NKB 30303

Environmental Issues
and Waste Management

Chapter 3:
Treatment of Air Pollutants

Major Air Pollutants

 An air pollutant can be a gas or a particulate
 Particulate pollutants can be further classified as
dusts, fumes, mists, spray or smoke
 Dust is defined as solid particles that are:
 Entrained by process gases directly from the material
being handled or processed (e.g. coal, ash, cement)
 Direct offspring of a parent material undergoing a
mechanical operation (e.g. sawdust from woodworking)
 Entrained materials used in a mechanical operation (e.g.
sand from sandblasting)

 Dust consists of large particles (~100 μm diameter)

Major Air Pollutants

 A fume (frequently a metallic oxide, e.g. zinc and
lead oxide) is formed by the condensation of vapors
by sublimation, distillation, or chemical reaction.
Particles of fumes are quite small (0.03 – 0.3 μm)

 A mist is an entrained liquid particle formed by the

condensation of a vapor or by chemical reaction
(0.5 – 3.0 μm)

 A spray is a liquid particle formed by the atomization

of a liquid. Sprays settle under gravity

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 Major Air Pollutants
 Smoke is made up of entrained solid particles
formed as a result of incomplete combustion of
carbonaceous materials

 Although hydrocarbons, organic acids, sulfur

oxides and nitrogen oxides are also produced in
combustion processes, only the solid particles
resulting from the incomplete combustion of
carbonaceous materials are called smoke
(0.05 – 1 μm)

Major Air Pollutants

Major Air Pollutants

 Examples of gaseous pollutants:

Name Significance as air pollutant

Sulfur dioxide (SO2) Damage to property, health & vegetation

Sulfur trioxide (SO3) Highly corrosive

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) Highly poisonous

Nitrous oxide (N2O) Relatively inert; not produced in combustion

Produced during high-temperature, high-
Nitric oxide (NO)
pressure combustion; oxidizes to NO2
Major component in the formation of
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)
photochemical smog

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 Major Air Pollutants
 Examples of gaseous pollutants:

Name Significance as air pollutant

Carbon monoxide (CO) Product of incomplete combustion; poisonous

Formed during complete combustion;
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
greenhouse gas
Damage to vegetation & property; produced
Ozone (O3)
during the formation of photochemical smog
Emitted from automobiles & industries; formed
Hydrocarbons (CxHx)
in the atmosphere

Methane (CH4) Greenhouse gas

Chlorofluorocarbons
Deplete ozone in upper atmosphere
(CFC)

Major Air Pollutants

 SO2 is emitted from the combustion of fuels
containing sulfur and then reacts with atmospheric
components:

 H2SO4 can cause the formation of acid rain.

Normally, uncontaminated rain has a pH of about 5.6
(due to CO2), but acid rain can be pH 2 or even lower

Major Air Pollutants

 Nitrogen oxides, emitted mostly from automobile
exhaust but also from any other high-temperature
combustion, contribute to the acid mix in the
atmosphere

 The chemical reactions occur with nitrogen are:

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 Major Air Pollutants
 Air pollutants can be classified as primary and
secondary pollutants
 A primary pollutant is an air pollutant emitted
directly from a source. A secondary pollutant is not
directly emitted as such, but forms when other
pollutants (primary pollutants) react in the
atmosphere.
 Examples of secondary pollutants include
 nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which is formed as nitric oxide
(NO) combines with oxygen in the air
 acid rain, which is formed when sulfur dioxide or nitrogen
oxides react with water

Major Air Pollutants

 The units of particulate concentration are normally
in terms of μg/m3
 The concentration of gases can be either ppm (on
a volume basis) or μg/m3
 For conditions of 1 atm and 25ºC:
g MW  1000
  ppm
m3 24 .5
 For conditions of 1 atm and 0ºC:
g MW  1000
  ppm
m3 22.4

Example 1

A stack gas contains carbon monoxide (CO)

at a concentration of 10% by volume.

Assuming the conditions at 25ºC and 1 atm,

determine the CO concentration in μg/m3

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 Treatment of Emissions
 The easiest and most economical way to control air
pollution is to eliminate the source of the pollution

 However, if the emission of pollutant is unavoidable,

control can be achieved by air treatment

 Selection of the correct treatment device requires

matching characteristics of the pollutant with
features of the control device

 The sizes of air pollutants range differently,

therefore is not reasonable to expect one device to
be effective and efficient for all pollutants

Treatment of Emissions

 Recovery efficiency of any separating devices is:

x1 C C  C 2 
R  100  1 0  100
x0 C 0 C1  C 2 
 R = recovery, %
 x1 = amount of pollutant collected by the treatment device
per unit time, kg/s
 x0 = amount of pollutant entering the device per time, kg/s

Example 2
An air pollution control device is to remove a
particulate that is being emitted at a
concentration of 125,000 μg/m3 at an air flow
rate of 180 m3/s. The device removes 0.48
metric ton per day.

Determine the emission concentration (μg/m3)

and the collection recovery of the particulate.

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 Treatment of Emissions
 Since the sizes of air pollutants are different (gas
molecules ~0.0001 μm, particulates > 0.1 μm), the
control devices can be divided into those applicable
for controlling particulates and those used for
controlling gaseous pollutants

 Control of particulates:  Control of gaseous

 Settling chamber pollutants:
 Cyclone  Wet scrubber
 Bag / fabric filter  Adsorption
 Spray tower or scrubber  Incineration
 Electrostatic precipitator

Control of Particulates
 The simplest device for controlling particulates is
settling chamber consisting of a wide place in the
exhaust flue where larger particles can settle,
usually with a baffle to slow the emission stream
 Only very large particulates (>100 μm) can be
efficiently removed from settling chamber
 The most popular, economical and effective means
of controlling particulates is the cyclone
 The dirty air is blasted into a conical cylinder, but off
centerline. This creates a violent swirl within the
cone, much like a centrifuge

Control of Particulates
 The heavy solids migrate to the wall of the cyclone,
where they slow down due to the friction, slide
down the cone, and finally exit at the bottom
 The clean air is in the middle of the cyclone and
exits out the top
 Bag/fabric filters operate like a vacuum cleaner to
collect dusts. The fabric will remove nearly all
particulates, including submicron sizes
 Bag filters are widely used in industrial applications
but are sensitive to high temperatures and humidity

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 Control of Particulates
 Spray tower or wet scrubber is an effective method
for removing large particulates
 Efficient scrubbers promote the contact between air
and water: the smaller the water droplets, the more
effective the scrubbing
 Wet scrubber is efficient but has 2 major drawbacks:
1. It produces a visible plume, albeit only water vapor
2. The waste now is in liquid form, and some manner
of water treatment is necessary

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 Control of Particulates
 In electrostatic precipitator, the particulates are
removed by being charged by electrons from high-
voltage electrode and then migrating to the
positively charged collecting electrode
 The particulates collect on the pipe and must be
removed by banging the pipe with hammer
 Electrostatic precipitator has no moving parts,
require only electricity to operate (thus is widely
used in power plants since power is readily
available), and are extremely effective in removing
submicron particulates

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 Control of Gaseous Pollutants
 The control of gases involves either (i) the removal
of the pollutant from the gaseous emissions, (ii) a
chemical change in the pollutant, or (iii) a change in
the process producing the pollutant

 Wet scrubber can remove gaseous pollutants by

dissolving them in the water

 Alternatively, a chemical (e.g. lime) may be injected

into the scrubber water that then reacts with the
pollutants. This is the basis for most SO2 removal
techniques

Control of Gaseous Pollutants

 Adsorption is a useful method when it is possible to
bring the pollutant into contact with an efficient
adsorber, such as activated carbon

 Incineration is used when an organic pollutant can

be oxidized to CO2 and water

 A variation of incineration is catalytic combustion,

in which the temperature of the reaction is lowered
by the use of a catalyst that mediates the reaction

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 Control of Sulfur Oxides
 The major source of sulfur oxides (SOx) is coal-fired
power plants
 Options and techniques to reduce SOx emission:
 Change to low-sulfur fuel: Natural gas and oil are lower in
sulfur than coal. However, uncertain and expensive
supplies make this option risky
 Desulfurize the coal: Sulfur in coal can be organic or
inorganic. The inorganic form is iron pyrite (FeS2), which
can be removed by washing. The removal of organic sulfur
requires chemical reactions and is most economically
accomplished if the coal is gasified (changed into a gas
resembling natural gas)

Control of Sulfur Oxides

 Build tall stacks: A short-sighted but economical method
of SOx control is to build incredibly tall smokestacks and
disperse the SOx

 Desulfurize the flue gas: cleaning the flue gases by lime

(CaO) or limestone (CaCO3)
SO2 + CaO → CaSO3
or SO2 + CaCO3 + ½O2 → CaSO4 + CO2

 Both the calcium sulfite and sulfate are solids that

have low solubility and can be separated in gravity
settling tanks

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 Example 3
During a two-week-long major air pollution episode in
London, in 1952, it was estimated that 25,000 metric
tons of coal that had an average sulfur content of
about 4% were burned per week.

The mixing depth (height of the inversion layer or cap

over the city that prevented the pollutants from
escaping) was about 150 m over an area of 1200 km2

If initially there was no SO2 in the atmosphere (a

conservative assumption), determine the expected
SO2 concentration at the end of the two weeks.

Dispersion of Air Pollutants

 Earth’s atmosphere can be divided into 4 major
layers depending on the temperature profile
 At the troposphere, where most of our weather
occurs, temperature decreases with altitude. Over
80% of air is within this well-mixed layer
 At the stratosphere, temperature profile is inverted
and little mixing takes place. Pollutants that migrate
up to stratosphere can stay there for many years
 Stratosphere has a high ozone concentration that
adsorbs the sun’s short-wave UV radiation

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 Dispersion of Air Pollutants
 Air pollution problems occur in the troposphere,
where pollutants are dispersed by wind. The amount
of dispersion is related to the stability of air
 The temperature-elevation measurement is called
prevailing lapse rate (change in temp with elevation)
 As an imaginary parcel of air rises in earth’s
atmosphere, it cools at about 1°C/100 m, which is
termed the dry adiabatic lapse rate
 A superadiabatic lapse rate occurs when atmosphe-
ric temperature drops more than 1°C/100 m

Dispersion of Air Pollutants

 During a superadiabatic lapse rate, also called a
strong lapse rate, the atmospheric conditions are
unstable with great vertical air movement
 A subadiabatic lapse rate is characterized by a drop
of less than 1°C/100 m
 The subadiabatic lapse rate, also called a weak
lapse rate, is a very stable system
 An extreme case of subadiabatic lapse rate is the
inversion, a condition that has warmer air above
colder air, and the vertical air movement is almost nil

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 Dispersion of Air Pollutants
 The movement of plumes from stacks is governed
by the lapse rate (atmospheric stability)
 A superadiabatic lapse rate produces atmospheric
instability and a looping plume while a neutral lapse
rate produces a coning plume
 If the plume is emitted into an inversion layer, a
fanning plume will result
 A nasty situation is the fumigation condition, when
an inversion cap is placed on the plume but a
superadiabatic lapse rate under inversion causes
mixing and high ground level concentrations

Dispersion of Air Pollutants

 The distance a plume rises is of importance if
dispersion is to be attained

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 Example 4

A stack at a power station has an emission

exiting at 3 m/s through a stack diameter of
2 m. The average wind speed is 6 m/s. The
temperature at the top of the stack is 28°C,
and the temperature of the emission is
167°C. The atmosphere is at neutral
stability. Estimate the plume rise above top
of the stack.

Dispersion of Air Pollutants

 Dispersion is the process of spreading the
emission over a large area, thereby reducing the
concentration of the pollutants

 The plume dispersion is in 2 dimensions: vertical

and horizontal

 It is assumed that the greatest concentration of the

pollutants is in the plume centerline. The farther
away from the centerline, the lower the
concentration

Dispersion of Air Pollutants

 The concentration of a pollutant at any distance x
downwind from the source can be calculated as

 Note that z is in the vertical direction, y is horizontal

crosswind, and x is downwind

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 Dispersion of Air Pollutants
 The standard deviations are measures of how
much the plume spreads. If σy and σz are large,
the spread is great and the concentration is low,
or vice versa

 The dispersion is dependent on both atmospheric

stability (A – F) and the distance from the source

 A plume emitted from a stack has an effective

height H, which is calculated as the stack height
plus the plume rise Δh

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 The dispersion coefficients can also be calculated
using the following equations:

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 Dispersion of Air Pollutants
 The ground effect can be taken into account by
assuming an imaginary mirror image source
(reflection of ground):

Example 5

Given a sunny summer afternoon with the

average wind = 4 m/s, emission Q = 0.01 kg/s,
and the effective stack height H = 20 m, find
the ground level concentration at 200 m from
the stack.

Example 6

A power plant burns 1000 tonnes of coal

per day, 2% of which is sulfur, and all of this
is emitted from the 100-m stack. For a wind
speed of 10 m/s, calculate the maximum
ground level concentration of SO2, 10 km
downwind from the plant.

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