Numerical Modeling of Metal Pollutant Dispersion from the Khatunabad Smelting Chimney Using Satellite Images and the ERA Database

The chemical pollutants and particulate matter resulting from the copper smelting process have severe impacts on air quality and human health. In this context, modeling air pollution from copper smelting plants has been recognized as a powerful tool for analyzing and predicting the dispersion of pollutants and assessing their effects on the environment and public health. This study aims to present optimization and control methods for mitigating air pollution from copper smelting plants and to examine the impacts of the Khatunabad smelting plant on the climatic parameters of the Khatunabad plain. The climatic parameters such as temperature, precipitation, soil moisture, and wind, derived from the ERA5-Land database, along with vegetation data from MODIS sensors, were analyzed in the Khatunabad plain. Subsequently, the dispersion of pollutants emitted from the Khatunabad smelting plant's chimney was modeled using climatic data and the AERMOD software. The results indicated that the concentration and behavior of pollutants were strongly correlated with wind components. Therefore, modeling the behavior of pollutants while accounting for wind patterns at different hours, months, and seasons can serve as an effective tool for analyzing and predicting the dispersion of pollutants from the copper smelting plant in the Khatunabad plain. The maximum concentration of total suspended particulate matter in this modeling was estimated at 0.48 μg/m³, while the maximum concentration of SO2 was estimated at 0.95 μg/m³. Additionally, based on the modeling results, the highest accumulation of pollution was observed in the northeastern and southwestern sections of the plant.