Urban scale air quality analysis due to coal-based residential heating

Abstract

The environmental effects of air pollutants released to the atmosphere from coal-based residential heating should be regarded as one of the primary environmental concerns in cities. Unfortunately, in Turkey, hundreds of medical cases still occur due to gas poisoning from coal-based conventional stoves used for heating purposes. This study attempts to investigate the effects of coal-based residential heating on CO and SO2 air quality in a city of the south Marmara Region located between Europe and Asia. A total of 138 chimneys were sampled in the heating season that falls from October 1st through March 31st in the city. Ambient air pollutants released from those chimneys were analyzed to evaluate the background air quality variations in the city. The mean of CO concentrations was approximately 11,000 mg/m(3), with variations from nearly 9500 to 12,500 mg/m(3), while the mean of SO2 concentrations was roughly 173 mg/Nm(3) ranging from 108 to 240 mg/Nm(3) in the sampled chimneys. The AERMOD predicted the maximum daily mean CO concentration for the model was 41.5 mu g/m(3) on February 29th at midnight for the downtown area and exceeded the official limits. The predicted highest periodic SO2 concentration was 45.1 mu g/m(3) on February 29th at midnight in the heating season. The highest periodic SO2 concentration was observed in the old settlements of the downtown, where the most coals were utilized for residential heating with antiquated systems. It is confirmed that the AERMOD results are valid by using meteorological and air pollution data for the modeling study.