Comparison of CALPUFF and AERMOD Modeling systems for predicting emissions from a gas refinery

Nowadays, air pollution is one of the major challenges in Assaluyeh, therefore, in the present study, according to the importance of the fourth refinery gas as the largest gas refinery in the region, the amount of emissions from Stacks and flares has been initially determined and then the distribution has been identified in the region. In this research, AERMOD and CALPUFF models have been used as the tools for the predition of SO emissions of Stacks and flares of 4 South Pars gas refinery located in Assaluyeh. First, SO emissions from refinery Stacks and flares have been obtained by field measurements and emission coefficient respectively in four seasons of 2013. Then, the distribution of these emissions has been examined using dispersion models AERMOD and CALPUFF in an area of 50 × 50 km in each direction x and y in the one-year period of 2013 to the average time of 1, 3, 8, and 24 and the amounts resulting from the performance of the models have been compared to the results of field measurements at 9 receiving stations as a separate receptors in the model. Review of charts and statistical parameters has shown that, according to the evaluation of predictions made, performance of both models to predict the concentration of pollutants in the region can be generally considered acceptable.