At present, many cities are suffering from high levels of air pollution. The need of the hour is to make efforts to deal with it. The most effective methods to control air pollution are…
Methods to Control Air Pollution
Source Correction Methods
It is important to reduce air pollution from the source itself. In industries, this can be achieved by designing and developing schemes and processes which can minimize air pollution in the early stages. In source correction methods, the following steps are taken:
Change in Raw Materials: A raw material resulting in a large amount of air pollution should be replaced by eco-friendly raw materials.
- Liquefied petroleum gas or compressed natural gas should be used instead of coal and diesel to reduce air pollution.
- Fuel with low sulphur content should be used instead of fuel which has high sulphur content.
- Catalytic converters which go a long way in controlling the emission of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide should be used.
Change in Process: This includes the modification in the production process to reduce the contents of atmospheric pollution.
- The process of absorption is used to remove gaseous air pollutants. This is done by dissolving them in water or caustic soda. Absorption is used to remove sulphur dioxide, chlorine and nitrogen oxides.
- This process can also be used for removing pollutants from wastewater. The pollutants in water are made to attach with the surface of activated carbon. This carbon is then reacted with steam or carbon dioxide to produce activated carbon. This helps in the purification of water.
Modify the Existing Equipment:
- By modifying or altering equipment, the levels of pollution could be kept in check.
- Open hearth furnaces should be replaced with electrical or basic oxygen furnaces. This will reduce emission of smoke and carbon.
- Loss of hydrocarbons can be reduced from petroleum refineries by designing tanks with floating roof covers.
Maintenance of Equipment: It is important to maintain equipment that consumes more energy and produces more fumes. Leakages in tanks should also be looked after.
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Pollution Control Equipment
Air pollution not only contains gaseous matter but also solid particles. Many devices and equipment have been designed to prevent air pollution. While choosing a device, any industry should keep the following points in mind:
- Amount of volume of particulate matter which has to be handled.
- Chemical and physical characteristics of the particulate along with its size.
- Temperature and humidity of gaseous medium.
- Concentration of gases in particulate size.
- Pollution control devices are basically classified into two categories—devices which control particulate contamination and devices which control gaseous contamination.
Also, Read What is Air Pollution?