air pollution by prof.mukesh khare

7/30/2019 Air Pollution by Prof.mukesh Khare

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History of Air Pollution

1272 - King Edward I of England bans use of sea coal 13771399 - Richard II restricts use of coal 14131422 - Henry V regulates/restricts use of coal 1661 - By royal command of Charles II, John Evelyn of the Royal Society publishes

Fumifugium; or the Inconvenience of the Air and Smoke dissipated; together with

Some Remedies Humbly Proposed

1784Watts steam engine; boilers to burn fossil fuels (coal) to make steam to pumpwater and move machinery

Smoke and ash from fossil fuels by power plants, trains, ships: coal (and oil) burning= smoke, ash

1907 - Formation of the predecessor to the Air & Waste Management Association 1930 - 1950s - Air Pollution Episodes 1955 First Federal Air Pollution Control Act - funds for research (USA) 1960 Motor Vehicle Exhaust Act - funds for research (USA) 1963 Clean Air Act (USA)

-Three stage enforcement

-Funds for state and local agencies

1965 Motor Vehicle Air Pollution Control Act (USA)-Emission regulations for cars to begin in 1968

1967 Air Quality Act (USA)-Criteria documents

-Control technique documents

1970 Clean Air Act Amendments (USA)-National Ambient Air Quality Standards-New Source Performance Standards

Why Study Air Pollution?

Early 1900sThe City of Chicago, Illinois passes an ordinance to reduce the smokeemitted by local factories.

1940s Los Angeles, California becomes one of the first cities in the U.S. toexperience severe air pollution problems then called gas attacks. L.A.s location in

a basin like area ringed by mountains makes it susceptible to accumulation of auto

exhaust and emissions from local petroleum refineries

1948 Air pollution kills in Donora, Pennsylvania. An unusual temperature inversionlasting six days blocks dispersal of emissions from zinc smelting and blast furnaces.

Out of a total population of 14,000 people, 20 die, 600 others become ill, and 1400

seek medical attention.

1950 A chemist at the California Institute of Technology proposes a theory of smog(or ozone) formation in which auto exhaust and sunlight play major roles.

1954 An early public protest against air pollution takes place in East Greenville,Pennsylvania. Homemakers march on the town council to demand that a local casket

manufacturer be required to stop polluting. Their complaint is that clean laundry

hung out to dry became dirtier than before it was washed because of high levels of

soot (or particulates) in the air.

1962Silent Spring is published. Rachel Carsons powerful book draws the attention


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of the American public to the potential consequences of the increasing ability of

human activities to significantly and even permanently alters the natural world.

1966 In New York City, a three-day temperature inversion over Thanksgivingweekend is blamed for the deaths of 168 people.

1969 Millions of Americans watch via satellite, as Neil Armstrong becomes the firstperson to walk on the moon. The same weekend, a very different news story startlesthe nation. Sulfur dioxide pollution emitted by industries near Gary, Indiana and East

Chicago becomes potent acid rain that burns lawns, eats away tree leaves, and causes

birds to lose their feathers.

1969 A vivid color photographs of Earth from space, widely distributed, shiftshuman perceptions of our planet. The Earth no longer seems vast but is recognized as

a small, fragile ball of life in the immense infinitude of cold, black space.

1970 The first Earth Day becomes part of American history. Millions of students andcitizens attend rallies to learn about environmental concerns and speak for

environmental protection.

1972 Representatives of 113 nations, gather on 5th June at a United NationsConference on the Human Environment in Stockholm to develop plans for

international action to protect the world environment.

1978 Rainfall in Wheeling, West Virginia is measured at a pH of 2, the most acidicyet recorded and 5000 times more acidic than normal rainfall.

1981 Air pollution enters international politics when the Quebec Ministry of theEnvironment notifies the U.S. that 60 percent of the acid rain (sulfur dioxide

pollution) damaging air and waters in Quebec, Canada comes from the U.S.

industrial sources in the Midwestern and Northeastern U.S.

1982 The National Center for Health Statistics releases a study indicating that fourpercent of all U.S. schoolchildren, including about 12 percent of all African-

American preschoolers, have high levels of lead in their blood. About 675,000children are at risk of kidney damage, brain damage, anemia, retardation, and other

ills associated with lead poisoning. It is recognized that children absorb this lead by

breathing air laden with lead pollution, primarily from leaded gasoline.

1985 The U.S. EPA estimates 50,000 streams in the U.S. and Canada are dead ordying because of acid rain pollution.

1986 The National Academy of Sciences reports that the burning of coal, gasoline,and other fossil fuels is definitely linked to acid rain and the death of trees, fish, and

lake ecosystems in both the U.S. and Canada.

1992 The Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is the most comprehensiveinternational conference on the environment to date. Representatives from 188

countries and 35,000 participants attend. Two treaties are signed by all except theU.S. One, on global warming recommending curbing emissions of greenhouse gases.

The second, on making inventories of plants and wildlife and strategies to protect

endangered species.


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Air Pollution Episodes

Period of poor air qulaity, upto several days, often

extending over large geograpical area.

Winter: cold, stable weather conditions trap pollutants

close to sources and prevent dispersion. Elavated

concentrations of range of pollutants build up over several

days

Summer: hot and sunny weather. Pollutants emitted within

the U.K. or Europe transported long distances, reacting

with each other in sunlight to produce high levels of ozone,

& other photochemical pollutants.

Meuse Valley-Belgium, 1930

63 died (mostly elderly) Sore throats, shortness of

breath, cough, phlegm,

nausea, vomiting

SO2, sulfur dioxide H2O SO4 sulfuric acid mist Cattle, birds and rats died Got little news coverage

Fumigation of a valley floor caused by an inversion layer that restricts diffusion from a stack

Donora, PennsylvaniaOct. 1948


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Monongahela River Valley Industrial townsteel mill, sulfuric acid plant,

freight yard, etc.

Population14,000 Steep hills surrounding the valley Oct 26temperature inversion (warm air

trapping cold air near the ground)

Stable air, fog, lasted 4.5 days

Environs of Donora, Pennsylvania. Horseshoe curve of Monongahela River is surrounded by

mountains. Railroad tracks are located on both sides of the river. Low-lying stretch of

Monongahela valley between railroad and river is natural trap for pollutants.

Poza Rico, Mexico 1950

Single sourcehigh sulfur crude oil Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) Flare went out Inversion in valley 22 sudden deaths, 320 hospitalized All ages Forerunner of Bhopal

December 1952 Great London Smog

Cold front, Londoners burned softcoal

Factories, power plants Temperature inversion 5 days of worst smog city had ever

seen Public transportation stopped

Indoor concerts had to be cancelledbecause no one could see the stage,

etc.


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Weekly death registered from diseases of the lungs and heart in the London Administrative

County around the time of the severe fog in December, 1952.

Total death in Greater London and air pollutants levels measured during the fog of December

1952

Seveso, Italy --Dioxin

July 10, 1976, north of Milan A valve broke at the Industrie Chimiche Meda Societa Azionaria chemical plant Cloud of 2,3,7,8 tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin (TCDD) traveled southwest through

Seveso toward Milan

Contaminant of herbicide

Bhopal, India Dec. 3, 1984


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Union Carbide pesticide plant leak kills up to2,000 with up to 350,000 injured and 100,000

with permanent disabilities

Methyl isocyanate (MIC)used as anintermediary in manufacture of Sevin

(Carbaryl)

CO + Cl = phosgene Phosgene + methylamine = MIC MICirritant to the lungs---edema, fluid

(cause of death, bronchospasms, corneal

opacity

Hydrogen cyanide? Sabotage or industrial accident?

World-wide Air Pollution Episode

November 27-December 10, 1962 Thousands of excess deaths in many cities including NYC, London, Boston, Paris New Orleans Oct-Nov 1958 asthma deaths.


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Hundreds Troubled by 'World Trade Center Cough NYC fire fighters, school

workers have 9/11 breathing problems, new studies say


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air pollution by prof.mukesh khare

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