Module B:

Air Quality
Sources,Transport/Transformation,
Receptor & Control Technology

Manoranjan Sahu
ESED, IIT Bombay
Email: mrsahu@iitb.ac.in
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 Evaluation Criteria
When: from 5th October – 18th October
• There will be a total of six lectures

Evaluation: 33% towards the final grade

• HW/Assignment/Quiz – 10 marks
• Final Exam – 23 marks

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 “Air and water, the two essential fluids on
which all life depends, have become global
garbage cans”

“Mankind has probably done more damage to

the Earth in the 20th century than in all of
previous human history”

(Jacques Yves Cousteau, 1910-1997)

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What is acid Rain? Air Pollution and
Health

What can I do?

Clean and Dirty Gases

Air
 GOAL!!!

You will be able to understand and explain air

pollution issues and understand the basic
principles of pollution and air quality
management

Expectation:
• To understand basic concepts and definitions and
parameters associated with air pollution
• To describe physico-chemical phenomena, and
• To apply the understanding on current air quality
problems

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 Learning Objective
1. To learn about air pollution as a system, air quality
regulations, and their impact on human health and
climate, and various types pollutants

2. To understand sources of air pollutants & their variability

3. To understand particle composition, morphology & size

distribution

4. To learn about monitoring methods to quantify pollutants’

concentrations

5. To explain effects of meteorology and physico-chemical

phenomena of transport of pollutants in the atmosphere

6. To learn about current air pollution control methods and

emerging control technologies.

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 Textbook

Will provide relevant articles or chapters from

other books, as necessary
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 Today’s Learning Objective !
1. To learn about air pollution as a system, air quality
regulations, and their impact on human health and
climate, and various types pollutants
Air Pollution
Atmosphere

Atmosphere is characterized by two important physical parameters in atmosphere:

Pressure, Temperature
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https://mind42.com/public/b1c118b9-497c-4507-8dce-88d649233f13
 Atmosphere Composition
Average composition of the atmosphere up to an altitude of 25 km.

Gas Name Chemical Formula Percent Volume

Nitrogen N2 78.08%
Oxygen O2 20.95%
*Water H2O 0 to 4%
Argon Ar 0.93%
*Carbon Dioxide CO2 0.0360%
Neon Ne 0.0018%
Helium He 0.0005%
*Methane CH4 0.00017%
Hydrogen H2 0.00005%
*Nitrous Oxide N2O 0.00003%
*Ozone O3 0.000004%

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 Air Pollution
• Problems in many urban areas in late 1800s and early
1900 due to coal use
• Smoke and ash from fossil fuels by power plants, trains, ships:
coal (and oil) burning = smoke, ash
• 1930 - 1950’s - Air Pollution Episodes
• 1948- Donora Fog in Pennsylvania, USA
• 1000’s of deaths attributed to air pollution episode in
London (Great Smog) in December 1952
o large emissions of pollutants
o restricted air volume
o failure to recognize problem

• Bhopal gas tragedy: 2–3 December 1984

London Smog, December 1952
 London-Smog, December 1952
5'000 910 1000
Smoke (particles)
4'500 900
Pollutant Concent. in ug/m3

4'000
SO2 800
Death
3'500 700
3'000 600
Some >4‘000 extra death within one week

Death
2'500 500
12‘000 extra death within 6 months
2'000 400
1'500 300
1'000 259 200
500 100
0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
December 1952
BS County Hall SO2 ug/3 Todesfälle Total
 London smog, 1952

London 21st century

TATE MODERN art museum
London mid 20th century Bankside
Powerstation
 Air Pollution-India

132 air quality non attainment city in India

Non-Attainment cities with respect to Ambient Air Quality India (2011-2015) and WHO report 2014/2018

https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/11/22/16666808/india-air-pollution-new-delhi
 Air Pollution-Delhi

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/in-air-
pollution-choking-delhi-is-top-of-the-
world/articleshow/66779835.cms?from=mdr
https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/delhi-air-
pollution-no2-level-rises-in-the-national-capital-despite-fall-
in-dies/306695
 Air Pollution-India (Capital of smog)

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/04/india/delhi-india-smog-pollution-intl-
hnk/index.html
Air Pollution: A Silent Killer
Air Pollution Related Death
Pollution Exposure Varies with Income level

Poorer households have a higher dependence on solid

fuels
https://ourworldindata.org/indoor-air-pollution
Health effects of air pollution

Künzli et al., 2010

 Website to watch

http://berkeleyearth.org/air-pollution-overview/
https://vimeo.com/107108296
Air pollution affects climate: Direct effects

Sun provides the energy that

drives Earth’s climate, but not
all of the energy that reaches
the top of the atmosphere finds
its way to the surface.

That’s because aerosols—and

clouds seeded by them—
reflect about a quarter of the
Sun’s energy back to space.

Black carbon aerosols, similar to the

soot in a chimney, absorb sunlight
rather than reflecting it. This warms the
layer of the atmosphere carrying the
black carbon, but also shades and cools
the surface below.

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Aerosols/page3.php
Air pollution affects climate: Indirect effects

Whereas aerosols can influence climate by
scattering light and changing Earth’s
reflectivity, they can also alter the climate
via clouds. On a global scale, these aerosol
“indirect effects” typically work in opposition
to greenhouse gases and cause cooling
Brighter clouds, in turn, block sunlight
from reaching Earth’s surface, shading
the planet and producing net cooling.
This cloud brightening effect—called the
“cloud albedo effect”—may have a big
impact on the climate

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Aerosols/page4.php
 Air Quality Regulation
1952: London Smog (that we talked about earlier)
1956: The British Clean Air act
Air Prevention
1963: The US Clean and
Air Control
Act of Pollution Act
(1981),
1971: The Canadian Clean air Act
1981: The Air Act (India)
Amended in 1987
A comprehensive legislation which makes provisions for:
• Central pollution control board (CPCB)
• State pollution control boards (SPCBs),
• power to declare pollution control areas,
• restrictions on certain industrial units,
• authority of the Boards to limit emission of air pollutants,
• power of entry, inspection, taking samples and analysis,
• penalties, offences by companies and Government, and
http://www.envfor.nic.in/legis/air/air1.html
 Air Act, 1981
Air Prevention and Control of Pollution Act
(1981), Amended in 1987
• The Act specifically empowers State Government to designate air
pollution control areas and to prescribe the type of fuel to be used in
these designated areas
• Air pollution sources such as industry, vehicles, power plants, etc. not
permitted to release criteria air pollutants or other toxic substances
beyond a prescribed level (called as NAAQS)
• The Air Act apparently adopts an industry wide “best available
technology” requirement for abiding the emission requirements

http://www.envfor.nic.in/legis/air/air1.html
 Why Study/Assess Air Quality?
That was 20th century, …with advancement in
technology and preventive measures and
enforced regulations, the question is:

Is air pollution still a relevant problem?

Are you breathing clean Air?

 Air Pollution Research
• Two events sparked research on air
pollution and regulations to control air
quality.

– Donora fog in 1948

– London smog event in 1952
– Both cause by pollutants being trapped
by weather events. Both killed numerous
people.