An advanced test method for measuring fugitive dust emissions using a hybrid system of optical remote sensing and point monitor techniques

Abstract

A new test method for measuring fugitive dust emissions has been developed. This method includes one open path laser transmissometer (OPLT) extended to a path of several undred meters to measure ground-level extinction coefficients across an entire plume combined with one tower with at least two vertically distributed and time-resolved dust monitors (DM) (in the middle of the OP-LT path) to measure vertical gradients of PM10 and PM2.5 concentration. At least two wind monitors are mounted on the tower at the same elevation as the DM instruments to measure wind speed and wind direction for input into the PM flux calculations. The extinction data from the OP-LT (from a specific dust source) are calibrated to the PM10 concentration data from calibrated DM instruments. We found that such calibration is mainly a function of dust type and its typical airborne particle size distribution. The performance of this method is demonstrated through comparison to a more traditional upwind-downwind method that deploys three towers with five DM instruments on each tower to define the flux plane with multiple measurements. It is shown that the new hybrid method (one tower with two or three DM instruments and OP-LT) provides comparable flux calculation to the traditional method. © 2009 Springer Netherlands.