Air Pollution

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 Overview

o Atmosphere as a Resource
o Types and Sources of Air Pollution
• Major Classes of Air Pollutants
• Sources of Outdoor Air Pollutants
• Urban Air Pollution
o Effects of Air Pollution
o Controlling Air Pollution in the US

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 Atmosphere as a Resource
o Atmospheric Composition
• Nitrogen 78.08%
• Oxygen 20.95%
• Argon 0.93%
• Carbon dioxide 0.04%
o Ecosystem services
• Blocks UV radiation
• Moderates the climate
• Redistributes water in the hydrologic cycle
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 Types and Sources of Air Pollution
o What is Air Pollution?
• Chemicals added to the atmosphere by natural
events or human activities in high enough
concentrations to be harmful
o Two categories
• Primary Air Pollutant
• Harmful substance that is emitted directly into the atmosphere
• Secondary Air Pollutant
• Harmful substance formed in the atmosphere when a primary air
pollutant reacts with substances normally found in the atmosphere or
with other air pollutants

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 Major Air Pollutants Source: EPA

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 Primary & Secondary Air Pollution

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 Major Classes of Air Pollutants

o Particulate Material (PM)

o Nitrogen Oxides
o Sulfur Oxides
o Carbon Oxides
o Hydrocarbons, incl. VOC’s
o Ozone

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 Particulate Material (PM)
o Thousands of different solid or liquid
particles suspended in air
• Includes: soil particles, soot, smoke, lead,
asbestos, aerosols, sea salt, sulfuric acid droplets
o Dangerous for 2 reasons
• May contain materials with toxic or carcinogenic
effects
• Extremely small particles can become lodged in
lungs
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 Nitrogen and Sulfur Oxides
o Nitrogen Oxides
• Gases produced by the chemical interactions between
atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen at high temperature
• Problems
• Greenhouse gases
• Cause difficulty breathing
o Sulfur Oxides
• Gases produced by the chemical interactions between
sulfur and oxygen
• Cause acid precipitation
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 Carbon Oxides and Hydrocarbons
o Carbon Oxides
• Gases: carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide
(CO2)
• CO permanently replaces O2 on haemoglobin
• Greenhouse gases
o Hydrocarbons
• Diverse group of organic compounds that contain only
hydrogen and carbon (ex: CH4- methane)
• Some are related to photochemical smog and
greenhouse gases
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 Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s)
o Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s) are organic
compounds of carbon, which participate in atmospheric
photochemical reactions.
o VOC’s are organic chemical compounds whose
composition makes it possible for them to evaporate
under normal indoor atmospheric conditions of
temperature and pressure. 

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 Ozone (O3)

o Tropospheric Ozone
• Man-made pollutant in the lower atmosphere
• Secondary air pollutant
• Component of photochemical smog
o Stratospheric Ozone
• Essential component that screens out UV
radiation in the upper atmosphere
• Man-made pollutants (ex: CFCs) can destroy O3
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 Stratosphere

Ozone Production Ozone Destruction

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 Sources of Outdoor Air Pollution

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 Urban Air Pollution

o Photochemical Smog
• Brownish-orange haze formed by chemical
reactions involving sunlight, nitrogen oxide,
and hydrocarbons

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 Formation of Photochemical Smog

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 Sources of Smog

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 Air Pollution in Beijing

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 Air Pollution in Ecuador

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 Health Effects of Air Pollution
o Sulfur Dioxide and Particulate material
• Irritate respiratory tract and impair ability of lungs
to exchange gases
o Nitrogen Dioxides
• Causes airway restriction
o Carbon monoxide
• Binds with iron in blood hemoglobin
• Causes headache, fatigue, drowsiness, death
o Ozone
• Causes burning eyes, coughing, and chest discomfort
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 Children and Air Pollution

o Greater health threat to children than

adults
• Air pollution can restrict lung development
• Children breath more often than adults
o Children who live in high ozone areas are
more likely to develop asthma

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 Controlling Air Pollution

o Smokestacks with
electrostatic precipitator

Without
Electrostatic
precipitator

With Electrostatic
precipitator

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 Controlling Air Pollution

o Smokestacks with scrubbers can remove

particulate material and specific pollutants

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 Controlling Air Pollution

o Vapour recovery system for gasoline

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 Controlling Air Pollution
o Catalytic converter

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 The Clean Air Act 1963/1970/1990
o Authorizes EPA to set limits on amount of
specific air pollutants permitted
o Focuses on 6 pollutants:
• lead, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, carbon
monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and ozone
o Act has led to decreases!

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 The Clean
Air Act
1970

Impact on
blood lead
levels

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 Other Ways to Improve Air Quality
o Reduce sulfur content in gasoline from its
current average of 330 ppm to 30 ppm
• Sulfur clogs catalytic converters
o Require federal emission standards for all
passenger vehicles
• Including SUVs, trucks and minivans
o Car-free zones
o Require emission testing for all vehicles
• Including diesel
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 Ozone Depletion in Stratosphere
o Ozone Protects earth from UV radiation

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 Ozone Depletion in Stratosphere

o Ozone thinning/hole
• First identified in 1985
over Antarctica
o Caused by
• Human-produced bromine
and chlorine containing
chemicals
• Ex: CFCs

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 Ozone Depletion in Stratosphere

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 Effects of Ozone Depletion

o Higher levels of UV-radiation

may lead to:
• Eye cataracts
• Skin cancer (right)
• Weakened immunity
o Ecosystem disruption
o Damage to crops and forests
o Loss of marine life
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 Recovery of Ozone Layer
o Montreal Protocol (1987)
• Reduction of CFCs
• Started using HCFCs (greenhouse gas!)
o Global phase-out of all ozone destroying
chemicals
o Satellite pictures in 2000 indicated that
ozone layer was recovering
o Full recovery will not occur until 2050
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 Acid Deposition (rain)
o Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide
emissions react with water vapor in the
atmosphere and form acids that return to
the surface as either dry or wet deposition
o pH scale – acids have high hydrogen ion
concentration

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 Formation of Acid Rain

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 Effects of Acid Deposition
o Declining Aquatic Animal Populations
o Thin-shelled eggs prevent bird
reproduction
• Because calcium is unavailable in acidic soil
o Forest decline
• Ex: Black forest in Germany (50% destroyed)

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 Acid Deposition and Forest Decline

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 Germany’s Black Forest

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 Air Pollution Around the World
o Developing countries:
• Air quality is deteriorating
rapidly
• Do not have clean air technology
• Have older cars and transport
systems
• May still use leaded petrol
o 5 worst cities in world
• Beijing, Mexico City, Shanghai,
Tehran and Kolkata (Calcutta)

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 Indoor Air Pollution

o Pollutants can be many times greater than

outdoors
o Most common forms of indoor air pollution:
• Radon, cigarette smoke, carbon monoxide, nitrogen
dioxide, formaldehyde pesticides, lead, cleaning
solvents, ozone, VOC’s from sprays, and asbestos

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 Primary Sources of Indoor Air Pollution

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 Radon is the
Second Leading
Cause of Lung
Cancer in the
US – 21,000
Deaths a Year

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