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AIR POLLUTANTS AND EFFECTS

AIR POLLUTION Transfer of harmful and/or of Natural/Synthetic materials into the atmosphere as a direct/indirect consequences of human activity (OECD).

Air Pollutants Any substance occurring in the atmosphere that may have adverse effects on humans, animals, plant life, and/or inanimate materials. Air pollutants have known or suspected harmful effects on human health and environment

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Source of Air Pollution

Natural Sources Volcano, forest fire, dust storms, oceans, plants and trees Anthropogenic Sources - created by human beings

Stationary sources Point sources (Industrial processing, power plants, fuels combustion etc.) Area sources (Residential heating coal gas oil, on site incineration, open burning etc.) Mobile sources Line sources (Highway vehicles, railroad locomotives, channel vessels etc.)

Primary air pollutants - Materials that when released pose health risks in their unmodified forms or those emitted directly from identifiable sources. Secondary air pollutants - Primary pollutants interact with one another, sunlight, or natural gases to produce new, harmful compounds

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Human Health Effects

Exposure to air pollution is associated with numerous effects on human health, including pulmonary, cardiac, vascular, and neurological impairments. The health effects vary greatly from person to person. High-risk groups such as the elderly, infants, pregnant women, and sufferers from chronic heart and lung diseases are more susceptible to air pollution. Children are at greater risk because they are generally more active outdoors and their lungs are still developing. Exposure to air pollution can cause both acute (short-term) and chronic (long-term) health effects. Acute effects are usually immediate and often reversible when exposure to the pollutant ends. Some acute health effects include eye irritation, headaches, and nausea. Chronic effects are usually not immediate and tend not to be reversible when exposure to the pollutant ends. - Some chronic health effects include decreased lung capacity and lung cancer resulting from long-term exposure to toxic air pollutants.

Effects on Human respiratory system

Both gaseous and particulate air pollutants can have negative effects on the lungs. Solid particles can settle on the walls of the trachea, bronchi, and bronchioles. Continuous breathing of polluted air can slow the normal cleansing action of the lungs and result in more particles reaching the lower portions of the lung. Damage to the lungs from air pollution can inhibit this process and contribute to the occurrence of respiratory diseases such as bronchitis, emphysema, and cancer.

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Table 1: Sources, Health and Welfare Effects for Criteria

Pollutant Description Carbon Colorless, odorless gas Monoxide (CO)

Sources Motor vehicle exhaust, indoor sources include kerosene or wood burning stoves, cigarette smoke

Health Effects Welfare Effects Headaches, reduced mental alertness, Contribute to the formation heart attack, cardiovascular diseases, of smog. impaired fetal development, death.

Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)

Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)

Colorless gas that dissolves Coal-fired power plants, in water vapor to form petroleum refineries, acid, and interact with manufacture of sulfuric acid other gases and particles in and smelting of ores containing the air. sulfur. Reddish brown, highly Motor vehicles, electric reactive gas. utilities, and other industrial, commercial, and residential sources that burn fuels.

Eye irritation, wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath, lung damage.

Contribute to the formation of acid rain, visibility impairment, plant and water damage, aesthetic damage. Susceptibility to respiratory Contribute to the formation infections, irritation of the lung and of smog, acid rain, water respiratory symptoms (e.g., cough, quality deterioration, chest pain, difficulty breathing). global warming, and visibility impairment. Eye and throat irritation, coughing, respiratory tract problems, asthma, lung damage. Plant and ecosystem damage.

Ozone (O3) Gaseous pollutant when it Vehicle exhaust and certain is formed in the other fumes. Formed from troposphere. other air pollutants in the presence of sunlight. Lead (Pb) Metallic element

Metal refineries, lead smelters, Anemia, high blood pressure, brain battery manufacturers, iron and and kidney damage, neurological steel producers, petrol engines disorders, cancer, lowered IQ. (leaded petrol) Eye irritation, asthma, bronchitis, lung damage, cancer, heavy metal poisoning, cardiovascular effects.

Affects animals and plants, affects aquatic ecosystems.

Diesel engines, power plants, Particulate Very small particles of Matter (PM) soot, dust, or other matter, industries, windblown dust, including tiny droplets of wood stoves. liquids.

Visibility impairment, atmospheric deposition, aesthetic damage.

Table 2: Sources, Effects of Air Pollutants on Vegetables

Pollutants Aldehydes

Sources Photochemical reactions

Effects on Vegetables

The upper portions of Alfalfa etc. will be affected to Narcosis if 250 ppm of aldehydes is present for 2 hrs duration. Ozone (O3) Photochemical reaction of All ages of tobacco leaves, beans, hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxides grapes, pine, pumpkins and potato from fuel combustion, refuse are affected. Fleck, stipple, burning, and evaporation from bleaching, bleached spotting, petroleum products. pigmentation, growth suppression, and early abscission are the effects. Peroxy Acetyl Nitrate The sources of PAN are the same as Young spongy cells of plants are (PAN) ozone affected if 0.01 ppm of PAN is present in the ambient air for more than 6 hrs.

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Pollutants

Sources

Effects on Vegetables

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)

High temperature combustion of coal, oil, gas, and gasoline in power plants and internal combustion engines. Thermal power plants, oil and petroleum refineries.

Irregular, white or brown collapsed lesion on intercostals tissue and near leaf margin. Suppressed growth is observed in many plants. Bleached spots, bleached areas between veins, bleached margins, chlorosis, growth suppression, early abscission, and reduction in yield and tissue collapse occur. If 0.10 ppm is present for at least 2 hrs, the epidermis and mesophyll of plants will be affected. Epidermis and mesophyll of grapes, large seed fruits, pines and fluorosis in animals occur if 0.001 ppm of HF is present for 5 weeks. Defoliation, dwarfing, curling, twisting, growth reduction and killing of plants may occur.

Ammonia & Sulfur dioxide

Chlorine (Cl2)

Leaks in chlorine storage tanks, hydrochloric acid mists. Phosphate rock processing, aluminum industry, and ceramic works and fiberglass manufacturing. Agricultural operations Cement industries, thermal power plants, blasting, crushing and processing industries.

Hydrogen fluoride, Silicon tetrafluoride Pesticides & Herbicides Particulates

Mercury (Hg)

Affects quality of plants, reduces vigor & hardness and interferences with photosynthesis due to plugging leaf stomata and blocking of light. Processing of mercury containing ores, Greenhouse crops, and floral parts of all burning of coal and oil. vegetations are affected; abscission and growth reduction occur in most of the plants.

Criteria Air Pollutants Based on health effects with measured air quality levels that violate the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) (NAAQS) -CO -NOx -SOx -VOCs -Particulates -Pb

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Photochemical smog ?? Noxious mixture of highly reactive and oxidizing air pollutants including: Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) Volatile organic compounds Troposphere Ozone Peroxyacetyl Nitrates (PAN)

Generation Mechanism Three ingredients required: Ultraviolet Light Hydrocarbons Nitrogen oxides

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Tropospheric Ozone:

2) Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) Carbon-based molecules such as Aldehydes, Ketones and Hydrocarbons

Sources Paint thinners, solvents and petroleum constituents Trees: emits isoprene and terpenes Methane from termites, cows and cultivation

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3) Peroxyacetyl Nitrates (PAN) Are secondary pollutants formed from peroxyacid radicals and NO2

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WHO Air Quality Guidelines Value

POLLUTANTS

AVERAGE TIME

Particulate matter PM2.5 PM10

1 year 24 hour(99th percentile) 1 year 2 4 hour(99th percentile)

Ozone, O3

8 hour, daily maximum 1 year 1 hour

Nitrogen dioxide, NO2

Sulfur dioxide, SO2

24 hour 10 minute

AQG value 10 g/cubic metre 25 g/cubic metre 20 g/cubic metre 50 g/cubic metre 100 g/cubic metre 40g/cubic metre 200g/cubic metre 20 g/cubic metre 500 g/cubic metre

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