AERMOD Air Dispersion Modelling in Hyderabad & Telangana

AERMOD Studies for Hyderabad and Telangana Projects

Hyderabad combines two very different sources of air modelling work. The northern and western industrial belt holds one of India's largest concentrations of bulk drug and active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing, while the western corridor of the city produces a constant flow of residential and commercial towers that need environmental clearance. Across Telangana there are also coal mines and thermal power stations in the Godavari valley and a cement belt in the south east of the state.

DSTechnoverse runs regulatory AERMOD studies for these projects from Indore, Madhya Pradesh, working online with plant teams, developers and Hyderabad based EIA consultancies. Each study is written for the body that will read it, whether that is the State Expert Appraisal Committee, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, or the Telangana Pollution Control Board. Our AERMOD air dispersion modelling service page describes the general method.

TGPCB Consent and Telangana SEIAA/SEAC Requirements

The state regulator is the Telangana Pollution Control Board. It was referred to as TSPCB for its first decade, and recent official filings use the abbreviation TGPCB following the state's change of abbreviation from TS to TG. The board grants Consent for Establishment and Consent for Operation under the Air and Water Acts and monitors compliance in the industrial clusters around Hyderabad.

Category B projects under the EIA Notification 2006, including most building and township projects, are appraised by the State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) Telangana and cleared by the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) Telangana. Synthetic organic chemicals and bulk drug units are a closely regulated sector, and many are appraised at central level as category A. In both routes, Terms of Reference generally ask for incremental ground level concentrations from an approved model such as AERMOD, added to baseline values and compared with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.

Stack height is a frequent point of discussion in Telangana appraisals, particularly for boilers in pharma units that sit close to taller process buildings. We calculate stack heights using the CPCB formula, check for building downwash with BPIP, and show whether a taller stack would materially reduce ground level concentrations at the nearest receptors.

Hyderabad Bulk Drug and API Clusters We Model

The pharmaceutical and chemical belt north and north west of Hyderabad, in Sangareddy and Medchal-Malkajgiri districts, includes Patancheru, Pashamylaram, Bollaram, Jeedimetla, Gaddapotharam, Kazipally and Bachupally. Typical sources in these units are:

• Coal, biomass or briquette fired boilers and thermic fluid heaters, often with multiple stacks per plant
• Process vents and scrubber outlets releasing HCl, ammonia, SO2, VOCs and solvent vapours
• Incinerators and solvent recovery systems in larger API plants
• DG sets for standby power and fugitive emissions from tank farms and effluent handling

1. 1Collect stack monitoring reports, fuel consumption and production figures for existing blocks
2. 2Estimate process vent emissions from mass balance or scrubber design data for new products
3. 3Model the existing and proposed configurations separately so the expansion increment is clear
4. 4Report results for each pollutant at the plant boundary and at nearby villages or housing colonies

Patancheru, Bollaram and Cumulative Impact in Telangana

Patancheru-Bollaram was identified by the Central Pollution Control Board as a critically polluted industrial cluster in its Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index assessment of 2009 to 2010, and remained in the critically polluted category in CPCB's 2018 reassessment. Projects in and around such clusters face closer scrutiny, and appraisal committees expect expansion studies to show how the new increment adds to an already loaded airshed.

That means careful baseline selection, inclusion of neighbouring stacks where data can be obtained, and clear presentation of short term and annual results. Odour complaints are also common near bulk drug units, so we often add an odour or specific pollutant assessment. See our guides on modelling pharmaceutical and chemical plants and cumulative air quality impact assessment.

The state has also planned a large integrated pharmaceutical park, known as Hyderabad Pharma City, on the southern side of the metropolitan region, and its scope and layout have been revisited by the state government. Whatever form new pharma zones take, individual units within them will still need their own stack and process emission studies.

Real Estate EC in Hyderabad's Western Corridor

Gachibowli, Kokapet, Narsingi, Financial District, Tellapur, Kondapur and the Outer Ring Road belt see many high rise residential and commercial projects. Under item 8(a) of the EIA Notification 2006, projects with 20,000 m² to 1,50,000 m² built-up area need environmental clearance, and item 8(b) covers townships and area development of 50 ha or 1,50,000 m² and above.

For these projects we model standby DG sets, with stack heights checked against the CPCB formula, and construction phase dust from excavation, material handling and haul roads. Tall towers can cause building downwash for podium or rooftop stacks, so we run BPIP where needed. Our articles on environmental consultants for construction and real estate and stack height calculation under CPCB guidelines give more detail.

The western corridor also has a particular planning context: many projects sit close to other large towers that are under construction at the same time, along with arterial roads carrying heavy traffic. Baseline monitoring near the site therefore matters, and the study should present the project increment separately from background so that SEAC Telangana can see what the project itself contributes. We also show the worst case grid outage scenario with all DG sets running, which is what committees usually ask about first.

Telangana Power, Coal and Cement Projects

Relevant guides include dispersion modelling for thermal power plants, air quality modelling for mining projects and air quality modelling for the cement industry.

For power and cement projects the key pollutants are particulates, SO2 and NOx, with NO2 derived from modelled NOx using an appropriate conversion method. Results are compared with the 24 hour and annual standards, and for expansions the existing units are modelled alongside the new ones so the combined effect on surrounding villages is clear.

• Ramagundam and Peddapalli: large coal fired power generation and Singareni coal mining, with tall stacks, FGD scenarios and fugitive dust from coal handling
• Kothagudem, Manuguru and Bhadradri Kothagudem district: thermal power and opencast coal mines, where haul roads, blasting and overburden dumps are modelled as area and volume sources
• Nalgonda and Suryapet: the limestone and cement belt, with kiln, cooler, raw mill and coal mill stacks plus quarry and crusher dust
• Other districts: sugar mills, distilleries, rice mills, granite processing and waste processing facilities

Deccan Plateau Weather and Terrain Around Hyderabad

Hyderabad lies on the Deccan plateau at around 500 m above sea level, on granite terrain with scattered rocky hills and lakes. Much of the city is gently undulating, but boulder hills and ridges near some sites can bring elevated receptors close to stacks, so we check SRTM elevation data and run AERMAP when relief is significant. In the Godavari valley around Ramagundam and Kothagudem, the river valley, mine benches and dumps add further terrain detail.

The climate is semi arid with a hot summer, the south west monsoon from June to September, and a dry winter. Winds are mainly westerly in the monsoon and turn easterly to north easterly in winter, when calm, stable nights trap emissions from low stacks and ground level fugitive sources. Annual and 24 hour results therefore need a full year of meteorology, not one season alone. Short term peaks from DG sets and fugitive dust often occur in these stable winter hours.

Meteorological Data for Hyderabad and Telangana Studies

For Hyderabad projects the main surface stations are Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad and Begumpet Airport in the city, and the India Meteorological Department's Meteorological Centre in Hyderabad maintains long term climate records. Projects in Ramagundam, Kothagudem, Nalgonda or other districts use the nearest representative station or on site monitoring collected during the EIA baseline season. We process surface and upper air data with AERMET and document representativeness, as explained in meteorological data for air modelling in India.

Hyderabad is listed under the National Clean Air Programme as a non-attainment city because particulate levels have exceeded the national standards, so baseline PM10 and PM2.5 are significant in every city study. Project increments must be shown alongside these background values.

How DSTechnoverse Can Help in Hyderabad & Telangana

We handle Hyderabad and Telangana projects entirely online from Indore. You share the plot layout, stack and process data, fuel use and baseline monitoring; we agree the scenarios on a call and deliver the emission inventory, AERMOD input and output files, isopleth maps on the site plan, receptor results compared with NAAQS, and a report chapter ready for SEAC, SEIAA, MoEFCC or TGPCB. Hyderabad EIA consultancies can engage us as a white-label modelling partner through our EIA data analysis outsourcing service, and we help answer committee queries afterwards.

Teams that want to run their own screening studies can use AERMOD Studio, our browser based AERMOD software for point sources on flat terrain, available as a personalised version for consultancies. Ask for a free demo or a quotation through our contact page.

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Guides and Resources

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