Industrial Air Pollution Management

and Control of Atmospheric Pollutants

Dr. Shahid Amjad

College of Engineering Sciences
Institute of Business Management (IoBM)
 Air Quality
• There are big industrial estates, and small cottage industries that
generate hazardous and toxic chemicals.

• The fertilizer plants, textile industry, glass industry, steel plants etc.

• They contribute SO2 NO2, smoke, volatile organic compounds,

chlorine gas, ammonia, CO, CO2, phenol, cyanide and particulate
matter, into the atmosphere.

• The human health is affected by different-sized airborne particulate

matter.

• Larger particles PM10 are trapped in the nose and throat, whereas
smaller particles (PM2.5) penetrate the lungs and are associated with
a range of respiratory symptoms.
 Problems:
• Degradation of ambient air quality.
• Air pollution is hazardous to health of all living
beings.
• Adds Emission to green house gases.
• Meteorological aspects of Air pollution
Meteorological aspects of Air pollution and its Effects on Wind

• Within the atmosphere, there are several forces that impact the speed
and direction of winds. The most important though is the Earth’s
gravitational force. As gravity compresses the Earth’s atmosphere, it
creates air pressure- the driving force of wind. Without gravity, there
would be no atmosphere or air pressure and thus, no wind.
• The force actually responsible for causing the movement of air though
is the pressure gradient force. Differences in air pressure and the
pressure gradient force are caused by the unequal heating of the
Earth’s surface when incoming solar radiation concentrates at the
equator. Because of the energy surplus at low latitudes for example,
the air there is warmer than that at the poles.
• Warm air is less dense and has a lower barometric pressure than the
cold air at high latitudes. These differences in barometric pressure are
what create the pressure gradient force and wind as air constantly
moves between areas of high and low pressure.
Primary/Secondary Air Pollutant Sources

Secondary air pollutants derive from reactions that occur

between primary pollutants and other atmospheric chemicals
Ozone PANs (peroxyacetyl nitrates) Acids: sulfuric and nitric
 There are six pollutants which have the main
contribution in creating air pollution. They are primary
pollutants like
• carbon monoxide (CO),
• sulphur dioxide (SO2),
• nitrogen oxide (NO),
• lead (Pb), and
• particulate matters (PM),
• Primary pollutants react with water molecules to form
Secondary pollutants such as weak Nitric acid,
carbonic acid, sulphuric acid etc, and ground level
ozone (O3).
 Control Devices And Equipments (End-of-the
Pipe Cleaning)
• The strategy for this method is to remove the
particulate and gaseous pollutants after they
are formed.
• The cleaning devices can be broadly classified
into 2 groups
(i) Particulate Control and
(ii) Gaseous Pollutant Control.
 Particulate Control
• Particulate Matters (PMs) are common pollutants
present in the emission of an industry. They are formed
in wide range of sizes, diameter varying from 0.0002 to
500 micron (1 micron = 10­6m).
• PM Control Devices can be broadly divided into 3
categories, viz.,
• Internal Separators,
• Wet Collection Devices and
• Electrostatic Precipitators.
• Internal separators. Three types of devices are
commonly in use as internal separators. They are (i)
Gravitational settling chambers, (ii) Cyclone separators
and (iii) Bag filters or fabric filters.
• Gravitational settling chambers are generally
used to collect larger particles of size greater
than 50 micron. A stream of dust-laden gas at
less than 3 m/s is passed into the settling
chamber where the velocity of the gas is
further reduced.
• As a result, the dust particles settle down and
collected through a hopper at the bottom.
• The collection efficiency can be increased by
installing a series of settling chambers in
parallel.
• Cyclone separator utilizes centrifugal force to separate the
particulate matters from the carrier gas. The particle laden gas
receives a rotating motion as it enters the cyclone cylinder. A
centrifugal force is developed due to the vortex formed which
throws the particles towards the wall. These particles get
collected at the conical bottom of the cyclone cylinder.
• High efficient cyclones are designed. A series of cyclones, called
the multiclone, are used in many industries to increase the
efficiency of collection.
• The settling efficiency of cyclone separator is higher than that of
gravity separator because the centrifugal force is added to the
gravitational force to settle the particles.
• An ordinary conventional cyclone can have an efficiency of 95-
99% collection for particles greater than 40 micron diameter. At
the other end, for particles of size greater than 5 micron, the
collection efficiency can be 50-80% with cyclones of very high
efficiency
• Bag filters are devices by which gas is purified through
various filtering cloths (cotton, wool, chemical filters,
fibre glass, etc.) or fabric filters (filters made of
granular materials like ceramics, porous plastics, etc).
• The dusts are collected in a hopper at the bottom.
• Bag filters have high efficiency but the filters are
required to be cleaned and changed in regular
intervals. The Bag filters are attached to Mechanical
shakers.
• Many filters made of clothes, plastics, etc. cannot
work at high temperatures.
• However though bag filters are highly efficient, these
are more expensive and require frequent
maintenance.
Wet collection devices.
• In the wet collection methods, various types of
scrubbers are used by which the particulate matters are
brought into contact with the scrubbing liquid, usually
water, and the wetted particles settle down.
• This is similar to the natural process of cleaning of the
atmosphere by the water cycle. Wet collections have the
advantage of collecting.
• not only particulates but also gaseous impurities by
suitable choice of the scrubbing liquid (which can absorb
the gases). But wet scrubbers have the problems of
corrosion.
• The scrubbed water (slurry) is required to be treated
before disposal. In this system, air pollution problem is
passed on to the water environment.
• The collection efficiency of spray towers can
be increased by the use of centrifugal
scrubbers in which the water spraying nozzles
are fitted inside a conventional dry cyclone.
• The water spray acts on the particles in the
outer vortex and the particulate matters are
collected at the bottom as in dry cyclones but
in the form of slurry
Packed beds and plate columns
• are well-known absorbers in chemical
industries. These can also be used as wet
scrubbers. These are distinguished by their
simple design and operation, stability in
service, low hydraulic resistance and low
energy consumption.
• In a simple packed bed scrubber, the polluted
air stream moving upwards comes in contact
with the scrubbing liquid stream moving
downward over the packing (Figure 5.5).
Venturi scrubber
• followed by cyclone separator, the venturi
scrubber offers a high performance collection of
fine particles (2-3 micron). The polluted gas
stream is accelerated by the passage through a
narrow throttle (velocity of the order of 60-120
m/sec).
• Scrubbing liquid is injected at this throttle through
low pressure nozzles. The gas-liquid mixture then
goes to the cyclone separator.
• The separated slurry is removed from the bottom
(Figure 5.6). Venturi scrubbers are particularly
suitable for sticky and flammable particles.
• Electrostatic precipitation. The gaseous stream is passed
through a strong electric field where the particulate matters
get electrically charged and are attracted towards the
electrode of opposite charge. In a typical Electrostatic
Precipitator (ESP), the positive electrode (grounded) is the
collecting electrode and the negative electrode is suspended
at the top.
• A high voltage DC current through the electrodes produces a
corona. The gas close to the negative electrode is ionized. The
electrons produced in the ionization process move towards
the positively charged grounded surface.
• During this passage, the particulate matters also get
negatively charged by the electrons and get collected on the
positive surface (Figure 5.7).
• ESPs are considered as highly efficient particulate collecting
systems and are widely used in industries.
Gaseous Pollutant Control
• Two techniques are generally followed for the
control of gaseous pollutants. They are
(i) Sorption of the pollutant (absorption in a
liquid or adsorption on a solid surface
(ii) Chemical Alterations (the pollutant is
converted to innocuous substances).
• Absorption by a liquid The pollutant is brought
into contact with an appropriate liquid or
solution by counter current methods whereby
the gaseous impurity is transferred from the
gaseous phase to the liquid phase.
• The gas absorption devices are similar to the
wet collection devices for particulate control
(scrubbers, spray towers, Venturi scrubber, etc.)
with minor modifications wherever necessary.
• The different absorbent liquids or solutions
used for various pollutant gases are shown.
• Adsorption on solid surface. In this method, the polluted air is
passed through a column of absorbent solid, usually activated
carbon, activated alumina, silica gel and organic polymeric
compound (molecular sieve), etc. whereby the pollutant in the air
stream is held on the solid surface. This method, though not very
common, is useful for odour removal.
• The following lists some adsorbents and their common use.

• Activated carbon : Used for odour removal, purification of

industrial gases, hydrocarbons, pesticides etc.
• Silica gel : Used for dehydration of gases
• Activated alumina : Used for dehydration of gases and for
removal of HF in aluminum smelter
• Molecular sieves : Wide application, selective adsorption of gases
like NH3, SO2, etc.
• Ideally a parcel of air cools at about 1°C/100m
or 9.8°k/km. The word lapse implies a negative
rate of change or decrease.

• The 1°C/100m always holds, regardless of

what the actual temperature at various
elevations might be.
Inversions
• Generally, the higher we go, the cooler we feel, but some times a dense
cold stratum of air at ground level is found which is covered by lighter
warmer air at higher level. This phenomena is known as Inversion.
• During inversion, vertical air movement is stopped and air pollutants will
concentrate in the denser air at ground level. As a result, during
temperature inversion, the atmosphere is stable and very little mixing takes
place. Under such conditions, the pollutants in the air do not disperse.
• Inversion occurs frequently in the autumn and winter months, the
accumulation of smoke and other contaminants further increase pollution
by blocking the sun's rays from warming the cooler ground and the adjacent
air.
• Fog is commonly associated with inversion because the temperature of the
air at ground level falls below the dew point of water vapour in the air.
• Narrow valleys are favourable to inversion since horizontal air movement is
restricted. At the time of inversion visibility is greatly reduced.
 Exercise
• A power plant which runs on coal burning,
consumes 50,000 tons of coal per day. The
Sulphur content of coal is 10 percent.

• Calculate the rate of emission of Sulphur

dioxide in grams. sec-1 into the atmosphere.

(At wt of Sulphur = 32, Oxygen = 16)

• Ans= 115,740 gms. sec-1

Plume rise depends on momentum and
buoyancy. Buoyancy factor is due to the
temperature difference of the stack gases and
surrounding air and the momentum due to
the molecular weight of the exhaust gases
against air.
.
 = 772 m
Hence the effective stack height = (300 m + 772 m) = 1072 m
 Exercise
A coal power plant has a physical stack height
(chimney) height of 500 m, with an inside
diameter of 10 m. The stack gas velocity is 20
m.sec-1 . The stack gas temperature is 200oC
(473 K) and the ambient air temperature is
10oC (283 K). The atmospheric pressure is 1
bar; average wind speed is 5m. sec-1 .
• Calculate the effective stack height.
• Ans = 1150.74 m
CONSTRUCTION OF HIGH STACKS/CHIMNEYS
• With all the control devices, it may not be always possible to effectively
remove the pollutants from the emission. Sometimes the available
technology for complete pollutant removal may be cost-prohibitive.
• The next best approach for control of pollution is to allow the pollutant
to be diluted to the maximum and dispersed to minimize its adverse
effect. This can be done by releasing the emissions at a high altitude with
long stacks. The height and the diameter of the stack should be designed
to keep the ground level concentration within the permissible limits.
• The concentration of the pollutant at the ground level decreases
exponentially with the height of the stack and is found to be maximum at
a distance of about 5 to 10 times the stack height at normal
meteorological condition.
• The coal used in thermal power plants contains sulphur, weak acid rain
can be except in small pockets.
• Installation of desulphurization unit requires heavy capital investment.
The sulphur dioxide control thermal power plants is mostly done by
maintaining long stack heights
 Guideline for Control of Air Pollution
• Pollution of air in the atmosphere cannot be fully abated but can be
controlled if certain measures are taken.
• Develop peoples awareness in all spheres including the governments.
• Free burning of wood, coal, wastes of forest, agriculture waste and many
other solid matters must be discouraged in the open spaces.
• Vehicular emissions must me checked periodically.
• Use of natural gas (CNG) or low sulphur containing fuels should be
encouraged in place of petrol and diesel.
• Industry must adopt waste gas treatment facility before releasing it into
the atmosphere.
• Lead free petrol should be introduced to control lead pollution.
• All sorts of waste materials must be disposed properly.
• Greater emphasis should be put on the use of renewable energy sources
such as hydroelectric, solar and wind energies.
• Use of chlorofluorocarbons and other toxic materials must be reduced
or substituted.
• Numerical
• The Smoke emitted from an incinerator has
drifted 3.5 km in 5 hour away from the site in
the NE direction. If all atmospheric
parameters are stable, calculate the average
rate of smoke drift in cm/sec
Ans
• 19.44 cm/sec