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MODULE I
Lecture 2

Air Pollution
Transfer of harmful and/or of Natural/Synthetic
materials into the atmosphere as a direct/
indirect consequences of human activity
(OECD).

Air Pollution Definition Based on System Approach

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Types of Air Pollution

Personal air exposure

-It refers to exposure to dust, fumes and gases to which an individual exposes himself when he indulge himself in
smoking
●

Occupational air exposure

-It represents the type of exposure of individuals to potentially harmful concentration of aerosols, vapors, and
gases in their working environment.
●

Community air exposure

-This is most serious, complex, consists of varieties of assortment of pollution sources, meteorological factors,
and wide variety of adverse social, economical, and health effects.

The Earth’s Great Spheres

Lithosphere- The lithosphere contains all of the cold, hard solid land of the planet's crust (surface),
the semi-solid land underneath the crust, and the liquid land near the center of the planet

Hydrosphere- The hydrosphere contains all the solid, liquid, and gaseous water of the plane

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Biosphere- The biosphere contains all the planet's living things. This sphere includes all of the
microorganisms, plants, and animals of Ear

Atmosphere- The atmosphere contains all the air in Earth's system

The Earth’s Great Spheres

Atmosphere

It is a mixture of gases that forms a layer of about 250 miles thick around the earth.
- Bottom 10-12 miles (Troposphere) is most important part in terms of
❍ Weather

❍ Other aspects of Biogeochemical cycle

- The lowest 600 meters of Troposphere: Air Quality Studies

Composition of Air - 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% carbon dioxide, water, other gases

Divided into four zones:

- Troposphere

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- Stratosphere
- Mesosphere
- Thermosphere

Source of Air Pollution

Natural Sources –Volcano, forest fire, dust storms, oceans, plants and trees
●

Anthropogenic Sources - created by human beings

-Stationary sources
❍ Point sources (Industrial processing, power plants, fuels combustion etc.)

❍ Area sources (Residential heating coal gas oil, on site incineration, open burning etc.)

- Mobile sources
❍ Line sources (Highway vehicles, railroad locomotives, channel vessels etc.)

Air Pollutants

Any substance occurring in the atmosphere that may

have adverse effects on humans, animals, plant life, and/
or inanimate materials.

Air pollutants have known or suspected harmful effects

on human health and tironment.

Criteria Air Pollutants

Based on health effects with measured air quality levels that violate the National Ambient Air Quality Standards
(NAAQS)
● (NAAQS)
-CO
-NOx
-SOx
-VOCs
-Particulates
-Pb

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Hazardous Air Pollutants

● Predecessor: National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs)

●

Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 directed EPA to establish emission controls for 189 chemicals listed in the
Act.
-NOT based on health criteria
-Based on Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT)

Non-Criteria Pollutants

● In essence, all pollutants not included in the NAAQS and HAP lists
● Examples:
-CO2
-NaCl

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MODULE I
Learning Objectives

To make the students aware of history of air pollution; definition of air pollution and various types of sources and classification
of air pollutants.

Lecture 1
History of Air Pollution

● 1272 - King Edward I of England bans use of “sea coal”

● 1377 – 1399 - Richard II restricts use of coal
● 1413 – 1422 - Henry V regulates/restricts use of coal
● 1661 - By royal command of Charles II, John Evelyn of the Royal Society publishes “Fumifugium; or the
Inconvenience of the Air and Smoke dissipated; together with Some Remedies Humbly Proposed”
● 1784—Watt’s steam engine; boilers to burn fossil fuels (coal) to make steam to pump water and move
machinery
● Smoke and ash from fossil fuels by power plants, trains, ships: coal (and oil) burning = smoke, ash
● 1907 - Formation of the predecessor to the Air & Waste Management Association
● 1930 - 1950’s - Air Pollution Episodes
● 1955 First Federal Air Pollution Control Act - funds for research (USA)
● 1960 Motor Vehicle Exhaust Act - funds for research (USA)
● 1963 Clean Air Act (USA)
-Three stage enforcement
-Funds for state and local agencies
● 1965 Motor Vehicle Air Pollution Control Act (USA)
-Emission regulations for cars to begin in 1968
● 1967 Air Quality Act (USA)
-Criteria documents
-Control technique documents
● 1970 Clean Air Act Amendments (USA)
-National Ambient Air Quality Standards
-New Source Performance Standards

Why study air pollution?

● Early 1900s The City of Chicago, Illinois passes an ordinance to reduce the “smoke” emitted by local
factories.
● 1940s Los Angeles, California becomes one of the first cities in the U.S. to experience severe air pollution
problems then called “gas attacks.” L.A.’s location in a basin like area ringed by mountains makes it
susceptible to accumulation of auto exhaust and emissions from local petroleum refineries
● 1948 Air pollution kills in Donora, Pennsylvania. An unusual temperature inversion lasting six days blocks
dispersal of emissions from zinc smelting and blast furnaces. Out of a total population of 14,000 people, 20
die, 600 others become ill, and 1400 seek medical attention.
● 1950 A chemist at the California Institute of Technology proposes a theory of smog (or ozone) formation in
which auto exhaust and sunlight play major roles.
● 1954 An early public protest against air pollution takes place in East Greenville, Pennsylvania. Homemakers
march on the town council to demand that a local casket manufacturer be required to stop polluting. Their

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complaint is that clean laundry hung out to dry became dirtier than before it was washed because of high levels
of soot (or particulates) in the air.
● 1962 Silent Spring is published. Rachel Carson’s powerful book draws the attention of the American public to
the potential consequences of the increasing ability of human activities to significantly and even permanently
alters the natural world.
● 1966 In New York City, a three-day temperature inversion over Thanksgiving weekend is blamed for the
deaths of 168 people.
● 1969 Millions of Americans watch via satellite, as Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to walk on the
moon. The same weekend, a very different news story startles the nation. Sulfur dioxide pollution emitted by
industries near Gary, Indiana and East Chicago becomes potent acid rain that burns lawns, eats away tree
leaves, and causes birds to lose their feathers.
● 1969 A vivid color photographs of Earth from space, widely distributed, shifts human perceptions of our
planet. The Earth no longer seems vast but is recognized as a small, fragile ball of life in the immense
infinitude of cold, black space.
● 1970 The first Earth Day becomes part of American history. Millions of students and citizens attend rallies to
learn about environmental concerns and speak for environmental protection.
● 1972 Representatives of 113 nations, gather on 5th June at a United Nations Conference on the Human
Environment in Stockholm to develop plans for international action to protect the world environment.
● 1978 Rainfall in Wheeling, West Virginia is measured at a pH of 2, the most acidic yet recorded and 5000
times more acidic than normal rainfall.
● 1981 Air pollution enters international politics when the Quebec Ministry of the Environment notifies the U.S.
that 60 percent of the acid rain (sulfur dioxide pollution) damaging air and waters in Quebec, Canada comes
from the U.S. industrial sources in the Midwestern and Northeastern U.S.
● 1982 The National Center for Health Statistics releases a study indicating that four percent of all U.S.
schoolchildren, including about 12 percent of all African-American preschoolers, have high levels of lead in
their blood. About 675,000 children are at risk of kidney damage, brain damage, anemia, retardation, and other
ills associated with lead poisoning. It is recognized that children absorb this lead by breathing air laden with
lead pollution, primarily from leaded gasoline.
● 1985 The U.S. EPA estimates 50,000 streams in the U.S. and Canada are dead or dying because of acid rain
pollution.
● 1986 The National Academy of Sciences reports that the burning of coal, gasoline, and other fossil fuels is
definitely linked to acid rain and the death of trees, fish, and lake ecosystems in both the U.S. and Canada.
● 1992 The Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is the most comprehensive international conference on the
environment to date. Representatives from 188 countries and 35,000 participants attend. Two treaties are
signed by all except the U.S. One, on global warming recommending curbing emissions of greenhouse gases.
The second, on making inventories of plants and wildlife and strategies to protect endangered species.

Air Pollution Episodes

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Period of poor air qulaity, upto several days, often

extending over large geograpical area.

Winter: cold, stable weather conditions trap pollutants

close to sources and prevent dispersion. Elavated
concentrations of range of pollutants build up over several
days

summer: hot and sunny weather. Pollutants emitted

within the U.K. or Europe transported long distances,
reacting with each other in sunlight to produce high levels
of ozone, & other photochemical pollutants.

Meuse Valley-Belgium, 1930

● 63 died (mostly elderly)

● Sore throats, shortness of breath, cough,
phlegm, nausea, vomiting
● SO2, sulfur dioxide
● H2O
● SO4 sulfuric acid mist
● Cattle, birds and rats died
● Got little news coverage

Fumigation of a valley floor caused by an inversion layer that restricts diffusion from a stack

Donora, Pennsylvania—Oct. 1948

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● Monongahela River Valley

● Industrial town—steel mill, sulfuric acid plant, freight yard, etc.
● Population—14,000
● Steep hills surrounding the valley
● Oct 26—temperature inversion (warm air trapping cold air near the ground)
● Stable air, fog, lasted 4.5 days

Environs of Donora, Pennsylvania. Horseshoe curve of Monongahela River is surrounded by mountains. Railroad
tracks are located on both sides of the river. Low-lying stretch of Monongahela valley between railroad and river is
natural trap for pollutants.

Poza Rico, Mexico 1950

● Single source– high sulfur crude oil

● Hydrogen sulfide (H2S)
● Flare went out
● Inversion in valley
● 22 sudden deaths, 320 hospitalized All ages
● Forerunner of Bhopal

December 1952 Great London Smog

● Cold front, Londoners burned soft coal

● Factories, power plants
● Temperature inversion
● 5 days of worst smog city had ever seen Public transportation stopped
● Indoor concerts had to be cancelled because no one could see the stage, etc.

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Weekly death registered from diseases of the lungs and heart in the London Administrative County around the time of
the severe fog in December, 1952.

Total death in Greater London and air pollutants levels measured during the fog of December 1952

Seveso, Italy --Dioxin

● July 10, 1976, north of Milan

● A valve broke at the Industrie Chimiche Meda Societa Azionaria chemical plant

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● Cloud of 2,3,7,8 tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin (TCDD) traveled southwest through Seveso toward Milan
● Contaminant of herbicide

Bhopal, India Dec. 3, 1984

● Union Carbide pesticide plant leak kills up to 2,000 with up to 350,000 injured and 100,000 with permanent
disabilities
● Methyl isocyanate (MIC)—used as an intermediary in manufacture of Sevin (Carbaryl)
● CO + Cl = phosgene
● Phosgene + methylamine = MIC
● MIC—irritant to the lungs---edema, fluid (cause of death, bronchospasms, corneal opacity
● Hydrogen cyanide?
● Sabotage or industrial accident?

World-wide Air Pollution Episode

● November 27-December 10, 1962

● Thousands of excess deaths in many cities including NYC, London, Boston, Paris
● New Orleans Oct-Nov 1958 asthma deaths.

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Hundreds Troubled by 'World Trade Center Cough‘ NYC fire fighters, school workers have 9/11
breathing problems, new studies say

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MODULE I
Lecture 3

Air Pollutants

● Primary air pollutants - Materials that when released pose health risks in their unmodified
forms or those emitted directly from identifiable sources.
● Secondary air pollutants - Primary pollutants interact with one another, sunlight, or natural
gases to produce new, harmful compounds

Primary Air Pollutants

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Five major materials released directly into the atmosphere in unmodified forms.
-Carbon monoxide
-Sulfur dioxide
-Nitrogen oxides
-Hydrocarbons
-Particulate matter

Carbon Monoxide

● Produced by burning of organic material (coal, gas,

wood, trash, etc.)

● Automobiles biggest source (80%)

● Cigarette smoke another major source

● Toxic because binds to hemoglobin, reduces oxygen in

blood

● Not a persistent pollutant, combines with oxygen to form

CO2

Most communities now meet EPA standards, but rush

hour traffic can produce high CO levels

Sulfur Dioxide

● Produced by burning sulfur containing fossil fuels

(coal, oil)

● Coal-burning power plants major source

● Reacts in atmosphere to produce acids

● One of the major components of acid rain

● When inhaled, can be very corrosive to lung tissue

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● London
-1306 banned burning of sea coal
-1952 “killer fog”: 4,000 people died in 4 weeks
❍ tied to sulfur compounds in smog

Nitrogen Oxides

● Produced from burning of fossil fuels

● Contributes to acid rain, smog

● Automobile engine main source

● New engine technology has helped reduce, but many

more cars

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Hydrocarbons

● Hydrocarbons - organic compounds with hydrogen, carbon

● From incomplete burning or evaporated from fuel supplies

● Major source is automobiles, but some from industry

Contribute to smog

● Improvements in engine design have helped reduce

Particulates

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● Particulates - small pieces of solid materials and liquid droplets

(2.5 mm and 10 mm)

● Examples: ash from fires, asbestos from brakes and insulation, dust

● Easily noticed: e.g. smokestacks

● Can accumulate in lungs and interfere with the ability of lungs to

exchange gases.

● Some particulates are known carcinogens

● Those working in dusty conditions at highest risk (e.g., miners)

● Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) -PM1 having

size <= 1µm: effects in alveoli
-PM2.5 having size <= 2.5µm: effects trachea
-PM10 having size <= 10µm: effects in nasal part only<

Secondary Pollutants

● Ozone
● PAN (peroxy acetyl nitrate)
● Photochemical smog
● Aerosols and mists (H2SO4)

Ozone

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● Ozone (O3) is a highly reactive gas composed of three

oxygen atoms.

● It is both a natural and a man-made product that occurs

in the Earth's upper atmosphere (the stratosphere) and
lower atmosphere (the troposphere).

● Tropospheric ozone – what we breathe -- is formed

primarily from photochemical reactions between two
major classes of air pollutants, volatile organic
compounds (VOC) and nitrogen oxides (NOX).

PAN

Smog is caused by the interaction of some hydrocarbons and oxidants under the influence of sunlight giving rise
to dangerous peroxy acetyl nitrate (PAN).

Photochemical smog

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Photochemical smog is a mixture of pollutants which includes particulates, nitrogen oxides, ozone, aldehydes,
peroxyethanoyl nitrate (PAN), unreacted hydrocarbons, etc. The smog often has a brown haze due to the
presence of nitrogen dioxide. It causes painful eyes.

Aerosols and mists (H2SO4)

Aerosols and mists are very fine liquid droplets that cannot be effectively removed using traditional packed
scrubbers. These droplets can be formed from gas phase hydrolysis of halogenated acids (HCl, HF, HBr), metal
halides, organohalides, sulfur trioxide (SO3), and phosphorous pentoxide (P2O5).

Assignments

1. Can you explain the word ‘episode’ used in air pollution?

2. Can you think why ‘mountains in a basin like area’ make the pollutants susceptible to accumulation?

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3. Can you tell two words making the word ‘smog’?

4. Do you know that ‘soot’ is unburnt/burnt carbon particle?
5. Why Earth Day is celebrated? Explain.
6. Can you explain the significance of World Environment Day?
7. What does ‘Earth Summit's means?
8. Are CO and NOx ‘indicators or ‘pollutants’?
9. Can you list direct/indirect consequences of human activity causing air pollution?
10. Differentiate among personal/occupational/community air exposure.
11. Is environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) personal/occupational / community exposures?
12. Explain various spheres of the Earth.
13. Explain various sources of air pollution.
14. Differentiate between troposphere/stratosphere/mesosphere. Which one is ideal for air pollution studies effecting
living beings?
15. Differentiate between criteria/non-criteria/hazardous pollutants . Why O3 is not taken as criteria pollutants?

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