AIR POLLUTION : INTRODUCTION

Air pollution is a serious global threat to health risks, human

mortality, and cause perturbations to various environmental
processes, ecosystems and climate change.

It can be inferred as a scenario in which the air quality is degraded

by the presence of elevated level (than the prescribed) of particles,
gases and toxic chemicals.

For awareness of severe impacts of air pollution, the gist of the

specific research is widely shared from the desk of the researchers
to general public through various portals of media (WHO 2014; Be'
jot 2018; Lee et al. 2018).

There is an urgent need to assess and abate air pollution in many

places in the globe. However, this exercise is required in certain
pockets of the nation where air pollution is dramatically high due to
industrialization, urbanization, biomass burning, poor ventilation
etc. (WHO 2016; Li et al. 2018).
Source: data from WHO outdoor air pollution, 2014
Recent reports have revealed that air suspended particulate
matters (PM) are one of the most harmful air pollutants which
can originate from various natural and anthropogenic sources
and are responsible for more than 7 million premature annual
global deaths (WHO 2018; Stanaway et al. 2018; Burnett et al.
2018).

They are characterized mostly as PM10(coarse suspended

particles having aerodynamic diameter 10 microns or less)

PM2.5 (fine suspended particles having aerodynamic diameter 2.5

microns or less).
 Air Pollutants

Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5)

Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)

Carbon Monoxide (CO)

Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)

Ozone (O3)
PM impacts are not restricted to human health, but they also
disrupt the environmental processes (Sicard et al. 2016; Wang et
al. 2019) and leads towards an unhealthy living environment in
distinct ecosystems for the continuing population and could be a
significant threat for the future generation.
 Sources

PM varies in shape, size and chemical composition depending on

their source of origin (primary and secondary sources) as well as due
to its linkage with various chemical transformations.

Thus, besides studying for different shapes and sizes, assessment of

chemical composition is of utmost importance owing to the fact that
PM is comprised of hundreds to thousands of chemical compounds
retaining different toxicities (Dergham et al. 2012).

Primary emissions include vehicular emissions, industrial activities,

unpaved roads, sea-salt spray, construction sites, smoke chimneys,
and biomass burning emission etc. Secondary transformations occur
in ambient atmosphere wherein physic-chemical changes take place,
resulting in the formation of secondary aerosols (Chakraborty and
Gupta 2010).
The generation of ambient PM has direct linkage with the
intensity and type of anthropogenic activities as well as natural
emissions.

Anthropogenic activities include pollution from industries, power

generation, automobiles, burning of wood and fossil fuel, civil
constructions, demolitions and agricultural activities.

Natural sources include forest fire, re-suspended soil, sea-salts

spray, and volcanoes etc.

(Ho et al. 2006; Kassomenos et al. 2012; Li Wiedinmyer et al.

2013; Pui et al. 2014).
 Impact

PM enters into human body mainly through inhalation exposure.

PM10-2.5is designated as coarse fraction particle and most likely gets
arrested in the nasal passage.

However, the PM2.5 is considered as fine particles and can penetrate

deeper into the human lungs, interfere with O2-gas exchange in the
lung alveolar region and eventually get into the bloodstream
(Schwartz et al. 1996; Harrison and Yin 2000; Cohen et al. 2005;
Sharma and Agrawal 2005; Huang and Ghio 2006).
One of the main reasons for a vast size range of PM2.5 is due to their
gaseous origin, comprising of inorganic ions and salts of sulfate,
nitrate, ammonium, toxic metals, carbon, and other harmful
combustion products (Rajput et al. 2016, 2018).

Furthermore, PM10-2.5 is typically comprised of bio-aerosols,

minerals and salts of calcium, potassium, iron and aluminium
silicate etc. (Rajput et al. 2017).
Fine particles can penetrate deep into the
lungs.

Finer the size, the deeper is the penetration.

Numerous studies have been conducted to focus on the respiratory
health impacts of particulate matter pollution.

association of PM dose with lung and cardiovascular disease

(Verrieret al. 2002).

PM pollution could cause serious health issues like lung cancer,

asthma, irregular heartbeat, heart attacks, bronchitis, nervous
disorder, decreased lung function, increased respiratory symptoms,
coughing or difficulty in breathing, premature death, cognitive
disorder and many more (Anderson et al. 2011; Honda et al. 2017;
Ho et al. 2018; Wang et al. 2018; Wu et al. 2018; Zhou et al. 2018).

The impact of PM pollution is more in the sensitive populations like

children, elderly, and diseased ones (Pope et al. 2002; Gupta et al.
2011; Son et al. 2010; Ebisu et al. 2016).
According to recent studies, air pollution significantly decreases
people's subjective wellbeing (Li et al. 2018).

The severity of air pollution can be more directly understood by Air

Quality Life Index (AQLI), developed by Michael Greenstone. On
this scale, the impact of air pollution on a global scale is a nearly
two-year reduction of life expectancy.

It is severe in Asia, compare to the rest of the world and crucial in

many parts of India and China.

According to their study, the average Indian's life expectancy can be

increased by more than four years if air quality over Indian region
meets the air standard suggested by the World Health Organization
(WHO).
The global welfare costs linked with early deaths triggered by
PM2.5 pollutions are anticipated to increase from annually 3
trillion US$ in 2015 to 18–25 trillion US$ in 2060 (OECD
2016).

Various researches have also proved the detrimental impact of

PM pollution on climate change and environmental health
(Leibensperger et al. 2012a, b; Locosselli et al. 2019).

PM pollution has an influence on visibility degradation by haze

and fog formation,

and it also deteriorates global heritage monuments like Tajmahal

(Berginet al. 2014).
ESP (electrostatic precipitator)
Cyclones
Baghouse filter
Indoor Air Purifiers
Large Scale outdoor Air Purifiers: Smog Tower, CHINA
Outdoor Air Purifier, Delhi India
PM2.5 mask
 Precautionary and remedial measures

The severity of air pollution is a global concern and would require

lots of scientific efforts in conjunction with national-level active
policies and decisions to control and mitigate it (Wang et al. 2014;
Zhang et al. 2016; Feng and Liao 2016).

Anthropogenic activities are the major contributors to air pollution

and are related to urbanization, crude disposal practices of waste
materials and socio-economic development (Li et al. 2011, 2014).

It is indeed a matter of deep concern and not possible to shut down all
such activities to mitigate air pollution drastically (Chan and Yao
2008; Huang et al. 2009; Ito and Zhang 2016). With the available
technology at present, it is possible to improve the air quality inside
an enclosed space with the help of air purifiers, electrostatic
precipitators or any similar equipment (Chen et al. 2015; Park et al.
2016).
To fight against outdoor exposure of PM pollution, protective
masks are in use.

However, it needs to be understood that our dependency on

external appliances is increasing which cannot be a permanent
solution.

It is always recommendable to trap the pollutants at its source of

origin by deploying downstream the efficient scrubbers and
filtering technologies.

However, the air pollutants once introduced into the atmosphere; it

is near to impossible to control their fate and transport (Louie et al.
2005).
Therefore, at source, the control and mitigation is the best way to
improve the air quality, on a local and global scale.

Nature has an ability of self-purification, with time it eliminates the

pollutants by dispersion or by dry and wet precipitation processes
(Zhang et al. 2019).

Hence, if we produce less pollution and move towards green

technology, the overall air pollution level will decrease gradually.

In this regards, it is worthwhile mentioning here that the air pollution

research and air quality monitoring is utmost essential to abate the
impact of air pollution (Martin et al. 2019). With the scientific
understanding of the pollution scenario, its sources, levels and trend,
the pollution load of any city can be managed in a better way. It
eventually would lead towards a better living environment at present
and for the future inhabitants on planet earth.