SAMPLE 6

Efforts to Reduce Air Pollution

These days there are many technologies available that can be used to control air pollution, which go hand-
in-hand with strategies in urban planning that are designed to reduce air pollution. For example, there is
debate ongoing worldwide about how to reduce the dependence we have on fossil fuels for our energy
requirements and shift instead to using environmentally friendly renewable sources of energy. Regulations
are already in place to use air pollution control systems at industrial plants, power plants, oil refineries, and
so on.

Air Pollution Control Equipment

Here are a few air pollution control systems that are being used by vehicles and industries. They help to
either remove pollutants from a stream of exhaust before they are emitted into the air or destroy them.

Air Pollution Control Systems To Reduce Particulate Matter

Wet Scrubbers: These include a number of devices that remove pollutants from furnace flue gas as well as
other gas streams. The pollutants are removed by the polluted gas stream being forced through a scrubbing
liquid or by using some other method of bringing it into contact with the liquid. Wet scrubbers are used in a
number of industries like large power plants, asphalt plants, steel plants, fertilizer plants, and acid plants.

Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP): Also known as Electrostatic Air Cleaners, this air pollution control
system is a particulate collecting device which uses the force created by an induced electrostatic charge to
remove particulate matter from any flowing gas, e.g. air. These filtration devices are highly efficient and
are very effective in removing fine particles like smoke and dust from the air stream. ESPs are used for
controlling particulate emissions in various industries like oil refineries, pulp mills, and oil and coal fired
utilities that generate electricity which produce smoke.

Dust Cyclones: These are used to remove particulate matter from a gas or air stream, without using filters,
using vortex separation instead. Mixtures of fluids and solids are separated by using gravity and rotational
effects. There is large scale use of cyclones in oil refineries as well as the cement industry wherein they
form a part of the kiln pre heaters.

Air Pollution Control Systems To Reduce NOx (Nitrogen Dioxide and Nitrogen Oxide)

Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR): This is a technique used for reducing NOx that is used in most diesel
and gasoline engines. A part of the exhaust of an engine is re circulated back into its cylinders. When the
incoming air is intermixed with the re circulated exhaust gas, it results in diluting the mixture with inert
gas, reducing the adiabatic flame temperature and also lowering the excessive oxygen in diesel engines.
The peak combustion temperature is also lowered because the specific heat capacity of the mix is increased
by the exhaust gas. Since high temperatures cause Nox to form much faster, EGR helps in limiting NOx
from being generated. Nox is produced when a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen is subjected to high
temperatures.

Catalytic Converter: This is a device that is used to diminish the toxicity of emissions that are produced
by internal combustion engines. First introduced in 1975 in the US in order to comply with the tightening
regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency, catalytic converters are still used most commonly in
the exhaust systems of motor vehicles. Some of the other places they are use in are: trains, mining
equipment, forklifts, generator sets, and other machines equipped with engines.

Air Pollution Control Systems To Decrease Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC):

Gas Flare: Also called a flare stack, this is a chimney that is erected on oil rigs or oil wells, as well as
landfills, chemical plants, and refineries. When flammable gas or unusable waste gas plus liquids are
discharged by pressure relief valves, this device is used to burn them off. This device is also used in
landfills to burn and/or vent the waste gas that is produced by the decomposing materials.

Bio filters: This is a technique for pollution control which uses living matter to trap and biologically
degrade pollutants. In air pollution control, the pollutants in the air are subjected to micro biotic oxidation.
In other words, when it is applied in the filtration and purification of air, microorganisms, such as fungi and
bacteria that are embedded in a biofilm, are used to degrade the air pollutant.