Abstract
This study examines the concentrations of air pollution in the vicinity of a combined heat and power plant (CHP) and a communication route, using computer modeling of pollutant dispersion and spatial analysis based on real measurements in the city of Łódź, Poland, Europe. The research takes into account the concentrations of particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5, PM1.0) and gaseous pollutants (SO2 and VOC) in winter and summer. The spatial distribution of pollutants is discussed, including the presence of areas with increased accumulations of pollutants. Because atmospheric air has no natural boundaries, when analyzing any location, not only local sources of pollution, but also background pollution, should be analyzed. A clear difference was observed between the concentrations of pollutants in the summer and winter seasons, with significantly higher concentrations in the winter (heating) period. The impacts of road transport, individual heating systems, and combined heat and power plants were also assessed. Computer calculations confirmed that road transport accounted for the largest share of both PM and SO2 emissions. The CHP plant was responsible for the smallest percentage of dust emissions and was the next largest producer of SO2 emissions. The share of the total emissions from the individual sources were compared with the results of detailed field tests. The numerical analysis of selected pollution sources in combination with the field analysis shows that the identified pollution sources included in the analysis represent only a part of the total observed pollutant concentrations (suggesting that other background sources account for the rest).
Highlights
According to data from the European Commission’s Joint Research Center (JRS) [1], as much as 75% of the world’s population lives in urban agglomerations
According to an Environment Agency (EEA) report [2], as much as 48% of the population living in urban agglomerations is exposed to concentrations of PM10 above the acceptable level of 20 μg/m3 set by the WHO in 2005 [3], and 15% of the urban population in Europe is exposed to concentrations of PM10 above the EU standard of 40 μg/m3 [4]
74% of the urban population is exposed to average annual concentrations of PM2.5 above the permissible level of 10 μg/m3 established by the WHO, and 19% of people are exposed to an average daily concentration of SO2 above the recommended limit of 20 μg/m3
Summary
According to data from the European Commission’s Joint Research Center (JRS) [1], as much as 75% of the world’s population lives in urban agglomerations. In Europe overall, the figure is about 0.00060 stations/km (there were 2551 PM10 measurement stations in 2017) [12] For this reason, air quality tests carried out with mobile measurement devices [13] or using numerical programs for calculating/simulating pollutant dispersion in a selected local area are very important. Air quality tests carried out with mobile measurement devices [13] or using numerical programs for calculating/simulating pollutant dispersion in a selected local area are very important Mobile measuring equipment, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, can be used to transport measuring devices [14,15] or small stationary devices [16]. For the purposes of comparison, the numerical analysis was based on PM10 and SO2 emissions
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