Air pollution with particulate matter. Burning of fossil fuels.

Methods for elimination of particulate matter from residual gases.

Introduction Particulates are tiny subdivisions of solid matter suspended in a fluid. Air pollution can take the form of solid particulate matter. Some particulates occur naturally, originating from volcanoes, dust storms, forest and grassland fires, living vegetation, and sea spray. Human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels in vehicles, power plants and various industrial processes also generate significant amounts of particulates. Coal combustion in developing countries is the primary method for heating homes and supplying energy. Because salt spray over the oceans is the overwhelmingly most common form of particulate in the atmosphere, anthropogenic aerosolsthose made by human activitiescurrently account for about 10 percent of the total amount of aerosols in our atmosphere. Increased levels of fine particles in the air are linked to health hazards such as heart disease, altered lung function and lung cancer. Composition Based on the size of their aerodynamic diameter particles can be classified as PM10 (coarse and fine particles), PM2.5(fine particles) or PM0.1 (ultrafine particles). Coarse particles are produced by the mechanical break-up of larger solid particles. The coarse fractioncan include dust from roads, agricultural processes, uncovered soil or mining operations, as well as non-combustible materials released when burning fossil fuels. Pollen grains, mould spores, and plant and insect parts can also contribute to the coarse fraction. Finally, evaporation of sea spray can produce large particles near coasts. Fine particles are largely formed from gases. Ultrafine particles (up to 0.1 m) are formed bynucleation, which is the initial stage in which gas becomes a particle. These particles can grow up to a size of 1 m either through condensation, when additional gas condensates on the particles, or through coagulation, when two or more particles combine to form a larger particle. Particles produced by the intermediate reactions of gases in the atmosphere are called secondary particles. Secondary particles derive from the oxidation of primary gases such as sulfur and nitrogen oxides into sulfuric acid(liquid) and nitric acid(gaseous). The precursors for these aerosolsi.e. the gases from which they originatemay have an anthropogenic origin (from fossil fuel or coalcombustion) and a natural biogeni corigin. In the presence of ammonia, secondary aerosols often take the form of ammoniumsalts; i.e.ammonium sulfate and ammonium nitrate(both can be dry or in aqueous solution); in the absence of ammonia, secondary compounds take an acidic form as sulfuric acid (liquid aerosol droplets) and nitric acid (atmospheric gas). Secondary sulfate and nitrate aerosols are strong light-scatterers.This is mainly because the presence of sulfate and nitrate causes the aerosols to increase to a size that scatters light effectively. The composition of aerosols and particles depends on their source. Wind-blown mineral dust tends to be made of mineral oxides and other material blown from the Earth's crust; this particulate is light-absorbing. Sea salt is considered the second-largest contributor in the global aerosol budget, and consists mainly of sodium chloride originated from sea spray; other constituents of atmospheric sea salt reflect the composition ofsea water, and thus include magnesium, sulfate, calcium, potassium, etc. In addition, sea spray aerosols may contain organic compounds, which influence their chemistry. Sea salt does not absorb. Organic matter (OM) can be either primary or secondary, the latter part deriving from the oxidation of VOCs; organic material in the atmosphere may either be biogenic or anthropogenic. Organic matter influences the atmospheric radiation field by both scattering and absorption. Another important aerosol type is constitute of elemental carbon (EC, also known as black carbon, BC): this aerosol type includes strongly light-absorbing material and is thought to yield large positive radiative forcing. Organic matter and elemental carbon together constitute the carbonaceous fraction of aerosols.

Combustion Fossil fuel combustion, especially coal combustion, is related to production of particulate matter. Power plants remove particulates from the flue gas with the use of a bag house or electrostatic precipitator. Studies have shown that exposure to particulate matter is related to an increase of respiratory and cardiac mortality. There are different types of particulate matter, depending on the chemical composition and size. The dominant form of particulate matter from coal-fired plants is coal fly ash, but secondary sulfate and nitrate also comprise a major portion of the particulate matter from coal-fired plants. Coal fly ash is what remains after the coal has been combusted, so it consists of the incombustible materials that are found in the coal. Power plants and other processes that produce gases with particulates must remove particulate matter from the gas before releasing it into the atmosphere. One of the most common device used is the electrostatic precipitator, as show in the figure on this page. Electrostatic Precipitator An electrostatic precipitator (ESP) is a particle control device that uses electrical forces to move the particles out of the flowing gas stream and onto collector plates. The particles are given an electrical charge by forcing them to pass through a corona, a region in which gaseous ions flow. The electrical field that forces the charged particles to the walls comes from electrodes maintained at high voltage in the center of the flow lane. In an ESP, electric fields are established by applying a direct-current voltage across a pair of electrodes, a discharge electrode and a collection electrode. Particulate matter suspended in the gas stream is electrically charged by passing through the electric field around each discharge electrode (the negatively charged electrode). The negatively charged particles then migrate toward the positively charged collection electrodes. The particulate matter is separated from the gas stream by retention on the collection electrode. Once the particles are collected on the plates, they must be removed from the plates without reentraining them into the gas stream. This is usually accomplished by knocking them loose from the plates, allowing the collected layer of particles to slide down into a hopper from which they are evacuated. Some precipitators remove the particles by intermittent or continuous washing with water. ESPs are configured in several ways. Some of these configurations have been developed for special control action, and others have evolved for economic reasons. The types that will be described here are (1) the plate-wire precipitator, the most common variety; (2) the flat plate precipitator, (3) the tubular precipitator; (4) the wet precipitator, which may have any of the previous mechanical configurations; and (5) the two-stage precipitator. Baghouses Another way of removing particulates from air or gas is the baghouse, also known as fabric

filter. This is an air pollution control device that removes particulates out of air or gas released from commercial processes or combustion for electricity generation. Power plants, steel mills, pharmaceutical producers, food manufactures, chemical producers and other industrial companies often use baghouses to control emission of air pollutants. Unlike electrostatic precipitators, where performance can vary significantly depending on process and electrical conditions, functioning baghouses typically have a particulate collection efficiency of 99% or better, even when particle size is very small. Most baghouses use long, cylindrical bags (or tubes) made of woven or felted fabric as a filter medium. (For applications where there is relatively low dust loading and gas temperatures are 120C or less, pleated, nonwoven cartridges are sometimes used as filtering media instead of bags.) ust-laden gas or air enters the baghouse through hoppers (large funnel-shaped containers used for storing and dispensing particulate) and is directed into the baghouse compartment. The gas is drawn through the bags, either on the inside or the outside depending on cleaning method, and a layer of dust accumulates on the filter media surface until air can no longer move through it. When sufficient pressure drop occurs, the cleaning process begins. Cleaning can take place while the baghouse is online (filtering) or is offline (in isolation). When the compartment is clean, normal filtering resumes. Baghouses are very efficient particulate collectors because of the dust cake formed on the surface of the bags. The fabric provides a surface on which dust collects through the following four mechanisms: Inertial collection - Dust particles strike the fibers placed perpendicular to the gas-flow direction instead of changing direction with the gas stream. Interception - Particles that do not cross the fluid streamlines come in contact with fibers because of the fiber size. Brownian movement - Submicrometre particles are diffused, increasing the probability of contact between the particles and collecting surfaces. Electrostatic forces - The presence of an electrostatic charge on the particles and the filter can increase dust capture. A combination of these mechanisms results in formation of the dust cake on the filter, which eventually increases the resistance to gas flow. The filter must be cleaned periodically. Wet scrubber The term wet scrubber describes a variety of devices that remove pollutants from a furnace flue gas or from other gas streams. In a wet scrubber, the polluted gas stream is brought into contact with the scrubbing liquid, by spraying it with the liquid, by forci ng it through a pool of liquid, or by some other contact method, so as to remove the pollutants. The design of wet scrubbers or any air pollution control device depends on the industrial process conditions and the nature of the air pollutants involved. Inlet gas characteristics and dust properties (if particles are present) are of primary importance. Scrubbers can be designed to collect particulate matter and/or gaseous pollutants. Wet scrubbers remove dust particles by capturing them in liquid droplets. Wet scrubbers remove pollutant gases by dissolving or absorbing them into the liquid. Any droplets that are in the scrubber inlet gas must be separated from the outlet gas stream by means of another device referred to as amist eliminator or entrainment separator (these terms are interchangeable). Also, the resultant scrubbing liquid must be treated prior to any ultimate discharge or being reused in the plant.

There are numerous configurations of scrubbers and scrubbing systems, all designed to provide good contact between the liquid and polluted gas stream. A wet scrubber's ability to collect small particles is often directly proportional to the power input into the scrubber. Low energy devices such as spray towers are used to collect particles larger than 5 micrometers. To obtain high efficiency removal of 1 micrometer (or less) particles generally requires high energy devices such as venturi scrubbers or augmented devices such as condensation scrubbers. Additionally, a properly designed and operated entrainment separator or mist eliminator is important to achieve high removal efficiencies. The greater the number of liquid droplets that are not captured by the mist eliminator the higher the potential emission levels. Wet scrubbers that remove gaseous pollutants are referred to as absorbers. Good gas-to-liquid contact is essential to obtain high removal efficiencies in absorbers. A number of wet scrubber designs are used to remove gaseous pollutants, with the packed tower and the platetower being the most common. If the gas stream contains both particle matter and gases, wet scrubbers are generally the only single air pollution control device that can remove both pollutants. Wet scrubbers can achieve high removal efficiencies for either particles or gases and, in some instances, can achieve a high removal efficiency for both pollutants in the same system. However, in many cases, the best operating conditions for particles collection are the poorest for gas removal. Comparison between wet scrubbers, ESP, and baghouses Scrubbers reduce the temperature and volume of the unsaturated exhaust stream. Therefore, vessel sizes, including fans and ducts downstream, are smaller than those of other control devices. Smaller sizes result in lower capital costs and more flexibility in site location of the scrubber. Once particulate matter is collected, it cannot escape from hoppers or during transport. Handles hightemperature, high-humidity gas streams, unlikely ESP and baghouses which cannot always handle high temperature because of their designs. No temperature limits or condensation problems can occur as in baghouses or ESPs. Minimal fire and explosion hazards are minimized. Some dusts are highly flammable and the use of water in the scrubber design elimintates the danger of explosion or fire. Another advantage is the ability to collect both gases and particulate matter. Water and dissolved pollutants can form highly corrosive acid solutions so this creates a corrosion problem. Proper construction materials are very important. Also, wet-dry interface areas can result in corrosion. High collection efficiencies for particulate matter are attainable only at high pressure drops, resulting in high energy requirements for operation, so there are high operating costs. Settling ponds or sludge clarifiers may be needed to meet waste-water regulations. Dewatering and drying of scrubber sludge make recovery of any dust for reuse very expensive and difficult.

Bibliografie: 1. http://www.epa.gov/pm 2. http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-and-you/affect/coal.html 3. http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-and-you/affect/oil.html 4. http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-and-you/affect/natural-gas.html 5. Grahame, T., & Schlesinger, R. (2007, April 15). Health Effects of Airborne Particulate Matter: Do We Know Enough to Consider Regulating Specific Particle Types or Sources?. Inhalation Toxicology, 19(67), 457481. 6. http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/112199/E79097.pdf 7. http://www.greenfacts.org/en/particulate-matter-pm/index.htm 8. http://www.epa.gov/apti/catalog/cc413.html - APTI : 413 Control of Particulate Particulate Matter Emissions, The 5th Edition 9. Perry, J. H. Chemical Engineers Handbook. New York: McGraw-Hill.