Location: Cotton Ginning Research
Project Number: 3050-41000-010-079-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Jul 1, 2024
End Date: Jun 30, 2027
Objective:
The objectives of this project are to utilize particulate matter stack emissions and ambient concentrations data and onsite-meteorological data simultaneously collected at commercial cotton gins to evaluate the performance of EPA-recommended dispersion models and recommend corrective measures or best practices to improve their concentration predictions for low-level point sources.
Approach:
The Cooperator will employ student workers to work directly with the ARS Engineers to leverage data collected at 7 cotton ginning facilities from the 2008-2011 Characterization of Cotton Gin Particulate Matter Emissions project to evaluate the performance of EPA-recommended dispersion models – comparing predicted & measured concentrations. The data from the 2008-2011 project including simultaneously measured daily ambient concentrations from a 125-point sampling array, onsite meteorological measurements, stack emissions, and PM particle size distribution information will be used to evaluate the current EPA required/recommended dispersion models. Analyses of measured ambient concentrations from the ambient sampling array and model output concentrations for discrete receptors at corresponding locations will be conducted to understand their relationships and how they are affected by the gin facility low-level emissions, physical attributes, and model options. Data analysis will include data screening for outliers, background PM concentrations, fugitive influences and comparison of the actual measured total suspended particulate matter concentrations and modeled concentrations.
