Plumecast - Odour and Dust Nuisance
Using Plumecast for applications dealing with odour or dust nuisance has major advantages over other techniques and models in addition to the increased accuracy and credibility that follows from using real sensor data. The Plumecast algorithms do not need any information on amount of material released (which is often unknown and changing) but instead gives regions where material has, or has not, travelled. This makes it much more reliable than other systems that merely give a distribution of relative concentration. Relative concentration is often very unhelpful as it may identify areas as being at risk that are in fact safe or mark areas that that are unaffected as being contaminated.
Real time decision-making
Plumecast software can take wind sensor data in real-time and use it to give an accurate indication of where any release might go. Site operators can use this operationally when planning activities that could result in a release
Analysing past events
The Plumecast model can be run on suitable recorded wind data in a suitable form collected previously. The Plumecast analysis is a powerful tool for establishing if nuisance from dust or odour is possible at a given receptor site. The fact that it is based on an actual run of wind gives it great credibility.
Plumecast can be run based either on a known or suspected source location or based on a known receptor site. If the latter it will identify a sector within which the source must be located.
The image shows a typical map that could be produced to show where material has travelled over a given time.
Note this map, unlike conventional dispersion mapping, is not limited by assumptions on the amount of material released, or even what is released.
