Rates of conversion of sulfur dioxide to sulfate in a scrubbed power plant plume

The rate of conversion of SO₂ to SO₄^2- was re-estimated from measurements made in the plume of the Cumberland power plant, located on the Cumberland River in north-central Tennessee, after installation of flue gas desulfurization (FGD) scrubbers for SO₂ removal in 1994. The ratio of SO₂ to NO_y emissions into the plume has been reduced to ??0.1, compared with a prescrubber value of ∼2. To determine whether the SO₂ emissions reduction has correspondingly reduced plume-generated particulate SO₄^2- production, we have compared the rates of conversion before and after scrubber installation. The prescrubber estimates were developed from measurements made during the Tennessee Plume Study conducted in the late 1970s. The postscrubber estimates are based upon two series of research flights in the summers of 1998 and 1999. During two of these flights, the Cumberland plume did not mix with adjacent power plant plumes, enabling rate constants for conversion to be estimated from samples taken in the plume at three downwind distances. Dry deposition losses and the fact the fact that SO₂ is no longer in large excess compared with SO₄^2- have been taken into account, and an upper limit for the conversion rate constant was re-estimated based on plume excess aerosol volume. The estimated upper limit values are 0.069 hr^-1 and 0.034 hr^-1 for the 1998 and 1999 data, respectively. The 1999 rate is comparable with earlier values for nonscrubbed plumes, and although the 1998 upper limit value is higher than expected, these estimates do not provide strong evidence for deviation from a linear relationship between SO₂ emissions and SO₄^2- formation.