Izabela Sówka

Aerosol Pollution from Small Combustors in a Village

Urban air pollution is widely recognized. Recently, there have been a few projects that examined air quality in rural areas (e.g., AUPHEP project in Austria, WOODUSE project in Denmark). Here we present the results within the International Cooperation Project RER/2/005 targeted at studying the effect of local combustion processes to air quality in the village of Brzezina in the countryside north-west of Wroclaw (south western Poland). We identified the potential emission sources and quantified their contributions. The ambient aerosol monitoring (PM10 and elemental concentrations) was performed during 4 measurement cycles, in summer 2009, 2010 and in winter 2010, 2011. Some receptor modeling techniques, factor analysis-multiple linear regression analysis (FA-MLRA) and potential source localization function (PSLF), have been used. Different types of fuel burning along with domestic refuse resulted in an increased concentration of PM10 particle mass, but also by an increased in various other compounds (As, Pb, Zn). Local combustion sources contributed up to 80% to PM10 mass in winter. The effect of other sources was small, from 6 to 20%, dependently on the season. Both PM10 and elemental concentrations in the rural settlement were comparable to concentrations at urban sites in summer and were much higher in winter, which can pose asignificant health risk to its inhabitants.

Seasonal odor impact range of selected wastewater treatment plants – modeling studies using Polish reference model

On-site odor measurements and mathematical modeling are useful for identifying the odor impact at the source and receptors located in areas adjacent to wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Impact of open area sources can be significant and may influence air quality both at the WWTP area and downwind in the surrounding areas. In this work, results of the odor measurements carried out in the spring and summer season for sources within three different mechanical-biological WWTPs in Poland are presented. The odor impact assessment was completed using a Polish reference model. The odor emission scenarios considering the contribution of major odor sources within WWTPs and the seasonal variation were determined. Obtained results showed significant differences between spring and summer seasons. The highest and the lowest measured odor concentrations at the WWTP property line were 75 ouE/m3 (July) and 6.4 ouE/m3 (March), respectively.