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Methods to Determine Emission Factors from Open Burning and Open Detonation of Military Ordnance Using In-Plume Aerial Sampling
Citation:
Aurell, J., B. Gullett, AND W. Mitchell. Methods to Determine Emission Factors from Open Burning and Open Detonation of Military Ordnance Using In-Plume Aerial Sampling. The 16th International Congress on Combustion By-Products and Their Health Effects, Ann Arbor, MI, July 10 - 12, 2019.
Impact/Purpose:
This poster describes advancement of aerial methods of sampling plumes from demilitarization of ordnance. Aerial measurement systems have been developed and demonstrated for measuring an array of pollutants. These methods and their data will be of importance to determination of accurate emission factors. The results will be of interest to states and military installations for the purpose of improving the accuracy of risk assessments and permit restrictions.
Description:
The Department of Defense undertakes munition demilitarization operations to maintain safety of its ordnance stockpiles. These operations include open burning (OB), open detonation (OD), and rocket static firing (SF) of ordnance, all of which require pollutant emission factors (EFs) to comply with facility air permits. These EFs are the primary data inputs for dispersion, deposition, and exposure models and are necessary to estimate exposure risk and environmental contamination. Eight campaigns have been undertaken using aerial emission sampling of plumes from OB/OD/SF since 2010 to determine EFs. The plumes were sampled using instrumentation systems developed by the U.S. EPA’s Office of Research and Development and deployed on a tethered, helium-filled aerostat and on other agencies’ unmanned aerial systems (UASs), AKA “drones.” OB/OD/SF sources result in lofted, high intensity, localized, and short duration plumes that have minimally predictable paths due to wind velocity fluctuations. Gathering air samples of these plumes is extremely challenging.