Assessment of the PCDD/Fs Emissions From Coal Fired Residential Heating Appliances By Air Dispersion Modelling

Abstract

Coal fired stoves for residential heating could generate significant PCDD/Fs emissions to the air. This is now reflected also in the new version of the Standardised Toolkit for Identification and Quantification of Dioxin and Furan Releases which in addition to given emission factor of 3 microg TEQ/ t provides also the very high value of 400 microg TEQ/ t for high chlorine coal combusted in the stoves. With such a high emission factor residential heating could be the dominant source of PCDD/Fs where coal with high chlorine content is used in stoves. High levels of the PCDD/Fs in December 2002 were measured in air particulate matter in centre of Krakow, Poland. These levels were attributed to the residential heating by congener profile comparison. This work presents dispersion modelling of residential heating emissions to assess whether high or low emission factors give better match to the measured PCDD/F ambient air levels.