Air Quality Improvement and Natural Gas Use in Istanbul

1. Air Quality Improvement and Natural Gas Use in Istanbul Omar ALAGHA,PhD Fatih University, Department of Environmental Engineering, 34500, Istanbul, Turkey INGAS 2007

2. Introduction • Air pollution “ the presence of undesirable material in air, in quantities large enough to produce harmful effects”. The Industrial Revolution: • Predominant air pollution problem of the 19th century was SMOKE and ASH • Every country in Europe or USA experienced serious air pollution problems in large cities, e.g London disaster in 1952 where 4000 died. • Clean Air Act in 1956, the reduction of domestic heating smoke from 175 to 75 ug/m3. • Istanbul has encountered a serious sulfur dioxide episodes in the past decades INGAS 2007

3. Environmental pollution and fuel use • Combustion products • Natural gas compared with others • low quality coal use: • power plants • domestic heating • Emission control technologies • Criteria Pollutants: SO2, NO, NO2, NOx, SPM, CO, O3, THC, CH4 and nMHC • The principle greenhouse gases include: • water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxides, and some engineered chemicals such ascholorofluorocarbons. • Smog, Air Quality and Acid Rain INGAS 2007

4. Photochemical SMOG • Istanbul population 13-15 millions • population increase 3.1% per year. • In the 1992-1993 winters, there are 37 cities which exceeded the short-term (400 g/m3) and 55 cities which exceeded the long-term (150 g/m3) SO2 limits set by Turkish Air Quality Legislation INGAS 2007

5. General Ideas in Air Pollution • Improve dispersion: • Tall stacks • Intermittent control scheme • shut down plant • temporary fuel switching (Natural Gas) • Production curtailment (reduction). • Relocate plant • Reduce emissions by process change Switching fuel: coal natural gas, improve air quality. • Use a down stream pollution control devices INGAS 2007

6. Fossil Fuel Emission Levels (Pounds per Billion Btu of Energy Input) INGAS 2007

7. Study Area and Measured Pollutants • The air pollution data used in this study has been collected during 1996-2001 from the urban city of Istanbul (40°N, 29°E). • The monitoring locations are: Beşiktaş, Esenler, Kartal, Saraçhane, Sarıyer, Ümraniye, Yenibosna, Üsküdar and Kadıköy INGAS 2007

8. The locations of sampling stations INGAS 2007

9. INGAS 2007

10. Source: Ozturk H.K., 2005 INGAS 2007

11. Yearly total natural gas consumption (m3/month) in Istanbul INGAS 2007

12. Annual averages concentrations (μg/m3) of air pollutants in Istanbul air INGAS 2007

13. Average daily emission limits of some criteria pollutants Source: http://www.ibb.gov.tr/minisite/hava/index.htm INGAS 2007

14. Correlation table for air pollution data. INGAS 2007

15. Winter time concentrations of air pollutants between 1995 and 2001 INGAS 2007

16. Wintertime SO2 levels distribution over Istanbul city . INGAS 2007

17. Summertime SO2 levels distribution over Istanbul city. INGAS 2007

18. Conclusions • Mounting energy consumption and automobile ownership have increased air pollution. • Turkey continues to develop its economy, the problem likely will intensify unless preventive actions are undertaken. • The careful analysis of the air quality over Istanbul city during the past two decades indicates a significant decrease in some air pollutants like, SO2, and ozone. INGAS 2007

19. The main reason of this significant decrease was that the conventional fuels (low quality coal and fuel oil), which has high sulfur contents has been slowly replaced by natural gas which has nearly no SO2 emissions. • This may be the most significant evidence about the efforts done by İGDAŞ-IBB • However, some other pollutants like NO, NO2, NOx, nMHC ,etc. have not changed significantly. INGAS 2007

20. Acknowledgments • Authors are gratefully acknowledged to Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) and “for providing air pollution data and for İGDAŞ for providing natural gas consumption data. INGAS 2007

21. Thany you.... INGAS 2007