Air quality impacts of emissions from a typical iron and steel plant in Hebei Province during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

Based on the meteorological forecast data from the National Meteorological Bureau, this study developed an AERMOD-based pollution forecasting model for iron and steel plants, simulated air quality impacts of a typical iron and steel plant located in Hebei Province during the controlled period (from February to March in 2020) and the uncontrolled period (from April to October in 2020) of the COVID-19epidemic, and validated the model with real monitoring air quality data. In case of adverse wind direction, the results showed that the average contribution of SO2, NOx and PM10 from the plant to three state-controlled monitoring stations were 20.19~33.81%, 17.49~23.46% and 2.02~2.69% respectively during the controlled period, and 13.43~21.01%, 11.09~20.92% and 1.20~2.22% during the uncontrolled period. The correlation coefficients between the forecast values of SO2, NOx and PM10 emission of the plant and the real monitoring values of the three state-controlled monitoring stations were higher in the controlled period (the highest values are 0.43, 0.48 and 0.29, respectively, at individual monitoring station) compared with the uncontrolled period (the highest values are 0.42, 0.39 and 0.07, respectively) due to the less interference from other anthropogenic emission sources during the controlled period. © 2021, Editorial Board of China Environmental Science. All right reserved.