Air Pollution & Control

Why to study Air pollution

• Early 1900s The City of Chicago, Illinois passes an ordinance to
reduce the “smoke” emitted by local factories.
• 1940s Los Angeles, California becomes one of the first cities in the
U.S. to experience severe air pollution problems then called “gas
attacks.” L.A.’s location in a basin like area ringed by mountains
makes it susceptible to accumulation of auto exhaust and emissions
from local petroleum refineries
• 1950 A chemist at the California Institute of Technology proposes a
theory of smog (or ozone) formation in which auto exhaust and
sunlight play major roles
• 1966 In New York City, a three-day temperature inversion over
Thanksgiving weekend is blamed for the deaths of 168 people.
• 1978 Rainfall in Wheeling, West Virginia is measured at a pH of 2,
the most acidic yet recorded and 5000 times more acidic than normal
rainfall.
 Why?
• 1981 Air pollution enters international politics when the Quebec
Ministry of the Environment notifies the U.S. that 60 percent of the
acid rain (sulfur dioxide pollution) damaging air and waters in
Quebec, Canada comes from the U.S. industrial sources in the
Midwestern and Northeastern U.S.
• 1985 The U.S. EPA estimates 50,000 streams in the U.S. and Canada
are dead or dying because of acid rain pollution.
• 1986 The National Academy of Sciences reports that the burning of
coal, gasoline, and other fossil fuels is definitely linked to acid rain
and the death of trees, fish, and lake ecosystems in both the U.S. and
Canada.
 World wide air pollution episodes
• November 27-December 10, 1962
• Thousands of excess deaths in many cities including NYC, London,
Boston, Paris
• New Orleans Oct-Nov 1958 asthma deaths.
What is Air pollution?

• Transfer of harmful and/or of Natural/Synthetic materials

into the atmosphere as a direct/indirect consequences of
human activity.

• Air pollution is the presence in the outdoor atmosphere of

one or more air contaminants for example dust, fumes,
gas, mist, odor, smoke or vapor in sufficient quantities, of
such characteristics, and of such durations to be or to
threaten to be injurious to human, plant, or animal life or
to property, or which reasonably interferes with the
comfortable enjoyment of life or property
The Earth’s great spheres
Lithosphere - The lithosphere contains all of the cold, hard
solid land of the planet's crust (surface), the semi-solid land
underneath the crust, and the liquid land near the center of the
planet

Hydrosphere- The hydrosphere contains all the solid, liquid,

and gaseous water of the plan

Biosphere- The biosphere contains all the planet's living

things. This sphere includes all of the microorganisms, plants,
and animals

Atmosphere- The atmosphere contains all the air in Earth's

system
 Atmosphere
• It is a mixture of gases that forms a layer
of about 250 miles thick around the earth.
• - Divided into four zones:
- Troposphere
- Stratosphere
- Mesosphere
- Thermosphere
• Bottom 10-12 miles (Troposphere) is most
important part in terms of
– Weather
– Other aspects of Biogeochemical cycle

• - The lowest 600 meters of Troposphere:

Air Quality Studies
• Composition of Air - 78% nitrogen, 21%
oxygen, 1% carbon dioxide, water, other
gases
 Types of air pollution
• Personal air exposure
• It refers to exposure to dust, fumes and gases to which an
individual exposes himself
• Occupational air exposure
• It represents the type of exposure of individuals to
potentially harmful concentration of aerosols, vapors, and
gases in their working environment.
• Community air exposure
• This is most serious, complex, consists of varieties of
assortment of pollution sources, meteorological factors,
and wide variety of adverse social, economical, and
health effects.
 Sources

Natural
Stationary Anthropogenic (volcano, Mobile
forest fire)

Area Line
Point (highway
(open burning,
(TPP, fuel onsite vehicles)
combustion) incineration)
 Air Pollutants
• Any substance occurring in the atmosphere
that may have adverse effects on humans,
animals, plant life, and/or inanimate
materials.

• Air pollutants have known or suspected to

have harmful effects on human health and
environment.
 Types of pollutants
• Primary: Emitted directly from the
identified sources, from natural events like
volcanoes etc., human activities like
burning of fossils etc.
• Secondary: When primary pollutants react
with one another or with water vapour,
aided and abated by the sunlight, to form
entirely a new set of pollutants.
Types of pollutants
 Primary pollutants
• Carbon monoxide
• Produced by burning of organic material (coal, gas, wood, trash, etc.)
• Automobiles biggest source (80%)
• Cigarette smoke another major source
• Toxic because binds to heamoglobin, reduces oxygen in blood
• Not a persistent pollutant, combines with oxygen to form CO2
• Most communities now meet EPA standards, but rush hour traffic can
produce high CO levels.
• Sulfur dioxide
• Produced by burning sulfur containing fossil fuels (coal, oil)
Coal-burning power plants major source
Reacts in atmosphere to produce acids
One of the major components of acid rain
When inhaled, can be very corrosive to lung tissue
 Contd…
• Nitrogen oxide
• Produced from burning of fossil fuels
• Contributes to acid rain, smog
• Automobile engine main source
• New engine technology has helped reduce, but many more cars

• Hydrocarbon
• Hydrocarbons - organic compounds with hydrogen, carbon
• From incomplete burning or evaporated from fuel supplies
• Major source is automobiles, but some from industry
• Contribute to smog
• Improvements in engine design have helped reduce
 Particulate Matter
• Particulates - small pieces of solid materials and liquid droplets (2.5 mm and
10 mm)
• Examples: ash from fires, asbestos from brakes and insulation, dust
• Easily noticed: e.g. smokestacks
• Can accumulate in lungs and interfere with the ability of lungs to exchange
gases.
• Some particulates are known carcinogens
• Those working in dusty conditions at highest risk (e.g., miners)
• Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) -PM1 having size <= 1µm:
effects in alveoli
-PM2.5 having size <= 2.5µm: effects trachea
-PM10 having size <= 10µm: effects in nasal part only
 Secondary pollutants
• Ozone:
• Ozone (O3) is a highly reactive gas composed of three oxygen atoms.
• It is both a natural and a man-made product that occurs in the Earth's upper
atmosphere (the stratosphere) and lower atmosphere (the troposphere).
• Tropospheric ozone – what we breathe -- is formed primarily from
photochemical reactions between two major classes of air pollutants, volatile
organic compounds (VOC) and nitrogen oxides (NOX).

• PAN:
• Smog is caused by the interaction of some hydrocarbons and oxidants under
the influence of sunlight giving rise to dangerous peroxy acetyl nitrate
(PAN).
 Effects of Secondary Pollutants

• These secondary pollutants, ozone ( O3, ) and peroxyacetyl

nitrate ( PAN ), are known to cause damage to plants,
especially citrus trees, salad crops and coniferous trees.
• However, even though hydrocarbons are extremely
dangerous to plants, studies have revealed no direct effects on
humans at the current level of concentration.
• As a matter of fact, the concentration would have to be a
hundred to a thousand times larger in order to see any direct
effects
PAN
 Aerosols and mist
Aerosols and mists are very fine liquid droplets that cannot be effectively
removed using traditional packed scrubbers. These droplets can be formed from
gas phase hydrolysis of halogenated acids (HCl, HF, HBr), metal halides,
organohalides, sulfur trioxide (SO3), and phosphorous pentoxide (P2O5).
 Photochemical smog
Photochemical smog is a mixture of pollutants which includes
particulates, nitrogen oxides, ozone, aldehydes, peroxyethanoyl nitrate
(PAN), unreacted hydrocarbons, etc. The smog often has a brown haze
due to the presence of nitrogen dioxide. It causes painful eyes.
 Effects of air pollution
• On human health
• On animals
• On plants
• Economic effects of air pollution
That’s all for the day