Characteristics and the Potential Influence of Fugitive PM<sub>10</sub> Emissions from Enclosed Storage Yards in Iron and Steel Plant

Fugitive particle emission of enclosed storage yards in iron and steel plant is a complicated and multivariable problem, which will have negative impacts on the environment and economy. Researchers have discussed methodologies of emission estimation in open storage yards, but rarely focused on enclo...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Zijie Lin, Fujiang Wang, Tao Ji, Baolong Ma, Linyan Xu, Qian Xu, Kebin He
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-08-01
Series:Atmosphere
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/11/8/833
Description
Summary:Fugitive particle emission of enclosed storage yards in iron and steel plant is a complicated and multivariable problem, which will have negative impacts on the environment and economy. Researchers have discussed methodologies of emission estimation in open storage yards, but rarely focused on enclosed ones. However, enclosed storage yards are commonly adopted in most industries in China. This paper links onsite observation and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to estimate the impact of fugitive PM<sub>10</sub> emissions from enclosed storage yards on the open air. By collecting and analyzing PM<sub>10</sub> samples at three sites inside the yard and one site outside, The result shows that PM<sub>10</sub> concentration is in the range of 7.3 ± 1.5~13.4 ± 4.2 mg/m<sup>3</sup>, which is extremely high in an enclosed storage yard, and significantly influences workers’ health inside and outside atmospheric aerosols. The CFD model simulation is conducted by considering particle deposition, particle emission sources of shovel loader and road dust emission, as well as different wind direction and wind speed. The result shows that PM<sub>10</sub> discharge rate from the enclosed area to open-air is significantly influenced by wind velocity and direction, e.g., the result of northwest wind with wind speed in 12.7 m/s is eight times higher than wind speed in 2.5 m/s with the same wind direction, and are 47 and 62 times higher than the east and west wind direction with the same wind speed in 12.7 m/s, respectively. In this case, the PM<sub>10</sub> discharge rate is about 131.7 ton/year, which contains about 38~55 ton/year iron-relating particles. This will directly contribute PM<sub>10</sub> to open-air and may produce secondary aerosols, due to heterogeneous catalytic reaction. This work identifies the important contribution of fugitive emissions and provides an approach for fugitive emission estimation of industries to the surrounding air. The results provide a reference for material yard zoning and fugitive emission control from minimizing influence from the meteorological condition and reducing source discharge inside.
ISSN:2073-4433