Air pollution

Fisika lingkungan
2007
Pfis-fkip untan
ls
 Air pollution
• Air pollution is the modification of the natural characteristics of
the atmosphere by a chemical, particulate matter, or
biological agent. The atmosphere is a complex, dynamic
natural gaseous system that is essential to support life on
planet Earth. Stratospheric ozone depletion due to air pollution
has long been recognized as a threat to human health as well
as to the Earth's ecosystems.
• Worldwide air pollution is responsible for large numbers of
deaths and cases of respiratory disease. While
major stationary sources are often identified with air pollution,
the greatest source of emissions is actually mobile sources,
mainly automobiles. Gases such as carbon dioxide, which
contribute to global warming, have recently gained recognition
as pollutants by climate scientists, while they also recognize
that carbon dioxide is essential for plant life through
photosynthesis.
 Pollutants
• There are many substances in the air which may impair the
health of plants and animals (including humans), or reduce
visibility.
• These arise both from natural processes and human activity.
Substances not naturally found in the air or at greater
concentrations or in different locations from usual are referred
to as pollutants.
• Pollutants can be classified as either primary or secondary.
Primary pollutants are substances directly emitted from a
process, such as ash from a volcanic eruption or the carbon
monoxide gas from a motor vehicle exhaust.
Secondary pollutants are not emitted directly. Rather, they
form in the air when primary pollutants react or interact. An
important example of a secondary pollutant is ground level
ozone - one of the many secondary pollutants that make up
photochemical smog.
• Note that some pollutants may be both primary and secondary:
that is, they are both emitted directly and formed from other
primary pollutants.
Major primary pollutants produced by human activity
• Sulfur oxides (SOx) especially sulfur dioxide are emitted from burning of
coal and oil.
• Nitrogen oxides (NOx) especially nitrogen dioxide are emitted from high
temperature combustion.
• Carbon monoxide is colourless, odourless, non-irritating but very
poisonous gas. It is a product by incomplete combustion of fuel such as
natural gas, coal or wood. Vehicular exhaust is a major source of carbon
monoxide.
• Carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas emitted from combustion.
• Volatile organic compounds (VOC), such as hydrocarbon fuel vapors and
solvents.
• Particulate matter (PM), measured as smoke and dust. PM10 is the fraction
of suspended particles 10 micrometers in diameter and smaller that will
enter the nasal cavity. PM2.5 has a maximum particle size of 2.5 µm and
will enter the bronchies and lungs.
• Toxic metals, such as lead, cadmium and copper.
• Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), harmful to the ozone layer emitted from
products currently banned from use.
• Ammonia (NH3) emitted from agricultural processes.
• Odors, such as from garbage, sewage, and industrial processes
• Radioactive pollutants produced by nuclear explosions and
war explosives, and natural processes such as radon.
Secondary pollutants Minor air pollutants
include: include:
• Particulate matter • A large number of
formed from gaseous minor
primary pollutants and hazardous air pollutants
compounds in . Some of these are
photochemical smog, regulated in USA under
such as nitrogen the Clean Air Act and in
dioxide. Europe under the Air
• Ground level ozone Framework Directive.
(O3) formed from NOx • A variety of
and VOCs. persistent organic pollutants
• Peroxyacetyl nitrate , which can attach to
(PAN) similarly formed particulate matter.
from NOx and VOCs.
 Sources of air pollution
Anthropogenic sources (human activity) mostly related to burning different
kinds of fuel
• "Stationary Sources" as smoke stacks of power plants, manufacturing
facilities, municipal waste incinerators
• "Mobile Sources" as motor vehicles, aircraft etc.
• Combustion-fired power plants
• Controlled burn practices used in agriculture and forestry management
• Motor vehicles generating air pollution emissions.
• Marine vessels, such as container ships or cruise ships, and related
port air pollution.
• Burning wood, fireplaces, stoves, furnaces and incinerators
• Oil refining, power plant operation and industrial activity in general.
• Chemicals, dust and crop waste burning in farming, (see Dust Bowl).
• Fumes from paint, hair spray, varnish, aerosol sprays and other
solvents.
• Waste deposition in landfills, which generate methane.
• Military uses, such as nuclear weapons, toxic gases, germ warfare and
rocketry.
 Natural sources
• Dust from natural sources,
usually large areas of land with
little or no vegetation.
• Methane, emitted by the
digestion of food by animals,
for example cattle.
• Radon gas from radioactive
decay within the Earth's crust.
• Smoke and carbon monoxide
from wildfires.
• Volcanic activity, which
produce sulfur, chlorine, and
ash particulates.
• Particulate control
– Mechanical collectors (
dust cyclones, multicyclones)
– Electrostatic precipitators
– Baghouses
– Particulate scrubbers
• Scrubbers
– Baffle spray scrubber
– Cyclonic spray scrubber
– Ejector venturi scrubber
– Mechanically aided scrubber
– Spray tower
– Wet scrubber
• NOx control
– Low NOx burners
– Selective catalytic reduction
(SCR)
– Selective non-catalytic reduction
(SNCR)
– NOx scrubbers
– Exhaust gas recirculation
– Catalytic converter (also for
VOC control)
Control devices
VOC abatement
•
– Adsorption systems, such as
activated carbon
– Flares
– Thermal oxidizers
– Catalytic oxidizers
– Biofilters
– Absorption (scrubbing)
– Cryogenic condensers
– Vapor recovery systems
• Acid Gas/SO2 control
– Wet scrubbers
– Dry scrubbers
– Flue gas desulfurization
• Mercury control
– Sorbent Injection Technology
– Electro-Catalytic Oxidation (ECO)
– K-Fuel
• Dioxin and furan control
• Miscellaneous associated equipment
– Source capturing systems
– Continuous emissions monitoring systems
(CEMS)
Particulate matter,
μg/m³ (2004)

• 169 Cairo, Egypt

• 150Delhi, India
• 128Kolkata, India (Calcutta)
• 125Taiyuan, China
• 123Chongqing, China
• 109Kanpur, India
• 109Lucknow, India104Jakarta, Indonesia
Total carbon dioxide
emissions: 10^6 Tons of
CO2 per year
• United States: 2,790 tons
• China: 2,680
• Russia: 661
• India: 583
• Japan: 400
• Germany: 356
• Australia: 226
• South Africa: 222
• United Kingdom: 212
• South Korea: 185
Per capita carbon
dioxide emissions
(Tons of CO2 per
year per capita):
•Australia: 10
•United States: 8.2
•United Kingdom: 3.2
•China: 1.8
•India: 0.5
 greenhouse effect
• The greenhouse effect is the process in which the
emission of infrared radiation by the atmosphere warms
a planet's surface. The name comes from an incorrect
analogy with the warming of air inside a greenhouse
compared to the air outside the greenhouse. The Earth's
average surface temperature of 15 °C (59 °F) is about 33
°C (59 °F) warmer than it would be without the
greenhouse effect.[1] The greenhouse effect was
discovered by Joseph Fourier in 1824 and first
investigated quantitatively by Svante Arrhenius in 1896.
[2] Global warming, a recent warming of the Earth, is
believed to be the result of increased concentrations of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. In addition to the
Earth, Mars and Venus have greenhouse effects.
Greenhouse effect
 Smog Coinage of the term "smog" is generally
• Smog is a kind attributed to Dr. Henry Antoine Des
of air pollution; Voeux in his 1905 paper, “Fog and
the word Smoke,” for a meeting of the
"smog" is a Public Health Congress. The 26 July
portmanteau of 1905 edition of the London newspaper
smoke and fog. Daily Graphic quoted Des Voeux, “He
Classic smog said it required no science to see that
results from there was something produced in great
large amounts cities which was not found in the country,
of coal burning and that was smoky fog, or what was
in an area and known as ‘smog.’” The following day the
is caused by a newspaper stated that “Dr. Des Voeux
mixture of did a public service in coining a new word
smoke and for the London fog.”
sulphur dioxide. "Smog" also appears in a Jan. 19, 1893,
Los Angeles Times article and is
attributed to "a witty English writer."
 Health effects
• Smog is a problem in a number of cities and continues to harm human
health.[1] Ground-level ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and
carbon monoxide are especially harmful for senior citizens, children,
and people with heart and lung conditions such as emphysema,
bronchitis, and asthma[2]. It can inflame breathing passages,
decreasing the lungs' working capacity, and causing shortness of
breath, pain when inhaling deeply, wheezing, and coughing. It can
cause eye and nose irritation and it dries out the protective
membranes of the nose and throat and interferes with the body's
ability to fight infection, increasing susceptibility to illness. Hospital
admissions and respiratory deaths often increase during periods
when ozone levels are high [3].
• The U.S. EPA has developed an Air Quality index to help explain air
pollution levels to the general public. 8 hour average ozone
concentrations of 85 to 104 ppbv are described as "Unhealthy for
Sensitive Groups", 105 ppbv to 124 ppbv as "unhealthy" and 125 ppb
to 404 ppb as "very unhealthy" [1]. The "very unhealthy" range for
some other pollutants are: 355 μg m-3 - 424 μg m-3 for PM10; 15.5
ppbv - 30.4ppb for CO and 0.65 ppbv - 1.24 [2]
 Areas affected
• Smog can form in almost any climate where industries or
cities release large amounts of air pollution. However, it
is worse during periods of warmer, sunnier weather
when the upper air is warm enough to inhibit vertical
circulation. It is especially prevalent in geologic basins
encircled by hills or mountains. It often stays for an
extended period of time over densely populated cities or
urban areas, such as London, New York, Los Angeles,
Mexico City, Houston, Toronto, Athens, Beijing,
Hong Kong, the Randstad or Ruhr Area and can build up
to dangerous levels.
• Historically, there have been acute incidents where smog
has killed thousands of people in a single metropolitan
area.
 Photochemical smog
• In the 1950s a new type of smog, known as photochemical smog,
was first described. This forms when sunlight hits various
pollutants in the air and forms a mix of inimicial chemicals that
can be very dangerous.
• A photochemical smog is the chemical reaction of sunlight,
nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in
the atmosphere, which leaves airborne particles (called
particulate matter) and ground-level ozone. Nitrogen oxides are
released by nitrogen and oxygen in the air reacting together under
high temperature such as in the exhaust of fossil fuel-burning
engines in cars, trucks, coal power plants, and industrial
manufacturing factories. VOCs are released from anthropogenic
(man-made) sources such as gasoline, paints, solvents, pesticides
, and biogenic sources, such as pine and citrus tree emissions.
• This noxious mixture of air pollutants can including the following:
nitrogen oxides, such as nitrogen dioxide ; tropospheric ozone ;
volatile organic compounds (VOCs) ; peroxyacyl nitrates (PAN) ;
and aldehydes (R'O)
• All of these chemicals are usually highly reactive and oxidizing.
Due to this fact, photochemical smog is considered to be a
problem of modern industrialization.
 Southeast Asia

• Smog is a regular problem in Southeast Asia caused by

land and forest fires in Indonesia, especially Sumatra and
Kalimantan, although the less political term haze is preferred in
describing the problem. Farmers and plantation owners are
usually responsible for the fires, which they use to clear tracts
of land for further plantings. Those fires mainly affect Brunei,
Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, and
occasionally Guam and Saipan[3] [4] The economic losses of
the fires in 1997 have been estimated at US$9.3 billion [5]. This
includes damages in agriculture production, destruction of
forest lands, health, transportation, tourism, and other
economic endeavours. Not included are social, environmental,
and psychological problems and long-term health effects. The
latest bout of haze to occur in Malaysia, Singapore and the
Malacca Straits is in October 2006, and was caused by smoke
from fires in Indonesia being blown across the Straits of
Malacca by south-westerly winds.
 Air Quality Index
The Air Quality Index (AQI) is a standardized indicator of the air
quality in a given location. It measures mainly ground-level ozone
and particulates (except the pollen count), but may also include
sulphur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide.
Various agencies around the world measure such indices, though
definitions may change between places.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Health classifications used by the EPA:
0-50 Good is usually green
51-100 Moderate is usually yellow
101-150 Unhealthy for sensitive groups is usually orange
151-200 Unhealthy is usually red
201-300 Very unhealthy is usually purple
301-500 Hazardous is usually maroon
• the Meteorological Service of Canada
(MSC) are as follows:
• 0-25: Good (green)
• 26-50: Fair (yellow)
• 51-100: Poor (orange)
• 101+: Very poor (red)
 haloalkanes
• The haloalkanes (also known as halogenalkanes or
alkyl halides) are a group of chemical compounds,
consisting of alkanes, such as methane or ethane,
with one or more halogens linked, such as chlorine
or fluorine, making them a type of organic halide.
They are known under many chemical and
commercial names. As fire extinguishants,
propellants and solvents they have or had wide use.
Some haloalkanes (those containing chlorine or
bromine) are believed to have negative effects on the
environment such as ozone depletion. The most
widely known family within this group are the
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
• A haloalkane also known as alkyl halogenide, halogenalkane or
halogenoalkane, and alkyl halide is a chemical compound derived
from an alkane by substituting one or more hydrogen atoms with
halogen atoms. Substitution with fluorine, chlorine, bromine and
iodine results in fluoroalkanes, chloroalkanes, bromoalkanes and
iodoalkanes, respectively. Mixed compounds are also possible, the
best-known examples being the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which are
mainly responsible for ozone depletion. Haloalkanes are used in
semiconductor device fabrication, as refrigerants, foam
blowing agents, solvents, aerosol spray propellants,
fire extinguishing agents, and chemical reagents.
• Freon is a trade name for a group of chlorofluorocarbons used
primarily as a refrigerant. The word Freon is a registered trademark
belonging to DuPont.
• There are 3 types of haloalkane. In primary (1°) haloalkanes the carbon
which carries the halogen atom is only attached to one other alkyl
group. However CH3Br is also a primary haloalkane, even though
there is no alkyl group. In secondary (2°) haloalkanes the carbon that
carries the halogen atom is attached to 2 alkyl groups. In tertiary (3°)
haloalkanes the carbon that carries the halogen atom is attached to 3
alkyl groups.
 Chloro fluoro compounds (CFC, HCFC)

• Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) are compounds containing chlorine

, fluorine and carbon only, that is they contain no hydrogen.
They were formerly used widely in industry, for example as
refrigerants, propellants, and cleaning solvents. Their use has
been regularly prohibited by the Montreal Protocol, because of
effects on the ozone layer (see ozone depletion). They are also
a powerful greenhouse gas, in terms of
carbon dioxide equivalence (over a time period of one hundred
years) between 5000 and 8100 per kg. [1]
• Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) are of a class of
haloalkanes where not all hydrogen has been replaced by
chlorine or fluorine. They are used primarily as
chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) substitutes, as the ozone depleting
effects are only about 10% of the CFCs.
• This catalyzes the break up of ozone into
oxygen by means of a variety of
mechanisms, of which the simplest is:
– Cl· + O3 → ClO· + O2
– ClO· + O3 → Cl· + 2 O2
• Since the chlorine is regenerated at the end
of these reactions, a single Cl atom can
destroy many thousands of ozone molecules.
Reaction schemes similar to this one (but
more complicated) are believed to be the
cause of the ozone hole observed over the
poles and upper latitudes of the Earth.
Decreases in stratospheric ozone may lead
to increases in skin cancer.
 Acid rain
• Acid rain is rain or any other form of
precipitation which is unusually acidic. It has
harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals and
buildings.
• Acid rain is mostly caused by human emissions
of sulfur and nitrogen compounds which react in
the atmosphere to produce acids.
• In recent years, many governments have
introduced laws to reduce these emissions.
• The term "acid rain" is commonly used to mean the deposition
of acidic components in rain, snow, fog, dew, or dry particles.
The more accurate term is "acid precipitation."
• Distilled water, which contains no carbon dioxide, has a neutral
pH of 7. Liquids with a pH less than 7 are acidic, and those with
a pH greater than 7 are bases. "Clean" or unpolluted rain is
slightly acidic, its pH being about 5.0, because carbon dioxide
and water in the air react together to form carbonic acid, a
weak acid.
– H2O (l) + CO2 (g) → H2CO3 (aq)
• Carbonic acid then can ionize in water forming low
concentrations of hydronium ions:
– 2H2O (l) + H2CO3 (aq) ⇌ CO32- (aq) + 2H3O+(aq)
• The extra acidity in rain comes from the reaction of primary air
pollutants, primarily sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides, with
water in the air to form strong acids (like sulfuric and nitric
acid). The main sources of these pollutants are vehicles and
industrial and power-generating plants.
The most important gas which leads to acidification is sulfur dioxide.
Emissions of nitrogen oxides which are oxidized to form nitric acid are
of increasing importance due to stricter controls on emissions of
sulfur containing compounds. 70 Tg(S) per year in the form of SO2
comes from fossil fuel combustion and industry, 2.8 Tg(S) from
wildfires and 7-8 Tg(S) per year from volcanoes.[7]
Natural Phenomena
• The principal natural phenomena that contribute acid-producing gases
to the atmosphere are emissions from volcanoes and those from
biological processes that occur on the land, in wetlands, and in the
oceans. The major biological source of sulfur containing compounds
is dimethyl sulfide.
• The effects of acidic deposits have been detected in glacial ice
thousands of years old in remote parts of the globe.
Human activity
• The principal cause of acid rain is sulphuric and nitrogen compounds
from human sources, such as electricity generation, factories and
motor vehicles. Coal power plants are one of the most polluting. The
gases can be carried hundreds of kilometres in the atmosphere before
they are converted to acids and deposited. In the past, factories had
short funnels to let out smoke, but this caused many problems; thus,
factories now have longer smoke funnels. However, this causes
pollutants to be carried farther, causing greater ecological damage.