WPE: 407

Environmental Studies

Chapter-2: Air Pollution

Mohammad Shohag
Lecturer, DoWPE
BUTEX
Topics to be covered:
• Air Pollution
• Sources of Industrial Air Pollution
• Control Practices of Air Pollution
• Air Pollutant And Some Common Forms.
• Primary And Secondary Air Pollutant.
• Particulate Pollutant And Their Removal Processes.
• Gaseous Pollutant And Their Removal Processes
• Air Quality Index(AQI)
• Measure of Air Quality
 Air Pollution (Definition)
• Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate, or biological material
that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or
damages the natural environment into the atmosphere.

• Ambient air is a mixture of gases i.e. 78% Nitrogen, 20% Oxygen, about 1%
Argon, 0.03% Carbon dioxide etc. When there is disturbance in the
composition of air due to the particulate matter or gases let out from the
industries into atmosphere, it is considered as Air pollution.
 Air pollution in different processes of Textile
Process Source Pollutant
Emissions from preparation, carding,
Cotton handling activities Particulates
combing and fabric manufacturing
Nitrous oxides(N2O), Sulphur
Energy Production Emissions from boiler
dioxide(SO2)
Emission from using sizing compound Nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxide,
Sizing
(gums, PVA) carbon monoxide.
Bleaching Emission from using chlorine compound Chlorine, Chlorine dioxide
Disperse dyeing using carrier, Carriers,
Dyeing H2S
Sulphur dyeing
Printing Screen printing, rotary printing Hydrocarbons, ammonia
Resin finishing, heat setting of synthetic
Finishing Formaldehyde, lubricating oils
fabrics
Volatile organic
Drying and curing Emission from high temperature Ovens
components(VOCs)
Chemical storage Emission from storage tank Volatile organic compounds(VOCs)
Volatile Organic Compounds, toxic
Waste water treatment Emission from treatment tank and vessels
emissions.
 CONTROL OF AIR POLLUTION
Following measures have been suggested to control air pollution-
(i) Some gases, which are more soluble in a particular liquid than air, for
example, ammonia in water, can be separated by dissolving in it
(ii) Particles larger than 50 micro metre are separated in gravity settling tanks.
Using cyclone collectors or electrostatic precipitators separates fine
particles.
(iii) The height of chimneys should be increased to the highest possible level(at
least 30metre) to reduce pollution at the ground level.
(iv) SO2 pollution can be controlled by extracting sulphur from the fuel before
use.
(v) Trees should be planted on the roadside, riverbanks, parks and’ open
places as they keep the environment fresh.
(vi) Industries should be located in places so as to minimize the effects of
pollution after considering the topography and the wind directions.
(vii) Substitution of raw material that causes more pollution with those that
cause less pollution can be done.
VIII. Population growth, which is the main cause of pollution should be checked.
IX. Use cars only when absolutely necessary. Walk or cycle as much as
possible instead of using fossil fuel powered vehicles.
X. Use public transport as far as possible, as more people can travel in a
single large vehicle rather than using multiple small vehicles which add to
pollution
XI. Do not use air fresheners and other aerosols and sprays which contain
CFCs that deplete the ozone layer.
XII. Coughing can spread bacteria and viruses. Use a handkerchief to prevent
droplet which is air borne.
XIII. Do not smoke in a public place. It is illegal and endangers not only your own
health but also that of others.
XIV.Nuclear explosions should be restricted.
XV. Pollution control laws should be enforced strictly.
 Air pollutants
The chemical compounds or undesirable solid or gaseous particles in the air in
quantities that are harmful to human health and the environment as well as lower
the air quality are usually referred to as air pollutants.
These compounds may be found in the air in two major forms: in a gaseous form
(as gases), in a solid form (as particulate matter suspended in the air).

a) Gaseous Pollutants are the harmful gaseous oxides and oxidants includes the
oxides of sulphur, nitrogen, carbon etc.
b) Particulate pollutants refers to all atmospheric substances which are not
gases. It may be solid particles, liquid particles or mixture of two, larger
particles settle down quickly i.e, sand and water droplets. whereas small dust
particles remain suspended in air for a long time.
 Sulphur oxides(SO2,SO3) Acid rain

Respiratory
Nitrogen Oxide(NO2,NO3)
problem

Carbon Oxides(CO,CO2) Green house effect

Gaseous Pollutant
Hydrocarbons(Methane, Benzene)

Volatile Organic Compounds.

Ozone(O3).
Pollutant
Dust

Mist

Smoke
Particulate
Pollutant
Soot

Aerosols

Sulphuric acid
Primary and secondary air pollutants
On the basis of source pollutant can be divided into two types:
a) Pollutants that are emitted directly from identifiable sources are produced both by
natural events (for example, dust storms and volcanic eruptions) and human
activities (emission from vehicles, industries, etc.). These are called primary
pollutants. There are five primary pollutants that together contribute about 90
percent of the global air pollution. These are:
I. carbon oxides (CO and CO2),
II. nitrogen oxides(NO2)
III. sulfur oxides(SO2)
IV. volatile organic compounds (mostly hydrocarbons-methane, benezene),
V. suspended particulate matter(Dust, Lead, Heavy metals, Sulphuric acid, aerosols,
smoke, soot etc).

b) Pollutants that is not directly emitted but are produced in the atmosphere when
certain chemical reactions take place among the primary pollutants are called
secondary pollutants. i,e, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, carbonic acid, SO3, NO3, Salt etc.
 Particulate pollutant removal process
• Equipment to remove particulate matter generally uses one of five
principles:
a) Gravitational settling.
b) Electrostatic precipitators.
c) Filtration separators/Fabric filter/Bag filter.
d) Centrifugal separators/Cyclone separator.
e) Washing principles.
f) Wet Scrubber
 a) Gravitational settling
• A simplest device, collecting dust of
size >50µm. Settling chambers use the
force of gravity to remove solid
particles.
• The polluted gas stream enters a
chamber through the inlet and the
velocity of the gas is reduced in the
chamber.
• Large particles drop out of the gas and
are recollected in hoppers and clean
gas passes out through the outlet.
• Settling chambers are effective in
removing only larger particles, they are
used in conjunction with a more
efficient control device.
• The size, shape of particles, density
and viscosity are important parameters.
 b) Electrostatic precipitators

• Electrostatic Precipitator is efficient for the particle size 0.01µm to 5µm, can
tolerate operating temperature as high as 7000k.
• The precipitation unit comprises equipment for distributing airflow, corona
discharge and collection electrodes, a dust clean-out system, and collection
hoppers.
• In one common design, the particles in air can be charged if introduced into a
cylindrical chamber containing a wire down the axis of the cylinder that is at a
high negative voltage (e.g., 5-50 kV) relative to the walls of the chamber.
• A corona discharge is set up around the wire and this produces ions; these ions
collide with the particles in the air, charging them negatively charged ions which
are attracted to the positively charged plate. In place of the corona discharge,
ions may also be generated using radioactive bombardment of the particles
• Particles are removed from the plate by a knocking action and deposited on
collection hopper bottom of the device.
Electrostatic precipitators
 c)Filtration separators
• Bag filters/Fabric filter are used in all industrial small or large units to collect dust
particles blown out in toxic releases.
• Fabric filters will collect particle sizes ranging from sub- micron to hundred microns
in diameter(0.1 to 100 micron) at efficiencies generally in excess of 99 or 99.9
percent.
• Fabric Filters can be made of a variety of natural and synthetic materials, such as
cotton cloth, glass fiber and paper.
• Filtration device is a porous structure and consist of granular or fibrous material that
traps particulate matter but allows gases to pass from outside to inside with the help
of compressed air.
• The accumulated particulate matter is dislodged from the bags surface by
mechanical shaking process and deposited in a hopper for subsequent disposal.
• Unfortunately, filters suffer from two main operational problems. Firstly, there is a
significant loss of pressure in the gas as it flows through the filter. Secondly, this
pressure loss increases over a relatively small period of use, requiring the filter to
be either cleaned or replaced frequently
Filtration separators
 d) Centrifugal separators
• It can efficiently remove particles size of 10-
50µm.
• The flow stream enters the body of the separator
tangentially through the inlet at the top and it
begins to swirl due to the circular design of the
chamber until it reaches the bottom.
• Particulate Materials that are denser than the
carrier medium are separated from the stream
during this downward flow, goes to wall side due
centrifugal force and can be removed through the
collection hopper at the bottom of the cone.
• As the mixture is circulating down the funnel it
creates a "whirlpool effect" in the middle of the
cone. This causes a vortex in the center of the
cone through which the lighter flow stream rises.
As the clean air reaches the top of the vortex it
passes out through the outlet.
The techniques used to remove gaseous pollutants-

a) Liquid Solvent Absorption.

b) Solid Adsorption.
c) Condensation
d) oxidation by Combustion
 a) Liquid-Solvent Absorption
• This processes is selected to remove gaseous pollutants by
dissolution into a liquid solvent such as
water(NH3,HCl,HF,Cl2,NOx,Hydrocarbon)or in a alkaline(SOx)
or acid solution(H2S).
• This process is often called liquid/Wet scrubbing method and it is
used to remove sulphur dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, nitrogen oxides
and some hydrocarbons.
• Absorption involves bringing the polluted air into contact with a
liquid that absorbs the pollutants.
• Various designs exist for absorbing chambers. One common design
has a vertical chamber in which a clean liquid is pumped in at the top
and flows down over an inert packing material inside the chamber.
The polluted air flows upward from the bottom to the top of the
chamber and, as it does so, the pollutant particles in it are absorbed
into the liquid. The dirty liquid then flows out at the bottom of the
chamber. Clean Gas outed from the top of chamber. The liquid
pumped through the chamber is chosen according to the pollutant to
be removed.
 b) Solid adsorption
• Adsorption is a process where gases, vapours or
liquids are concentrated on a solid surface that
collects pollutants on its surface.
• Collection may be either physical, using the
intermolecular forces between the pollutant and the
collecting surface, or it may be chemical, involving a
chemical reaction between the pollutant and the
collecting material.
• The most important adsorbents in industrial use are
activated carbon(Hydrocarbon,H2S), silica gel(NOx,
Halogen gas).
• The amount of adsorbed substances depends
directly on the internal surface area of solid and the
kinetics of the process.
 Combustion
• Combustion can be used to remove various combustible pollutant gases, including carbon
monoxide, hydrogen sulphide, cyanide gases and various types of hydrocarbon.
• It involves heating contaminated air in a combustion chamber for a given length of time in
presence of oxygen. This causes oxidation of combustible pollutant gases, together with
the emission of heat.
• When combustion is complete, the gaseous stream is converted to carbon dioxide and
water vapor.
CO+O2 CO2(oxidized gas)
CH4+O2 CO2 + H2O
• Equipment used to control waste gases by combustion can be divided in three categories:
• Direct combustion or flaring,
• Thermal incineration and
• Catalytic incineration.
 Condensation
• Condensation is the process of converting a gas or vapor to liquid. Any gas can be
reduced to a liquid by lowering its temperature and/or increasing its pressure.
• Condensers are typically used as pretreatment devices. They can be used ahead of
absorbers, adsorbers, and incinerators to reduce the total gas volume to be treated
by more expensive control equipment.
• Condenser are two types:
• In a contact condenser, the gas comes into contact with cold liquid.
• In a surface condenser, the gas contacts a cooled surface in which cooled liquid or
gas is circulated, such as the outside of the tube.
Polluted
air

Clean
air
 Air Quality Index (AQI)
The air quality index (AQI) is a number
used to report the quality of the air on
any given day: it basically tells you how
clean the air is. It measures particles and
chemicals in the air that affect people's
health and ignores those that do not.
Different countries have different AQIs,
so it is difficult to compare one location to
another on a worldwide scale. Some
countries are more safety-conscious than
others.
 Measurement of Air Quality
Q.1. A monitor records a 24 hour average fine
particles (PM2.5) concentration of 6.0 mg/m3. BPHi
would be 12.0 mg/m3, BPLo would be 0 mg/m3,
Circumstances IHi would be 50, and ILo would be 0. 
Calculate AQI and comment on its level of health
concern.
Solution:

AQI is 25 and Level of health concern is- Good.

Do It Yourself: A monitor records a 24 hour average fine particles (PM2.5)

ntration of 14.0 mg/m3. BPHi would be 41.5 mg/m3, BPLo would be 5.9 mg/m3,
mstances IHi would be 100, and ILo would be 53.  Calculate AQI and comment on its
f health concern.
Important Questions:
1. What are the major sources of industrial air pollutions?
2. Suggest some control practices of emission in a textile industry.[4.5][2106].
3. Differentiate between primary and secondary air pollutants.[5.5][2017].
4. Describe electrostatic precipitator and its methodology to control air pollutions.
5. Describe gravitational settling and its methodology to control air pollutions.
6. How does centrifugal separators for? Depict the device with features.[4].[2019].
7. Describe fabric filters and its methodology to control air pollutions.[6][2017].
8. Briefly describe the techniques used to remove gaseous pollutants from air.[6]
[2016]
9. Design a control technology for the particulate air pollutants with technical
specification.[7.5][2015].
10. What do you mean by AQI? Write down the AQI standard Value and category.
11. AQI related math.