Ambient air monitoring study due to incineration of medical waste

Abstract

This paper presents health risk assessment to identify the health risk due to pollutants emissions from medical waste incinerator. The ground level concentration (GLC) of the pollutants over a short range transportation from the emission source was first determined using air dispersion modelling (AERMOD). The GLC values are needed in order to assess the health risk of the nearby population due to the emissions from the incinerator. In this study, the pollutants of interest are particulate matter (PM10), carbon monoxide (CO), sulphur dioxide (SO2), hydrogen chloride (HCl), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg) and lead (Pb). The pollutants concentrations from the stack measurement were found to be well below the limits established in the Environmental Quality (Clean Air) Regulation 2014. Meanwhile, the results of the monitoring at two sampling stations indicate that particulate matter is a predominant pollutant in terms of the GLC value in comparison to the other pollutants. Based on the predicted GLC value, the associated health risk was then calculated and characterized to assess the compliance of the incineration process with the standards imposed by the Malaysia Ambient Air Quality Guideline (MAAQG) 2013. It was found that the GLC values of the pollutants are also within the acceptable limit for human exposure. Besides, this paper also examines the upwind and downwind of the studied area to quantify the background level of GLC value and source contributions to GLC quality for comparison with the AERMOD predicted data. A better abatement strategy should be implemented for the parameters pollutants from the stack that exceed the guideline values and additional monitoring station or relocation of the existing station if the GLC monitoring data unparalleled with the AERMOD predictions, in order to minimize the potential impact on air quality due to emissions from the medical waste incinerator.