Method statement dispersion modelling

In order to perform a dispersion modeling for a project in Qatar, the client asked for
a method statement.

Several input parameters are necessary to execute the modeling, and these data
has to be delivered by the client :

o Address of the location;

o Site map of the location, including heights of the surrounding buildings;

o Location of the emission points;

o Height and section of the emission points (m);

o H2S concentrations (g/m);

o Flow (m/hr);

o Expected temperature of the emitted gases (C);

o Operating regime.A more detailed overview of the utilized model is given

below.

The Industrial Source Complex-Short Term Version 3 (ISCST3), a short range

dispersion model that was designed and developed to support the United States,
Environmental Protection Agency (US, EPA) regulatory options to model emissions
from a wide range of sources that might be presented at a typical industrial source
complex within the range of 50 km.

It is a straight-line, steady-state Gaussian plume model that assesses pollutant

emissions from point sources, area sources, volume sources and open pit sources.
Moreover, line sources can be simulated through the use of volume sources option
and the area sources option. ISCST3 requires input data on source characteristics,
receptor location, hourly meteorological data records, and topography to define the
conditions for plume rise, plume transport, diffusion, and deposition. The ISCST3
algorithm calculates concentrations of non-reactive pollutants and/or deposition
value for each source and receptor combination for each hour of input meteorology,
and calculates user-selected short-term averages.

ISCST3 offers several modeling options thanks to the modifications that have been
done to improve its performance, for instance; (COMPLEX1) screening model
dispersion algorithms was incorporated for receptors in complex terrain. Another
modification was the incorporating of the building downwash algorithms to evaluate
the extent of building downwash, since on site structures can affect wind flow and
can contribute to building downwash, which can have important ramifications in air
quality modeling. These algorithms require additional input and therefore, the U.S.
EPA building profile input program

(BPIP) is run for all point sources (stacks) to generate necessary inputs required for
execution of ISCST3. BPIP determines whether a stack is potentially subject to wake
effects due to the surrounding structures.

Over the past 20 years, ISCST3 model was identified as an appropriate model for air
quality prediction. It has a relatively good history for regulatory applications, and its
strengths and weakness are well understood. Later, AERMOD model was adopted as
a preferred model over the ISCST3 as the regulatory model in US for short range (~
50 km) dispersion. It has numerous advances over ISCST3 by having algorithms for
dispersion in convective conditions and dispersion around hills.

Nevertheless, ISCST3 has been used to study the dispersion of air pollutants around
industrial units or complexes in many countries due to its satisfactory performance
that has been proved by several researches. The results of most of these researches
showed that the model predicted concentrations are in good agreement with
observed values.