1. 1
Air Pollution
Group 13
Matt Moerbe, Brett Roberts, Ann-Marie Scarborough, Tyler Goodall, Trevor Quick

2. 2
What is Air Pollution?
The release of harmful substances that can harm the environment and humans
EPA created the Clean Air Act to have regulations against acts against the environment
Two main approaches to reducing emissions into the atmosphere
Change the process that contributes to emissions
Adding pipe to the end of a process to remove and treat contaminants

3. 3
Clean Air Act
EPA Clean Air Act violations and the resulting punishments

4. High Priority Violators of CCA4
High Priority Violators of CCA

5. Advantages of the Clean Air Act5
Advantages of the Clean Air Act
For over 40 years the CAA has cut pollution in the U.S.
The health benefits of the CAA exceed the costs of reducing pollution
New types of technology have been developed because of it etc. automobiles, plants, and factories
The act also promotes heavily for the develop and deployment of cleaner technologies

6. Advantages of the Clean Air Act6
Advantages of the Clean Air Act
Health Effect Reductions (PM2.5 & Ozone Only)
Pollutant(s)
Year 2010
Year 2020
PM2.5 Adult Mortality PM
160,000
230,000
PM2.5 Infant Mortality
230
280
Ozone Mortality
Ozone
4,300
7,100
Chronic Bronchitis
54,000
75,000
Acute Bronchitis
130,000
180,000
Acute Myocardial Infarction
200,000
Asthma Excaberation
1,700,000
2,400,000
Hospital Admissions
PM, Ozone
86,000
135,000
Emergency Room Visits
120,000
Restricted Activity Days
84,000,000
110,000,000
School Loss Days
3,200,000
5,400,000
Lost Work Days
13,000,000
17,000,000
This table demonstrates how air emissions are dropping from 2010 to 2020 and in what categories

7. Clean Air Act violation7
Clean Air Act violation
August 2009 in Illinois
A guy named O’Malley was hired by a guy named Pinski
Pinski was the manager of Dearborn Management Inc.
O’Malley was the owner and operator of Original Fire Protection
O’Malley’s company was hired to remove and dispose of asbestos from Dearborn’s piping system
During investigation O’Malley was found out to be a fraud in the removal of abestos. His company was not trained and he also accepted to perform the job at a cheaper price than a competing company who was trained in the removal.
O’Malley fines
120 months in jail, 36 months probation, and he had to pay a fine of $15,000 to the federal government, and $47,086 to the EPA for having to clean up their mess
Pinski fines
Sentences to half a year in prison, 2 years of release from work,
and half a year home detention

8. Pollution Prevention Change the way we use fuel8
Pollution Prevention
Change the way we use fuel
Substitute less toxic materials
Reduce the formation and fabrication of materials and byproducts
Capture and conduct studies on potential pollutants

9. Air Pollution Control (APC) Equipment9
Air Pollution Control (APC) Equipment
APC equipment can help control emissions by these ways:
Destroy and capture possible pollutants
Convert these pollutants to less-toxic materials or compounds
Remove all pollutants from the air

10. 10
Gas Absorption
One of the most common methods for reducing air pollution
Pollutants are removed by dissolving into the scrubbing solution (usually water).

11. Gas Absorption 11 Commonly used to reduce CO2 amounts in furnaces.
The final product is leaving the scrubber at less than 500 ppm CO2

12. 12
Gas Absorption
Reactants can also be added into the scrubbing solution to remove pollutants via chemical reaction.
Ex: adding hypochlorite to the scrubbing solution allows sulfur- containing compounds to react with the solution, which can reduce odor.
Conditions necessary for gas absorption:
Water-soluble pollutants
Particulates
This figure shows 2 types of absorbers

13. 13
Gas Absorption
The most common type of absorption for reducing pollutants in air is through a Gas-liquid interface, as shown in figure (a) to the left.
When gas is bubbled through the liquid, gas molecules are absorbed.
Note that this is not adsorption (which can also be used to reduce pollution). Adsorption requires that the molecules adhere to the surface of other molecules.

14. Visualizing Gas Absorption14
Visualizing Gas Absorption
This is another way to visualize the absorption process.
The red arrow represents polluted gas entering a chamber.
The pollutants (red) are then absorbed by water molecules as they rise through the chamber
Purified air (white) is then released through the top of the chamber

15. 15
Measuring Air quality
After the absorption process, it is useful to be able to measure the quality of purified air. This can be done using the following Matlab code:
% I = Air quality Index
% C = Pollutant Concentration
% Clow = Concentration breakpoint less than C
% Chigh = Concentration breakpoint greater than C
% Ilow = Index breakpoint for Clow
% Ihigh = Index breakpoint for Chigh
Clow=35.5
Chigh=55.4
Ilow=101
Ihigh=150
I=((Ihigh-Ilow)/(Chigh-Clow))*(Chigh-Clow)+Ilow I=
% AQI approx. 150 means air is potentially unhealthy to the population

16. Optimizing Gas Absorption16
Optimizing Gas Absorption
Adding arsenite increases the rate of absorption of CO2 with respect to NH3.
Arsenite allows absorption to continue past a 1:1 ratio. With no arsenite, absorption becomes very ineffective at this point

17. Condensation 17 Highly effective for VOC’s
Separates pollutants by rapidly decreasing temperature or increasing pressure, causing them to condense and drop out
This tower is used for Cryocondensation. Cryocondensation can purify many solvents. These include toluene, acetone, methanol, chlorinated derivatives, and hydrocarbons.

18. Thermal Oxidizers/Incinerators18
Thermal Oxidizers/Incinerators
Destroys volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and volatile hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) by high temperature destruction (~ °F)
High thermal energy breaks covalent bonds
Pros -
high efficiency (>99.9% if well- designed)
good for variable VOC loads
highly reliable
Cons -
insufficient residence time causes toxic byproducts
required fuel is expensive, produces CO2 and NOx gasses
must be fabricated from highly temperature resistant materials

19. Thermal Oxidizers - Liquid Injection19
Thermal Oxidizers - Liquid Injection
Used primarily in chemical industry to destroy the liquid wastes that contain organic toxins
Liquids get atomized through nozzles, exposed to burner flames, get vaporized and become superheated
Superheated gas combined with air in a turbulent zone
Residence time varies based upon flow volume, usually ~ s
Toxic liquid waste gets oxidized to produce CO2, H2O, O2, N2, and acid gases
Acid gases must be cleaned from exhaust stream by using wet scrubbers

20. Improvements to Thermal Oxidizers20
Improvements to Thermal Oxidizers
Recuperative Thermal Oxidation:
Utilizes shell-and-tube heat exchanger to capture excess heat, which can be used to preheat incoming waste gas
Regenerative Thermal Oxidation:
Recovers and reuses >90% of thermal energy from combustion chamber by utilizing a ceramic material as a heat sink to remove heat from the exhaust downstream of the unit
The ceramic material preheats incoming waste gas, reducing the amount of fuel required for oxidation
images from original paper
Images from original article

21. Catalytic Oxidizers/Incinerators21
Catalytic Oxidizers/Incinerators
Destroy VOCs and volatile HAPs by high temperature destruction
Utilizes catalyst to lower destruction temperature (~ °F)
Pros -
high control efficiency
good for variable VOC loads
very reliable
lower temperature compared to thermal oxidizers, means significant fuel savings
Cons -
catalysts may plug and become ineffective
expensive to dispose of spent catalysts
Can utilize same improvements as thermal oxidizers (regen. & recup.)

22. 22
Carbon Adsorption
Removes some VOCs which have a high affinity for carbon by surface adsorption
benzene, phenol, vinyl chloride, xylene, toluene, acetone, sulphur-containing compounds
Pros -
able to recover contaminants for reuse
Very high control efficiency
Carbon is relatively cheap
Cons -
only removes some VOCs
not as effective if load varies
particulate matter can plug the carbon bed

23. Carbon Adsorption 23 Most systems consist of two beds
Waste gas is passed over one bed and undergoes adsorbing process, while steam passes over the other bed and undergoes a desorbing process
After a period of time the process streams are switched, so that the beds alternate between adsorption and regeneration processes
Most carbon adsorption processes utilize a prefilter to remove particulate matter that would otherwise plug the carbon beds

24. Carbon Adsorption - Freundlich24
Carbon Adsorption - Freundlich
The Freundlich Adsorption Equation is used to compare adsorptive capacity of different activated carbons
X/M=KC^(1/n)
It is often more convenient to express in logarithmic form to perform calculations and fit data
These logarithmic plots are referred to as Freundlich Adsorption Isotherms (FAI)
These plots are useful because they:
determine if a desired purity level is possible with the specific carbon
allow for calculation of carbon loading at equilibrium
can be used to predict the relative performance of different types of carbon
higher isotherm line means better adsorptive capacity
A MATLAB function to calculate carbon loading at equilibrium , plot the FAI and compare two different carbons is shown on the next slide.

25. Carbon Adsorption - MATLAB25
Carbon Adsorption - MATLAB
function [Crate] = carbadsorp(M,C,X,Co)
%function to generate Freundlich Adsorption Isotherm
%M(1) must correspond to lowest C dosage
%C(1) must be initial impurity
%INPUTS:
%X = amount of impurity adsorbed at equilibirum (mg/L)
%M = carbon dosage (g/L)
%C = concentration of impurity remaining in solid (mg/L)
%Co= desired final impurity level
%OUTPUTS:
%CL = carbon loading at Co (mg/L)
%delC= impurity removal (mg/L)
%Crate= carbon usage rate
Mold=M;Cold=C;Xold=X;
n=length(C);
if n ~= length(M) && n~= length(X)
error('length of M,C, and X must be same');end
b=X./M;
if M(1)==0
for k=1:n-1
b(k)=b(k+1);C(k)=C(k+1);end
b=b(1:n-1);C=C(1:n-1);n=length(C);end
blog=log10(b);Clog=log10(C);
a=polyfit(Clog,blog,1);
xx=linspace(Clog(1),Clog(n));
for i=1:length(xx)
yy(i)=a(1)*xx(i)+a(2);end
plot(log10(C),log10(b),'xr',xx,yy,'--k'),grid
xlabel('log(C), impurity remaining'),ylabel('log(X/M), carbon loading'),title('ADSORPTION ISOTHERM')
CL = 10^(polyval(a,log10(Co)));delC = Cold(1)-Co;Crate = delC/CL;end
Plot for carbadsorp(M2,C2,X2,20)
From scipt on next slide

26. Carbon Adsorption - MATLAB Results26
Carbon Adsorption - MATLAB Results
The following script can be used as an example:
>> M1 =[ ];
>> C1 =[ ];
>> X1 =[ ];
>> M2=[ ];
>> C2=[ ];
>> X2=[ ];
>> carbadsorp(M1,C1,X1,20);
>> (ans-carbadsorp(M2,C2,X2,20))/ans*100
ans =
Plot for carbadsorp(M1,C1,X1,20)
These results show that approximately 55% more of Carbon 2 is required to obtain the same treatment results as Carbon 1. This data can now be used to determine which carbon is more suitable for use in a regenerative carbon adsorber by comparing the cost and efficiency of each.

27. Electrostatic precipitation overview27
Electrostatic precipitation overview
ESP Industrial Air Filter, image from:
The Electrostatic precipitation (ESP) technique is another effective solution to reduce air pollutant in the air.
Utilizes induced electrostatic charge to remove particulars from the gas.
Very effective at removing particles from the gas because the flow is uninterrupted and energy is only used removing the particles.
With regards to air pollution, ESP first polarizes the pollutants and collects them while allowing the cleaner air to flow through.

28. Electrostatic precipitation continued28
Electrostatic precipitation continued
ESP process microscopic view, image from:
Electrostatic precipitator has two important steps: the charging step and the collection step.
During the charging step the particles in the gas are charged (positively) from the wires. Afterwards, the particles are collected by the negatively charged collecting plates while clean air is unimpeded. Picture to the right illustrates the process.
One very important characteristic to consider therefore is the resistivity of the particle. Resistivity is the measure of resisting power of a material to flow current.
Resistivity= Resistance*Area cross-section/Length
If the resistivity is too high, the particle will not be charged sufficiently, too low and the particle will not stick on the collecting plates.
Ideal resistivity of the particles is 107-2*1010 ohm-cm as shown on the left.
Graph of efficiency versus resistivity, image from:

29. Dust collection efficiency calculations29
Dust collection efficiency calculations
The effectiveness of an electrostatic precipitator separating particles of medium resistivity can be determined by its dust collection efficiency.
η = 1-exp(-a*k*t) Where a=area, k=device constant, and t is the treating time
Matlab m-file for calculation of efficiency assuming spherical particle:
function ElectroStaticEff(r, k, t)
% r is the radius of the particle being removed
% k is a device constant defined by experiments
% t is the treating time
a=4/3*pi*r^3;
n=1-exp(-a*k*t)
end
As shown above, the effectiveness of electrostatic precipitator is highly dependent on the area of the particle. Smaller particles greatly reduces the efficiency of the process.
Typical values range , efficiency below .8 are better off using a different filtration process.
Visualization of process, image:

30. Electrostatic precipitator conclusion30
Electrostatic precipitator conclusion
However, small particles do not stick to wall
Pros for ESP:
Efficient process to separate pollutants from the air.
Low operating cost
Temperature independent
Very high efficiency for medium to large sized particles.
Cons for ESP:
Very large machine
Cannot separate very high or very low resistivity particles-- needs a certain range
Cannot separate very small sized particles.
Currently, the most popular industry uses for ESP process are smokestack to remove harmful air pollutants from the exhaust.
Large enough particles stick to the collecting stations
Air passes through along with pollutants

31. Baghouse introduction31
Baghouse introduction
Baghouse filtration is a different method which can control emissions.
Focuses on removing the pollutants from the air, as with electrostatic precipitation.
Baghouse filtration is always very efficient, very common collection efficiency rate is 99.9%. Furthermore, collected pollutants can be recycled to the parent process to be used as heat.
Particle size is not a limiting factor for baghouse filtration, can collect particles large and small.
Example of baghouse filtration, picture taken from:

32. Baghouse filtration continued32
Baghouse filtration continued
During the baghouse filtration process dirty gas is run through the walkways and out through the exhaust.
The walkways are made from felted fabric which can be as small as the particles needed to be filtered.
The particles are left behind and form a cake layer on the fabric.
Once the cake layer is so dense that the flow of gas has stopped, the walkways are shaken which drops the particles into a collector to be recycled if capable. The process is then repeated.
Example of walkways, picture from

33. Baghouse filtration calculations33
Baghouse filtration calculations
Pressure drop across the baghouse filter is necessary to know in order to utilize the filter. Pressure drop is the sum of the pressure drop across the filter and the pressure drop across the cake, numerically given below. Matlab program given below.
∆Pf=k1*Vf ∆Pc=k2*Ci*Vf2*t
Where k1:fabric drag, Vf: filtration velocity, k2: Resistance of cake, Ci: Dust concentration loading, t=filtration time
Filtration Velocity (or air-to-cloth ratio) is another quantity helpful to define.
Vf= Q/(Ac)
Where Q: volumetric flow rate, Ac: Area of cloth filter
Clean air passes through
function BaghousePressure(k1, Q, Ac, k2, Ci, t)
% k: fabric drag coefficient
% Q: volumetric flow rate
% Ac: area of cloth filter
% kk: cake resistance coefficient
% Ci: Dust concentration loading
% t: filtration time
Vf= Q/AC
PF=k*Vf
PC=kk*Ci*Vf*Vf*t
P=PF+PC
end
Cake layer builds up on the end
Dirty air enters the walkway

34. Baghouse filtration conclusion34
Baghouse filtration conclusion
Pros for baghouse filtration:
Very efficient filtration over 99%.
Able to separate the small particles that other filtration methods cannot.
Collected particles can be recycled and used for heat.
Cons for baghouse filtration:
Time must be spent cleaning the walkways once the air flow stops.
Cost can be higher upfront.
If an air bag breaks, the entire process must be stopped in order to replace the bag. Often times the particles are toxic to humans and difficult to clean if it breaks.
Example process of baghouse, taken from:

35. Conclusions-Prevention Methods35
Conclusions-Prevention Methods
The most cost effective way to reduce air emissions is by implementing pollution prevention method and improving efficiency of process to consume less materials and energy
However, efficiency improvements have limits and APC technologies will be needed to overcome these limitations.
The figure shows gives an example of how and plant first attempts to change their process using prevention methods to reduce pollution before moving on to other less preferred options.

36. Conclusions-Air-Pollution-Control36
Conclusions-Air-Pollution-Control
•Due to diverse nature of plant’s processes, raw materials, and emissions, certain plants may require different types APC equipment.
•It is important to understand the fundamental principles behind:
•APC technologies
•Processes being used
•Contaminants to be controlled
•Exhaust stream composition
•To determine which APC will be most efficient, reliable, and cost-effective as an air pollution strategy.
•This table summarizes the APC technologies basic fundamentals.
Table from original article
Table from original article

37. 37
Future work in topic
Improvements are ideally made at the upstream level, decreasing the pollutants originally formed.
Future work in APCs could include more efficient designs of any of the procedures outlined above.
Otherwise new methods could be created which could combine methods used above or reduce their disadvantages.