Pollutant Dispersion Calculation

Application of EPA-USA’s AERMOD Dispersion of Pollutants from Industrial Processes

The ATS is authorized to provide environmental consultancy to companies that have to certify the dispersion of pollutants with state or federal environmental agencies.

ATA can perform the following services for the industry:

calculation of dispersions of particulates, CO, CO2, NOx, NO2, SOx and SO2

definition of location of pollutant concentration measurement stations

definition and specification of pollutant concentration meters

definition and specification of meteorological measurement stations

research and development projects, in ANEEL format, for thermoelectric plants

ATS is technically leading a pollutant dispersion R&D project together with Linhares Geração SA and the universities UFRGS, BOLTMOD Project for the development of a pollutant dispersion simulator, and UFSM, a 140 m meteorological tower project for boundary layer study planetary.

ATS is developing an ANEEL R&D project for the Termelétrica Viana S.A. to study the types of particulate separation processes in the plant’s 20 chimneys. Also part of the project are EPA-USA’s AERMOD simulations, CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics), equipment design and specification, supplier selection and tests together with the IPT-SP for project validation and certification.

ATS has already worked together with the Laboratory of Thermal Energy, Engines, Fuels and Emissions (LETMCE) of the IPT-SP in the planning and monitoring of part of the measurements, as well as in the discussions of the results obtained at the Anchieta unit of Samarco Mineração. To investigate this occurrence, which is more common in unit 3, technicians from the IPT-SP performed a set of measurements in the industrial ovens. To find out more details click here.

Below is a generic example of a dispersion calculation performed by Lakes’ AERMOD-View program, which ATS has a license for use in projects. It is a pre-processor and post-processor of the program AERMOD from the Environmental Protection Agency of the US. The results of this calculation program are accepted by Brazilian environmental regulators.

AERMOD (AERMIC Model) is an integrated atmospheric modeling system developed by the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),[1] in order to replace the ISCST3 model.

AERMOD comprises the following modules:

A dispersion model designed for short range (up to 50 km) for the dispersion of atmospheric pollutant emissions from industrial sources.[2]

A meteorological data processor (AERMET), which incorporates atmospheric dispersion based on the boundary layer of planetary turbulence, as well as scale concepts[2]

A terrain processor, which incorporates complex data from the Earth’s surface using USGS Digital Elevation Data[2]

The PRIME (Plume Rise Model Enhancements), an algorithm to model the downwash effects created by plume-generated pollution near buildings.[3]