The document discusses air pollution, its causes, and effects, emphasizing the presence of harmful chemicals in the atmosphere resulting from human activities and natural sources. Key pollutants include carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter, with significant health and environmental impacts such as respiratory issues, acid rain, and global warming. It also outlines prevention strategies, including government regulations and shifts to renewable energy sources.

1. Air Pollution
Its Causes and Effects
By Eng/ Mohamed Kandel

2. What is Air ?
• Air is the Earth's atmosphere. It is the clear gas in
which living things live and breathe. It has an indefinite
shape and volume. It has no color or smell. It has mass
and weight. It is a matter as it has mass and weight. Air
creates atmosphere pressure.

3. Air pollution :Definition
The presence of one or
more chemicals in the
atmosphere in
sufficient quantities
and duration to cause
harm to humans etc

4. Air Pollution
Air pollution results from Air
pollutants human activities
such as burning fossil fuels (oil,
coal, and gasoline) to create
electricity and power
automobiles, and manufacture
industrial products such as
chemicals and plastic.

5. What is air pollutants?
A substance in the air that can cause harm to humans
and the environment is known as an air pollutant.
Pollutants can be in the form of solid particles, liquid
droplets, or gases. In addition, they may be natural or
man-made.

7. Six major air pollutants
• Carbon monoxide (CO) & Carbon dioxide (CO2 )
• Ozone (O3)
• Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)
• Sulfur oxides (SOx)
• Particulate Matter
• Lead (Pb)

8. Major sources of pollutants

9. There are two types of pollutants:
• Primary pollutants: those emitted directly into the air;
e.g. (SO2), (CO), (NO), (NO2)
• Secondary pollutants: those that form as a result of a
chemical reaction of the primary pollutant with a
natural component of the environment.; e.g. some
ozone, sulfuric and nitric acids.

11. Types of Air Pollutants

13. Primary Air Pollutants
• Carbon oxides (CO2 and CO)
• Nitrogen oxides
• Sulphur oxides
• Volatile organic compounds – hydro carbons
• Suspended particulate matter
• Chemical pollutants such as: (Lead, Beryllium, etc…)

20. Secondary pollutants:
When pollutants in the air mix up in a chemical reaction, they form an even
more dangerous chemical. Photochemical smog is an example of this, and
is a secondary pollutant. Secondary pollutants are the ones that are caused
by the inter mingling and reactions of primary pollutants. Smog created by
the interactions of several primary pollutants is known to be as secondary
pollutant.

21. Photochemical Smog
• Smog is a kind of air pollution, originally
named for the mixture of smoke and fog in
the air.
• HC and NO react in presence of sunlight to
• Produce ozone and PAN (Peroxy acetyl
nitrate)
• Nitrogen oxides + hydrocarbons +
Ultraviolet radiation -----> Peroxy acetylm
nitrate PAN + O3 ozone.
Photochemical smog- Effects
• Breathing ozone results in
respiratory distress,
headaches.
• PAN damages plants.
• PAH's polynuclear aromatic
hydrocarbons, carcinogenic.

32. Causes Of Air Pollution
1- Natural Sources
• Volcanic Eruptions
• Forest fires
2- Man-made Sources
• Deforestation
• Emissions from industries and manufacturing
activities
• Burning Fossil Fuels
• Agricultural activities
• Mining operations
• Indoor air pollution

33. Natural Sources
Volcanic Eruptions Forest Fires

34. Deforestation
• The removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter
converted to a non-forest use.
• The removal of trees without sufficient reforestation has resulted in
habitat damage, biodiversity loss, and aridity. It has adverse impacts on
biosequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide
Man-made Sources

36. Emissions from industries and
manufacturing activities
Have you seen a manufacturing company before?You will notice
that there are long tubes (called chimneys) erected high into the
air, with lots of smoke and fumes coming out of it.Waste
incinerators, manufacturing industries and power plants emit
high levels of carbon monoxide, organic compounds, and
chemicals into the air.This happens almost everywhere that
people live. Petroleum refineries also release lots of
hydrocarbons into the air.

38. Burning Fossil Fuels
After the industrial age, transportation has become a key part of
our lives. Cars and heavy duty trucks, trains, shipping vessels
and airplanes all burn lots of fossil fuels to work. Emissions from
automobile engines contain both primary and secondary
pollutants.This is a major cause of pollution, and one that is very
difficult to manage

40. Agricultural activities
Ammonia is a very common by product from agriculture related
activities and is one of the most hazardous gases in the
atmosphere. Use of insecticides, pesticides and fertilizers in
agricultural activities has grown quite a lot.They emit harmful
chemicals into the air and can also cause water pollution.

42. Mining operations
Mining is a process where in minerals below the earth are
extracted using large equipments. During the process dust and
chemicals are released in the air causing massive air pollution.
This is one of the reason which is responsible for the
deteriorating health conditions of workers and nearby residents.

44. Indoor air pollution
• Household cleaning products, painting supplies emit toxic chemicals in the air
and cause air pollution. Have you ever noticed that once you paint walls of your
house, it creates some sort of smell which makes it literally impossible for you
to breathe?
• Suspended particulate matter popular by its acronym SPM, is another cause of
pollution. Referring to the particles afloat in the air, SPM is usually caused by
dust, combustion etc.
• Cooking and heating with solid fuels on open fires or traditional stoves results
in high levels of indoor air pollution. Indoor smoke contains a range of
healthdamaging pollutants, such as small particles and carbon monoxide.

46. The Effects Air Pollution
1) Acid Rain
2) Eutrophication
3) Effect onWildlife
4) Depletion of Ozone layer
5) Effect on Human Health
6) Green House Effect and GlobalWarming
7) Ground-level ozone

47. 1-Acid Rain
Involving air pollutants can create acidic compounds which can
cause harm to vegetation and buildings. Sometimes, when an
air pollutant, such as sulfuric acid combines with the water
droplets that make up clouds, the water droplets become acidic,
forming acid rain.When acid rain falls over an area, it can kill
trees and harm animals, fish, and other wildlife. Acid rain
destroys the leaves of plants and changes the chemistry of the
soil making it unfit for many living things.

49. 2-Eutrophication
• Rain can carry and deposit the Nitrogen in some pollutants on rivers and
soils.This will adversely affect the nutrients in the soil and water bodies.
This can result in algae growth in lakes and water bodies, and make
conditions for other living organism harmful.
• Eutrophication is a condition where high amount of nitrogen present in
some pollutants gets developed on sea’s surface and turns itself into
algae and adversely affects fish, plants and animal species.The green
colored alga that is present on lakes and ponds is due to presence of this
chemical only.

51. 3-Effect on Wildlife
• Just like humans, animals also face some devastating effects
of air pollution.Toxic chemicals present in the air can force
wildlife species to move to new place and change their
habitat.
• The toxic pollutants deposit over the surface of the water and
can also affect sea animals.

52. Wildlife affected by air pollution

53. 4-Depletion of Ozone layer
Ozone exists in earth’s stratosphere and is responsible for protecting
humans from harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays. Earth’s ozone layer is depleting
due to the presence of chlorofluorocarbons, hydro chlorofluorocarbons in
the atmosphere. As ozone layer will go thin, it will emit harmful rays back
on earth and can cause skin and eye related problems. UV rays also have
the capability to affect crops.

54. Ozone layer Depletion

55. 5-Effect on Human Health
• The Effects of air pollution are alarming.
• They are known to create several respiratory and heart conditions
along with cancer, among other threats to the body.
• Several millions are known to have died due to direct or indirect
effects of air pollution.
• Children in areas exposed to air pollution are said to commonly
suffer from pneumonia and asthma.

57. 6-Green House Effect and GlobalWarming
Green House effect
In the result of air pollution number of green house gases are
increase rapidly.The man-made (or anthropogenic) component
of the greenhouse effect is caused by man’s activities that emit
greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.The most important of
these is the burning of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels contain carbon,
and when they are burnt this carbon combines with oxygen in
the atmosphere to form carbon dioxide.

58. Global Warming
• an occurrence which results to the rise in the average temperature
of the earth's atmosphere. Due to extreme pollution from factories
and automobiles in the earth's atmosphere, greenhouse gases like
carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide form a thick layer in the upper
atmosphere and traps the sun's rays from being reflected back to
outer space.This eventually leads to a rise in temperatures as the
sun warms the earthThe gases from the greenhouses escape to the
atmosphere to form a blanket' that prevents the suns radiations
from going to the stratosphere.

60. 7-Ground-level ozone
Chemical reactions involving air pollutants create a
poisonous gas ozone (O3). Gas Ozone can affect
people’s health and can damage vegetation types and
some animal life too.

62. Controlling Air Pollution.
Government (or community) level prevention:
• Governments throughout the world have already taken action against air
pollution by introducing green energy.
• Some governments are investing in wind energy and solar energy, as
well as other renewable energy, to minimize burning of fossil fuels,
which cause heavy air pollution. Governments are also forcing
companies to be more responsible with their manufacturing activities, so
that even though they still cause pollution, they are a lot controlled.

63. Controlling Air Pollution.
• Companies are also building more energy efficient cars, which pollute
less than before. Government should provide local transport to people to
reduce burning fossil fuels.

64. General solutions
• Switch from coal to cleaner fuels – use natural gas
• Reduce energy use, improve energy efficiency
• Burn less coal, use lower sulfur coals. Coal gasification
• After burning the SO2 can be cleaned out by scrubbing
• Taxing emissions

65. General solutions to indoor air
pollution:
• Ventilation: fans
• Source removal: no smoking
• Source modification: more efficient stove design.
• Pollutant removal: filters
• Education

66. Air pollution prevention, monitoring
and solution.
• Solution efforts on pollution is always a big problem.This is why
prevention interventions are always a better way of controlling air
pollution.These prevention methods can either come from government
(laws) or by individual actions. In many big cities, monitoring equipment
have been installed at many points in the city.
• Authorities read them regularly to check the quality of air.

67. Urban trends:
• Discourage auto use, reduce number of cars
• Require electric cars
• Improve public transport
• Control NOx by recirculating exhaust
• Catalytic converters removes CO and hydrocarbons by
converting to CO2 and water

68. Thanks