Numerical Study on the Impact of Power Plants on Primary PM10 Concentrations in South Korea

Abstract

To develop effective emission abatement strategies for eighteen coalfired power plants located throughout Korea, power plant emission data and TAPM (The Air Pollution Model) were used to quantify the impact of emission reductions on primary PM10 concentrations. TAPM was validated for two separate time periods: a high PM10 concentration period from April 7 to 12, 2016, and a low PM10 concentration period from June 1 to June 6 2016. The validated model was then used to analyze the impacts of five applicable power plant shut-down scenarios. The results showed that shut-down of four power plants located within the Seoul metropolitan area (SMA) would result in up to 18.9% reduction in maximum PM10 concentrations, depending on synoptic conditions. A scenario for the shutdown of a single low stack height with highest-emission power plant located nearest to Seoul showed a small impact on averaged PM10 concentrations (~1%) and 4.4% (0.54 μg/m3) decrease in maximum concentration. The scenario for four shutdowns for power plants aged more than 30 years within SMA also showed a highest improvement of 6.4% (0.26 μg/m3 in April) in averaged PM10 concentrations, and of 18.9% (2.33 μg/m3 in June) in maximum concentration, showing almost linear relationship in and around SMA. Reducing gaseous air pollutant emissions was also found to be significant in controlling high PM10 concentrations, indicating the effectiveness of coreduction of power plant emissions together with diesel vehicle emissions in the SMA. In addition, this study is implying that secondary production process generating PM10 pollution may be a significant process throughout most regions in Korea, and therefore concurrent abatement of both gas and particle emissions will result in more pronounced improvements in air quality over the urban cities in South Korea.