Measurement and evaluation of noise levels inside and outside the industrial area of Ferronikeli

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-2100052/v2

Download PDF

Research Article

Measurement and evaluation of noise levels inside and outside the industrial area of Ferronikeli

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2100052/v2

This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License

Version 2

posted

You are reading this latest preprint version

The increasing awareness of the public of environmental issues such as CO₂ emissions, carbon footprints and waste recycling has brought the issue of environmental noise to the fore.

Many of the demands of modern society result in the creation of noise sources such as larger airports, additional power stations or heavy industry and higher road traffic levels. In addition, the expansion of towns and cities, driven by the demand for housing, has often resulted in the development of land near existing noise sources. These trends have meant that many more industries are now required to monitor their environmental noise impact.

Environmental noise, caused by traffic, industrial and recreational activities, is one of the main local environmental problems in many countries of Europe and the source of an increasing number of complaints from the public.

Generally, however, action to reduce environmental noise has had a lower priority than that taken to address other environmental problems such as air and water pollution.

In the past, the noise generated by different sources, including industries, was not as obvious in trends within Kosovo Country. Gllogoc is a town that is a part of the Pristina region, located in the central part of the Republic of Kosovo. In this town the smelter plant ‘NewCo Ferronikeli’ which is well known as an industrial complex for ferronickel alloy production is located.

This study was a simple assessment of the noise levels around the NewCo Ferronikeli company. However, this study is based on the Directive 2002/49/EC of The European Parliament and of the Council of 25 June 2002 relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise.

Environmental Engineering

environmental noise

Ferronikeli plant

sound meter

Testo 815

Environmental noise has been defined as any unwanted sound created by human activities that is considered harmful or detrimental to human health and quality of life (Murphy et al., 2009). In urban areas, unwanted sounds (environmental noise) come overwhelmingly from road-based transportation but rail-based, airport transportation and industrial noise are also important sources (Enda Murphy & Eoin A. King et al. 2014). In the European Union (EU), problems with noise pollution have often been given similar concern ratings as those for global warming (CALM, 2007). In fact, the results from the environmental burden of disease in Europe project show that traffic noise was ranked second among the selected environmental stressors evaluated in terms of their public health impact in six European countries (WHO, 2011), indicating the heightened awareness among the general public about noise pollution as an environmental issue. Moreover, a recent Eurobaro-meter survey showed that 44% of Europeans believe that noise affects human health to a ‘large extent’, an increase of 3% since 2006 (European Commission, 2010)

Noise pollution is defined as distressing noise that may harm the physical/mental activity of human beings as well as animal life. Currently, the matter of noise pollution is of prime concern. The objective of the presented paper is to create awareness among educated people and spread the knowledge information about noise pollution. (Deepak Jhanwar et al. 2016).

In the EU countries, the noise impact of large industrial sites is regulated under Council Directive 96/61/EC, which is more commonly known as the IPPC Directive (Official Journal of the EU, 1996). This has been recently codified as Directive 2008/1/EC (recast as Directive 2010/75/EU), which includes all of the previous amendments as well as adaptations. The purpose of the directive is to control the impact of industry on the environment outside of the facility. The directive applies to all new sites and existing sites will have had to have been included by 2007. The directive covers all aspects of ‘pollution’ in the industrial context from the sites including gases, solids, liquids, noise, vibration and the use of raw materials (Official Journal of the EU, 2010). The most recent policy document focusing on environmental noise is Toward a Comprehensive Noise Strategy (Guarinoni et al., 2012). In response to a rising evidence base suggesting health effects associated with excessive noise pollution, the EU passed Directive 2002/49/EC, also known as the END (EU, 2002).

Industrial noise

Industrial noise can be anything from the noise emitted from steel making plants, coal fired power stations, car assembly plants, furniture-making workshops, train depots or the loading and unloading of trucks at a distribution center. Other activities can be classified as industrial activities or even their own subset of industrial activities, such as mineral extraction sites (Enda Murphy & Eoin A. King et al. 2014).

Noise is found almost everywhere. Some industrial locations have even louder continuous noise. Noise corresponds to undesired sound and any needless disturbance within a useful frequency band. The generation of most of the noise in the world is mainly caused by industrial machines, transportation systems etc. as well as indoor noise generated by machines (especially in some workplaces), building activities, domestic appliances and music performances (Deepak Jhanwar et al. 2016).

Dose–response curves for industrial noise have not been developed to the same extent as those for transportation noise. This is probably because industrial noise is less widespread than transportation noise, and industrial activities vary significantly from site to site which makes it more difficult to establish a stable dose–response relationship (Berry and Porter, 2004). However, we know from previous research that industrial noise is more annoying than transportation noise at equivalent noise levels (Miedema, 1992).

In truth, the level of annoyance from an industrial noise source can be increased by a wide variety of factors, some of which are related to the noise content (tonality, impulsiveness, intermittency, low-frequency content) while others are related to factors outside of traditional acoustic considerations. A 2003 study in the Netherlands compared noise annoyance from shunting yards (a seasonal industry) and other industries (Miedema and Vos, 2004).

Furthermore, aversion to the industry itself, in terms of people’s perceptions of it, may increase the overall level of annoyance associated with it (Crichton et al., 2013).

Type of system and noise parameters that required to be measured

In simplistic terms, there are two types of noise monitoring systems. The first is a real-time control system that uses the noise levels from remote locations to allow the operators to take immediate action. This type of system is commonly used where the noise levels from a facility are consistent but there are situations where higher noise levels may occur. Venting of steam or lighting stack flares is some examples of this. In this type of system having access to the noise levels as they occur is essential. However, it may also be useful to have historical and trend data available for reporting and complaint handling. The second type of system could be considered to be ‘on-demand’. In this type of system, which is more typical of airport noise monitoring where the monitoring locations are often remote from the control location and where it is not essential to have the noise information in real-time, the noise monitors can be connected using landline or GSM modems (J. Tingay et al. 2006).

One of the most important aspects that must be considered is what information is required from the system and how will be communicated to any regulatory authorities or third-party stakeholders. This must be specified at the start of the development, as modern noise monitors can measure, record and report noise levels in a wide range of ways.

For applications where noise events are not the focus, and this is typical of noise monitoring at industrial sites and power stations, longer-term noise data measured over specific periods can be used. This type of data will produce more information but this can be used to create graphs and reports showing noise trend data (J. Tingay et al. 2006).

Survival in the environment

The general purpose of noise measurements and surveys is to provide an objective description of the acoustic environment surrounding a particular activity that is emitting noise (Noise measurement procedures manual, 2008). Many large industrial sites will already have weather measurement capabilities. Where there are fumes, gases or dust being produced, information about the prevailing wind direction and wind speed are essential. However, for locations where this information is not already available, the measurement of environmental conditions, such as wind speed and direction, can be very useful (J. Tingay et al. 2006).

Although the microphones used with a permanent noise monitoring system would include a windshield and rain shield of some form, there is a point at which the noise generated by wind hitting the windshield may be higher than the actual noise being measured. Heavy rainfall can also increase the overall noise levels, particularly where the noise monitor is located near trees. The weather conditions that a system will be used in should be considered when specifying the type of equipment to be used (J. Tingay et al. 2006).

Study area

The study area was established at designated points outside and inside the plant, as shown in table 1 and table 2. NewCo Ferronikeli in the frame of its internal monitoring has wished to have an overview of the noise levels inside and outside the plant and at the local Çikatova mine. This assessment was performed in July 2017 using the sound meter ‘Testo 815’ for measurement realization. During this measurement of the environmental noise, we took advantage of the equipment (sound meter) to check places inside the plant with potentially high levels of noise.

The noise monitoring is based on the following steps: site selection criteria, selection of noise level meter, calibration, monitoring time, monitoring parameters, monitoring protocols, monitoring records, monitoring data submission, and monitoring inferences.

Location of the measurements

Choosing a suitable location can often be difficult. What would appear to be the best “acoustic” position that may not be suitable in terms of access for both installation and servicing? During this assessment the locations are chosen as fellows:

a) Outside of the limit of the plant - Measurements were done in priority in the sensitive areas, meaning the area with houses and during the measurement as taken care of the absence of potential obstacles for sound propagation such as walls or trees;

b) Inside the plant - Measurements were done on the facade at a 15 m distance.

Noise indicator and measurement

The target of this study was to have a first assessment of the noise levels inside and outside the company (E. Atmaca et al. 2005). All measurements were performed in dB(A). It is known that these measurements will need to be repeated using Leq as a noise indicator. However, the equipment used is not performing this integration. As mentioned above, this was the first assessment and later more specific measurements are performed which will be presented in further scientific papers.

For each measurement the coordinates of places (x, y) are noted, and are taken into consideration the weather conditions and the working operations of the plant. An instant level of noise was used, with the function ‘slow’ of the sound meter.

Working conditions of the factory and meteorological conditions:

- The weather was hot (approximately 30°C) with a wind from very light to null, mainly blowing from the northeast,

- When the wind was present its speed and direction in the measurement were noted to apply a correction to the results.

The plant was operating, with two rotary kilns and one electric furnace.

Categories of noise emissions - The activity of Ferronikeli does not generate noise with an impulsive character. The noise is a light background in the low frequency. This perceived noise is not disturbing as could be ‘high frequency’ noises. Moreover, this noise is continuous noise caused by the work of the ventilators. It is usually better perceived than similar noises that are punctual, breaking the noise environment.

The main potential sources of noise from the plant are:

The ventilator of the converter for the gas cleaning system,
Compressor for the sanitary water treatment plant,
Ventilator for the electrostatic precipitator from the rotary kilns,
Electric station.

Data collected during this study are presented in Tables 1 and 2 and schematically in Figures 1 and 2, below:

Table 1: Measurements outside of the factory (environmental noise)

Figure 1: Environmental noise and indication of the sensible areas (houses)

The maximum level of noise measured in the sensible area (house) was 53 dB(A), in the southern part of the plant, in the new settlement of houses at the top of the hill, westside of the slag disposal.

These houses are exposed directly to the sound from the ventilator of the converter. There is no obstacle to the propagation of sound.

However, these levels of noise are acceptable regarding the admitted guideline values for noise exposition. The US EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency) gives in the document ‘Protective noise levels’[1] that indicates that this level is suitable for ‘wooded residential’.

Another indication found about guideline values for noise exposition (State of California) indicates that ‘noises level less than 60 Ldn are acceptable for all land uses, including residences, schools, and other noise sensitive receptors’[2].

Figure 2: Environmental level of noise and sensitive areas

The first houses are located 400 meters from the ventilator of the converter. If we consider a sound level of 80 dB(A) at 15 meters from this main source of noise, the theoretical level of noise is 50 dB(A) at 400 meters. The measured levels of noise are within this theoretical figure (figure 3).

Figure 3: Theoretical abatement of the noise function from the distance

Table 2: Measurement results within the limits of the factory

Figure 4: Noise levels within the limits of the plant

Within the limits of the plant (figure 4 above), the primary source of noise is the ventilator for the quencher scrubber from the converter, while as secondary and more local sources of noises could be noted the sanitary water plant and the electric station.

Measurement of the noise inside the building

These measurements are only an indication of the noise in a few working positions. These measurements are shown only as indicators as a first approach (table 3).

Table 3: Measurement of noise level within the working places

Working place	Instant noise dB(A)
Crusher ground level	79
Rotary-kiln 4^th floor (belt feeding bunker)	81
Inside the steam station	72
Office of the steam station	50
Hall converter	81

The European (Directive 2003/10/EC) guideline value is 87 dB(A). These measurements will need to be confirmed, but as a first approach, we could say that noise exposure at the workplace is not a major issue for Ferronikeli.

[1] http://www.ci.banning.ca.us/DocumentView.asp?DID=527

[2] http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/environment/info/aspen/diablocanyon/deir/d09_noise.pdf

From the data evaluation of noise presented in this study, it could be concluded that the noise levels for the environment surrounding the Ferronikeli plant remain at very acceptable levels. Houses that are in close surroundings are the most exposed (south part of the plant) and have noise levels of approximately 53 dB(A), which are similar to a ‘wooded residential area’. These levels do not justify the installation of the sound attenuator, while the main source of noise is the ventilator for the converter and the compressor for the sanitary water treatment plant is also a source of noise, even if it remains locally. Additionally, the noise exposure at the working places is within an acceptable level.

“All authors have read, understood, and have complied as applicable with the statement on "Ethical responsibilities of Authors" as found in the Instructions for Authors”

Competing Interest statement:

No, I declare that the author has no competing interests as defined by Springer or other interests that might be perceived to influence the results and/or discussion reported in this paper.

Ensure a Data Availability statement:

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article (and its supplementary information files).

Ensure a Funding statement:

No funding was received for conducting this study

The country information should be provided for all authors in the title page:

Kosovo (or Republic of Kosovo)

Berry, B., Porter, N., 2004. Review and analysis of published research into the adverse effects of industrial noise, in support of the revision of planning guidance. Final Report. Defra Ref. NANR 5.

CALM, 2007. Research for a quieter Europe in 2020. Strategy paper of the 519 CALM II network. European Commission, Brussels.

Council Directive 96/61/EC of 24 September 1996 concerning integrated pollution prevention and control. Official Journal of the European Union, No. L 257/26

Crichton F, Dodd G, Schmid G, Gamble G, Petrie KJ. Can expectations produce symptoms from infrasound associated with wind turbines. Health Psychol. 2013 Mar 11; doi:10.1037/a0031760 [Epub ahead of print].

Deepak Jhanwar, “Noise Pollution: A Review.” Journal of Environment Pollution and Human Health, vol. 4, no. 3 (2016): 72-77. DOI: 10.12691/jephh-4-3-3.

Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control) – Recast, Official Journal of the European Union, No. L 334/17.

E. Atmaca, I. Peker, A. Altin - Industrial Noise and Its Effects on Humans, Article in Polish Journal of Environmental Studies, Vol 14, no. 6 (721-726), January 2005.

Enda Murphy, Eoin A. King - Environmental Noise Pollution, Elsevier, 2014, Pages 51-80, ISBN 9780124115958, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-411595-8.00003-3.

Environment Division - Noise measurement procedures manual, Second Edition, July 2008, Department of Environment, Parks, Heritage and the Arts GPO Box 1751, Hobart Tasmania 7001, Australia (ISBN: 13- 978-0-9805182-1-4)

European Commission, 2010. Special Eurobarometer 347 on Electromagnetic Fields. Available here: http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_347_en.pdf.

European Union, 2002. Directive 2002/49/EC relating to the Assessment and Management of Environmental Noise, Official Journal European Commun., No. L 189.

Guarinoni M, Ganzleben C, Murphy E, Jurkiewicz K. Toward a Comprehensive Noise Strategy. Brussels: European Union; 2012.

James Tingay - Continuous Noise Monitoring for Environmental Applications (Article 2), Group Marketing Manager, Cirrus Research plc, North Yorkshire, UK. 2006.

Miedema, H., 1992. Response functions for environmental noise in residential areas. TNO-PG. NIPG report, 92.021, Leiden.

Miedema H, Vos H. Noise annoyance from stationary sources: relationships with exposure metric day-evening-night level (DENL) and their confidence intervals. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 2004;116(1):334–343.

Murphy E, King EA, Rice HJ. Estimating human exposure to transport noise in central Dublin, Ireland. Environ. Int. 2009;35(2):298–302.

WHO. Burden of Disease from Environmental Noise. Copenhagen: World Health Organization; 2011.

Table 1: Measurements outside of the factory (environmental noise)

ID	Place	X	Y	Sources	dB(A
1	Gate truck	7 492 503	4 722 674	Dumper and trucks	37
2	Bridge channel pool	7 492 257	4 722 890	Converter	44
3	Emergency water pipe	7 491 768	4 722 959	Converter	42
4	Road behind electric station	7 491 512	4 722 901	Converter + traffic	50
5	Road behind magnetic separation	7 491 320	4 722 346	Converter	51
6	Road in front of cooling tower	7 491 526	4 722 152	Converter & water & putox	56
7	Road in front of cooling tower 2	7 491 768	4 722 131	Putox + water	68
8	Barracks	7 492 088	4 722 114	Converter	48
9	Main gate	7 492 396	4 722 088	Converter	42
10	House South East	7 492 279	4 721 828	Converter	44
11	Village South East	7 492 489	4 721 695	Converter	44
12	Village South East top	7 492 510	4 721 910	Converter	49
13	New houses South	7 492 040	4 721 958	Converter & Putox	48
14	Behind barracks, old putox	7 491 728	4 722 009	Converter & Putox & water	53
15	Road behind barracks	7 491 465	4 721 921	Converter	53
16	Road to Gllogoc	7 491 246	4 721 719	Converter	41
17	Gllogoc - market Ardi	7 491 045	4 721 329	Converter	40
18	Gllogoc	7 490 840	4 721 305	City	47
19	Fire station of Gllogoc	7 490 054	4 721 726	City	42
20	West water pool	7 491 648	4 723 432	Traffic	32
21	Village 'Çikatova'	7 491 461	4 723 608	Converter	34
22	School and graveyard	7 491 834	4 723 937	-	33
23	North West	7 492 311	4 724 019	Village	35
24	Above Çikatova mine 1	7 492 786	4 724 076	-	38
25	Above Çikatova mine 2	7 493 125	4 724 282	Dumper & mining	56
26	Village West Çikatova after valley	7 493 754	4 724 484	-	31
27	Village North Çikatova	7 494 233	4 723 690	-	26
28	Village between mine and slag	7 493 313	4 723 130	Village	35
29	Houses bottom slag disposal North	7 492 838	4 722 793	Village	39
30	Road between smelter and mine	7 492 588	4 723 095	-	34
31	Top of the village water pool	7 492 329	4 723 120	Converter	32
32	Gate mine Çikatova	7 492 563	4 723 372	-	37
33	Slag disposal top	7 493 074	4 722 330	Converter	33
34	Gllogoc 1	7 491 344	4 720 981	City	38
35	Gllogoc 2	7 491 495	4 721 087	City	39
36	Gllogoc 3	7 491 763	4 721 079	Converter	37
37	Mosque of Gllogoc	7 492 087	4 721 016	Village	36
38	Market cooling tower	7 491 978	4 121 423	Converter & traffic	41
39	Private house	7 492 680	4 721 565	-	32
40	Water channel top slag	7 492 614	4 721 933	-	41
41	West magnetic separator	7 491 262	4 722 071	Converter	49
42	Open field West 1	7 490 940	4 722 193	Converter	48
43	Open field West 2	7 490 791	4 722 266	Converter	41
44	Open field West 3	7 490 913	4 722 228	Converter	44
45	Open field West 4	7 490 916	4 722 368	Converter	47
46	Open field West 5	7 490 736	4 722 438	Converter	42
47	Open field West 6	7 490 733	4 722 474	Converter	41

Table 2 : Measurement results within the limits of the factory

ID	Place	X	Y	Sources	dB(A)
1	Restaurant	7 492 090	4 722 466	Converter	55
2	Bunker feeding ore	7 491 982	4 722 526	Converter	52
3	Crusher department	7 491 888	4 722 741	Ventilator crusher	59
4	Main chimney ESP	7 491 733	4 722 631	ESP	65
5	Ventilator ESP	7 491 737	4 722 614	ESP	77
6	In front of ESP 100 m	7 491 723	4 722 642	ESP	61
7	Gate of electric station	7 491 682	4 722 685	-	54
8	Lignite department	7 491 751	4 722 739	-	52
9	Electric station 1	7 491 658	4 722 759	ESP & transformator	56
10	Electric station 2	7 491 638	4 722 816	Transformator	59
11	Electric station 3	7 491 536	4 722 822	Transformator	58
12	Electric station 4	7 491 512	4 722 722	ESP	51
13	Looking the chimney and RK	7 491 612	4 722 632	-	58
14	Below RK (1 working)	7 491 714	4 722 550	-	72
15	Compressor station	7 491 968	4 722 485	Compressor	63
16	Steam plant	7 492 057	4 722 373	-	62
17	Façade hall EF	7 491 869	4 722 428	-	63
18	Façade stack converter	7 491 691	4 722 362	-	83
19	Water department pump	7 491 763	4 722 207	-	69
20	Sanitary plant	7 491 764	4 722 198	-	67
21	Cooling tower East	7 491 824	4 722 191	-	71
22	Open space	7 491 859	4 722 238	-	56
23	Cooling tower West	7 491 602	4 722 186	-	74
24	Magnetic separator	7 491 426	4 722 413	-	60
25	West EF	7 491 508	4 722 503	Crusher	68
26	West EF with crusher	7 491 507	4 722 512	Crusher	72

Download PDF

Version 2

posted

You are reading this latest preprint version

Measurement and evaluation of noise levels inside and outside the industrial area of Ferronikeli

Status:

Version 2

Abstract

Figures

Introduction

Materials And Methods

Results

Conclusions

Declarations

References

Tables

Status:

Version 2