Fate and Transport of Stack Emissions in the Environment and Potential Reduction of Pollutants in the Context of Global Warming | Journal of Environmental Engineering | Vol 149, No 1

AbstractStack emissions have increased the carbon footprint by devastating impacts on human lives and vegetation as well as reducing the ozone layer to amplify the possibility of global warming. So the extent of emitted gases in the atmosphere or on the ground and possible conversion pathways of gases are of interest to understand the advection, diffusion and dispersion patterns, acid rain precursor formation, ozone layer depletor generation, and scopes of air pollution regulation development. A number of factors such as atmospheric stability conditions, wind velocity, stack height, downwind distance from the stack, vertical distance from ground level, and ambient temperature of the surrounding environment of the plume were studied to depict the advection, diffusion, and dispersion pattern of gases and particles in the atmosphere. The plume could travel downwind distances of 10.5 and 1,720 km in stability conditions A and D, respectively, for high mass emission (HME), although wind velocity and stack height had significant impacts on dispersion and deposition pattern. Ambient temperature, turbulence, and density gradient could similarly play important roles in mixing and the ultimate fate and transport of plume elements. The magnitude of vertical dispersion of the plume might influence the formation of acid rain precursors and depletion of the ozone layer in the troposphere and stratosphere. Ozone layer stability depends not only on atmospheric chlorine and nitrogen elements but also on increasing temperature due to the presence of heat-trapping elements where about 0.0011%/day and 0.00035%/day of the ozone layer may change at −25°C and −50°C in the atmosphere, respectively. Currently available scientific literature has not discussed the influence of all these factors on the advection and dispersion of pollutants and ozone depletion by heat-trapping elements.

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