YMEH 0002 Indoor and outdoor air pollution

Air Pollution Control by Dr. Dennis Y.C. Leung Department of Mechanical Engineering Course Co-ordinator

Air Pollution Control

Topics to be covered: Approaches of air pollution control Considerations in selecting APC equipment Different types of dust control equipment Fugitive dust control Gaseous pollutants control Vehicular pollutants control Indoor air pollutants control

Approaches of Air Pollution Control

1. LIMITATION / PROHIBITION OF EMISSIONS BY MEANS OF LAWS / LEGISLATIONS

determine which substances should be limited, and to what extent they should be limited, determine the effects of each substance on health, damage to property & esthetic values, find out the interaction of different pollutant substances etc.

This can further be classified into 2 categories: a. Long term control b. Short- term control

LONG-TERM CONTROL: involves a legislated set of measures to be adopted over a multi-year period

Figure 1

Elements of a comprehensive air pollution control strategy for a region

Comprehensive air pollution control strategy

Long-term control

Short-term control

urban planning and zoning

Rescheduling of activities

Programmed reduction in the quantity of material emitted

Rescheduling of activities

Immediate reduction in emissions

Requirements for long-term planning Air quality objective Airshed model Survey of control techniques and costs Meteorological probabilities

Requirements for real-time control Air quality objective Dynamic model Rapid communications Strict enforcement of measures

Kyoto conference on curbing CO2 and greenhouse gas

Country EU countries U.S.A. Japan Australia Ireland 1990 level -8% -7% -6% +8% +10%

Russia, New Zealand 0

SHORT-TERM CONTROL (episode control): involves shutdown & slowdown procedures that are adopted over periods of several hours to several days under adverse meteorological conditions

Element of a real-time air pollution control system.

Meteorological prediction

Prediction simulation Alert level Emission standards Emergency Control procedures Emission standard enforcement Stack monitoring system Automatic air monitoring network Air quality Atmosphere Emission sources

Approaches of Air Pollution control (cont.) 2. PREVENTION

What means are available to prevent air pollution from occurring? Aside from shutting down all polluters, there are means available or potentially available to remove all or part of the pollutants to the extent necessary to prevent serious atmospheric contamination. Air pollution control devices

What are the driving forces for controlling air pollution?

Driving forces for air pollution control

1) Environmental protection 2) Occupational health consideration in workplace 3) Social consideration 4) Legal limitation imposed by government

What considerations should be taken when selecting air pollution control equipment?

1.

Environmental

Ambient conditions Maximum allowable emissions (emission standard) Contribution of APC system to wastewater, land pollution and noise pollution problems Aesthetic considerations (visible steam etc.)

An incincerator in Austria

A power plant in Germany

2.

Engineering

Contaminant characteristics Gas stream characteristics Design & performance characteristics of the particular control system

3.

Economic

Capital cost (equipment, installation, engineering, etc.) Operation cost (utilities, maintenance, etc.) Expected equipment lifetime and salvage value

The final choice of equipment is usually dictated by that equipment capable of achieving compliance with regulatory codes at the lowest cost (total cost include capital cost, maintenance and operation costs).

It should be noted that:

In view of the relatively HIGH COSTS often associated with pollution control system, engineers today are directing considerable effort toward PROCESS MODIFICATION to eliminate as much pollution problem as possible at the source. Evaluating alternative manufacturing & production techniques: e.g. use of LPG stove instead of wood stove in producing lotus moon cake Substitution of raw materials: e.g. substitute high S fuels by low S fuels Improved process control methods: e.g. NOx reduction by better controlling combustion process

Different Types of Air Pollution Control Equipment

1) 2) 3) 4) Mechanical Collector Baghouse Electrostatic Precipitator Wet Scrubber Particulates removal 5) 6) 7) 8) Absorber Adsorber Incinerator Condenser Gaseous removal

Commonly used air pollution control methods / techniques

Industrial application - particulate matter (PM) - gaseous pollutant Fugitive emission control Vehicular emission control Indoor air pollution control

Commonly used equipment for particulate control

PM removal Electrostatic precipitator (ESP)

Widely used to reduce particulate emissions in many industrial applications, Designed to collect particles & liquid aerosols at a very high collection eff. (>99%) Capable to handle large exhaust gas volume at high temp., therefore widely used in utility boilers, incinerator, cement kilns, furnaces.

Advantages
- High removal efficiency (>99%) for coarse and fine particulate - Very small particles can be collected - Dry dusts can be collected for recovery of valuable material (e.g. fly ash) - Small pressure and temperature drops - Designed to operate continuously with little maintenance over long periods of time

- Few moving parts reduce maintenance - Can be used at high temp. (700C) & high pressure (<150 psi) - Can be used to collect acid and tar mists which are difficult to be removed by other methods - Can handle very large gas flow rates (> 2 x 106 m3/hr) - Low power consumption and hence low operating cost

Disadvantages
- High capital cost - Not easily adaptable to variable condition (i.e. flows, temp., particulate loadings) - Some particles with extremely high or low resistivity are very difficult to be collected

Application area
Incinerator, utility boiler, furnaces, refineries, smelters, paper mills, small household air-conditioning system

PM Removal Fabric filter

It is one of the most common techniques for collecting dust. A filter generally is any porous structure composed of granular or fibrous material which tends to retain the particulate as the carrier gas passes through the voids of the filter. Two basic types of filters are usually used:Disposable and non-disposable (more commonly used industrially)

A typical baghouse

Advantages
- Extremely high collection eff. on both coarse and fine particulates (> 99.9%) - Collected dust is recovered dry for subsequent processing/disposal

Disadvantages
- Temp. > 300C require special refractory mineral or metallic fabrics that are still in the developmental stage - Conc. of some dusts in the collector (~59 g/m3) may cause explosion hazard if a spark or flame is admitted by accident. Fabrics can burn if readily oxidizable dust is being collected

Application area
Vacuum cleaner, air conditioning system, ash and material handling plant, power plant, cement plant, etc.

The End Thank you!