Pollution Reduction Potential By Implementing Electrostatic Dust Precipitators On Mongolian Small-Scale Stoves (A Pilot Study In Ulaanbaatar)
Abstract
The Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatarexperiences some of the world’s worst air pollution during the winter months, most of it being caused by small coal- and wood-fired stoves which are used for heating and cooking purposes in peri-urban parts of the city. A recent pilot study in Songinokhairkhan District of Ulaanbaatar City evaluated the feasibility of electrostatic dust precipitators (ESP) for reducing particulate matter (PM) emissions from small stoves. This paper focuses on the pollution reduction potentials that would result from a large-scale implementation of ESPs. Using a locally developed low- cost ESP system (which is currently in the process of further improvement), reduction rates ranging between 10 to 50% of the PM emissions (depending on the fuel and combustion conditions) could be achieved. Fitting all or at least a major fraction of the small stoves with such ESPs could reduce PM emissions by an order of several thousand tons per heating season for the whole city. The avoided particle emissions would simultaneously prevent atmospheric pollution by various trace metals and metalloids including As, Cd, Pb and Zn, which are known to be major soil and water pollutants locally, and several other toxic substances. However, this also means that safe disposal strategies must be developed for the fly ash precipitated during ESP operation.
About the Authors
Daniel Karthe
German-Mongolian Institute for Resources and Technology
Mongolia
Mongolia
Engineering Faculty
Nalaikh, Ulaanbaatar
Tim Hafer
RWTH Aachen University;
German-Mongolian Institute for Resources and Technology
Germany
Germany
Faculty of Georesources and Materials Engineering, RWTH; Engineering Faculty, GMIT
Aachen; Nalaikh, Ulaanbaatar
Byambasuren Battulga
Mongolian University of Science and Technology;
German-Mongolian Institute for Resources and Technology
Mongolia
Mongolia
Department of Mineral Processing and Engineering, School of Geology and Mining, MUST; Engineering Faculty, GMIT
Nalaikh, Ulaanbaatar
Lodoysamba Sereeter
German-Mongolian Institute for Resources and Technology
Mongolia
Mongolia
Engineering Faculty
Nalaikh, Ulaanbaatar
Gunther Stehr
Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft;
German-Mongolian Institute for Resources and Technology
Germany
Germany
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, HTW; Engineering Faculty, GMIT
Dresden; Nalaikh, Ulaanbaatar
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Supporting agencies: This research was funded by Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) with funds provided by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development in the framework of the project GLEAR – Clean Air for Gers: Pilot Phase, grant number 81233357. The authors would like to thank Mr. David Hancock and Mr. Thorge Ketelhodt of the GIZ Mongolia program «Sustainable Infrastructure» for their support regarding project management. The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.
For citation:
Karthe D., Hafer T., Battulga B., Sereeter L., Stehr G. Pollution Reduction Potential By Implementing Electrostatic Dust Precipitators On Mongolian Small-Scale Stoves (A Pilot Study In Ulaanbaatar). GEOGRAPHY, ENVIRONMENT, SUSTAINABILITY. 2020;13(3):117-128. https://doi.org/10.24057/2071-9388-2020-50
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