A Presentation

on
Black Carbon Pollution

By:
Group 1
12MEE0001,02,03,19

Introduction

Black carbon pollution is a form of particulate air

pollution most often produced from biomass
burning, cooking with solid fuels and diesel
exhaust, which contributes to the warming effect in
the atmosphere three to four times greater than
prevailing estimates.
It is a climate forcing agent that are formed due to
the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, bio-fuels
and biomass and is emitted in both anthropogenic
and naturally occurring soot.

Contd..

Emissions from black carbon mixed with methane is the second

largest contributor to global warming after CO2 emissions.

Reducing black carbon could help keep the climate system from
passing the tipping points for abrupt climate changes, including
significant sea-level rise from the disintegration of the Greenland
and Antarctic ice sheets as well it is required for reducing health
problems related to black carbon emissions.

Black Carbon Emissions

Direct warming effects
absorbs incoming solar radiation in
The atmosphere & converts it to
heat radiation.

Indirect Warming Effects

reducing the reflectivity of
snow and ice.

Contd..

the atmospheric residence time for black carbon

emissions from different regions varies between
4.6 to 7.3 days.

Due to its short atmospheric life span, decreasing

its presence offers an opportunity to reduce the
effects of global warming as quickly as possible,
may be within weeks.

Soots??

impure carbon particles that are resulting from the

incomplete combustion of a hydrocarbon.

It is more properly restricted to the product of the gasphase combustion process.

it is commonly extended to include the residual

pyrolyzed fuel particles such as coal, cenospheres,
charred wood, petroleum coke, and so on, that may
become airborne during pyrolysis and that are more
properly identified as cokes or chars.

Factors..

Diesel engines.
- used in transportation and industries.
Residential cooking and heating stoves.
- wood, coal and charcoal.
Open forest and savanna burning.
- both natural and man made.
Industrial processes.
- small boilers, industrial smokestacks

10%
24%

42%
24%

(Tami Bond, 2007)

Again..
Approximately 20% of black carbon is emitted from burning
biofuels, 40% from fossil fuels, and 40% from open biomass
Burning (Ramanathan, 2008).

Effects
climatic and Environmental
Black carbon emissions directly absorb energy when suspended in the
atmosphere and When deposited on high albedo surfaces like ice and
snow, they cause melting that over long periods of time reduces the total
surface albedo available to reflect solar energy back into space.
indirectly cause changes in the absorption or reflection of solar radiation
through changes in the properties and behavior of clouds.
Through changes in the Radiative Energy Balance of the climate system,
BC causes temperature changes in the atmosphere.
Due to BC emissions on the combined direct and indirect snow albedo, it
is the third largest contributor to globally averaged positive radiative
forcing since the pre-industrial period and contributed to the second
largest globally averaged radiative forcing after carbon dioxide (CO 2).

Component

IPCC (2007)

Hansen, et
al. (2005)

CO2

1.66

1.50

Black Carbon

0.05-0.55

0.8

CH4

0.48

0.55

Tropospheric
Ozone

0.35

0.40

Halocarbons

0.34

0.30

N2O

0.16

0.15

A power plant industry in

Afganisthan emitting much
amount of Black Carbon

Estimated Climate
Forcings (W/m2)

Effects on humans..

Black carbon is a form of particulate

matter, which is linked to premature
mortality and disability.

Chronic Respiratory and Pulmonary

Diseases.

Case studies..
1. Effects of Black Carbon Emissions on Arctic
ice and Himalayan glaciers.

The presence of black carbon over highly reflective surfaces such as

snow and ice or clouds, may cause a significant positive radiative
forcing and emissions from biomass burning, which usually have a
negative forcing have a positive forcing over snow fields in areas such
as the Himalayas.
The climate forcing due to snow/ice albedo change is of the order of 1.0
W/m2 at middle and high-latitude land areas in the Northern
Hemisphere and over the Arctic Ocean.
The deposition of Soot increases surface melt on ice masses and the
melt water spurs multiple radiative and dynamical feedback processes
that accelerate ice disintegration, as a result BC on snow warms the
planet about three times more than an equal forcing of CO 2.

Contd..

Warmer air resulting from the presence of black carbon in South and
East Asia over the Himalayas contributes to a warming of approximately
0.6 C.
Snow sampling at Mt. Everest (Himalayas) suggested that BC deposited
in some Himalayan glaciers may reduce the surface albedo by 0.01-0.02.
There was an analysis of the temperature trends on the Tibetan side of
the Himalayas which revealed that there was a warming in excess of 1
C.
BC recorded on a shallow ice core drilled from the East Rongbuk glacier
showed a dramatic increasing trend of BC concentrations in the ice
stratigraphy since the 1990s, and simulated average radiative forcing
caused by BC was nearly 2 W/m 2 in 2002.
This is the causing factor for the accelerating retreat of Himalayan
glaciers.
Darkening trends were seen in the mid-Himalaya glaciers since 2000,
due to deposition of black carbon and light absorbing impurities like dust
in the springtime

2. Effects of Black Carbon Aerosols in

China and India

The Tianjin steel Plant at

Hebei Province, China

Recent studies shows that there has been a tendency toward increased
summer floods in south China, increased drought in north China and
moderate cooling in China and India while most of the world
has been warming.

Contd

a global climate model was used to investigate possible

aerosol contributions to these trends. It was founded that
precipitation and temperature changes in the model that
were comparable to those observed if the aerosols
included a large proportion of absorbing black carbon
(soot).
Absorbing aerosols heat the air, alter regional
atmospheric stability and vertical motions, and affect the
large-scale circulation and hydrologic cycle with
significant regional climate effects

Brown clouds over South Asia.

Brown Smog over a
water body..

Tiny particles of the brown cloud

Control technologies.

Regulatory approaches are required in order to nudge either the

transition to existing technology or the development of new technology.
Reducing black carbon emissions through reduced diesel and other
fossil fuel usage. Using CNG instead of Diesel.
Converting vehicles from fossil fuel to electric, plug-in-hybrid, or
hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
Using more efficient Diesel Particulate Filters(DPFs) or traps which
can effectively eliminate over 90% of black carbon emissions. This
uses Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel Fuel (ULSD).
At ship Ports, by decreasing the amount of fuel the ships use. By
traveling at slower speeds or by using shore side electricity when at
port instead of running the ships diesel engines for electric power.
By providing alternative energy-efficient and smoke-free cookers and
introducing transferring technology for reducing soot emissions from
coal combustion in small industries.

Policy options for reducing Black Carbon

Pollution
Banning or regulating slash and burn clearing of forests and savannas.

Requiring shore-based power/electrification of ships at port, regulating

idling at terminals and mandating fuel standards for ships seeking to
dock at port.
Requiring regular vehicle emissions tests, retirement or retrofitting (e.g.
Adding particulate traps), including penalties for failing to meet air
quality emissions standards and heightened penalties for on-the-road
super-emitting vehicles
Banning or regulating the sale of certain fuels or requiring the use of
cleaner fuels for certain uses.
Limiting the use of chimneys and other forms of biomass burning in
urban and non-urban areas.
Requiring permits to operate industrial, power generating and oil
refining facilities and periodic permit renewal or modification of
equipment.
Requiring filtering technology and high-temperature combustion (e.g.
Super-critical coal).

References

V. Ramanathan and G. Carmichael, Global and regional climate changes

due to black carbon, 1 Nature Geoscience , 221-22, 2008.
Tami Bond, Testimony for the Hearing on Black Carbon and Climate
Change, U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 23, October 18, 2007.
Seinfeld, John H, Pandis, Spyros N. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
- From Air Pollution to Climate Change (2nd Edition) John Wiley & Sons,
IPCC, Changes in Atmospheric Constituents and in Radiative Forcing in
climate change 2007, 129-132, 2007.
Timothy Lenton, Hermann Held, Elmar Kriegler, Jim Hall, Wolfgang Lucht,
Stefan Rahmstorf, and Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Tipping elements in
the Earths climate system, 2008.
www.google.com
J. Hansen, et al., Efficacy of Climate Forcing, 110 J. GEOPHYS. RES.
D18104, 1,2005.

Thank you