AIR POLLUTION

By
Bibhabasu Mohanty
Assistant Professor
Department of Civil Engineering
SAL Institute of Technology &
Engineering Research

CONTENT
Definition, Composition of
atmospheric air, Classification and
sources of air pollutants. Effects of
air pollution on human, plant and
material, Air pollution control
methods, equipment and safety.

WHAT IS POLLUTION ???

Pollution

is change in background conc..

Any

substance introduced into the

environment that adversely affects the
usefulness of a resource.

Pollution

happens because no process is

100% efficient; each process produces
pollution.

AIR POLLUTION
Air

pollution defined as the of one or more

contaminants or combinations in such
quantities and of such durations as may be or
tend to be injurious to human, animal or
plant life, or property, or which unreasonably
interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of
life or property or conduct of business.

THE ATMOSPHERE
120

200

90

80

70

60

40

30

(Sea
Level)

Mesopause

Mesosphere

Stratopause

55

45

35

25

15

Tropopause
Ozone layer

Heating from the earth

Troposphere

0
40
Temperature (C)

Stratosphere

40

65

Heating via ozone

Thermosphere

80

1,000
75

10

Pressure

800

Temperature

20

600

50

400

100

Altitude
(kilometers)

110

Altitude (miles)

Atmospheric pressure (millibars)

80

120

Pressure = 1,000

millibars at

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,

SOURCE AND CLASSIFICATION

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

AIR POLLUTANTS

Substance dwelling temporarily or permanently in the

air.
Alters the environment by interfering with the health,
the comfort, or the food chain, or by interfering with the
property values of people.
A pollutant can be solid (large or sub-molecular), liquid
or gas .
It may originate from a natural or anthropogenic source
(or both).

 It

is estimated that anthropogenic sources

have changed the composition of global air by
less than 0.01%.

Even

a small change can have a significant

adverse effect on the climate, ecosystem and
species on the planet.

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.

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.
Atmospheric

MAJOR POLLUTANTS SOURCES

AND EFFECTS
Carbon monoxide (CO)- colorless, odorless, tasteless gas.
No effect at normal conc. (0.1ppm)
but higher conc. seriously affect.

Volcanoes, natural gas emissions,

seed germination contribute to CO.
Transport sector contribute 75% CO.

Residential wood burning 10%, industrial process

15% CO.

Effects:
Reduce oxygen carrying capacity of blood.
Decrease in vision and causes cardio vascular
disorders.

Carbon dioxide (C02)- Fossil fuel combustion.

Jet plane use O2 and release CO2.

Burning
Effects:
Causes headache and nausea.
Effect on climate, increase global temp.

Oxides of nitrogen NOx group contains NO, NO2,

N2O.

Fuel combustion in automobiles and industries.

Lightening.
Forest fires.
Natural ionizing radiations.

Effects:
Reduce blood carrying capacity.
Causes lung problems.

Oxides of sulphur generally called SOx, include SO2,

SO3.

67% SOx pollution due to volcanic activities and other

natural sources.
Remaining due to fossil fuel burning, transportation.
Industrial activities.

Effects:
Respiratory problems
Marbles, clothes, paper, leather also affected.
Plants also heavily affected.

Hydrocarbons (HC) these include methane, ethylene,

acetylene, terpenes etc.
Sources include coal fields, natural fires.
Incomplete combustion
Forest fires
Agricultural burning

Effects:
Carcinogenic effect
Form ozone and PAN which are harmful.
Damage plants, rubber materials, fabric and paints.

PARTICULATE MATERIALS

Particles of different substances suspended in the

air

In the form of solid particles and liquid droplets

Particles vary widely in size

Different particulate materials are aerosols, dust,

smoke, fumes, mist, fog, fly ash etc.

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.

Effects:
Premature death

Aggravated asthma

Acute respiratory symptoms

Chronic bronchitis

Decreased lung function (shortness of breath)

People with existing heart and lung disease, as

well as the elderly and children, are particularly
at risk

EFFECTS OF AIR POLLUTION ON

HUMAN

 around

30-40% of cases of asthma and 20-30% of

all respiratory disease.
effect our health in many ways with both short
term and long term effect.
Short term effect are: irritation to nose, eye,
throat, bronchitis, headache etc.
Long term affect are: lung disease, chronic
respiratory problem, damage to heart, brain,
eyes etc.
Eye irritation due to NOx, O 3, PAN,
particulates.
Nose and throat due to SO2, NOx etc.

 Gaseous

pollutants like H2S, SO2, NO2 and

hydrocarbons cause odor nuisance.
Irritation of respiration tract caused by SOx,
NOx, CO, O3.
Increase in mortality.
High conc. of SO2, NO2 and SPM causes
bronchitis and asthma.
CO and NO react with haemoglobin and reduce
O2 carrying capacity of blood.
Heavy metals like lead can cause poisoning.
High conc. cause damage to liver and kidney.

FACTORS AFFECTING HUMAN

HEALTH

Nature of the pollutants

Concentration of the pollutants

Duration of exposure

State of health of receptor

Age group of the receptor

EFFECTS OF AIR POLLUTION ON

PLANT

 Decrease

yield in agriculture.

Suppressed
Leaf

growth of vegetables.

injury and damage to young plants.

Decreased

growth rate and increased

death rate.

EFFECTS OF AIR POLLUTION ON

MATERIALS

Corrosion of metals due to SO2 in presence of oxygen

and moisture is converted into H2SO4 acid.

H2SO4 acid react with limestone, marble and other

building materials to cause deterioration.
Soiling and eroding of building materials.
SO , O H S and aerosols damage protective coating
2
3,
2
and paints of the surface.
O and PAN causes cracking of rubber and various
3
electrical insulations.
Deterioration of art work due to SPM.

AIR POLLUTION CONTROL

1.
2.

Cannot be fully prevented but can be

controlled.
Preventative measures
Control measures using equipments.

Preventative measures (source control)

. Selection of suitable fuel. (Low sulphur coal in
power plant, using of CNG)
. Modification in industrial process.
. Selection of suitable site and zoning for industrial
unit.

Control measures
When source control not possible some measures
taken to prevent pollution.
Collecting pollutants by using equipments.
Destroying the pollutants by thermal or catalytic
combustion.
Changing the pollutants to less toxic form.
By releasing the pollutants through tall chimneys
for greater dispersion.

PREVENTATION BY LAWS
Various laws has been established for the menace
of air pollution.
Air (Prevention & control of pollution ) Act,1981.
Air (Prevention & control of pollution )
Amendment Act,1987.
Motor vehicle Act, 1988.
Air (Prevention & control of pollution) Union
Territories Rules, 1983.
Environment Protection Act, 1986.

The government is trying to

remove the use of leaded petrol, a major

cause of air pollution.
the industrial acts are implemented to
control the harmful emission of gases.
the natural management team work to
minimize the effect of various natural
disaster like forest fire, volcanic eruption
that are causes of air pollution.

AIR POLLUTION CONTROLLING

EQUIPMENTS

Gravitational settling chamber

Used to remove particles with size greater than

50 m.
Velocity of flue gas reduced in large chamber.
Particles settle under gravitational force.

Advantages
Low initial cost.
Easy to design.
Low pressure drop.
Low maintenance cost.
Dry and continuous disposal of solid particulates.
Disadvantages
Require large space.
Less collection efficiency.
Only larger size particles can be collected.

Cyclone separator
Centrifugal force is utilized to
separate the particulate matter.
It can remove 10 to 50 m
particle size.
Used mostly in industries.

Advantages
Low initial cost.
Require less floor area.
Simple construction and maintenance.
Can handle large volume of gas at high temp.
Disadvantages
Requires large head room.
Less efficiency for smaller particles (<10m).
Sensitive to variable dust load and flow rate.

Electrostatic precipitators

Works on the principle of electrical charging of

particulate Matter (-ve) and collecting it in a
+ve charged surface.
99% efficiency.
Can remove particle size range of 0.1 m to 1
m.

Advantages
High collection efficiency.
Particles may be collected dry or wet.
Can be operated at high temp. (300-450c).
Maintenance is normal.
Few moving parts.
Disadvantages
High initial cost.
Require high voltage.
Collection efficiency reduce with time.
Space requirement is more.
Possible of explosion during collection of
combustible gases or particulates.

Fabric filters
Flue gas is allowed to
pass through a woven
Fabric, which filters out
Particulate matter.
Small particles are
retained on the fabric.
Remove particles up to 1 m.
Its efficiency up to 99%.

Advantages
Higher collection efficiency for smaller than
10 m particle size.
Performance decrease becomes visible, giving
prewarning.
Normal power consumption.
Disadvantages
High temp. gases need to be cooled.
High maintenance and fabric replacement cost.
Large size equipment.
Fabric is liable to chemical attack.

Scrubbers
Particulate matters are incorporated into liquid
droplets and removed from the gas stream.
Different types of scrubbers are- Spray tower
- Venturi scrubber
- Cyclone scrubber
Flue gas made to push up against a down falling
water current.
Particulate matter mix up with water thus falls
down and gets removed.

Spray tower

Cyclone scrubber

Advantages
Simultaneously remove particulates and gaseous
pollutants.
Hot gases can be cooled down.
Corrosive gases can be recovered and neutralize.
Disadvantages
Lot of waste waters produced.
Poses freezing problem in cold countries.
Maintenance cost is high when corrosive materials are
collected.

THANK U ALL