A comprehensive review on Air Pollution Dispersion models available for

Pollutant dispersion prediction

Introduction
With the advent of the Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth century,
manufacturing advancements have taken over the entire world. The
developments that happened during this period have led to the
creation of modern world inventions including automobiles, mobile
phones, et cetera. Although the Industrial Revolution has largely
benefitted humankind, it has also led to many issues over a long
period. With the advancements in technology increasing the standard
of living of human beings, this also led to the degradation of the
environment. Pollution is an issue that not only affects the region in
which the pollution occurs but also affects the entire human
population on a global level. Increasing pollution over the years has
led to global warming, leading to the melting of polar ice caps,
flooding in low-lying areas and irregularities in weather and climate
conditions around the world. Pollution can be in many forms 1) Air
Pollution,2) Water Pollution,3) Soil Pollution,4) Noise Pollution, and
5) Light Pollution.

Air pollution is the most dangerous form of pollution to human

health. Both Water and Soil Pollution also amplifies the harmful effect
of Air pollution on human health. Even though water covers three-
fourths of the earth's surface, the availability of drinking water is still
an issue. The existing freshwater sources like rivers, ponds,
groundwater, et cetera have high concentrations of pollutants due to
surface run-off from agricultural lands and the dumping of improperly
treated wastewater from industries into these sources. Soil pollution is
usually the result of the dumping of solid and semi-solid wastes from
agricultural fields and day-to-day activities. The products formed
during the decomposition of these wastes penetrate the soil and make
the ground unable to grow crops thus making the land infertile. The
penetrated products not only contaminate the soil of the region but
also the groundwater present in the area thus making it unfit for
consumption. The sound produced by the operation of heavy
machinery in industries and loud transportation is often painful to
human and animal ears. Prolonged exposure to high levels of noise
(above 60 dB) can cause permanent hearing loss, affect working
performance, increase annoyance, and even cause sleeplessness and
higher susceptibility to annoyance and psychological health (Modi,
Ramachandra P, Ahmed SK, & Hussain, 2013). Light Pollution is the
artificial introduction of light into the environment. Though
seemingly unharmful, light pollution causes a negative effect on night
sky and is also believed to contribute to smog formation and affects
the migratory pattern of birds. (Rajkhowa, 2014)

With industrialization, rural populations began migrating to new cities

in search of work and a lifestyle. This led to the creation of many new
urban centres developing around the already established industries.
Air pollution from developing urban cities, developing industrial
areas and vehicular emissions constitute of point source of air
pollution. (Banerjee, Barman, & Srivastava, 2011) The emissions
from vehicles in developing countries contribute up to 80% of air
pollution aggregate. (Banerjee, Barman, & Srivastava, 2011) (Goyal,
Ghatge, Nema, & M.Tamhane, 2006) (Sivacoumar & Thanasekaran,
1999). The pollutants that are directly emitted from the source are
called as primary pollutants whereas pollutants that are formed due to
various other constituents present in the atmosphere reacting with the
primary pollutants are called secondary pollutants. Some examples of
primary pollutants are SOX, NOX, CO, CO2, volatile organic
compounds (VOCs), Particulate matter (PM), et cetra. Some of the
secondary pollutants include Ozone, Peroxyacetyl Nitrate, et cetra.
(Harrison, 2001). According to the World Health Organisation
(WHO), 99% of the population of the world does not live in areas that
meet the organisation's air quality guidelines. (Pantusheva, Mitkov,
Hristov, & Petrova-Antonova , 2022) (World Health Organisation,
2022) Exposure to air pollutants both long-term and short-term term
may result in various health problems in human beings which include
and not limited to Asthma, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease,
lung diseases and Lung tumours. In addition, it has been shown to
negatively affect cognitive function in both children and adults and
may also be linked with neurological diseases such as dementia,
Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson's. (Pantusheva, Mitkov, Hristov, &
Petrova-Antonova , 2022)

With the implementation of environmental standards in many

countries and regions like the European Union and the United States
of America local governments face the pressure to provide the public
with real-time air pollution data, but fulfilment of this method will
require a huge amount of money to install, operate and maintain. To
tackle this problem models are developed to predict the pollutant
concentration in that region even before an industry or any major
project is initiated. (Wang, van den Bosch , & Kuffer, 2008). Air
pollution dispersion models use mathematical equations considering
the dispersion of pollutants, the plume chemical and physical
processes and the atmospheric conditions of the region to determine
the concentration of pollutants in the region. (Holmes & Morawska,
2006)
The initial development of air pollution dispersion models began in
the mid-1940s for mainly military purposes to know the dispersion of
poisonous gases during the war. The development of dispersion
models can be divided into three phases. During Phase One the
models were developed with weapon testing in mind (Weber, 1982)
(Khan & Hassan, 2021). the second phase of the model development
considered the rapid urbanization and dispersion of pollutants as a
function of time. These models were also designed to consider various
pollutants like SOx, NOx, Particulate matter, et cetera. The third
phase is the latest generation of dispersion models which is based on
complex chemical processes and various interactions between various
parameters. (Khan & Hassan, 2021). An air dispersion model has
generally four structures which are: assumptions and approximations
to reduce the problem to an ideal one while retaining the most
important features of the problem; development of basic mathematical
relations and other conditions to describe the now idealised system; a
computer to solve the relations; and a computer program to do the
calculations. Generally, the user will have to input the meteorological
conditions of the place; the elevation of the land; the various
properties of the exit gas stream from various sources in the region;
and the parameters of the building. (Indra, et al., 2004) Even though
with the application of various dispersion models, a huge amount of
money that would have been invested in the setup and operation of
various centres for pollutant monitoring was saved but these models
also come with their own set of challenges. These models should be
easy to solve and highly accurate to apply in real time. Incidents such
as the disaster at a nuclear power plant have led to the development of
more accurate and faster dispersion models. The concentration of the
pollutant in a region and its dose plays a vital role in understanding
the health consequences that humans can have due to the presence of
that pollutant in that region which leads to another challenge that
entails the pollutant dispersion modelling. If the lifetime of a pollutant
in the atmosphere which does not allow a single non-modified model
to be used in every scenario. If a pollutant has a low lifetime in the
atmosphere the impact of that pollutant will only be in the local
region whereas if the pollutant has a higher lifetime in the
atmosphere, then the impact of the pollutant can be seen in a wider
area (Leelőssy, et al., 2014 ).

Classification of Air Pollution Dispersion models

Many types of dispersion models have been developed to predict the
dispersion of pollutants in the atmosphere more accurately and rapidly
as shown in Figure 1. These models range from simple box models to
complex fluid flow models. (Modi, Ramachandra P, Ahmed SK, &
Hussain, 2013).
Figure 1: Classification of Available Dispersion Models
Box models
This model is one of the simplest models developed to track pollutant
dispersion over ground-level surface area. This model works on the
assumption that all the pollutants present in the region are
homogeneously mixed in an assumed box present over the region.
These models are one of the easiest models to solve due to their
simplicity. These models are generally used to find pollutant
dispersion over small areas like a street (Holmes & Morawska, 2006).
Although this model does not consider the spatial information over
the region in which the model is applied, this model can still be used
to provide the modeller with general information regarding pollutant
dispersion ( Jain, Cui, & Domen, 2016) (Mareddy, 2018).

Gaussian model
The Gaussian dispersion model is one of the most widely used
dispersion models to track the dispersion of pollutants in the
atmosphere. This model works on the assumption that the plume from
a point source disperses primarily due to molecular diffusion (Snoun,
Krichen, & Chérif, 2023).Even though these models are one of the
most commonly used models, gaussian models suffer from many
shortcomings including 1) They do not consider some complex
processes such as convective mixing, stratification effects and
chemical reactions. ;2) These models are based on many assumptions
including homogenous and perfect mixing of emissions and not
considering the effect of topography.; 3) These models have a limited
range of applicability. even with these shortcomings, gaussian models
become the base for many advanced and complex dispersion models
(Snoun, Krichen, & Chérif, 2023).

Lagrangian dispersion model

Lagrangian pollution dispersion models track the movement of
pollutants within the atmosphere by following the path of individual
particles or parcels. These models are particularly useful when dealing
with complex terrain or small-scale releases (Vitali, et al., 2006). One
of the main advantages of Lagrangian models is that they do not
require assumptions about the shape of the concentration distribution
like Gaussian plume models do (Zannetti , 1990). Additionally,
Lagrangian models are well-suited for studying complex terrain or
small-scale releases. Another advantage of Lagrangian models is that
they do not suffer from numerical diffusion, which is a problem in
Eulerian models. However, Lagrangian models also have some
disadvantages. They require more computational resources than
Eulerian models, as they track the movement of individual particles or
parcels. Additionally, Lagrangian models can be more difficult to
validate than Eulerian models, as they do not provide a continuous
concentration field (Vitali, et al., 2006) (Kaplan & Dinar, 1996).
Another disadvantage is that Lagrangian models may not be as
accurate as Eulerian models for large-scale releases, as they do not
account for the effects of atmospheric turbulence (Huilier, 2021).

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is a numerical method used to
analyse and predict the behaviour of fluids by solving the Navier-
Stokes equation using finite difference and finite volume methods in
three dimensions (Holmes & Morawska, 2006). CFD models aim to
capture the intricate details of fluid flows, which include the
movement of gases, liquids, and solids. These models help engineers
and scientists understand the transport mechanisms of pollutants,
evaluate potential risks associated with hazardous materials, and
inform decision-making processes related to land-use planning and
environmental management (Gant & Tucker, 2018). Using
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for dispersion modelling offers
several advantages compared to other methods: 1)CFD enables
detailed analysis of complex flow patterns and pollutant dispersions,
providing valuable information about localized concentration levels
and flow dynamics (Gant & Tucker, 2018) (Meroney, et al., 2016);
2)CFD can be employed across a variety of scenarios, from simple to
highly complex environments (Meroney, et al., 2016); 3)CFD can
lead to more efficient designs, reducing the need for expensive field
tests (Peritus, 2019) ; 4)Accurate prediction of pollutant dispersion
facilitates better risk assessments and informed decision-making
regarding public health and safety (Gant & Tucker, 2018)
However, it is important to remember that CFD simulations have
some limitations, such as Computational costs, the need for precise
input parameters and the possibility of numerical errors (Peritus,
2019). Care should therefore be taken to ensure that CFD results are
appropriately validated and, where possible, verified against
experimental data or alternative methods.

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