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UNIT I INTRODUCTION Structure of Atmosphere:

• Structure and composition of Atmosphere • Earth’s atmosphere is divided into several layers (based on temperature and
composition).
• Definition, Scope and Scales of Air Pollution
• Five main layers are troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere
CE8005 - AIR POLLUTION AND • Sources and classification of air pollutants and exosphere.
Troposphere - It is the layer closest to Earth's surface. It is 7 to 20 km thick
CONTROL ENGINEERING • Effect on human health, vegetation, animals, property, aesthetic value and visibility
and contains half of Earth's atmosphere. Air is warmer near the ground and
• Ambient Air Quality and Emission standards gets colder higher up. Nearly all of the water vapor and dust in the
• Ambient and stack sampling
atmosphere are in this layer and that is why clouds are found here.

• Analysis of Particulate and Gaseous Pollutants.

Structure of Atmosphere … Structure of Atmosphere …

• Stratosphere - It is the second layer. It starts above the troposphere and ends
• Thermosphere - It extends from about 90 km to between 500 and 1,000 km.
about 50 km above ground. Ozone is abundant here and it heats the
Temperatures can get up to 1500° C at this altitude. The thermosphere is
atmosphere while also absorbing harmful radiation from the sun. The air here
considered part of Earth's atmosphere, but air density is so low that most of
is very dry, and it is about a thousand times thinner here than it is at sea level.
this layer is what is normally thought of as outer space. In fact, this is where
Because of that, this is where jet aircraft and weather balloons fly.
the space shuttles flew and where International Space Station orbits Earth.
• Mesosphere - Starts at 50 km and extends to 85 km high. The top of the Exosphere – It is the highest layer, is extremely thin and is where the
mesosphere, called the mesopause, is the coldest part of Earth's atmosphere atmosphere merges into outer space. It is composed of very widely dispersed
with temperatures averaging about minus 90° C. This layer is hard to study. particles of hydrogen and helium.
Jets and balloons don't go high enough, and satellites and space shuttles orbit
too high.

Composition of Earth’s Atmosphere:

• Atmospheric gases are reckoned in two categories: major gases and trace gases.
• Major gases in Earth's atmosphere - Nitrogen (78%), Oxygen (21%), Water vapour
(1-4%) and Argon (0.93%).
• Trace gases - Carbon dioxide (380 ppm), Neon (18 ppm), Helium (5 ppm), Methane
(1 ppm), Krypton (1 ppm), Hydrogen (0.5 ppm), Nitrous oxide (0.3 ppm), Sulphur
dioxide (0.1 ppm), and Ozone (0.04 ppm).
• The major constituents of atmosphere (except water vapour) remain more or less
constant through time and the minor constituents varies with time and place.

• Although both nitrogen and oxygen are essential to human life on the planet,
they have little effect on weather and other atmospheric processes.
• The variable components, which make up far less than 1% of the atmosphere,
have a much greater influence on both short-term weather and long-term
climate.
• Water vapor, CO2, CH4, N2O, and SO2 all have an important property – they
absorb heat emitted by Earth and thus warm the atmosphere, creating what
we call the “greenhouse effect”.
• Without these so-called greenhouse gases, the Earth's surface would be about
30 degrees Celsius cooler.
• By their percentage contribution to greenhouse effect on Earth the four major
gases are: water vapour (36–70%), CO2 (9–26%), CH4 (4–9%) and O3 (3–7%).
Scope & Significance:
Air Pollution Definition:
Air pollution is defined as presence of one or more air contaminants in
ambient (outdoor) atmosphere to be or threaten to be injurious to human
life, plant life, animal life and even damage to property.
(OR)
Air pollution is defined as the excessive concentration of foreign matter in the
air which adversely affects the well being of individual or causes damage to
the property. It also affects plants, animals and buildings.
Occurrence of Air Pollution:
(A) Based on Origin of Sources
• In Meuse valley in December 1930 - Residents immediately complained of
respiratory trouble and many died. No measurement of air pollution was
recorded.
(B) Based on Spatial distribution of source
• In Donora in October 1948 - More than half of living beings of the town
complained of respiratory troubles and over 20 people died. Sulphur dioxide
and suspended particulate matter were found to be responsible.
(C) Base on position of source w.r.t Time & Space
• In London city - Resulting about 4000 deaths.
• In Bhopal in December 1984 - Where extremely poisonous gas, Methyl
isocyanate released from pesticide manufacturing plant. Over 2500 people
died and over 1,50,000 were injured in this episode.
• In addition to gases, the atmosphere also contains particulate matter such as
dust, volcanic ash, rain, and snow. These are of course, highly variable and
are generally less persistent than gas concentrations, but they can
sometimes remain in atmosphere for relatively long periods.
• Though the major components of the atmosphere vary little today, they have
changed dramatically over Earth's history.
• The early atmosphere was hardly the life-sustaining blanket of air that it is
today; most geologists believe that the main constituents then were nitrogen
gas and carbon dioxide, but no free oxygen.
• The amount of oxygen in the atmosphere has risen steadily from 0% 2 billion
years ago to about 21% today.
• Air pollution can cause death, impair health, reduce visibility, bring about vast
economic losses and contribute to the general deterioration of both our cities and
country-side. It can also cause intangible losses to historical monuments such as
the Taj Mahal which is believed to be badly affected by air pollution.
• It is therefore, a matter of great importance that engineers of all disciplines
consciously incorporate in their designs sufficient constraints and safeguards to
ensure that they do not contribute to atmospheric pollution. In addition, they
must apply their problem-solving abilities to eliminate air pollution where it exists
and restoring the natural environment for the better living of humans, plants and
animals.
Sources of Air Pollutants:
1. Natural sources - Ex: Dust storms, Forest fires, Volcanos…etc.
2. Man-Made sources - Ex: Industries, Automobiles, Power plants…etc.
1. Point source - Ex: An Industry @ one place
2. Areal source (or) Non-point source - Ex: Group of industries @ one place
1. Stationary source (or) Area Source -Ex: An industry
(Small stationary sources and mobile sources with indefinite routes)
2. Mobile source (or) Line source - Ex: A truck on Highway.
(Mobile sources with definite routes)
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Role of the Atmosphere in Climate and weather:
• Earth is able to support a wide variety of living beings because of its diverse
regional climates, which range from extreme cold at the poles to tropical
heat at the Equator.
• A region's climate is often described as sunny, windy, dry, or humid.
• These can also describe the weather in a certain place, but while the
weather can change in just a few hours, climate changes over a longer span
of time. Earth's global climate is an average of regional climates.
• The global climate has cooled and warmed throughout history.
• The scientific consensus is that greenhouse gases, which are increasing
because of human activities, are trapping heat in the atmosphere.
Scales of Air Pollution
Air pollution problems may occur on three scales:
• Micro scale
• Meso-scale and
• Macro scale.
• Micro-scale problems range from those covering less than a centimeter to
those the size of a house or slightly larger (few meters to 100s of meter).
• Meso-scale air pollution problems are those of a few hectares up to the size
of a city or county (local-to-regional ).
• Macro-scale problems extend from counties to states, nations, and in the
broadest sense, the globe (regional-to continental scale)
Natural sources of air pollution:
• Products from atmospheric reactions (chemical reactions like oxidation,
combination, polymerization, photochemical reactions etc.):
• Aerosols-Particulates: Aerosols are finely divided solid or liquid particles of
microscopic size held suspended and dispersed in atmosphere. They cause
visibility reduction, soiling of surfaces, corrosion etc. The various types of
aerosols are (a) dust, (b) smoke, (c) mists, (d) fog, (e) haze, (f) fumes.
• Micro-organisms: Infect plants and animals.
• Pollens: Pollens are the small grains from the anthers of flowers which may
cause allergic reactions.
• Radioactive minerals
• Volcanic ash and gases
• Gases and odour from swamps and marshy lands.

Man-made sources of air pollution:
• Combustion of fuels: (CO2), (SO2), (NO2),etc. accumulate in the atmosphere.
• Industries: Emit undesirable gases (SO2., CO2, NO2, NH3, CO)
• Thermal Power Plants: Mainly they emit Sulphur dioxide.
• Automobiles: Exhaust contains carbon monoxide (CO), methane, un-burnt
carbon. CO is the main source of air pollution in congested cities.
• Agricultural activities: Crop spraying and field burning.
• Nuclear Power Plants: Emit various radioactive substances
2. Secondary air Pollutants:
• These are the pollutants those formed in the atmosphere as a result of some
reaction. This reaction may be photochemical or Non-photo chemical and
may take place between two pollutants (or) between one pollutant and
natural constituents of the atmosphere.
Ex: Ozone, PAN (Peroxy Acetyl Nitrate), SMOG (smoke+fog) and acid rain.
Sulphuric acid (H2SO4) is formed by simple chemical reaction between
sulphur dioxide (SO2) and water (H2O) vapour. It causes acid rains.
• Ozone, formaldehyde, peroxy-acetyl-nitrate (PAN), etc., are formed by
photochemical reactions caused by sunlight between two primary pollutants.
Characteristics of air pollutants:
• Sulphur dioxide (SO2): It is one of the most important air pollutant and exists
where ever fossil fuels are burnt. Thermal plants produce the largest quantity
of SO2.
• Carbon Monoxide (CO): The automobile exhausts are the main contributors
CO. The (CO) causes asphyxia i,e., loss of consciousness as a result of too little
oxygen and too much carbon dioxide in the human blood.
• Hydrocarbons and Photochemical oxidants: Hydrocarbons are mainly
released into the atmosphere by automobile exhausts.
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Classification of air pollutants: 1. Primary air pollutants: Pollutants are those emitted into the atmosphere as a
Air pollutants are classified according to the manner in which they are formed result of some specific process and remain for a long time in the chemical form
in which they are emitted.
and this classification is primarily categorized into three distinct types
Eg: a) Particulate matter such as dust and aerosols,
(A) Based on Origin
b) Pollens
1. Primary air pollutants
c) Sulphur compounds (SO2, SO3, H2S)
2. Secondary air pollutants d) Nitrogen compounds (NO, NO2, NH3)
(B) Based on Nature e) Carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2)
1. Organic air pollutants f) Photochemical oxidants
2. Inorganic air pollutants g) lead
(C) Base on State of Matter h) Hydrocarbons
i) Radioactive materials
1. Particulates (Aerosols)
j) Halogen compounds - (Hydrogen fluoride, hydrochloric acid)
2. Gasses and vapours
3. Organic air pollutants: 6. Particulates (Aerosols):
• They are organic in nature and mainly contain carbon and hydrogen but may
• These are finely divided solids or liquids.
also contain some other elements.
• The larger particles tend to get settle quickly and are called settleable or
• Carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide are excluded from this category as these
contain only carbon and oxygen but no hydrogen. dustfall particulates (particles more than 1μ), while the smaller particles
Ex: HC, Chlorinated HC, aldehydes and alcohols…etc. remain suspended for a longer period are called suspended particulate matter
4. Inorganic air Pollutants: (SPM: Particles size less than 1μ).
• These are the most common pollutants of the atmosphere. • The smallest particles may behave almost like a gas and are readily
• Contaminates in the form of simple inorganics are compounds like CO, CO2, transported by wind for longer distances without being deposited.
NO2, NO, SO2, HF, H2S metals…etc.
Ex: For solid particulates dusts, smoke and fumes while for liquid
5. Gasses: Contaminants in the form of gases behave much as the air itself, particulates mist and sprays.
without being settled out. Ex: SO2, CO2, NOX, H2S, NH3, Cl2, HC…etc.
Characteristics of air pollutants… SMOG (Smoke + Fog)
• Lead: It is mainly injected into the atmosphere from the automobile • Smog is a synchronym of two words – i.e., Smoke and Fog. Smog can be of two
exhausts, particularly by the automobiles running on petrol. They cause types, Photo chemical or Coal induced.
irritation of mucous membranes of nose, throat and lungs.
• Photo chemical fog is bounded to highly motorized areas in metropolitan
• Oxides of Nitrogen: These are the second most abundant pollutants of air in cities.
many cities ranking next to SO2. The oxides of nitrogen are produced from air
• It occurs under adverse meteorological conditions when the air movement is
oxidation, electrical discharge and solar radiations, incineration plants,
restricted.
welding operation etc.
• Smog is caused by the interaction of some hydrocarbons and oxidants under
the influence of sunlight giving rise to dangerous Peroxy acetyl nitrate (PAN).
• Smog reduces visibility, causes eye irritation and damage to vegetation.