Atmospheric pollutants: modeling with Aermod software Joaci dos Santos Cerqueira 1 & Helder Neves de Albuquerque 1 & Francisco de Assis Salviano de Sousa 1 Received: 5 June 2018 /Accepted: 19 September 2018 # Springer Nature B.V. 2018 Abstract In the operation of thermoelectric power plants, fossil fuels are burned, generating air pollutants such as carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxide (NO X ), particulate matter (PM), sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Accordingly, the objective of this study was to simulate the dispersion of atmospheric pollutants from the Borborema S.A thermal power plant, using the Aermod View program as a tool to evaluate the concentrations resulting from the simulation and to make comparisons with allowable levels according to current law. Thus, the emission sources of chimney air pollutants of a thermal power plant in 2016 were evaluated using the Aermod View, Aermet View, and WRPLOT View software. Regarding the pollutants generated, NO x values at 1 h showed NO 2 concentration over the primary and secondary standards allowed by law, with a maximum concentration of 1680 μg/m 3 , about five times higher than the primary standard and eight times the secondary. The simulation indices for the concentrations of PM, SO x , NO x , and CO, even though they are appeared very low, except NO 2 at 1 h, it was observed that these pollutants can affect the health of the local population, fauna and flora, in view of the process of bioaccu- mulation, which is inherent to organisms, which directly or indirectly absorb substances or chemical compounds. Keywords Pollution . Human health . Environmental health . Environmental degradation Introduction Climate changes alter air quality. These changes are directly influenced by changes in the rate of chemical reactions in the planetary boundary layer, which affect the vertical mix of pollutants and changes in the synoptic air flow patterns that govern the transport of pollutants. Indirectly, they result in an increase or decrease in anthropogenic emissions through changes in human behavior or by changes in biogenic emis- sion levels (Ebi and Mcgregor 2008). Thus, air pollution in most countries is worsening, fueled by industrialization and disorderly urbanization, resulting in changes in the environ- ment and causing harm to people’ s health (Yang and Wang 2017). Pollution is one of the most critical problems resulting from industrial civilization, and the most complex of current problems is also the main reason for the 9% increase in all causes of pulmonary and cardiac diseases today (Khodakarami and Ghobadi 2016). Among the pollutants generated by industries, air pollut- ants are the main cause of concern, due to their easy dispersion and difficult retention (Lateb et al. 2015). Emissions from polluting sources are complex and change rapidly in space and time. This is caused by variable emission rates, distance of the source, and ventilation rates, among other factors that have been causing various environmental impacts and damage to the health of living beings, with generally irreversible con- sequences (D’Amato et al. 2015; Laumbach and Kipen 2012). The concentrations of pollutants in the atmosphere depend not only on the quantities emitted by air pollution sources, but also on their ability to dissipate these pollutants, which varies in a spatial and temporal way, causing the pollution pattern to change with time and location (Atash 2007; Cpcb 2009; Gupta and Gupta 2016). Therefore, the release of industrial air pollutants has adverse effects on air quality, since this release can be periodic or continuous, from a point or non-point source or various sources. Thus, dispersal also depends on how they are entering the atmosphere, and the lack of infor- mation on the distribution of pollutants makes it difficult to determine their emissions (Holnicki and Nahorski 2015). In general, precise estimation of these air pollut- ants in industrial areas has always been considered a major step in the decision-making process for the * Joaci dos Santos Cerqueira cerq2006@gmail.com 1 Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG), Post-graduate Program in Natural Resources of the UFCG, Av. Aprígio Veloso, 882, Bairro Universitário, Campina Grande, PB 58429-140, Brazil Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-018-0626-9