Envi

ronment
alpol
lut
ion:

Envir
onmental
pollut
ion 
isdef
inedas"
the contami
nati
on 
ofthe
phy
sicalandbiol
ogi
calcomponentsoftheearth/
atmospher
esystem tosuchanextentt
hat
nor
mal envi
ronment
al 
processesar
eadv er
sel
yaf f
ect
ed."

Therearemanyt
ypesofenv
ironment
alpol
l
uti
onbuther
ewewi
l
ldi
sscusabr
iefsummar
yofAi
r
Poll
uti
on.

Ai
rPol
lut
ion:

Ai
rpol
luti
on 
isthepresenceofsubst
ancesi
nthe 
atmosphere 
thatareharmfulto
t
he 
heal
th 
of 
humans andother
 l
iv
ingbeings,
orcausedamagetothe 
cli
mate ort
omat eri
als.
 

Pol
lut
ant
s:

Theredi
ff
erentcausesthatpr
oducesdif
fer
entpol
l
utant
s.Apollut
antcanbeof
nat
ural
ori
ginorman-made.Poll
utantsar
eclassi
fi
edaspri
maryorsecondary
.

:Pr
a) imar
ypol
lut
ant
s:

Primarypoll
utant
sareusuall
ypr
oducedbypr
ocessessuchasashf r
om a
vol
canicer
upt
ion.Otherexamplesincl
ude 
carbonmonoxi
de 
gasfr
om motorvehi
cleexhaust
s
or 
sul
furdi
oxi
de r
eleasedfrom f
actori
es.

b)
:Secondar
ypol
lut
ant
s:

Secondarypol
lut
ant
sarenotemit
teddi
rect
ly.Rather,
theyfor
mi ntheai
r
whenpr i
marypoll
utantsreactori
nter
act
. 
Groundl
evel
ozone 
isapr ominentexampleofa
secondarypol
l
utant.

CausesofAi
rPol
lut
ions:

1)
:Car
bondi
oxi
de(
CO2):

Carbondioxi
de (
CO2)becauseofi
tsr
oleasa 
greenhousegas 
i
thas
beendescr
ibedas"
thel
eadingpoll
utant
"and"
theworstcl
i
matepoll
utant
".

2)
:Sul
furoxi
des 
(SOx):

Sulphuroxidespar
ti
cular
lysul
furdi
oxi
de,
achemicalcompoundwit
hthe
for
mulaSO2.SO2 
isproducedbyv ol
canoesandinvari
ousi
ndust
ri
alpr
ocesses.Coal
and
pet
rol
eum of
tencont
ainsulfurcompounds.

3)
:Car
bonmonoxi
de 
(CO):

COisacolor
less,
odor
less,
toxi
cgas.[
21]
 I
tisaproduct
of
 combust
ion 
off
uel
suchasnat
uralgas,
coal
orwood.Vehicul
arexhaustcont
ri
but
est
othe
maj
ori
tyofcar
bonmonoxi
de.

4)
:Ni
tr
ogenoxi
des 
(NOx):

Ni
tr
ogenoxi
des,par
ti
cul
arl
y ni
tr
ogendioxi
de,
areexpell
edfrom hi
gh
t
emper
atur
ecombust
ion,
andareal
soproduceddur
ing t
hunder
storms 
by 
elect
ri
cdischar
ge.

5)
:Chl
orof
luor
ocar
bons 
(CFCs):

CFCshar
mfultot
he 
ozonel
ayer;emi
tt
edfrom pr
oduct
sare
curr
ent
lybannedfrom use.Thesearegaseswhi
charer
eleasedf
rom ai
rcondi
ti
oner
s,
ref
ri
ger
ators,
aerosolsprays,etc.

Ef
fect
s:

●Theef f
ectsonhumansar ewhicharetempor ary,
incl
udeill
nessessuchas
pneumoniaorbr onchi
tis.Theyalsoincl
udediscomfortsuchasi rr
it
ati
ontothenose,t
hroat
,
eyes,orskin.Ai
rpoll
uti
oncanal socauseheadaches, di
zziness,andnausea.Badsmell
smade
byfactori
es,gar
bage,orsewersy st
emsareconsideredairpollut
ion,t
oo.

●Sul
furdi
oxi
deandnit
rogenoxi
depar
ti
clesi
ntheai
r,cancr
eat
eaci
drai
nwhent
heymi
xwi
th
wat
erandoxygeni
ntheatmospher
e.

●Globalwar
mingi
sanenv
ironment
alphenomenoncausedbynat
ural
andant
hropogeni
cai
r
pol
l
ution.

Sol
uti
onoft
hispr
obl
em :

●Poll
uti
oncanber educedthr
oughprocessessuchas recycl
ing 
andt he
propertr
eatmentofwaterand 
toxicwast
e.Thereduct
ionofcorporat
e f
ossi
lfuel 
extract
ionis
anotherwaytocounter
 ai
rpoll
uti
on.Accordi
ngtothe 
CarbonMajorsReport 
preparedbyt he
CarbonDiscl
osureProj
ect,morethan70percentof
 gr
eenhousegas emissi
onscomesf r
om
only100companies.

●Si ncealargeshareofairpol
luti
oniscausedbycombusti
onof f
ossi
lfuel
s suchas coal
 and 
oil
,
ther educt
ionofthesefuel
scanr educeai
rpoll
uti
ondr
asti
call
y.Mostef
fecti
veistheswi t
chto
cleanpowersour cessuchas windpower,
 sol
arpower
, 
hydr
opower  
whichdon'tcauseair
polluti
on.

● Anelectr
ostat
icpreci
pit
ator(
ESP),
orel
ectrost
ati
caircl
eaneri
sapart
icul
atecoll
ect
iondev
ice
thatremovesparticl
esf
rom afl
owinggas(suchasair
),usi
ngthefor
ceofaninduced
elect
rostat
iccharge.