Air pollution is one of the critical environmental issues facing the world today with a majority of developed countries experiencing increased impacts resulting from poor air quality due to air pollution. According to Moridi, Atabi, Nouri, & Yarahmadi (2017), increased air pollution acts as a health hazard for people living within these countries, as it contributes to increased cases of medical conditions associated with the breathing system. Thus, this highlights the importance of implementing mitigation measures focused on the elimination of air pollutants, which tend to act as critical components contributing to air pollution. The adoption of technology is one of the sure ways in which countries can position themselves in dealing with increased incidences of air pollution as part of their approaches towards improving environmental conservation. From that perspective, the focus of this report is to evaluate some of the critical technologies adopted to help in mitigating air pollution as a way of improving air quality.
Adoption of Cyclones
When dealing with air pollution, one of the key aspects to note is that the air may experience pollution from airborne particles that may have underlying impacts on the people living such environments. However, the adoption of the cyclone technology acts as a sure way of eliminating such airborne particles with the intention of reducing air pollution. When using a cyclone, the dirty airstream from industries, releasing airborne particles into the environment, flows in a spiral path within a cylindrical chamber. The polluted air comes into the cylindrical room a tangential direction, which, in turn, plays a crucial role in ensuring that clean air moves higher as the airborne particles are eliminated (Moridi, Atabi, Nouri, & Yarahmadi, 2017). The cylindrical chamber works towards filtering the dirty air focusing more on friction within the wall surface, thus, ensuring that the airborne particles remain within the chamber. As the air swirls up, one critical aspect to note is that the cylindrical chamber becomes narrower, thus, absorbing slower airborne particles that would otherwise be released into the environment. The collected airborne particles are stored within the conical dust hopper, which is at the bottom of the cyclone with the intention of eliminating possibilities of release into the environment. The particles, accumulated within the dust hopper, are the removed periodically with the aim of ensuring that they are disposed of safely into the environment. One of the key advantages of using this particular technology is that it becomes more comfortable for the companies involved to eliminate some of the coarse particulates that would be released into the environment, thus, causing pollution (Fan & Wang, 2016). Primarily, this means that usage of the cyclone technology helps in air pollution as part of its approach towards mitigating effects and impacts resulting from air pollution.
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Usage of Wet Scrubbers
Another key technology that has played a central role in mitigating air pollution in some of the countries experiencing significant impacts is a usage of devices referred to as wet scrubbers. The wet scrubbers work towards trapping airborne particles suspended within the environment through a technique described as direct contact between the particles and a spray of water or any other liquid used. As the stray of water is released into the environment, the particles are absorbed into the water through tiny droplets, thus, eliminating some of these particles from the environment. The introduction of wet scrubbers occurred in 2013 during which time China, which is one of the most developed countries, was facing a fundamental challenge associated with air pollution (Kim, Chung, Lee, & Seo, 2013). During that time, usage of wet scrubbers helped in eliminating particles found within the environment, as it focuses more on a collision pattern that would help in capturing the particles. The critical element of focus for this technology is that it helps in eliminating airborne particles larger than eight μm considering that particles this size act as risk factors for airborne diseases (Fan & Wang, 2016). The introduction of wet scrubbers was considered as a significant milestone in mitigating air pollution, as it has a success rate of over 98% when compared to other mitigating technologies. In that view, researchers suggest the need for adoption of this technology in not only preventing air pollution but also in reducing pollution in environments currently facing air pollution issues. Ultimately, this would act as practical steps towards improving the quality of air that people inhale, thus, reducing the occurrence of airborne diseases.
Adsorption
Another critical aspect to note when focusing on air pollution mitigation is the fact that air pollution may result from gases released into the natural environment resulting in harmful effects on the human body. One of the critical technologies used in mitigating gas pollution is adsorption, which is contrasted with absorption considering that it creates some form of a surface phenomenon. The critical aspect to note when dealing with this technology is that the gases are sorbed, referring to the gases being attracted and held within a given surface specifically of a solid. The fundamental expectation is that these gases would eliminate any form of odor, which is one of the critical forms of air pollution experienced in many parts of the world, that they may carry causing any form of air pollution. The adoption of this technology is somewhat evident in food processing plants or facilities involved in the production of chemicals that tend to have high levels of odor that may impact those living in such environments. One of the critical adsorbent used in this particular technology is activated carbon, which is a type of carbon occurs within heated charcoal, as it helps in adsorbing of airstreams that would contain VOCs and for solvent recovery, as well as when embarking on odor control. In the long-term, usage of this technology helps towards increasing the overall capacities of the facilities or plants involved in the production of such airstreams to reduce the possibility of air pollution. In essence, this technology is considered as being 95% effective, especially when dealing with the idea of eliminating odor within given airstreams released into the environment as part of mitigating measures of air pollution.
Usage of Incinerators
One of the conventional technologies in dealing with air pollution is a usage of incinerators focused on promoting combustion of the airstreams before there are released into the environment. The combustion process helps in breaking down the airstreams into less harmful types of gases and chemicals with the intention of reducing the underlying effects to the natural environment. In most cases, industries or production plants that release VOCs and other gaseous hydrocarbon pollutants find it easier when adopting this particular technology, as these gases are converted into carbon dioxide and water (Corbett & Chapman, 2016). The gases are exposed to extremely high temperatures within the afterburners, which, in turn, creates a situation where the conversion process occurs as a way of reducing some of the underlying impacts of the gases to the natural environment. When exposed to the incinerators, a process referred to as direct flame incineration occurs where the toxic airstreams are exposed to direct flames as a way of ensuring that the combustion process occurs entirely. Ultimately, the combustion process creates some form of a combustible mixture of the gases, thus, ensuring that the gases released into the environment have minimal impacts. In some cases, industries and production plants focus on using specific substances that would aid in the combustion process such as platinum, which helps towards increasing the possibility of a combustion reaction. The idea of using this technology has more viable outcomes when compared to other air pollution control technologies, as it plays several critical roles in the mitigation process. These include controlling of odors, destroying toxic compounds, and reducing the number of substances considered as being photochemically reactive before their release into the environment.
Conclusion
In summary, air pollution remains one of the notable environmental issues affecting a vast majority of countries around the world, which has created the need for the adoption of technologies that would help in the elimination of such pollutants. As identified, in this report, several key technologies are used towards mitigating air pollution with a vast majority of these technologies creating better platforms for success in the mitigation process. One critical aspect to note when determining the technology to use is the nature of environmental pollution, which may vary depending on the nature of the pollutants. Air pollution may occur due to airborne particles, as well as, a release of toxic gases into the environment that would ultimately have viable impacts on the natural environment. The technologies identified help in dealing with both types of air pollution with the intention of improving the quality of air for those living within these settings.
References
Corbett, J. J., & Chapman, D. (2016). An environmental decision framework applied to marine engine control technologies. Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association , 56 (6), 841-851.
Fan, J., & Wang, Y. (2016). Atmospheric Emissions of As, Sb, and Se from Coal Combustion in Shandong Province, 2005-2014. Polish Journal of Environmental Studies , 25 (6), 2339-2347.
Kim, K. H., Chung, B. J., Lee, S. H., & Seo, Y. C. (2013). Practices in dioxin emission reduction by special regulatory enforcement and utilizing advanced control technologies for incinerators in Korea. Chemosphere , 73 (10), 1632-1639.
Moridi, P., Atabi, F., Nouri, J., & Yarahmadi, R. (2017). Selection of optimized air pollutant filtration technologies for petrochemical industries through multiple-attribute decision-making. Journal of Environmental Management , 197 (1), 456-463.
