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NMIM and MOVES Runs for RFS2 Air Quality Modeling: 

Memorandum

Harvey Michaels, OTAQ

January 12, 2010

1) The models and scripts used to run and process NMIM and MOVES for the RFS2 FRM air 

quality modeling have been docketed on a DVD entitled “NMIM and MOVES Runs for 

RFS2 Air Quality Modeling: DVD.” This memo describes the contents of the DVD and 

provides an overview of how these models were used to generate the onroad and nonroad 

downstream inventories.

a) Memorandum (this document)

i) Title: “NMIM and MOVES Runs for RFS2 Air Quality Modeling: Memorandum” 

ii) Filename: RFS2_NMIM_MOVES_AQM.pdf

b) DVD

i) Title: “NMIM and MOVES Runs for RFS2 Air Quality Modeling: DVD”, written on 

the physical DVD.

ii) Volume Label: RFS2 NMIM MOVES AQM

c) This memo is not on the DVD.

2) Contents of the DVD

a) MOVES folder

i) Batch Files_20090206 folder contains the batch files that execute the MOVES runs. 

Batch files are key to understanding the MOVES runs, because they control the runs

and specify the location and use of all files.

ii) HCSpeciation_new_Code folder contains MySQL scripts that are part of the MOVES 

code. The batch files copy these scripts into the MOVES code as a way of making 

last minute corrections to the code.

iii) MOVESGHGSource20080909 folder is the MOVES code.

The batch files modify the code by copying some MySQL scripts into it. This 

modification does not require recompilation.

iv) RunSpecs folder contains the RunSpecs referenced in the batch files that control the 

MOVES runs.

v) MOVESDB20080828.zip contains the MOVES default database.

vi) Input folder contains the user-supplied databases that are referenced in the RunSpecs 

and modify the MOVES default database

vii)Perl Scripts folder contains a few scripts used to process MOVES output.

b) NMIM

i) BatchFilesAndRunSpecs folder contains NMIM batch files and RunSpecs. Batch 

files are key to understanding the NMIM runs, because they control the runs and 

specify the location and use of all files.

ii) NMIM20071009 folder is the NMIM code.

iii) NCD20080727.zip is the zipped NMIM County Database 

iv) M6203CHC contains compiled MOBILE6 executable (M6203ChcOxFixNMIM.exe) 

and external datafiles that NMIM used to run MOBILE6.
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v) NR05d-Bond-Final.zip is the version of the NONROAD Model used to generate 

these inventories.

vi) Scripts folder contains Perl and MySQL scripts that prepare, post-process, and 

generate diagnostics for the NMIM runs. 

c) ProcessingScripts folder contains the scripts that post-processed NMIM and MOVES 

output into the RFS2 FRM AQM Inventories. An annotated list of scripts is in rp.bat.

3) Description of the inventory production process

a) The MOVES runs produced emission factors at the state-month level for all onroad 

gasoline vehicles except motorcycles. Onroad gasoline inventories were generated by

multiplying MOVES emission factors by VMT developed for the Office of Air Quality

Planning and Standards's 2002 Version 3 Modeling Platform1and used in the recently

published Locomotive-Marine Rule.

2

 

b) MOVES was used for onroad gasoline emission factors because of significant 

improvements compared with MOBILE6. Because of difficulty with MOVES VMT 

allocation, MOVES was used as a emission factor model and NMIM VMT was applied at 

the state-month-SCC level. Because of performance limitations of MOVES, there was 

only time to run it at the state-month level. State inventories were allocated to the 

county-month level based on NMIM’s MOBILE6 runs. Despite the limitations of these 

methods, it was EPA’s judgment that they provided superior inventories to MOBILE6.

c) Both MOBILE6 and NONROAD were run using NMIM (version NMIM20071009) with 

NMIM County Database NCD20080724. NMIM supplied emissions from the 

NONROAD Model and from onroad sources not produced from MOVES. The 

MOBILE6 Model was M6203ChcOxFixNMIM, a special version that includes cold-start 

VOC and the cold-start controls of the Mobile Source Air Toxics Rule that go into effect 

in 2011. The NONROAD Model version was NR05d-Bond-Final, which is the same as 

the publically released version NONROAD2008. 

d) Onroad emissions generated at the state-month level from MOVES were distributed to 

the county-month level using the results from MOBILE6 as run by NMIM. 

e) For both NMIM and MOVES, temperatures and humidity were those of the air quality

modeling base year 2005, and fuels for each case were those developed for this rule.

f) For the EISA case, E10 and E85 inventories were weighted together at the state level 

based on the energy consumed by these two fuels.

g) Onroad gasoline PM was run by MOVES at 72F and adjusted by OAQPS at the grid-hour 

level based on temperature curves supplied by OTAQ..

h) For some fuel-process combinations, there were MOVES bugs in calculating VOC from 

THC. For these cases, VOC was generated by post-processing from THC using fuelspecific algorithms developed by Rich Cook. For these cases, Rich also supplied fuelspecific algorithms to calculate the HAPs that MOVES calculates from VOC.

 

1

See http://www.epa.gov/ttn/chief/emch/index.html.

2

Final Rule: Control of Emissions of Air Pollution from Locomotives and Marine Compression-Ignition Engines 

Less Than 30 Liters per Cylinder (published May 6, 2008 and republished June 30, 2008). For details, see 

http://www.epa.gov/otaq/locomotives.htm#2008final