Analysis of air pollution at Shuaiba Industrial Area in Kuwait

A study has been conducted over a period of one year on measurements of air pollution in the Shuaiba Industrial Area (SIA) of Kuwait. The study included analysis of pollutant behaviour relative to the wind speed and direction. SIA comprises several large scale industries including three petroleum refineries, two power plants, two fertilizer plants, a cement plant, a chlorine and soda plant, a commercial harbour and two large oil loading terminals. Measurements of 15 parameters have been carried out every 5 minutes using a mobile laboratory fitted with an automatic calibrator and a data storage system. The pollutants studied include methane, non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC), carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides (NO, NO₂, and NO_x), sulphur dioxide, ozone and suspended dust. Meteorological parameters monitored simultaneously include wind speed and direction, air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, and barometric pressure. The air quality data collected using the mobile laboratory have been used to calculate the diurnal and monthly variations in the major primary and secondary pollutants. Distribution levels of these pollutants relative to wind direction and speed have also been used in the analysis. The results show large diurnal variations in some pollutant concentrations. Generally, two types of concentration variations have been found, depending on whether the species is a primary or a secondary pollutant. Diurnal variations with two maxima were observed in the concentrations of primary pollutants including NO, SO₂, NMHC, CO and suspended dust, whereas a single maximum was observed for secondary pollutants such as O₃ and NO₂. The monthly variations of SO₂ and NO_x showed maximum values during the warm months. However, ozone showed a quite marked seasonal variation with maxima during spring and late summer and a minimum during the early summer. The results also indicated a common source for NO_x, SO₂, NMHC, CO and suspended dust to the North-West (NW) of the monitoring station. Moreover for NO_x and SO₂, another less significant source is to the South-South-West (SSW) and South-West (SW) of the monitoring station.