You are here:
ACCURACY OF REMOTELY SENSED SO2 MASS EMISSION RATES
Citation:
Sperling, R., M. Peache, AND W. Vaughan. ACCURACY OF REMOTELY SENSED SO2 MASS EMISSION RATES. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/2-79/094.
Description:
Remote sensing data of single-stack power plant emissions and local wind speed have been analyzed to determined SO2 mass flux for comparison with EPA referenced methods. Four days of SO2 data were gathered from a moving platform by three upward-viewing remote sensors -- two ultraviolet absorption spectrometers and an infrared gas filter spectrometer. Wind velocity data were gathered by a laser-doppler velocimeter (LDV); supplemental data were obtained from a tethered balloon (telemetered) and pilot balloons (optical theodolite). The data matrix (SO2, X-Y position, wind velocity for 120 traverses) was computer processed; the end result was the SO2 mass flux derived from the remote sensing data. Comparisons were made between these SO2 fluxes (averages for 20 minutes and 60 minutes) and those derived from in-stack measurements. The results of the comparisons show the relative accuracy of the remote sensing technique for quantifying SO2 mass emission rates. The analysis shows that as averaging time increases from 20 minutes to 12 hours the difference between the remotely measured SO2 mass flux and the stack sampling SO2 mass flux decreases from about + or - 35% to + or - 10%. In general, no single wind measuring system produced superior results over the other two. The LDV and COSPEC, however, produced the best agreement with Method 6 (+6%) when the plume was transported near the LDV instrument.