Air pollution emission inventory and air quality modeling for Can Tho City, Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Abstract

Can Tho City has quickly become a modernized and industrialized city undergoing rapid population growth affecting the local environment, especially air quality and human health. In 2015, Can Tho had 1,251,809 inhabitants with a total of 566,593 motorcycles and 15,105 automobiles. There are about 1000 factories in the city. The top polluters are the industries of textile and dyeing, food processing, cement, and steel mill and rice processing. The aims of this research are to (i) conduct a detailed air pollution emission inventory (ii) study the formation of the air pollution plume over the city, and (iii) study different pollution abatement strategies for the city. We employ a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches to conduct air pollution emission inventory, then, the finite volume model-transport and photochemistry mesoscale model is applied for studying the formation of the pollution plume. The results showed that transportation and industrial activities are the two main emission sources responsible for 80% of total NO x , 90% of total SO2, 75% of CO, 60% of total suspended particles, and 60% of non-methane volatile organic compounds. Modeling results showed that the highest average—1 h—of O3 is 206 μg/m3 which is higher than the Vietnam ambient air quality standard. The pollution plume is developed in the northeastern part of the city. Finally, abatement measures were proposed. This is the first comprehensive study on air pollution emissions and air quality modeling in the Mekong Delta, yielding insight to support government authorities to promulgate plans and actions to reduce emissions, protecting human health and the environment while leading towards sustainable development.