Size distribution and concentrations of heavy metals in atmospheric aerosols originating from industrial emissions as predicted by the HYSPLIT model

This study presents a description of the emission, transport, dispersion, and deposition of heavy metals contained in atmospheric aerosols emitted from a large industrial complex in southern Spain using the HYSPLIT model coupled with high- (MM5) and low-resolution (GDAS) meteorological simulations....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Atmospheric environment (1994) 2013-06, Vol.71, p.234-244
Main Authors: Chen, Bing, Stein, Ariel F., Maldonado, Pabla Guerrero, Sanchez de la Campa, Ana M., Gonzalez-Castanedo, Yolanda, Castell, Nuria, de la Rosa, Jesus D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis methods
Applied sciences
Atmospheric pollution
Exact sciences and technology
HYSPLIT
Industrial emissions
Metal pollution
MM5 and GDAS
Pollution
Size distribution
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Summary:This study presents a description of the emission, transport, dispersion, and deposition of heavy metals contained in atmospheric aerosols emitted from a large industrial complex in southern Spain using the HYSPLIT model coupled with high- (MM5) and low-resolution (GDAS) meteorological simulations. The dispersion model was configured to simulate eight size fractions (17 μm) of metals based on direct measurements taken at the industrial emission stacks. Twelve stacks in four plants were studied and the stacks showed considerable differences for both emission fluxes and size ranges of metals. We model the dispersion of six major metals; Cr, Co, Ni, La, Zn, and Mo, which represent 77% of the total mass of the 43 measured elements. The prediction shows that the modeled industrial emissions produce an enrichment of heavy metals by a factor of 2–5 for local receptor sites when compared to urban and rural background areas in Spain. The HYSPLIT predictions based on the meteorological fields from MM5 show reasonable consistence with the temporal evolution of concentrations of Cr, Co, and Ni observed at three sites downwind of the industrial area. The magnitude of concentrations of metals at two receptors was underestimated for both MM5 (by a factor of 2–3) and GDAS (by a factor of 4–5) meteorological runs. The model prediction shows that heavy metal pollution from industrial emissions in this area is dominated by the ultra-fine (
ISSN:1352-2310
1873-2844
DOI:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2013.02.013