Atmospheric Modeling and Dispersion 3
Table 1
National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)
Pollutant Standard value Standard type
Carbon monoxide (CO)
Bh Average 9 ppm (10 mg/m’) Primary
I-h Average 35 ppm (40 mg/m’) Primary
Nitrogen dioxide (NO,)
Annual arithmetic mean (0.053 pom (100 wen’) Primary and Secondary
Ozone (0,)
I-h Average 0.12 ppm (235 g/m’) Primary and Secondary
S-h Average? (0.08 ppm (157 g/m?) Primary and Secondary
Lead (Pb)
Quarterly average 15 we/m? Primary and Secondary
Particulate (PM 10)°
‘Annual arithmetic mean 50 pgim Primary and Secondary
Dah Average 150 pgien’ Primary and Sernndary
Particulate (PM 2.5
‘Annual arithmetic mean* 15 pgim* Primary and Secondary
24-h Average” 65 ugim’ Primary and Secondary
Sulfur dioxide ($0;)
‘Annual arithmetic mean 0.03 ppm (80 ws/m') Primary
24-h Average 0.14 ppm (365 g/m?) Primary
3-h Average 0.50 ppm (1300 g/m’) Secondary
“Purenthetical value i an approximately equivalext concentration
The ozone 8-h standard and the PM 2.5 standaris are included for information only. A 1999 federal
‘court ruling blocked implementation of these standards, which the EPA proposed in 1997. The EPA has
asked the US Supreme Court o reconsider that decison, The updated air quality standards can be found at
the US EPA website (2).
“PM 10: particles with diameters of 10 um or less; PM 2.5; particles with diameters of 25 um or less
(such as cars and trucks) and industrial sources. Because of the phase out of leaded
gasoline, metals processing is the major source of lead emissions to the air today. The
highest levels of lead in air are generally fcund near lead smelters. Other heavy metals
in other stationary sources are waste incinerators, utilities, and lead-acid battery man-
ufacturers (4-6).
‘The list of HAPs and their definitions can be found in ref. 7. New Source Review
(NSR) reform and HAPs control likely will have the most immediate impact on indus
trial facilities. HAP control will be very active in the 21st century on several fronts—
new regi Achievable Canteal Technology (MACT) hammer, and
residual risk, Bach presents issues for industrial plant compliance at the present. The
Clean Air Act’s HAP requirements will be a major challenge for any facility that has
the potential to emit major source quantities of HAPS (10 tons/yr of any one HAP or
25 tons/yr of all HAPs combined). It is important to realize that these thresholds apply
to all HAP emissions from an industrial facility, not just the emissions from specific
activities subject to a categorical MACT standard.
In addition to the air quality indices, air effluent dispersion is another air pollution
topic worthy of discussion. In the past decade, there has been a rapid increase in the
height of power plant stacks and in the volume of gas discharged per stack. Although
ians, the Maxi