Industrial air quality assessment

Aether was commissioned by Ballymore to undertake an air quality assessment for a proposed energy centre in phase 2 of the development at Royal Wharf in the London borough of Newham. Royal Wharf is a mixed use development and will consist of more than 3,000 homes including townhouses, three and four bed duplexes, two and one bed apartments and suites. In order to discharge pre commencement planning conditions, an assessment was required in order to ensure that the stack heights were enough to prevent any significant impact on residents’ exposure and to ensure compliance with the 1993 Clean Air Act.

The challenge

The Review and Assessment process carried out by the London Borough of Newham has highlighted elevated concentrations of pollution arising from road traffic in congested areas. An Air Quality Management Area has been declared for both the annual mean nitrogen dioxide objective and the daily mean particulate matter (PM₁₀) objective along the main roads in the borough including North Woolwich Road (A1020), which runs along the northern boundary of the site. Therefore it was key that any air pollution arising from the energy centre was not going to substantially impact on local air quality and adversely impact the Council’s air quality action plan.

The solution

The dispersion model AERMOD was used to assess the impact of the energy centre on local air pollutant concentrations. The centre consists of gas fired CHP and large gas fired boilers. Therefore, nitrogen oxides were the main pollutant of concern.

The result

Pollution abatement equipment is being fitted to reduce the nitrogen oxide emissions as far as possible in order to minimise the impact on local residents. For example, the CHP plants will have selective catalytic reducers fitted.

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