Volatile organic compounds , known as VOCs, are airborne pollutants that may cause both short and long-term health conditions in humans. These organic chemicals can originate from a variety of operations, with two of the most common being paint and adhesive manufacturing. Hazardous air pollutants are chemicals that are suspected or known to cause grave health complications. These include cancer, autoimmune diseases, nervous system conditions, respiratory complications, and many more. Solid particulate matter , simply referred to as PM , is a group used to describe airborne pollutants like dirt, debris, and smoke.
As the name indicates, particulate matter can be made up of tiny fragments of virtually anything — from organic residue to synthetic compounds and micro-pollutants. Paint manufacturing facilities and other operations need to meet specific EPA requirements in order to stay open. At the same time, many factory managers and company owners focus on reducing air pollution because they are aware of the potential negative impact it may have.
Greener, more energy-efficient operations tend to reduce the amount of pollution a factory generates. Factory operators can also employ abatement mechanisms that help destroy VOCs, HAPs, and other pollutants before they enter the environment. Different abatement techniques are efficient for specific types of pollutants, so you need to evaluate your operation to find the ideal technique. In principle, air pollutants refer to any chemical substance that exceeds the concentration or characteristics identified as safe for the natural ingredients in the air both by nature or anthropogenically.
More strictly, pollutants can be defined a substance which is potentially unsafe to the well-being or health of humans, plant and animal life, or ecosystems. Indoor smoke poses a health threat to 3. Air pollution is linked to a high incidence of respiratory diseases such as cancer, heart disease, stroke and asthma [ 12 ]. According to estimates from the American Lung Association, nearly million people are at risk due to air pollution [ 13 ]. Although these effects come from long-term exposure, air pollution can also cause acute problems such as sneezing and coughing, eye discomfort, headache, and dizziness [ 14 ].
Particles smaller than 10 microns classified as PM10 or PM2. Pollutants are commonly classified into solid, liquid, or gaseous substances that are discharged into the air from a fixed or mobile source, then transmit through air, and contribute in chemo physical transformation, and eventually return to the ground.
It is impossible to describe the full range of potential sources and actual damage caused by various sources of air pollution but few which are more vulnerable are discussed below:. Fossil fuels as coal and oil for electricity production and road transportation, add huge amount of air pollutants like carbon dioxide, nitrogen and sulfur dioxide. Sulfur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen and fly ash are produced as main pollutants if coal is used as a fuel. Major pollutants during combustion of oil are oxides of nitrogen and sulfur dioxide, whereas coal emits particulate air pollution to the atmosphere.
Similarly, important air pollutants emitted from power station are particulate matter fly ash and soot oxides of nitrogen NO 2 and NO and sulfur oxides SO 3 and SO 2 [ 16 , 17 ]. These pollutants and other closely related chemicals are primarily source for acid rain. When PM is released into the atmosphere due to traffic and industries, these PM scatter the visible part of the sunlight radiation, but the other part of the spectrum particularly inferred and far-infrared, cause the internal heating effect of the air atmosphere below the PM surface.
The Sun radiation is heating our air from outside and the traffic and industries from inside. And the PM surface is like a shield or barrier, through the heat diffusion cannot penetrate bidirectional ways.
Volcanic eruption disperses an enormous amount of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere along with ash and smoke particle sometimes causes the temperature to rise up over the years. Particles in the air, based on their chemical composition, can also have a direct impact of being separated from climate change. They either change the composition or size and may deplete the nutrients biosphere, damage crops, and forests and destroy cultural monuments such as monuments and statues.
Many living and non-living sources emit carbon dioxide that contribute largely as pollutant. Carbon dioxide is the most common greenhouse gas, among many others which traps heat into the atmosphere via infrared radiation matching vibrations and causes climate change through global warming. Over the past years, humans have driven enough CO 2 into the atmosphere to make its levels higher than they have been for hundreds of thousands of years.
Air pollution in many cases prevents photosynthesis, which has a significant impact on the plants evolution, which has serious consequences for purifying the air we breathe.
It also results to form acid rain, atmospheric precipitation in the form of rain, snow or fog, frost, which is released at the time of fossil fuels burning and converted by contact with water vapor in the atmosphere.
Industrial process emits huge amounts of organic compounds carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and chemicals into the air. A high quantity of carbon dioxide is the reasons for the greenhouse effect in the air. As the greenhouse gases absorbs infrared radiation from the surface of the planet so its presence is good for the planet.
The recent climate change is due to excessive quantity of these gases as well as PM into the atmosphere [ 18 , 19 ]. Different greenhouse gases contribute differently in global warming due to their unique physical and chemical properties, molecular weight and the lifetime in the atmosphere.
A simple working method can calculate the relative contribution of the unit emissions of each gas relative to the cumulative CO 2 unit emissions over a fixed period of time [ 20 , 21 ]. Therefore, global warming potential GWP can be defined as the warming effect of any greenhouse gas relative to CO 2 over a certain period of time.
Greenhouse gas emissions from various sources have led to climate change, which has been accompanied by an increase in greenhouse gases [ 22 , 23 ].
Greenhouse gas emissions change the Climate that is a global issue having significantly negative impacts on economic growth humans, and natural resources [ 24 , 25 , 26 ].
Among all the greenhouse gases, CO 2 and CH 4 cause major global surface temperature increase [ 28 ]. These gases are emitted by natural and anthropogenically. After carbon dioxide, methane is the second gas that contributes to global warming. Methane has larger impacts as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, with global warming potential GWP s 21—25 times higher than CO 2 [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ].
Agriculture activities often release harmful chemicals like pesticides and fertilizers [ 33 ]. Organic matter gradually reduces the water and oxygen in soil during flooding of rice fields; as a result, methane is produce by anaerobic decomposition [ 34 , 35 ]. Globally methane emission is much lower than CO 2 emissions annually. Naturally it is emitted by marshland [ 39 ], termites, wildfires [ 36 ], grasslands [ 36 ], coal seams [ 40 ] and lakes [ 41 ].
Human sources of methane include public solid waste landfills coal mine paddy fields oil and gas drilling, pastures rising main sewers, wastewater treatment plants, manure management and agricultural products. Volcanic eruptions also contribute huge quantities of particles into the environment. Majorly an amount of 3. Another key air pollutant is ozone. Ozone is composed of three oxygen atoms, which is one more atom than needed for breathable oxygen. The third atom creates corrosive oxygen that can damage lungs.
Although ozone is useful in the upper atmosphere where it blocks ultraviolet radiation from the sun, it is harmful to human health when present in large quantities in the lower atmosphere.
Air pollution from factories and vehicles creates ground ozone problems, or smog, that presents significant health issues. Factories, particularly through the use of large industrial air conditioners, can also release destructive gases, contributing to the depletion of ozone in the upper atmosphere where it is needed.
A particular kind of factory called an animal factory, or a concentrated animal feeding operation CAFO , causes a great deal of air, land and water pollution. CAFOs are highly industrialized and used to produce meat or dairy products in large quantities. These factories produce gases like methane, ammonia and others that lower air quality and are harmful to health. The animal waste that CAFOs produce often ends up in the water table, contaminating streams and lakes with harmful bacteria like E.
The waste can also seep into groundwater through soil when it is then utilized in farm fields as fertilizer. There are many ways that individuals, communities, urban planners, industry and governments can directly and indirectly reduce air pollution, such as minimising motor vehicle use and the burning of fossil fuels.
Air pollution is a killer, but where does it come from? Where does air pollution come from? Air pollution often brings to mind a hazy cityscape or smoke billowing out of factories, but pollutants in our air exist in a range of environments and often go unseen.
Image adapted from: JC Gellidon via Unsplash; CC0 Sources of hazardous air pollutants include vehicle emissions, industrial emissions, solid fuel combustion such as wood smoke , paint fumes and adhesives used on building sites.
Natural sources such as volcanos can also pollute the air. Image adapted from: Pixabay; CC0 Nature can also play a part in polluting the air.
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