This presentation would offer an insight into air pollution and the relevance to talk about it in present scenario.

1. AIR POLLUTION
Presented by
Shumaila Taskeen

2. Air pollution: Introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other
living organisms, or damages the natural environment, into the atmosphere.
Pollutant: a substance in the air that can cause harm to humans and the environment. They can be solid, liquid droplets or gases,
natural or man-made.
Classification of pollutant
Primary air pollutant
Secondary air
pollutant
Terminology

3. Air Pollutants and types
 Primary pollutants  emitted directly into environment from the sources (volcanic eruption, vehicular exhausts, factories, coal
power plants, biomass burning, forest fires)
 Eg. SOx, NOx(brown haze/plume), Carbon monoxide, Carbon dioxide, VOC’s, P.M, toxic metals (Cd, As, Cu), CFC’s, Ammonia,
Radioactive pollutants.
 Secondary pollutants  not emitted directly, formed when primary pollutants react or interact. Eg. Ground level ozone, Smog,
Peroxyacetyl nitrate
 Pollutants may be both primary and secondary NOx emitted from vehicles, power plants and can be formed in the atmosphere
form other chemicals.

4. Sources of primary air pollutants

5. Primary pollutants, sources & impact on human health

7. Volatile Organic Compound (VOC)
 Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) - emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids.
 Concentrations of many VOCs are consistently higher indoors (up to ten times higher) than
outdoors.
 Sources -paints, paint strippers, wood preservatives, aerosol sprays, cleansers and disinfectants, moth
repellents and air fresheners, stored fuels and automotive products, hobby supplies, dry-cleaned
clothing, pesticide, building materials, copiers and printers, correction fluids, glues, permanent
markers & photographic solutions.
 Immediate symptoms: Eye and respiratory tract irritation, headache, dizziness, visual disorders and
memory impairment

8.  Minimum exposure to emissions from products
containing methylene chloride  paint strippers,
adhesive removers and aerosol spray paints.
 Causes cancer in animals.
 Converted to carbon monoxide in body
cause symptoms associated with exposure to
CO.
 Minimum exposure to benzene: carcinogen
 Eliminate smoking within home, maximum
ventilation while painting
 Minimum exposure to perchloroethylene (perc)
emissions from newly dry-cleaned materials: most
widely used in dry cleaning
 Causes cancer in animals.

9. Particulate Matter

10. Contributors of Particulate Matter

12. Source: Berkeley Earth
Oct, 2018
March 21, 2019

13. Global map of mean annual exposure of PM2.5 (μg/m𝟑)

14.  Synonym: Tropospheric ozone
 Tropospheric ozone- direct greenhouse gas
 Is only about 10% of the total amount of ozone
contained in a vertical column in atmosphere 
important in the formation of photochemical air
pollution
 Formed due to reaction of Nox, CO & VOCs in
presence of sunlight.
 Ozone abundances in the troposphere typically vary
from less than 10 ppb over remote tropical oceans up to
about 100 ppb in the upper troposphere, and often
exceed 100 ppb downwind of polluted metropolitan
regions (IPCC, 2001)
Secondary air pollutant: Ground level ozone (03)
Photochemical ozone formation in the troposphere

15. Photochemical smog

16.  Smoke+ Fog
 Traditionally resulted from excessive coal burning and
formed as a mixture of smoke & SO2.
 Nowadays, vehicular & industrial emission is the important
source.
 Great Smog of London 1952 worst air-pollution event in
the history of the United Kingdom.
 Took toll of approx. 4000 people where more than 10000
were critically ill.
 It led to several changes in practices and regulations,
including the Clean Air Act 1956. which banned the use of
coal for domestic fires in some urban areas.
Smog

18. Acid
precipitation
Acid
SnowRain
Concept of Air Pollution

20. Air pollution kills 7
million people
worldwide every
year
WHO say on Air Pollution????

21. Air
pollution
Global warming
Acid Rain
Respiratory & CV Diseases
Eutrophication
Effects of Air pollution

22. Air Quality Index
 AQI is used by government agencies to communicate to the public
how polluted the air currently is or how polluted it is forecast to
become.
 As the AQI increases, an increasingly large percentage of the
population is likely to experience increasingly severe adverse health
effects.
 Different countries have their own air quality indices viz., Air Quality
Health Index (Canada), the Air Pollution Index (Malaysia), and
the Pollutant Standards Index (Singapore)
 The National Air Quality Index (AQI) launched in New Delhi on
September 17, 2014 under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

23. Scenario of Air Pollution in India
Source: Nirvana Being, 2018

25. Source: Times of India, Dec 2018

27. Pollution control devices
 Mechanical collectors ( dust cyclones)
 Electrostatic precipitators
 Baghouses
1. Particulate control:
 Low Nox burners
 Selective catalytic reduction
 Catalytic converter
 Adsorption system
 Biofilters
 Thermal oxidizers
2. Nox control
3. VOC abatement:

28. Chronology of Regulations Governing the Control of
Air Pollution
 Air pollution control act 1955- 1rst law made for combatting air pollution, Identified air pollution as a problem
 Mandate- research & technical assistance to combat pollution and public awareness
 Factory act 1948, amendment 1987- 1rst to express concern over working environment of workers
 Air (Prevention and control of pollution) act 1981- entrusts the power of control of air pollution to Central
Pollution Control Board (CPCB)
 Air (Prevention and control of pollution) rules 1982- defines procedures of meetings of boards and the powers
entrusted on them.
 Environment Protection Act 1986- establishment of environmental laws,criminal jurisdiction.

29. Odd-even
rule in
Delhi

31. National Clean Air Program (NCAP)
 Crux -‘’Collaborative and participatory approach involving relevant Central Ministries, State Governments, local bodies
and other Stakeholders with focus on all sources of pollution’’
 Tentative national level target of 20%–30% reduction of PM2.5 and PM10 concentration by 2024, taking 2017 as the
base year for the comparison of concentration.
 Overall Objective  comprehensive mitigation actions for prevention, control and abatement of air pollution
besides augmenting the air quality monitoring network across the country and strengthening the awareness and
capacity building activities.”
 The NCAP will be a mid-term, five-year action plan with 2019 as the first year.
 Launched on 10 January, 2019 by Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan in New
Delhi.