Suspended Particulate Matter Emissions Research Articles

Assessment of Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) and Toxicity Potential (TP) of Emissions from Different Power Generating Sets in Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria

This research investigated the levels of Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) resulting from the emissions of various power generators in Nigeria. Additionally, the study conducted risk assessments concerning the inhalation of this pollutant from different power generators, and proposed suitable measures to control the emission of SPM linked to the use of power generators. To capture the exhaust from each generator set, a sampling technique was employed. This involved using a sample probe, a filter, and a filter holder to trap the gas emissions in a sequential manner. The concentration of SPM in the air was calculated based on several factors, including the weight difference of the filter paper before and after sampling, the sampling duration, and the flow rate. The concentration of suspended particulate matter for the 16 different generating sets varied from 1413.4 µg/m3 to 5300 µg/m3, with an average concentration of 2912.98 µg/m3. These values surpassed both the World Health Organization (WHO) standard of 50 µg/m3 and the Nigeria Ambient Air Quality Standard of 250 µg/m3. The study's findings indicate that power generating sets emit Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) through their gas exhaust. Moreover, the results demonstrate that the generator samples lacking a galvanized mesh at the gas stream exhaust exhibit significantly higher toxicity potential compared to those with the galvanized mesh. This research established that SPM concentrations were found from the exhaust of different power generating sets.

MATHEMATICAL AND STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE INFLUENCE OF FINE SOLID POLLUTANTS ON HUMAN HEALTH

The article discusses the issues of studying the effect of fine dust on human health using mathematical and statistical modeling. The initial data were statistical data on the volume of emissions of suspended particulate matter into the atmosphere and registered cases of diseases of the circulatory system among the population of Ukraine in 2012–2019. To assess the relationship between several factor signs was used method of correlation-regression analysis. The high connection between the actual statistical data and the data of the model calculation indicates the presence a very strong dependence the incidence of the circulatory system of the population on the emissions of fine dust. The obtained results of the study testify to the confirmation of the risk to the health and life of the population. The coefficients of determination make it possible to assert that the emissions of fine dust are one of the main reasons for the development of diseases of the circulatory system in humans. Among the types of dust that enters the atmospheric air from anthropogenic sources of emissions, the most dangerous type of dust for humans is dust containing solid particles ranging in size from 2.5 to 10 microns.

By-production of electricity and particulates: efficiency of Indian thermal power plants revisited

PurposeThis paper studies the efficiency of Indian coal-fired thermal power plants (CTPPs) in by-production of electricity and particulates also known as Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM).Design/methodology/approachA non-radial directional distance function is optimized using data envelopment analysis to enumerate the overall inefficiency of CTPPs and its components in recent times. Further, second-stage regression analysis is conducted to identify factors that affect the inefficiency of plants.FindingsThe low inefficiency score for electricity generation suggests that most CTPPs operate close to the good output frontier. A high degree of emissions inefficiency is a challenge for Indian CTPPs. Ever-rising coal use inefficiency is a hindrance to control SPM emissions. The second stage regression analysis concludes that factors like ownership and capacity utilization play vital roles in determining a plant’s inefficiency level. Privately owned CTPPs have performed better in terms of technical inefficiency and emission inefficiency than plants owned by Central and State governments.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the few published works that benchmark the productive and environmental performance of Indian CTPPs.

Lessons from a pilot program to induce stove replacements in Chile: design, implementation and evaluation

We present the design, implementation, and evaluation of a subsidy program to introduce cleaner and more efficient household wood combustion technologies. The program was conducted in the city of Temuco, one of the most polluted cities in southern Chile, as a pilot study to design a new national stove replacement initiative for pollution control. In this city, around 90% of the total emissions of suspended particulate matter is caused by households burning wood. We created a simulated market in which households could choose among different combustion technologies with an assigned subsidy. The subsidy was a relevant factor in the decision to participate, and the inability to secure credit was a significant constraint for the participation of low-income households. Due to several practical difficulties and challenges associated with the implementation of large-scale programs that encourage technological innovation at the household level, it is strongly advisable to start with a small-scale pilot that can provide useful insights into the final design of a fuller, larger-scale program.

Welfare gain of controlling emission from cement manufacturing factories in the South-western Bangladesh

PurposeEmission of the suspended particulate matter (SPM) from cement factories results in a wide range of negative health effects to its workers. It induces substantial cost incurred by them in the form of wage loss and mitigation cost. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to estimate emission-induced cost of illness (COI) and the share of this cost that could be saved through limiting the current emission level at national safety standard.Design/methodology/approachCOI approach which accounts workers’ wage loss and mitigation cost due to emission-induced illness was used in this study. A sample of 120 workers from three factories followed by 40 from each was randomly surveyed for collecting information on their health status and mitigation cost. It covered almost 10 percent of cement factory workers in the south-west region of Bangladesh. In addition, factory-specific emission data were also collected from the Department of Environment for addressing the study objective.FindingsIt revealed that the average level of SPM emission by these factories which was almost three times higher than the national safety standard induced 34.39 million Bangladeshi Taka (BDT) (USD0.46 million) as COI paid by workers yearly. It accounted around 28 percent of their annual income of which 64 percent worth BDT22.16 (USD0.30) million could be saved by meeting the standard annually.Originality/valueThis study provides insights into the essence of regulating cement industrialists toward meeting the national safety standard of emission.

Airborne Particulate Matter from Sparkling Fireworks

The present study examines the emission levels of particulate matters (PM) from sparkling fireworks and to know the emission characteristics of PM. Particulate matter <2.5 microns (PM2.5) and suspended particulate matter (SPM) were determined while burning six brands of sparkling fireworks. The average PM concentrations before burning were levels of 10 μg/m3, but the average concentrations after burning were 741 μg/m3 for PM2.5 and 810 μg/m3 for SPM. The mean ratio of the concentrations of PM2.5 and SPM after burning in all of the sparkling fireworks was 0.890. The emissions per firework ranged from 6.5 mg to 151 mg for PM2.5, and from 7.1 mg to 160 mg for SPM. The means of the emissions per combustible amount of the firework ranged from 0.017 to 0.066 mg/mg for PM2.5, and from 0.018 to 0.071 mg/mg for SPM. The influences of the burning time, burning rate and combustible amount of the fireworks on the PM emissions were investigated. As a result, PM2.5 and SPM emissions tend to increase with the burning rates. This suggests that the burning rate of firework have an influence on the PM emissions.

Externalities from lignite mining-related dust emissions

During the last three decades, several studies have been conducted in order to assess the external costs of electricity production from fossil fuels, especially coal and lignite. Nevertheless, these studies usually ignore the impacts generated by the upstream mining works. This paper contributes to existing literature and attempts to fill this gap by exploring the externalities of lignite mining owing to the emission of suspended particulate matter. To this end, a ‘bottom-up’ approach is implemented, using as case study the largest operational lignite surface mine at the Lignite Center of Western Macedonia (Greece). The results indicate that annual air pollution externalities of lignite mining are of the order of 3€/ton of lignite, which corresponds to around 5.0 €/MWh. The estimated costs are significantly lower, i.e. up to 80%, when dust deposition is considered in air dispersion models. In any case, these findings should be seen as a starting point for discussion owing to the lack of specific emission rates for Greek lignite mines.

Reductions of PM2.5 Air Concentrations and Possible Effects on Premature Mortality in Japan

The current study estimates premature mortality caused by long-term exposure to elevated concentrations of PM2.5 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter equal to or less than 2.5 μm) in Japan from 2006 to 2009. The premature mortality is calculated based on a relative risk of 1.04 (95 % CI, 1.01–1.08) per 10 μg m−3 increase above the annual mean limit of 10 μg m−3 taken from the World Health Organization Air Quality Guidelines. The spatiotemporal variations of PM2.5 are estimated based on the measurements of suspended particulate matter (SPM) (with aerodynamic diameter approximately less than 7.0 μm) at 1,843 monitors. The improvements of air quality in Japan by reducing the emissions of SPM from 2006 to 2009 could save 3,602 lives based on a reduction target of 10 μg m−3 annual mean concentration. This finding could be a tangible benefit gained by reducing the emissions of particulate matter in Japan.

Determining Residual Ammonia in Flue Gas Conditioned Fly Ashes and Its Influence on the Pozzolanic Activity

Abstract Thermal power stations employ flue gas conditioning (FGC) technique to reduce the emission of suspended particulate matter in the surrounding atmosphere substantially. This technique involves the treatment of flue gases by adding the chemical agents (viz., ammonia and/or sulfur trioxide) to the flue gas, which in turn increases the collection efficiency of electrostatic precipitators. Since the pozzolanic activity of the fly ash is important for its suitability as a cementitious material in the construction industry, the presence of residual ammonia in fly ash may adversely affect its utilization. Hence, it becomes mandatory to establish the presence of residual ammonia in the fly ash, and its influence on the pozzolanic activity of the fly ash needs to be studied in details. With this in view, fly ash samples from coal based thermal power stations in India, where FGC is being done, were collected, and the residual ammonia as well as pozzolanic activity was determined. Based on these investigations, it has been demonstrated that the influence of residual ammonia from FGC on pozzolanic activity of the fly ash is insignificant.

Use of abatement cost curves in developing environmental bubble policy for managing SPM in Jamshedpur region

This paper evaluates environmental bubble policy using abatement cost curves drawn for different abatement measures in Jamshedpur region. Surveys were conducted to estimate industrial emissions of suspended particulate matter (SPM) from different emitting sources in the region, and the characteristics of the existing and alternative abatement devices for each emitting source. The abatement cost functions were developed and used to rank the abatement devices. An environmental bubble with its limit equal to the existing SPM emissions from all selected companies was developed. The abatement costs for the bubble were estimated from abatement cost curves with alternative and best available technologies. The estimated abatement costs were found to be less than those of the existing measures. It was also found that M/s TISCO alone can account for SPM emissions reductions in the selected group with less cost.

Estimation of Trucks Exhaustion Gas Pollution Volume in Tokai 3 Prefectures by Transport and Environmental Assessment Model

The control of pollutant emission has become a serious social problem in Japan. The automotive pollution is one of the main sources. But until now, the necessary quantitative estimation system on regional level has not been constructed except the fields of acid rain, nitrogen oxides and suspended particulate matter. In this paper, I constructed a quantitative model to estimate the intraprefectural commodity transport, number of vehicles by 4 types, and resulting quantity of pollution by 5 types; carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbon (HC), nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon dioxide (CO2), suspended particulate matter (SPM). I estimated them in Gifu and Aichi Prefectures, and extrapolated to the national figures based on regional shares of two prefectures in population and transport quantity. I estimated the automotive pollution for 1991-94, and found that the emission of CO2, the most important factor of green-house-effect, has not decreased over time, while other three {CO, HC, NOx} have steadily decreased and the emission of SPM did not show a definite trend in Gifu Prefecture. To assess the effects of policies to reduce the exhaustion gas by vehicles, I made two simulation studies based on the quantitative model. The results are as follows.Case (1): Hypothesis (a), The reduction would be 25% in NOx, 64% in SPM by shifting discharging regulation value from 1994 to 1999 against large-sized diesel vehicles. The result was completely consistent with Hypothesis (a).Case (2): Hypothesis (b), When private vehicles adapt Sekisai-Hi (the percentage of actual loading to full loading capacity) to the level of commercial vehicles, the reduction would be 34% in each five toxic pollutants. The value of reduction volume was between 44% and 29%.The central as well as prefectural governments are urged to establish the effective countermeasures to automotive pollution if the target of Kyoto-Protocol, i.e., the reduction of emission by 5-6 percent compared with the level at 1990, would be achieved by 2008-2010. For that purpose, their intensive efforts are called for. I hope the quantitative model in this paper can provide some useful materials.

Comparison of Emissions and Residential Exposure from Traditional and Improved Cookstoves in Kenya

Suspended particulate matter and carbon emissions from the combustion of biomass, in addition to their environmental consequences, have been causally associated with the incidence of respiratory and eye infections. Improved stoves offer the potential for emissions reduction. We compare the emissions of suspended particulate matter and carbon monoxide from traditional and improved biofuel stoves in Kenya under the actual conditions of household use. Data for analysis is from 137 14-h days of continuous real-time emission concentration monitoring in a total of 38 households. Our analysis shows that improved (ceramic) wood-burning stoves reduce daily average suspended particulate matter concentration by 48% (1822 μg/m3; 95% C.I. 663−2982) during the active burning period and by 77% (1034 μg/m3; 95% C.I. 466−1346) during the smouldering phase. Ceramic stoves also reduce the median and the 75th and 95th percentiles of daily emission concentration during the burning period and the 95th percentile during the smouldering phase, and therefore shift the overall emission profile downward. Improved charcoal-burning stoves also offer reductions in indoor air pollution compared to the traditional metal stove, but these are not statistically significant. The greatest reduction in emission concentration is achieved as a result of transition from wood to charcoal where mean emission concentrations drop by 87% (3035 μg/m3; 95% C.I. 2356−3500) during the burning period and by 92% (1121 μg/m3; 95% C.I. 626−1216) when smouldering as well as large reductions in the median and 75th and 95th percentiles. These results indicate that transition to charcoal, followed by the use of improved wood stoves, are viable options for reduction of human exposure to indoor air pollution in many developing nations.

Particulate pollution from biomass combustion in three cookstoves

The release of suspended particulate matter (SPM) in the indoor environment from the combustion of fuelwood, agri-residue, dung cakes and a mixture of fuelwood and dung cakes in traditional as well as improved biomass cookstoves is studied. The SPM emission is monitored at two positions in the kitchen and also at the centre of the living room. A comparative performance evaluation of several biofuel-cookstove combinations is undertaken. Some important results are plotted graphically and briefly discussed.