Details of Limerick Plume Plotter

This page should be read in conjunction with How Plume Plotter Works. It provides more details specific to the Limerick version of Plume Plotter.

Stack measurements

There are several emissions sources, but we currently only model the largest two ("Kiln 6" and "Coal Mill 6"). The measurements of both of these, taken from [1], are:

Stack location: 52.642594,-8.6900522. Coal Mill 6 is 5m south and 70m east of Kiln 6.
Stack height: 87.7 m and 30.4 m.
Stack diameter: 2.6 m and 0.788 m.
Stack gas exit velocity: 40.52 m/s and 26.87 m/s.
Stack gas temperature: 150 °C and 95 °C.

Albedo, Bowen ratio, and roughness length are not specified in [1] but we use the following values:

Albedo: 0.2.
Bowen ratio: 1.
Roughness length: 0.3.

Emissions

The emission rates of pollutants are taken from Table 8.5 of [1]. The table below shows the emission rates from Kiln 6; the rates for Coal Mill 6 are 0.07 times the rates for Kiln 6:

Pollutant	Emission rate per second
Oxides of nitrogen	69.4 g
Sulphur dioxide	6.9 g
Particulates PM10	2.8 g
Hydrogen chloride	1.4 g
Hydrogen flouride	140 mg
Cadmium	28 μg
Thallium	6.9 mg
Mercury	6.9 mg
Antimony	900 μg
Arsenic	2.2 mg
Lead	10 mg
Chromium	20 mg
Cobalt	400 μg
Copper	6.5 mg
Manganese	10 mg
Nickel	13 mg
Vanadium	6 mg
Dioxins and furans	14 ng
Ammonia	6.9 g

Background levels

The background levels of pollutants are taken from the Tables 8.6 and 8.7 of [1]. For pollutants that appear in both tables (lead, arsenic, cadmium, nickel, and mercury), the lowest background concentration is used. The values used are:

Pollutant	Background concentration per m³
Oxides of nitrogen	4.6 μg
Sulphur dioxide	3.3 μg
Particulates PM10	19.1 μg
Hydrogen chloride	970 ng
Hydrogen flouride	15.5 ng
Cadmium	270 pg
Thallium	590 pg
Mercury	590 pg
Antimony	4.16 ng
Arsenic	590 pg
Lead	1.63 ng
Chromium	890 pg
Cobalt	590 pg
Copper	590 pg
Manganese	4.6 ng
Nickel	590 pg
Vanadium	590 pg
Dioxins and furans	6 fg
Ammonia	N/A

For consistency with other incinerators, the background concentration of nitrogen oxides shown here is actually the background concentration of nitrogen dioxide only.

Weather data

Weather data is taken from METAR reports from a local airport: Shannon.

Upper air data is the latest reported by the Valentia upper air station.

References

1. Irish Cement Limited. Use of alternative fuels and alternative raw materials at Limerick Cement Works: Environmental Impact Statement. April 2016. Chapter 8: Air quality.