Particle formation and growth in power-plant plumes. Volume 2. Some coal-fired power plants in the western United States. Final report

Technical Report · Sun May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1983

OSTI ID:5921509

Hobbs, P V; Hegg, D A; Eltgroth, M W; Radke, L F

Airborne measurements have been made of the concentrations of particulate sulfur, sulfate, nitrate, total particle volume, Aitken nuclei, and various trace gases in the plumes of six coal-fired power plants situated in the West and Midwest of the United States. Simultaneous measurements of relevant meteorological parameters (e.g. relative humidity, temperature, ultraviolet light) were also taken. Gas-to-particle conversion rates were calculated from these data by four different techniques. The SO/sub 2/-to-SO/sub 4//sup 2 -/ conversion rates ranged from 0 to 5.7%/hr. The rate correlated well (r = 0.9) with a parameter indicative of the reaction of plume SO/sub 2/ with ambient OH radicals. The plume nitrate data showed that significant nitrate formation occurred in the plumes on only one of the five flights on which sufficient nitrate data were collected to permit a decision on this point. The NO/sub x/-to-nitrate conversion rate on this flight was approx. 0.4%/hr for distances of 4.8 to 43.2 km from the stack. The rates at which new particles were nucleated in the plumes were evaluated and the ratio of this nucleation rate to the rate of formation of new particle volume was calculated. The ratio ranged from 2.7 x 10/sup 2/ to 3.9 x 10/sup 5/ particles ..mu..m/sup -3/, with a mean of 7.4 x 10/sup 4/ +- 1.2 x 10/sup 5/ particles ..mu..m/sup -3/. The data suggest that this ratio varies with plant locale. Results from a model of particle interactions in power plant plumes indicate that this ratio is important in determining the light-scattering coefficient of the particles in a plume and visibility degradation. The relationship between rates of formation of new particle surface area and new particle volume in the plumes was also explored. It was found that the particle surface area varied as the three-fifths power of the rate of formation of new particle volume.

• Research Organization: Washington Univ., Seattle (USA). Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences
• OSTI ID: 5921509
• Report Number(s): EPRI-EA-3105-Vol.2; ON: DE83902592
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500200* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMISTRY
COAL
CONDENSATION NUCLEI
DATA
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FOSSIL FUELS
FOSSIL-FUEL POWER PLANTS
FUELS
GASEOUS WASTES
INFORMATION
MATERIALS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NITRATES
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NONMETALS
NUMERICAL DATA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PARTICLES
PARTICULATES
PLUMES
POWER PLANTS
SULFATES
SULFUR
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
WASTES