Air Quality Assessments

Whether you need to undertake a detailed air quality assessment as part of an Environmental Impact Assessment, a development application for council approval, or simply want to know more about the potential impacts your air emissions can have on the local and regional atmospheric environment, Katestone Environmental can help you.

Typically, an air dispersion modelling study is at the core of most air quality assessments. Katestone Environmental is proficient in the use of many plume dispersion models commonly used in Australia and overseas for a wide variety of applications. We constantly keep up to date on the latest model developments and techniques, and continue to improve our knowledge, skills and tools through our own research and development programs. Our team is an active member of the Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand Modelling Special Interest Group and regularly attends conferences and workshops to keep abreast of advancements in the science and to present papers. Please see our list of publications for recent in-house research and development.

An air quality assessment is a broad term describing a study which aims to answer a wide variety of questions related to the atmospheric environment. The Katestone Environmental team has vast experience in conducting air quality assessments for an even wider range of industries, and has intimate knowledge of the regulatory process which govern these facilities in all states of Australia. Katestone regularly undertakes studies to:

• Assess the suitability of a proposed industrial site on the local airshed.
• Assess the local and regional climate, and the meteorology that affects the dispersion of air pollutants.
• Compile an inventory or estimate emissions.
• Project the impact of emissions through dispersion modelling.
• Analyse and assess the impacts of air pollutants on human health.
• Assess a facility’s greenhouse gas contribution to the atmosphere.
• Determine the risks associated with the vertical plume velocity from a stack on aircraft in the area according to CASA requirements.
• Design and manage field-based air quality monitoring programs.

We can also provide advice to engineers in relation to plant design (stack height selection or pollution control requirements).