Determination of Türkiye’s National Emission Factors For Electricity and Cement Sectors

Abstract

Air pollution is a major problem associated with fossil fuel consumption. The primary air pollutants are carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2), total organic carbon (TOC), and particulate matter <10 µm size (PM10). Two main sectors, electricity production and cement production, play a critical role in emitting these pollutants. Estimating emissions from these sectors most accurately is crucial to taking precautions against air pollution and determining the right policies. Three methods for forecasting emission levels are direct sampling measurements, mass balance, and emission factors. Emission factors are one of the most practical methods for performing estimation. Therefore, national (Tier 2) emission factors were determined as controlled and uncontrolled for each technology of these two sectors in the scope of this study for Türkiye. Moreover, five processes (fluidized bed, pulverized, natural gas combined cycle, and open-cycle gas turbines) are used in the electricity and cement sectors of Türkiye. Four pollutants (CO, NOx, SO2, PM10) were selected to calculate national emission factors (Tier 2) for the electricity sector, whereas five pollutants (CO, NOx, SO2, PM10, and TOC) were chosen to compute these emission factors for the cement sector within the scope of the thesis. These calculated emission factors were compared with the values from three databases (AP42, EMEP/EEA, and NPI). Except for two values, all the computed emission factors for these sectors are similar to those presented in three databases: the NOx emission factor for the hard coal-fuelled pulverized electricity plants and the TOC emission factor for the cement sector. The reason is that the reduction percentage is higher in selective catalytic reduction for NOx in the electricity sector and the utilization of different fuels during cement production. Statgraphics 18 was used for the calculations of emission factors in the thesis. For the electricity sector, the national emission factors of Türkiye for four pollutants (CO, NOx, SO2, and PM10) were computed as 0.552 kg/ton, 1.776 kg/ton, 2.918 kg/ton, and 2.404 kg/ton for hard coal respectively. In addition, the national emission factors of Türkiye for the same pollutants can be listed as 0.143 kg/ton, 1.072 kg/ton, 2.216 kg/ton, 14.016 kg/ton, and 0.205 kg/ton for lignite. For natural gas, the calculated Tier 2 emission factors of CO were computed as 31.095 g/GJ, while the NOx emission factor was 42.609 g/GJ. Lastly, the Tier 2 emission factors of CO, NOx, SO2, PM10, and TOC are 1596.167 g/ton, 1277.235 g/ton, 251.299 g/ton, 26.436 g/ton, and 29.841 for the cement sector, respectively in the thesis.