impact of a renewable biomass energy power plant in urban landscape with complex terrain in central...
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Impact of a renewable biomass energy power plant in urban landscape with complex terrain in Central Italy:
modelling assessment and suggestions for monitoring site
Gabriele Curci1, Paolo Tuccella1, Giovanni Cinque2, Guido Visconti1
1 CETEMPS - Dip. FisicaUniversità dell’Aquila, [email protected]
2 HIMET S.r.l.L’Aquila, Italy
EGU 2011, 8 April, Vienna
RENEWABLE BIOMASS ENERGY:AN ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICIST/CHEMIST’S POINT OF VIEW
CO2
BiomassBiomassenergyplant
Fossil fuels
Energy
CO2 neutral cycle
CO2 net source
Very nice!
RENEWABLE BIOMASS ENERGY:AN ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICIST/CHEMIST’S POINT OF VIEW
CO2
BiomassBiomassenergyplant
CO, NOx, SOx, VOCs,
aerosol
But …
aerosol, ozone
Climate impact
Air Quality impact
incomplete combustion(10-60% C
mass)
Acidification, Euthrophica-
tion
Landuse impact
NEW INSTALLATION SITE: TOPOGRAPHY AND WINDS
NIGHTDAY
shallow winter PBL*- night 150 ± 100 m- day 600 ± 300 m
* [Cinque et al., 2000]
POLLUTANT LEVELS: AIRBASE L’AQUILA STATION
180 µg/m3
50 µg/m3
no ozone exceedances
several PM10 exceedances
Suburban station, representative of an area ~50 km2
MODELLING ASSESSMENT AT LOCAL SCALE: CALMET/CALPUFF
Biomass plant
Weather station
Mesoscale Weather model
(MM5): 3 km resolution
Weather Station+
+Topography
250 m
Landuse 250 m
+
= 3-D meteorological fields (winds, T, RH, PBL, turbulence, …) at 250 m resolution
CALMET meteorological processor
MODELLING ASSESSMENT AT LOCAL SCALE: CALMET/CALPUFF
CALPUFF dispersion model
CALMETmeteo fields
Point sourceEMISSIONS
PUFF MODEL
sketch from D. Jacob
GRIDDED SURFACE CONCENTRATIONSgas: SO2, NOx, HNO3 & aerosol: SO4, NO3, PM10
POINT SOURCE EMISSIONS AND PREVIOUS ASSESSMENT
Biomass power plant characteristics
Power 5.5 MW
Energy Production 40 GWh/year
Energy needs for 13,500 familes
Biomass fuel 60,000 tons/year
Forestry 25,000 tons/year
Poplars cultivation 15,000 tons/year
Pruning 5,000 tons/year
Cost 30 M€
Emissions in air
SOx 11.629 kg/h
NOx 13.291 kg/h
PM10 1.744 kg/h
CO 6.645 kg/h
VOC 0.581 kg/h
NH3 2.492 kg/h
Estimated impact on air quality *
NO2 +16 µg/m3
SO2 +6.3 µg/m3
PM10 +0.96 µg/m3
Radius of influence
< 1 km
* FUTURIS AQUILANA S.R.L.(the building firm)
http://www.collettivo99.org/site/?p=2501
SAMPLE CALPUFF OUTPUT: SULFUR DIOXIDE (SO2)
6-7 January 2008
Biomass Plant
Residential areas and Villages
AllCALMET/CALPUFF
simulations with US EPA
recommended configurations
IMPACT ON SULFUR DIOXIDE (SO2)
January 2008 July 2008
Monthly average impact
Peak impact
Declared:+6.3 µg/m3
IMPACT ON NITROGEN DIOXIDE (NO2)
January 2008 July 2008
Monthly average impact
Peak impact
Declared:+16 µg/m3
NO2 threshold of
200 µg/m3
exceeded!
IMPACT ON PARTICULATE MATTER (PM10)
January 2008 July 2008
Monthly average impact
Peak impact
Declared:+0.96 µg/m3
SUGGESTED MONITORING SITE
EU DIRECTIVE 2008/50/ECANNEX III
B. Macroscale siting of sampling points(e) Where contributions from industrial sources are to be assessed, at least one sampling point shall be installed downwind of the source in the nearest residential area. Where the background concentration is not known, an additionalsampling point shall be situated within the main wind direction.
No residential area perfectly aligned with main wind direction.
Two suggested sites:1.Closest site to the main wind axis2.Site aligned to secondary wind direction
CONCLUSIONS AND OUTLOOK
• Biomass energy is an attractive solution for mitigation of climate change, but has drawbacks related to its impact on landuse and air quality that should be considered
• We applied CALMET/CALPUFF to the case of L’Aquila future biomass power plant and found that the source may episodically yield exceedances of NO2 and PM10 within 1-2 km from the source
• The impact of plant emissions are limited to 5-6 km along the main wind axis (valley), but hit residential areas
• Further verification of results against model assumptions is recommended
• Assessment of the optimal monitoring site not yet conclusive