Chapter 1.

Introduction to air pollution control

and prevention

1
Chapter 1 Part 1

– Definition and categories of air pollutants

– Sources and causes of air pollution
– Examples of air pollution control and pollution
prevention technologies

2
Atmosphere
The atmosphere is made up of various layers
of air, each one identified by the thermal
characteristics or temperature changes,
chemical composition, movement and
density.
• Lower atmosphere: troposphere;
stratosphere; mesosphere
• Upper atmosphere: thermosphere and
exosphere

In the study of air pollution control the layers

of the air that are most important are the
troposphere and the stratosphere.
 Definition of air pollution
The presence in the atmosphere of one or more
contaminants in such quantities and of such duration,
which may or may tend to:

• injure the health or safety of people

• cause material, physical discomfort to people
• injure properties, plants or animals
• interfere with visibility
• interfere with the normal conduct of business

4
 Classifying Air Pollutants

• Two basic physical forms: particulate matter; gases

• Common air contaminants (CAC)

• Hazardous air pollutants

• Primary pollutants vs. secondary pollutants

• Local vs. regional vs. global

• Outdoor vs. indoor

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 Common Air Contaminants
(Canada)

[Link]
6
 Criteria Pollutants
(United States EPA)
These pollutants are both common and detrimental to
human welfare and are found over all of the country.

• Ground-level ozone
• Particulate matter
• Carbon monoxide
• Lead
• Sulfur dioxide
• Nitrogen dioxide

[Link]
Other major types of air pollutants

Examples include:
• Hazardous air pollutants HAP
– Persistent Organic Pollutants POP
• Greenhouse gases GHG
• Chlorofluoro compounds CFC
• Total reduced sulfur compounds TRS
• Other types of odorous compounds
• Photochemical oxidants

9
 Primary and secondary pollutants
• Primary pollutant
– emitted into the atmosphere directly from the source and
retains the same chemical form
– directly cause lung diseases and possibly heart disease

• Secondary pollutant
– formed by chemical reactions of precursor or primary
pollutants in the atmosphere
– responsible for most of the smog, haze and eye irritations
– can also cause lung diseases and possibly heart disease

• Some pollutants may be classified as both primary

and secondary pollutants.
10
Control of secondary pollutants is
generally more problematic:

• It requires the identification of

precursor compounds and their
sources
• It requires an understanding of
the specific chemical reactions
that lead to their formation

11
• In 2013, for the first time, the World Health Organization’s International
Agency for Research on Cancer (WHO-IARC) classified air pollution as a
human carcinogen. In particular, exposure to air pollution increases the risk
for lung cancer and for bladder cancer.

• Exposures in rapidly industrializing countries with large populations have

increased significantly in recent years

• PM and HAP are of major concerns

• Sources of potentially carcinogenic air pollutants:

Industrial and agricultural emissions, power generation and transportation

• Visible sources like vehicle exhaust and factory stack emissions
• Industrial chemicals like solvents, metals, and hydrocarbon compounds
• The industrial revolution (19th century)

– main source of air pollution

• burning of fossil fuels (e.g. coal and oil) and vegetable

fuels to fire the steam boilers to provide power

– major pollutants: smoke and ash

– new technologies for air pollution control

• scrubbers for removing acid gases
• cyclones and baghouses for dust collection

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Early 20th Century

– displacement of coal by oil

– main source of air pollution
• smoke and ash emission from power plants
• emissions from automobiles

– new technologies for air pollution control

• electrostatic precipitators for particulates control
• chemical engineering for process equipment design
to control gas and vapor effluents

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Mid-20th century

– natural gas for home heating, replacing coal and oil

– diesel locomotive replacing steam locomotive

Major air pollution problems emerged during this period.

Most European countries experienced serious air pollution

problems, and started to enact national air pollution control
legislations.

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 London-type smog
• Caused mainly by air pollution due to combustion of
coal and emission of SO2 and PM (smoke).

• Such pollution mixed with fog can produce droplets of

sulfuric acid (H2SO4) suspended in the air.

1952 London, England

• A 5-day temperature inversion in December trapped deadly acid
aerosols in the atmosphere
• Over 4000 people succumbed to respiratory and cardiac diseases
• Continued air pollution problems resulted in the passage of the Clean
Air Act in 1956

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1948 Donora, Pennsylvania
• Burning coal and melting ore → sulfur gases, particulates, sulfuric acid mist,
fluoride
• High concentrations of SO2 coupled with temperature inversion and foggy
weather
• 20 people died due to cardiac and respiratory diseases
• Half of the town's 12,000 residents complained of cough, respiratory tract
irritation, chest pain, headaches, nausea, and vomiting

1950 Poza Rica, Mexico

• Natural gas plant inadvertently released H2S when flare went out
• Temperature inversion and foggy weather
• 22 people died; 320 hospitalized

1954 Los Angeles

• Heavy smog shuts down schools and industry for most of the month

1963 New York

• Inversion similar to London's 1952 “killer smog” led to 200 deaths
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 Inversion

• When temperature increases with altitude

• Temperature inversion forms when a layer of warmer air

acts like a lid that covers the colder air at ground level.

• Very light wind and does not exhibit much vertical mixing
or motion

→ strongly stable atmospheric condition

Normally, smoke
rises in the air

•
Temperature varies
with height from the
earth surface and the
two cases differ in this
variation.
Smoke stops • It affects atmospheric
rising stability.
• Solar radiation also
affects atmospheric
stability.
Inversions are intensified
in valleys as heavier
cooled air descends to the
valley floor
TODAY…
Climate change/global warming
• More extreme weather events (temperature, storms, floods,
droughts, etc.)
• Length of seasons
• Raised sea level → threatening coastal resources and
wetlands…
• Reducing biodiversity via degradation of natural ecosystems
• Increased risk of wildfires
• Increased risk of certain diseases by producing new breeding
sites for pests and pathogens
• Impact on agricultural regions and woodlands – increased
insect populations and plant disease
• Reducing biodiversity via degradation of natural ecosystems
22
 Sources of air pollution

• Natural (biogenic) sources vs.

Human-made (anthropogenic) sources

• Mobile vs. Stationary sources

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[Link]
24
• Natural sources

• Volcano eruption
• Forest fires
• Lightning
• Dust storms
• Oceans
• Plants and trees
• Hot springs
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Municipal Solid waste (MSW) processing facilities

Schematic of conventional waste management system that

includes source-separated recycling and organics diversion components
 Incineration
Composting Anaerobic digestion

Landfill
Ex. Surrey Biofuel Facility

[Link]
Ex. Vancouver LFG collection & beneficial use system
Original design: 7.4 MW power for BC Hydro & Ref. City of Vancouver Engineering Services.
100,000 GJ/yr heat for a vegetable greenhouse Vancouver Landfill 2019 Annual Report.
339 Vertical wells + 25 Horizontal collectors
+ Draintube collectors under the geomembrane cover
Ref. City of Vancouver
Engineering Services.
Vancouver Landfill 2023
Annual Report.

Figure 6: Landfill Gas Collection & Beneficial Use System

Organic fraction of MSW

Composting
• Composting is a managed process of biological
decomposition of organic waste including a high
temperature phase

Organic waste + O2 + microbes

→ Compost + CO2 + H2O + NH3 + VOCs

+ more microbes + heat

• Many living organisms (bacteria, fungi, worms, beetles)

help in the breakdown process
Anaerobic digestion
• Aerobic – Biological decomposition of organic
substances in the presence of oxygen

O2

• Anaerobic –Biological decomposition of

organic substances in the absence of oxygen

O2
Wastewater
Treatment plants

34
Agricultural sources

• Livestock farms
• Fertilizer and manure spreading
• Open burning of crop residues
Indoor air
pollutants
– some
examples
37
CANADA’S AIR POLLUTANT
EMISSIONS INVENTORY REPORT
1990 –2020

Air Pollutant Grand total quantity emitted, kt

1990 2020
PM2.5 1700 1400

SOx 3000 650

NOx 2300 1400

VOC 2900 1500

CO 11000 4700
2022
NH3 390 490

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 Changes over time: 2006-2015

Location of NPRI reporting facilities that reported direct releases of CACs to air
39
40
41
42
NOx emissions (from human activities)
Percentages are measured against a Canada-wide total

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44
2.5. Carbon Monoxide
In 2020, approximately 4.7 Mt of carbon monoxide (CO) were released in Canada (Table 2–7). Transporta
and Mobile Equipment accounted for 62% (2.9 Mt) of total emissions, with the Light-Duty Gasoline Trucks
Vehicles sectors contributing 24% (1.1 Mt) and the Off-Road Gasoline/LPG/NG Vehicles and Equipment se
contributing 25% (1.2 Mt) of total CO emissions. The next-largest contributors are Commercial/Residen
Institutional sources, which in 2020 accounted for 12% (581 kt) of emissions, almost all owing to contributions
Home Firewood Burning at 12% (540 kt) of total CO emissions. The Upstream Oil and Gas Industry and Alumin
Industry sectors were the largest-emitting industrial contributors, accounting for 10% (489 kt) and 8.1% (378 k
CO emissions, respectively.
Between 1990 and 2020, CO emissions decreased by 59% (6.8 Mt) (Figure 2–5). Of the many contributors to
overall decrease in emissions, two in particular—Light-Duty Gasoline Trucks and Vehicles, and Off-Road Gasoline/L
NG Vehicles and Equipment (spark ignition engines)—had the largest impact on emission reductions. The decrea
emission trend in these sectors is due to increasingly stringent engine and vehicle regulations. 8 Moreover, Transporta
and Mobile Equipment CO emissions decreased by 8.6% (272 kt) between 2019 and 2020. This reduction is mostly
to a decrease in the VKT in the Light-Duty Gasoline Vehicles and Trucks categories.
Emissions from Wood Products manufacturing declined from 1995 to 2020 due to the removal of incinerators at saw
and panel board mill facilities that incinerated hog fuel. Furthermore, emissions from Prescribed Burning, within
Fires category, have decreased considerably over the time series, which can be explained by the reduced use of
practice compared to 1990.
Finally, the Upstream Oil and Gas Industry sector experienced an increase in CO emissions across the time series
experienced a decrease between 2019 and 2020. The increase between 1990 and 2020 is attributed to expansion
growth in the oil and gas industry. The decrease between the years 2019 and 2020 can be partly attributed to a
reduction in total crude oil production and a 2% reduction in natural gas production.
The most significant changes in CO emissions from 1990 to 2020 include:
• Transportation and Mobile Equipment: decrease of 64% (5.2 Mt), with:
• Light-Duty Gasoline Trucks and Vehicles: decrease of 71% (3.4 Mt)
• Off-Road Gasoline/LPG/NG Vehicles and Equipment: decrease of 51% (1.2 Mt)
• Manufacturing: decrease of 91% (1.2 Mt)
• Wood Products: decrease of 97% (1.0 Mt)
• Fires: decrease of 94% (417 kt), with:
• Prescribed Burning: decrease of 94% (416 kt)
• Oil and Gas Industry: increase of 49% (166 kt), with:
• Upstream Oil and Gas Industry: increase of 59% (182 kt)
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46
2017
statistics

47
Total generation in Canada
2019: 635 TWh

Provincial electricity
generation by source

NRCan.
Energy Fact Book 2021-2022
 NATIONAL INVENTORY REPORT
1990 – 2021: GREENHOUSE GAS
SOURCES AND SINKS IN CANADA
CANADA’S SUBMISSION TO THE UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK
CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE

[Link]
[Link]

50
In 2021, Canada formally submitted its enhanced Nationally Determined
Contribution (NDC) to the United Nations, committing to cut its GHG
emissions to 40-45% below 2005 levels by 2030 (see The NIR: Scientific
Evidence for Decision Makers box below).

In keeping with the UNFCCC Reporting Guidelines, the GHG inventory

reports annual emissions from 1990 up to and including two years prior to
its submission (e.g. 2021 for the 2023 edition of the inventory).

[Link]
change/greenhouse-gas-emissions/[Link]

51
52
53
In 2 ergy s d 543 Mt
or 81% of Canada’s total GHG emissions (Figure ES–3). The remaining emissions were largely generated by the Agriculture
and IPPU sectors (8.1% and 7
removed 17 Mt from the atmosphere.

Figure ES–3 Breakdown of Canada’s Emissions by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sector (2021)

Energy – Stationary Combustion

Energy – Transport
300 Mt CO2 eq (45%)
188 Mt CO2 eq (28%)

Waste Energy – Fugitive Sources

21 Mt CO2 eq (3.1%) 55 Mt CO2 eq (8.2%)
Agriculture
Industrial Processes and Product Use
54 Mt CO2 eq (8.1%)
52 Mt CO2 eq (7.7%)

Total: 670 Mt CO2 eq

Note: Totals may not add up due to rounding.

Canada’s emissions profile is similar to that of most industrialized c 2 is the largest contributor to
54
r 537 Mt or 80% of total emissions in 2021 (Figure ES–4). The majority of CO2 emissions
and landfills (18 Mt). N 2 r 30
Canada’s emissions in 2 6 and NF 3) accounted f
than 2% of national emissions.

Figure ES–4 Breakdown of Canada’s Emissions by GHG (2021)

CO2
537 Mt CO 2 eq (80%) CH4
91 Mt CO 2 eq (14%)

N 2O
30 Mt CO 2 eq (4.5%)
HFCs, PFCs, SF6 and NF3
13 Mt CO 2 eq (1.9%)
Total: 670 Mt CO2 eq
Note: Totals may not add up due to rounding.

55
Figure ES–5 Changes in Emissions by IPCC Sector (2005–2021)

Agriculture
10
0.10 Mt (0.2%)

0
Net Change in Emissions (Mt CO 2 eq)

Energy – Transport IPPU Waste

-10
-3.0 Mt - 4.6 Mt - 0.62 Mt
(-1.6%) (-8.1%) (-2.8%)
-20
Energy –
Fugitive Sources
-30
-15 Mt
(-21%)
-40
Energy –
Stationary Combustion
-50
-39 Mt
(-11%)
-60

Net Change
-70
-62 Mt
(-8.4%)

Energy – 2021 GHG Emissions (543 Mt)

In 2 56 the
ergy sector (543 Mt) were 9.5% lower than in 2005 (600 Mt). Within
 Waste and Others
Agriculture 47 Mt CO 2 eq (7.0%) Oil and Gas
Figure ES–6 Breakdown of 69
Canada’s
Mt CO eqGHG
(10%)Emissions by Economic Sector (2021)
2 189 Mt CO 2 eq (28%)

Buildings Waste and Others

Agriculture 47 Mt CO 2 eq (7.0%)
87 Mt CO 2 eq (13%) Oil and Gas
69 Mt CO 2 eq (10%)
189 Mt CO 2 eq (28%)
Electricity
52 Mt CO 2 eq (7.7%)
Buildings
Heavy Industry
87 Mt CO eq (13%)
772 Mt CO eq (11%)
2
Transport Electricity
150 Mt CO 2 eq (22%) 52 Mt CO 2 eq (7.7%)
Heavy Industry
Total: 670 Mt CO2 eq 77 Mt CO 2 eq (11%)
Transport
150 Mt CO 2 eq (22%)
Note: Totals may not add up due to rounding.

Total: 670 Mt CO2 eq

Note: Totals may not add up due to rounding.

Table ES–2 Canada’s GHG Emissions by Economic Sector, Selected Years
2005 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Mt CO2 eq
NATIONAL
Table ES–2 GHG TOTALGHG Emissions by
Canada’s 732Economic705 712 Years 725
Sector, Selected 724 659 670
Oil and Gas 168 191 194 202 201 183 189
Electricity 2005
118 2016
74 2017
73 2018
63 2019
62 2020
54 2021
52
Transport 157 162 165 Mt CO
1692 eq 170 143 150
Heavy Industry
NATIONAL GHG TOTAL 89
732 78
705 77
712 80
725 79
724 74
659 77
670
Buildings
Oil and Gas 85
168 85
191 88
194 92
202 93
201 89
183 87
189
Agriculture
Electricity 64
118 66
74 67
73 69
63 69
62 70
54 69
52
Waste and Others
Transport 52
157 48
162 49
165 50
169 50
170 46
143 47
150
Heavy
Notes: Industry 89 78 77 80 79 74 77
Buildings
Totals may not add up due to rounding. 85 85 88 92 93 89 87
Additional detail in section 4 of Chapter 2.
Agriculture 64 66 67 69 69 70 69
57
Waste and Others 52 48 49 50 50 46 47
 Oil sands
Emissions and sources

Bitumen extraction:
Surface and In-situ mining
Sources of CO2 emissions in cement manufacturing

Locations of
Canadian cement plants

59
60
Examples of air pollution control and
pollution prevention technologies
 An air pollution control system
for a power plant

Pollution Control is “end-of-pipe treatment”, i.e. treating the

pollutants AFTER they are formed in a production process
62
 Incineration – VOC and odors
Vapor incinerators (thermal oxidizers; afterburners)
Main advantage: potential for very high removal efficiency
• Thermal incineration
• Recuperative incineration (with heat recovery)
• Catalytic oxidation

63
Example - air pollution control at a rendering plant
(West Coast Reduction, Vancouver)
Thermal oxidizer
• Achieved by maintaining negative pressure in
the equipment and buildings, and treating the
resulting airflow in packed tower scrubbers and
thermal oxidizers.
• Thermal oxidizer with natural gas as fuel and
operating at 850oC to treat odor emission
• Boiler utilizing the waste heat to produce steam

Three-stage packed tower scrubber

Scrubber
 A typical biofiltration system

H2O

BIOMASS
SUPPORT Clean
MEDIA gas
outlet
H2O

Waste
gas
Inlet
Humidifying
Blower Chamber Pump Biofilter Pump
Drain

65
 Example
Odor Treatment – Metro Vancouver Annacis Island WWTP

alkaline scrubber for H2S

Biofilter acidic scrubber for NH3
Wet scrubbers

Foul air inlet

66
Pollution control for air emission from diesel vehicles

67
Net-zero emissions by 2050

• Achieving net-zero emissions means either emitting no greenhouse gas

emissions at all or offsetting them completely through actions that
remove climate-warming gases from the atmosphere.
• Reducing Canada’s emissions to the lowest extent possible in the
decades ahead will allow us to reach net-zero by 2050.

• Possible pathways to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050

Ref: Canadian Institute for Climate Choices (CICC). 2021. Canada Net
Zero Future – Finding or way in the global transition.
[Link]
Carbon Capture and Storage (Carbon Sequestration)
• Capture of CO2 from the source emission → Purification of the
captured CO2 → Transportation of the purified CO 2 to a site for safe
disposal → Disposal of the CO 2

69
CCUS: Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage
• One of the key technology areas for putting energy systems
around the world on a sustainable trajectory will be CCUS.

• Alongside electrification, hydrogen and sustainable bioenergy,

CCUS will need to play a major role in a path towards meeting
international goals. It is the only group of technologies that
contributes both to reducing emissions in key sectors directly
and to removing CO2 to balance emissions that cannot be
avoided – a critical part of “net-zero” goals.

Ref.
International Energy Agency IEA. 2020. Special report on carbon capture utilization
and storage – CCUS in clean energy transitions
[Link]
and-storage

70
Schematic of CCUS
Pollution Prevention e.g. GHG (CO2 eq) emission
– Improve process energy efficiency
• Energy integration
• Waste heat recovery
• Fuel cell (efficiency ~50%) vs. internal combustion engine
(efficiency ~25%)
– Switch to higher heating value fuels e.g. natural gas
– Energy efficient buildings
– Renewable energy
• CO2 neutral and renewable fuel sources or energy carrier
such as biomass/bioenergy, geothermal, hydropower, solar,
tidal, wind, hydrogen
– Nuclear power
• Pollution Prevention refers to the use of measures
(materials, processes, practices) that can reduce or eliminate
the generation of pollutants or wastes at the source
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 The hierarchy of pollution
prevention vs. pollution control

Source POLLUTION
Reduction CONTROL
Reuse
Treatment

POLLUTION
PREVENTION
Disposal
Renewable and nuclear energy