Air and Water Pollution Prevention and Control Engineering
Homework # 3
1.- Do some research to estimate quantities of five selected air pollutants due to natural and anthropogenic
sources in the USA and in the whole world.
Methane- 30% Natural Gas and Petroleum systems (fracking, blowing, purging, pressure releases), 23% enteric
fermentation, 17%b landfill decomposition, 11% coal mining, 9% manure management, 3% wastewater treatment,
7% natural biological decomposition
Carbon dioxide- 38% Powerplants, 31% transportation, 14% industrial other than PP, 10% residential and
commercial heating, 6% respiration of organisms
Nitrous Oxide- 69% agriculture (synthetic fertilizers). 9% chemical production, 6% stationary combustion, 5%
transportation, 5% manure management, 6% biological decomposition
NOx- 48% transportation (gasoline and then diesel), 17% stationary combustion, 11% non-road diesel, 7%
commercial marine, 6% electric utilities, 6% other non-road, 3% waste disposal
F gases without CFC- 84% sub for ODS, 5% electrical transmission, 5% HCFC production, 3% semiconductor
manufacture, 3% production of metals
2.- Select ten industries or human activities and create a table showing typical air pollutants produced in each case.
Include both outdoor and indoor air pollutants in your list.
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Ammonia
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Carbon
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Monoxide
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Lead
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Nitrogen
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Oxides
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PM10
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PM25
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Sulfur Dioxide icut
Volatile
Organic
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Compounds
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Agricult
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Industrial_Pro
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3.- Write a 250 word essay about thermal and prompt NOx
NOx is a pollutant of great concern for humans and plants alike because of 2 main reasons. It creates excess Ozone
in the troposphere and it causes acid rain. The production of NOx is largely anthropogenic except for natural fires.
Automobiles and other mobile sources contribute half of NOx emissions, the other half is from stationary sources
like power plants and industry.
NOx is formed in three ways:
Thermal: The concentration of “thermal” in the emissions is controlled by the N and O molar concentrations as
well as the temperature of combustion. Formation at high temp oxidation of diatomic nitrogen in the combustion
air. Lower temp combustions ie. Below 1300 C forms less thermal NOx.
The principal reversible reactions producing NOx are
N2 + O → NO + N
N + O2 → NO + O
N + OH → NO + H
Fuel: Fuels that contain N can create fuel NOx by converting the bound nitrogen to NOx during combustion. Since it
is already ionized nitrogen it may form N2 or NO during combustion
Prompt: Formed from molecular atmospheric N or N2 in the air combining with exhaust or post combustion. This
forms NH, HCN, H2CN and CN- which then oxidize along with fuel and becomes NOx
Thermal is the most relevant when using natural gas, and fuel is more important when using fuels that have a
nitrogen content. Prompt contribution is generally considered negligible compared to the other two formations.
4.- A 1000 MW(el) coal fired power plant consumes 3 million tons of coal per year. The coal contains 2% sulphur y
10% mineral (ash). Assume all the sulphur becomes SO2 and estimate the amount of CO2, SO2 and fly ash
emissions from the plant in kg/s.
Estimating 70% carbon and 7.5 khW/ kgFuel
CO2= .7kgC/kgFuel / 7.5 kWh/ kgFuel * 44 g/mol CO2 / 12 g/mol C 3,000,000 tons/yr / 1000 kg/ton
=1026666667 tons CO2/yr
SO2= .02/7.5 * 64/32*3,000,000/1000 = 16000000 tons SO2/ yr
5.- Use the Gaussian plume model to carry out computer experiments showing the effects of the various
parameters. Focus particularly on the maximum ground level concentration of pollutant and its location in each
case and write a 250 word essay summarizing your findings.
6.- Produce a ~ 250 word essay combining what we have covered in class to date with your proposed air pollution
project topic.
We haven’t covered anything related to the biological reactions to pollutants yet which is mostly the focus of my
paper, but we have covered the common pollutants and their general effect on ecosystems and organism. I am
also curious about plant’s consumption of CO2 and production of oxygen ( mass consumed/ produced by food crop
per acre).
We have also shown what pollutants (nitrates) are most common result of agri industry and indirect pollutants
from transportation are a resultant as well.