EN-301 Environmental

Engineering-I Lecture 10
Dr Atif Mustafa Associate Professor &
Acting Chair ​Department of Environmental
Engineering ​NED University of Engineering
& Technology
Air Pollution Impacts on
Human Health

✓Premature death

✓Decreased lung function

✓Increased susceptibility to
respiratory infections

✓Difficulty in breathing and

coughing

✓Effects on nervous system

including brain (IQ loss,

impacts on learning and memory)

Air Emissions Control

✓ Source Reduction

✓ Demand Management
✓ Regulatory Approaches

✓ Education Campaigns

✓ Use of Control Technologies

Air Emissions Control

✓Source Reduction
• Control of auto emissions by
reducing air to fuel ratio, optimizing
valve or ignition timing and
recirculating the flue gases
• Installation of catalytic converters
✓Transportation Demand
Management
• Changing travel behaviour of
users of automobiles and light duty
trucks
• Changing policies related to land
use
Air Emissions Control

✓Examples of Transportation
Demand Management
Strategies
• Park and ride facilities
• Ride sharing program (Carpool,
vanpool)
• Bicycle and pedestrian projects
• Improved mass transit service
• Land use strategies
(transit-oriented development and
clustered activity centers)
Air Emissions Control

✓Control Technologies

Pollutant Treatment Control

Technology ​Particulate matter
EIectrostatic precipitator, bag house
filters, particle scrubbers and cyclones

Sulphur dioxide Flue gas desulphurization

or cleaning
sulphur from coal for combustion

VOCs Thermal or catalytic oxidation,

adsorption systems (e.g. activated carbon)
Air Emissions Control

✓Control Technologies

Pollutant Treatment Control

Technology ​NOx Catalytic converters,
selective
reduction, scrubbers and adsorption
systems Ozone Same as for VOCs and
NOx
Air Emissions Control
✓Control Technologies
Baghouse Filters
• ​PM is filtered by a set of fabric filter
bags
• The bags are periodically ​shaken to
remove the PM
• The above action force them to
collect in the hopper from where they
can be collected
Air Emissions Control
✓​Baghouse Design ​A woven fabric
baghouse that employs a shaker collection method
is designed to remove 99.75 percent of incoming
stream of particles originating from a cement plant.
What fabric area is required for the baghouse if it
treats 21,000 ft​3​/min of polluted air? How many bags
are required if the bags are cylindrical and are 6
inches in diameter and 20 feet long.

​ ilter Cloth Area = Inlet Flowrate

Formulae F
Gas-to-Cloth Ratio # of Bags = Total Filter Area
Required Surface Area of One Bag Surface Area of
Bag = π x diameter x height (neglecting top and
bottom
area of the cylinder)

Air Emissions Control

✓Control Technologies ​Carbon
Adsorption
• Adsorption is a process of
accumulating substances on ​a
suitable interface
• ​Pollutants like VOCs and ​SO​2 are
​
transferred from air ​to a solid
adsorbent
• Activated carbon is ​commonly used
as an ​adsorbent
Air Emissions Control
✓Control Technologies
EIectrostatic Precipitator
•PM is first charged by applying a
high voltage
•The charged particles are ​then
forced to collection plates
•Rappers use vibrating ​methods to
remove particles from collection
plates and make them fall in a hopper
Air Emissions Control
✓Control Technologies
Venturi Scrubber
•PM and other pollutants such as SO​2
and HCl can be removed by
impaction on of pollutants on water
droplets
•Water spray can be added by
injection into flowing gas
Air Emissions Control

✓Control Technologies
Packed Bed Absorption
• Pollutants such as SO​2​, ​NH​3​, HCl
are transferred ​from air to liquid
Air Emissions Control
✓Control Technologies
Cyclone
• Pollutants enter with the gas and
are removed by ​the centrifugal forces
• The air moves in helical pattern
• Particles that impact the ​wall fall by
action of gravity and are collected in
the hopper