UNIT IV

Air pollution control equipment for particulate matter & gaseous pollutants:
Air pollutants are generated by nearly every facet of the industrial
process, including raw material sourcing, product manufacturing, maintenance
and repair services, and distribution. Consequently, there are several different
types of air pollution control equipment available for air pollutants produced by
both mobile and stationary sources across a wide range of industries. However,
this article focuses mainly on control equipment for stationary-sourced air
pollutants, such as those produced during combustion processes.
In an industrial setting, air pollution control equipment is an umbrella
term referring to equipment and systems used to regulate and eliminate the
emission of potentially hazardous substances—including particulate matter and
gases—produced by manufacturing, process system, and research applications
into the air, atmosphere, and surrounding environment. Control equipment has
applications in a wide range of industries, preventing the release of chemicals,
vapours, and dust and filtering and purifying the air within the work
environment.
Air pollution control equipment is a vital component of industrial
processes that cannot be neglected. Name any industry, and you will realize the
extent of harmful stuff it sends into the environment through its processes.
Petroleum, energy production, coal and metal mining, chemical, and waste
management industries are a few of the big-league players that have played a
considerable role in polluting the environment.
Every industrial procedure – including sourcing of raw materials,
manufacturing of the final product, maintenance of the site and machinery, and
transporting of the product to different locations – results in some kind of
pollution. The burning of fossil fuel releases volatile hydrocarbons, burning
wood and coal as fuel produces carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide, and
automobiles are also a key source of harmful carbon. Each industrial activity
generates emissions that directly pollute the air, soil, or water.
The goals of industrial air pollution control equipment are to:

1) decrease the release of harmful gases and control the spread of air and water
pollution

2) conserve whatsoever natural resources are available for our future

generations

3) decrease health threats posed by breathed in and otherwise consumed

pollution

In addition, non-industrial air pollution control equipment is used in

households and vehicles. In the home, filtration technology is used to remove
household contaminants like pet dander, allergens, mold spores and dust stirred
up from air conditioners. In vehicles, precision filtration systems reduce
emissions coming out engines, exhaust pipes and air conditioning systems.

History:

The initiation of air pollution can be sourced back to the beginning of the
Industrial Revolution. Industries contributed in the progression of the world
economy, as well as pollution. Burning fuel released from industrial process
equipment, and the production and maintenance of industrial procedures all
contributed to pollution. In addition, with rising industrialization came the
overexploitation of natural resources such as wood, coal, water, land, etc.

People began to see the consequences of unchecked industrialization by

the mid-1900s. In 1948, for example, after it reached toxic levels, air pollution in
Donora, Pennsylvania killed 20 people and sickened 7,000 more. In 1952,
London experienced what they called The Great Smog. This dense, impenetrable
fog was a result of sulphur particles mixing with burning coal fumes in the air.
During the five-day smog, some 12,000-people died, along with animals. In 1984,
in Bhopal, India, an air pollution disaster caused by the Union Carbide factory
killed nearly 4,000 factory workers and sickened or injured 150,000 and 600,000
people in the surrounding areas.

To combat these horrifying disasters, governments around the world put

into place a variety of clean air laws. In the UK, the government passed the first
Clean Air Act in 1956. This restricted coal burning in urban areas. The United
States followed suit with its own Clean Air Act in 1970.

Upon the enactment of such laws, people began to make use of a few
different pieces of air cleaner equipment that had been invented much earlier.
One was the electrostatic precipitator, invented in 1824 by German
mathematician Dr. M Hohlfeld. Around 80 years later, in 1907, Prof. Frederick
Gardner Cottrell patented the first electrostatic precipitator that could be mass
produced. At that time, the precipitator was used to capture, treat and eliminate
sulphuric acids from emissions.

The Clean Air Act in 1990 made it mandatory to monitor some specific
pollutants, periodically, at various stationary sources. To comply with
monitoring requirements and the regulatory limits, monitoring equipment is as
important as pollution control equipment. Monitoring equipment is helpful in
keeping data concerning particulate matter and gaseous pollutants, which is
important for getting permits for new and existing facilities and for audit
purpose. Moreover, emissions monitoring is essential to monitor health and
safety within the plant and to assess the efficiency of the pollution control
device.

Thanks to the dedication of many, in the last several years, VOC and HAP
emissions have gone down significantly. However, carbon emissions are now
entering the foreground of concern, due to the emergence of global climate
change. Therefore, lawmakers and environmentalists are now working together
to create legislation that will help lower carbon emissions as much as possible.
Given these new and up-and-coming regulations, manufacturers may need to
be prepared to find alternatives to incinerators and oxidizers. These alternatives
may include elements of filtering systems like electrostatic precipitators, mist
collectors, wet scrubbers and dry scrubbers.

How It Works:

Air pollution control equipment may work in one of three different ways:

1.Chemical-Modification:
This method involves converting a dangerous chemical into an inert
chemical. This is usually done using something like a flue gas desulphurization
electrostatic precipitator.

In addition, to help clean up nitrogen oxide, certain controls include

selective catalytic reduction processes. These regulate nitrogen oxides
emissions from non-moving sources and from selective non-catalytic reduction,
a process that changes oxides of nitrogen (NOx) into molecular nitrogen (N2).

If VOCs have recovery value, technicians may employ carbon adsorption,

scrubbing and condensation to recuperate materials. If not, technicians may
employ thermal oxidation, catalytic oxidation or biofiltration.
2.Contaminant-Destruction:
This form of air purification is the most difficult, as it involves reach high
enough boiling points to burn away chemicals with very high boiling points.

3.Hazard-Removal:
Removing the hazard from the air is the most common and the easiest
form of air purification. This can be done in a number of ways, but mostly it is
done using air filter systems.

Gravitation Chambers:

Gravitational settling chambers are generally used to remove large,

abrasive particles (usually >50 μm) from gas stream. It provides enlarged areas
to minimize horizontal velocities and allow time for the vertical velocity to carry
the particle to the floor. The usual velocity through settling chambers is between
0.5 to 2.5 m/s.
They are generally used to remove large, abrasive particles (usually > 50 mm)
from gas streams. Since most of the troublesome particles have much smaller
size than 50 mm, there devices are usually used as per cleaners prior to passing
the gas stream through high efficiency collection device.

Settling chambers, which rely on gravitational settling as a collection

mechanism, are the simplest and oldest mechanical collectors. Settling
chambers are generally built in the form of long, horizontal, rectangular
chambers with an inlet at one end and an exit at the side or top of the opposite
end.

Flow within the chamber must be uniform and without any macroscopic mixing.
Hoppers are used to collect the settled-out material, though drag scrapers and
screw conveyers have also been employed.

Provide enlarged areas to minimize horizontal velocities and allow

particulates to settle out. Some settling chambers are just enlarged conduits,
while others have horizontal shelves and baffles (spaced about 2.5 cm apart),
which shorten the settling path and thus improve removal efficiency • Simple in
design and operation, but require relatively large space for installation and have
relatively low efficiency, especially for removal of smaller particles.
Centrifugal Collectors:

Cyclonic separation is a method of removing particulates from an air, gas

or liquid stream, without the use of filters, through vortex separation. Rotational
effects and gravity are used to separate mixtures of solids and fluids. The
method can also be used to separate fine droplets of liquid from a gaseous
stream. Cyclone Filter is suitable for the separation of large particles and large
amount of particulate in the process air.

Employ centrifugal force instead of gravity to separate particles from the

gas stream. Particles ranging from 5-20 μm can be removed. Two general types
of centrifugal collectors are used – cyclones and dynamic precipitators
Operating Principle:
A cyclone collector usually consists of a cylindrical shell, conical base, dust
hopper, and an inlet where the dust laden gas enters tangentially. Under the
influence of centrifugal force generated by the spinning gas, the solid particles
are thrown to the walls of the cyclone. The gas spiral upward at the inside of
the cone. The particles slide down the wall of the cone and into the hopper. The
operating or separating efficiency of a efficiency of a cyclone depends on the
magnitude of the centrifugal force; the greater the centrifugal force, the greater
the efficiency.
Control Devices for particulate Contaminant:

Wet Collectors or Wet Scrubbers:

A wet scrubber is a mechanical system that removes pollutants from an

air stream by bringing it in contact with a scrubbing liquid, most often
water. wet scrubbers are generally the only single air pollution control device
that can remove both particulates and gases/vapours. They are highly efficient
at capturing the smallest dust particles and can eliminate more than 99% of
airborne particulate matter by capturing them in liquid droplets. Wet
scrubbers that remove gaseous pollutants are also referred to as absorbers.

Wet scrubbers are used in a wide range of industries, from acid, fertilizer and
asphalt plants to steel mills and power plants. They offer an alternative to
baghouses and other dry dust collection approaches; they’re often used for
controlling exhaust from process equipment or they can be located
downstream from baghouses/cartridge filter systems, furnaces, dryers, mixers,
bucket elevators, bagging stations, and other emission points.

How wet scrubbers work:

The four most commonly used types of wet scrubbers are Impinjet wet
scrubbers, venturi scrubbers, educator venturi scrubbers and packed towers:

• Impinjet® wet scrubbers collect particulates and clean, cool and absorb
vapors and gases. They offer high collection efficiencies (99% for particles
5 microns or larger) with low water consumption and minimum pressure
drop. Impinjet scrubbers are highly resistant to fouling and available with
capacities as high as 200,000+ CFM. Impingement plate (or tray)
scrubbers use a flowing bed of water across a perforated surface. The
airflow is drawn into the scrubber and passes through the plate water.
The water traps the contaminants, removing them from the airstream.
Impingement plate systems typically use lower energy /lower pressure
drop to scrub the gas. Impingement scrubbers are suitable for particulate
scrubbing and applications where both particulate and gaseous
contaminants must be collected.

• Venturi scrubbers with cyclonic separators are often the best choice for
high-efficiency collection of fine particulates. They use the differential
between high-velocity gases and free-flowing water to create droplets
that entrap contaminants, hold them in suspension and deliver them as a
suspended solids solution. The venturi scrubber design requires more
water and higher pressure drop to remove particulate than impingement
plate scrubbers. The converging section of the venturi throat (where the
water and airstream merge) creates atomized water droplets to provide
efficiencies of 99 percent on particles 1 micron in size and larger. The
 efficiency can increase to 99.8 percent for particles 5 microns and larger.

• Eductor venturi scrubbers remove both soluble gases and particulates by

inducing a gas flow using high-pressure liquid focused into a venturi
throat. This eliminates the need for a separate exhaust fan or blower to
transport the contaminant-laden airstream to the filtration device.
Eductor venturi scrubbers can also be used for direct-contact
condensation. A high liquid flow rate makes this type of scrubber
particularly well-suited for collecting sticky and/or gummy particulate, as
well as gases that decompose on contact with water. Eductor scrubbers
are often used in combination with other collection devices such as
packed tower scrubbers.

packed towersare designed for chemical scrubbing of gaseous

contaminants and are often used to remove sulfur dioxide, hydrogen
chloride, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, and other gases. In vertical
scrubbers, the gas flows upward through the bed, while the liquid
trickles downward by gravity through the packing, which is typically
made up of small plastic or metal objects. The liquid wets the surfaces of
the packing materials, which are designed to provide a large amount of
surface area for contact between gas and liquid. A liquid distribution
header located above the packing evenly distributes the scrubbing
solution across the top of the packing. Recirculated scrubbing liquid
typically contains alkaline, acid, or oxidizing scrubbing agents to achieve
 the desired outlet emissions. Prior to leaving the scrubber, the scrubbed
air passes through a mesh or chevron style mist eliminator to remove
entrained droplets.

Applications:

• Combustible/hazardous dusts
• Moisture in the gas stream
• High-temperature applications
• The combination of particulate and gaseous contaminants

Fabric Filter:
Fabric filter is the technical term for what is commonly known as a
baghouse or dust collector. A fabric filter is an air pollution control device that
removes particulate matter from a process gas stream before it is emitted into
the atmosphere.
Dust laden gases come in contact with filter bags inside a baghouse.
Depending on the type of fabric filter, dust comes in contact with the filter bag
and either collects on the inside or outside of the bag.
Types of Fabric Filters:
There are many types of “dust collectors” and terms used for the dry
technologies that collect particulate matter from a gas stream. These terms
include: Pulse-Jet Dust Collector System (can be a fabric filter), Reverse Air
Baghouse, Cyclone, Cartridge Collector, or Shaker Collectors. However, for this
brief we will focus on fabric filters.
There are several types of fabric filters, but they all have a few items in
common:
• Dirty air plenum

• Clean air plenum

• Tube sheet (holds the bags in place)
• Filter media or bags
• Hopper, or opening, to collect the dust
• Cleaning system

Electrostatic Precipitator:
Industry is an integral part of our economic system, and many believe that
it is their right to put up with the factory smokestacks that choke up the air. But
not many know that technology has an excellent solution to this for over a
century in the shape of electrostatic precipitators. These significantly reduce
pollution and help improve the environment.
An electrostatic precipitator (ESP) is defined as a filtration device that is
used to remove fine particles like smoke and fine dust from the flowing gas. It is
the commonly used device for air pollution control. They are used in industries
like steel plants, thermal energy plants.
In 1907, chemistry professor Frederick Gardner Cottrell patented the first
electrostatic precipitator used to collect sulphuric acid mist and lead oxide
fumes emitted from various acid-making and smelting activities.

Working Principle of Electrostatic Precipitator:

The working principle of the electrostatic precipitator is moderately
simple. It consists of two sets of electrodes: positive and negative. The negative
electrodes are in the form of a wire mesh, and the positive electrodes are plates.
These electrodes are vertically placed and are alternate to each other.
The gas borne particles such as ash are ionised by the high voltage
discharge electrode by the corona effect. These particles are ionised to a
negative charge and are attracted to positively charged collector plates
The negative terminal of the high voltage DC source is used to connect the
negative electrodes, and the positive terminal of the DC source is used to
connect the positive plates. To ionize the medium between the negative and
the positive electrode, a certain distance is maintained between the positive,
negative electrode and the DC source resulting in a high voltage gradient.
The medium that is used between the two electrodes is air. There might be
corona discharge around the electrode rods or the wire mesh due to the high
negativity of negative charges. The entire system is enclosed in a metallic
container containing an inlet for flue gases and an outlet for filtered gases.
There are plenty of free electrons as the electrodes are ionized, which interact
with the dust particles of the gas, making them negatively charged. These
particles move towards positive electrodes and fall off due to gravitational
force. The flue gas is free from the dust particles as it flows through the
electrostatic precipitator and is discharged to the atmosphere through the
chimney.
Efficiency of Electrostatic Precipitator:
η=1−e(−WAQ)
where,
𝜼 is the fractional collection efficiency
W is the terminal drift velocity in ms-1
A is the total collection area in m2
Q is the volumetric air flow rate in m3s-1

Types of Electrostatic Precipitator:

There are different electrostatic types, and here, we will study each one of
them in detail. Following are the three types of ESPs:

• Plate precipitator: This is the most basic precipitator type that consists
of rows of thin vertical wires and stack of vertically arranged large flat
metal plates that are placed at a distance of 1cm to 18cm apart. The air
stream is passed horizontally through the vertical plates and then
through the large stack of plates. In order to ionize the particles, a
negative voltage is applied between the wire and the plate. These
ionized particles are then diverted towards the grounded plates using
electrostatic force. As the particles get collected on the collection plate,
they are removed from the air stream.
• Dry electrostatic precipitator: This precipitator is used to collect
pollutants like ash or cement in a dry state. It consists of electrodes
through which the ionized particles are made to flow through and a
hopper through which the collected particles are extracted out. The dust
particles are collected from a stream of air by hammering the
electrodes.
• Wet electrostatic precipitator: This precipitator is used to remove resin,
oil, tar, paint that are wet in nature. It consists of collectors that are
continuously sprayed with water making the collection of ionized
particles from the sludge. They are more efficient than dry ESPs.
• Tubular precipitator: This precipitator is a single-stage unit consisting of
tubes with high voltage electrodes that are arranged parallel to each
other such that they are running on their axis. The arrangement of the
tubes could either be circular or square or hexagonal honeycomb with
 gas either flowing upwards or downwards. The gas is made to pass
through all the tubes. They find applications where sticky particles are to
be removed.

Advantages and Disadvantages:

Advantages of electrostatic precipitator:

• The durability of the ESP is high.

• It can be used for the collection of both dry and wet impurities.

• It has low operating costs.

• The collection efficiency of the device is high even for small particles.

• It can handle large gas volumes and heavy dust loads at low pressures.

Disadvantages of electrostatic precipitator:

• Can’t be used for gaseous emissions.

• Space requirement is more.
• Capital investment is high.
• Not adaptable to change in operating conditions.

Electrostatic Precipitator Applications:

A few noteworthy electrostatic precipitator applications are listed below:

• Two-stage plate ESPs are used in the engine rooms of shipboard as the
gearbox produces explosive oil mist. The collected oil is reused in a gear
lubricating system.
• Dry ESPs are used in thermal plants to clean the air in ventilation and air
conditioning systems.
• They find applications in the medical field for the removal of bacteria
and fungus.
• They are used in zirconium sand for detaching the rutile in plants.
• They are used in metallurgical industries to clean the blast.

Adsorption:
Adsorption, capability of all solid substances to attract to their
surfaces molecules of gases or solutions with which they are in contact. Solids
that are used to adsorb gases or dissolved substances are called adsorbents;
the adsorbed molecules are usually referred to collectively as the adsorbate.
An example of an excellent adsorbent is the charcoal used in gas masks to
remove poisons or impurities from a stream of air.

Adsorption refers to the collecting of molecules by the external surface or

internal surface (walls of capillaries or crevices) of solids or by the surface
of liquids. Absorption, with which it is often confused, refers to processes in
which a substance penetrates into the actual interior of crystals, of blocks
of amorphous solids, or of liquids. Sometimes the word sorption is used to
indicate the process of the taking up of a gas or liquid by a solid without
specifying whether the process is adsorption or absorption.

Adsorption can be either physical or chemical in nature. Physical

adsorption resembles the condensation of gases to liquids and depends on the
physical, or van der Waals, force of attraction between the solid adsorbent and
the adsorbate molecules. There is no chemical specificity in physical
adsorption, any gas tending to be adsorbed on any solid if the temperature is
sufficiently low or the pressure of the gas sufficiently high. In chemical
adsorption, gases are held to a solid surface by chemical forces that are
specific for each surface and each gas. Chemical adsorption occurs usually at
higher temperatures than those at which physical adsorption occurs;
furthermore, chemical adsorption is ordinarily a slower process than physical
adsorption and, like most chemical reactions, frequently involves an energy of
activation.

Absorption:

Absorption, in wave motion, the transfer of the energy of a wave to

matter as the wave passes through it. The energy of
an acoustic, electromagnetic, or other wave is proportional to the square of its
amplitude—i.e., the maximum displacement or movement of a point on the
wave—and, as the wave passes through a substance, its amplitude steadily
decreases. If there is only a small fractional absorption of energy, the medium
is said to be transparent to that particular radiation, but if all the energy is lost,
the medium is said to be opaque. All known transparent substances show
absorption to some extent. For instance, the ocean appears to be transparent
to sunlight near the surface, but it becomes opaque with depth.

Substances are selectively absorbing; that is, they absorb radiation of specific
wavelengths. Green glass is transparent to green light but opaque to blue and
red, and hard rubber is transparent to infrared and X-rays but opaque to visible
light. Thus, radiation of an unwanted wavelength may be removed from a
mixture of waves by letting them pass through an appropriate medium. Those
substances that are designed to absorb a particular wavelength or band of
wavelengths are called filters.

Scrubbers:

Scrubbers are air pollution control devices that use liquid to remove
particulate matter or gases from an industrial exhaust or flue gas stream. This
atomized liquid (typically water) entrains particles and pollutant gases in order
to effectively wash them out of the gas flow.

In comparison to other air pollution control devices, scrubbers are very

multidisciplinary, with the ability to remove solids, mists, and gases
simultaneously while also providing cooling. They are also capable of handling
explosive and flammable gases safely. However, scrubbers suffer from high
levels of corrosion and produce slurry waste streams which are less convenient
for recycling and disposal.

Wet Industrial Scrubbers

One of the most basic of the various industrial scrubbers is the wet
industrial scrubber. In its most basic form, water is encapsulated in a metal or
composite container. Contaminated gas is passed through the water, and the
water absorbs the contaminates. Other liquids can be used to effectively
remove varied contaminates. These liquids differ in the chemical composition
and the overall charge. These liquids can be anything from highly positively or
negatively charged to non-charged. Because pollutants can differ in their
charge, scrubbers can be packed with a liquid that will bind most effectively to
remove the contaminate from the gas.

The gas exiting the scrubber is thus cleaner. Developments in wet

scrubbers have allowed for increased efficiency in pollutant removal. One of
the major developments has been to maximize the total surface of the liquid
with which the polluted gas associates. More surface area means that more of
the contaminates can be pulled out of the gas. Another development in
scrubbers has been increasing the mixture of the gas with the scrubber fluid.
These aspirators agitate the solution and increase the mixing of the polluted
gas and the liquid.

The wet scrubber differs from the other different types of industrial
scrubbers because the liquid-gas association increases the moisture level of
the gas that is being expelled from the scrubber. The increased moisture in the
gas will create a visible cloud exiting the scrubber.

Dry Industrial Scrubbers

Unlike wet industrial scrubbers, dry scrubbers do not utilize a liquid to absorb
contaminants. Because of this difference, steam is not produced by the
reaction, and a wastewater system is not needed. A dry industrial scrubber is
composed of a reaction center where the sorbent or dry reaction material that
absorbs contaminants is mixed with the polluted gas. Also within the system is
a material component that aids in the removal of the reaction product, which
is the dry sorbent bound to the pollutant. Dry scrubbers are used primarily to
remove acids found within gasses.

The dry sorbent used to remove the acid from the gas is usually made of an
alkaline slurry. This slurry is basic in nature and will neutralize the acid found in
the gas. This sorbent can be mixed with the acid gas in two ways. There are
two different types of dry industrial scrubbers. The first is called dry sorbent
injection. During this process, the gas is mixed directly with the alkaline
sorbent. The second method is the spray dryer absorbent method. In this
method, the contaminated gas is processed through a mist of the sorbent. The
sprayer allows for a good mixture and efficient removal of the pollutants from
the gas.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Scrubbers

Advantages

• Can handle flammable and explosive dusts with little risk

• Provides gas absorption and dust collection in a single unit
• Provides cooling of hot gases
• Compact; can often be retrofitted into existing collection systems
• Corrosive gases and dusts can be neutralized

Disadvantages

• High potential for corrosion problems

• Collected particulate may be contaminated and unrecyclable
• Protection against freezing required. Certain streams may require
reheating to avoid visible plume
• Disposal of waste sludge can be very expensive
• Requires makeup water to replace purged liquid and disposed sludge

Condensation:
Condensation is the process by which water vapour in the air is changed
into liquid water. In other words, the water in the air, a gas known as water
vapour.Condensation is the transformation of water vapour into liquid water,
and the finest illustration is those enormous, fluffy clouds floating over your
head. When the water droplets in clouds mix, they become heavy enough to
pour down.
Condensation is the process through which the physical state of matter
changes from the gaseous phase into the liquid phase. For example,
condensation occurs when water vapour (gaseous form) in the air changes into
liquid water when it comes in contact with a cooler surface. When the water in
the air comes in contact with a cold surface, it condenses to form water
droplets. The opposite of condensation is evaporation reaction.
Condensation can be alternately defined as follows:

1. Condensation is when a gas turns to a liquid.

2. Condensations have been defined to include those reactions in which
two molecules are joined with loss of water.
3. Condensation is defined as the removal of heat from a system in such a
manner that vapour is converted into liquid.

Basic Process of Condensation

Condensation of water happens when water changes its phase from gaseous
state to liquid or crystal shape. At high pressure and low temperature, any gas
can condense. Technically, the process of condensation can happen at any
temperature as long as the pressure of the liquid state of the gas is less than
the pressure of the condensing gas. The molecules in the matter slow down
during the process of condensation because the heat energy is taken away,
which causes a change within the three states of matter, that is it changes the
matter into the solid-state.

Condensation – Water Cycle

• Condensation is important to the water cycle as it is responsible for the

formation of clouds.
• Water vapour present in the air is responsible for the formation of
clouds which ultimately comes down in the form of rain.
• This phase change of water between solid, liquid and gas is because of
the movement of water molecules.
• In vapour form, water molecules are arranged randomly as compared to
the liquid state.
• As condensation happens, water molecules become more organized and
as a result, heat is released into the atmosphere leading to a change of
phase from the vapour state to the liquid state.
• This generally occurs in the atmosphere when warm air rises up and
cools down.
 For condensation to take place, it is very important that the atmosphere
is fully saturated (to reach maximum vapour pressure). Usually, condensation
takes place around dust particles or smoke or microscopic bacteria. It plays a
very significant role in the water cycle and thus helps in maintaining the water
balance in the environment. It is also used in various industrial processes by
the scientists and engineers for separating mixtures and manufacturing pure
substances.

Combustion:
Combustion refers to the process where a substance burns in the
presence of Oxygen, giving off heat and light in the process. But isn’t Oxygen
the most abundant substance on Earth? Doesn’t it combine with most of the
elements? But surely, not all reactions can be said to be similar to this process.
Even many people believe rusting of Iron is a similar process as rusting involves
iron combining with oxygen giving off heat.
So what differentiates combustion from similar processes? It is the spontaneity
with which substances react with Oxygen which defines a reaction.
Hydrocarbon + Oxygen → Carbon Dioxide + Water + Heat Energy
When fuel, most typically a fossil fuel, combines with oxygen in the air to
generate heat, combustion occurs. The heat produced by the combustion of a
fossil fuel is utilized to power boilers, furnaces, kilns, and motors.

History Of Combustion
Combustion can be considered the oldest technology of mankind and one of
our most important discoveries or inventions. Combustion has a very long
history. From antiquity up to the middle ages, fire along with earth, water, and
air was considered to be one of the four basic elements in the universe.
Combustion, explosion, and flame have been witnessed and hypothesized from
the earliest ages. Each culture has its own reason for it. The Greeks interpreted
combustion in terms of philosophical doctrines, one of which was that there
was a certain “inflammable principle” in all fuel bodies, and that principle
escaped when the body was burned to react with air.
Fire has been used by man for a long time for various purposes, such as
cooking, metal production, and warfare. However, as combustion phenomena
are complex, significant advances in the understanding of combustion theory
were only made in the last decades by a close collaboration between
experimentation and theoreticians.

Examples of Combustion
When substances react spontaneously with Oxygen giving off heat and light,
the heat released fuels the process further making the reaction violent and
rapid. If nothing is done to control this process, it takes the shape of a fire. It is
this spontaneous and violent nature that distinguishes combustion from other
similar processes taking place in the presence of Oxygen.
Some examples of combustion are

1. Burning of sulphur in the air

2. An explosion of hydrogen in air
3. Burning of Wax candle
4. Combustion of petrol in a car’s engine
5. Burning of natural gas in a bunsen burner
6. A bush fire means wood cellulose and other fuels burn in oxygen
Types of Combustion
Let us now study the types of such reactions.

1. Complete combustion: When the reaction takes place in the presence of

abundant Oxygen, the substances combine with Oxygen to their
maximum extent. Such reactions have heat and light as a visible by-
product.
2. Incomplete combustion: These are defined as the reactions that occur in
the absence of sufficient oxygen because of which substances are unable
to burn completely. Such reactions leave soot in the container due to
this process along with the formation of Carbon monoxide which is an
air pollutant.

Apart from classifications based on the availability of Oxygen, reactions are

also categorized based on their spontaneity and rate of reaction. Reactions
that proceed violently can either lead to fire or even explosion (which is also
accompanied by loud noise). Formation of rust can also be categorized under
slow combustion.