On-line Air Pollution Assessment in the Proximity of Coal Based Power Plants in Romania

Abstract

This paper is presenting an on-line platform consisting in a measurement system and procedure used for air pollution assessment and warning, based on mobile and fixed sensor stations, located in the proximity of thermal coal power plants in western Romania, as well as the software interface used for data acquisition, visualization and interpretation. All the measurements were performed by the Politehnica University in Timisoara (mobile platform on vehicle) and by the Romanian Agency for Environmental Protection (fixed platforms, but located at a certain distance from these plants). The background acquisition devices and the dedicated user friendly software were developed by our team. Main polluting agents taken in account on this paper are SO2, NO2, O3, CO and PM10, as well as other polluting agents, by custom reqon the site of the Romanian Environmental Agency and are used for environmental studies, alarms or didactic purpose, as well as for reports. This paper also provides some examples of real measurements performed on site and the interpretation of these results, as well some simple solutions and recommendations for air quality increase, customized for these power plants.