Air Pollution Control for

Industrial Applications
Air pollution control

 Techniques employed to reduce or eliminate the emission into the

atmosphere of substances that can harm the environment or human health.
The control of air pollution is one of the principal areas of pollution control,
along with wastewater treatment, solid-waste management, and hazardous-
waste management.
Some types of air pollution control
equipment applied to industrial applications
• Scrubbers
• Air Filters
• Cyclones
• Electrostatic Precipitators
• Mist Collectors
• Incinerators
• Catalytic Reactors
• Biofilters
Scrubbers

 Some of the most commonly used air pollution control devices in

manufacturing and processing facilities, industrial air scrubbers employ a
physical process—i.e., scrubbing—which removes particulates and gases from
industrial emissions, such as smokestack exhaust (in the case of exhaust air
scrubbers), before they are released into the atmosphere. There are two
main categories of scrubbers—dry scrubbers and wet scrubbers.
Air Filters

 Air filters are devices used to control air pollution which employ a specific type of

filtration media—e.g., fabric, sintered metal, ceramic, etc.—to collect and remove dry
particulates and contaminants, such as dust, pollen, microbes, chemicals, etc. from air
passing through them. These devices are utilized in residential, commercial, and
industrial applications to remove pollutants from exhaust air and improve the air
quality within the work environment. For industrial applications, there are several types
of air filters available, including HEPA filters, fabric filters, and cartridge dust
collectors.
Cyclones

 A cyclone removes particulates by causing the dirty airstream to flow in a spiral

path inside a cylindrical chamber. Dirty air enters the chamber from a
tangential direction at the outer wall of the device, forming a vortex as it swirls
within the chamber. The larger particulates, because of their greater inertia,
move outward and are forced against the chamber wall. Slowed by friction with
the wall surface, they then slide down the wall into a conical dust hopper at the
bottom of the cyclone. The cleaned air swirls upward in a narrower spiral
through an inner cylinder and emerges from an outlet at the top. Accumulated
particulate dust is periodically removed from the hopper for disposal.
Electrostatic Precipitators

 Electrostatic precipitation is a commonly used method for removing fine

particulates from airstreams. In an electrostatic precipitator, particles
suspended in the airstream are given an electric charge as they enter the unit
and are then removed by the influence of an electric field. The precipitation
unit comprises baffles for distributing airflow, discharge and collection 
electrodes, a dust clean-out system, and collection hoppers. A high voltage of 
direct current (DC), as much as 100,000 volts, is applied to the discharge
electrodes to charge the particles, which then are attracted to oppositely
charged collection electrodes, on which they become trapped.
Mist Collectors

 Mist collectors, also known as mist or moisture eliminator filters, are air pollution
control devices which remove moisture and vapor—e.g., smoke, oil, mist, etc.—from
gas streams. These devices employ fine mesh-like filters to separate liquid droplets
from the gas and collect them into a separate chamber for further processing and,
potentially, recovery and reuse.
 Mist collectors maintain high filtration efficiencies for submicron liquid particles, with
some models offering 99.9% efficiency for particles ≥0.3 μm in diameter. While mist
collectors are capable of processing acidic and corrosive gas streams, they cannot
handle gas streams containing large particulates, as they may cause an obstruction
within the collector’s filter. They also are not used in applications which have
temperatures above 120 °F.
Incinerators

 he process called incineration or combustion—chemically, rapid oxidation—can

be used to convert VOCs and other gaseous hydrocarbon pollutants to 
carbon dioxide and water. Incineration of VOCs and hydrocarbon fumes usually
is accomplished in a special incinerator called an afterburner. To achieve
complete combustion, the afterburner must provide the proper amount of
turbulence and burning time, and it must maintain a sufficiently high
temperature. Sufficient turbulence, or mixing, is a key factor in combustion
because it reduces the required burning time and temperature. A process called
direct flame incineration can be used when the waste gas is itself a combustible
mixture and does not need the addition of air or fuel.
Catalytic Reactors

 Catalytic reactors, also referred to as selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems, are
air pollution control devices widely used to mitigate nitrogen oxide (NO x) emissions
produced by the burning of fossil fuels in industrial applications. These devices first
inject ammonia into the industrial exhaust and emissions, which reacts with the
NOx compounds to produce nitrogen and oxygen. Similarly to incinerators, these
devices also employ other catalysts which enable some of the remaining gaseous
pollutants to undergo combustion for further processing and reduction. One common
application of catalytic reactors is in modern automobiles; the three-way catalytic
converter in a car’s exhaust system is used to reduce the amounts of NO x, CO, and
other VOCs in the engine emissions.
Biofilters

 Biofilters are air pollution control devices which employ microorganisms, such as

bacteria and fungi, to degrade and remove water-soluble compounds. Similarly to
incineration devices, biofilters destroy the pollutants to reduce the amount present in
industrial emissions and exhaust. However, the microorganisms in biofilters absorb and
metabolize gaseous pollutants, such as VOCs and organic HAP, without generating
byproducts typically produced through combustion, such as NOx and CO. These
devices are capable of achieving over 98% efficiencies.