a) Effects and hazards of combustion in transport, utility and industry to health, safety,

culture, society and environment.

In combustion of fuel, which mainly built up of hydrocarbons (C-H compounds) there will be
products as result of chemical reactions happening during the process. Petrol and Diesel in
motor vehicles will burn completely to produce carbon dioxide and water. Whereas an
incomplete combustion will produce carbon monoxide, carbon (soot) and water. Besides that,
there will also be greenhouse gas emission into the atmosphere.
All these products of combustion are causing pollution to the environment. Each component
of released product has its certain effect to the nature. Fuels burned at high temperatures will
cause oxygen and nitrogen to react and produce poisonous nitrogen monoxide. Then, it will
react again with the oxygen after released from exhaust and form nitrogen dioxide. Sulphur
dioxide and nitrogen dioxide will dissolve in the rain droplets and form acid rain. This acid
rain reacts with limestone and metals which is the common materials for buildings. It also
damages the trees making them more difficult to absorb the minerals to grow healthy.
Industrial burners such as medical waste incinerators, hazardous waste combustors and
industrial furnaces also contribute to health effects of the human living. These industrial
burners are producing dioxin, lead and mercury which are toxic to the environment. Mercury
can damage the central nervous system. If exposed for long term, it can harm brain function.
Dioxin on the same side, is famous for the cause of cancer problems. The factories running
these furnaces also pose a threat to the people residing nearby. Risk of explosion of the
furnace is a big concern that is always troubling the residents nearby.
An article by Albert Brian, from University of Wisconsin-Madison about residual gas effects
on combustion in air-cooled utility engine showed that modifications of the cams of the
engine to increase efficiency causes instability in combustion process thus increasing the
emission of pollutants. Some examples given are the increase in emission of unburned
hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) when increase in valve overlap occur. The
emission product is also dangerous to respiratory system.

The damages happened to the environment opened many eyes on the importance of
preserving the environment. The air pollutions, smog, increasing production of toxic chemical
waste and depletion of natural resources are all connected with the combustion of the
resources. There are many environmental rally happening all around the world, demanding
politicians and authorities to take action against the arising problems. China has become the
center of attention since the air pollution index is the worst. Unpredictable climate change
over the past years has caused many loss to the people as a result of the pollution. This
indirectly change the way of life for certain people to become more aware of the environment.

c) How to reduce pollution by combustion in transport, industry and utility to conserve

the future environment.
As explained before, the combustion process release pollutants which harms the ozone and
environment. As way to combat this, the pollutants can be reduced by installing catalytic
converters on vehicles and factories that burn fuels. The catalytic converter is a device that
consist of reactants which will react with NOx or carbon monoxide. The common reactant in
the converter is ammonia. The ammonia will react with NOx and CO to produce nitrogen and
water molecules. This will reduce the emission of toxic gases into the atmosphere thus
lowering the air pollution.
Moreover, promoting green vehicles is also a step in reducing the pollution. The vehicles
are run by natural gases which emits lower pollutants. Hybrid and electric cars are also
alternatives of a green car. These cars do not use hydrocarbon fuel to power them. This will
greatly reduce the amount of toxic gases produced from transport.
Plants and factories consume large amount of electricity which is needed to be generated. The
generation of electricity requires burning process, mainly burning of coals. By saving the
electricity, we are consequently reducing the burning process. The machines that use
electricity are needed to be well maintained and serviced to ensure they are in their optimum
energy efficiency state.
Recycling and reusing products will reduce waste material produced. Some of the waste are
non-decomposable. These type of waste is needed to be burned in furnace. If less waste are
produced, less burning is needed and therefore will reduce dioxin, mercury and lead side
products.
Industries can implement National Provider Identifier (NPI) as a benchmark to control
emissions. This data management helps to encourage the industry to use cleaner production
methods to reduce emission and waste materials.
Besides that, the newly initiated UN climate change summit in Paris on 7 th January is hoped to
become a stepping stone to a better climate change control around the world.