Air Pollution

Presence in the atmosphere of one or more contaminants or

combinations;

 In such quantities/concentration

 For such duration

As may be or tend to be

 Harmful to human life, animals, plants or property

 unreasonably interfering with the comfortable enjoyment of

life or property or the conduct of business

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 Air Pollutants
Airborne particles and gasses in concentrations that endanger
health and well-being of organisms or disrupt the orderly
functioning of the environment

Categories

Primary pollutants - emitted directly from identifiable

sources e.g. CO 2 from combustion of fossil fuels

Secondary pollutants - produced in the atmosphere from

chemical reactions among primary pollutants e.g. SO 2 + O2  SO3

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 Air Pollutants - 2
Major primary pollutants include:

particulate matter (PM),

sulfur dioxide,

nitrogen oxides,

volatile organic compounds (VOCs),

carbon monoxide, and

lead

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 Air Pollutants - 3
Secondary pollutants include:

Oxidation, Hydration, Photolysis

Atmospheric sulfuric acid

Air pollution in urban and industrial areas – smog

Photochemical smog, a noxious mixture of gases and particles,

produced when strong sunlight triggers photochemical
reactions in the atmosphere

Ozone is a major component of photochemical smog

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 Sources of pollutants
 Particulate matter: combustion and materials handling (mining,
crushing, grinding) Effects?

 Combustion of fossil fuels

 Petroleum refineries

 Ice

 Mobile sources e.g. automobiles

 Stationary sources e.g. thermal power plants, furnaces

 Surface coating using oil based paints

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 Sources of CO2
 Fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, and coal)
and combustion and
transportation (65%)

 Space heating,
 Electricity generation and cooking;

 Deforestation and changes

in woodland and
forested ecosystems (35%)
 

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 Sources of Methane (CH4)
 Anaerobic conditions – Paddy rice flooding > than 60%
majorly from china and India- doubled since 1950

 Grazing animals release CH4 to the environment as a result

of herbaceous digestion

 Termites release CH4 through same process like animals

 Landfills (organic waste decomposition),

 Coal mines, gas and oil drilling through production

(excavation and drilling) and transportation of fossil fuels

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Greenhouse Gases- Methane (CH4)

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Impacts of climate change due to air pollution

9
 Global facts about air pollution
 9 out of 10 people worldwide live in places where the air
quality is above the WHO guidelines
 Air pollution costs the global economy $5 trillion every year
in welfare costs
 Ground-level ozone pollution is expected to reduce staple
crop yields by 26 per cent by 2030.
 Air pollution is fundamentally altering our climate, with
profound impacts on the health of the planet.

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 Case in Uganda
 Uganda’s annual mean levels of PM2.5 far exceed the WHO
guidelines by up to five times (48.7 micrograms per cubic meter
[μg/m3] of ultra-fine particles of 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter
which can penetrate and lodge inside the cardiovascular system).

 The WHO recommended annual guideline for PM2.5 is 10 μg/m3.

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 Effects of pollutants
 Reduces visibility

 Respiratory illness

 Deposits may cause corrosion of materials

 Formation of photochemical smog (fog and smoke)

 Sulfudioxide is an acid rain gas and acid rain destroys water

bodies and plants

 Decrease of oxygen

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 Effects.
Globally, air pollution is responsible for about
25% of all adult deaths from stroke, 24% from
heart disease, 43% from Chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease (COPD) and 29% from lung
cancer, WHO estimates show.

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Solutions to air pollution in Uganda
 Air Quality Assessment. Without reliable data to show air quality standards
are being breached, city and national authorities may not have cause to act
on air pollution levels.
 Improvement in urban transit system could also reduce traffic in Kampala
and other urban areas.
  Cities around the world are now banning the most polluting cars from
entering city centers. Uganda could consider this as well as zero-emission
zones measures to tackle poor air quality levels in urban areas.
 What more??

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 Measure of pollutant concentration, [ ]
  
Gaseous pollutant concentration is expressed in ppm or μg/m3

Assumption: the pollutant is an ideal gas, the relationship between ppm and

μg/m3 at 1 atmospheric pressure and 250 C

N.B: 24.5 is molar volume =V/n = RT/P



Qn: The exhaust from an automobile contains 1.5% by Volume of Carbon


monoxide. What is the [ ] of CO in mg/m3 at 25 0 C, and 1 atmospheric of
pressure?

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09/27/2021 16
 Green house gas effect/ Global warming
All gases that absorb radiation of wavelength greater than 4μm
(or thermal radiation or long wave length radiation)

Explain: Greenhouse effect/Global warming

The sun generates radiation of short wave length ( 0.5 μm)

Objects struck and heated by short wavelength radiation emit

longwave radiation in turn

Gases like CO2, CFCs, CH4, N2O in the earth's atmosphere

absorb this long wave radiation hence raising atmospheric
temperature. enhanced GLOBAL WARMING

This is termed GREENHOUSE EFFECT

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Greenhouse gases
Gas Atm conc Relative GWP1 Approximate current Principal sources
(ppm) CO2 = 1 contribution to global
warming
Fossil fuels and
CO2 351 1 57%
deforestation
Foams, aerosols,
CFCs 0.00275 15,000 25% refrigeration industry
solvents
Wetlands, rice fields
CH4 1.675 242 12%
landfills, livestock
Fuels (combustion of)
N2O 0.31 230 6%
deforestation

1
GWPs are expressed in terms of emissions of carbon dioxide, the most common and important human-induced greenhouse
gas because of its abundance and ability to absorb energy in the form of infrared radiation which produces heat
2
For 100 years

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 Greenhouse gases - 2
 Global Warming potential (GWP) – relative measure of how
much heat a GHG traps in the atmosphere

 Why is GWPs expressed in emissions of carbon dioxide?

 Carbon dioxide is the most common and important human-

induced greenhouse gas because of its abundance and ability to
absorb energy in the form of infrared radiation which produces
heat

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 Greenhouse gases - 2
Factors influencing GWP

 The absorption of infrared radiation by given species

 The spectral location of its absorbing wavelengths

 The atmospheric lifetime of the species – how concentration

decays over time in the atmosphere

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 Greenhouse effect control

 Montreal 1991 protocol: Requiring phasing out CFC

production by 1995 – evolving refrigeration industry
Phasing out of Substances that Deplete the Ozone
Layer

 Kyoto 1997 Convention: Reduction of greenhouse emissions

by developed countries – at least 5.2% by 2008-2012
compared to their 1990 levels

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 Greenhouse effect control

 CO2 emission targeted solutions

 Use renewable energy sources – solar, wind, geothermal

 Improve energy efficiency

 Capture and disposal – in depleted reservoirs, rock bores

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 Air Pollution Occurrences
Not generally the result of a drastic increase in the output of
pollutants – really?!?

Rather, because of changes in certain atmospheric conditions

Factors affecting dispersion include

The strength of the wind

The stability of the air

Quantity of contaminants emitted into atmosphere

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 Air mixing as factor in air pollution
 Wind speed influences the concentration of pollutants

 Atmospheric stability determines the extent to which vertical

motions will mix the pollution with cleaner air above the
surface layers

Mixing depth

 Vertical distance between Earth's surface and the height to

which convectional movements extend

 Generally, the greater the mixing depth, the better the air
quality

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 Inversions – factor in atmospheric stability
Temperature inversions

Situation when atmosphere is very stable and the mixing depth is

significantly restricted

With an inversion and light winds – diffusion is inhibited and high

pollution concentrations are to be expected in areas where pollution
sources exist

Surface inversions form because the ground looses heat quickly

while air above is a poor heat conductor

Aloft inversions are associated with sinking air that characterizes

centers of high air pressure (anticyclones)
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 Summary
 Definition of air pollution

 Air pollutants

 Sources of air pollutants

 Effects of pollutants

 Measure of pollutants

 Green house gas effect and control

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 Thank you

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