Abstract
Air quality in the vicinity of the thermal power plant of Logbaba in the town of Douala was investigated in this study using data collected in a 5-year period (2008-2012). The distribution of pollutants such as SO2, NOx, CO and the particle matter PM2.5 was analyzed using numerical modeling, based on physical and thermal characteristics, as well as the operating periods of the power plant. The American Environmental Regulator Model (AERMOD) that is an atmospheric dispersion model was used for simulation. The wind rose and others National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in-situ data were used for the validation of the model. The pollutants distribution was evaluated at two locations: the exit of the power plant, considered as reference point, and at 330 m away from the exit where the first houses appeared. The results show that the relative concentration for each contaminant at the exit of the power plant is 7.2% for the PM2.5 during 24 hours of emission, 46.0% for CO over 8 hours of emission, and 17.5% for SO2 over one hour. The NOx is the highest pollutant with 259.1% over an hour of emission and 51.0% over one year. Beyond 330 m of the power plant, only NOx keeps a polluting character with a relative rate of 100%. These results show that the pollution level of the power plant is over the threshold for air quality set by the World Health Organization. Moreover, among all pollutants investigated, NOx appears to be the most critical for the population in the vicinity of the Logbaba thermal power plant. This information is therefore important for policy and decision makers in preventing the vulnerability of the population to air pollutants from such industrial settings.
Highlights
Most atmospheric pollutants emitted naturally or from human activities, have been known to have adverse effects both on human health (Bünger et al, 2012 [1]; Olsson et al, 1999 [2]) and ecosystems (Bell et al, 2004 [3])
American Environmental Regulator Model (AERMOD) is a near field and steady-state guideline model in that it assumes that concentrations at all distances during a modelled hour are governed by a set of hourly meteorological inputs, which are held constant (Cimorelli et al, 1998 [33])
The AERMOD atmospheric dispersion model is shown to be appropriate in the description of the atmospheric pollutants dispersion from the Logbaba thermal power plant
Summary
Most atmospheric pollutants emitted naturally or from human activities, have been known to have adverse effects both on human health (Bünger et al, 2012 [1]; Olsson et al, 1999 [2]) and ecosystems (Bell et al, 2004 [3]) They are the cause of climate change (Doek-Rae Kim et al, 2015 [4]) in the form of greenhouse gas emission. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that, air pollution is a major environmental risk to health causing about 1.3 millions deaths in the world per year In these countries, where the uncontrolled urban development due to the presence of several industrial plants in very small areas around which, population generally congregates for either their works or commercial purposes let them pay the heaviest price in this situation (WHO, 1987 [6]; WHO, 2000 [7]). It has been reported that it only requires a single surface measurement of wind speed, air temperature at screen height and total cloud cover (Holtslag, 1983 [9])
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