ASSIGNMENT NO: 2

GROUP : 1 ( 0, 3, 5, 7 )

Name of the Student Syed Hassan Riza Wasti

USN 1NH16CV109

Semester 8TH

Section B

Academic Year 2019-2020

Course with Code Air Pollution (CIV824)

Date of Announcement 19-04-2020

Date of Submission 22-04-2020

Maximum Signature of the Signature of the

Marks Awarded
Marks Student Faculty
 1. Characteristics the particulate reaction in air pollution.
Ans: In general the term particulate refers to all atmospheric substances that are not gases. They can be
suspended droplets at solid particles at mixtures of the extremely reactive materials ranging in size from
100μm down to 0.1μm and less. The inert –materials do not react readily with the environment nor do they
exhibit any morphological changes as a result of combustion or any other process, whereas the reactive
materials could be with the environment as a result of combustion or any other process, whereas the
reactive materials could be further oxidized at may react chemically with the environment. These
Particulate reaction classified by the following characteristics:

DUST: It contains particles of size ranging from 1 to 200 μm. These are formed by natural disintegration
of rock and soil at by the mechanical processes of grinding and spraying. They have large settling
velocities and one removed from the air by gravity and other inertial processes. Fine dust particles
act as centres of catalysis for many of the chemical reactions taking place in the atmosphere.

SMOKE: It contains fire particles of the size ranging from 0.01 to 1 μm, which can be liquid at solid and
are formed by combustion at chemical processes, smoke may have different colours depending on nature
of materials burned.

FUMES: These are solid particles generated by condensation from the gaseous state, generally after
volatilization from melted substances, and often accompanied by a chemical reaction such as oxidation.
Fumes flocculate and sometimes coalesce.

FOG: Fog refers to visible aerosols in which the dispersed phase is liquid. Formation by condensation is
usually implied. In meteorology, it refers to dispersion of water or ice in the atmosphere near the earth’s
surface reducing visibility less than half kilometre. In natural fog the size of the particles ranges from 40-
1µ.

MIST: Mist refers to a low concentration dispersion of liquid particles of large size. In meteorology, it
means a light dispersion of minute water droplets suspended in the atmosphere. Natural mist particles
formed from water vapour and the atmosphere are rather large, ranging from 500-40µ n size. The particles
may coalesce.

AEROSOL: Under this category are included all air borne suspensions either solid at liquid. These are
generally smaller than 1 μm. Particulates in the size range 1 to 10 μm have measurable settling velocities
but are – readily disturbed by air movements, where as particles of size 0-1 to 1μm have small settling
velocities. Those below 0.1μ a sub microscopic size found in urban all, undergo random – Brownian
motion resulting from collision among individual molecules. Most particulates in urban all have sizes in
the range 0.1 to 10μ. The finest and the smallest particles are the ones which cause significant damage to
health.
Also, Fine particles come from a variety of sources: diesel trucks and buses, construction equipment,
power plants, woodstoves, wildfires. Also, Chemical reactions in the atmosphere can transform gases into
fine particles.

2. Characteristics of stack flumes.

Ans: Plume refers to the path and extent in the atmosphere of the gaseous effluents released from a
source usually a stack (chimney). The behaviour of a stack plume emitted from any stack depends on
localized air stability. The Geometric forms of stack plumes are a function of the vertical temperature and
wind profiles, vice versa, by looking at the plume one can state stability condition and dispersive capacity
of atmosphere. The behaviour and dispersion of a plume entirely depend on the environmental lapse rate
(ELR).

Effluents from town stacks are often injected to an effective height of several 100m above ground
because of the cumulative effects of buoyancy and velocity on plume rise other factors influencing the
flume behaviour are the diurnal (seasonal) variations in the atmospheric stability and the long term
variations which occur with change in seasons.

There are six types of Stack Plumes and their characteristics are given Below:

i) Looping
ii) Coning
iii) Fanning
iv) Lofting
v) Fumigation
vi) Trapping
● LOOPING: It is a type of plume which has a wavy character. It occurs in a highly unstable
atmosphere because of rapid mixing. The high degree of turbulence helps in dispersing the plume
rapidly but high concentrations may occur close to the stack if the plume touches the ground.
● CONING: It is a type of plume which is shaped like a CONE. This takes place in a near neutral
atmosphere, when the wind velocity is greater than 32 km/hr. However the plume reaches the
ground at greater distances than with loping.
● FANNING: It is a type of plume emitted under extreme inversion conditions. the under these
condition will spread horizontally, but little if at all vertically. Therefore the prediction of ground
level concentration (SLC) is difficult here.
● LOFTING: Lofting occurs when there is a strong lapse rate above a surface inversion. under this
condition, diffusion is rapid upwards, but downward diffusion does not penetrate the inversion
layer under these conditions, emission will not reach surface.
 ● FUMIGATION: It is a phenomenon in which pollutants that are emitted into the atmosphere are
brought rapidly to the ground level when the air destabilizes.
● TRAPPING: This refers to conditions where the plume is caught between inversion and can only
diffuse within a limited vertical height. The lofting plume is most favourable air to minimizing air
pollution. The fumigation and trapping plumes are very critical from the points of ground level
pollutant concentrations.

3. Investigate the Air quality prediction in box model.

Ans: The second category of simple urban air quality models has been called box models. Below figure is
a schematic diagram of a box model including source emissions near the lower boundary (surface),
advective inflow and outflow to and from the sides, entrainment of pollutant from aloft due to increasing
mixing height, and chemical transformations. Since uniform mixing is assumed to occur within the box
whose horizontal boundaries enclose the urban area of interest, the model can predict only the volume-
averaged concentration as a function of time. Diffusion from individual sources is not considered, but all
sources are considered in estimating source emissions into the box. With the simplified treatment of
meteorology in terms of the effective transport winds and mixing height, one can use a sophisticated
chemical and photochemical module.

The Schematic Diagram of a Box Model

 For the simplest box model without chemical transformations, one can derive a simple differential
equation for the average concentration within the box from the consideration of mass conservation
within the box or a slice of the box with a unit width normal to the wind flow, length L in the direction of
flow, and height h equal to the mixing depth. The rate of change of mass within the box must be equal to
the sum of the rates at which the pollutant mass is added by all the emission sources in the box, the change
due to horizontal advection, and the change due to entrainment from the top resulting from the growth in
mixing height.

where   is the average concentration aloft (z > h) over the city and   is the average background
concentration upwind of the city. Equation above can be rewritten in the form

which can be solved easily for the specified values of  ,  ,  ,  , h, and  . Further simplifications

can be made for the negligible background concentrations (  = 0,   = 0). Furthermore, if conditions
become steady state (  = 0,   = 0), then the equilibrium concentration is given simply by

The equilibrium or steady-state average concentration within the urban environment is directly
proportional to the total rate of emission from the urban area and inversely proportional to the product of
mean wind speed and mixing height, also known as the ventilation-factor.

4. Identify the air pollution control measures.

Ans: An air pollutant is a material in the air that can have adverse effects on humans and the ecosystem.
The substance can be solid particles, liquid droplets, or gases. A pollutant can be of natural origin or man-
made. Pollutants are classified as primary or secondary. Primary pollutants are usually produced by
processes such as Industrial Activity, Vehicles exhaust.
Some of the effective measures to Control Air Pollution are as follows: (a) Source Correction Methods (b)
Pollution Control equipment (c) Diffusion of pollutant in air (d) Vegetation (e) Zoning.
(a) Source Correction methods:
Industries make a major contribution towards causing air pollution. Formation of pollutants can be
prevented and their emission can be minimised at the source itself.
These source correction methods are,
(1) Substitution of raw materials
 (2) Process Modification
(3) Modification of Existing Equipment
(b) Pollution Control Equipment:
Sometimes pollution control at source is not possible by preventing the emission of pollutants. Then it
becomes necessary to install pollution control equipment to remove the gaseous pollutants from the
main gas stream. The pollutants are present in high concentration at the source and as their distance
from the source increases they become diluted by diffusing with environmental air.
Some of the Equipments are,
1. Gravitational Settling Chamber: This device consists of huge rectangular chambers. The gas
stream polluted with particulates is allowed to enter from one end. The horizontal velocity of
the gas stream is kept low (less than 0.3 m/s) in order to give sufficient time for the particles to
settle by gravity.
2. Cyclone Separators: Instead of gravitational force, centrifugal force is utilized by cyclone
separators, to separate the particulate matter from the polluted gas.
3. Fabric Filters: In a fabric filter system, a stream of the polluted gas is made to pass through a
fabric that filters out the particulate pollutant and allows the clear gas to pass through.
4. Electrostatic Precipitators: The electrostatic precipitator (Fig. 5.4) works on the principle of
electrostatic precipitation i.e. electrically charged particulates present in the polluted gas are
separated from the gas stream under the influence of the electrical field.
5. Wet Scrubbers: In wet collectors or scrubbers, the particulate contaminants are removed from
the polluted gas stream by incorporating the particulates into liquid droplets.
6. Cyclone Scrubber: The dry cyclone chamber can be converted into a wet cyclone scrubber by
inserting high pressure spray nozzles at various places within the dry chamber.
(c) Diffusion of Pollutants in Air:
Dilution of the contaminants in the atmosphere is another approach to the control of air pollution. If the
pollution source releases only a small quantity of the contaminants then pollution is not noticeable
as these pollutants easily diffuse into the atmosphere but if the quantity of air contaminants is
beyond the limited capacity of the environment to absorb the contaminants then pollution is caused.
(d) Vegetation:
Plants contribute towards controlling air-pollution by utilizing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen in the
process of photosynthesis. This purifies the air (removal of gaseous pollutant—CO2) for the
respiration of men and animals. Gaseous pollutants like carbon monoxide are fixed by some plants,
namely, Ficus variegata and Phascolus Vulgaris. Species of Pinus, Quercus, Pyrus, Juniperus and
Vitis depollute the air by metabolising nitrogen oxides.
(e) Zoning:
This method of controlling air pollution can be adopted at the planning stages of the city. Zoning advocates
setting aside of separate areas for industries so that they are far removed from the residential areas.
The heavy industries should not be located too close to each other.

5. Derive Air pollution emission control.

Ans: To control the air pollutant emission several technologies are used. Some of the emission control
methods are derived below:
The technologies available to control gaseous pollutant emissions may be summarized according to the
following major categories.
(1) Absorption in a Liquid:
This approach may be used to reduce emissions of air pollutants that are very soluble, generally in water,
for example hydrogen chloride (HCl) and hydrogen fluoride (HF). Dissolution in water occurs
according to Henry’s law, and the efficiency of this emission control process depends on the
solubility of the pollutant in water. In some cases, it is possible to increase this efficiency by
displacing the gas/water equilibrium toward the aqueous phase.
(2) Chemical Transformation:
Chemical transformation may be used to form a pollutant that is more easily controlled or to form a
product that is not a pollutant (or at least a pollutant that is less harmful than the original pollutant).
Two examples may be mentioned: the control of sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx)
emissions from coal-fired power plants.
(3) Incineration:
Incineration is used to eliminate solid waste. This approach may also be used in a targeted manner to treat
some air pollutants in some emission control systems.
The main technologies available to control industrial emissions of particulate pollutants are the following:
(1) Sedimentation Chamber:
This process is efficient for particles with a size sufficiently large that their sedimentation velocity is
significant, i.e., particles with a diameter of several tens of microns. The sedimentation velocity
results from equilibrium between the gravitational force and the frictional force of the particle in
the fluid.
(2) Cyclones:
This type of device uses mostly the inertia of particles in the flow to capture them either on the wall of the
device or on droplets sprayed into the device.
(3) Electrostatic Precipitators:
In an electrostatic precipitator (ESP), an electrical discharge is sent into the effluent to create electrostatic
charges on the particles. The device walls are electrically charged and, therefore, particles migrate
toward those walls, which act as electrodes. At regular time intervals, the walls are shaken so that
the particles may fall to the bottom of the device, where they can be collected.
 (4) Scrubbers:
The large particles are captured with the greatest efficiency (via inertia and interception). Ultrafine
particles are captured via brownian diffusion. Thus, fine particles with diameters that are roughly
between 0.1 and 1 μm are those that are the least efficiently captured by scrubbers.
Control of Mercury Emissions from Coal-fired Power Plants:
Mercury (Hg) is emitted from coal-fired power plants in the form of elemental mercury and
oxidized mercury. The injection of activated carbon into the effluent stream leads to the capture of gaseous
mercury (elemental and oxidized). The mercury-laden carbon particles must then be captured, to avoid
their release to the atmosphere.
Control of Air Pollutant Emissions from On-road Traffic:
On-road traffic is an important source of gaseous and particulate air pollutants in urban areas and
on major highways. The main air pollutants emitted by on-road traffic include carbon monoxide (CO),
nitrogen oxides (i.e., nitric oxide, NO, and nitrogen dioxide, NO2, grouped as NOx), volatile and semi-
volatile organic compounds (VOC and SVOC, respectively), sulphur dioxide (SO2), and particulate matter
(PM). Atmospheric concentrations of CO, NO2, SO2, PM, and lead (Pb, a toxic metal) are regulated in the
United States, in Europe, and in many other countries. Atmospheric concentrations of benzene (a
carcinogenic VOC) are regulated in Europe. In addition, NOx, VOC, and CO are precursors of ozone, a
gaseous secondary pollutant, which is regulated in the United States, in Europe, and in many other
countries, and NOx, SO2, VOC, and SVOC are precursors of the secondary fraction of PM.