Modeling of potential power plant plume impacts on Dallas-Fort Worth visibility

During wintertime, haze episodes occur in the Dallas-Ft. Worth (DFW) urban area. Such episodes are characterized by substantial light scattering by particles and relatively low absorption, leading to so-called "white haze." The objective of this work was to assess whether reductions in the emissions of SO2 from specific coal-fired power plants located over 100 km from DFW could lead to a discernible change in the DFW white haze. To that end, the transport, dispersion, deposition, and chemistry of the plume of a major power plant were simulated using a reactive plume model (ROME). The realism of the plume model simulations was tested by comparing model calculations of plume concentrations with aircraft data of SF6 tracer concentrations and ozone concentrations. A second-order closure dispersion algorithm was shown to perform better than a first-order closure algorithm and the empirical Pasquill-Gifford-Turner algorithm. For plume impact assessment, three actual scenarios were simulated, two with clear-sky conditions and one with the presence of fog prior to the haze. The largest amount of sulfate formation was obtained for the fog episode. Therefore, a hypothetical scenario was constructed using the meteorological conditions of the fog episode with input data values adjusted to be more conducive to sulfate formation. The results of the simulations suggest that reductions in the power plant emissions lead to less than proportional reductions in sulfate concentrations in DFW for the fog scenario. Calculations of the associated effects on light scattering using Mie theory suggest that reduction in total (plume + ambient) light extinction of less than 13% would be obtained with a 44% reduction in emissions of SO2 from the modeled power plant.