Accelerating Greener Aviation
Airport operations are known to be pollutant hotspots and there is a growing concern about the associated health effects on airport residents. To develop more sustainable aviation, the Stargate project was set up with funding from the European Commission and led by Brussels Airport Company.
With over 30 projects at four different airports, Stargate is committed to (1) promote further decarbonisation of airport operations, (2) improve local environmental quality, and (3) encourage a modal shift to more environmentally friendly means of transport. In addition, the development of a digital twin of the airports with real-time data allows all airport operations to be tested, simulated, and adapted to create innovative solutions.
VITO's role
VITO is evaluating the impact of various airport activities on local air quality, within the objective of improvement of the local air quality. VITO will develop both a ultrafine particles (UFP) monitoring system and a comprehensive air quality modeling system covering ultrafine particles (UFP). In the project, VITO's air quality modelling and measurement team will work closely together.
- UFP monitoring: VITO will develop a monitoring system for UFP. The system is used to benchmark the current situation and evaluate innovative technical solutions for a sustainable integration of the airport into the surrounding communities, while reducing the impact on the environment.
- Air quality modelling: The impact of all airport operations on local air quality will be evaluated using ATMO-Street. Detailed emissions from all airport activities are needed as input. An emission framework will be prepared for this purpose, which will also provide emission totals of all relevant pollutants. Based on the results of the UFP measurement campaigns, the UFP modelling system will be validated. In addition, VITO will create a tool to quantify how different emission sectors contribute to air pollution around the airport. This will allow to investigate the effectiveness of strategies to reduce targeted emissions.
For more information visit the Stargate website.
Year: 2023 – 2025
Project partners: Brussels Airport Company - coordination, Aéroport Toulous Blagnac, Athens Internation Airport, Air Cargo Belgium, Brussels Airlines, Budapest Airport, DHL, Engie, Erasmus University Rotterdam, IES, Lux Mobility, NMBS, Quatra, Skytanking, Sopra Steria, To70, TUI, UHasselt, VIL, Vlaams Brabant,
Website: Stargate
