VII

Welcome
to the

Air Quality Module

Virendra Sethi
Professor

Environmental Science & Engineering Department

IIT Bombay

2023
NAAQS
National Ambient Air Quality Standards

•CPCB Website :

cpcb.nic.in/air-quality-standard/

2
Nature of Air Pollutants
1. Gaseous (SOx, NOx, CO…)

2. Particulate Matter (PM)

5
Gaseous Pollutants

• Similar sized molecules

• Behaviour
• Physics : Same
• Chemistry : Different
• EXAMPLES
• Solubility
• Toxicity
• Ozone Depletion Potential

6
Particulate Pollutants

• Behaviour
• Physics : NOT the same
• Size
• Morphology

• Chemistry :
• Inert (Dust, Sand, No more reactive)
• Smoke (Toxic, intoxicating)

7
Air Pollution
• Concentration
• mass of pollutant / volume of air
• number of particles / volume of air
• opacity

• Duration – hours to days to years

• Criteria Pollutants
• Primary
• SOx
• NOx
• CO
• PM-10, PM-2.5
• …
• Secondary
• Ozone

8
• How do you measure the mass concentration of PM ?

CTSP = Dm/Qt
t
Dm
Q

Flow Meter Vacuum

Pump
Polluted Filter
Area/Space Cartridge

9
Perception

(Scales)

10
 2m
2 mm
“Spherical”
Ant
Baby
Elephant

3 Orders of
Magnitude

11
Ants and Elephants
• Ant ~2mm
• “Spherical” Baby Elephant ~2 m

• Order of magnitude 3

• Nitrogen Molecule ~0.3 nm

• Respirable particle ~300 nm

• Order of magnitude 3
12
Particles in Air
are like

Elephants
suspended
in an
Ocean
of
Ants
(Gas Molecules)

13
Ants and Elephants
• All the well established physics of “ants” (IDEAL GAS) is not applicable to the “elephants”

• All the MAGIC of “nano” is in this “new” world of “elephants”

• Ability to understand this range of sizes has become possible due to development of
instrumentation

• Last 4-5 decades have been exciting times for Aerosol Science and Engineering

• Powder Production – Material science

• Nano-products
• Atmospheric Pollutants
• Medical Sciences

14
VIII

Welcome
to the

Air Quality Module

Virendra Sethi
Professor

Environmental Science & Engineering Department

IIT Bombay

2023
 Even within the “Elephants”
There is a range of Sizes

which decide
WHERE
they would deposit in the lungs

16
Respirable Stopped
in Nose

17
 Accumulation
Accumulation Mode Mode

Nuclei
Mode

Tri-modal Particle Size Distribution

(Source: Kittelson et al. 1999)
18
18
Mass - Size

Mass of ONE 1 mm particle

EQUALS

Mass of X 0.1mm particles

19
 Accumulation
Accumulation Mode Mode

Nuclei
Mode

Tri-modal Particle Size Distribution

(Source: Kittelson et al. 1999)
20
20
Particle Formation in Coal Combustion

Source: Flagan and Seinfeld, 1988

21
 COLLECTION / REMOVAL
EFFICIENCY

PARTICLE DIAMETER
1 mm

22
 Accumulation
Accumulation Mode Mode

Nuclei
Mode

Tri-modal Particle Size Distribution Alveolar Deposition

(Source: Kittelson et al. 1999)
23
23
 Study Area
Mumbai

1. WRL (residential)

2. PAL (industrial)

1
2

Map Source:
http://wikimapia.org 24
 Mass Size Distributions Measured for 5 Days in
Mumbai (Goyal, 2008)
200
Morning (7 am - 2 pm)
Evening (2 pm - 11 pm)
Night (11 pm - 7 am)
PM2.5 24 Hour average
150
dM / dLog Dp (mg/m3)

PM10

100

50

0
1.0E-02 1.0E-01 1.0E+00 1.0E+01 1.0E+02
Diameter (mm) 25
PM10 and PM2.5
• PM10 is the mass concentration of particulate matter less than 10 mm
expressed as mg/m3

• PM2.5 is the mass concentration of particulate matter less than 2.5

mm expressed as mg/m3

26
PM2.5 is a subset of PM10
• Plot mass distribution function

• Mode in the <2.5 mm size is sourced by combustion and other

anthropogenic activities. More toxic.

• Area under the curve

• 0 to 10 mm PM10
• 0 to 2.5 mm PM2.5

27
 Ratio of PM2.5 to PM10

INDICATOR OF
ANTHROPOGENIC / COMBUSTION ACTIVITIES

Ratio Small = Benign Particulate

Ratio Large = Most particles will reach lungs

and possibly more toxic

28
PM2.5 and PM10 Measurements at Mumbai
300

WRL (0.58)

250
PAL (0.51)

200
PM2.5 (mg/m )
3

150

100

50

-
0 50 100 150 200 250 300

PM10(mg/m3)
29
PM2.5 and PM10 Measurements at Pune
300

PMC (0.46)

250
MAN (0.53)

KGP (0.47)
200
PM2.5 (mg/m )
3

BHO (0.50)

150
OAS (0.48)

100

50

0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300

PM10(mg/m3)
30
 PM2.5 and PM10 Measurements at Mumbai
and Pune
400
WRL (0.58)
350 PAL (0.51)

Festival (0.61)
300
PMC (0.46)

MAN (0.53)
250
PM2.5 (mg/m )
3

KGP (0.47)

200 BHO (0.50)

OAS (0.48)
150

100

50

-
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400

PM10(mg/m3)
31
 Mass Size Distributions Measured for 5 Days in
Mumbai
200
Morning (7 am - 2 pm)
Evening (2 pm - 11 pm)
Night (11 pm - 7 am)
PM2.5 24 Hour average
150
dM / dLog Dp (mg/m3)

PM10

100

50

0
1.0E-02 1.0E-01 1.0E+00 1.0E+01 1.0E+02
Diameter (mm) 32
IX

Welcome
to the

Air Quality Module

Virendra Sethi
Professor

Environmental Science & Engineering Department

IIT Bombay

2023
Sizing of Particles

34
35
Thought Exercise

How would you

size and count
particles in air
in the
nanometer size range ?

36
Instrumentation
• Inertial Impactors
• Mass based (> 56 nm)
• Optical Particle Counters
• Number based (> 100 nm)
• Electrical Mobility
• Sizing (> 6 nm)
• Counting (Condensation Nuclei Counters)

37
MOUDI
Micro-Orifice Uniform Deposit Impactor

38
 NOZZLE

Impaction Stage

Filter

TO Vac Pump

39
Instrumentation
• Inertial Impactors
• Mass based (> 56 nm)
• Optical Particle Counters (OPC’s)
• Number based (> 100 nm)
• Electrical Mobility
• Sizing (> 6 nm)
• Counting (Condensation Nuclei Counters)

40
OPC’s
• Light Scattering
• Light Extinction

Limited to 0.09 mm
0.4 > lopt > 0.7 mm

• Single Particle /Cloud of Particles

41
 Number of
“beeps”
&
Size of
“beeps”

Laser Source, l
Iscatter

Iscatter

Particle Size
42
X

Welcome
to the

Air Quality Module

Virendra Sethi
Professor

Environmental Science & Engineering Department

IIT Bombay

2023
Sizing of Particles

44
Instrumentation
• Inertial Impactors
• Mass based (> 56 nm)
• Optical Particle Counters
• Number based (> 100 nm)
• Electrical Mobility
• Sizing (> 3 nm)
• Counting (Condensation Nuclei Counters)

45
Electrical Mobility Analysers

• Charge particles
SIZE
• Electrical Field

CPC
OPC in Principle – Alcohol
used to grow size
46
Differential Mobility
Analyser (For size
separation using
electrical mobility)

Source : TSI Inc.

47
Condensation Particle Counter (For growing the size separated
particles and detecting them using light scattering)

Source : TSI Inc.

48
Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer

49
Field Instruments
• High Volume Samplers (~2 Lakhs)
• Regulatory (RSPM, SOx, NOx)

• Mini-vol Samplers (~5 Lakhs)

• Regulatory (PM10, PM2.5)

• Dust Trak (~7 Lakhs)

• Real time (1 minute resolution)
• PMx (x = 1, 2.5, 4, 10)

50
Measuring Gaseous Pollutants
• Wet Chemistry (8 hour averages)

• Electrochemical sensors (Real time)

• Spectroscopy (Real time)

• Standard Methods (SPCB’s Analytical Labs)

51
X

Welcome
to the

Air Quality Module

Virendra Sethi
Professor

Environmental Science & Engineering Department

IIT Bombay

2023
Controlling
Air
Pollutants

at the
SOURCE
53
Particulate Matter

54
Air Pollution Control - PM
• MECHANICAL
• Gravity – Settling Chambers 20 -100 mm
• Inertia - Cyclones > 25 mm
• Diffusion – Filters > 0.1 mm

• ELECTRICAL
• Electrostatic Precipitators > 0.1 mm

55
Mechanical
• Gravitational Settlers

56
57
Mechanical - Inertia

58
59
XI

Welcome
to the

Air Quality Module

Virendra Sethi
Professor

Environmental Science & Engineering Department

IIT Bombay

2023
Mechanical - Filtration

61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
• Through Fibrous Material :
• FILTERED by
• Diffusion
• Impaction
• Interception

• (NOT SIEVING)

70
Electrostatic Precipitators

71
72
XIII

Welcome
to the

Air Quality Module

Virendra Sethi
Professor

Environmental Science & Engineering Department

IIT Bombay

2023
Controlling
Air
Pollutants

at the
SOURCE

74
Gases

75
Air Pollution Control - Gases
• Absorption

• Adsorption

• Incineration

• Chemical Reactions
• Catalysts
• Flue gas Desulphurisation
Adsorption
Incinerators - Flares
Thank you for your
Time and Attention
Best Wishes

Virendra
vsethi@iitb.ac.in