EXTENT AND MAGNITUDE OF INDUSTRIAL STACK EMISSIONS ON AMBIENT PARTICULATE CONCENTRATIONS

Abstract

Management of ambient PM2.5 concentrations require understanding of their source contribution for the effective controlling of emission. This study is aimed to evaluate the performance of air quality dispersion model (AERMOD) in predicting ambient ground level PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations emitted from the largest industrial estate in Thailand as a demonstration case. Emission data in this study comprised of 247 industrial stacks were used together with local terrain features and meteorological data in 2018 for the analysis. Evaluation of model performance was accomplished by statistical comparison between observed and modeled PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations. Results from statistical analysis indicated that predicted PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations data were lower than those measured ground level concentrations. This under-estimated prediction reveals less contribution of emission from industrial stacks towards ambient particulate concentrations. It also highlights the competence of current total particulate (all size) emission standard in controlling ambient particulate pollution (PM2.5 and PM10) particularly from industrial stack emission sources.