Evaluation of aircraft emission at Imam Khomeini International Airport and Mehrabad International Airport

Abstract

In recent years, the pollution caused by aviation has sharply been increasing as a result of growing the air traffic. In this study, the emission of pollutants caused by aircrafts’ operations during landing and takeoff cycles was calculated and the impact of meteorological parameters on emission along with its distribution at Imam Khomeini International Airport and Mehrabad Airport was also estimated. Moreover, the pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbon and sulphur dioxide were examined. The pollutant emission rate of each aircraft was estimated using the engines’ pollutant database of International Civil Aviation Organization. In order to evaluate the aircraft emission, the flights data of both airports, dated from 2011 to 2016, were used and their total emissions were also calculated. Finally, the atmospheric dispersion model system was used for modelling the dispersion of emissions of these two airports. The results indicated that the highest rate of the total emission at Mehrabad Airport was considered as 2718.47 ton/year in 2016. As for the Imam Khomeini International Airport, the highest rate of total emission was considered to be 4259.12 ton/year in 2015. Moreover, the dispersion of the pollutants along with their distribution at two airports was also modelled and explained, respectively. The results indicated that Mehrabad Airport through which more flights are operated and handled compared to Imam Khomeini International Airport produced lower emission. Moreover, eastern side of these airports suffered from more pollution because of most common wind direction from west to east at these airports.