Publication: An assessment of national sulphur dioxide (so2) monitoring network in Malaysia
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Date
2011-05-01
Authors
Mohammad Asri, Nor Shuhada
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Abstract
The ambient air quality in Malaysia is monitored continuously and manually by the Department of Environment (DOE) to detect any changes in the ambient air quality status that may cause harm to human health and the environment. The DOE monitor the air quality through a network of 51 Continuous Air Quality Monitoring (CAQM) stations located in residential, traffic and industrial areas throughout the country. This study is to analyze the SO2 concentrations at five different areas which are Jerantut, Melaka, Nilai, Pasir Gudang and Perai in 2006 and 2007. CAQM station in Melaka located at residential areas while CAQM stations in Nilai, Pasir Gudang and Perai located at the industrial areas. The results from the analysis using SPSS software were plotted in the graphs to compare the SO2 concentrations at each CAQM stations. From the descriptive statistics, Perai had the highest SO2 concentrations in 2006 while in 2007 Pasir Gudang had the highest SO2 concentrations which were 0.024 ppm and 0.0283 ppm respectively. For the mean SO2 concentrations, Nilai contributed highest concentrations in 2006 while Pasir Gudang contributed the highest concentrations in 2007. All the daily SO2 concentration does not exceed the limit of Ambient Air Quality Guideline which is 0.04 ppm for 24 hours. The sources of pollutant mostly came from industrial activities. Stationary sources were the major sources which are power plants, industrial fuel burning processes and domestic fuel burning. The other possible sources of air pollution that play important role is wind distribution. After completion of the study, the new reference station for industrial areas is proposed in Perai to assist in policy making in order to control emission from industries activities.