Assessment of air pollution from Tehran-Mehrabad airport, Iran

Development of airports has brought about substantial socioeconomic, environmental and welfare benefi ts for the sustainable development of countries. Nevertheless, environmental impacts of aircraft emissions and their control should not be underestimated. In recent years, the growing air traffic has led to increment of air pollution in this sector of transportation which is expected to affect local and global air quality. Due to high importance of this subject, numerous studies have been conducted in this field; however, these studies have focused mostly on the effects of this kind of pollution on the upper atmospheric layers and few have taken the earth’s layer and urban areas into account. This article aims to assess the rate of gas and particulate emission during airplanes’ landing/take off cycle and the effects of atmospheric currents on their distribution and spreading in the Tehran- Mehrabad Airport, Iran. Two pollutant clusters are subjected in this study; cluster one including particulates less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) and cluster two including gas pollutants such as SO2, CO2, N2O, NOX and CO. Distribution rate of the fi rst cluster pollutant is estimated using First Order Approximation Method (FAO) published by Federal Aviation Administration and Smoke Number (SN) of each engine. The amount of the latter cluster is calculated using method stated by Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP). Therefore, approximate rate of pollution distribution in the local area is calculated separately for each cluster, considering the approximate annual number of landings and take-offs and the types of aircrafts in Tehran-Mehrabad Airport. Finally, automobile equivalent of fuel consumption by each aircraft in an ordinary day is estimated.