CE 351

Environmental Engineering

Unit 8-1: Air Pollution

Class Objectives
• Introduce you to the air pollution standards in
the United States
• Understand what are the air pollutants of
concern
• Understand the effects of air pollution on
individuals and the environment

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Air Pollution Standards

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The 1970 Clean Air Act (CAA)
• Required the US Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) to
– Investigate and describe the environmental
impacts of any air pollutant emitted by stationary
or mobile sources that adversely
• Affect human health
• Or the environment
• As a result of these investigations two
different types of standards were developed
– Primary standards-to protect public health
– Secondary standards-to prevent environmental
or property damage
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Units of Measure For Air Pollution Data
• Micrograms per cubic meter (g/m3)
• Parts per million (ppm) Concentration
• Micron (m)

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 Size
of
Contaminants
(Figure 9-2)

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New Source Performance Standards for
Coal Fired Electric Utilities

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Federal Motor Vehicle Emission Standards

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Greenhouse Gas Air Pollutant Emission
Standards
• Nitrous oxide
• methane
• Carbon dioxide-
– target values are based on the footprint of the
vehicle and the model year
• 2012
• 2013
• 2014
• 2015
• 2016 and later
Where footprint = wheel base x track width
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Effects of Air Pollutants

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 Effects of Air Pollution on Materials
• There are five mechanisms of deterioration that
have been attributed to air pollution
– Abrasion
• Large enough solid particles traveling at a high enough
speed
– Deposition and removal
– Direct chemical attack
• Solubilization and oxidation/reduction reactions
– Indirect chemical attack
• Pollutants are absorbed then react with a component of the
of the absorbent to form a destructive component
– Electrochemical corrosion
• Oxidation reduction reactions cause local chemical and
physical differences on metal surfaces 14
What Factors Influence Deterioration?
• Moisture
Moisture (humidity) is essential for most mechanisms
of deterioration to occur
• Temperature
Higher air temperatures result in higher reaction rates
Low air temperatures could cause moisture to condense
• Sunlight
Stimulates air pollution damage by providing energy for
pollutant formation and cycling
O3 produced by photochemical reactions can cause cracking
of rubber and fading of dyes
• Position of the exposed material
Position affects wash off rates
When humidity is high the lower side deteriorates faster
because the rain does not wash off the pollutants 15
Effects of Air Pollution on Plants
• Air pollution damages the components of
the plant
• Impacts plant and crop yields which
• Can cause a large financial impact on
farmers

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Plant Cell- 3 Main Components Include
• Cell wall, the protoplast, and the inclusions

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 Cross Section of a Mature Leaf
• Cross section of an intact leaf

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 Ozone Damage

• Ozone injures the palisade cells

• The chloroplasts condense and ultimately the cell walls
collapse
• Formation of red-brown spots that turn white after a few days
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Gross sulfur dioxide damage to trees

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Sulfur dioxide damage to corn

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Ozone damage to romaine lettuce – silver shine
reduces value
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Ozone damage to alfalfa
– reduces nutritional value as animal forage
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 The Net Results of Air Pollution On Plants
• Causes a reduction in surface area of the leaf
– Results in less plant growth
– Results in smaller fruit
– These two results cause a direct reduction in
the farmers income.

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 Indicator of Air Pollution in Humans
• The respiratory system is the primary indicator
of air pollution effects in humans
• The respiratory system consists of
– The upper respiratory tract (URT)
– The lower respiratory tract (LRT)

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The Human Respiratory System

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 Inhalation and Retention of Particles
• The degree of penetration of particles into the
LRT is a function of the size of the particles
and rate of breathing
• Particles greater than 5 to 10
m are screened out by the
hairs of the nose
• Sneezing also helps the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_hair

screening

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sneeze 27
Inhalation and Retention of Particles
• Particles in the 1 to
2 m penetrate to
the alveoli

• They are small enough to

bypass the screening in the
URT
• They are big enough that the
terminal settling velocity will
cause them to deposit where
they can do damage
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 Size
of
Contaminants

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 Chronic Respiratory Disease Caused By Air
Pollution
• Airway resistance-the narrowing of the
bronchioles because of the presence of
irritating substances
– Bronchial asthma is a form of resistance that
results from an allergy
• Chronic bronchitis-when excess mucus is in
the bronchioles that result in a cough for 3
months of a year for 2 years
• Pulmonary emphysema- the breakdown of
the alveoli (become nonresilient balloon like structures)
• Cancer of the bronchus (Lung cancer) 30
Other Constituents of Concern

• Carbon Monoxide (CO)

• Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs)
• Lead (Pb)
• Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)
• Photochemical Oxidants
• PM10
• Sulfur Oxides (SOx) and Total Suspended
Particulates (TSP)

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 Carbon Monoxide (CO)
• CO is a colorless odorless gas that is lethal to
humans at concentrations > 5,000 ppm
• Hemoglobin has a greater affinity for CO than
does oxygen
• CO reacts with hemoglobin in the blood to form
carboxyhemoglobin (COHb)
• The formation of COHb deprives the body of
oxygen
• At COHb levels of 5 to 10 percent visual
perception, manual dexterity and the ability to
learn are impaired
A concentration of 50 ppm of CO for eight hours will result in a COHb level of
5 to 10 percent 32
CO Origin and Fate
• Incomplete oxidation of carbon results in the
production of CO
• The natural anaerobic decomposition of organic
material by microorganisms release approximately
160 tera grams of Methane (CH4) each year

A complex series of 39 reactions leads to

+
• This says that and are zapped by a
photon of light energy

is Planck s constant = 6.626 10-34 J/Hz 33
CO Origin and Fate
• Anthropogenic sources include
– Motor vehicles
– Fossil and fuel burning
– Industrial processes and misc. burning
• No significant change in global CO has been
observed over the past 20 years
– Yet anthroprogenic sources of combustion has
doubled over the same time period
• A number of mechanisms (sinks) have been
proposed (sinks consumes the amount of CO produced)
– Reaction with hydroxyl radicals to form CO2
– Removal by soil microorganisms 34
Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs)
• The HAPs regulated can cause a variety of
diseases
• Asbestos, arsenic, benzene, coke oven
emissions, and radionuclides
– may cause cancer
• Beryllium causes
– lung disease
– but can also affect the liver, spleen, kidneys, and
lymph glands

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HAPs Origin and Fate
• Sources include
– Fuel combustion
– Metal processing
– Petroleum and natural gas production & refining
– Surface coating processes
– Waste treatment and disposal processes
– Agricultural chemical production
• In addition to direct emission air toxics can result
from chemical formation in the atmosphere
– Reaction with ozone, hydroxyl radicals and nitrite
radicals
– Photolysis-chemical fragmentation caused by light 36
Lead (Pb)
• Acute lead poisoning causes mild anemia and
fatigue, irritability, mild headache, and pallor
when the blood levels increases from 60 to 120
g/100g of whole blood
• Chronic exposure can result in brain damage
(characterized by seizures, mental incompetence,
and aggressive behavior)
• Atmospheric lead occurs as a particulate
– 0.16 to 0.43 m

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Lead Origin and Fate
• Sources include
– Volcanic activity
– Airborne soil
– Smelters and the refining process
– Incineration of lead containing wastes
– Lead containing gasoline
• 70 to 80 percent of the lead in gasoline was
discharged to the atmosphere

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Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)
• Exposure to NO2 concentrations above 5 ppm for
15 minutes results in cough and irritation of the
respiratory tract
• Continued exposures may produce an abnormal
accumulation of fluid in the lung

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Nitrogen Dioxide Origin and Fate
• Bacterial action in the soil releases nitrous oxide
(N2O) to the atmosphere
• In the upper troposphere and stratosphere atomic
oxygen reacts with the nitrous oxide to form nitric
oxide
• Ultimately NO2 is converted to either NO2- or NO3
in particulate form. That are washed out by
precipitation
• The dissolution of nitrate in a water droplet allows
for the formation of nitric acid (HNO3)
– Causes “acid” rain in down wind areas
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Acid Rain

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Acid Rain

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Photochemical Oxidants
• Although the photochemical oxidants include
peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN), acrolein,
peroxybenzoyl nitrates (PBzN), aldehydes, and
nitrogen oxides,
• The major oxidant is Ozone (O3)
• Ozone is commonly used as an indicator of the
total amount of oxidants present
• Oxidant concentrations above
– 0.1 ppm result in eye irritation
– 0.3 ppm cause an increase in cough and chest
discomfort
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Photochemical Oxidants Origin and Fate
• Photochemical oxidants result entirely from
atmospheric reaction and are not directly related
to people or nature
• They are formed through a series of reactions that
are initiated by the absorption of a photon by an
atom, molecule or free radical ion
– The hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, and ozone
react and interact to produce more nitrogen
dioxide and ozone

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Photochemical Oxidants Origin and Fate

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PM10
• An air quality standard based on particles with an
aerodynamic diameter less than 10 m
• Studies conducted in the US, Brazil, and Germany
have related higher levels of particulates to
increased risk of
– Respiratory
– Cardiovascular
– Cancer related death
– Pneumonia
– Lung function loss
– Hospital admissions
– Asthma 46
Sulfur Oxides (SOx) and Total Suspended
Particulates (TSP)
• If sulfur oxides exist alone the will be removed by
the mucous membranes of the URT
• It is hypothesized that the sulfur oxides absorb to
the fine particulates that travel to the LRT
• When the TSP levels exceed 350 m/m3 and the
SO2 level was above 0.095 ppm symptoms from
chronic bronchitis increased
• Decreasing these levels improves pulmonary
function

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What Are Air Pollution Episodes

• Episode was used as a refined form of the

word disaster (in the nuclear industry this
would be called an incident)

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Crucial Ingredients for Air Pollution
Episodes (Disasters)

• Large Number of Pollution Sources

• A restricted air volume
• Failure to recognize that anything is wrong
• The presence of water droplets of the right
size

It is believed that sulfur oxides and particulates were

the most likely suspects in these episodes

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Crucial Ingredients for Air Pollution
Episodes (Disasters)
• The meteorology must be such that there is
little air movement
• The stagnant conditions must persist for days
– 3 days appears to be the minimum
• The hazardous air pollution conditions became
lethal because the failure of the city official to
notice anything wrong
• The presence of fog droplets of the “right” size
namely in the 1 to 2 m diameter range or in
the range below 0.5 m
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Exam 2 Review (Units 6 and 7)
• Terms of Water Quality and Wastewater Treatment
• BOD, Ultimate BOD, and Thod
• Calculating lbs per day of a constituent
• Calculating WWTP max and minimum flows
• Sizing clarifiers
• Sizing biological treatment steps and determining air
demand
• Calculating solid residence times
• Understanding particle size distribution graphs
• Solids dewatering
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Example Problems

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 Example 8-1
An air sample shows an H2S value of 75 ppm. The
corresponding concentration in mg/L at 25 oC and 1 atm of
pressure is
Assuming a 1 L volume of gas is present the corresponding concentration of H2S can be
calculated

Ideal gas law

1 7.5 10 L
·
0.08206 298
·

Molecular weight of H2S

3.067 10 34 10
2 2 1 2
1 1 32 32 1
1 34 0.104
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Example 8-2
Coal that enters a power plant is pretreated to remove 98%
of the mercury. If the coal has an average concentration of 1
g HG/ton and the input rate for the power plant is 40,000
tons/hour, how much mercury is being emitted in g/s.

%

1 1
40,000 1 0.98
3,600

0.22

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Example 8-3
An incinerator had been tested and confirmed to remove
98% of all VOC’s. The outlet concentration must be less than
50 g/m3 and the maximum volumetric flow rate for the
system is 10 m3/sec. What is the maximum flow rate of
VOC’s in the system in kg/day.

10 10
10 50
500
50
Page 189 500
0.98
0.98 500
500 0.98
500 0.02

500 86,400 2.16

0.02 10 56
Example 8-4
Which pollutant would tend to travel the
furthest in a plume?
a) PM 2.5
b) PM 10
c) PM 25
d) PM 100
Typically the smaller the diameter of the pollutant the larger
the surface to mass ratio. Therefore the settling velocity is
slowed by frictional drag in smaller molecules versus the larger
molecules. Therefore the
smallest diameter pollutant would then travel the furthest

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Example 8-5
A wood treatment plant operates 260 days per year. The
permit specifies that no more than 25 tons per year may be
emitted of VOC’s. If the emission factor is 5.8 x10-3 lb/ft3 of
treated wood, how many cubic feet can be treated in one
year assuming no control devices are present?
1. Convert the emission factor to tons per year
Emission factor 5.8 10
,

Emission factor 2.98 10

2. Find how many ft3 per year can be treated without
exceeding the 25 tons per year of VOCs

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 The Ideal Gas Law
• States that at the same temperature and
pressure, different kinds of gasses have
densities proportional to their molecular masses
It can also be written

Where:
density of gas, kg/m3
P = absolute pressure, kPa
M = molecular mass, grams/mole
T = absolute temperature, K
R = universal gas constant = 8.3143 J/K ∙mole
n = moles of an ideal gas 59
Converting g/m3 to ppm

• Since ppm is a ratio combining

equations yields

Where:
Mp = mass of the pollutant in mg’
Va = assume it is 1.00 m3
T2 = absolute temperature
P2 = absolute pressure at which the readings were made

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Converting g/m3 to ppm
• The conversion between g/m3 and ppm is
based on the fact that at standard conditions
(OoC and 101.325 kPa
– 1 mole of gas occupies 22.414 L

Where:
GMW = the gram molecular weight of the pollutant
Mp = mass of the pollutant in grams
Vp = Equivalent volume in liters at STP
For readings Made at
temperatures and pressures
other than standard conditions
the standard volume must be
corrected

T2 = absolute temperature
P2 = absolute pressure at which the readings were made 61
Example 8-6
Convert 80 g/m3 of SO2 to ppm at 25oC
and 101.325 kPa pressure

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