Air Pollution Control

Measures
 Burning wood was
the first form of air
pollution

Present day air pollution

from industries
Criteria pollutant Body system Health effects

Particulate Matter Lower respiratory system. Particulate Asthma

(PM2.5 and PM10) matter less than 10 μm in diameter • Bronchitis
gets into • Reduced lung function
the lower respiratory system, • Cancer
particularly • Heavy metal poisoning
during exercise.

Lead (Pb) Organs and soft tissue. Lead Anemia

concentrations and accumulates in • High blood pressure
bones • Cancer
and soft tissue. A high concentration • Neurological disorders
of lead • Intellectual function
in the body poisons the blood,
nervous and
renal systems.
Carbon Circulatory system Carbon monoxide CO poisoning
Monoxide (CO) interferes with the blood’s ability to • Angina pectoris
provide • Neurological dysfunction
an adequate supply of oxygen to • Brain damage
body • Fetal abnormalities
tissue. • Asphyxiation
Ozone (O3) Respiratory system. Tropospheric ozone Lung inflammation
results in irritation of the respiratory • Reduced lung elasticity
system • Transient cough
• Chest pain
• Throat irritation
Nitrogen Respiratory system. NO2 is very toxic at NO2 poisoning
Dioxide (NO2) high levels. • Asthma
•Lowered resistance to
infection
Sulfur Dioxide Respiratory system. SO2 poisoning Asthma
(SO2) directly affects the respiratory system • Bronchial constriction
and • SO2 poisoning
increases airway resistance adding to • Heart attack
heartlung
load.
Route of invasion
Health impacts
 Bhopal gas tragedy

• Flare tower and venturi scrubbers

were not operational which
magnified the disaster

• Adequate quantity of NaoH was not

present to neutralize MIC
 Control strategies
• Emission taxation

• Exhaust stacks do not reduce emissions

from a stationary source; rather they
reduce the local effects of the pollution by
elevating the exhaust stream to a point
where it can be more effectively dispersed.

• High exhaust stacks were an inexpensive

solution in the absence of expensive control
technology.
There are more than 3-5 million Small Scale industries exists
which are polluting in nature. These industries are as follows:

🞇 Stone crusher 🞇 Hot Mix Plant

🞇 Re-rolling mills 🞇 Sponge iron plants
🞇 Electroplating industries 🞇 Tannery units
🞇 Brick kilns 🞇 Lime kilns
🞇 Foundry 🞇 DG sets
 APCD’s
PARTICULATE
 Cyclones
 Electrostatic Precipitators
 Fabric Filter
 Wet Scrubbers

GASES
 Absorption
 Adsorption Towers
 Thermal Incernation
 Catalytic Combustion
Absorption
Adsorption
SOx Control
• General
– Use of Desulphurized coal & oil
– Increase effective stack height

• Flue gas desulphurization

– Limestone Scrubbing
– Lime Scrubbing
– Dual Alkali Processes
– Lime Spray Drying
– Wellman-Lord Process
Limestone Scrubbing
Limestone slurry is sprayed on the incoming flue
gas. The sulfur dioxide gets absorbed The
limestone and the sulfur dioxide react as follows :

CaCO3 + H2O + 2SO2 ----> Ca+2 + 2HSO3-+ CO2

CaCO3 + 2HSO3-+ Ca+2 ----> 2CaSO3 + CO2 + H2O
Lime Scrubbing
 The equipment and the processes are similar to those in limestone
scrubbing. Lime Scrubbing offers better utilization of the reagent. The
operation is more flexible. The major disadvantage is the high cost of lime
compared to limestone.

The reactions occurring during lime scrubbing are :

CaO + H2O -----> Ca(OH)2
SO2 + H2O <----> H2SO3

H2SO3 + Ca(OH)2 -----> CaSO3.2 H2O

CaSO3.2 H2O + (1/2)O2 -----> CaSO4.2 H2O
 Dual Alkali System
 Lime and Limestone scrubbing lead to deposits inside spray tower.
 The deposits can lead to plugging of the nozzles through which the
scrubbing slurry is sprayed.
 The Dual Alkali system uses two regents to remove the sulfur
dioxide.
 Sodium sulfite / Sodium hydroxide are used for the absorption of
sulfur dioxide inside the spray chamber.
 The resulting sodium salts are soluble in water, so no deposits are
formed.
 The spray water is treated with lime or limestone, along with
make-up sodium hydroxide or sodium carbonate.
 The sulfite / sulfate ions are precipitated, and the sodium
hydroxide is regenerated.
 Lime – Spray Drying
– Lime Slurry is sprayed into the chamber

– The sulfur dioxide is absorbed by the slurry

– The liquid-to-gas ratio is maintained such that

the spray dries before it reaches the bottom of
the chamber

– The dry solids are carried out with the gas, and
are collected in fabric filtration unit

– This system needs lower maintenance, lower

capital costs, and lower energy usage
Nox Control
 Fuel De-nitrogenation

One approach of fuel denitrogenation is to remove a large part of the

nitrogen contained in the fuels. Nitrogen is removed from liquid fuels by
mixing the fuels with hydrogen gas, heating the mixture and using a
catalyst to cause nitrogen in the fuel and gaseous hydrogen to unite. This
produces ammonia and cleaner fuel.

This technology can reduce the nitrogen contained in both naturally

occurring and synthetic fuels.
 Stoichiometric combustion: reduce excess air

Catalytic
reduction using
ammonia-
catalyst is a
combination of
titanium and
vanadium oxides
At higher temperatures (900-1000oC), NH3
will reduce NOX to nitrogen without a
catalyst.
 Staged combustion
Initially, less air is supplied to bring
about incomplete combustion
 Nitrogen is not oxidized. Carbon
particles and CO are released.
 In the second stage, more air is
supplied to complete the
combustion of carbon and
carbon monoxide.
30% to 50% reductions in NOx
emissions are achieved

CO & NOx control strategies are in conflict

 General Methods For Control
of CO2 Emissions
• Reducing energy consumption, increasing the
efficiency of energy conversion

• Switching to less carbon intensive fuels

• Increasing the use of renewable sources

• Sequestering CO2 through biological, chemical,

or physical processes
 Control of Mercury Emissions

Currently installed control devices for SO2, NOX, and

particulates, in a power plant, remove some of the
mercury before releasing from the stack

Activated Carbon Injection:

Particles of activated carbon are injected into the exit
gas flow, downstream of the boiler. The mercury
attaches to the carbon particles and is removed in a
particle control device
Particulate Control
• Particulate matter is the general term used for a
mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found
in the air. Some particles are large or dark enough
to be seen as soot or smoke. Others are so small
they can hardly be detected with an electron
microscope.

• PM2.5 describes the “fine” particles that are less

than or equal to 2.5 micrometers in diameter.
“Coarse” particles refers to particles greater than
2.5, but less than or equal to 10 micrometers in
diameter. PM10 refers to all particles less than or
equal to 10 micrometers in diameter. Just to put
this in perspective, ten micrometers are about one-
seventh the diameter of human hair.
 Particulate Collection Mechanism
 Gravity Settling
 Centrifugal Impaction
 Inertial Impaction
 Direct Interception
 Diffusion
 Electrostatic Effects
• Removes particles
greater than 50µm size

• Velocity of fluegas
reduced in large
chamber

• Particles settle under

gravitational force

• Industrial application is
limited, used as pre-
cleaners
• Low initial cost • Requires large
space
• Easy to design
• Less collection
• Low maintenance efficiency
cost
• Only large
• Dry & continuous particles are
disposal of
removed
particles
 Cyclone Separator
• Centrifugal force is
utilized to separate
particulate matter

• Removes particles of 10-

50 µm

• Smaller dia, higher

efficiency- centrifugal
action increases with
decreasing radius of
rotation
• The particles are removed by the application
of a centrifugal force. The polluted gas
stream is forced into a vortex. the motion of
the gas exerts a centrifugal force on the
particles, and they get deposited on the
inner surface of the cyclones

The gas enters through the inlet, and is forced

into a spiral.

• At the bottom, the gas reverses direction

and flows upwards.

• To prevent particles in the incoming

stream from contaminating the clean
gas, a vortex finder is provided to
separate them. the cleaned gas flows out
through the vortex finder.
Electrostatic
Precipitators
• The particles in a polluted gas stream are charged by
passing them through an electric field

• The charged particles migrate to oppositely charged

electrode

• Particles deposited on collecting electrode, lose charge

and removed from gas stream.

• Particles from collecting plates are removed

mechanically by rapping, vibration or washing to a
hopper
High efficiency, generally of
High initial capital costs
the order of 99.5-99.9%.
Although they can be
Can handle higher loads
designed for a variety of
with lower pressure drops.
operating conditions, they
are not very flexible to
Can operate at higher
changes in the operating
temperatures.
conditions, once installed.
O & M costs are
Particulate with high
normal/generally low resistivity may go
uncollected.
Particles can collected
dry or wet Requires high voltage
• Collection electrodes are either tubes or plates
 Cleaning
• Plates are rapped/ vibrated periodically while
ESP is on-line when (0.08 to 1.27 cm or 0.03
to 0.5 in.). Dislodged dust falls from the plates
into the hopper

• Spraying occurs while the ESP is on-line and is

done intermittently to remove the collected
particles. Water is generally used as the spraying
liquid although other liquids could be used if
absorption of gaseous pollutants is also being
accomplished.

• Sludge is collected in holding basin and sent for

disposal
 Fabric Filters
 The filters retain particles larger than the mesh size

 Air and most of the smaller particles flow through

some of the smaller particles are retained due to
interception and diffusion.

 The retained particles cause a reduction in the mesh

size.

 The primary collection is on the layer of previously

deposited particles.
 Filters are made of fibre glass, nylon etc
 Inspecting and changing bags takes a long time and are
the highest maintenance costs in a baghouse.
 Operating problems
• Cleaning
• Rupture of cloth
• Temperature
• Bleeding
• Humidity
• Chemical attack
 Cleaning
• Rapping
• Shaking
• Pulse jet
• Backwash
Very high collection Fabric Filters require a
efficiency
large floor area.
They can operate over a The fabric is damaged at
wide range of volumetric high temperature.
flow rates
Ordinary fabrics cannot
The pressure drops are handle corrosive gases.
reasonably low. Fabric Filters cannot
handle moist gas streams
Fabric Filter houses are
modular in design, and can A fabric filtration unit is
be pre-assembled at the a potential fire hazard
factory
 Scrubbers/ Wet Collectors
 Wet scrubbers are used for removal of particles which have a
diameter of the order of 0.2 mm or higher.
 Flue gas is made to push up against down falling water
current.
 The droplets capture the particles
 The liquid is subsequently removed for treatment.
 A wet scrubber consists of a rectangular or circular chamber
in which nozzles are mounted.
 The nozzles spray a stream of droplets on the incoming gas
stream
 The droplets contact the particulate matter, and the
particles get sorbed.
 The droplet size has to be optimized.
 Wet scrubbers are also used for the removal of gases from
the air streams.
 Cyclone scrubber
 These scrubbers combine a cyclone
with a spray nozzle.

 The added centrifugal force permits

good separation of the droplets,
hence a smaller droplet size can be
used.

 Cyclone spray chambers provide up to

95% removal of particles > 5 micron.
Simultaneously removes particulates and
gaseous pollutants
Maintenance
problems are high
Wet Scrubbers can handle incoming streams at
when corrosive
high temperature, thus removing the need for
temperature control equipment. materials are
collected
handle high particle loading.

Loading fluctuations do not affect the removal Effluent scrubbing

efficiency. liquid poses a

They can handle explosive gases with little risk. water pollution
Corrosive gases and dusts are neutralized problem
Choice Of Equipment

EEE

Economic

Environ
mental Engineering
 Engineering
Environmental factors
Equipment location Contaminant characteristics (i.e.,
Available space physical and chemical properties,
Ambient conditions concentration, particulate shape
and size)
Availability of adequate utilities (i.e.,
power, water, etc.) and ancillary system Gas stream characteristics (i.e.,
facilities (i.e., waste treatment and volume flow rate, temperature,
disposal, etc.) pressure, humidity, composition,
viscosity, density, reactivity,
Maximum allowable emissions (air
combustibility, corrosivity,
regulations)
toxicity, etc.)
Aesthetic considerations
Design and performance
Contribution of air pollution control
characteristics of the particular
system to wastewater and solid waste
control system(i.e., size and
Contribution of air pollution control weight, fractional efficiency
system to plant noise levels curves, etc)
Economic

•Capital cost (equipment, installation,

engineering, etc.)

•Operating cost (utilities, maintenance,

etc.)

•Expected equipment lifetime and

salvage value
 Electroplating
• 90% of the solvent is emitted to air

• Exhaust hoods and good ventilation

systems protect the working
environment
• The exhaust streams from sucction
hoods must be treated using carbon
filters to remove VOC’s and heavy
metals
• Acid mists and vapors should be
scrubbed with water before venting