Abstract
This study quantified the effect of imploding old concrete grain silos in Aqaba, Jordan, on the eastern side of the Gulf of Aqaba, an arid region, on air quality by measuring the PM10 concentrations before and after the implosion at four monitoring locations. The implosion of the silos forms part of a comprehensive plan to relocate and upgrade the Port of Aqaba, which is situated on the coast of the Red Sea, with the goal of freeing space for development and improving the infrastructure in the heart of the city. The demolition, which occurred at 11:00 a.m. (local time) on 13 January 2019, generated a massive cloud of dust that was transported to nearby areas. To characterize these emissions, descriptive statistics, graphical methods, inverse distance weighting interpolation, decision trees constructed with recursive partitioning, the Gaussian dispersion model, the modified box model, and regression analysis were applied. The PM10 concentrations were in compliance with the Jordanian 24-h standard of 120 µg m–3 prior to the implosion but substantially increased (although still varied by distance from the demolition site) at all four stations afterward, with the maximum values (259–587 µg m–3) exceeding the pre-implosion ones by as much as 26 times. However, these high concentrations were short-lived, and the majority of the stations returned to background levels within 30–33 hours. According to our calculations on the implosion, the PM10 emission rate was 17 ± 2 mg m–2 s–1, which is equivalent to 215 ± 22 kg silo–1, and the air mixing height was 613 ± 72 m, or approximately eight times the height of the silos.
Highlights
It is commonly known that air pollution by particulate matter (PM) has chronic and acute health impacts, including cough, wheezing, asthma attacks, bronchitis, skin and eye irritation, high blood pressure, heart attack, strokes and increased mortality rate (Eggleston et al, 1999; Rand et al, 2000; Castro et al, 2001; Peters et al, 2001; Samoli et al, 2008)
The lowest pre-implosion values of PM10 were recorded at South Station where PM10 varied from 23 μg m–3 to 85 μg m–3 with mean of 51 μg m–3, whereas the highest pre-implosion PM10 values were recorded at Mobile Station where PM10 varied from 58 μg m–3 to 119 μg m–3 with a mean of 82 μg m–3
The lowest post-implosion PM10 values were recorded at New Port Station, which is the farthest station from the silos, where PM10 varied from 34 μg m–3 to 259 μg m–3 with a mean of 193 μg m–3
Summary
It is commonly known that air pollution by particulate matter (PM) has chronic and acute health impacts, including cough, wheezing, asthma attacks, bronchitis, skin and eye irritation, high blood pressure, heart attack, strokes and increased mortality rate (Eggleston et al, 1999; Rand et al, 2000; Castro et al, 2001; Peters et al, 2001; Samoli et al, 2008). The focus of this paper is related to (1) quantifying particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 10 μm (PM10) emissions during the implosion of concrete grain silos located at the old seaport in Aqaba off the Gulf of Copyright The Author(s). PM10 Emission Rate PM10 emission rate from imploding of the silos were calculated by employing the Gaussian plume dispersion formula:
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