Linear programming for abatement of nitrogen oxides acid rain deposition

Abstract

Linear programming is used to examine NO_x as an air quality management problem. Through the use of transfer coefficients, which translate source emissions of NO_x into receptor impacts, the model developed herein seeks to minimize the total cost of reducing emissions from 14 major Canadian point sources. It does this subject to the constraint that the wet deposition at 5 sensitive receptors must be reduced by at least some minimum amount. Several different reductions in wet deposition are used to observe the increase in costs associated with a systematic ‘tightening’ of the constraint relationships. A particular level of reduction is used to examine, on a more detailed level, the sources requiring some level of removal. These case study results and an analysis of the rationale for their solution are presented. Also presented is a comparison between this type of optimization strategy and the scenario of a single ‘across-the-board’ emissions cutback. From NO_x considerations alone, it would seem more expedient to concentrate current research efforts into developing technologies to further reduce vehicle emissions, since their magnitude considerably outweighs those from the point sources.