background emissions of NOx and VOC affect the POCP values to a large extent. Based on the critical analysis, five scenarios with different background emissions of NOx and VOC were selected for calculation of POCP values. These scenarios were chosen because they reflect the variation in POCP values which arise in different environments within Europe. The range thus indicates POCP values which are intended to be applicable within Europe. POCP values for 83 different VOC are presented in the form of ranges in this report.