Modeling for Estimation of the Damage Posed by SO2 Emitted from Power Plants on Qazvin Urban Structures (Case Study: Shahid Rajaee Power Plant)

In this study, a model for measuring the effects and the physical-economic consequences of air pollutants emitted from Power Plants on urban buildings facades was developed. For the case study, the effect of SO2 pollutant emitted from Rajaee Combined-cycle Power Plant on Qazvin’s buildings’ facades was studied.

To develop this model, the Gaussian plume method was used to estimate the air pollution dispersion and impact pathway assessment (IPA) to calculate the air pollutant external costs. The damage costs of SO2 due to the corrosion of building materials, soiling, and consequently an increase in cleaning expenses of each square meter of urban buildings’ facades were localized. After the validation of the output results of the developed model, the external costs based on the wind speed and different atmospheric stability classification were estimated. Different atmospheric stability classes were examined using the Pasquil-Gifford (P-G) classification.

Based on the facade’s material, the highest external costs were related to the white cement with 36575 dollars (849 million Rials). For the thatch façade, which is the local material of the region, the external cost was estimated to be 5376 dollars (1247 million Rials). Based on the wind speed, the highest external cost was obtained for the wind 1m/s with 139026 dollars (3254 million Rials) and the lowest cost was 352 dollars (82 million Rials) for the wind speed of 20 m/s. For the atmospheric stability classification, the lowest external cost in extremely unstable class (A) and the highest external cost in neutral class (D) have been measured. The external cost due to the SO2 pollutants for the city of Qazvin was 0.009 dollars (2162 Rials) For each megawatt-hour generated electricity.

The results showed that the materials compatible with the local region can have lower external costs compared with the new materials used in the buildings.