Ammonia Emission Sources Characteristics and Emission Factor Uncertainty at Liquefied Natural Gas Power Plants

This study developed the NH(3) emission factor for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) power facilities in Korea by analyzing the emission characteristics from two LNG power plants using methods such as uncertainty analysis. Also, comparing the differences in NH(3) emission levels between the developed emission factors, which reflect the characteristics in Korea, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) values currently applied in Korea. The estimation showed that the NH(3) emission factor for the LNG power plants was 0.0054 ton NH(3)/10(6)Nm(3), which is approximately nine times less than the EPA NH(3) emission factor of 0.051 ton NH(3)/10(6)Nm(3) for LNG fuels of the industrial energy combustion sector currently applied in national statistics in Korea. The Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) emission factor for LNG power plants was 0.0010 ton NH(3)/10(6)Nm(3), which is considerably lower than the EPA NH(3) emission factor of 0.146 ton NH(3)/10(6)Nm(3) currently applied in national statistics in Korea for the LNG fuels of the industrial process sector. This indicated the need for developing an emission factor that incorporates the unique characteristics in Korea. The uncertainty range of the LNG stack NH(3) emission factor developed in this study was ±10.91% at a 95% confidence level, while that of the SCR NH(3) emission factor was –10% to +20% at a 95% confidence level, indicating a slightly higher uncertainty range than the LNG stack. At present, quantitative analysis of air pollutants is difficult because numerical values of the uncertainty are not available. However, quantitative analysis might be possible using the methods applied in this study to estimate uncertainty.