Air pollution is one of the main environmental issues nowadays.

There are many reasons behind

regularly increasing this air pollution. Most of the air pollution is caused by the automobiles, transport
means, industrialization, growing cities, etc. The release of several harmful gases or dangerous elements
from such sources is causing the whole atmospheric air pollution. Ozone layer is also getting affected too
much by the air pollution which causes serious disturbances to the environment. Increasing need of the
ever growing human population is main cause of pollution. Daily human being activities causing
dangerous chemicals to release, making atmosphere dirtier than ever and forcing the climate change
negatively.

Industrialization process releases many harmful gases, particles, paint and batteries contains lead,
cigarettes releases carbon monoxide, transport means releases CO2 and other toxic substances to the
atmosphere. All the pollutants are being in contact with the atmosphere, destroying the ozone layer and
calling harmful rays of sun to the earth. In order to reduce the level of air pollution we should bring some
huge changes to our habits on daily basis. We should not cut trees, use public transportation, avoid spray
cans, and so many activities in the favor to reduce the effects of air pollution
1. Indoor pollution
It is the pollution of air caused by the introduction of materials from smoking and burning fossil
fuels such as kerosene, petroleum and coal indoors. Fuels are burned indoors for cooking and
cooling or heating purposes. Chemicals from cleaning products, wall paints, pesticides and air
fresheners also contribute to indoor air pollution.
One half of the population in the world or 80% of the population in South Asia and Africa is
affected by indoor air pollution from burning of coal and biomass. It is assumed that indoor air
pollution is much worse than pollution outdoors.

2. Outdoor pollution
The levels of outdoor air pollution reach their peak in developing countries, most of them from
Asia. The air outside is polluted mainly from vehicle exhaust and emissions from industries.
Several pollutants are mixed in the air and a large portion of the world population is regularly
exposed to harmful air quality.

Air pollution can also be divided into other types. According to the American Lung
Association, the two major types of air pollution which harm human health are

Smog
Smog is the mixture of two components; smoke and fog. The term was introduced first in mid-
20th century in London.

Its primary component is harmful ozone found at ground level. Smog is formed as a result of
complex photochemical reactions that involve nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds.
Smog causing pollutants are found in sources like exhaust from vehicles, fumes from power
plants and solvents.

Smog can cause several health problems like breathing problems, decrease in resistance to
colds and infections, irritation of eyes and throat, asthma etc.

Particle pollution
Particle pollution is also a serious issue in the world. It is widespread in cities and urban areas.
This kind of pollution is caused due to the exhaust from burning diesel fuels in heavy
transportation, burning of fuels in power plants and burning wood. It has been known to
increase problems of heart diseases, cancer of the lungs, coughs and asthma.

Other types of air pollution are

Greenhouse effect
Greenhouse gases are responsible for the trapping of heat in the earth atmosphere which results
in the warming of the planet. These gases are increased significantly because of human
activities such as exhaust from vehicles and industries, agriculture and generation of electricity.
Rise in greenhouse gas emissions help in the increase of global temperature.

Natural air pollution

It is the air pollution caused by natural causes. Sometimes nature is also responsible for
polluting the air. Volcanic eruptions, radioactive decay and forest fires are natural causes

.
Air Pollution Causes
Air pollution may be caused by various processes, either natural or anthropogenic
(man-made). Some of them leave evident traces in the air; others can go unnoticed
unless specific tests are conducted - or until you become ill from their effects.
Natural Causes
 Volcanic activities – volcanic eruptions emit a series of toxic gases
(including sulfur and chlorine) as well as particulate matter (ash particles) but
are usually restricted to localized areas;
 Winds and air currents – can mobilize pollutants from the ground and
transport them over large areas;
 Wildfires – add carbon monoxide, as well as particulate matter, to the
atmosphere (containing organic contaminants such as PAHs); could affect
significant areas, although in general they are restricted and may be
contained;
 Microbial decaying processes – microorganisms which are present in any
environment have a major role in natural decaying processes of living
organisms as well as environmental contaminants; this activity results in the
natural release of gases especially methane gas;
 Radioactive decay processes – for example, radon gas is emitted due to
natural decay processes of Earth’s crust which has potential to accumulate in
enclosed spaces such as basements;
 Increasing temperatures – contribute to an increase in the amounts of
contaminants volatilizing from polluted soil and water into the air.
Anthropogenic Causes
 Mining and smelting – emit into the air a variety of metals adsorbed on
particulate matter that is suspended in the air due to crushing & processing of
mineralogical deposits;
 Mine tailing disposal – due to their fine particulate nature (resulting after
crushing and processing mineral ores) constitute a source of metals to
ambient air which could be spread by the wind over large areas;
 Foundry activities – emit into the air a variety of metals absorbed on
particulate matter that is suspended in the air due to processing of metallic
raw materials (including the use of furnaces);

 Various industrial processes may emit both organic and inorganic

contaminants through accidental spills and leaks of stored chemicals or the
handling and storage of chemicals – especially of volatile inorganic chemicals
 Transportation – emits a series of air pollutants (gases – including carbon
monoxide, sulfur oxides, and nitrogen oxides - and particulate matter) through
the tailpipe gases due to internal combustion of various fuels (usually gasses
such as oxides of carbons, of sulfur, of nitrogen, as well as organic chemicals
as PAHs)
 Construction and Demolition activities – pollute the air with various
construction materials. Of special threat is the demolition of old buildings
which may contain a series of banned chemicals such as PCBs, PBDEs,
asbestos.
 Coal Power Plants – when burning coal this may emit a series of gases as
well as particulate matter with metals (such as As, Pb, Hg) and organic
compounds (especially PAHs);
 Heating of buildings – emits a series of gases and particulate matters due to
burning fossil fuels;
 Waste Incineration – depending on waste composition, various toxic gases,
and particulate matter is emitted into the atmosphere;
 Landfill disposal practices – usually generate methane due to the
intensification of natural microbial decaying activity in the disposal area;
 Agriculture – pollute the air usually through emissions of ammonia gas and
the application of pesticides/herbicides/insecticides which contain toxic
volatile organic compounds;
 Control burning in forest and agriculture management – includes
controlled burning that will emit gases and particulate matter (similar to
wildfires described above)
 Military activities – may introduce toxic gases through practices and training;
 Air pollutants
Potentially, air pollutants can be found in air anywhere - outdoors and indoors. Air
pollutants can be divided into three groups:

 Criteria pollutants

 Air toxics

 Biological pollutants
 Criteria pollutants
'Criteria air pollutants' is a term used internationally to describe air pollutants that have
been regulated and are used as indicators of air quality. The regulations or standards are
based on criteria that relate to health and/or environmental effects. One key feature of
criteria air pollutants is that they are generally widely distributed across the country.

Australia has set national standards for six criteria air pollutants in outdoor (or ambient)
air: carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, particles and sulfur dioxide. A
Factsheet is available for each of these air pollutants:

 Carbon monoxide

 Lead

 Nitrogen dioxide

 Ozone

 Particles

 Sulfur dioxide
Air toxics
Air toxics are sometimes referred to as 'hazardous air pollutants'. The Living Cities-Air
Toxics Program defines air toxics as 'gaseous, aerosol or particulate pollutants that are
present in the air in low concentrations with characteristics such as toxicity or persistence
so as to be a hazard to human, plant or animal life'. See factsheet on Air Toxics.
Sources of air toxics include motor vehicle emissions, solid fuel combustion, industrial
emissions, and materials such as paints and adhesives in new buildings.
Air toxics have the potential to cause serious harm to human health and/or the
environment. For this reason, the Commonwealth, States and Territories have been
working together to assess the risks posed by these pollutants. The Living Cities: Air Toxics
Program, which concluded in June 2003, was established by the Australian Government to
focus attention on this area.

Biological pollutants
'Biological pollutants' are another class of pollutants. They arise from sources such as
microbiological contamination, eg moulds, the skin of animals and humans and the
remains and dropping of pests such as cockroaches. Biological pollutants can be airborne
and can have a significant impact on indoor air quality.
Acidification:
Chemical reactions involving air pollutants can create acidic compounds which can
cause harm to vegetation and buildings. Sometimes, when an air pollutant, such as
sulfuric acid combines with the water droplets that make up clouds, the water droplets
become acidic, forming acid rain. When acid rain falls over an area, it can kill trees
and harm animals, fish, and other wildlife.

Acid rain destroys the leaves of plants.

When acid rain infiltrates into soils, it changes the chemistry of the soil making it unfit
for many living things that depend on the soil as a habitat or for nutrition. Acid rain
also changes the chemistry of the lakes and streams that the rainwater flows into,
harming fish and other aquatic life.

Eutrophication:
Rain can carry and deposit the Nitrogen in some pollutants on rivers and soils. This
will adversely affect the nutrients in the soil and water bodies. This can result in
algae growth in lakes and water bodies, and make conditions for other living
organisms harmful.

Ground-level ozone:
Chemical reactions involving air pollutants create a poisonous gas ozone (O3). Gas
Ozone can affect people’s health and can damage vegetation types and some animal
life too.

Particulate matter:
Air pollutants can be in the form of particulate matter which can be very harmful to
our health. The level of effect usually depends on the length of time of exposure, as
well the kind and concentration of chemicals and particles exposed to. Short-term
effects include irritation to the eyes, nose and throat, and upper respiratory
infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia. Others include headaches, nausea, and
allergic reactions. Short-term air pollution can aggravate the medical conditions of
individuals with asthma and emphysema. Long-term health effects can include
chronic respiratory disease, lung cancer, heart disease, and even damage to the
brain, nerves, liver, or kidneys. Continual exposure to air pollution affects the lungs
of growing children and may aggravate or complicate medical conditions in the
elderly

Air pollution prevention, monitoring and solution.

Solution efforts on pollution is always a big problem. This is why prevention

interventions are always a better way of controlling air pollution. These prevention
methods can either come from government (laws) or by individual actions. In many
big cities, monitoring equipment has been installed at many points in the city.
Authorities read them regularly to check the quality of air. Let's see more below:

Government (or community) level prevention

Governments throughout the world have already taken action against air pollution
by introducing green energy. Some governments are investing in wind
energy and solar energy, as well as other renewable energy, to minimize burning
the of fossil fuels, which cause heavy air pollution.

Governments are also forcing companies to be more responsible in their

manufacturing activities, so that even though they still cause pollution, they are a lot
controlled.

Car manufacturing companies are also building more energy efficient cars, which
pollute less than before.
Individual Level Prevention
Encourage your family to use the bus, train or bike when commuting. If we all do
this, there will be fewer cars on the road and less fumes produced.

Use energy (light, water, boiler, kettle and fire woods) wisely. This is because lots
of fossil fuels are burned to generate electricity, and so if we can cut down the use,
we will also cut down on the amount of pollution we create.

Recycle and re-use things. This will minimize the dependence of producing new
things. Remember manufacturing industries create a lot of pollution, so if we can re-
use things like shopping plastic bags, clothing, paper and bottles, it can help.

HOW TO REDUCE AIR POLLUTION

FROM DOMESTIC POLLUTION

1- A solar cooker is a device which uses the energy of direct sunlight to heat, cook or pasteurise
drink. Many solar cookers currently in use are relatively inexpensive, low-tech devices, although
some are as powerful or as expensive as traditional stoves,[1] and advanced, large-scale solar cookers
can cook for hundreds of people.[2] Because they use no fuel and cost nothing to operate, many
nonprofit organizations are promoting their use worldwide in order to help reduce fuel costs
(especially where monetary reciprocity is low) and air pollution, and to slow down the deforestation
and desertification caused by gathering firewood for cooking.

PARDHAN MANTRI UJJAWALA SHEME

-Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana is a scheme of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural
Gas for providing LPG connections to women from Below Poverty Line (BPL)
households.In India, the poor have limited access to cooking gas (LPG). The spread
of LPG cylinders has been predominantly in the urban and semi-urban areas with the
coverage mostly in middle class and affluent households. But there are serious
health hazards associated with cooking based on fossil fuels. According to WHO
estimates, about 5 lakh deaths in India alone due to unclean cooking fuels. Most of
these premature deaths were due to non-communicable diseases such as heart
disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer. Indoor air
pollution is also responsible for a significant number of acute respiratory illnesses in
young children. According to experts, having an open fire in the kitchen is like
burning 400 cigarettes an hour.

Providing LPG connections to BPL households will ensure universal coverage of

cooking gas in the country. This measure will empower women and protect their
health. It will reduce drudgery and the time spent on cooking. It will also provide
employment for rural youth in the supply chain of cooking gas.Under the scheme,
five crore LPG connections are to be provided to BPL households. The identification
of eligible BPL families will be made in consultation with the State Governments and
the Union Territories.BPL is a person/ household who suffers from at least one
deprivation under the Socio-Economic Caste census (SECC) - 2011 Database.While
the selection of beneficiaries would be from the BPL families only, preference would
be given to SC/ST and weaker sections of society. While providing the new
connections to BPL households, priority would be given to the States which have
lower LPG coverage (compared to the national average) as on 1st Jan, 2016.
2-Biogas plant is a combination of digester and gas holder either a single chamber or separate
chambers depending upon the design of the plant. There should be an inlet portion in the
digester for the input of organic matter and an out let portion for discharging the treated organic
materials from the digester. The fermentation process takes place in the digester portion of the
plant. Single stage or multi stage digestion facilities have been incorporated with each biogas
plant based on the design. The biogas produced will be collected in the gas collector portion of
the plant.

Reducing air pollution by industries

1-An electrostatic precipitator is a type of filter that uses static electricity to remove soot and ash
from exhaust fumes before they exit the smokestacks.[2] This one common air pollution control
device. Most power stations burn fossil fuels such as coal or oil to generate electricity for use. When
these fuels undergo combustion, smoke is produced.[3] Smoke consists of tiny particles of soot that
are suspended in hot, rising air. These unburned particles of carbon are pulled out of the smoke by
using static electricity in the precipitators, leaving clean, hot air to escape the smokestacks.[2] It is
vital to remove this unreacted carbon from the smoke, as it can damage buildings and harm human
health - especially respiratory health.

2- Wet scrubbers are effective air pollution control devices for removing particles and/or
gases from industrial exhaust streams. A wet scrubber operates by introducing the dirty gas
stream with a scrubbing liquid – typically water. Particulate or gases are collected in the
scrubbing liquid. Wet scrubbers are generally the most appropriate air pollution control
device for collecting both particulate and gas in a single system.

3- Fabric filters, also commonly referred to as bag houses, are used in many industrial
applications. They operate similar to a vacuum cleaner. The Dust-laden gases pass through
fabric bags where the particulates are trapped on the fabric surface.

After enough dust layer is built up on the filters (which indicated by buildup in pressure across the
fabric) it is then periodically removed by blowing high pressure (compressed) air back through
the fabric, reversing the flow of gases, or shaking the fabric.

Dust from the fabric then falls to a collection hopper from which it is removed periodically. The
layer of dust accumulating on the bag is usually referred to as the dust cake. Fabric filters, collect
particles with sizes ranging from sub micron to several hundred microns in diameter at
efficiencies generally in the range of 99 or 99.9 percent.
REDUCING AIR POLLUTION DISCHARGE BY VEHICLES

1- A catalytic converter is an exhaust emission control device that converts toxic gases
and pollutants in exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine into less-toxic
pollutants by catalyzing a redox reaction (an oxidation and a reduction reaction).
Catalytic converters are usually used with internal combustion engines fueled by
either gasoline or diesel—including lean-burn engines as well as kerosene heaters and
stoves.

The first widespread introduction of catalytic converters was in the United States automobile
market. To comply with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's stricter regulation of
exhaust emissions, most gasoline-powered vehicles starting with the 1975 model year must
be equipped with catalytic converters.[1][2][3][4] These "two-way" converters combine oxygen
with carbon monoxide (CO) and unburned hydrocarbons (HC) to produce carbon dioxide
(CO2) and water (H2O). In 1981, two-way catalytic converters were rendered obsolete by
"three-way" converters that also reduce oxides of nitrogen (NOx);[1] however, two-way
converters are still used for lean-burn engines. This is because three-way-converters require
either rich or stoichiometric combustion to successfully reduce NOx.

Although catalytic converters are most commonly applied to exhaust systems in automobiles,
they are also used on electrical generators, forklifts, mining equipment, trucks, buses,
locomotives, and motorcycles. They are also used on some wood stoves to control
emissions.[5] This is usually in response to government regulation, either through direct
environmental regulation or through health and safety regulations

2 -A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the
piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full
travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either direction. The four separate strokes are termed:

1. Intake: also known as induction or suction. This stroke of the piston begins at top
dead center (T.D.C.) and ends at bottom dead center (B.D.C.). In this stroke the intake
valve must be in the open position while the piston pulls an air-fuel mixture into the
cylinder by producing vacuum pressure into the cylinder through its downward
 motion. The piston is moving down as air is being sucked in by the downward motion
against the piston
2. Compression: This stroke begins at B.D.C, or just at the end of the suction stroke, and
ends at T.D.C. In this stroke the piston compresses the air-fuel mixture in preparation
for ignition during the power stroke (below). Both the intake and exhaust valves are
closed during this stage.
3. Combustion: also known as power or ignition This is the start of the second revolution
of the four stroke cycle. At this point the crankshaft has completed a full 360 degree
revolution. While the piston is at T.D.C. (the end of the compression stroke) the
compressed air-fuel mixture is ignited by a spark plug (in a gasoline engine) or by
heat generated by high compression (diesel engines), forcefully returning the piston to
B.D.C. This stroke produces mechanical work from the engine to turn the crankshaft.
4. Exhaust: also known as outlet. During the exhaust stroke, the piston once again
returns from B.D.C. to T.D.C. while the exhaust valve is open. This action expels the
spent air-fuel mixture through the exhaust valve.

TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT TO CONTROL AIR POLLUTION

Hundreds of vehicles caught for several minutes in every signal and traffic bottleneck pollute the air
by spewing smoke. Better traffic management and redesigning of road may reduce this air pollution
in the city, said experts. If a seamless traffic is ensured, effectively reducing the time taken by a
vehicle to reach the destination, air pollution will come down.Various international surveys have
pointed out that commuters spend 2% of their travel time at signals and the amount of particulate
matter released at the signals is 30% more than the regular travel. Road design, junction design and
road maintenance play a crucial role in traffic congestion which in turn leads to pollution