Evaluación del CALPUFF para Estimar Concentraciones Ambientales de PM 10 de una Cantera en Terrenos Complejos

This study evaluates the performance of the CALPUFF model to estimate PM10 environmental concentrations caused by emissions from a quarry located in mountainous terrain in northern Colombia. The pollutant dispersions were simulated for a 22 km x 18 km domain with an approximate resolution of 100 meters. Predictions of the average concentrations of PM10 from the sources to the receptors were 17.50 µg/ m3 (<1km), 4.06 µg/m3 (<2km), 2.16 µg/m3 (<3km) and 0.82 µg/m3 (<6km). Although the model underestimated the concentration, it showed a satisfactory performance and acceptance criteria framed within the statistical indicators used to evaluate environmental models. The model showed an acceptable capacity to estimate PM10 concentrations in complex terrain due to the use of data from meteorological stations near sources, accuracy in the emissions inventory as a function of space-time, location of receptors for model validation and higher resolution of the domain area of the modeling that were not contemplated in previous studies.