Use of Open-Path FTIR Spectroscopy to Support Development of Refined Estimates of H2S Emissions from a New York City Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant

摘要

A comprehensive hydrogen sulfide (H2S) emissions inventory was developed in the summer of 2001 to support a major upgrade of the City of New York's 26th Ward Wastewater Treatment Plant in the Borough of Brooklyn. The goal was to identify emission controls necessary to ensure that strict compliance with hourly, off-site, nuisance-based standards is achieved. The Area-Source Technique was used to obtain H2S emission rates from each uncovered process source. A downwind, path-averaged H2S concentration was derived for each 15-minute "monitoring event." Each event consisted of 34 near-ground (1m height) point measurements using two comparably performing Jerome meters. Emission rates were back-calculated from these concentrations using a Gaussian dispersion model and requisite on-site measurements of wind speed, wind direction, and atmospheric stability. Higher-emitting areas (such as weirs and other turbulent areas) were accounted for in the back-calculations by periodically measuring H2S at up to 30 representative locations, directly above each source surface, from which relative "hot-spot" source strengths were derived and assigned.