Quantifying instantaneous nitrogen oxides emissions from power plants based on space observations. 2024

Tao Tang, and Tianhai Cheng, and Hao Zhu, and Xiaotong Ye, and Donghao Fan, and Xingyu Li, and Haoran Tong
State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.

Thermal power plants are significant contributors to nitrogen oxides (NOx), impacting global atmospheric conditions and human health. Satellite observations, known for their continuity and global coverage, have become an effective means of quantifying power plant emissions. Previous studies, often accumulating long temporal data into integrated plumes, resulted in substantial errors in annual emissions at the individual power plant level due to neglecting variations in emissions and diffusion conditions. This study presents, for the first time, the quantification of instantaneous NOx emissions based on single overpass observations from the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) aboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite. By addressing the temporal variability of power plant emissions, it effectively reduces annual estimation errors. Comparative analysis between the Exponentially-Modified Gaussian (EMG) and Gaussian Plume Model (GPM) simulations demonstrates the capability of EMG to provide instantaneous emission estimates based on actual plumes, exhibiting closer proximity to actual monitoring values than GPM. Applying the EMG method, we quantify the instantaneous emission rates of six power plants in the United States. Comparing annual emission estimations at individual power plants with traditional integrated plume results, our method demonstrates a 63.7 % improvement in annual emission estimations. This study offers more detailed data on power plant emissions, providing a new avenue for better understanding the emission behavior of thermal power plants.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries

Related Publications

Tao Tang, and Tianhai Cheng, and Hao Zhu, and Xiaotong Ye, and Donghao Fan, and Xingyu Li, and Haoran Tong
January 1972, Journal of the Air Pollution Control Association,
Tao Tang, and Tianhai Cheng, and Hao Zhu, and Xiaotong Ye, and Donghao Fan, and Xingyu Li, and Haoran Tong
October 2013, Environmental science & technology,
Tao Tang, and Tianhai Cheng, and Hao Zhu, and Xiaotong Ye, and Donghao Fan, and Xingyu Li, and Haoran Tong
September 2011, Science (New York, N.Y.),
Tao Tang, and Tianhai Cheng, and Hao Zhu, and Xiaotong Ye, and Donghao Fan, and Xingyu Li, and Haoran Tong
August 2019, Environmental science & technology,
Tao Tang, and Tianhai Cheng, and Hao Zhu, and Xiaotong Ye, and Donghao Fan, and Xingyu Li, and Haoran Tong
November 2019, Science advances,
Tao Tang, and Tianhai Cheng, and Hao Zhu, and Xiaotong Ye, and Donghao Fan, and Xingyu Li, and Haoran Tong
June 1977, Science (New York, N.Y.),
Tao Tang, and Tianhai Cheng, and Hao Zhu, and Xiaotong Ye, and Donghao Fan, and Xingyu Li, and Haoran Tong
July 2012, Environmental science & technology,
Tao Tang, and Tianhai Cheng, and Hao Zhu, and Xiaotong Ye, and Donghao Fan, and Xingyu Li, and Haoran Tong
August 2018, Data in brief,
Tao Tang, and Tianhai Cheng, and Hao Zhu, and Xiaotong Ye, and Donghao Fan, and Xingyu Li, and Haoran Tong
May 2022, The Science of the total environment,
Tao Tang, and Tianhai Cheng, and Hao Zhu, and Xiaotong Ye, and Donghao Fan, and Xingyu Li, and Haoran Tong
December 1961, American Industrial Hygiene Association journal,
Copied contents to your clipboard!