AIR POLLUTION

Dr.Gazala HabibDepartment of Civil Engineering

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Marks distribution

• Minor Test I : 20

• Minor Test II : 20

• Major Test : 40

• Presentation: 8

• Assignments: 7

• Class discussion: 5

• Attendance policy: 75% is compulsory

• You do not qualify for appearing in any test if aggregate is less

than 50%

Reference Books

• Air Pollution Control Engineering by Noel De

Nevers

• M N Rao, H V N Rao-Air Pollution-Tata McGraw-

Hill (2007)

• Air Pollution: Its origin and Control, Kenneth Wark

and Cecil F. Warner; Harper and Row Publishers,

1976

Lecture outlines

Historical Background

Air Pollution Episode

Air Pollution due to Terrorism

Air Pollution and Pollutants

Historical Background

• Wood burning

• Lead pollution from Roman smelters

• Sewage pollution in Rome during 312 B.C –

Pollution of river Tiber.

• Usage of Plastics and synthetic chemicals like DDT,

Polychlorinated biphenyls etc during World war – II

Historical Background ….

• 1272 - King Edward I of England bans use of “seacoal”

• 1377– 1399 - Richard II restricts use of coal

• 14th century- Lack of planned disposal of food wastecaused plague epidemic in Europe

• 1413 – 1422 - Henry V regulates/restricts use of coal

• 1661 - By royal command of Charles II, John Evelynof the Royal Society publishes “Fumifugium”, or “theinconvenience of the aer and smoke dissipated,together with some remedies humbly proposed”.

Historical Background …

• 1784—Watt’s steam engine; boilers to burn fossil

fuels (coal) to make steam to pump water and move

machinery

• Smoke and ash from fossil fuels by power plants,

trains, ships: coal (and oil) burning = smoke, ash

• 1888- First urban sanitary act prohibiting throwing of

solid waste in UK

• 1907 - Formation of the Air & Waste Management

Association in USA

Historical Background …

• 1953 – Hooker chemical factory episode near Niagara

falls (chemical dump of 21000 tons )

• 1955 - First Federal Air Pollution Control Act - funds

for research (USA)

• 1960 - Motor Vehicle Exhaust Act - funds for

research (USA)

• 1963 - Clean Air Act (USA)

– Three stage enforcement

– Funds for state and local agencies

Historical Background …

• 1965 - Motor Vehicle Air Pollution Control Act

(USA)

• 1967 - Air Quality Act (USA)

– Criteria documents

– Control technique documents

• 1970 - Clean Air Act Amendments (USA)

– National Ambient Air Quality Standards

– New Source Performance Standards

• 1972 - Clean water act (USA)

.

Indian Scenario• Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.

• The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Rules,

1982.

• Central Motor Vehicles Act, 1988

• Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (EPA).

Presently, almost all the countries are having

their own environmental pollution acts.

Major Episodes

December,1930- Meuse Valley, Belgium

Meuse Valley:-

River valley, densely populated

& Highly industrialized

High barometric pressure &

Thermal inversion

Culprit gases were:-

SO2, sulfur dioxide

SO4 sulfuric acid mist

Disaster:-

63 died due to sore throats,

shortness of breath, cough,

phlegm, nausea, vomiting

Donora, PA—Oct. 1948Donora, Pennsylvania

Monongahela River Valley

Industrial town—steel mill, sulfuric acid

plant, freight yard, etc.

Population—14,000

Steep hills surrounding the valley

Oct 26—temperature inversion

Stable air, fog, lasted 4.5 days

Culprits:-

Sulfur gases + particulates, sulfuric

acid mist

Disaster:-

6000 people became ill, 20 people

died

U.S. Public Health Service called in– first time air pollution officially recognized as

potential public health problem

Dec. 1952 Great London Smog

London Deaths

Main culprits:-

Cold front, Londoners burned soft

coal in factories and power plants.

Temperature inversion

Disaster:-

5 days of worst smog city had ever

seen.

public transportation stopped.

Indoor concerts had to be

cancelled because no one could see

the stage, etc.

Nov. 1954 Los Angeles Smog

Main culprits:-

Vehicular Pollution

Temperature inversion

Disaster:-

Brownish haze and painful eyes

Powerful respiratory and eye

irritant

Toxic as well as carcinogenic

Higher concentrations lead to

extensive damage of vegetation

Bhopal, India Dec. 3, 1984

Major Culprit:-

Union Carbide pesticide plant

leaked Methyl isocyanate (MIC)—

used as an intermediary in

manufacture Carbaryl.

Health Effects:-

MIC—irritant to the lungs, edema,

fluid (cause of deaths were

bronchospasms, corneal opacity.

Disaster:-

killed up to 2,000 with up to

350,000 injured and 100,000 with

permanent disabilities.

Air Pollution due to Terrorism

In the 2 years since attack,thousands of New Yorkers havecontacted the World Trade Centerhealth registry, reporting cases ofpersistent coughs, wheezing,shortness of breath and sinusinflammation.

11th September, 2001,

New York City

500 employees had to be retiredearly as a result of respiratorydisability or chronic breathingproblems caused by theirexposure to dense clouds of dust

8,000 air samples collected amile from the complex, foundhigh levels of very fine airborneparticles that could increase riskof lung damage and heartattacks.

Taj Hotel , Mumbai, 2008

Air Pollution and Pollutants

Definition of air pollution

1) Descriptive definition

“language”

Different by different person

2) System definition

“input and output”

• Descriptive definition ofAir Pollution

• Transfer of harmful and/or natural/synthetic materials into

the atmosphere as a direct/indirect consequence of human

activity, which can affect the health of living and /or non

living things.

• Key words

1) Harmful

2) natural/synthetic

3) Atmosphere (not other sphere)

4) Direct (e.g. combustion of fossil fuel)

5) Indirect (e.g. deforestration)

Air Pollution Definition Based on System Approach

Sources of Air Pollution

Meteorology & Topography

Air Quality

Effects on Receptors Control

1) Sources of Air Pollution• Identification of point source, area source, stationary source,

mobile source

• Emission calculation i.e concentration of pollutants

2) Meteorology & Topography Wind speed

Wind direction

Humidity

Solar radiation

Ambient temperature

Ambient pressure

Rural,urban,semi- urban

• 3) Air Quality• Quantified in terms of “concentration”

• Depends on

a) Age

b) Gender

c) Person having Respiratory disease

4) Effects on Receptors

5) Control

a) Source control

b) management

• Types of air pollution (exposure)

Personal air pollution (smoking)

Occupational air pollution (minning, construction)

Community air pollution

(ambient air pollution exposure to living and non living beings)

• Types of air pollution (state of matter)

• Solid

• Gaseous

• Aerosol (colloids)

• Air pollutants may also be classed according to the

manner in which they reached the atmosphere,

namely:

• 1. Primary Pollutants. Those emitted directly from sources.

E.g. SOX,NOX, PM,PM,VOC

• 2. Secondary Pollutants. Those formed in the atmosphere by

chemical interactions among primary pollutants and normal

atmospheric constituents

E.g. Acid rain, smog, ground level O3