Title: Atmospheric impact of a municipal wastes incinerator

Authors: J.M. Baldasano, L. Cremades

Addresses: Instituto de Tecnologia y Modelizacion Ambiental (ITEMA), Universidad Politecnica de Cataluna, Apdo. 508, Ctra. Nacional 150, km 14.5, 08220 Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain. ' Instituto de Tecnologia y Modelizacion Ambiental (ITEMA), Universidad Politecnica de Cataluna, Apdo. 508, Ctra. Nacional 150, km 14.5, 08220 Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain

Abstract: This paper presents a case study of an air pollution dispersion model for the atmospheric impact assessment of a new municipal wastes incinerator (MWI). The capacity of the present MWI will increase more than ten times, and a new high-efficiency flue gas treatment system is projected. The environmental impact study has been focused on the long-term aspect of the air pollution (chronic pollution) from the new facility. Hence the model used is a dispersion climatological model included in the EMITEMA-AIR system. This model is based on statistical processing of meteorological data and deterministic approach of dispersion process. Besides, it allows to take into account the orography of the study area. Particles and gases, such as HCl for instance, are the pollutants considered in this study, as representative air pollutants emitted by a MWI. The dispersion study of pollutants from a climatological point of view led to conclusions about the atmospheric impact of the future MWI.

Keywords: atmospheric impact; climatological model; incinerators; municipal waste; modelling; air pollution; environmental pollution; atmospheric dispersion models; environmental impact assessment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.1995.028400

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 1995 Vol.5 No.4/5/6, pp.538 - 547

Published online: 17 Sep 2009 *

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