Comparative Study of Air Pollution Modeling Techniques from Point Source(s) of Thermal Power Plant

Abstract

In the present study, air quality dispersion analysis was performed for the area near the Rajpura Thermal Power Plant, located in the Punjab province of India. The emission inventory was prepared from point source emissions of the power plant and two representative large-scale industries to differentiate the impact of the thermal power plant alone. Prediction of ground-level concentrations of air pollutants viz. SO2, NO2, and SPM was performed by the United States Environment Protection Agency‑approved air quality dispersion models, namely Industrial Source Complex-Short Term Version 3 (ISCST3) and American Meteorological Society/Environmental Protection Agency Regulatory Model (AERMOD). The spatial dispersion of maximum concentration for the sources of thermal power plant showed that AERMOD predicted higher concentrations near the source when compared with ISCST3 for daily averaging periods. The predicted ground-level concentrations of both the models with data from all the sources’ inventory were found to be similar to the predicted ground-level concentrations of both the models with inputs limited to the source emission data of the thermal power plant alone. The predicted concentrations by two models were compared with each other and validation of models was done with the actual observed concentrations at eight major receptor sites within the study area for the better model performance. The coefficient of correlation graphs suggested that the overall results of AERMOD predictions were better than those of ISCST3 predictions.