AAAR 33rd Annual Conference
October 20 - October 24, 2014
Rosen Shingle Creek
Orlando, Florida, USA
Abstract View
Relating Stack Height to Regional Pollutant Exposures
KRISTINA WAGSTROM, Fatema Parvez, University of Connecticut
Abstract Number: 516 Working Group: Source Apportionment
Abstract Estimating the inhalation intake fraction for emissions from a variety of sources provides a means by which to determine the relative impact between different emissions sources. For instance, it is likely that emissions from an elevated stack will have a lower intake fraction than ground-level emissions. In this study, we compare the ground level concentration contributions and inhalation fraction for different heights of point source emissions to those estimated using dispersion modeling approaches.
This study employs a regional chemical transport model, CAMx (ENVIRON 2013), to extend this analysis over an entire region. The Particulate Matter Source Apportionment Technology, PSAT, (Wagstrom et al. 2008), is available in CAMx and is used to specifically track the contributions from each grouping of stack heights within the domain. This allows a more thorough estimation of total potential exposure by accounting for the transport of pollutants on regional scales.
In addition to estimating intake fraction of primary pollutants, as is common, we also provide estimates of the inhalation intake fraction for secondary pollutants. The intake fraction for secondary pollutants is calculated based on the commonality between the precursor and product. For instance, the intake fraction of SO$_2 and particulate sulfate would actually be calculated as the intake fraction of the sulfur atom treating SO$_2-sulfate as a complete system. This approach can also be applied to the NOx-nitrate system, the ammonia-ammonium system, and similar systems of organic species. This approach provides a more thorough and complete estimation of what fraction of the original emissions are eventually inhaled by the human population.