MEASURING AND MODELING OF PARTICULATE DISPERSION FROM THE CEMENT PLANTS

Abstract:

This work focuses on the dispersion of particulate matters in the atmosphere around key cement plants, situated about 100 km northeast of Bangkok, Thailand. It is aimed at identifying the impact of emission from four cement manufacturers by both measuring and modeling analyses. The daily average concentrations of total suspended particulate matters (TSP) and particulate matters with diameter less than 10 m (PM10) within the distance of 15 km from the cement plant were measured for a week time period every six months at 12 receptors by high-volume volume samplers. The PM10 concentration at further distance i.e., about 25 km away from the cement plant was also monitored routinely at 2 automatic monitoring station of the Pollution Control Department (PCD), Thailand. Two Gaussian based models, AERMOD and CALPUFF, were then applied to estimate the dispersion of the particulate matters (PM). The estimated results by both AERMOD and CALPUFF showed that the model-predicted PM concentration at 12 receptors and 2 automatic monitoring stations were lower than the observed concentration. The CALPUFF model showed higher values and frequently found the PM peaks than the AERMOD.