Articles | Volume 14, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-975-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-975-2021
Research article
 | 
09 Feb 2021
Research article |  | 09 Feb 2021

Use of an unmanned aircraft system to quantify NOx emissions from a natural gas boiler

Brian Gullett, Johanna Aurell, William Mitchell, and Jennifer Richardson

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Revised manuscript has not been submitted

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Cited articles

Aurell, J., Mitchell, W., Chirayath, V., Jonsson, J., Tabor, D., and Gullett, B.: Field determination of multipollutant, open area combustion source emission factors with a hexacopter unmanned aerial vehicle, Atmos. Environ., 166, 433–440, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2017.07.046, 2017. 
Brady, J. M., Stokes, M. D., Bonnardel, J., and Bertram, T. H.: Characterization of a Quadrotor Unmanned Aircraft System for Aerosol-Particle-Concentration Measurements, Environ. Sci. Technol., 50, 1376–1383, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b05320, 2016. 
Chang, C.-C., Wang, J.-L., Chang, C.-Y., Liang, M.-C., and Lin, M.-R.: Development of a multicopter-carried whole air sampling apparatus and its applications in environmental studies, Chemosphere, 144, 484–492, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2015.08.028, 2016. 
Craft, T. L., Cahill, C. F., and Walker, G. W.: Using an Unmanned Aircraft to Observe Black Carbon Aerosols During a Prescribed Fire at the RxCADRE Campaign, 2014 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, 27–30 May 2014, Orlando, FL, USA, 2014. 
Gullett, B.: Dow UAS NOx Stack Boiler Emissions [Data set], U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development (ORD), https://doi.org/10.23719/1520733, 2021. 
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Short summary
Aerial emission sampling of four natural gas boiler stack plumes was conducted using an unmanned aerial system (UAS) equipped with a lightweight sensor–sampling system for nitrogen oxide pollutant measurements. The results were compared to simultaneous measurements from the stacks using conventional gas extraction methods. The emission values between the two methods varied by less than 6 %, demonstrating the accuracy of UAS-based pollutant measurements against a known source concentration.