Abstract
The present study was based on monthly variation of ambient air pollution in the village located within a radius of 3 km from the Parichhna thermal power plant (Jhansi, India). Parichha thermal power plant consumes annually 3.4 million tons of coal and the annual production capacity of the plant is 2.78 billion KWh. The thermal power plant uses approximately 10,000 tons of coal and emits large amount of air pollutants like fly ash, sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen. Results revealed that the range of gaseous pollutants showed slight variation within the sampling dates during the four months under study. Although the average monthly concentration SO2 (21±2.88 µg/m3) and NO2 (44±5.10 µg/m3) was within the permissible limits given for industrial and residential areas, however, they are toxic on long term basis both for human health and nearby agricultural fields. The concentration of the SO2 ranged between 17 to 28 µg/m3, while the concentration of NO2 ranged between 34 to 51 µg/m3, during the study period. It is important to note that the values of the pollutants reported are after all the mitigative measures and preventive control equipments installed and working in the thermal Power plant. It has also been revealed that concentration of both gases was found to be consistently higher in the morning hours (8.00 to 10.00 h) compared to afternoon hours (12.00 to 14.00 h) throughout the study period. Key words: Thermal power plants, pollution, coal, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide
Highlights
Thermal power plants are major sources of air pollution.Three major air pollutants emitted from these plants are Sulphur dioxide (SO2), Sulphur trioxide (SO3), Oxides of nitrogen (NO2, NO3) and Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM)
Variation of ambient air pollution in the village located within a radius of 3 km from the Parichhna thermal power plant has been presented in the Table 1
The present study shows that the concentration of gases (SO2 and NO2) were found to be consistently higher in the morning hours throughout the study period compared to afternoon hours, it is because as the temperature increases, photochemical reactions transform
Summary
Thermal power plants are major sources of air pollution. Three major air pollutants emitted from these plants are Sulphur dioxide (SO2), Sulphur trioxide (SO3), Oxides of nitrogen (NO2, NO3) and Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM). Elevated level of SO42− concentrations in rain water are due to strong SO2 emissions from coal fired thermal power plants (Demirak, 2007) This represents composite atmospheric gases, nitric oxide (NO), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which are primarily involved in air pollution. It is considered that coal-fired power plants and vehicles are the nation’s largest sources of nitrogen oxides and NOx produced in high temperature combustion processes (Memon, 2000; Emberson et al, 2001; Skinder et al., 2014). Nitric oxide (NO) is by far the most important nitrogen containing species emitted into the atmosphere on a mass basis from human activities involving motor traffic, brick kilns and combustion in thermal power stations, in homes or industrial processes (Williams, 2000; Kumar and Joseph, 2006; Ali and Athar, 2006; Skinder et al, 2014).
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