AIR POLLUTION

by

Dr. N. RAJESHWARA RAO

Department of Applied Geology University of Madras

AIR POLLUTION

A chemical, particulate matter, or biological agent that modifies the natural characteristics of the atmosphere.

World-wide air pollution is responsible for large numbers of deaths and cases of respiratory diseases.

Whats the Atmosphere?

A complex, dynamic natural gaseous system that is essential to support life on planet Earth. While major stationary sources are often identified with air pollution, the greatest source of emissions is actually mobile sources, mainly automobiles.

What are Pollutants?

There are many substances in the air which may impair the health of plants and animals (including humans), or reduce visibility. Substances not naturally found in the air or at greater concentrations or in different locations from usual are referred to as POLLUTANTS.

SOURCE OF POLLUTANTS

Arise both from natural processes and human activity. Pollutants can be classified as either PRIMARY or SECONDARY. Gases such as carbon dioxide, which contribute to global warming, have recently gained recognition as pollutants by some scientists.

What are Primary & Secondary Pollutants?

Primary pollutants are substances directly emitted from a process, such as ash from a volcanic eruption or the carbon monoxide gas from a motor vehicle exhaust.

Secondary pollutants are not emitted directly. Rather, they form in the air when primary pollutants react or interact. An important example of a secondary pollutant is ground level ozone - one of the many secondary pollutants that make up photochemical smog.

PRIMARY POLLUTANTS BY HUMAN ACTIVITY

Sulfur oxides (SOx) especially sulfur dioxide are emitted from burning of coal and oil.

Nitrogen oxides (NOx) especially nitrogen dioxide are emitted from high temperature combustion. Can be seen as the brown haze dome above or plume downwind of cities.

PRIMARY POLLUTANTS BY HUMAN ACTIVITY

CO is colourless, odourless, non-irritating but very poisonous gas. It is a product by incomplete combustion of fuel such as natural gas, coal or wood. Vehicular exhaust is a major source of carbon monoxide. Carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas emitted from combustion and respiration.

PRIMARY POLLUTANTS BY HUMAN ACTIVITY

Volatile organic compounds (VOC), such as hydrocarbon fuel vapors and solvents. Particulate matter (PM), measured as smoke and dust. PM10 is the fraction of suspended particles 10 micrometers in diameter and smaller that will enter the nasal cavity. PM2.5 has a maximum particle size of 2.5 m and will enter the bronchies and lungs.

PRIMARY POLLUTANTS BY HUMAN ACTIVITY

Toxic metals, such as Lead, Cadmium and Copper. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), harmful to the ozone layer emitted from products currently banned from use.

Ammonia processes.

emitted

from

agricultural

PRIMARY POLLUTANTS BY HUMAN ACTIVITY

ODOURS, such as from garbage, sewage, and industrial processes.

RADIOACTIVE POLLUTANTS produced by nuclear explosions and war explosives, and natural processes such as radon.

SECONDARY POLLUTANTS
Particulate matter formed from gaseous primary pollutants and compounds in photochemical smog, such as nitrogen dioxide. Ground level ozone formed from NOx and VOCs. Peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) similarly formed from NOx and VOCs.

MINOR AIR POLLUTANTS

A large number of minor hazardous air pollutants. Some of these are regulated in USA under the Clean Air Act and in Europe under the Air Framework Directive. A variety of Persistent Organic Pollutants, (POP) which can attach to particulate matter.

SOURCES OF AIR POLLUTION

ANTHROPOGENIC SOURCES (human activity) related to burning different kinds of fuel:

Stationary Sources as smoke stacks of power plants, manufacturing facilities, municipal waste incinerators.
Mobile Sources as motor vehicles, aircraft etc.

SOURCES OF AIR POLLUTION

Combustion-fired power plants. Controlled burn practices used in agriculture and forestry management. Motor vehicles generating air pollution emissions. Marine vessels, such as container ships or cruise ships, and related port air pollution. Burning wood, fireplaces, stoves, furnaces and incinerators.

OTHER ANTHROPOGENIC SOURCES

Oil refining, power plant operation and industrial activity in general. Chemicals, dust and crop waste burning in farming. Fumes from paint, hair spray, varnish, aerosol sprays and other solvents. Waste deposition in landfills, which generate methane. Military uses, such as nuclear weapons, toxic gases, germ warfare and rocketry.

NATURAL SOURCES

Dust from natural sources, usually large areas of land with little or no vegetation. METHANE, emitted by the digestion of food by animals, for example cattle.

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.

INDOOR AIR QUALITY (IAQ)

Lack of ventilation indoors concentrates air pollution where people often spend the majority of their time. Radon (Rn) gas, a carcinogen, is exuded from the Earth in certain locations and trapped inside houses.

Radon gas is responsible for over 1,800 deaths annually in the United Kingdom

INDOOR AIR QUALITY (IAQ)

Building materials including carpeting and plywood emit Formaldehyde gas. Paint and solvents give off volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as they dry. Lead paint can degenerate into dust and be inhaled. Intentional air pollution is introduced with the use of air fresheners, incense, and other scented items.

INDOOR AIR QUALITY (IAQ)

Controlled wood fires in stoves and fireplaces can add significant amounts of smoke particulates into the air, inside and out. Indoor pollution fatalities may be caused by using pesticides and other chemical sprays indoors without proper ventilation.

INDOOR AIR QUALITY (IAQ)

Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning and fatalities are often caused by faulty vents and chimneys, or by the burning of charcoal indoors. Many Indian pilgrims who travel to the Himalayan holy shrines have died grizzly deaths due to usage of SIGRIS.

INDOOR AIR QUALITY (IAQ)

Extensive use of ASBESTOS in industrial and domestic environments in the past has left a potentially very dangerous material in many localities.

ASBESTOSIS is a chronic inflammatory medical condition affecting the tissue of the lungs. It occurs after long-term, heavy exposure to asbestos from asbestos-containing materials in structures. Sufferers have severe dyspnea (shortness of breath) and are at an increased risk regarding several different types of lung cancer.

BIOLOGICAL SOURCES OF IP

Also found indoors, as gases and airborne particulates. Pets produce DANDER.

People produce dust from minute skin flakes and decomposed hair. Dust mites in bedding, carpeting and furniture produce enzymes and micron-sized fecal droppings.

HEALTH EFFECTS

The (WHO) states that 4.6 million people die each year from causes directly attributable to air pollution. Many of these mortalities are attributable to indoor air pollution. Worldwide more deaths per year are linked to air pollution than to automobile accidents. Around 310,000 Europeans die from air pollution annually.

DIRECT EFFECTS

Aggravated asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, lung and heart diseases, and respiratory allergies.

Leaked industrial vapors from the Union Carbide factory, belonging to Union Carbide, Inc., U.S.A., killed more than 2,000 people outright and injured anywhere from 150,000 to 600,000 others, some 6,000 of whom would later die from their injuries.

CASE HISTORIES
The United Kingdom suffered its worst air pollution event when the December 4th Great Smog of 1952 formed over London. In six days more than 4,000 died, and 8,000 more died within the following months. An accidental leak of anthrax spores from a biological warfare laboratory in the former USSR in 1979 near Sverdlovsk is believed to have been the cause of hundreds of civilian deaths. The worst single incident of air pollution to occur in the United States of America occurred in Donora, Pennsylvania in late October, 1948, when 20 people died and over 7,000 were injured.

AIR QUALITY STANDARDS

TWO TYPES of air quality standards.

First class of standards (such as the U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standards) set maximum atmospheric concentrations for specific pollutants.
Second class (such as the North American Air Quality Index) take the form of a scale with various thresholds, which is used to communicate to the public the relative risk of outdoor activity. The scale may or may not distinguish between different pollutants.

OIL REFINERIES

Burning of Coal stacks

Industries

Thermal Power Plants

Nuclear Power Plants

Monitoring

Terra sees CO in the atmosphere from 2-3 miles above the surface

Tracking immense clouds of air pollution, shown in

red, as they travel across the Earth

Case History CHINA Coke Plant Campaign leader Liu Hongkui, 77, says many people blame local cancer deaths

Chinas Woes

In 1986 the government ordered that coke plants must be at least 1,000 m from residential areas. But some plants are just 20 m from homes. "Our former premier Li Peng once said that we would never have to sacrifice our lives for our countrys rise to prosperity. "But our pollution problems here have never been solved."

Chinas woes continue

Guo Meirong, 56, a retd. worker. Granddaughters death due to suffocation.

Yu Futing, 69, retd. worker. Wifes death due to cancer.

Clean Turnaround - DELHI

A reluctant govt, no infrastructure, excuses from all sides. Delhis air quality turnaround has vital lessons for Mumbai city planners. Like a deadly shroud, a black haze covered Indias capital. Children were being born asthmatic, respiratory illnesses spread like wildfire, and cancers menaced the city; Year 1997.

NEW DELHI

One of the worlds 10 most polluted cities, with vehicles accounting for 70 % of polluting emissions.

Pollution levels exceeded World Health Organisation standards by nearly five times. A turnaround seemed impossible. Then, the Supreme Court stepped in.

NEW DELHI 2003

Won the US Department of Energys first Clean Cities International Partner of the Year award for bold efforts to curb air pollution and support alternative fuel initiatives. Compared to 1997, CO levels are down 32 %, sulfur dioxide levels, 39 %.

How?????

Delhi is a showpiece example of making air quality safe with its entire public transport fleet converted to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) on a scale unparalleled anywhere else 80,000 CNG vehicles including 9,000 buses.

Delhi has banned taxis, buses and auto rickshaws older than 15 years

Not so easy as it seems!!!

Public interest litigation by the Centre of Science and Environment in 1996. Resulted in a series of Supreme Court orders, the major step being introduction of CNG for public transport in 1998. Environment Protection Control Authority (EPCA) set up by Supreme Court instrumental in exposing govt. lies.

Landmark dates

April 1995: Mandatory fitting of catalytic convertors. April 1996: Low sulfur diesel introduced. April 1998: Introduction of CNG buses in Delhi. Sept 1998: Complete removal of lead in petrol. Dec 1998: Restriction of plying of goods vehicles during the day. Sept 1999: Amendment of Motor Vehicles Act to include CNG. April 2000: Private vehicles to be registered only if they conform to Euro II standards. April 2000: Eight-year-old commercial vehicles phased out. Nov 2002: Conversion of all public transport buses to CNG.