Air Pollution:

causes and
control

PRESENTED BY:
VISHNURAJ R.S
DEPT.AQUATIC BIOLOGY
&FISHERIES

Air Pollution
Air is one of the vital
part of life .Air
supplies with oxygen
is essential for our
bodies to live. Air is
99.9% nitrogen,
oxygen, water vapors
and inert gases. Due
to man made
activities along with
some natural
processes many
physical addition of

Air Pollution
Air pollution primarily
comes from burning
fossil fuels such as
natural gas,
petroleum, and coal.
Humans are the
main cause of air
pollution. Industry,
including factories and
power plants, burn
large quantities of
fuel. Burning coal and
petroleum releases
sulfur oxides and
nitrogen oxide into the
air. Airplanes, boats,

Air
Pollution

Some air pollution is not directly caused by humans: for

example, animals emit carbon dioxide when they breathe,
and volcanoes release sulfur oxide. The forest fire produce
huge amount of CO,CO2, Nitrogen oxides, semi burnt

hydro carbons, and ash.

The waste in landfills releases methane. Sulfur oxides,

carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, and methane all
have a very negative effect on air quality. These pollutants
can also contribute to the greenhouse effect. The dust
storm make the air full of particulate sand particles.

Primary vs Secondary
pollutants

Not all of the pollutants found in the

atmosphere are the direct result of
emissions.
Many pollutants arise from chemical
reactions in the atmosphere with other
substances or light (photochemical
reactions).
Pollutant substances that are directly
emitted into the atmosphere = primary
pollutants.
Substances not directly emitted into the
atmosphere, formed by chemical

TYPES OF POLLUTION
INDOOR POLLUTION
Indoor air pollution occurs inside our homes, office and
schools.
The main types of indoor pollutants are tobacco smoke, gases
from stoves and furnaces, household chemicals, small fiber
particles, and hazardous fumes given off by building materials
like insulation , glue, and paint .
In high amounts it causes headache, eye irritation, etc.

OUTDOOR POLLUTION
Gases and particulates form of pollutants pour into the
atmosphere from the burning of fuel to motor vehicles, heat
buildings, business and industrial processes , burning of
garbage etc
Outdoor pollution make huge impacts on atmosphere and the
organisms
Acid rain , global warming, etc are some of its consequences .

TYPES OF POLLUTANTS
Aerosols
Particulates solid phase
Dust
Ash
Fumes

Solid and liquid

Smoke (from combustion)
Coastal aerosols

Liquid
Aggregate gases (sulfate,
nitrate)

Gases
COx
SOx
NOx
PAH

Six primary or criteria air

pollutants
Carbon monoxide (CO)
Sulfur oxides (SOx)
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)
Ozone (O3)
Hydrocarbons
Particulate matter(PM2.5
_PM10)

Carbon Monoxide
colorless, odorless, tasteless, non
irritating gas
produced when carbon does not burn
in fossil fuels,ie incomplete
combustion.
Commonly present in automobile
exhaust
deprives body of O2 causing
headaches, fatigue, and impaired
vision, it may lethal when continually
inhale concentration above 1000ppm
over a period of 4 hours.

Sulfur Dioxide
Colourless gas with penetrating and
pungent odour
produced mainly when coal and fuel
oil are burned
present in power plant exhaust
narrows the airway, causing
wheezing and shortness of breath,
especially in those with asthma

The formation of SO2, SO3, and

sulfuric acid
S + O2
2 SO2 + O2
SO3 + H2O

SO2
2SO3
H2SO4

Nitrogen Dioxide
reddish, brown gas
produced when nitric oxide
combines with oxygen in the
atmosphere
present in car exhaust and
power plants
affects lungs and causes
increases
chance
of
Smokers may readilywheezing;
develop lung
disease
as
cigarettes and cigars respiratory
containing failure.
330 to 1,500 ppm
nitrogen oxides. Prolonged exposure at 1 to3 ppm or
even less may fatal.
It also react with water to cause acid rain
4NO2+2H2O+O2 ------- 4HNO3

Ground Level Ozone

It is a highly reactive pale-blue gas with
penetrating odour.
at upper level, ozone shields Earth from
suns harmful UV rays
at ground level, ozone is harmful
pollutants
formed from automobile, power and
chemical plant exhaust
irritate respiratory system and asthma;
reduces lung function by inflaming and
damaging lining of lungs
It also a green house gas

HYDROCARBONS
Hydrocarbons are compounds that
have carbon and hydrogen
Benzene, benzpyrene, methane, etc
are common hydrocarbon pollutants.
The major sources are automobile and
industrial exhaust..
Benzene: colorless, flammable liquid
pollutant have carcinogenic property
Benzpyrene: it is also carcinogenic,
Methane is common green house gas ..
It produce by naturally along with
human activities.

Particulate Matter
particles of different sizes and
structures that are released into the
atmosphere
Lead, asbestos etc are some
particulate matter from man made
sources
present in many sources including
fossil fuels, dust, smoke, fog, forest
fire etc.
Along with these industrial
operations like mining, polishing etc
also produce..
can build up in respiratory system

Control of Air
Methods
of air pollution control can be divided
Pollutants
into two categories:
THE CONTROL OF PARTICULATE EMISSIONS
THE CONTROL OF GASEOUS EMISSIONS
The term particulate refers to tiny particles of
mattersuch as smoke, soot, and dust that are
released during industrial, agricultural, or other
activities.
Gaseous emissions are industrial products such
as sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and oxides
ofnitrogen also released during various
manufacturing operations.

THE CONTROL OF PARTICULATE

EMISSIONS
1.
Particulates Cyclones
. separation by centrifugation

Cyclone utilise centrifugal force generated by a spinning

gas stream to separate the particulate matter from the
carrier gas.
The general principle of inertia separation is that the
particulate-laden gas is forced to change direction. As gas
changes direction, the inertia of the particles causes them
to continue in the original direction and be separated from
the gas stream.

Cyclone separator

2.Gravitational Settling Chamber

Like settling basins in
water and waste water
treatment, settling
chambers provide
enlarged areas to
minimize horizontal
velocities of air flow
thus allow time
forgravity to carry the
particle to the floor.
These are simple in
design and operation
but they require large
spaces for installation
and have relatively

3.Particulates
Filtration
Fibre bags commonly used for
control of particulate emissions
with very high dust loadings
and smaller particles.
Filters consist of porous
structure composed ofgranular
or fibrous material which tends
to retain the particulate matter
as the carrier gaspasses
through the voids of the filter.

The dust is collected on the

4.Particulates Wet
Scrubbers

spray systems where fine water droplets

are sprayed at high velocity at right angles
to the emerging gas
Most of the particles in the gas stream are
scavenged by the water droplets, which
fall and are collected along with the
particles
relatively low efficiencies (80-90%) and is
usually employed as a pre-cleaner to
remove particles larger than 5m

5.Particulates Electrostatic
Precipitators

pass dirty gas through a series of fine wires

(coronas) charged with DC current causes
particles to aggregate & precipitate
Alternatively corona produces negative
ions that cause particles in the gas stream
to become negatively charged, and
attracted to positive terminal where they
aggregate and fall into a collection hopper
Large precipitators and low gas flow rates
give better results

Gaseous pollutants
Process Modifications

simplest and least expensive methods for the

control of gaseous pollutants
fuel substitution e.g. low sulfur coal, or fuel oils in
place of cheaper coal can greatly reduce the
amount of SO2 emissions at the source
This type of source control is always the best
approach wherever possible
Gaseous pollutants - Combustion
involves a series of complex chemical reactions in
which oxygen is combined with organic molecules,
to form CO2 and H2O
commonly referred to as incineration or
afterburning

Gaseous pollutants - Adsorption

physical adsorption to solid surfaces

Reversible - adsorbate removed from the adsorbent
by increasing temp. or lowering pressure
widely used for solvent recovery in dry cleaning,
metal degreasing operations, surface coating, and
rayon, plastic, and rubber processing
limited use in solving ambient air pollution
problems with its main use involved in the
reduction of odour
Adsorbents with large surface area to volume ratio
(activated carbon) preferred agents for gaseous
pollutant control
Efficiencies to 99%

Gaseous pollutants - Absorption

Scrubbers remove
gases by chemical
absorption in a medium
that may be a liquid or
a liquid-solid slurry
water is the most
commonly used
scrubbing medium
Additives commonly
employed to increase
chemical reactivity and
absorption capacity

Gas pollutants Vehicle

emissions
generally involve simple procedures such as maintaining the

correct tuning for the engine, or the use of catalytic converters

catalytic converters use Pt and Pd attached to some form of
ceramic material
extremely high surface area (in hundreds of m 2) allows
catalytic materials to contact exhaust gases, oxidising them to
CO2 and water vapour

BIOFILTERS
When applied to air filtration and purification, biofilters
use microorganisms to removeair pollution.[1]The air
flows through a packed bed and the pollutant transfers
into a thinbiofilmon the surface of the packing material.
Microorganisms, includingbacteriaandfungiare
immobilized in the biofilm and degrade the pollutant.
Trickling filters and bioscrubbers rely on a biofilm and the
bacterial action in their recirculating waters.
The technology finds greatest application in treating
malodorous compounds and water-soluble
volatile organic compounds(VOCs). Industries employing
the technology include food and animal products, off-gas
fromwastewatertreatment facilities,pharmaceuticals

Bioscrubbers
bioscrubbers, the compound to be degraded
first is absorbed in the liquid phase located in an
absorption tower filled with liquid. The operation
involves making the gas flow in a countercurrent
through the liquid where the contaminants and
oxygen are absorbed. Subsequently, the liquid
is fed to a reactor packed with an inert material
covered with biofilm that is responsible for
degrading the pollutant. Bioscrubbers are the
most suitable systems for the treatment of
highly water-soluble compounds

CONCLUSION
Air pollution is a major global threat.
Natural and human activities causes
pollution.
SOURCES!!!!
How it affects???
CONTROL MEASURES!!!