Pollution

Pollution
Effect of undesirable changes in our surroundings
that have harmful effects on plants, animals &
human beings.

From an ecological perspective, pollutants classified

as:
(i) Degradable or non-persistent pollutants : e.g.,
domestic sewage, discarded vegetables, etc.
(ii)Slowly-degradable or persistent pollutants: e.g.,
DDT (pesticides) & most plastics.
(iii)Non-degradable pollutants: e.g., toxics like lead
or mercury, & nuclear wastes.
• Air pollution
• Water pollution
• Soil pollution
• Marine pollution
• Noise pollution
• Thermal pollution
 Air pollution
Air pollution: presence of undesirable
solid or gaseous particles in the air in
quantities that are harmful to human
health & environment
Humans consume: 12 kg air: small
amount of pollution = large effects
 UK
• 1273: London – King Edward 1 = ban on using coal
for food and heating
• Capital punishment
• 1952: London smog = 4000 deaths
 Europe
• 19th century
• Black moth: camouflaged
• On clean lichen covered tree (search this)
 Air pollution

• Primary pollutants : Carbon monoxide,

carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur
oxides, volatile organic compounds, &
suspended particulate matter

• Secondary pollutants: sulfuric acid,

nitric acid, carbonic acid, etc.
 Air Pollution

Air pollution control act in India was passed in 1981 & Motor
Vehicle Act was passed in1988

Total Sources

Stationary Sources Mobile Sources

Point Area Sources Line Sources Area Sources

1. Industrial Processing 1. Residential & industrial areas 1. Highway vehicles 1. Motor vehicles
-
2. Power plants 2. On site incineration 2. Railroad locomotives Light-
duty/Medium
duty/heavy duty
3. Fuel combustion 3. Open burning sites 3. Channel vessels 2. Railyard
locomotives
(Industrial) Coal, Oil, Gas
4. Soil waste disposal 3. Port vessels
Municipal incinerators 4. Aircraft (airports)
5. Miscellaneous 5. Miscellaneous
TYPES OF PARTICULATES

• Aerosol
• Mist
• Smoke
• Dust
• Fume
• Plume
• Fog
• Smog
 TYPES OF PARTICULATES:

Term Meaning Examples

Aerosol general term for particles suspended in air Sprays from pressurized cans
Mist aerosol consisting of liquid droplets Sulfuric acid mist
Dust aerosol consisting of solid particles that are blown Dust storm
into the air or are produced from larger particles by
grinding them down
Smoke aerosol consisting of solid particles or a mixture of Cigarette smoke, smoke from
solid and liquid particles produced by chemical reaction burning garbage
such as fires.
Plume column of one fluid moving to another.
Fume generally means the same as smoke but often applies Zinc/lead fumes
specifically to aerosols produced by condensation of hot
vapours of metals
Fog aerosol consisting of water droplets
Smog term used to describe a mixture of smoke and fog
 Effect of air pollution
(1)Air pollution on animals :
Direct: inhalation
Indirect :accumulation of air borne contaminants on the
vegetation: poisoning, reduction in yield

Effect on health
Symptoms could include lack of appetite, rapid loss in
weight, lameness, diarrhea & subsequently death.

(2)Effects on plants
necrosis, chlorosis, abcission, epinasty

(3)Effects on materials

(4)Effect on the stratosphere: ozone

• Toxic air pollution: cancer, genetic mutation,
birth defects etc – Bhopal gas tragedy

• Smog: a combination of fog and smoke –

in the cities: 4000 people died in London in

1952: all types of respiratory ailments

• Photochemical smog: particulates, nitrogen

oxides, ozone, aldehydes, peroxyacetyl nitrate
(PAN), unreacted HC
 Case study: Singapore

• 1970s
• Cost for car ownership
• Public transport
• Management of roads
• Area licensing scheme: different license
for different types of vehicles
• 45.3% reduction
• CBD(7.30-9.30)
 Dispersion of air pollutant

• Lapse rate: change in

rate of temperature in
the layers of troposphere

• Prevailing lapse rate at a

particular time and
particular place – Env.
Lapse rate: ELR
– Measured using a balloon
with thermometer
• When a packet of hot air is released to upper
atmosphere it raises till a point where its temp and
density are equal to surrounding atmosphere

• The rate at which a parcel of air cools when taken to

upper atmosphere without addition or removal of
energy is Adiabatic lapse rate: ALR

• Can be mathematically calculated

– Dry ALR = 9.8 0C/Km
– Wet / Saturated ALR = 6 0C/Km
– For polluted air ALR will be 6-9.8 0C/Km
•An Unstable Atmosphere is marked by the DALR being less than the ELR. A rising
parcel remains warmer than its surrounding air and has positive buoyancy (tends to
keep rising). It needs little external force conditions to commence rising. It will continue
to rise until, as it cools, it attains thermal equilibrium with its surroundings
• A Stable Atmosphere is one that strongly resists change. It occurs whenever the Dry
Adiabatic Lapse Rate is greater (and thus cools more with height) than the Environmental
Lapse Rate. Air parcels under this condition that are forced upwards cool rapidly (quickly
becoming colder than its surroundings) and act as though they have negative buoyancy, i.e.,
they overcome the lifting force and tend to sink at some stage to restore equilibrium. Stable air
 Figures
from
Benny
Joseph

ELR<ALR – Sub adiabiatic

lapse rate

ELR > ALR – Super

adiabiatic lapse rate

Negative lapse rate / Inversion

• ELR > ALR – Super adiabiatic lapse rate
– Helpful to dessipate pollutants
– Lessen the air pollution problems
• ELR<ALR – Sub adiabiatic lapse rate
– Dispersion of pollutants slower
• ELR = ALR - isothermal
– Atmosphere neutral
• Negative lapse rate / Inversion
– Atmospheric temperature increases with altitude
– Dispersion of pollutants very poor
– Hot gases goes not ascend above inversion layer
– Major cases of pollution tragedies in the world
• In a Neutral Atmosphere, the Dry and Environmental
(Actual) Lapse Rates are the same and the temperatures
of both the parcel and its surrounding air are identical at
some neutral layer (which can have a notable vertical
thickness, within which the parcel and surrounding air
are in thermal equilibrium [same temperatures]). A parcel
will rise and cool until it reaches this layer where the
temperature balance occurs. This situation usually
occurs through some external lifting force or condition
such as convergence or orographic rise.

http://www.fas.org/irp/imint/docs/rst/Sect14/Sect14_1b.ht
ml
 Dispersion of pollutants
• Impact of wind
• Lapse rate and dispersion
Different types of plume behaviours
• Looping: highly unstable atm
– higher chimneys req. but
automobile
• Neutral: ELR ≈ ALR
• Coning: slightly stable atm,
clouds cover the region, sub
adiabatic, wind speed
32km/hr
• Fanning: no vertical mix,
extreme inversion condition
by –ve ELR
• Lofting: strong super ALR
above a surface inversion,
min down ward mixing: most
ideal case
• Fumigating: Inversion layer
occurs at short distance
above the top of stack:
dangerous
• Trapping: two inversions
above and below, trapped,
dangerous
 Control vs prevention
Prevention-
• Changing raw material: low sulfur coal to
fuel oil (sulfur dioxide emission)
• Process conditions
• Procedures
• Preventive maintenance: check leakages
 Catalytic converter of automobiles
• A catalytic converter -
invented by Eugene Houdry -
role of smoke stack exhaust
and automobile exhaust in
air pollution -

• It is an emissions control
device that converts toxic
gases
and pollutants in exhaust
gas to less toxic pollutants
by catalyzing a redox
reaction (an oxidation and a
reduction reaction).
 Catalytic converter of automobiles
• Catalytic converters
require temperature of
800 degrees
Fahrenheit to
efficiently convert
harmful exhaust gases
into inert ones, such as
CO2 and water vapor.

• So, first catalytic

converters were placed
close to the engine to
ensure fast heating –
not feasible.

• As an alternative,
catalytic converters were
moved to a third of the
way back from the
engine, and were then
placed underneath the
vehicle.
 Catalytic converter
• Device contains porous ceramic with embedded
PLATINUM & RHODIUM particles
• PLATINUM:
– Completes combustion of hydrocarbons & CO
• RHODIUM:
– Converts oxides of nitrogen (NOX)to Nitrogen (N2)
 Air pollution control Technologies

• Depends upon the • Technologies used

pollutant and – Condensation
situation – Absorption
– Settling chambers – Adsorption
– Cyclone separator – Combustion
– Electronic precipitator
– Fabric filter
– Wet collector
Pollution control / preventive Device efficiency

• Depends upon-
– The pressure drop
– The space requirement
– The initial operating cost
– Whether the SPM (Suspended Particulate
Matter.) is collected in dry or liquid form
– Temperature of emission gas
 Cyclone separator
• A high speed rotating (air) flow, within a cylindrical or
conical container called a cyclone.
• Air flows in a spiral pattern, beginning at the top (wide
end) and ending at the bottom (narrow) end.
• Larger (denser) particles – high inertia and strike the
outside wall, falling then to the bottom of the cyclone
where they can be removed.
• In a conical system, as the rotating flow moves towards
the narrow end of the cyclone the rotational radius of the
stream is reduced, separating smaller and smaller
particles. Efficiency:
– Linear with particle density, gas stream velocity and
no of rotational phases
– Exponentially increases with diameter
• Limitations:
– solid form
– Internal erosion/corrosion
– At elevated temperature
– High energy consumption
 Bag filter

• It is an air pollution control

device that removes
particulates out of air or gas
released from commercial
processes or combustion for
electricity generation.
• Power plants, steel mills,
pharmaceutical producers,
food manufacturers,
chemical producers and
other industrial companies
use BF to control emission of
air pollutants.
• They came into widespread
use in the late 1970s after
the invention of high-
temperature fabrics (for use
in the filter media) capable of
withstanding temperatures
over 350 °F
99.95% efficient for dust
collection
Electrostatic precipitator
90-99.9 %
efficient

Low power
Easy
maintenance
 Wet scrubber
• The polluted gas stream is brought
into contact with the scrubbing liquid,
by spraying it with the liquid, by
forcing it through a pool of liquid, or
by some other contact method, so as
to remove the pollutants.
• It removes dust particles by capturing
them in liquid droplets. The droplets
are then collected.
liquid dissolving or absorbing the
pollutant gases.
• Any droplets that are in the scrubber
inlet gas must be separated from the
outlet gas stream by means of another
device referred to as mist eliminator
or entrainment separator
• The resultant scrubbing liquid must
be treated prior to any ultimate
discharge or being reused in the plant.
Legal aspects of air pollution control in India

• The air (prevention & control of pollution)

act was legislated in 1981.
• Environmental protection act (EPA) was
passed in 1986.
• The Central Motor Vehicles act of 1939 was
amended in 1989.
• The exhaust emission rules for vehicle
owners notified in 1990 and the mass
emission standards for vehicle
manufacturers were enforced in 1991,
revised in 2000.
• Integrated approach with strict air pollution
control laws : some suggestions:

– Putting a greater emphasis on pollution

prevention rather than control.
– Reducing the use of fossil fuels.
– Improving the quality of vehicular fuel.
– Increasing the use of renewable energy.