AIR POLLUTION CONTROL

Some of the effective methods to control air pollution are as follows: (a) Source
Correction Methods (b) Pollution Control equipment (c) Diffusion of pollutant in air (d)
Vegetation (e) Zoning.
1. Source Correction Methods:
Industries make a major contribution towards causing air pollution. Formation of
pollutants can be prevented and their emission can be minimized at the source itself. By carefully
investigating the early stages of design and development in industrial processes e.g., those
methods which have minimum air pollution potential can be selected to accomplish air-pollution
control at source itself.
These source correction methods are:
i. Substitution of raw materials:
If the use of a particular raw material results in air pollution, then it should be substituted by
another purer grade raw material which reduces the formation of pollutants. Thus,
a) Low sulphur fuel which has less pollution potential can be used as an alternative to high
Sulphur fuels, and,
b) Comparatively more refined liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or liquefied natural gas
(LNG) can be used instead of traditional high contaminant fuels such as coal.
ii. Process Modification:
The existing process may be changed by using modified techniques to control emission at
source. For example,
(a) If coal is washed before pulverization, then fly-ash emissions are considerably reduced.
(b) If air intake of boiler furnace is adjusted, then excess Fly-ash emissions at power plants
can be reduced.
iii. Modification of Existing Equipment:
Air pollution can be considerably minimized by making suitable modifications in the existing
equipment:
(a) For example, smoke, carbon-monoxide and fumes can be reduced if open hearth furnaces
are replaced with controlled basic oxygen furnaces or electric furnaces.

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 (b) In petroleum refineries, loss of hydrocarbon vapours from storage tanks due to
evaporation, temperature changes or displacement during filling etc. can be reduced by
designing the storage tanks with floating roof covers.
(c) Pressurizing the storage tanks in the above case can also give similar results.
iv. Maintenance of Equipment:
An appreciable amount of pollution is caused due to poor maintenance of the equipment
which includes the leakage around ducts, pipes, valves and pumps etc. Emission of pollutants
due to negligence can be minimized by a routine checkup of the seals and gaskets.
2. Pollution Control Equipment:
Sometimes pollution control at source is not possible by preventing the emission of
pollutants. Then it becomes necessary to install pollution control equipment to remove the
gaseous pollutants from the main gas stream.
The pollutants are present in high concentration at the source and as their distance from
the source increases they become diluted by diffusing with environmental air.
Pollution control equipment’s are generally classified into two types:
(a) Control devices for particulate contaminants.
(b) Control devices for gaseous contaminants.
Control Devices for Particulate Contaminants:
(1) Gravitational Settling Chamber:
For removal of particles exceeding
50 µm in size from polluted gas streams,
gravitational settling chambers are put to
use. This device consists of huge rectangular
chambers. The gas stream polluted with
particulates is allowed to enter from one end.
The horizontal velocity of the gas stream is
kept low (less than 0.3 m/s) in order to give
sufficient time for the particles to settle by gravity. The particulates having higher density obey
Stoke’s law and settle at the bottom of the chamber from where they are removed ultimately. The
several horizontal shelves or trays improve the collection efficiency by shortening the settling
path of the particles.

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(2) Cyclone Separators (Reverse flow Cyclone):
Instead of gravitational force, centrifugal force is utilized by cyclone separators, to
separate the particulate matter from the polluted gas. Centrifugal force, several times greater than
gravitational force, can be generated by a spinning gas stream and this quality makes cyclone
separators more effective in removing much smaller particulates than can possibly be removed
by gravitational settling chambers.
A simple cyclone separator consists of a cylinder
with a conical base. A tangential inlet discharging near
the top and an outlet for discharging the particulates is
present at the base of the cone. The dust laden gas enters
tangentially, receives a rotating motion and generates a
centrifugal force due to which the particulates are
thrown to the cyclone walls as the gas spirals upwards
inside the cone (i.e. flow reverses to form an inner
vortex which leaves flow through the outlet). The
particulates slide down the walls of the cone and are
discharged from the outlet.
(3) Fabric Filters (Baghouse Filters):
In a fabric filter system, a stream of the polluted
gas is made to pass through a fabric that filters out the
particulate pollutant and allows the clear gas to pass
through. The particulate matter is left in the form of a
thin dust mat on the insides of the bag. This dust mat acts
as a filtering medium for further removal of particulates
increasing the efficiency of the filter bag to sieve more
sub micron particles (0.5 µm). A typical filter is a tubular
bag which is closed at the upper end and has a hopper
attached at the lower end to collect the particles when
they are dislodged from the fabric. Many such bags are hung in a baghouse. For efficient
filtration and a longer life the filter bags must be cleaned occasionally by a mechanical shaker to
prevent too many particulate layers from building up on the inside surfaces of the bag.

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(4) Electrostatic Precipitator:
An electrostatic precipitator (ESP) is a particle control device that uses electrical forces to
move the particles out of the flowing gas stream and onto collector electrodes. They range in size
from those installed to clean the flue gases from the largest power plants to those used as small
household air cleaners. The particles are given an electrical charge by forcing them to pass
through a corona, a region in which gaseous ions flow. The electrical field that forces the
charged particles to the walls comes from discharge electrodes maintained at high voltage in the
center of the flow lane.
Once the particles are on the collecting electrodes, they must be removed from the
surface without re-entrained them into the gas stream. This is usually accomplished by knocking
them loose from the plates; allowing the collected layer of particles to slide down into a hopper
from which they are evacuated. Some ESPs remove the particles by intermittent or continuous
washing with water. Precipitators are unique among particulate matter control devices in that the
forces of collection act only on the panicles and not on the entire gaseous stream. This
phenomenon typically results in high collection efficiency (above 99.57%) with a very low gas
pressure drop.

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Types of ESPs

ESPs are configured in several ways. Some of these configurations have been developed
for special control action, and others have evolved for economic reasons. The types that will be
described here are (1) the plate-wire precipitator, the most common variety; (2) the flat plate
precipitator, (3) the tubular precipitator; (4) the wet precipitator, which may have any of the
previous mechanical configurations; and (5) the two-stage precipitator.
A. Plate-Wire Precipitators
Plate-wire ESPs are used in a wide variety of industrial applications, including coal-fired
boilers, cement kilns, solid waste incinerators, paper mill recovery boilers, petroleum refining
catalytic cracking units, sinter plants, basic oxygen furnaces, open hearth furnaces, electric arc
furnaces, coke oven batteries, and glass furnaces. In a plate-wire ESP, gas flows between parallel
plates of sheet metal and high-voltage electrodes. These electrodes are long wires weighted and
hanging between the plates or are supported there by mast-like structures (rigid frames). Within
each flow path, gas flow must pass each wire in sequence as flows through the unit. The plate-
wire ESP allows many flow lanes to operate in parallel, and each lane can be quite tall. As a
result, this type of precipitator is well suited for handling large volumes of gas.
The need for rapping the plates to dislodge the collected material has caused the plate to
be divided into sections, often three or four in series with one another, which can be rapped
independently. Dust also deposits on the discharge electrode wires and must be periodically
removed similarly to the collector plate.
The voltage applied to the electrodes causes the air between the electrodes to break down
electrically, an action known as a “corona.” The electrodes usually are given a negative polarity
because a negative corona supports a higher voltage than a positive corona before sparking
occurs. The ions generated in the corona follow electric field lines from the wires to the
collecting plates. Therefore, each wire establishes a charging zone through which the particles
must pass. Particles passing through the charging zone intercept some of the ions, which become
attached. As the particles pass each successive wire, they are driven closer and closer to the
collecting walls. The turbulence in the gas, however, tends to keep them uniformly mixed with
the gas. The collection process is therefore a competition between the electrical and dispersive
forces. Eventually, the particles approach close enough to the walls so that the turbulence drops
to low levels and the particles are collected.

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 B. Flat Plate Precipitators
A significant number of smaller precipitators use flat plates instead of wires for the high-
voltage electrodes. The flat plates increase the average electric field that can be used to collect
the particles, and they provide an increased surface area for the collection of particles. Corona
cannot be generated on flat plates by themselves, so corona-generating electrodes are placed
ahead of and sometimes behind the flat plate collecting zones. These electrodes may be sharp
pointed needles attached to the edges of the plates or independent corona wires. Unlike place
wire or tubular ESPs, this design operates equally well with either negative or positive polarity.
Flat plate ESPs seem to have wide application for high-resistivity particles with small (1 to 2 μm)
mass median diameters (MMDs). Fly ash has been successfully collected with this type of ESP.
C. Tubular Precipitators
The original ESPs were tubular like the smokestacks they were placed on, with the high
voltage electrode running along the axis of the tube. Tubular precipitators have typical
applications in sulfuric add plants, coke oven by-product gas cleaning (tar removal), and,
recently, iron and steel sinter plants. Such tubular units are still used for some applications, with
many tubes operating in parallel to handle increased gas flows. The tubes may be formed as a
circular, square, or hexagonal honeycomb with gas flowing upwards or downwards. The length
of the tubes can be selected to fit conditions. A tubular ESP can be tightly sealed to prevent leaks
of material, especially valuable or hazardous material. A tubular ESP is essentially a one-stage
unit and is unique in having all the gases pass through the electrode region. The high-voltage
electrode operates at one voltage for the entire length of the tube, and the current varies along
the length as the particles are removed from the system. These ESPs, usually cleaned with water,
have re-entrainment losses of a lower magnitude than do the dry particulate precipitators.
D. Wet Precipitators
Any of the precipitator configurations discussed above may be operated with wet walls
instead of dry. The water flow may be applied intermittently or continuously to wash the
collected particles into a sump for disposal. The advantage of the wet wall precipitator is that it
has no problems with rapping re-entrainment. The disadvantage is the increased complexity of
the wash and the fact that the collected slurry must be handled more carefully than a dry product,
adding to the expense of disposal.

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 E. Two-Stage Precipitators
The previously described precipitators are all parallel in nature, i.e., the discharge and
collecting electrodes are side by side. The two-stage precipitator invented by Penney is a series
device with the discharge electrode, or ionizer, preceding the collector electrodes. For indoor
applications, the unit is operated with positive polarity to limit ozone generation. Advantages of
this configuration include more time for particle charging, less propensity for back corona, and
economical construction for small sizes. This type of precipitator is generally used for gas flow
sources emitting oil mists, smokes, fumes, or other sticky particulates because there is little
electrical force to hold the collected particulates on the plates. Modules consisting of a
mechanical prefilter, ionizer, collecting-plate cell, after-filter, and power pack may be placed in
parallel or series-parallel arrangements. Preconditioning of gases is normally part of the system.
Cleaning may be by water wash of modules removed from the system up to automatic, in-place
detergent spraying of the collector followed by air-blow drying.
Use of Electrostatic Precipitators:
The electrostatic precipitators (ESP) are extensively used in the thermal power plant or
steam power plant for removal of fly ash from the electric utility boiler emissions. The use of
electrostatic precipitators is growing rapidly because of the new strict air code and environmental
laws. Electrostatic precipitators can be designed to operate at any desired efficiency for use as
primary collector or a supplementary unit to cyclone collector. It is often considered worthwhile
to retain an existing cyclone collector as primary collector in the case where the fly-ash
collection efficiencies must be upgraded especially where there is a large amount of unburnt
carbon in the fly-ash because the presence of large quantities of the carbon in the gas can
adversely affect the efficiency of the electrostatic precipitator.
Advantages of Electrostatic Precipitators:
 This is more effective to remove small particles like smoke, mist and fly ash. Its range of
dust removal is sufficiently large. The small dust particles below 10 micron cannot be
removed with the help of mechanical separators and wet scrubbers cannot be used if
sufficient water is not available. Under these circumstances, electrostatic precipitators are
very effective.
 Electrostatic Precipitators (ESP) is also most effective for high dust loaded gas (as high
as 100 grams per cu meter). Its efficiency is as high as 99.5%

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  The maintenance charges are less compared to all other separators
 Ease of operation
 The dust or fly-ash is collected in dry form and can be removed either dry or wet
Disadvantages of Electrostatic Precipitators:
 Considerable electrical equipment is required to convert from AC to DC. This increases
the capital cost of the equipment.
 The running charges are also high as the amount of power required for charging is
considerably high.
 The space required for electrostatic precipitators is larger than wet system.
 The efficiency of the electrostatic precipitators is not maintained if the gas velocity
exceeds that for which the plant is designed. The dust carried with the gases increases
with an increase of gas velocity. The efficiency of electrostatic precipitators decreases
when the gas flow increases
 Because of the closeness of the charged plates and high potential used, it is necessary to
protect the entire collector from sparking by providing a fine mesh before the ionizing
chamber. This is necessary because even a smallest piece of conducting material can
cause sparking when it would be carried across adjacent plates
However, in-spite of the cost, electrostatic precipitators are widely used in pulverized coal fired
thermal power stations for its effectiveness on fine ash particles compared to other methods.
(5) Wet Collectors (Scrubbers):
In wet collectors or scrubbers, the particulate contaminants are removed from the
polluted gas stream by incorporating the particulates into liquid droplets.
(i) Spray Tower:
Water is introduced into a spray tower by
means of a spray nozzle (i.e. there is downward flow of
water). As the polluted gas flows upwards, the
particulates (size exceeding 10 µm) present collide
with the water droplets being sprayed downward from
the spray nozzles. Under the influence of gravitational
force, the liquid droplets containing the particulates
settle to the bottom of the spray tower.

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(ii) Venturi Scrubber:
Submicron particulates (size 0.5 to 5 µm) associated with smoke and fumes are very
effectively removed by the highly efficient Venturi Scrubbers. Venturi Scrubber has a Venturi
shaped throat section. The polluted gas passes downwards through the throat at the velocity of 60
to 180 m/sec.
A coarse water stream is injected
upwards into the throat where it gets atomized
(i.e. breaks the water into droplets) due to the
impact of high velocity of the gas. The liquid
droplets collide with the particulates in the
polluted gas stream.
The particles get entrained in the
droplets and fall down to be removed later on.
Venturi Scrubbers can also remove soluble
gaseous contaminants. Due to the atomization
of water there is proper contact between the
liquid and the gas increasing the efficiency of the Venturi Scrubber (their power cost is high
because of the high inlet gas velocity). To separate the droplets carrying the particulate matter
from the gas stream, this gas-liquid mixture in the Venturi Scrubber is then directed into a
separation device such as a cyclone separator.
(iii) Cyclone Scrubber:
The dry cyclone chamber can be
converted into a wet cyclone scrubber by inserting
high pressure spray nozzles at various places
within the dry chamber. The high pressure spray
nozzles generate a fine spray that intercepts the
small particles in the polluted gas. The centrifugal
force throws these particles towards the wall from
where they are drained downwards to the bottom
of the scrubber.

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Control Devices for Gaseous Contaminants:
(1) Absorption
Absorption is a process where transfer of a gaseous component from gas phase to liquid
phase takes place. More specifically in air pollution control, absorption involves the removal of
objectionable gaseous contaminant from a process stream by dissolving them in liquid. Common
terms used in absorption process are as follows:
A. Absorbent: the liquid, usually water, into which contaminant is absorbed
B. Absorbate or Solute: The gaseous contaminant being absorbed, such as SO2, H2S, etc.
C. Carrier gas: the inert portion of gas stream, usually air, from which the contaminant is to
be removed.
D. Interface: the area where the gas phase and the absorbent contact each other.
E. Solubility: the capability of the gas to be dissolved in a liquid.
Mechanism of Absorption
The gaseous contaminant are removed in absorption process by passing (contacting) a
contaminated laden gas through a liquid. The following three steps occur during this process:
A. The pollutant diffuses from bulk area of the gas phases to the gas liquid interface.
B. Gaseous pollutants transfer across the interface to the liquid phase. This second step is
extremely rapid.
C. The pollutant diffuses bulk area of the liquid, making room for additional gas molecule to
absorb.
Packed Tower: In packed tower the contact time between
vapour and liquid is increased by introducing packing. The
packing material has a large surface to volume ratio and a large
void ratio that offers minimum resistance to gas flow. Generally
packed tower are operated counter currently, with gas entering
at the bottom of tower and liquid entering from the top. Liquid
flows over the surface of the packing in a thin film causing
continuous contact with the gases. Packed towers are highly
efficient but they become easily clogged when gas with high
particulate loads are introduced.

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(2) Adsorption
In adsorption process the contaminant removal is done by passing a stream of effluent gas
through a pours solid material (adsorbent) contained in adsorption bed. The surface of porous
solid material attracts and holds the gas (the adsorbate) by either by physical or chemical
adsorption. The basic difference between physical and chemical adsorption is the manner in
which the gas molecule is bonded to the adsorbent.
Salient Features of Adsorption Process
(1) Adsorption processes are used extensively on large-scale applications having solvent
vapour concentrations in the range of 10 to 10,000 ppm.
(2) Prior to becoming saturated with the solvents, the adsorbent is isolated from the gas
stream and treated to drive the solvent compounds out of the solid adsorbent and into a
small volume, high concentration gas stream.
(3) The desorbed gas stream is then treated to recover and reuse the solvents.
(4) The adsorbent is cooled (if necessary) and returned to adsorption service.
(5) Because the adsorbent is treated and placed back in service, these adsorption processes
are termed regenerative.
(6) Adsorption processes usually operate at efficiencies of 90% to 98% over long time
periods.
Steps in Adsorption Process
Adsorption occurs in three steps
1. The contaminant diffuses from the bulk gas stream to the external surface of the
adsorbent material.
2. The contaminant molecule migrate external surface to the macropores, transitional pores,
and micropores within each adsorbent.
3. The contaminant molecule adheres to the surface in the pore. Following figure illustrates
this overall diffusion and adsorption process.

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(3) Condensation
 Condensation is the process of converting a gas or vapor to liquid. Any gas can be
reduced to a liquid by lowering its temperature and/or increasing its pressure.
 Condensers are typically used as pretreatment devices. They can be used ahead of
absorbers, adsorbers, and incinerators to reduce the total gas volume to be treated by
more expensive control equipment.
 Condensers used for pollution control are contact condensers and surface condensers.
• In a contact condenser, the gas comes into contact with cold liquid.
• In a surface condenser, the gas contacts a cooled surface in which cooled liquid or gas is
circulated, such as the outside of the tube.
• Removal efficiencies of condensers typically range from 50 percent to more than 95
percent, depending on design and applications.

Contact condenser Surface condenser

(4) Incineration
Incineration, also known as combustion, is most used to control the emissions of volatile
organic compounds from process industries. This control technique refers to the rapid oxidation
of a substance through the combination of oxygen with a combustible material in the presence of
heat. When combustion is complete, the gaseous stream is converted to carbon dioxide and water
vapor.
1. Direct combustor is a device in which air and all the combustible waste gases react at
the burner. Complete combustion must occur instantaneously since there is no residence
chamber. A flare can be used to control almost any emission stream containing volatile

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 organic compounds. Studies conducted by EPA have shown that the destruction
efficiency of a flare is about 98 percent.

2. In thermal incinerators the combustible waste gases pass over or around a burner flame
into a residence chamber where oxidation of the waste gases is completed. Thermal
incinerators can destroy gaseous pollutants at efficiencies of greater than 99 percent when
operated correctly.
3. Catalytic incinerators are very similar to thermal incinerators. The main difference is
that after passing through the flame area, the gases pass over a catalyst bed. A catalyst
promotes oxidation at lower temperatures, thereby reducing fuel costs. Destruction
efficiencies greater than 95 percent are possible using a catalytic incinerator.

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3. Diffusion of Pollutants in Air
Dilution of the contaminants in the atmosphere is another approach to the control of air
pollution. If the pollution source releases only a small quantity of the contaminants then
pollution is not noticeable as these pollutants easily diffuse into the atmosphere but if the
quantity of air contaminants is beyond the limited capacity of the environment to absorb the
contaminants then pollution is caused.
However, dilution of the contaminants in the atmosphere can be accomplished through
the use of tall stacks which penetrate the upper atmospheric layers and disperse the contaminants
so that the ground level pollution is greatly reduced. The height of the stacks is usually kept 2
times the height of nearby structures.
Dilution of pollutants in air depends on atmospheric temperature, speed and direction of
the wind. The disadvantage of the method is that it is a short term contact measure which in
reality brings about highly undesirable long range effects. This is so because dilution only dilutes
the contaminants to levels at which their harmful effects are less noticeable near their original
source whereas at a considerable distance from the source these very contaminants eventually
come down in some form or another.
4. Vegetation
Plants contribute towards controlling air-pollution by utilizing carbon dioxide and
releasing oxygen in the process of photosynthesis. This purifies the air (removal of gaseous
pollutant CO2) for the respiration of men and animals. Gaseous pollutants like carbon monoxide
are fixed by some plants, namely, Coleus Blumeri, Ficus variegata and Phascolus Vulgaris.
Species of Pinus, Quercus, Pyrus, Juniperus and Vitis depollute the air by metabolising nitrogen
oxides. Plenty of trees should be planted especially around those areas which are declared as
high-risk areas of pollution.
5. Zoning:
Zoning advocates setting aside of separate areas for industries so that they are far
removed from the residential areas. The heavy industries should not be located too close to each
other. New industries, as far as possible, should be established away from larger cities and the
locational decisions of large industries should be guided by regional planning. The industrial
estate of Bangalore is divided into three zones namely light, medium and large industries. In
Bangalore and Delhi very large industries are not permitted.

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