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Air Pollution
Air Pollution
Neon Ne 0.0018
Helium He 0.0005
Methane CH4 0.00017
Krypton Kr 0.00011
Nitrous oxide N2 O 0.00003
Hydrogen H 0.00005
THE ATMOSPHERE OF EARTH
Age of earth: 4.6 billion years (approximately)
ers:
posphere – decreasing temp. with altitude
tosphere - increasing temp. with altitude
osphere - decreasing temp. with altitude
rmosphere- increasing temp. with altitude
120
100
Thermosphere
Mesopause
80
Altitude (km)
Mesosphere
60 Stratopause
40
Stratosphere
20 Tropopause
Troposphere
0
Temperature (oC)
TROPOSPHERE
Consists of 80% of mass of the atmosphere
Altitude:
Midlatitudes – 10 to 12 km
Poles – 5 to 6 km
Equator – 18 km
Temp profile:
Decreases 5 to 7oC per km (wet or saturated
STRATOSPHERE
Stable layer of very dry air
THERMOSPHERE
IONOSPHERE:
A relatively dense band of charged particles
within thermosphere
AIR POLLUTION
Definition
Air pollution is defined as the presence of contaminants
in air such as dust, fumes, gases, mist, odour, smoke or
vapour in such quantities and characteristics for a
particular duration which may be injurious to human,
plant or animal life or to the property or which
unreasonably interfere with comfortable environment of
Air Pollutant
life and property
Gas
Particulate matter
Primary air pollutants
i. Substances that are emitted directly into the atmosphere
from identifiable sources as a result of combustion
(automobile exhaust and emissions from thermal power
plants), evaporation (volatile substances such as gasoline,
paints and cleaning fluids), grinding (vehicle wheel-road
surface interaction) and abrasion (ploughing)
ii. Particulate matter, CO, NOx, SOx, organic compounds and
radioactive compounds
Combustion takes place in air (N2-78% & O2-21%), not in pure oxygen
environment
Most of the fuels are not pure hydrocarbon; they contain other
elements such as N, S,
Pb (in petrol) and other unburnable materials called ash.
and other organic compounds that readily vaporize are called Volatile Organic
mpounds (VOCs). VOCs react with NOx in the presence of sunlight to produce
otochemical smog:
e above reactions are greatly simplified; however they do introduce the 6 princi
ban air pollutants:
OZONE (O3)
Mobile source
Modes of transportation
highway vehicle, rail, aircraft, boat and ship
Stationary source
Industry
power plants, metal processing plants,
petroleum production and refineries,
chemical plants
(prominent one is electric power
plants)
CARBON MONOXIDE (CO)
s a colourless, odourless, tasteless, poisonous gas
urce
duced out of a combustion that involves one or more of the following:
insufficient oxygen
low combustion temperature
fuel not given enough time to burn
parameters do not meet more often in mobile source than in stationary sources:
ult: CO emission is high in mobile sources
ect
adverse impact on plants and materials at the level that occur in urban
ever, CO is an asphyxiant (gives suffocation due to lack of oxygen)
feres with the blood’s ability to carry O2 from lungs to different organs and tissu
Consequence:
Even a small amount of CO can seriously reduce the amount
of O2 conveyed throughout the body;
Place CO Concentration
(ppm)
Near busy roadways 5 to 50
Congested highways 100
Cigarette smoke contains 400
7 oxides of nitrogen are known: NO, NO2, NO3, N2O, N2O3, N2O4 and
N2O5
Important air pollutants: NO and NO2 (combined referred to as oxides of
nitrogen, NOx)
N2O: Green house gas (GHG)
EFFECTS:
NO – Has no known adverse health effects at concentrations found in
the atmosphere
NO oxidises to NO2 and it has many adverse health effects
OXIDES OF SULPHUR (SO x )
SOx emission sources
90% fossil fuel combustion from stationary sources (85% of this is emitted
from power plants)
3% from highway vehicles
Significant non-combustion sources of sulphur emission:
Petroleum refining
Copper smelting
Cement manufacturing
Sulphur in fossil fuels
Coal: 1 – 6 % (About 50 % organic sulphur is chemically bound to coal,
other half is physically trapped in the non-carbon portion of coal and gets
removed by pulverisation or washing of coal before combustion.)
Petroleum:
Trace amount to about 5%
All most all sulphur are removed during the process of
refining
Gasoline has < 1ppm sulphur
SO2 emission
When S containing fuels are burned, S is released as SO2 and SO3.
With moisture, these form H2SO4.
OXIDES OF SULPHUR (SO x )
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECT
VOC and sunlight, when come together, initiate a complex set of react
produce
2NO + Osunlight
2 2NO2 (Nitric oxide getting oxidized to NO2)
Definition
A particle consists of a single continuous unit of solids or liquid
containing many molecules held together by intermolecular
forces and primarily larger than molecular dimensions (<
0.001µm).
Source
Particulate matter results from the disintegration of solids.
Airborne dust
Suspended particulate matter (SPM or TSPM): > 10 µm (up to
100 µm)
= PM2.5-10 + PM2.5
PARTICULATE MATTER
Settling velocity of the spherical particle
Gravitational force
d2 ρg
v=
18η
m = mass of particle (g)
g = gravitational acceleration (9.8 m/s2)
d = particle diameter (m)
ρ = particle density (g/m3)
η = viscosity of air (0.0172 g/m.s)
v = settling velocity (m/s)
SETTLING VELOCITIES OF PARTICULATE MATTER
Solution:
With density of water equal to 106 g/m3
The ease with which pollutants can disperse vertically into the atmosphere is
largely determined by the rate of change of air temperature with altitude.
Lapse rate
The rate of change of air temperature with altitude is called lapse rate
A parcel of air moving upward experiences less pressure, expands and cools
A parcel of air moving downward comes under more pressure, gets compressed
and temperature of the air parcel increases
However, had this energy transfer in the form of heat not taken place
between the air parcel and surrounding, the process would be adiabatic
and at that condition the rate of change of temperature of the air parcel with
altitude is known as adiabatic lapse rate.
When the air is assumed to be dry, this is called dry adiabatic lapse
rate
If the air has enough water vapour in it so that condensation takes place as
the air parcel is raised and cooled, latent heat will be released.
This added heat will not allow the parcel to cool as rapidly as the dry one.
The lapse rate of such air containing water vapour is called Saturated
adiabatic lapse rate.
This lapse rate is variable as amount of moisture that air can hold before
beginning of condensation is a function of temperature.
This lapse rate in the real atmosphere is called ambient lapse rate (Г).
The difference between the ambient lapse rate and adiabatic lapse
rate determines the stability of the atmosphere.
ATMOSPHERIC STABILITY
Stable atmosphere:
The thermal structure of the atmosphere inhibits mechanical turbulence
Discourages the dispersion and dilution of pollutants
Unstable atmosphere:
Mechanical turbulence is enhanced by thermal structure
Rapid vertical mixing of air takes place
Encourages pollutant dispersal
Increases air quality
Neutral atmosphere:
The thermal structure neither enhances nor resists mechanical
turbulence
Limited pollutant dispersion; dispersion is mainly due to diffusion
Height (m)
Dry adiabatic lapse rate
300
19 20 21 22
Temperature (o C)
UNSTABLE ATMOSPHERE
Ambient lapse rate > Dry adiabatic lapse rate (the lapse rate is said to be superadiabatic)
500
400
Height (m)
19 20 21 22
Temperature (o C)
STABLE ATMOSPHERE
Ambient lapse rate < Dry adiabatic lapse rate (the lapse rate is said to be subadiabatic)
400
Height (m)
100
19 20 21 22
Temperature (o C)
NUMERICALS ON ATMOSPHERIC STABILITY
Q.
Given the following temperature and elevation data, determine the stability of the
atmosphere.
A.
ΔT/ΔZ = (11.13-14.35)/(324.00-2.00) oC/m = - 3.22/322.00
= - 0.01 oC/m
= - 10 oC/km
100
19 20 21 22
Temperature (o C)
RELATIONSHIP OF THE AMBIENT LAPSE RATES
WITH THE DRY ADIABATIC LAPSE RATE
1.5
Su
bad
Sta
Isothermal
bl e
ia b
Stable
atic
Elevation, km
1.0
Dr
y
a
Ne
ion
ia
ut
ba
ra
ble
ers
tic
l
Sta
Inv
Su
0.5 pe
Un radi
s ta a
ble bati
c
T = 9.8 oC T
Temperature, oC
TEMPERATURE INVERSION
TYPES OF INVERSION
Radiation Inversion
Subsidence Inversion
Frontal Inversion
RADIATION INVERSION
Surface of the earth cools after sunset by radiation energy towards space
On a clear night, surface more rapidly radiates energy to space and ground
cooling occurs much more rapidly
As the ground cools, the temp of the air in contact with the ground also drops
Therefore low level air close to ground is colder than the air above it, a case
of temperature inversion
Next day morning sunlight warms the ground and destroys the inversion
Often begin at about the early evening traffic build up and therefore traps
the pollutant emitted from the traffic and increases the concentration of
pollutants to which commuters are exposed
SUBSIDENCE INVERSION
Air in the middle of the high pressure zone descends, gets compressed
and temperature of air rises
FRONTAL INVERSION
When a cold air mass passes under a warm air mass, the inversion is
called frontal inversion
That height above earth’s surface to which related pollutants will extend,
primarily through the action of the atmospheric turbulence
OR
The height above the earth’s surface up to which pollutants are diluted and
dispersed in the available atmospheric condition; i.e. significant mixing of
the pollutants takes place
MMD MMD
MMD
TEMPERATURE
2000 30
Intensity (W/m2) / μm
Intensity (W/m2) / μm
Outgoing radiation from
Incoming Earth’s surface, 288 K
extraterrestrial 20 (long wavelengths)
0 1 2 3 4
Wavelength (μm) 0 10 20 30 40 50
Wavelength (μm)
The infrared (IR) portion of the spectrum lies between 0.7 μm and 100 μm.
The Process
Result:
Radiant energy pass through atmosphere unaffected
Radiant energy gets scattered by reflection
Radiant energy gets absorbed and do not escape the lower atmosphere
(when frequency of molecular oscillation of gases is
close to the frequency of the passing radiant energy)
O2 and O3: absorbs all incoming solar radiation < 0.3 μm (ultraviolet)
(cause of stratospheric ozone depletion)
Greenhouse gas:
Radiatively active gases that absorb wavelengths longer than 4 μm
Reradiated IR from
Atmosphere to space
Through atmospheric
radiative window
SP
AC
E
H2O, CO2, CH4, N2O, O3
AT
M
OS
PH
ER
E
Glass:
Absorbs almost all of the longer wavelengths radiated by the greenhouse interior
GREENHOUSE EFFECT and TEMP OF EARTH