Analyzing the health risk assessment of particles in Isfahan Steel Company by AERMOD model

Abstract

Introduction: One of the effects of air pollution in the community was increasing mortality rate. Determination of contamination was the first step in improving the existing conditions. Therefore, the way of pollutants distribution and the timing and spatial changes were important. This study aimed to evaluate the risk of Parental Emissions (PE) of Isfahan Steel company using AERMOD. Materials and methods: In this research, the distribution of suspended particles of the Isfahan Steel company were modeled in the AERMOD for 1 h, 24 h and yearly average (30×30 km2), then the comparison of the average concentrations modeled with air standards clean country and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regional risk maps were provided in Arc GIS. Results: The prediction of the distribution of 24-h mean concentrations indicated that the maximum value for the 24-h average was equal to 8.52 EPA and 25.25 times, the standard Iran's clean air. Also, the prediction of the distribution of average annual concentrations indicated that the maximum value for the average annual time was 91.1 times, the EPA standard and 4.78% higher than Iran's clean air standard. Conclusion: Health risk maps show that the risk spot was not regional in the direction of the region's wind and topography of the region was the main factor in the distribution of risky spots in the region. Legitimate use of the AERMOD could be useful in managing, controlling, and evaluating air pollutants especially in industrial units of the country.