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Research

Air Quality & Emissions Control

Air Quality & Emissions Control

Group Introduction

The Air Quality Research group at TAMUK comprises of more than twenty graduate undergraduate students. There are several areas of air quality research currently underway in the Department of Environmental Engineering at Texas A&M University - Kingsville.

The South Texas Environmental Institute at Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK) and BioReaction Industries LLC (BRI) are applying an innovative biological treatment to treat these emissions and are evaluating the potential of this approach to resolve these control issues which are critical to the industry.

Our Mission

The Air Quality Group's vision is to provide leadership and coordination in the development of issues concerning the quality of ground-level air quality, and provide support in the application of techniques for the collection, analysis, and interpretation of air quality data.

The new biological treatment technology project is funded by U.S. DOE and will demonstrate significantly lower energy use (than regenerative thermal oxidizers (RTOs) or regenerative catalytic oxidizers (RCOs), lower water use (than conventional scrubbers) all the while being less costly than either for maintenance.

Research Projects

Air Monitoring

The group is involved in the monitoring of ground-level air pollutants and meteorological parameters in South Texas. Measurements of

  • Ozone
  • Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx and NOy)
  • Volatile Organic Compounds
  • Fine Particulate Matters
  • Aerosol Composition
  • Carbon Monoxide
  • Meteorological Fields

Air Quality Modeling

The Air Quality Modeling and Forecasting projects include:

  • WRF Meteorological Modeling
  • SMOKE Emission Modeling
  • CMAQ-DDM Air Quality Modeling & Sensitivity Analysis
  • CALPUFF Modeling
  • AERMOD Modeling
  • Receptor (CMB and PMF) Modeling

Emissions Inventory Development

Air Quality Data Analysis

Data analysis projects include:

  • Kolmogorov-Zurbenko Filtering Technique
  • Air Trajectory Analysis
  • Trend Analysis
  • Atmospheric Chemical Composition
  • Stochastic Process Analysis
  • Meteorological Analysis

Group Members

Dr. David Ramirez

Associate Professor and Interim Chair of Environmental Engineering
Air Quality Engineering Research, Emissions Control Research
Phone    : (361)593-2096
Fax        : (361)593-2069
E-mail    : kfdr000@tamuk.edu