Introduction & Transport

Of Air Pollution
Lopa Islam
Asst. Professor
Urban and Rural Planning Discipline
Khulna University
 What Is Air Pollution??
Air pollution is the
introduction of particulates
,biological molecules or other
harmful materials into Earth's
atmosphere ,causing diseases,
death to humans, damage to
other living organisms such as
animals and food crops or
the natural or built environment
. Air pollution may come Air pollution from a fossil-fuel power
from anthropogenic or natural station
sources.
 Source and
classification
Natural
Man- made or anthropogenic

Natural- pollen grains, volcanic eruptions, forest

fires, dust storms, spores, bacteria and other
microorganisms.
Man- made- industrial units, thermal power
plants, automobile exhausts, fossil fuel burning,
mining, nuclear explosions,
Stationary
Mobile

– Point source- large stationary source

– Area source- small stationary source and
mobile source with indefinite routes
– Line source- mobile source with definite
routes
 Classification of pollutants
 Pollutants can be grouped into two categories:

(1) primary pollutants, which are emitted directly

from identifiable sources, and

(2) secondary pollutants, which are produced in the

atmosphere when certain chemical reactions take
place among primary pollutants.
 Primary Pollutants

The major primary pollutants include:

– particulate matter (PM),

– sulfur dioxide,
– nitrogen oxides,
– volatile organic compounds (VOCs),
– carbon monoxide, and
– lead.
 Secondary Pollutants

Some primary air pollutants react with one

another or with other chemicals to form
secondary pollutants.
Atmospheric sulfuric acid is one example of a
secondary pollutant.
Air pollution in urban and industrial areas is
often called smog.
Photochemical smog, a noxious mixture of
gases and particles, is produced when strong
sunlight triggers photochemical reactions in
the atmosphere.
The major component of photochemical smog is
ozone.
meteorology and
transport of air
pollution
 Introduction

 Once emitted pollutants:

– Transported
– Dispersed
– concentrated
 By meteorological conditions
Layer nomenclature in the atmosphere
 Air Pollutant Cycle
Transport

Emission Diffusion or
concentration

Deposition onto vegetation,

livestock, soil, water, or escape
into space
 Transport
Pollutants moved from source
May undergo physical and chemical changes
– Smog – interaction of NOx, HC, and solar
energy
– Ozone formation
 Concentration & Dispersion
 Disperse based on meteorological & topographic
conditions
 Concentration --- usually stagnant conditions
 Dispersion
– Topological conditions
• Affected by presence of large buildings
– Meteorological conditions
– prevailing wind speed & direction
 Pollutants disperse over geographic area
 Any location receives pollutants from different sources
in different amounts
 Need to understand how pollutants disperse to predict
concentrations and predict violations at a particular
location
 Prediction
 Mathematical models of local atmosphere determine
transport and dispersion patterns
 With emission data – predict concentrations
throughout region
 Should correlate with data from monitoring locations
 Effect of sources can be estimated & regulations set
 Dispersion
 General mean air motion
 Turbulent velocity fluctuations
 Diffusion due to concentration gradients – from
plumes
 Aerodynamic characteristics of pollution particles
– Size
– Shape
– Weight
Meteorological parameters influence
air pollution

Wind direction and speed

Solar radiation
Atmospheric stability
Temperature inversion
Mixing height
 Wind direction & speed
Average over a year, solar heat flow to the
earth’s surface at equator is 2.4x that at poles
Air moves in response to differences
Heat transports from equator to poles
– Like air circulation from a heater in a room
Without rotation
Air flows directly from high to low pressure
areas (fp)
 Wind Circulation

Air flows directly from

high to low pressure
areas (fp)
 Wind Circulation
 Rising air cools & produces rain
 Sinking air is heated and becomes dry
 Rising boundaries are regions of of higher than
average rainfall
– Equator
– Rain forests
– Temperate forests
 Sinking boundaries are regions of lower than
average rainfall
– Most of world’s deserts
– Poles – small amounts of precipitation remains due to
low evaporation
 Sinking boundaries

Rising Boundaries
Inertial atmospheric rotation
Schematic representation of
inertial circles of air masses
in the absence of other
forces, calculated for a wind
speed of approximately 50 to
70 m/s. Note that the
rotation is exactly opposite
of that normally experienced
with air masses in weather
systems around depressions.
Low-pressure area flows
Schematic representation
of flow around a low-
pressure area in the
Northern hemi-sphere.
The pressure-gradient
force is represented by
blue arrows, the Coriolis
acceleration (always
perpendicular to the
velocity) by red arrows
Low-pressure system If a low-pressure area
forms in the atmosphere,
air will tend to flow in
towards it, but will be
deflected perpendicular
to its velocity by the
Coriolis force.
This low pressure system
over Iceland spins
counter-clockwise due to
balance between the
Coriolis force and the
pressure gradient force.
Hurricane
 Isobar
Areas of equal
pressure
 Influence of Ground & Sea
• In reality, land & water do
not respond to solar heating
similarly
• Terrain is uneven
– Highest mountains rise above
most of atmosphere
– Large mountain ranges are
major barriers to horizontal
winds
– Even small mountain ranges
influence wind patterns
 Influence of Ground & Sea
Water adsorbs and transfer heat differently than
rock & soil
Rock and soil radiate heat differently summer to
winter
 Vertical Motion
Any parcel of air less dense than surrounding air
will rise by buoyancy
 any parcel more dense will sink
Most vertical movement is due to changes in air
density
The pressure at any point in the atmosphere =
pressure required to support everything above
that point
 Solar Radiation
 At upper boundary of atmosphere, vertical solar
radiation = 8.16 J/cm2min (solar constant)
 Maximum intensity at λ = 0.4 to 0.8 μm = visible
portion of electromagnetic spectrum
 ~ 42% of energy
– Absorbed by higher atmosphere
– Reflected by clouds
– Back-scattered by atmosphere
– Reflected by earth’s surface
– Absorbed by water vapor & clouds
 47% adsorbed by land and water
Depending on location, solar radiation
pronounced effect on type and rate of chemical
reactions in atmosphere.
E.g. Photochemical smog formation at Los
Angeles
 Lapse Rate
 Important characteristic of atmosphere is ability to
resist vertical motion: stability
 Affects ability to disperse pollutants
 When small volume of air is displaced upward
– Encounters lower pressure
– Expands to lower temperature
– Assume no heat transfers to surrounding atmosphere
– Called adiabatic expansion
 Adiabatic expansion
To determine the change in temp. w/ elevation due to
adiabatic expansion
– Atmosphere considered a stationary column of air in a
gravitational field
– Gas is a dry ideal gas
– Ignoring friction and inertial effects
(dT/dz)adiabatic perfect gas = - vpg
Cp
T = temperature
z = vertical distance
g = acceleration due to gravity
p = atmospheric density
v = volume per unit of mass
Cp = heat capacity of the gas at constant pressure
 Adiabatic expansion
 If the volume of a parcel of air is held constant and
an incremental amount of heat is added to the
parcel, temperature of the parcel will rise by an
amount dT
 Resultant rise in temperature produces a rise in
pressure according to ideal gas law
 If the parcel is allowed to expand in volume and
have a change in temperature, while holding the
pressure constant, the parcel will expand or
contract and increase or decrease in temp.
 Parcel rises or falls accordingly
 Adiabatic expansion

SI:
(dT/dz)adiabatic perfect gas = -0.0098°C/m

American:
(dT/dz)adiabatic perfect gas = -5.4°F/ft

Change in temp. with change in height

Lapse rate is the negative of temperature
gradient
Dry adiabatic lapse rate =

Metric:
Γ = - 1°C/100m or

SI:
Γ = - 5.4°F/1000ft
 International Lapse Rate

SI:
Γ = - 6.49°C/km or 0.65 oC/100m

American:
Γ = - 3.45°F/1000ft

About 66% of adiabatic lapse rate

 Lapse Rate Example
Assuming the surface temperature is 15° at the surface
of the earth, what is the temperature at 5510.5 m?
Γ = 6.49°C/km
Solution:
5510.5 m = 5.5105 km
For each km the temperature decreases 6.49°
So the temperature decreases:
5.5105 x 6.49 = 35.76°
Original temp was 15°, temp at 5.5105 km =
15° - 35.76° = -20.76°C
 Temperature change due to
atmospheric height
 Lapse rate for “standard atmosphere”
 Troposphere:
– 0 to 36,150 feet
– Temperature decreases linearly
– 75% of atmospheric mass
 Not applicable above troposphere
 Stratosphere
– 36,150 to 65,800 feet
– Temperature does not decrease further with increasing height
– Chemical reaction occur to absorb heat from the sun
– Adiabatic assumption is not followed
 Atmospheric Stability
Affects dispersion of pollutants
Temperature/elevation relationship principal
determinant of atmospheric stability
Stable
– Little vertical mixing
– Pollutants emitted near surface tend to stay there
– Environmental lapse rate is same as the dry adiabatic
lapse rate
4 common scenarios
• Neutral
– Environmental lapse rate is same as the dry
adiabatic lapse rate
– A parcel of air carried up or down will have same
temp as environment at the new height
– No tendency for further movement
• Superadiabatic --- Unstable
– Environmental lapse rate > Γ
– i.e. Actual temp. gradient is more negative
– Small parcel of air displaced approximates adiabatic
expansion
– Heat transfer is slow compared to vertical movement
– At a given point, Tparcel > Tsurrounding air
• less dense than surrounding air
– Parcel continues upward
• Subadiabatic --- Stable
– Environmental lapse rate < Γ
– greater temp. gradient
– No tendency for further vertical movement due to temp.
differences
– Any parcel of air will return to its original position
– Parcel is colder than air above – moves back
• Inversion --- Strongly Stable
– Environmental lapse rate is negative
– Temp. increases with height
– No tendency for further vertical movement due to temp.
differences
– Any parcel of air will return to its original position
– Parcel is colder than air above – moves back
– Concentrates pollutants
 Inversions
• Stability lessens exchange of wind energy
between air layers near ground and high
altitude winds
• Horizontal & vertical dispersions of
pollutants are hampered
• Influenced by:
– Time of year
– Topography
– Presence of water or lakes
– Time of day
 Image and text source:
http://www.sparetheair.
org/teachers/bigpicture/
IIIA1a.html

From San Francisco Bay area: “Pollutants are carried from the
ocean through mountain passes on an almost daily basis during
the summer months”
 Image and text source:
http://www.sparetheair.org/teach
ers/bigpicture/IIIA1a.html

“Streams of air carrying Bay Area emissions mix with locally generated
pollution from automobile traffic, small engine exhaust, industry, and
agriculture in the Valley and are diverted both north and south”
 Image and text source:
http://www.sparetheair.org/teach
ers/bigpicture/IIIA1a.html

“A warm inversion layer acts like a blanket on the smog layer, preventing it
from dissipating higher in the atmosphere. Because of high pressure, the
Central Valley regularly experiences these thermal inversions. The Valley,
which is nearly at sea level, often fills at night with cool heavy air underneath
a layer of warmer air. The cool air layer grows through the night reaching up
to 3000 feet thick. “
 Two Types of Inversion
• Radiation Inversion
– Surface layers receive heat by
conduction, convection, and
radiation from earth’s surface
• Subsidence Inversion
– Cloud layer absorbs incoming
solar energy or high-pressure
region with slow net downward
flow or air and light winds
– Sinking air mass increases in temp
and becomes warmer than air Subsidence Inversion
below it Image Source:
– Usually occur 1,500 to 15,000 feet http://apollo.lsc.vsc.edu/classes/met130/notes/chapter17/fav_con
ditions.html
above ground & inhibit
atmospheric mixing
– Common in sunny, low-wind
situations
 Two more Types of Inversion
 Cold Air Flowing Under
– Nighttime flow of cold air down valleys
– Col air flows under warm air
– Winter
– Presence of fog blocks sun and inversion persists
– Sea or lake breezes also bring cold air under warm air
 Warm Air Flowing Over
– Same as above but warm air flows over cold trapping
it
– Warm air frequently overrides colder more dense air
 Stability Classes
Developed for use in dispersion models
Stability classified into 6 classes (A – F)
– A: strongly unstable
– B: moderately unstable
– C: slightly unstable
– D: neutral
– E: slightly stable
– F: moderately stable
 Wind Velocity Profile
 Friction retards wind movement
 Friction is proportional to surface roughness
 Location and size of surface objects produce different
wind velocity gradients in the vertical direction
 Area of atmosphere influenced by friction – planetary
boundary layer – few hundred m to several km above
earth’s surface
 Depth of boundary layer > unstable than stable
conditions
 Wind Velocity Profile
Wind speed varies by height
International standard height for wind-speed
measurements is 10 m
Dispersion of pollutant is a function of wind
speed at the height where pollution is emitted
But difficult to develop relationship between
height and wind speed
 Wind Velocity Profile
• Power law of Deacon

u/u1 = (z/z1)p

U: wind speed at elevation z

z: elevation
p: exponent based on terrain and surface cover and
stability characteristics
Wind Velocity Profile
 Wind Direction
 Does the wind blow from my house towards a
smelly feedlot or the other way?
 High and low-pressure zones
– Formed from large scale instabilities
– Often near boundaries of circulation zones
– Air is rising or sinking
– Major storms often associated with low-pressure
 Topography
– Air heats and cools differently on different surfaces,
causes air from
– Lake to shore, etc.
– Mountains block low-level wind
 Predicting Wind Direction
Need to know distribution of wind direction
for estimating pollution concentrations
Need speed and direction
Wind Rose
– Average of wind speed and direction over time
– Shows
• Frequency
• Speed
• direction
– Wind direction is direction from which the wind
is coming
 length of each "spoke" around the circle is related to
the frequency that the wind blows from a particular
direction per unit time.
 Each concentric circle represents a different frequency,
from zero at the centre to increasing frequencies at the
outer circles.
 A wind rose plot may contain additional information, in
that each spoke is broken down into colour-coded
bands that show wind speed ranges.
 Wind roses typically use 16 cardinal directions, such as
north (N), NNE, NE, etc
In terms of angle measurement in degrees,
North corresponds to 0°/360°, East to 90°,
South to 180° and West to 270°.

Compiling a wind rose is one of the preliminary

steps taken in constructing airport runways, as
aircraft perform their best take-offs and landings
pointing into the wind.

Industrial area development

 Mixing Height
 Vigorous mixing to a certain height (z) and little
effect above that
 Rising air columns mix air vertically &
horizontally
 Rising air mixes and disperses pollutants
 Only mixes to “mixing” height or above it
 Different in summer vs winter, morning vs
evening
 For inversions, mixing height can be close to 0
 Thermal buoyancy determines depth of
convective mixing depth
 Mixing Height
 Usually corresponds to tops of clouds
 Different shapes but reach about same height
 Up to mixing height unstable air brings moisture up
from below to form clouds – above mixing height
there is no corresponding upward flow
 Strong delineation at stratosphere/troposphere
boundary
 Stratosphere very stable against mixing
– Where commercial air lines fly, air clear and non
turbulent
– Very clear boundary
Mixing Height
 Mechanics of Mixing Height
Parcel heated by solar radiation at earth’s
surface
Rises until temperature T’ = T
T’ = particle’s temp
T = atmospheric temp
Achieves neutral equilibrium, no tendency for
further upward motion
 Plume rise
Effluent plumes from the chimney stacks are
released in to the atmosphere at elevated
temperatures.
The rise of the plume after release to the
atmosphere is caused by buoyancy and the
vertical momentum of the effluent
Under windless conditions, the plume rises
vertically but more often it is bent as a result of
the wind that is usually present.

This rises of the plume adds to the stack an

additional height ΔH, the height H of the virtual
origin is obtained by adding the term ΔH, the
plume rise, the actual height of the stack, Hs.

The plume centre line height H = Hs +ΔH is

known as the effective stack height.
 Types of Plume
- Continuous Plume: The release and the sampling time are
long compared with the travel time.

- Puff Diffusion / Instantaneous Plume: The release time

or sampling time is short when compared with the travel
time

 Types of Plume Rise

- Buoyancy Effect: Rise due to the temperature difference
between stack plume and ambient air.

- Momentum Rise: Rise due to exit velocity of the effluents

(emissions).
 Plume Rise Models
Semi empirical equations based on heat flux

Analytical solutions

Numerical models
 Buoyancy Flux (F):

g = Acceleration due to
gravity
Vs = Stack exit velocity
d = Exit gas diameter
 Momentum Flux (Fm): Ts = Stack gas exit
temperature
Ta = Ambient air
temperature
Stability Parameter
g . 
S  z
Ta
Where,

  AmbientPot entialTemperature
z
 Analytical Solutions
 Momentum Sources
• For Unstable and Neutral conditions

• For Stable conditions

• The lower value of the above equations is used for the concentration
calculations.
 Analytical Solutions
 Buoyant plumes
• For Unstable and Neutral conditions

x* = 14 F 5/8 when F < = 55 m4/sec3

x* = 34 F 2/5 when F > 55 m4/sec3
3.5x* = Downwind distance to the point of final rise

 For Stable conditions

 The distance to final rise is given by

 Determination of the Type of Plume
(Momentum or Buoyant)
Crossover Temperature (DTc)
Unstable or Neutral case
2/3
Tc  0.0297 *Ts Vs1/3 for F  55 m4 / sec3
ds
1/ 3
Tc  0.00575*Ts Vs2/3 for F  55 m4 / sec3
ds

Buoyancy rise if DT >= DTc or is assumed to be

Momentum T  0.019582*Ts Vs S
C

Stable case

• The above calculations are valid for cases with stack exit temperature Ts greater
than or equal to ambient temperature Ta.
Plumes Under Calm Conditions and Jets

– For Calm Conditions

For wind speeds < 1 m/sec

• The plume rise for a jet is computed

as follows:
∆h = 4.0 Fm 1/4 S -1/4
 Semi-Empirical Equations
 Most of the plume rise equations in this category are based on
the following equations

where,
• Qh is the heat emission rate of the source
– Qh = Qm Cp (Ts - Ta)

where,
• Qm is the total mass emission rate
– Qm = (Π/4) ρs d2 Vs
 Numerical Models
– Conservation of Mass

– Conservation of Moisture

– Conservation of Energy (Heat)

– Conservation of Momentum
 Numerical Models
 Conservation of Horizontal Momentum

Conservation of Solid Particles

• Relationship between Plume Rise z,
Downwind Distance x and Time t

• Hydrostatic Environment - No Liquid or

Solid Particulate Matter
• Assumptions made in developing the above
equations
• Boussinesq approximation has not been used
• Solid body effects are included only in the horizontal direction
• Downwash is neglected during computations i.e. We = 0
Thanks to all…