Analysis of Air Pollution around a CHP Plant: Real Measurements vs. Computer Simulations

Robert Cichowicz and Maciej Dobrzański
Additional contact information
Robert Cichowicz: Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Environmental Engineering, Lodz University of Technology, Al. Politechniki 6, 90-924 Lodz, Poland
Maciej Dobrzański: Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Environmental Engineering, Lodz University of Technology, Al. Politechniki 6, 90-924 Lodz, Poland

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 2, 1-18

Abstract: This study examines the concentrations of air pollution in the vicinity of a combined heat and power plant (CHP) and a communication route, using computer modeling of pollutant dispersion and spatial analysis based on real measurements in the city of Łódź, Poland, Europe. The research takes into account the concentrations of particulate matter (PM 10 , PM 2.5 , PM 1.0 ) and gaseous pollutants (SO 2 and VOC) in winter and summer. The spatial distribution of pollutants is discussed, including the presence of areas with increased accumulations of pollutants. Because atmospheric air has no natural boundaries, when analyzing any location, not only local sources of pollution, but also background pollution, should be analyzed. A clear difference was observed between the concentrations of pollutants in the summer and winter seasons, with significantly higher concentrations in the winter (heating) period. The impacts of road transport, individual heating systems, and combined heat and power plants were also assessed. Computer calculations confirmed that road transport accounted for the largest share of both PM and SO 2 emissions. The CHP plant was responsible for the smallest percentage of dust emissions and was the next largest producer of SO 2 emissions. The share of the total emissions from the individual sources were compared with the results of detailed field tests. The numerical analysis of selected pollution sources in combination with the field analysis shows that the identified pollution sources included in the analysis represent only a part of the total observed pollutant concentrations (suggesting that other background sources account for the rest).

Keywords: dispersion of pollutants; air quality monitoring; SO 2; VOC; PM 10; PM 2.5; PM 1.0; 3D spatial analysis; outdoor air quality; air quality modeling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/2/553/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/2/553/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:2:p:553-:d:723822

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().