Air Pollution And

Control
 Air pollution occurs when harmful or excessive
quantities of substances including gases, particles, and
biological molecules are introduced into Earth's
atmosphere. It may cause diseases, allergies and even
death to humans; it may also cause harm to other living
organisms such as animals and food crops, and may
damage the natural or built environment. Both human
activity and natural processes can generate.
 Air is considered to be polluted when it contains certain
substances in concentrations high enough and for durations long enough
to cause harm or undesirable effects. These include adverse effects on
human health, property, and atmospheric visibility. The atmosphere is
susceptible to pollution from natural sources as well as from human
activities. Some natural phenomena, such as volcanic eruptions and
forest fires, may have not only local and regional effects but also long-
lasting global ones. Nevertheless, only pollution caused by human
activities, such as industry and transportation, is subject to mitigation
and control.
 An air pollutant is a material in the air that can
have adverse effects on humans and the ecosystem. The
substance can be solid particles, liquid droplets, or gases.
A pollutant can be of natural origin or man-made.
 Pollution is the introduction of contaminants
into the natural environment that cause adverse
change. Pollution can take the form of chemical
substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light.

Pollutants are classified as

Primary or Secondary
Pollutants emitted into the atmosphere by human activity include:

Primary: Secondary:
⦁ Carbon Dioxide (CO2) ⦁ Ground Level Ozone
⦁ Sulfur Oxides (SOX) ⦁ Peroxyacetyl Nitrate (C2H3NO5)
⦁ Nitrogen Oxides (NOX)
⦁ Carbon Monoxide (CO)
⦁ Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)
⦁ Particulate Matter (PM)
⦁ Toxic Metals
⦁ Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCS)
⦁ Ammonia
⦁ Odors
⦁ Radioactive Pollutants
Exposure
Air pollution risk is a function of the hazard of the
pollutant and the exposure to that pollutant. Air pollution
exposure can be expressed for an individual, for certain groups
(e.g. neighborhoods or children living in a country), or for entire
populations.
Sources
There are various locations, activities or factors
which are responsible for releasing pollutants into the
atmosphere. These sources can be classified into two
major categories.

Anthropogenic (man-made) sources

And
Natural sources
 The health effects caused by air pollution may include difficulty in breathing,
wheezing, coughing, asthma and worsening of existing respiratory and cardiac conditions. These
effects can result in increased medication use, increased doctor or emergency department visits,
more hospital admissions and premature death.

The human health effects of poor air quality are far reaching, but principally affect the
body's respiratory system and the cardiovascular system. Individual reactions to air pollutants
depend on the type of pollutant a person is exposed to, the degree of exposure, and the
individual's health status and genetics.

Children aged less than five years that live in developing countries are the most
vulnerable population in terms of total deaths attributable to indoor and outdoor air pollution
Reduction efforts
Various air pollution control technologies and strategies are
available to reduce air pollution. At its most basic level, land-use planning is
likely to involve zoning and transport infrastructure planning. In most
developed countries, land-use planning is an important part of social policy,
ensuring that land is used efficiently for the benefit of the wider economy
and population, as well as to protect the environment.
Control devices

The following items are commonly used as pollution control devices in industry and transportation. They
can either destroy contaminants or remove them from an exhaust stream before it is emitted into the
atmosphere.

⦁ Particulate control
⦁ Scrubbers
⦁ NOx control
⦁ VOC abatement
⦁ Acid Gas/SO2 control
⦁ Mercury control
⦁ Dioxin and furan control
⦁ Miscellaneous associated equipment
 The primary focus of air pollution regulation in
industrialized countries has been on protecting ambient, or
outdoor, air quality. This involves the control of a small
number of specific “criteria” pollutants known to contribute
to urban smog and chronic public health problems.
 The best way to protect air quality is to reduce the
emission of pollutants by changing to cleaner fuels and
processes. Pollutants not eliminated in this way must be
collected or trapped by appropriate air-cleaning devices as they
are generated and before they can escape into the atmosphere.
Control of particulates

• Airborne particles can be removed from a polluted airstream by a variety of

physical processes. Common types of equipment for collecting fine particulates include
cyclones, scrubbers, electrostatic precipitators, and baghouse filters. Once collected,
particulates adhere to each other, forming agglomerates that can readily be removed
from the equipment and disposed of, usually in a landfill.

• Wet scrubbers are usually applied in the control of flammable or explosive

dusts or mists from such sources as industrial and chemical processing facilities and
hazardous-waste incinerators; they can handle hot airstreams and sticky particles.
Electrostatic precipitators and fabric-filter baghouses are often used at power plants.
Cyclone
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.
R.A. 8749 or The Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999

The Air Pollution Control Act of 1999 was the first Clean Air Act enacted by
Congress to address the national environmental problem of air pollution on July 14, 1955.
This was "an act to provide research and technical assistance relating to air pollution
control". The act "left states principally in charge of prevention and control of air pollution
at the source". The act declared that air pollution was a danger to public health and
welfare, but preserved the "primary responsibilities and rights of the states and local
government in controlling air pollution".