Concentration modeling of hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides emitted from cigarette consumption in atmosphere of Isfahan, Iran

Introduction: Although many studies on Isfahan’s air pollution have been done, there is no report about the effects of cigarette consumption in Isfahan. The aims of this study were (a) to find the amount of nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide emitted by cigarette consumption in Isfahan; and (b) to model the distribution of such pollutants in Isfahan’s atmosphere. Materials and methods: Based on the literature, it is assumed that 15% of Isfahan’s people consume cigarettes and each smoker on average smokes 1,147 cigarettes per year. Based on these assumptions, the 249,000 smokers living in Isfahan consume 285,000,000 cigarettes per year. The amount of pollutant emissions was calculated by existing emission factors for cigarette consumption. Finally, the distribution of the emitted pollutants from cigarette consumption in Isfahan’s atmosphere was modeled using AERMOD. Results: The results illustrated that each year, 2.85 kg nitrogen oxides, 2.85 kg hydrocarbons, 37.05 kg carbon monoxide and 142.5 kg carbon dioxide are emitted into Isfahan’s atmosphere from residents’ smoking. The modeling of pollutants’ dispersion in Isfahan’s atmosphere showed that only some of these pollutants result from cigarette consumption. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that the amount of pollutants emitted by cigarette consumption was negligible compared to the other pollutant sources in Isfahan.