Environmental impact monitoring of coal based thermal power plants.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT MONITORING OF COAL BASED THERMAL POWER PLANTS

by

RENU SINGH

Centre for Energy Studies

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

to the

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi India

July 2008

G. 11. 7. EDE-LE-211.

LIBRARY Acc. No

T'

6 21362 TH

SAN-

Certificate

It is certified that the thesis entitled, "Environmental Impact Monitoring of Coal Based Thermal Power Plants", submitted by Renu Singh to Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi is worthy of consideration for the award of the degree of 'Doctor of Philosophy' and is a record of the original bonafide research work carried out by her under our guidance and supervision. The results contained in the thesis have not been submitted in part or full to any other University or Institute for the award of any degree or diploma.

A

Dr. A. Chandra Professor

Centre for Energy Studies Indian Institute of Technology Hauz Khas, New Delhi- 110016

Dr. H.P.Garg Professor

Centre for Energy Studies Indian Institute of Technology Hauz Khas, New Delhi- 110016

Acknowledgments

The completion of this work would not have been possible without the assistance of many people who gave me their time, energy, knowledge, and friendship. A very special thanks to Prof. Avinash Chandra and Prof. H.P.Garg, my guides, who guided me from the beginning to the end of this research work. I would like to extend a sincere thanks to my committee members Dr. Satyawati Sharma and Prof. G. N. Tiwari for their commitment and assistance in my research. My special thanks are to the staff members of Central Pollution Control Board, Delhi Pollution Control Committee, Rajghat, Inderprastha, Badarpur Thermal Power Plants, Delhi and Ghandhinagar thermal power plant, Ghandhinagar.

I would like to thank my family and friends who have always given me the support, and echoed words of encouragement in pursuit of my academic endeavors. I would also like to acknowledge my parents, for teaching me the values and morals and for guiding me in the right direction. Very special and sincere thanks to Shiv, who encouraged me throughout the research work.

I am very grateful to my friends, Lohitesh, Gajendra, Harsha Kumar Kadupitiya and Renu Pandey for their contribution and enthusiasm.

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Renu Singh

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Abstract

Thermal power plants affect the environment in the various ways. The coal based electricity generation is the main anthropogenic source of dust, Carbon dioxide, Sulfur dioxide, Oxides of Nitrogen and heat. People living around power plants are likely to be affected by the exposure to emissions.

Environmental monitoring programme is a vital process of any management plan of the development project. This helps in signaling the potential problems that resulting from the proposed project and will allow for prompt implementation of effective corrective measures. In the present study, the environmental status with respect to the three coal based thermal power plants namely, Rajghat, Inderprastha and Badarpur, situated in capital city Delhi has been evaluated. The Environmental Impact Assessment tools are applied for the identification, evaluation and mitigation.

The air environment of the city has been evaluated for five years (2000-2004), with Environment Protection Agency, Industrial Source Complex Short Term-3 (ISCST3) dispersion model. The results were extrapolated on the digitized map of Delhi to get the most affected locations.

Study for the flyash impact on the quality of water, soil and vegetation was carried out in the adjoining areas of the thermal power plant. The effect of germination of crop for getting the suitability of flyash as soil amendment has also been experimentally evaluated. The soil, water and vegetable at the site of thermal power plant have shown high concentration of Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd. Flyash addition in the agricultural land is not suitable as it may delay the germination time.

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The river Yamuna, which is one of the major river systems of India, serves as an important water resource for Northern part of the country. The output of QUAL2K depicts that the wastewater coming from the thermal power plants suddenly increase the temperature of Yamuna river that alter the aquatic life.

The monetary valuation of pollution controlling device and human health was also performed for converting the results into the common unit of money.

The case study of Gandhinagar Thermal Power plant was taken as a reference for the comparison of environment factor evaluation.

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Table of contents

Page no.

Certificate

Acknowledgement ii

Abstract iii

Table of contents

List of figures vii

List of tables xi

Chapter 1. Introduction 1.1-1.23

1.1 Introduction 1.1

1.2 National Energy Profile 1.4

1.3 Coal utilization in India 1.9

1.4 Environmental pollution power generation 1.18

1.5 Objectives of the study 1.27

Chapter 2. Description of problem 2.1-2.23

2.1 Power scenario of Delhi 2.1

2.2 Environmental standards for Thermal Power Plants 2.6 2.3 Environmental Impact Assessment 2.11 Chapter 3.Simulation of suitable computer models 3.1-3.24

3.1 Introduction 3.1

3.2 QUAL2K description 3.10

3.3 Industrial Source Complex short Term Model 3.19

3.4 Summary 3.23

Chapter 4. Identification, evaluation and prediction of impacts 4.1-4.41

4.1 Identification of the impacts 4.1

4.2 Impact of coal based thermal power on Yamuna river in Delhi 4.6 4.3 Impact of coal based thermal power on the air quality of Delhi 4.13 4.4 Human Exposure Assessment from thermal power plants 4.27

4.5 Flyash management 4.29

4.6 Noise assessment in thermal power plants 4.33 4.7 Impact assessment of flyash on the soil and agriculture in Delhi 4.36

4.8 Summary 4.41

Chapter 5. Mitigation 5.1

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5.1 Introduction 5.1

5.2 Mitigative measures for coal based thermal power plants 5.1

5.3 Summary 5.19

Chapter 6. Monetary evaluation 6.1-6.16

6.1 Introduction 6.1

6.2 Economic valuation methodology 6.2

6.2.1 Economic evaluation with abatement cost method for 6.4 Particulate matter control method

6.2.2 Physical Linkage method for estimating cost of health 6.15 damage due to thermal power plants

Chapter 7. Comparative study with other cities 7.1

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Chapter 9. Recommendations 9.1

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References r.1

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Abbreviations ab.1

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Annexure a a. 1

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Annexure b b.1

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Annexure c c.1

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Brief Bio-data of the Author

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