Introduction to air pollution

Dr Nor Zalina Kasim

Objectives

■ At the end of this class, student will be able to;

1. List the factors of air pollution
2. Define the cause and effect of global warming, climate
change and acid rain
3. Discuss the sources and the effect of primary and secondary
air pollution
Air pollution recipe
■ Dry air
– 78% by volume N2
– 21% by volume O2
– 1% others

■ Air pollution incidents must contain 3 factors

1. Source
2. Transport
3. Receptor
Air pollution recipe
HISTORY OF AIR
POLLUTION
The Great Smog of
London (1952)
• Cause: A period of cold weather,
combined with an anticyclone and
windless condition. Londoners were
burning more coal than usual to keep
warm
• Effect: 12,000 people were known to
have died as a result of the fog
Eastern China
Smog (2013)
• The January 2013 Eastern China smog
was a severe air pollution episode
that affected East China
• Cause: A lack of cold air flow,
combined with slow-moving air masses
carrying industrial emissions, collected
airborne pollutants to form a thick layer
of smog over the region.
• Effect: Air in Shanghai was reported
to have strange taste – astringent and
smoky, with an aftertaste of earthy
bitterness. It was possible to feel the
dust-like particulate matter on tongues.
CURRENT ISSUES OF
AIR POLLUTION
1. Global warming

■ Global warming refers to the Earth's rising

surface temperature
■ Causes?
– Human expansion of the "greenhouse
gasses"
– Too much carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Carbon dioxide
atmosphere
Methane
Nitrous Oxide
Sources of CO2
Effect of Global Warming
 Effect of global warming
■ Effects?
1. Extreme weather (increase occurrence & severity)
• More intense hurricanes and storms, heavier and more frequent
flooding, increased drought, and more severe wildfires
• More frequent and intense heat waves that increase mortality,
especially among the poor and elderly
• The potential for enhanced spread of some waterborne and pest-
related diseases
• Harm to agriculture and forests
• Food scarcity, conflicts or mass migration
• Health effects - such as children, the elderly, the poor, and future
generations - face disproportionate risks.
2. Rising sea level
• Loses of coastal wetlands, increased erosion in of beaches
3. Reduce diversity in ecosystem
• climate change will resulted in extinction of species
What can we do??
 2. Acid rain
■ Acidic particles and vapors are deposited via two processes;

 Dry deposition
- particles such as fly ash, sulphates, nitrates, and gases
(such as SO2 and NOx)
- Weather is dry, the acid chemicals may become
incorporated into dust or smoke and fall to the ground
through dry deposition
- Dry deposited gases and particles can be washed by
rainstorms, leading to increased runoff water~ acidic
 Wet deposition is acidic rain, the process by which acids
with a pH normally below 5.6 are removed from the
atmosphere in rain, snow, sleet or hail ,fog, mist
2. Acid rain
Air Pollutants : Source And Effects
■ May be natural or man-made
■ 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, the carbon monoxide gas from a motor vehicle exhaust
or sulfur dioxide released from factories.
– secondary pollutants are not emitted directly
■ rather, they form in the air when primary pollutants react or interact
 Source of air pollution

■ Natural sources
– Dust from natural sources, usually
large areas of land with little or no
vegetation.
– 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.
■ Anthropogenic sources (man-made activities)
– Stationary sources includes smoke stacks of power plants,
manufacturing facilities (factories) and waste incinerators
– Mobile sources includes from transportation (motor vehicles, aircraft
and etc)
– Chemicals, dust and controlled burn practices in agriculture and
forestry management
– Military, such as nuclear weapons, toxic gases, germ warfare and
rocketry
Major Primary Pollutants
Produced By Human Activity
Carbon dioxide • a greenhouse gas emitted from combustion but
is also a gas vital to living organisms.
(CO2) • It is a natural gas in the atmosphere.

• Organic chemical compounds whose

Volatile organic composition makes it possible for them to
evaporate under normal indoor atmospheric
compounds conditions of temperature and pressure with
initial boiling point of less than or equal to 250°
(VOC) C measured at a standard atmospheric pressure
of 101.3 kPa

• A mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets

found in the air with size range from a few
Particulate nanometres (nm) in diameter to around 100 µm.
matter (PM) Its chemical composition includes sulphates,
nitrates, ammonium, sodium chloride, elemental
and organic carbon and a range of minerals.
Major Primary Pollutants
Produced By Human Activity
• SOx refers to any of SO, SO2, SO3, S2O2, S2O, S6O2,
Sulfur oxides S7O2
• The major ones are SO2 and SO3, the cause of acid
(SOx) rain.
• Mainly originates from fossil fuel combustion process

•Refer to species of oxides of nitrogen such as

Nitrogen nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2)
oxides (NOx) •Formed during combustion of fuel, nitrogen
presence will react with oxygen

Carbon •is a colorless, odorless, non-irritating but very

poisonous gas.
monoxide •It is a product by incomplete combustion of
(CO) fuel such as natural gas, coal or wood.
Secondary Air Contaminants
■ SO2 will react with O2 to form SO3 that will rapidly combine
with water to form Sulphuric Acid (H2SO4) – acid rain
Secondary Air Contaminants
■ NH3 react with H2SO4 to form NH4SO4 (acidic
particles)
Thank you