Environmental Impact of Fossil Fuel Utilization in Neka Thermal Power Plant

Authors

1 Civil Engineering, University of Mazandaran

2 Industrial Engineering, Mazandaran University of Science and Technology

3 Biochemical & Chemical Engineering, Noshirvani University of Technology, Babol

Abstract

Carbon dioxide causes green house effect and has been considered as a pollutant source forsafe environment. Since combustion of fossil fuel may create tremendous amount of carbon dioxide,detecting any pollutant sources would be important to eliminate the origin of pollution sources.Evaluation of smoke dispersion generated by the power plant utilizing fossil fuel is the objective of thispaper. The concentration of NOx and SOx in the soil till a distance of 15 km from Neka power plant,have been analyzed. The maximum concentrations of SOx and NOx in the distance of 2.5 to 4 km fromthe power plant were 0.13 and 0.36 ppm, respectively. Replacement of fossil fuel (fuel no. 6, Mazout) bynatural gas may increase NOx concentration in the atmosphere; however the use of natural gas wasrecommend by environmental protection agencies as clean fuel. Use of natural gas may not be an actualsolution for prevention of NOx pollution.