Why are some industrial chimneys so high, like what’s the difference if it’s 150 or 300 meters?
In: Engineering
First reason is that industrial chimneys, especially flare stacks that are used to burn off excess chemicals that for whatever reason cant be safely stored at the moment, release stuff into the environment which may be toxic. So the higher you make the chimney, the more the wind will scatter it and wider an area those chemicals will cover. Initially that might seem bad, but it means the concentration of the chemical will be lower in the affected environment which minimizes harmful impact.
Second is that taller chimneys are just more effective at moving air thanks to the Stack Effect. Chimneys act as insulation to the outside air, meaning the air inside is (typically) warmer than the air outside and warmer air rises. The more chimney you have, the more warm air you have rising up it, which causes more suction to draw air into the bottom of it. This might be desirable for a number of reasons, like say if you have a furnace at the bottom you’d otherwise need to pump air into to maintain operating temperatures.
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