Impact of thermal power plants “Nikola Tesla” on sulphur dioxide air pollution in Belgrade

Abstract

In order to evaluate impacts of two major Serbian coal thermal power plants ―Nikola Tesla A‖ (TENT A) and ―Nikola Tesla B‖ (TENT B) on concentration of sulphur dioxide (SO2) in Belgrade, the AERMOD modeling package is used. The main sources of SO2 emissions in the city of Belgrade are traffic, heating power plants and individual fireboxes. TENT A and TENT B are the one of the largest coal thermal power plants in Serbia and in the Southeast Europe, and since the work without flue gas desulfurization (FGD) system, their influence on air quality in Belgrade is considerable. Two scenarios are analyzed in this study: Scenario 1(present situation without FGD) and Scenario 2 (future situation after installation of FGD). Results are presented on annual means [μg m-3] plots. Estimated annual means concentrations of SO2 in 2010, shows that contributions of examined power plants, depending on the part of the city, are 7.73 to 13.24[μg m-3] for Scenario 1, and 1.36 to 2.34[μg m-3] for Scenario 2. Considering that annual mean concentration of SO2 in 2010 for city of Belgrade is 23[μg m-3], it can be concluded that examined power plants have great influence on SO2 concentration in Belgrade, and that installation of FGD will significantly contribute to better air quality in the city of Belgrade.