WPE: 407

Environmental Studies

Chapter-2: Air Pollution in

Textile

Mohammad Shohag
Lecturer, DoWPE
BUTEX
Chapter Contents:
• What is Air Pollution?
• Sources of Industrial Air Pollution.
• General Control measures of Air Pollution.
• Air Pollutant And Some Common Forms.
• Primary And Secondary Air Pollutant.
• Particulate Pollutant And Their Removal Processes.
• Gaseous Pollutant And Their Removal Processes.
• Air Quality Index(AQI).
• Measure of Air Quality.
 Air Pollution (Definition)
• Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate, gases or
biological material into the atmosphere that cause harm or discomfort to
humans or other living organisms, or damages the natural environment.

• Ambient air is a mixture of gases i.e. 78% Nitrogen, 20% Oxygen, about
1% Argon, 0.03% Carbon dioxide etc. When there is disturbance in the
composition of air due to the particulate matter or gases or other things let
out from the industries into atmosphere, it is considered as Air pollution.
 Air pollution from different textile processing area
Process name Sources Pollutants
Cultivation, preparation, blow-room Dust particle, fine solid particle, projecting fibers
Cotton handling activities
to winding. etc.
Dust particle, fine solid particle, projecting fibers
Fabric Manufacturing Weaving and knitting
etc.

Energy Production Emissions from boiler Nitrous oxides(N2O), Sulphur dioxide(SO2)

Emission from sizing compound

Sizing Nitrogen oxides, Sulphur oxide, carbon monoxide.
(gums, PVA)
Bleaching Emission from chlorine compound Chlorine, Chlorine dioxide

Carriers and solvents may be emitted during dyeing

operations depending on the types of dyeing
processes. Carriers used in batch dyeing of disperse
Disperse dyeing using carrier,
Dyeing dyes may lead to volatilization of aqueous chemical
Sulphur dyeing
emulsions during heat setting, drying, or curing
stages. H2S gas emission from sulfur dyeing causes
serious air pollution.
 Air pollution from different textile processing area
Process Source Pollutant
Printing inks, thickener and washing solvents
(ethanol, methyl acetate, ethyl acetate,
hexane, benzene, toluene, glycols and glycol
ethers etc.) contain volatile organic
compounds (VOCs) and air pollutants (HAPs).
Printing Block, Screen, flexo, gravure printing.
VOCs and HAPs, together with sunlight and
nitrogen oxides, cause photochemical smoke,
air particles and ground level ozone emission
in the atmosphere.

Resin finishing, heat setting of synthetic

Finishing Formaldehyde, lubricating oil
fabrics.
Drying and curing Emission from high temperature Ovens Volatile organic compounds(VOCs)
Chemical storage Emission from storage tank Volatile organic compounds(VOCs)
Volatile Organic Compounds, toxic gases
Waste water treatment Emission from treatment tank and vessels
emission.
 General Control Measures of Air Pollution
Following measures have been suggested to control air pollution-
(i) Some gases, which are more soluble in a particular liquid than air, for example, ammonia
in water, can be separated by dissolving in it.
(ii) Particles larger than 50µm are separated in gravity settling tanks.
(iii) Using cyclone collectors or electrostatic precipitators separate fine particles.
(iv) Fabric filters are used for the filtration of particulate matter like dust, lint and fumes.
(v) Using scrubbers to collect particulate matter.
(vi) The height of chimneys should be increased to the highest possible level (at least 30
meter) to reduce pollution at the ground level.
(vii) SO2 pollution can be controlled by extracting Sulphur from the fuel before use.
(viii) Decreasing emissions of organic solvents by changing to water-based products.
(ix) Optimizing boiler operations to reduce the emissions of nitrous and Sulphur oxides.
(x) Pre-screening chemicals using the material safety data sheets to ensure that chemicals
are not toxic.
xi. Identifying sources of air pollution and quantifying emissions.
xii. Designing and manufacturing products that do not produce toxic or hazardous air
pollutants.
xiii. Avoiding fugitive air emissions from chemical spills through improved work.
xiv. Substitution of raw material that causes more pollution with those that cause less
pollution.
xv. Industries should be located in far places so as to minimize the effects of pollution after
considering the topography and the wind directions.
xvi. Pollution control laws should be enforced strictly.
 Air pollutants
The chemical compounds or any undesirable solid or gaseous particles present
in the air in quantities that are harmful to human health and for the environment
as well as lower the air quality are usually referred to as air pollutants.
These compounds may be found in the air in two major forms: in a gaseous form
(as gases), in a solid form (as particulate matter suspended in the air).

a) Gaseous Pollutants are the harmful gaseous oxides and oxidants includes
the oxides of sulfur, nitrogen, carbon etc.
b) Particulate pollutants refers to all atmospheric substances which are not
gases. It may be solid particles, liquid particles or mixture of both, larger
particles settle down quickly i.e, sand and water droplets whereas small dust
particles remain suspended in air for a long time.
 Sulphur oxides(SO2,SO3) Acid rain

Respiratory
Nitrogen Oxide(NO2,NO3)
problem

Green house
Carbon Oxides(CO,CO2)
effect
Gaseous
Pollutant
Hydrocarbons (Methane,
Benzene)

Volatile Organic Compounds.

Ozone (O3).
Pollutant
Dust

Mist

Smoke
Particulate
Pollutant
Soot

Aerosols

Sulphuric acid
 Primary and secondary air pollutants
On the basis of source pollutant can be divided into two types:
a) Pollutants that are emitted directly from an identifiable sources are produced both
by natural events (for example, dust storms and volcanic eruptions) and human
activities (emission from vehicles, industries, etc.). These are called primary
pollutants. There are five primary pollutants that together contribute about 90
percent of the global air pollution. These are:
I. carbon oxides (CO and CO2),
II. nitrogen oxides (NO2)
III. sulfur oxides (SO2)
IV. volatile organic compounds (mostly hydrocarbons- methane, benzene),
V. suspended particulate matter (Dust, Lead, Heavy metals, aerosols, smoke, soot,
mist etc.)
b) Pollutants that is not directly emitted but are produced in the atmosphere when
certain chemical reactions take place among the primary pollutants are called
secondary pollutants. For example sulfuric acid, nitric acid, carbonic acid, SO3,
NO3, Salt etc.
 Particulate pollutant removal process
• Following Equipment are used to remove particulate matter from polluted air:
a) Gravitational settling.
b) Electrostatic precipitators.
c) Filtration separators/Fabric filter/Bag filter.
d) Centrifugal separators/Cyclone separator.
e) Washing principles.
f) Wet Scrubber
 a) Gravitational settling
• A simplest device, generally built in the form of long, horizontal, rectangular chambers with
an inlet at one end and an exit at the side or top of the opposite end. collecting dust of
size >50µm. Settling chambers use the force of gravity to remove solid particles.
• The polluted gas stream enters a
chamber through the inlet and the
velocity of the gas is reduced in the
chamber.
• Large particles drop out of the gas and
are recollected in hoppers and clean
gas passes out through the outlet.
• Settling chambers are effective in
removing only larger particles, they are
used in conjunction with a more
efficient control device.
• The size, shape of particles, density
and viscosity are key parameters.
 b) Electrostatic precipitators
• Electrostatic Precipitator is efficient for the particle size 0.01µm to 5µm, can
tolerate operating temperature as high as 7000k.
• The precipitation unit comprises equipment for distributing airflow, corona
discharge and collection electrodes, a dust clean-out system, and collection
hoppers.
• In one common design, the particles in air can be negatively charged if
introduced into a cylindrical chamber containing a wire down the axis of the
cylinder that is at a high negative voltage (e.g., 5-50 kV) relative to the walls of
the chamber.
• A corona discharge is set up around the wire and this produces ions; these ions
collide with the particles in the air, charging them negatively charged ions which
are attracted to the positively charged plate. In place of the corona discharge,
ions may also be generated using radioactive bombardment of the particles.
• Particles are removed from the positive plate by a knocking action or by lime
spray and deposited on collection hopper bottom of the device.
• Clean air outed from the device to atmosphere.
Electrostatic precipitators
 c)Filtration separators
• Bag filters/Fabric filter are used in all industrial small or large units to collect dust
particles blown out in toxic releases.
• Fabric filters will collect particle sizes ranging from some micron to hundred microns
in diameter(0.1 to 100 micron) at efficiencies generally in excess of 99 or 99.9
percent.
• Fabric filters can be made of a variety of natural and synthetic woven materials,
such as cotton cloth, polyester, perforated paper etc.
• Filtration device is a porous structure that traps particulate matter but allows gases
to pass from outside to inside with the help air suction system from inside.
• The accumulated particulate matter is dislodged from the bags surface by
mechanical shaking process or by compressed air and deposited in a hopper for
subsequent disposal.
• Unfortunately, filters suffer from two main operational problems. Firstly, there is a
significant loss of air pressure as it outside gas flows through the filter. Secondly,
filter requiring to be either cleaned or replaced frequently.
Filtration separators
 d) Centrifugal separators
• It can efficiently remove particles size of 10-
50µm.
• The flow stream enters the body of the separator
tangentially through the inlet at the top and it
begins to swirl due to the circular narrower
design of the chamber until it reaches the
bottom.
• Particulate materials that are denser than the air
medium are separated from the air stream during
this downward flow, goes to wall side due
centrifugal force and can be removed through the
collection hopper at the bottom of the cone.
• As the mixture is circulating down the funnel it
creates a "whirlpool effect" in the middle of
the cone. This causes a vortex in the center of
the cone through which the lighter flow stream
(air) rises. As the clean air reaches the top of the
vortex it passes out through the outlet.
The techniques used to remove gaseous pollutants-

a) Liquid or Solvent Absorption.

b) Solid Adsorption.
c) Combustion by oxidation
d) Condensation
 a) Liquid-Solvent Absorption
• In this process, the polluted air containing gaseous pollutants is passed through a scrubber
carrying a suitable liquid absorbent, which absorbs the harmful gaseous pollutants present
in the air. By water (gases like NH3, HCl, HF, Cl2, NOx, Hydrocarbon etc.) or in a
alkaline solution (gas of SOx) or in acid solution (H2S gas) are removed.
• This process is often called liquid/wet scrubbing method.
• Various designs exist for absorbing chambers. One
common design has a vertical chamber in which a clean
liquid is pumped in at the top and flows down the
chamber. At the same time, The polluted air flows upward
from the bottom to the top of the chamber. During this
counter movement, the pollutant gaseous particles in it
are absorbed into the liquid. The dirty liquid then flows out
at the bottom of the chamber. Clean Gas outed from the
top of chamber. The liquid pumped through the chamber
is chosen according to the type of pollutant to be
removed.
 b) Solid adsorption
• Adsorption is a process where gases, vapors or
liquids are concentrated on a porous solid surface
that collects pollutants on its surface and passes the
clean gas through it.
• Collection may be either physical, using the
intermolecular forces between the pollutant and the
collecting surface, or it may be chemical, involving a
chemical reaction between the pollutant and the
collecting material.
• The most important adsorbents in industrial use are
activated carbon (for removing Hydrocarbon,
H2S), silica (for removing NOx, Halogen gas).
• The amount of adsorbed substances depends
directly on the internal surface area of solid and the
kinetics of the process.
 c) Combustion techniques
• This method is applied when the pollutants are organic gases or vapors. The organic
air pollutant are exposed to ‘flame or catalytic combustion’ when they are converted to
less harmful product carbon dioxide and water.
• It involves heating contaminated air in a combustion chamber for a given length of
time in presence of oxygen. This causes oxidation of combustible pollutant gases, also
with the emission of heat.
• In this process pollutant are exposed to high temperature >6500c
• CO and hydrocarbon are oxidized to carbon dioxide and water vapor.
CO+O2 CO2(oxidized gas)
CH4+O2 CO2 + H2O + heat
• Combustion can be divided in three categories:
• Direct combustion or flaring,
• Thermal incineration and
• Catalytic incineration.
 d) Condensation
• Condensation is the process of converting a gas or vapor to liquid. Any gas can be
reduced to a liquid by lowering its temperature and/or increasing its pressure.
• Condensers are typically used as pretreatment devices. They can be used ahead of
absorbers, adsorbers, and incinerators to reduce the total gas volume to be treated by
more expensive control equipment.
• Condenser are two types:
• In a contact condenser, the gas comes into contact with cold liquid.
• In a surface condenser, the gas contacts a cooled surface in which cooled liquid or
gas is circulated, such as the outside of the tube.
Polluted
air

Clean
air
 Air Quality Index (AQI)
The air quality index (AQI) is a number
used to report the quality of the air on any
given day of a place: it basically tells you
how clean the air is. It measures particles
and chemicals in the air that affect people's
health and ignores those that do not.
Different countries have different AQIs, so it
is difficult to compare one location to another
on a worldwide scale. Some countries are
more safety-conscious than others.

Some air quality measurement device are-

1. Nephelometers
2. Multi gas hand-held monitor
3. Flame ionization detection(FID)
 Measurement of Air Quality
Q.1. A monitor records a 24 hour average fine
particles (PM2.5) concentration of 6.0 mg/m3. BPHi
would be 12.0 mg/m3, BPLo would be 0 mg/m3,
Circumstances IHi would be 50, and ILo would be
0. Calculate AQI and comment on its level of health
concern.
Solution:

AQI is 25 and Level of health concern is- Good.

Q.2. Do It Yourself: A monitor records a 24 hour average fine particles (PM2.5)

concentration of 14.0 mg/m3. BPHi would be 41.5 mg/m3, BPLo would be 5.9 mg/m3,
Circumstances IHi would be 100, and ILo would be 53. Calculate AQI and comment on its
level of health concern.