The problem of air quality control concerns a wide range of disciplines. This introductory book explains the origin of pollutants and their dispersion and transformation in the atmosphere, describes their effects on humans, animals, plants, and objects, and presents techniques for the reduction of emissions from a variety of sources.
Measuring techniques are emphasized because of their importance for the detection of pollutants and for monitoring the performance of emission control equipment. The closing chapter discusses international regulations for air quality control.
For all those interested in environmental protection this book is a highly readable introduction to the field of air pollution and air quality control. It serves as a useful textbok for teachers and students, and as a reference for practice-oriented work in industry, consultancies, administration, and environmental agencies. Günter Baumbach, born in 1948, is Professor of Air Quality Control at the University of Stuttgart, Germany. His fields of research cover emission reduction for combustion processes and experimental investigations of air pollutant dispersion in urban and rural areas. He holds lectures on air pollution prevention, air quality control, and measuring techniques.
Fachgebiet: Environmental Engineering Zielgruppe: Application

Klappentext

Air quality and air pollution control are tasks of international concern as, for one, air pollutants do not refrain from crossing borders and, for another, industrial plants and motor vehicles which emit air pollutants are in widespread use today. In a number of the world's expanding cities smog situations are a frequent occurrence due to the number and emission-intensity of air pollution sources. Polluted air causes annoy­ ances and can, when it occurs in high concentrations in these cities, constitute a seri­ ous health hazard. How important clean air is to life becomes apparent when consid­ ering the fact that humans can do without food for up to 40 days, without air, how­ ever, only a few minutes. The first step towards improving the air quality situation is the awareness that a sound environment is as much to be aspired for as the development of new tech­ nologies improving the standard of living. Technical progress should be judged es­ pecially by how environmentally benign, clean and noiseless its products are. Of these elements, clean air is of special concern to me. I hope that this book will awaken more interest in this matter and that it will lead to new impulses. Due to the increasing complexity of today's machinery and industrial processes science and technology can no longer do without highly specialized design engineers and opera­ tors. Environmental processes, however, are highly interdependent and interlinked.

Inhalt

1 General Overview.- 1.1 Clean Air and Air Pollution.- 1.2 Historical Overview.- 1.3 Explanation of Terms.- 1.4. Bibliography.- 2 Origin and Sources of Air Pollution.- 2.1 Emission of Pollutants Caused by Combustion Processes.- 2.1.1 Products of Complete and Incomplete Combustion.- 2.1.1.1 Carbon Monoxide.- 2.1.1.2 Hydrocarbons.- 2.1.1.3 Soot.- 2.1.1.4 Hydrocarbon Emissions in Different Combustion Processes.- 2.1.2 Sulfur Compounds.- 2.1.2.1 Sulfur in Coal.- 2.1.2.2 Sulfur in Fuel Oil.- 2.1.2.3 Sulfur in Natural Gas.- 2.1.2.4 Comparison of Sulfur Contents of Different Fuels.- 2.1.2.5 Combustion Products of Sulfurous Fuels.- 2.1.3 Oxides of Nitrogen.- 2.1.3.1 Origins of Oxides of Nitrogen.- 2.1.3.2 Nitrogen Oxide Emissions in Different Combustion Processes.- 2.1.4 Particles.- 2.1.4.1 Problem, Dependencies and Components.- 2.1.4.2 Soot and Particle Emissions during the Combustion of Liquid Fuels.- 2.1.4.3 Particle Emission in Industrial Coal Furnaces.- 2.1.4.4 Particle Emission in the Combustion of Lump Wood in Domestic Furnaces.- 2.1.5 Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins and Dibenzofurans.- 2.1.5.1 Properties, Formation and Origin.- 2.1.5.2 Toxicity, Toxicity Equivalents and Threshold Values.- 2.1.5.3 Dioxin Sources.- 2.1.6 Exhaust Gases from Motorised Vehicles.- 2.1.6.1 Influences on their Formation.- 2.1.6.2 Exhaust Gas Emissions when Driving.- 2.1.6.3 Development of Motor Vehicle Emissions.- 2.2 Sources of Air Pollutants.- 2.2.1 Overview.- 2.2.2 Carbon Dioxide (C02).- 2.2.3 Sulfur Oxides (Sox).- 2.2.4 Nitrogen Oxides (Nox).- 2.2.5 Carbon Monoxide (CO).- 2.2.6 Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC).- 2.3 Bibliography.- 3 Air Pollutants in the Atmosphere.- 3.1 Meteorological Influences on the Dispersion of Air Pollutants.- 3.1.1 Wind.- 3.1.2 Turbulence.- 3.1.3 Inversion.- 3.1.3.1 Inversion Types.- 3.1.3.2 Inversion Formation.- 3.1.4 Mixing Layer and Barrier Layers.- 3.1.5 Inversion Layers and Air Pollutants - Examples of the Dispersion of Pollutants.- 3.1.5.1 Widespread Dispersion of Air Pollutants: SO2 Long-Range Transport.- 3.1.5.2 Short-Range Dispersion of Air Pollutants in Highland Valleys.- 3.2 Chemical Transformations of Pollutants in the Atmosphere.- 3.2.1 General Considerations.- 3.2.1.1 Atmosphere and Air Pollution.- 3.2.1.2 Calculation of Reaction Rates.- 3.2.2 Oxidation of SO2.- 3.2.2.1 SO2 Oxidation in the Gas Phase.- 3.2.2.2 SO2 Conversion in Liquid Phase and on Solid Particles.- 3.2.3 Reactions of Nitrogen Oxides in the Atmosphere.- 3.2.3.1 NO Oxidation and the Formation of Ozone.- 3.2.3.2 Participation of Hydrocarbons in NO Oxidation.- 3.2.3.3 NO2 Oxidation.- 3.2.3.4 NOx and Acid Rain.- 3.2.4 Ozone in the Atmosphere.- 3.2.4.1 Ozone in the Stratosphere.- 3.2.4.2 Ozone in the Troposphere.- 3.2.5 Carbon Compounds.- 3.2.5.1 Organic Carbon Compounds.- 3.2.5.2 Inorganic Carbon Compounds.- 3.2.6 Particles in the Atmosphere.- 3.2.7 Precipitation Components.- 3.3 Distribution and Temporal Development of Air Pollutants in Unpolluted and Polluted Areas.- 3.3.1 Spatial Distribution.- 3.3.2 Temporal Trends in Air Quality.- 3.3.2.1 Carbon Compounds.- 3.3.2.2 Sulfur Dioxide (SO2).- 3.3.2.3 Suspended Particulate Matter.- 3.3.2.4 Nitrogen Oxides.- 3.3.2.5 Tropospheric Ozone (O3).- 3.4 Models of Pollutant Dispersion.- 3.4.1 Objective and Application of Mathematical Meteorological Simulation Models.- 3.4.2 Model Concepts.- 3.4.2.1 Flow and Turbulence Models.- 3.4.2.2 Modeling of Pollution Dispersion.- 3.4.3 Consideration of Chemical Transformations in Dispersion Models.- 3.4.4 Summary and Overview of Model Concepts.- 3.5 Bibliography.- 4 Effects of Air Pollution.- 4.1 General Considerations.- 4.1.1 The Range of Possible Types of Damage.- 4.1.2 The Path of Air Pollutants to the Location where they Become Effective.- 4.2 Climatic Changes Caused by Atmospheric Trace Substances.- 4.2.1 Temperature Increase.- 4.2.1.1 Destruction of the Stratospheric Ozone Layer.- 4.2.1.2 Greenhouse Effect of Infrared-Active Gases.- 4.2.2 Temperature Drop Due to Particle and Cloud Occurrence.- 4.2.3 Prognostic Difficulties.- 4.3 Effects on Materials.- 4.3.1 Mineral Building Materials.- 4.3.2 Metals.- 4.3.3 Other Materials.- 4.4 Effects on Vegetation.- 4.4.1 Plant Damage Caused by Air Pollution.- 4.4.1.1 Determination of Dose-Effect Relations.- 4.4.1.2 Damage Mechanisms and Profiles of Single Air Pollutants.- 4.4.2 Forest Damage.- 4.4.2.1 Damage Profiles.- 4.4.2.2 Assumed Mechanisms of Effect.- 4.5 Impact on Human Health.- 4.5.1 Possibilities and Difficulties of Recording Harmful Effects.- 4.5.2 Paths Air Pollutants Take in the Human Body.- 4.5.3 Effects of the Most Important Air Pollutants.- 4.6 Ambient Air Guidelines and Standards.- 4.6.1 Nature of WHO Guidelines.- 4.6.2 National Ambient Air Quality Standards.- 4.6.3 MIK Values of the Verein Deutscher Ingenieure (VDI = Association of German Engineers).- 4.6.3 Smog Alarm Values.- 4.7 Bibliography.- 5 Measuring Techniques for Recording Air Pollutants.- 5.1 General Criteria.- 5.1.1 Applications of Measuring Techniques.- 5.1.2 Discontinuous or Continuous Measurements.- 5.1.3 Physical and Chemical Measuring Principles.- 5.1.4 Different Requirements for Emiss…