Impact of a renewable biomass energy power plant in urban landscape with complex terrain in Central Italy:

modelling assessment and suggestions for monitoring site

Gabriele Curci1, Paolo Tuccella1, Giovanni Cinque2, Guido Visconti1

1 CETEMPS - Dip. FisicaUniversità dell’Aquila, Italygabriele.curci@aquila.infn.it

2 HIMET S.r.l.L’Aquila, Italy

EGU 2011, 8 April, Vienna

RENEWABLE BIOMASS ENERGY:AN ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICIST/CHEMIST’S POINT OF VIEW

CO2

BiomassBiomassenergyplant

Fossil fuels

Energy

CO2 neutral cycle

CO2 net source

Very nice!

RENEWABLE BIOMASS ENERGY:AN ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICIST/CHEMIST’S POINT OF VIEW

CO2

BiomassBiomassenergyplant

CO, NOx, SOx, VOCs,

aerosol

But …

aerosol, ozone

Climate impact

Air Quality impact

incomplete combustion(10-60% C

mass)

Acidification, Euthrophica-

tion

Landuse impact

NEW INSTALLATION SITE: L’AQUILA

NEW INSTALLATION SITE: TOPOGRAPHY AND WINDS

NIGHTDAY

shallow winter PBL*- night 150 ± 100 m- day 600 ± 300 m

* [Cinque et al., 2000]

POLLUTANT LEVELS: AIRBASE L’AQUILA STATION

180 µg/m3

50 µg/m3

no ozone exceedances

several PM10 exceedances

Suburban station, representative of an area ~50 km2

MODELLING ASSESSMENT AT LOCAL SCALE: CALMET/CALPUFF

Biomass plant

Weather station

Mesoscale Weather model

(MM5): 3 km resolution

Weather Station+

+Topography

250 m

Landuse 250 m

+

= 3-D meteorological fields (winds, T, RH, PBL, turbulence, …) at 250 m resolution

CALMET meteorological processor

MODELLING ASSESSMENT AT LOCAL SCALE: CALMET/CALPUFF

CALPUFF dispersion model

CALMETmeteo fields

Point sourceEMISSIONS

PUFF MODEL

sketch from D. Jacob

GRIDDED SURFACE CONCENTRATIONSgas: SO2, NOx, HNO3 & aerosol: SO4, NO3, PM10

POINT SOURCE EMISSIONS AND PREVIOUS ASSESSMENT

Biomass power plant characteristics

Power 5.5 MW

Energy Production 40 GWh/year

Energy needs for 13,500 familes

Biomass fuel 60,000 tons/year

Forestry 25,000 tons/year

Poplars cultivation 15,000 tons/year

Pruning 5,000 tons/year

Cost 30 M€

Emissions in air

SOx 11.629 kg/h

NOx 13.291 kg/h

PM10 1.744 kg/h

CO 6.645 kg/h

VOC 0.581 kg/h

NH3 2.492 kg/h

Estimated impact on air quality *

NO2 +16 µg/m3

SO2 +6.3 µg/m3

PM10 +0.96 µg/m3

Radius of influence

< 1 km

* FUTURIS AQUILANA S.R.L.(the building firm)

http://www.collettivo99.org/site/?p=2501

SAMPLE CALPUFF OUTPUT: SULFUR DIOXIDE (SO2)

6-7 January 2008

Biomass Plant

Residential areas and Villages

AllCALMET/CALPUFF

simulations with US EPA

recommended configurations

IMPACT ON SULFUR DIOXIDE (SO2)

January 2008 July 2008

Monthly average impact

Peak impact

Declared:+6.3 µg/m3

IMPACT ON NITROGEN DIOXIDE (NO2)

January 2008 July 2008

Monthly average impact

Peak impact

Declared:+16 µg/m3

NO2 threshold of

200 µg/m3

exceeded!

IMPACT ON PARTICULATE MATTER (PM10)

January 2008 July 2008

Monthly average impact

Peak impact

Declared:+0.96 µg/m3

SUGGESTED MONITORING SITE

EU DIRECTIVE 2008/50/ECANNEX III

B. Macroscale siting of sampling points(e) Where contributions from industrial sources are to be assessed, at least one sampling point shall be installed downwind of the source in the nearest residential area. Where the background concentration is not known, an additionalsampling point shall be situated within the main wind direction.

No residential area perfectly aligned with main wind direction.

Two suggested sites:1.Closest site to the main wind axis2.Site aligned to secondary wind direction

CONCLUSIONS AND OUTLOOK

• Biomass energy is an attractive solution for mitigation of climate change, but has drawbacks related to its impact on landuse and air quality that should be considered

• We applied CALMET/CALPUFF to the case of L’Aquila future biomass power plant and found that the source may episodically yield exceedances of NO2 and PM10 within 1-2 km from the source

• The impact of plant emissions are limited to 5-6 km along the main wind axis (valley), but hit residential areas

• Further verification of results against model assumptions is recommended

• Assessment of the optimal monitoring site not yet conclusive