A field study of SO2 oxidation rates in a sour gas plant plume using neutron activation of a gold particulate tracer

A review of the considerable effort that has already been devoted to the problem of the fate of SO2 in the atmosphere from sour gas plants in Alberta indicated that the possible chemical transformation of the SO2 within these plumes had not been examined. An investigation has therefore been undertaken of the chemistry of sour gas plant plumes, at least for the small-scale dispersion region up to 4km from a stack. It has been found that there is no detectable transformation of the SO2 for these short range dispersion distances, and thus the maximum ground level SO2 concentration from these stacks is not reduced by chemical loss of SO2. A further compelling reason that persuaded us to initiate this exercise is that the only pollutant emitted from a sour gas plant stack is SO2 without a significant loading of particulates or other contaminants. Hopefully, our results may help to unravel the confusing and sometimes conflicting data that have so far been published for the ‘dirty’ plumes from power plants and smelters.