Estimation of the rate of increase in nitrogen dioxide concentrations from power plant stacks using an imaging-DOAS

The emission of nitrogen compounds from power plants accounts for a significant proportion of the total emissions of nitrogen to the atmosphere. This study seeks to understand the nature of chemical reactions in the atmosphere involving nitrogen, which is important in undertaking quantitative assessments of the contribution of such reactions to local and regional air pollution. The slant column density (SCD) of power-plant-generated NO(2) was derived using imaging differential optical absorption spectroscopy (I-DOAS) with scattered sunlight as a light source. The vertical structure of NO(2) SCD from power plant stacks was simultaneously probed using a pushbroom sensor. Measured SCDs were converted to mixing ratios in calculating the rate of NO(2) increase at the center of the plume. This study presents quantitative measurements of the rate of NO(2) increase in a rising plume. An understanding of the rate of NO(2) increase is important because SO(2) and NO(x) compete for the same oxidizing radicals, and the amount of NO(x) is related to the rates of SO(2) oxidation and sulfate formation. This study is the first to directly obtain the rate of NO(2) increase in power plant plumes using the I-DOAS technique. NO(2) increase rates of 60 and 70 ppb s(-1) were observed at distances of about 45 m from the two stacks of the Pyeongtaek Power Plant, northwest South Korea.