Actualización del inventario de emisiones atmosféricas provenientes de fuentes fijas de combustión y del relleno sanitario en el Distrito Metropolitano de Quito, año base 2018

Abstract

Secretaría de Ambiente has published air emission inventories, whose latest publication was developed from 2011 data. The results published in the latest inventory, as based on outdated air emission estimation tools, among other variables, have created uncertainty over the potential use of these data to set relevant strategies for air management.

Updating Quito’s air emission inventory, considering 2018 as the base year, will be helpful to estimate the amount of air pollutants and greenhouse gases emitted in order to show the current quality of Quito’s air.

This research will focus on stationary combustion sources including industrial boilers, thermal power plants and sanitary landfills that operated in Quito in 2018. Emission factors will be the method to quantify the final values; the activity rate value will be provided by the environmental authority and the emission factors of substances will be selected from the EPA, the EEA, and the IPCC, as well as from other local sources. Thus, a final result may be chosen according to the analyzed variables.

According to the latest inventory, at the industrial level, emissions of CO, NOX, SO2, PM2.5, NMVOC and CO2 increased by 195%, 67%, 18%, 9%, 128% and 4% respectively. The thermoelectric plants show a reduction in the emissions of all the substances analyzed, except for N2O, which increased by 90%. Emissions of CH4 produced by the sanitary landfill risen by 46%.

Finally, results of the substances emitted into the air back in 2018 will be summarized, and recommendations which could be helpful in the elaboration of future inventories are included.